PROCLAMATION 5598—JAN. 13, 1987
101 STAT. 2063
wasn't concerned about living a long life but about doing God's will. He'd been to the mountaintop, he said, and he'd seen the promised land. He said that America would reach that land, but added, "I may not get there with you." He concluded, "I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Nearly five years before. Dr. King had spoken words of solace, of reconciliation, and of promise during his eulogy for the children who had died in the bombing of their Sunday school class. He said that we must not despair, nor become bitter, nor lose faith in each other. He said that death does not end the sentence of life but "punctuates it to more lofty significance." He told the children's parents that although their daughters had not lived long, they had lived well: "Where they died and what they were doing when death came will remain a marvelous tribute to each of you and an eternal epitaph to each of them." Surely Dr. King's courageous fight for justice, equality, and brotherhood will remain his lasting epitaph and his living legacy. In a sermon on April 4, 1967, a year to the day before his murder. Dr. King quoted the famous lines from the poem, "The Present Crisis," by James Russell Lowell: "Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide;/ In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;..." Dr. King did decide for the good, and the measure of his greatness is that his Nation thereupon did likewise. By Public Law 98-144, the third Monday in January of each year has been designated as a public holiday in honor of the "Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr." NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, 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, 1987, as Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 9th day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh. RONALD REAGAN
Proclamation 5598 of January 13, 1987
Shays' Rebellion Week and Day, 1987 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation This year, Americans celebrate the bicentennial of many events relating to the drafting of our Constitution. One of those events was Shays' Rebellion. After the War of Independence, Americans continued to live under the Articles of Confederation. Problems of economic recovery and sluggish international trade clouded the horizon. In this climate of economic difficulties and
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