Message Creation Date was at 2-JUL-1997 17:45:00
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release July 2, 1997
INDEPENDENCE DAY, 1997
I am pleased to join my fellow Americans across the nation and around
the
world in celebrating Independence Day.
Looking back across two centuries, we still marvel at the courage and
vision of our nation's founders. With clear eyes and staunch hearts,
they
fashioned a new form of government for our new country, a government
that
honors human dignity and protects individual rights. They devised a
democracy
strong enough to endure through the ages, yet flexible enough to meet
new
challenges and achieve new dreams. And in doing so, they made America
a beacon
of hope for generations of people around the world who cherish liberty
and
justice.
We have much to celebrate on this Independence Day. The journey our
nation began more than 220 years ago has brought us to a time of peace
and
prosperity, a time of unprecedented opportunity to realize the full
potential
of all our citizens. As heirs to the freedom and equality bequeathed
to us in
the Declaration of Independence, it is now our responsibility -- and
our
privilege -- to build on that legacy and to ensure that America's promise
holds
true for all our people.
As we join with family and friends to commemorate another Fourth of
July,
let us resolve to make America a land where prejudice and discrimination
have
no place; to recognize that the values and ideals we share are more
powerful
and enduring than any force that would divide us; and to enter the
twenty-first
century as the "more perfect Union" first envisioned by our founders
two
centuries ago.
Hillary joins me in extending best wishes for a wonderful Fourth of
July
celebration.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
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