THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Hanoi, Vietnam)
_________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release November 18, 2000
NATIONAL FAMILY WEEK, 2000
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Our families are perhaps the strongest influence in our lives. Anyone
who grows up in a strong, nurturing family, grounded in the values of love
and responsibility, will have a distinct advantage in achieving the most
important tasks of adulthood -- living fully, working produc-tively,
contributing to society, and forming one?s own strong, stable family.
Our Nation, too, draws its strength and character from America?s
families, so as citizens we must do everything we can to support their
well-being and self-sufficiency. Over the past 8 years, my Administration
has strived to create an economic and social climate where families can
flourish. We have strengthened the economy; enacted a higher minimum wage;
expanded tax credits for working families; created greater access to higher
education, quality health care, and affordable child care; and, with
passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, made it easier for working
adults to take leave to care for an ailing family member without putting
their jobs at risk. We have also been successful in moving thousands of
children from temporary homes in foster care to permanent families where
they can grow and flourish.
We are fortunate to be members of a larger family as well, composed
not only of our immediate relatives, but also of our neighbors, colleagues,
communities, and fellow citizens. As members of this extended family, we
must learn to appreciate the value and diversity of other families?
traditions; we must reach out to help those families who are still in need;
and we must share responsibility for the care and development of all our
Nation?s children. In this season of Thanksgiving, let us be
grateful for the knowledge that America is a Nation of families, standing
together to make our country a better place in which to live and to make
the future a brighter one for our children.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 19 through
November 25, 2000, as National Family Week. I call upon Federal, State,
and local officials to honor American families with appropriate programs
and activities. I encourage educators, community organizations, and
religious leaders to celebrate the strength and values we draw from family
relationships, and I urge all the people of the United States to reaffirm
their own family ties and to reach out to other families in friendship and
goodwill.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-fifth.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
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