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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release December 9, 1997

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I congratulate the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice on its 40th Anniversary. For 40 years, the Civil Rights Division has protected the American Dream for all our people. By diligently and faithfully enforcing our civil rights laws, the lawyers and members of this division have helped all of us live closer to the ideals that lie at the heart of that dream -- freedom and equality of opportunity to work, to learn, to live and to raise our children in communities where they can thrive and grow.

Today, the task of fulfilling the promise of our civil rights laws, of keeping the American Dream alive for all citizens is far from over. That is why I have nominated an eminently qualified person to lead this division into the 21st century. Bill Lann Lee has lived the American Dream and he has dedicated his life to making the dream come alive for all Americans. Bill Lann Lee deserves to be America's next Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.

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