105 STAT. 2778 PROCLAMATION 6398—DEC. 23, 1991 one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixteenth. GEORGE BUSH Proclamation 6398 of December 23, 1991 National Ellis Island Day, 1992 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation The ethnic diversity that we so proudly celebrate in the United States mirrors our rich heritage as a Nation of immigrants. "Here is not merely a Nation," wrote Walt Whitman, "but a teeming nation of nations.... Here is the hospitality which forever indicates heroes." One of the greatest symbols of American hospitality stands at Ellis Island in Upper New York Bay. A century ago, on January 1, 1892, the immigrant station on Ellis Island was opened as a gateway to America. Between 1892 and 1954, nearly 17 million immigrants entered the United States through this portal. Many sought refuge from tyranny and persecution. All sought new lives in this great land of freedom and opportunity. At Ellis Island, millions of immigrants from aroimd the world were able to look across the Bay toward our magnificent Statue of Liberty, the famed "Mother of Exiles" who lifts her lamp "beside the golden door." Dming the mass wave of immigration that spanned from 1900 to 1914, they came, especially immigrants from throughout Southern and Eastem Europe. Indeed, 100 million Americans, some 40 percent of our population, can frace their ancestry through Ellis Island. The course of immigration to this country has fluctuated throughout the history of the United States. Recent years, for example, have seen increased numbers of immigrants of Hispanic and Asian origin. But whatever their place of origin or point of entry, each generation of immigrants has bettered America. Indeed, it is fitting that the restoration of Ellis Island has constituted the largest historic renovation project in the history of the United States. After all, immigration has been one of the largest single factors in our Nation's social, cultural, and economic development. Walt Whitman aptly noted that, in the eyes of the poet, "the other continents arrive as contributions... he gives them reception for their sake and for his own sake." That has always been true, for immigrants have enriched the United States beyond measure, bringing many contributions to our society along with the imique customs and traditions of their ancestral homeland. Most important, they have shared eagerly in the hard work of freedom, helping to defend die ideals of liberty and self-government and helping to build our churches, schools, factories, farms, and railroads. Visiting Ellis Island today or seeing pictures of this place evokes strong chords in our national memory—the relief immigrants felt upon landing, the strangeness of new surroimdings, the babble of languages, the pain
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