In 1997 President Bill Clinton established the President’s Initiative on Race (Executive Order No. 13050) as an effort to move the country closer to a stronger, unified, and more just America. He asked all Americans to become a part of a national effort to speak openly and fairly about race. President Clinton appointed historian John Hope Franklin (1915–2009) to chair a seven-member President’s Advisory Board to the initiative. It would counsel the president on ways to improve the quality of race relations in America. The board held dialogues on race across the nation and then counseled the president on improving race relations. The board’s report, “One America in the 21st Century: Forging a New Future” (1998), recommended actions to be taken to address race matters in America and set a framework for building one America.