For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 15, 2004
President's "Martin Luther King, Jr." Proclamation
Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 2004
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
On the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, our Nation honors
an American who dedicated his life to the fundamental principles of
freedom, opportunity, and equal justice for all. Today, all Americans
benefit from Dr. King's work and his legacy of courage, dignity, and
moral clarity.
Forty years ago this past August, on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial, Dr. King spoke passionately of his dream for America. He
dreamed of an America where all citizens would be judged by the content
of their character and not by the color of their skin. He dreamed of
an America where all would enjoy the riches of freedom and the security
of justice. He dreamed of an America where the doors of opportunity
would be open to all of God's children.
Dr. King's leadership moved Americans to examine our hearts -- to
reject what he called the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism" on the
path to racial justice -- and to live up to the ideals of our
Constitution and Declaration of Independence. America has come far in
realizing Dr. King's dream, but there is still work to be done. In
remembering Dr. King's vision and life of service, we renew our
commitment to guaranteeing the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness for all Americans.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, 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 proclaim Monday, January 19,
2004, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. I encourage all
Americans to observe this day with appropriate activities and programs
that honor the memory and legacy of Dr. King.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day
of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-eighth.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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