[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3813-S3814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Shared Values

  Mr. President, that brings me to the last subject I want to discuss 
briefly today--shared values.
  The Preamble to the NATO Treaty expresses the reasons why the United 
States and its partner nations decided to create NATO. It states in 
part that ``They are determined to safeguard the freedom, common 
heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles 
of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.''
  Mr. President, those are words that resonate very well with all 
Senators, indeed with all Americans. How much those words--democracy, 
individual liberty and the rule of law--must mean to the people of 
Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic! During the twentieth century, 
those countries have faced

[[Page S3814]]

first Nazi aggression and then communist oppression. How much it means 
to their peoples to be joining an organization that is dedicated to 
safeguarding their freedom, common heritage and civilizations.
  Mr. President, I and those of my generation remember when the Red 
Army moved in and crushed the Hungarian freedom fighters in 1956. Many 
Hungarian refugees fled to my home state and were present when we 
greeted Cardinal Mindszenty in Detroit after his release from the 
United States Embassy in Budapest in 1971, where he had spent more than 
15 years. More recently, we watched with admiration as the Solidarity-
led movement of Lech Walesa guided Poland to democracy. Many Polish-
American families and indeed all of us took great pride in Solidarity's 
success in helping to bring down the Soviet Empire. In Czechoslovakia, 
former dissident playwright Vaclav Havel, who was named President in 
December 1989, guided first Czechoslovakia and then, after the split, 
the Czech Republic with a steady hand ever since. My wife Barbara and I 
were visiting Prague after Vaclav Havel had been elected but before he 
assumed the office of the presidency. We recall with admiration and 
draw inspiration from the memory of the people of Prague massing to 
ensure that the election results were upheld and how they escorted 
Vaclav Havel to the castle where he would assume his office. Some of 
the most powerful blows that eventually demolished the Berlin wall were 
struck by the brave people of these three nations. They laid their 
lives on the line to bring down the Soviet empire and to promote 
democratic values. I am confident that they, having experienced tyranny 
first hand, can be counted on to do what is necessary to protect 
freedom recently regained.
  Mr. President, President Havel put it this way:

       Our wish to become a NATO member grows out of a desire to 
     shoulder some responsibility for the general state of affairs 
     on our continent. We don't want to take without giving. We 
     want an active role in the defense of European peace and 
     democracy. Too often, we have had direct experience of where 
     indifference to the fate of others can lead, and we are 
     determined not to succumb to that kind of indifference 
     ourselves.

  Mr. President, if we reject the accession of Poland, Hungary and the 
Czech Republic to the NATO Alliance, we will be effectively dimming the 
flame of liberty that sustained these courageous peoples through 
decades of first Nazi and then communist darkness.