The White House Millennium Council was an American organization established by Executive Order 13072 in 1998 by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

as part of the then-upcoming celebrations of the start of the year 2000. The council's theme was "Honor the Past – Imagine the Future."

Council activities

The council was headed by First Lady

Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, and during a two-year period it engaged in numerous activities surrounding the millennium; for example, a

time capsule A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...

was created, which included various recordings, a state flag, a photo of

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...

, a piece of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

, a film of

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

's walk on the moon and other items. The capsule is designed to be opened in 2100, and is stored by the

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

. Students were challenged to imagine traveling to and living on Mars by 2030. The President and the First Lady hosted Millennium Evenings, a series of lectures and cultural showcases designed to highlight contributions of Americans in arts, sciences and other areas. Historian

Bernard Bailyn Bernard Bailyn (September 10, 1922 – August 7, 2020) was an American historian, author, and academic specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1953. Bailyn won the Pulitzer Pr ...

delivered the inaugural White House Millennium Lecture on the "deeper past" and the "founding of the nation."

Jack N. Rakove Jack Norman Rakove (born June 4, 1947) is an American historian, author and professor at Stanford University. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Biography Rakove was born in Chicago to Political Science Professor Milton L. Rakove (1918–1983) an ...

, Bailyn's doctoral student, had served as an advisor to

Chelsea Clinton Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clin ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. Bailyn's lecture went "straight to the point: that in our public life we Americans...live remarkably close to our past...200 years to the founding of the nation" and well before. He reminded his audience that, "despite all the differences that separate our world from the eighteenth century, we are contemporaries of Adams in venerating government but fearing power, and in protecting rights that can never be finally defined or limited in number. But we are contemporaries of our deeper past in an even more complex and profound way...The gap between the real and the ideal remains, far narrower than in Adams' and Jefferson's time, but still achingly wide."

White House Millennium Celebration

The White House Millennium Celebration on December 31, 1999 included several events, and was televised internationally.

Nathan D. Baxter Nathan Dwight Baxter (born November 16, 1948) is the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania and the 1,010 in succession in the Episcopal Church. He was elected as bishop coadjutor on July 22, 2006, and consecrated on Octobe ...

, then-Dean of Washington National Cathedral, was selected to deliver the prayer for the nation;

Terry McAuliffe Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 ...

, a friend of the Clintons, chaired a dinner celebration at the White House.Statement of William J. Clinton, December 31, 1999
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References

External links

White House Millennium Council website
{{Hillary Rodham Clinton Presidency of Bill Clinton 1998 establishments in Washington, D.C. Turn of the third millennium

Council activities

White House Millennium Celebration

See also

References

External links