Proclamation 6789—National Day of Mourning in Memory of Those Who Died in Oklahoma City

As we seek justice for the evil done in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, good and decent people everywhere mourn the loss of innocents. Our sons and daughters, parents and friends were stolen from us. Their families can never replace the gift of their laughter. Our Nation can never replace the spirit of their character. But even as we grieve, we resolve today in solemn promise that those on earth shall never be bowed by murderous cowards. This sin against humanity shall not go unpunished.

It has been said that, "In every child who is born, the potentiality of the whole human race is born again." We lost unimaginable potential this past week. And we will miss our loved ones dearly. But the children who died in this violence may yet lift up humanity. We do them no greater honor than by taking from their deaths the memory of their hopes, by carrying with us always their dreams, their kind and trusting ways. We redeem the value of their lives no further than by heeding the voices of children everywhere, who ask simply and invariably for peace and love.

We take comfort in knowing that all who perished are in God's hands.

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 laws of the United States, do hereby appoint Sunday, April 23, 1995, as a National Day of Mourning throughout the United States. I ask the American people assembled on that day in their homes and places of worship to pay homage to the memory of those lost in the Oklahoma City tragedy and to pray for them and their community. I invite all those around the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.

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

WILLIAM J. CLINTON