By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In a country built by people from hundreds of nations and with as many beliefs, we rely upon our religious liberty in order to preserve the individuality and great diversity that give our Nation its unique richness and strength of character. America's founders saw the urgent need to protect religious freedom and opened debate on the important subject when the Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia to chart a course for our nascent country. After hearing Massachusetts delegate Samuel Adams' plea, the Congress voted to begin its session with a prayer. When the framers of the Bill of Rights set down our fundamental rights, the free exercise of religion rightfully took its place at the head of our enumerated liberties.

As our Nation has grown and flourished, our Government has welcomed divine guidance in its work, while respecting the rich and varied faiths of all of its citizens. Many of our greatest leaders have asked God's favor in public and private prayer. From patriots and presidents to advocates for justice, our history reflects the strong presence of prayer in American life. Presidents, above all, need the power of prayer, their own and that of all Americans.

We need not shrink as Americans from asking for divine assistance in our continuing efforts to relieve human suffering at home and abroad, to reduce hatred, violence, and abuse, and to restore families across our land. By following our own beliefs while respecting the convictions of others, we can strengthen our people and rebuild our Nation. As Micah reminds us, we must strive "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly" before God.

The Congress, by joint resolution approved April 17, 1952, having recognized the role of faith and prayer in the lives of the American people throughout our history, has set aside a day each year as a "National Day of Prayer." Since that time, each President has proclaimed an annual National Day of Prayer, resuming the tradition begun by our leaders in the Nation's earliest days. Pursuant to Public Law 100–307 of May 5, 1988, the first Thursday of each May has been set aside as a National Day of Prayer.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 5, 1994, as a National Day of Prayer. I encourage the citizens of this great Nation to gather, each in his or her own manner, to recognize our blessings, acknowledge our wrongs, to remember the needy, to seek guidance for our challenging future, and to give thanks for the abundance we have enjoyed throughout our history.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighteenth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The American people were the first to define a nation in terms of both spirituality and human liberty. Throughout our Nation's history, America has been a beacon for millions in search of spiritual and religious freedom. Immigrants have come to the United States seeking not just freedom from persecution and discrimination, but also freedom for the right of selfdetermination. On this National Day of Prayer, we reaffirm this fundamental freedom of religion that has made our Nation so strong.

Thomas Jefferson understood the greater purpose of the liberty that our Founding Fathers sought during the creation of our Nation. Although it was against the British that the colonists fought for political rights, the true source of the rights of man was clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson wrote that all humans are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights . . . ." It was self-evident to him that denying these rights was wrong and that he and others must struggle to win what was theirs.

The epic struggle of the Revolutionary War and the vigilance that the protection of our rights has required have embedded in our Nation a profound understanding of the true meaning and value of our freedom. With the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness comes the duty to use those rights for the good of humankind. This belief is fundamental to the American tradition. The result of our Founding Fathers' conception of a state created by man through the responsible use of God-given rights is a Nation of unparalleled freedom and dazzling diversity.

Today we face great challenges. The diversity that gives us so much strength is often seen as a source of division. We are searching for solutions to the difficult challenges of providing a safe and rewarding future for our children, of securing adequate health care for our people, and of building good, nurturing communities.

Through prayer our people take a moment away from the concerns of everyday life to understand the greater power that gives us guidance. We come together in an act common to all religions. Prayer gives us a quiet space to remember and contemplate the greater purpose of the activity that fills our lives. As a Nation, we understand the common bonds we all share, and we recommit ourselves to serving a greater good. Prayer enables us to rejoice in our freedoms and understand the implicit responsibility that accompanies them. We return to the guiding vision that gives our Nation so much vitality.

By joint resolution of the Congress, approved April 17, 1952, the people have recognized the role of spiritual reaffirmation and prayer in our history by setting aside a particular day each year as a "National Day of Prayer." Since 1952, each President has proclaimed an annual National Day of Prayer, resuming the tradition begun by our Founding Fathers in 1776. By Public Law 100-307, the first Thursday in May of each year has been set aside as a National Day of Prayer.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 6, 1993, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon the citizens of this great Nation to pray, each after his or her own manner, to remember those who are in need, to achieve patience in tribulation, to resolve the problems that divide us, to rejoice in hope, and to express thanks for the abundance we have experienced throughout our history.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventeenth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

We live during a time of great and historic change, a time that has seen the rise of newly democratic nations and the fall of once firmly entrenched totalitarian regimes. While such progress is cause for optimism and hope, the dramatic pace of global developments and the uncertainty they generate can also leave us with a faint sense of anticipation and unease. As we seek to chart a proper course in a world that is changing by the hour, our observance of a National Day of Prayer reminds us that we can always palce our trust in the steady, unfailing light that is the love of God.

Time and again, Scripture tells us of the constancy of the Almighty. Indeed, His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, wrote the Psalmist, and His dominion endures throughout all generations.

Our ancestors trusted in the faithfulness of the Almighty, and they frequently turned to Him in humble, heartfelt prayer. When they finally reached these shores, the early settlers gave thanks for their very lives -- and for the promise of freedom in a new land. Members of the Continental Congress began their deliberations with prayer, and later when members of that same body pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in support of our Nation's independence, they did so "with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence."

Today we know that their trust was well placed; their faith, richly rewarded. The great American experiment in liberty and self-government has not only endured but prospered. The triumph of freedom in this country has inspired the advance of human rights and dignity around the globe.

Although much has transpired since our ancestors prayed for devine mercy and direction, this occasion calls us to remember, as did Ben Franklin and his contemporaries, "that God governs in the affairs of men." The One to whom George Washington turned when he knelt in the snow at Valley Forge is the same God who heard the prayers of President Lincoln nearly a century later during the darkest hours of the Civil War. While our needs today may be different, we are no less dependent on the help of Almighty God. Therefore, let us likewise seek His forgiveness, strength, and guidance.

Whatever our individual religious convictions may be, each of us is invited to join in this National Day of Prayer. Indeed, although we may find our own word to express it, each of us can echo this timeless prayer of Solomon, the ancient king who prayed for, and received, the gift of wisdom:

The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us; so that He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways . . . . that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other.

Since the approval of the joint resolution of the Congress on April 17, 1952, calling for the designation of a specific day to be set aside each year as a National Day of Prayer, recognition of such a day has become a cherished annual event. Each President since then has proclaimed a National Day of Prayer annually under the authority of that resolution, continuing a tradition that dates back to the Continental Congress. By Public Law 100-307, the first Thursday in May of each year has been set aside as a National Day of Prayer.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 7, 1992, as a National Day of Prayer. I urge all Americans to gather together on that day in homes and places of worship to pray, each after his or her own manner, in thanksgiving to Almighty God. On this occasion, let us also pray for His continued blessing upon our families and Nation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixteenth.

GEORGE BUSH

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation 

While we owe constant praise to Almighty God, we Americans have added cause for thanksgiving on this National Day of Prayer because of the recent coalition victory in the Persian Gulf. However, our joy and gratitude are inspired by far more than military triumph; on this special day of prayer held in the 200th year of our Bill of Rights, we give thanks for America's long and abiding legacy of freedom.

During the past 200 years, the ideals enshrined in our Bill of Rights have gained favor around the world. Even where tryants have sought to rule by repression and terror, the spirit of freedom has endured. This is because, as Alexander Hamilton once noted, "the Sacred Rights of Mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the Hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power." Almighty God has granted each of us free will and inscribed in our hearts the unalienable dignity and worth that come from being made in His image.

Because our dignity and freedom are gifts of our Creator, we have a duty to cherish them, always using the latter to choose life and goodness. On this occasion we do well to pray for the wisdom and the resolve to do just that.

As an elevation of the soul's eyes to Heaven, prayer helps us to distinguish between liberty and license—to recognize that which is the grateful exercise of free will and that which is its corruption. Through prayer, we turn our hearts toward their real home and, in so doing, gain a sense of proper direction and higher purpose.

Faith and prayer are as important to guiding the conduct of nations as they are to individuals. We Americans, Abraham Lincoln once wrote, "have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven." A nation so richly blessed has equally great responsibilities. Indeed, we have recently been reminded that "much will be asked of those to whom much has been given." The crucible of war has once again tested our Nation's character, and it has shown us both the need for and the power of prayer.

On this National Day of Prayer, let us acknowledge with heartfelt remorse the many times we have failed to appreciate the Lord's gifts and to obey His Commandments. Giving humble thanks for His mercy, let us vow to fulfill not only our responsibilities but also our potential as one Nation under God. Most important, let us make our prayers pleasing to Him by the regular practice of public and private virtue and by a genuine renewal of America's moral heritage. As Scripture says, "righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

Since the approval of the joint resolution of the Congress on April 17, 1952, calling for the designation of a specific day to be set aside each year as a National Day of Prayer, recognition of such a day has become a cherished annual event. Each President since then has proclaimed a National Day of Prayer annually under the authority of that resolution, continuing a tradition that dates back to the Continental Congress. By Public Law 100-307, the first Thursday in May of each year has been set aside as a National Day of Prayer.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 2, 1991, as a National Day of Prayer. I urge all Americans to gather together on that day in homes and places of worship to pray, each after his or her own manner, for God's continued blessing on our families and our Nation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifteenth.

GEORGE BUSH

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

"More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of," wrote Lord Tennyson more than a century ago. Today, we are deeply mindful of the truth of his words. Our Nation's history and the lives of millions of men and women around the world provide compelling evidence of the power of faith and the efficacy of prayer.

The Bible tells us what we have often seen for ourselves: that God answers the prayers of those who place their trust in Him. In the Old Testament story of Hannah and Samuel and the New Testament parable of the Prodigal Son, we find a universal experience of parenthood: long hours spent in waiting for a child and in prayer for his well-being. What mother or father has not, in unspoken thought, asked the Almighty to protect his or her little ones and thanked Him for their safekeeping?

Our ancestors believed that, in the lives of nations as well as individuals, the love of God is a great parental love like this. They saw history as the place where our Creator looks for His children, longing for them to come to Him and to do His will. As they fashioned a system of government that would carry the United States into an uncharted future, as they fled oppressed and war-torn nations to build new lives in this land of opportunity, as they shielded the spark of hope from the cold winds of tyranny and world war, time and again they came, thankful and contrite, to the inextinguishable light of the Father's house.

So great was the faith of our Founding Fathers, and so firm was their belief in the need for God's blessing upon their bold experiment in self-government, that they frequently turned to Him in prayer both as individuals and as a community. Indeed, the first act of the Continental Congress, the same body that declared America's independence, was a prayer. Thomas Jefferson and other Founders believed that the God Who gives us life gives us liberty as well, and if the American people are to keep a truly free and democratic government, they must acknowledge their dependence on His mercy and guidance. Thus, when they pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in support of the Declaration of Independence, they did so "with a firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence." When the Framers of our Constitution heeded Ben Franklin's call for daily prayer at the Federal Convention in 1787, it is as if they were profoundly aware of the gentle admonition found in the 127th Psalm: "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Today, we do well to place in God's hands our hopes and concerns for our families and our communities, just as our Nation's Founders entrusted their labors to Him. The childhood of our liberty was guarded by the love of God, and the "new birth of freedom" of which President Lincoln spoke was possible only because that love was faithful to a people bitterly divided by civil war. Today, our liberty is older and our Republic has entered its third century, but we are still, as a people, in the infancy of our journey. So much greater is our need now to turn to God in prayer once again, seeking His blessing for the way that lies ahead.

On this National Day of Prayer, observed more than 200 years after the Continental Congress asked for God's blessing upon our young country, our prayers could have no better object than the safety and well-being of our children. It is for them that we labor and sacrifice, and it is for them that we struggle to uphold the noble ideals affirmed at our Nation's birth. Today, amidst our many blessings, we see the destruction of too many lives in their earliest flower -- too many young minds lost to drugs, delinquency, and despair. The suffering or loss of even one of these children is more than any parent can bear, and it is more than our Nation can afford to tolerate.

I therefore ask my fellow Americans to join with me in prayer for our children. Let us strive to help each of them sink their roots into the rich soil of God's love for the beings He has made in His own image. Let us show them through prayer that we, too, like our Nation's Founders, seek our shelter -- our rock and our salvation -- in the arms of God. Finally, let us dedicate this Nation once more to the protection of Divine Providence, remembering the words of the Psalmist: "How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings."

Since the approval of the joint resolution of the Congress on April 17, 1952, calling for the designation of a specific day to be set aside each year as a National Day of Prayer, recognition of such a day has become a cherished annual event. Each President since then has proclaimed a National Day of Prayer annually under the authority of that resolution, continuing a tradition that actually dates back to the Continental Congress, which issued the first official proclamation for a National Day of Prayer on July 12, 1775. By Public Law 100-307, the first Thursday in May of each year has been set aside as a National Day of Prayer.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 3, 1990, as a National Day of Prayer. I invite the people of the United States to gather together on that day in homes and places of worship to pray, each after his or her own manner, for the renewal of our Nation's moral heritage and for God's blessing upon each of us, especially our children.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and

GEORGE BUSH