Message to the Congress Transmitting the Report of the National Endowment for the Humanities

To the Congress of the United States:

I am pleased to present to you the 1995 Annual Report of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). For 30 years, this Federal agency has given Americans great opportunities to explore and share with each other our country's vibrant and diverse cultural heritage. Its work supports an impressive array of humanities projects.

These projects have mined every corner of our tradition, unearthing all the distinct and different voices, emotions, and ideas that together make up what is a uniquely American culture. In 1995, they ranged from an award-winning television documentary on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the radio production Wade in the Water, to preservation projects that will rescue 750,000 important books from obscurity and archive small community newspapers from every State in the Union. Pandora's Box, a traveling museum exhibit of women and myth in classical Greece, drew thousands of people.

The humanities have long helped Americans bridge differences, learn to appreciate one another, shore up the foundations of our democracy, and build strong and vital institutions across our country. At a time when our society faces new and profound challenges, when so many Americans feel insecure in the face of change, the presence and accessibility of the humanities in all our lives can be a powerful source of our renewal and our unity as we move forward into the 21st century.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

The White House, April 17, 1996.