[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 94 (Monday, June 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S6752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ANNIVERSARY OF THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM

 Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, a very special advisor brought 
to my attention an article that I ask to place in the Record. My 
counsellor on matters of foreign policy is not only the highly 
distinguished former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 
and Senator from Illinois, Senator Charles Percy, he also is my one and 
only father-in-law. I continue to be indebted to him for both his sage 
advice and the familial bond we share.
  Recently, former Senator Percy shared the following article that 
appeared on June 14, 1996 in The Christian Science Monitor. Authored by 
former Vice-President Walter Mondale, who serves as the current U.S. 
Ambassador to Japan, it commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 
Fulbright Program.
  I want to draw the attention of my colleagues and other readers to 
this fine essay on the value of this unique international exchange 
program. With the Fulbright Program's emphasis on excellence in 
scholarship and studies, this effort creates and nurtures relations 
between America's bright, curious, and energetic citizens and their 
counterparts in other countries. It breaks through the barriers that 
otherwise cause ignorance, prejudice, misunderstandings, and the 
dangers of war and other violence. There is simply no substitute for 
the opportunity of individuals around the world to learn from one 
another.
  The Fulbright Program is not a luxury for America. It is a necessary 
part of an effective foreign policy for the world's economic leader and 
superpower. As we celebrate its anniversary, this article reminds us 
that its future will be the course for Americans to continue promoting 
peace and the ties that benefit our own country along with the rest of 
the world.
  The article follows:

                  [From the Christian Science Monitor]

               The Grand Vision of the Fulbright Program

                          (By Walter Mondale)

       Since becoming ambassador to Japan three years ago, I have 
     directly experienced the enormous benefits of people-to-
     people exchange. It is a process I now consider one of the 
     vital tools of American international policy. My experience 
     in Japan has elevated me from just a believer in 
     international exchange to a true believer.
       The Fulbright Program, which turns 50 this year, is the 
     flagship of scholarly exchange programs. Its universal renown 
     attests to its extraordinary long-term impact on 
     international relations.
       Congress established the program in 1946 ``to increase 
     mutual understanding between the people of the United States 
     and the people of other countries.'' My friend J. William 
     Fulbright (D) of Arkansas, a strong-willed senator of rare 
     vision, introduced the legislation two weeks after the 
     nuclear age blasted its imprint on history at Hiroshima. At 
     the time he called it ``a modest program with an immodest 
     aim.''
       Over the past several years, we have taken special note of 
     many 50th anniversaries, often in a spirit of somber 
     commemoration: the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Iwo 
     Jima, the Battle of Okinawa, and the atomic bombings of 
     Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first half of the 20th century 
     was battered by two world wars, and as the curtain rose on 
     the second half, a war-weary US went to battle once again in 
     Asia while the world drew itself into two armed camps.
       Appalled by war's tragic human cost, Bill Fulbright's 
     ``immodest aim'' was no less than ``the humanizing of 
     international relations . . . to the point that men can learn 
     to live in peace--eventually even to cooperate in 
     constructive activities rather than compete in a mindless 
     contest of mutual destruction. . . .'' During this 50th-
     anniversary year of Fulbright's program, as we celebrate the 
     global reach of his vision, we properly hail his ``immodest'' 
     achievement.
       In its early years in Japan, the program focuses on 
     bringing outstanding students of the postwar generation of 
     young Japanese to experience US social institutions and 
     democracy. The results are found everywhere: United Nations 
     Undersecretary-General Yasushi Akashi was a Fulbrighter. So 
     were seven current members of the Diet, the presidents of two 
     of Japan's largest banks, and more than 5,000 others who have 
     carried their experience of American life back to Japanese 
     colleges, government offices, businesses, and civic 
     organizations.
       The US and Japan reap great benefits from our harmonious 
     bilateral relations, and we share a common stake in global 
     security and stability. Our relationship is solid. But our 
     societies are so profoundly different in so many basic areas 
     that it requires great effort for us to understand each 
     other.
       As in so many endeavors, those who acquire the tools early 
     achieve the most success. The history professor from Kysuhu 
     University who as a young scholar spent a year in Columbus, 
     Ohio, teaches his students with deeper insights than one who 
     has not had that experience. The recent New York University 
     graduate living for a year with a family near Osaka will 
     return to New York to pursue a law career that will take a 
     much different direction than had she never experienced 
     Japan. Such seemingly commonplace events, multiplied many 
     times over, bring extraordinary benefits to our relations.
       The Fulbright Program is enormously popular in Japan. When 
     Senator Fulbright died last year, hundreds of former 
     Fulbrighters gathered for an elegant memorial service, and 
     virtually every newspaper ran an appreciative story lauding 
     the educational and cultural benefits bestowed on so many 
     Japanese.
       In recent years, the proportion of American Fulbrighters 
     relative to that of Japanese has grown considerably; so has 
     the Japanese financial contribution. The Japanese government 
     now funds the bi-national program at approximately twice the 
     level of the US. And Japanese alumni continue to make a 
     generous annual donation, which is devoted to bringing recent 
     US college graduates to Japan.
       There are many ways to study abroad but the Fulbright 
     Program stands alone. Practically everyone in Japan knows 
     about it, and what it has meant to this country. Its 
     marvelous reputation has been earned not simply by the 
     scholastic achievements of its outstanding participants, but 
     also because Fulbrighters see themselves as students, 
     lecturers, or researchers abroad who are part of a noble, 
     larger purpose.
       Fulbright once said, ``Man's struggle to be rational about 
     himself, about his relationship to his own society and the 
     other peoples and nations involves a constant search for 
     understanding among all peoples and cultures--a search that 
     can only be effective when learning is pursued on a worldwide 
     basis.''
       Some say that the cold war's end has drained the urgency 
     from international exchanges. It's simply not so. The need to 
     educate citizens who have international experience and who 
     can communicate and establish relationships across borders is 
     more compelling than ever.
       In the US, we have entered what US Information Agency 
     director Joseph Duffey calls ``an era of frugal diplomacy.'' 
     Our government must consider with care the cost-effectiveness 
     of what it does. Judged by that standard, there are few 
     programs that serve our long-term international-relations 
     goals as fully and effectively--yet as inexpensively--as the 
     Fulbright Program.
       As Americans with a stake in our relations with the rest of 
     the world, and particularly with Japan, we will be well 
     served if our political leaders continue their support of 
     Bill Fulbright's vision.
       (Former Vice President Walter Mondale is the US ambassador 
     to Japan.)

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