[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 157 (Tuesday, November 9, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H11763-H11769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING FREEDOM DAY

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 223) expressing the sense of the 
Congress regarding Freedom Day.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 223

       Whereas on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down 
     by those whom it had imprisoned;
       Whereas the fall of the Berlin Wall has become the 
     preeminent symbol of the end of the Cold War;
       Whereas the Cold War, at its essence, was a struggle for 
     human freedom;
       Whereas the end of the Cold War was brought about in large 
     measure by the dedication, sacrifice, and discipline of 
     Americans and many other peoples around the world united in 
     their opposition to Soviet Communism;
       Whereas freedom's victory in the Cold War against Soviet 
     Communism is the crowning achievement of the free world's 
     long 20th century struggle against totalitarianism; and
       Whereas it is highly appropriate to remind Americans, 
     particularly those in their formal educational years, that 
     America paid the price and bore the burden to ensure the 
     survival of liberty on this planet: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) a Freedom Day should be celebrated each year in the 
     United States; and
       (2) the United States should join with other nations, 
     specifically including those which liberated themselves to 
     help end the Cold War, to establish a global holiday called 
     Freedom Day.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman).
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be associated with this 
worthy initiative, H. Con. Res. 223 by the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), which 
recognizes this important 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin 
Wall.
  The Berlin landmark was the most infamous symbol of the Cold War in 
Europe. It ran like a scar across one of Europe's grandest cities that 
had enjoyed a reputation for openness, for cultural innovation and 
flair. Tragically, that wall carved Berlin into two separate cities, 
its western half, a beacon of hope and freedom; its eastern half, a 
gray manifestation of Communist tyranny.
  It is important that we recall the reasons that the regime of East 
Germany finally felt compelled to erect that wall, not to keep people 
out of the Communist ``paradise,'' but to keep people in, to prevent 
them voting with their feet. Tragically, too many people died when they 
refused to let the wall impede them in their quest for freedom.
  Ten years ago today, the Wall fell. The weight of the Communist 
system became too much for it to sustain. At that moment, the wisdom of 
President Ronald Reagan, when he appealed two years earlier to 
Gorbachev to ``tear down this wall'' and other leaders of the West, 
that led to the collapse of Communism in Europe was ratified.
  It is hoped that our government will enlist all of the nations that 
benefited from Communism's demise to establish this date as Freedom 
Day. We owe that to the thousands of men and women in this Nation and 
in other nations who sacrificed everything to make freedom in Europe a 
reality.
  Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this 
measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cox) be entitled to control the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.
  I want to commend my friend and colleague, the gentleman from the New 
York (Mr. Gilman) and my friend and colleague, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cox), for bringing this measure before the House. Of 
course, I rise in strong support of this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, some of us lived through this period from the 
establishment of the Berlin Wall to its collapse, and these two 
bookends, in a sense, cover basically the period of the Cold War.
  I think it is instructive to begin our discussion of this issue by 
recognizing that the Berlin Wall is probably the only wall ever built 
in history not to keep the enemy out, but to see to it that the people 
behind the wall do not escape. The collapse of the Wall symbolized the 
collapse of the Soviet empire, and it indicated the end of the Third 
World War, which the West won without firing a single shot.
  What is most remarkable about our victory, Mr. Speaker, is that it 
was a fully bipartisan victory. It began with the farsighted visionary 
and pragmatic measures of a Democratic President, Harry Truman; and it 
concluded during the powerful leadership of President Ronald Reagan who 
did, in fact, call to have the Wall removed. And from Truman to Reagan, 
this remarkable era represented one of the most impressive bipartisan 
periods of foreign policy in the history of the United States.
  But it was not only our victory. It was the victory of our allies 
across Europe who joined together in NATO, the most impressive 
defensive military alliance the world had ever seen, to resist Soviet 
and Communist expansion, and it was the victory of the countless heroes 
behind the Iron Curtain who gave their lives so that others might live 
in freedom and democracy.
  Usually, suspension bills can be easily handled with 40 minutes of 
discussion and debate. This topic would require 40 hours to begin to 
pay proper tribute to the countless men and women in this country and 
abroad who fought for the cause of freedom and whom we honor by 
establishing a day of freedom, a global holiday on November 9.
  Let me just single out a few people who deserve special recognition. 
I suggest, Mr. Speaker, that the Berlin Wall would still stand, the 
Soviet Union would still be in existence if it had not been for the 
farsighted and courageous leadership of Mr. Gorbachev in recognizing 
that the Soviet Union had lost

[[Page H11764]]

the Cold War, that to continue the suppression of tens of millions of 
people by military force was doomed to defeat and was 
counterproductive. He deserves full credit along with the others I 
mentioned and countless others whom we do not have time to discuss this 
afternoon. But without Mikail Gorbachev's recognition that Russia and 
the Soviet Union must move along different lines, we would not be here 
celebrating Freedom Day, November 9.

                              {time}  1730

  We need to pay tribute to the freedom fighters in Hungary in 1956, 
who, against overwhelming odds, demonstrated their commitment to 
freedom. We are here to pay tribute to the people who led the Prague 
Spring of 1968, when for the first time there was a determined effort 
to put an end to Communist dictatorship in the Czechoslovak Republic.
  We are here to pay tribute to individual men and women throughout the 
countries behind the Iron Curtain who, with their dedication and 
devotion to freedom, have made this day possible. We are here to pay 
tribute to the dissidents and refusniks in the Soviet Union who, under 
unbearably impossible conditions, persevered in their dedication to 
democratic principles.
  From the walled cities of Europe to the Great Wall of China, walls 
have always kept the enemy out. The Berlin Wall, and we celebrate its 
collapse 10 years ago today, the Berlin Wall was built to keep people 
in, to prevent them from escaping.
  We have succeeded in making Europe whole, free, democratic, and at 
peace. While the task is certainly not completed, as the events in 
Yugoslavia in the last few years so clearly demonstrate, we have come a 
long way in creating a stable and peaceful Europe, prepared to meet the 
challenges of the 21st century.
  In paying tribute to Republican leaders and Democratic leaders, as 
well known as presidents and as unknown as ordinary people, who 
believed that people on both sides of the Iron Curtain were yearning to 
live in freedom and dignity and peace, we are paying tribute to the 
finest traditions of western civilization.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos).
  Mr. Speaker, it is very important that Congress take time, as we are 
doing just now, to recognize what is truly important and transcendent 
and what, on the other hand, is perhaps urgent, perhaps requiring us to 
devote our time because it is our work-a-day business here, but not 
nearly so important in the lives of American citizens and citizens 
around the world as what we are doing here today, remembering, in part, 
and looking forward, even more importantly, in greater part. So that by 
remembering, we will always be free.
  It was, as the preceding speakers have pointed out, 10 years ago to 
the day that the Berlin Wall was taken down. It did not fall, it was 
taken down by the people imprisoned behind it, with the help of people 
around the world.
  In this Chamber, as I have pointed out on many occasions to visitors 
to the Capitol from California and elsewhere, we have only two 
paintings. They have been part of the furnishings of the House Chamber 
for some time.
  One of them is an American, the father of our country, George 
Washington. The other is a foreigner, a Frenchman, the Marquis de 
Lafayette, who serves, I believe, as a reminder to us that our 
democracy would not be here without foreign assistance.
  The people of Central Europe and the people of Russia and the former 
captive nations waged their own struggle against Soviet communism, but 
they would not be free today without help from others, including, in 
major part, the people of the United States of America.
  We will never know how many people perished behind the Iron Curtain, 
but estimates are 70 million souls lost their lives to communism. The 
Berlin Wall, which was a 13-foot high structure of concrete and tangled 
barbed wire, stretched for 103 miles and symbolized the difference 
between freedom and totalitarianism, the difference between democracy 
and free enterprise that we enjoyed on our side of the Berlin Wall, and 
communism, Soviet-style, East German style, that people were required 
to live under on the other side.
  Mr. Speaker, this 13-foot high 103-mile wall topped with barbed wire 
symbolized the great abiding differences between the two chief systems 
of the world, communism and its antonym, freedom. The Berlin Wall was 
called by Germans ``the wall of shame,'' and indeed, 77 Germans lost 
their lives trying to get out. They were murdered trying to make their 
way to the light of freedom in the West.
  There are many red letter dates in the history of the Cold War that 
in victory was symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1948, 
Harry Truman ordered the Berlin Airlift, ensuring that the people of 
West Berlin would resist the Stalinist siege. In 1991, 2 years after 
the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union collapsed.
  There is another red letter date in this history. It is the future 
date when the last Communist tyrants in Beijing, Hanoi, Pyongyang, 
Belgrade, and Havana are off the world's stage. But that fight remains 
for us today.
  The most memorable date of all that we commemorate now is that date 
exactly 10 years ago, November 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall came 
tumbling down. I was in Berlin 10 years ago and watched this process of 
physical dismantlement, and what an amazing metaphor, and actually 
stepped through a hole in the Berlin Wall.
  In 1977, more than a decade earlier, the former Governor of 
California, later to become the President of the United States, talked 
to a man who would one day become his national security adviser, and it 
was Ronald Reagan conversing with Richard Allen.
  He told Richard Allen, history records, ``My idea of American policy 
toward the Soviet Union is simple. It is this: We win and they lose.'' 
That approach, begun by Harry Truman, carried throughout the rest of 
the 20th century until the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, at the 
conclusion of the Reagan presidency and the beginning of the Bush 
administration, was a visible, tangible symbol and representation of 
American resolve to win that fight, and it was a war.
  When President Reagan took office, the Soviet Union had already 
invaded Afghanistan, the communists had declared martial law in Poland, 
and the United States responded with strength. We imposed sanctions on 
the regime in Poland, and indeed, on the entire Warsaw Pact and Russia, 
cutting back on technology, never granting them most-favored-nation 
trade status.
  In 1983, NATO showed its solidarity, showed that it would not be 
divided by Soviet designs, when, against massive popular protests in 
the United Kingdom and in Germany, Prime Minister Thatcher and 
Chancellor Helmut Kohl agreed to accept the deployment of intermediate 
range missiles on their territory deployed by the United States.
  Three years later at Iceland, at Reykjavik, when I was working for 
President Reagan in the White House, President Reagan told his 
counterpart, Mr. Gorbachev, that the strategic defense initiative, the 
right and the obligation of the West to defend itself, would not be set 
aside. There would not be an arms control agreement that would have the 
direct consequence of permitting the Soviet military comfort and 
continued life.
  That same year President Reagan agreed to provide shoulder-fired 
Stinger missiles to the rebels in Afghanistan, fighting the Red Army. 
It was thought at the time that no one could defeat the Red Army, but 
just a few years later that is exactly what happened, and another big 
chunk of the Soviet empire fell apart.
  When one recounts the popular movements and the life-threatening 
risks that were taken in order to defeat Soviet communism, one recalls 
Charter 77 in Czechoslavakia and the leadership of such men and women 
as Vaclav Havel. We remember the Solidarity movement in Poland, and the 
leadership of such extraordinary people as Lech Walesa. We remember 
people like Vytautas Landsbergis and the Sajudis movement in Lithuania.
  It was my opportunity to travel to those countries to meet with those 
people; to meet, indeed, with a man who eventually would become the 
President

[[Page H11765]]

of Hungary, Arpad Goncz. We have to recall that it was Hungary that 
accepted the refugees through the Berlin Wall that began to, more than 
anything, strike at the very foundations of the wall itself and 
everything that it stood for, ultimately the collapse of the Soviet 
Union.
  We, with this House concurrent resolution, are working with our 
colleagues in the other body to do more than just speak today on the 
10th anniversary so that we in this body will pay due attention to an 
important milestone in the history of freedom and the advance of 
freedom around the world. We are also asking our government to work 
with governments around the world to establish a freedom day that will 
perennially recognize the victory of the free world over communism in 
the Cold War, and remind us that freedom requires us to be ever 
vigilant.
  There are a number of Members who wish to speak on this resolution. I 
wish to recognize Members not in this body who are responsible for 
advancing this legislation. Specifically, I would like to recognize Ben 
Wattenburg with the American Enterprise Institute, a veteran of the 
administrations of Presidents Johnson, Reagan, and Bush, who has 
written amply on this topic, and I think done as much as any single 
individual to move us to this action.
  I would also like to point out that the Senate majority leader 
strongly supports this legislation, as does Senator Lieberman, who will 
be moving the companion in the other body.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but comment on the many things that come 
back to memory, listening to my colleague, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cox).
  The distinguished Democratic leader, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Gephardt) and I were at the wall as it was destroyed physically, and it 
was our great pleasure to participate in the physical destruction of 
the Berlin Wall, which clearly is one of the highlights of my life, and 
I am sure that of the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt).
  Mr. Speaker, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to yield 4 minutes 
to my colleague and friend, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).
  (Mr. KIND asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. KIND. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos), one of the most preeminent defenders of human 
rights and freedom in this body, for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise as a proud supporter of this resolution, which 
commemorates the 10-year anniversary of one of the most astounding 
historical events of the 20th century, the fall of the Berlin Wall and 
the collapse of communism throughout Central Europe.

                              {time}  1745

  What started out as a trickle, Solidarity's victories in Poland 
during June of 1989, Hungary opening up its border with Austria later 
that summer, led to a deluge of East Germans flooding across the Berlin 
Wall. And a few weeks after that, the Velvet Revolution in 
Czechoslovakia took place. And no one could predict these events and no 
one knew how to react to these events.
  One of my most cherished possessions that I still keep here in 
Washington with me on my desk is this chunk of the Berlin Wall. It 
still has graffiti painted on it. Coincidentally, it is shaped like the 
State of Wisconsin. But it is a chunk that I personally whacked out of 
the Berlin Wall on October 3, 1990, during the reunification 
celebration when I was over there as a student traveling throughout 
Central Europe.
  This came at a crucial time in my life, Mr. Speaker. As a third year 
law student, I was watching these historical events unfold with rapt 
attention like the rest of the world was, but I was feeling a little 
bit disillusioned, and a little bit cynical about our own political 
process here in this country. So I decided a few months after the 
revolution had taken place to travel through Central Europe to visit 
the European capitals, live out of a backpack, survive on cheese and 
bread during that time and see firsthand these remarkable changes 
taking place.
  I met when I was traveling through there the real heroes in my mind 
of the revolutions and the changes that took place. They were students 
such as myself about my age who had literally, on the front lines of 
the demonstrations, literally looking down the barrel of communist guns 
and facing Soviet tanks, not knowing whether they were going to succeed 
or whether this was going to turn into a massacre. They knew their 
countries' individual histories. 1968, Prague Spring. 1956, Hungary 
when the communist authorities did in fact crack down. And as history 
later showed during the Velvet Revolution, the Politburo voted 5 to 4 
not to use force to bring down the demonstrations. One vote could have 
made all the difference in Prague during that fall of 1989.
  Mr. Speaker, I asked many of these students what they remembered most 
about those demonstrations and the events and they said two things: How 
terribly cold it was as they were maintaining candlelight vigils all 
night long, and the fear that they felt, again not knowing whether or 
not the military was going to open fire on them. But perhaps the most 
important wall that fell in that region to make this all possible was 
not even visible. It was the wall of fear that fell. And we cannot 
overestimate the role that fear does play in any totalitarian or 
authoritarian regime to keep them in power.
  But this was made possible because Mikhail Gorbachev, as the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) already indicated, changed the 
dynamics in the region by denouncing the use of force in order to keep 
communist governments in power; by pursuing his policies of glasnost 
and perestroika, the general opening of information and ideas in these 
regions. It diminished the fear and empowered people to have the 
courage to demand change.
  Perhaps it is the greatest magnificent irony that one of the most 
oppressive communist regimes in that area, Czechoslovakia, would later 
be led by former poets and playwrights. Vaclav Havel, the first 
democratically elected President in Czechoslovakia, was a former 
playwright himself. The first democratically elected president since 
Masaryk and Edvard Benes just before the Second World War.
  He was the founder of Charter 77, the moral blueprint for change in 
the area, and also founded the Civic Forum that gave the people in 
Czechoslovakia the political alternative to the communist regime, but 
not before he was imprisoned on four separate occasions. In fact, 
during one of those imprisonments he was on his deathbed, literally. 
The communist authorities did not want a martyr on their hands, so they 
went to him and said, ``Listen, the people who give out the Obie Award 
will allow you to direct your own play in New York and get proper 
medical attention.'' And he said, ``I just have one question. If I go, 
will you allow me back in?'' And they could not give that assurance and 
so he refused. The rest, as we say, is now history.
  But in conclusion, I just want to pay a special tribute and wish a 
special happy 10-year anniversary to those students who really were on 
the front lines and showed through their courage that there are causes 
and ideals greater than one's self that are worth risking everything 
for. So on this day, my thoughts and my memories go to many of those 
students who I personally had a chance to meet and who inspired me to 
get involved in public service when I did return to the United States.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence), chairman of the Committee 
on Armed Services.
  (Mr. SPENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Speaker, it is entirely proper that we observe this 
anniversary of the wall coming down in Berlin and the later end of the 
Cold War. I think it is appropriate too that we reflect on how this 
came about.
  Mr. Speaker, the Cold War took up a large space in our history of 
this country. We faced many hardships during this war. But the policy 
that made the end of the Cold War come to an end is something that we 
should reflect on and learn a lesson from.
  We fought communism all over the world. We helped other people to 
fight

[[Page H11766]]

communism. We engaged in something people criticized us for: An arms 
race. An arms race. The arms race was a big part of the policy that 
allowed us to win that war.
  A strategic defense initiative by President Reagan, something we have 
been working on ever since that time, played a big part in that policy 
and the end of that Cold War.
  In essence, the communists could not keep up with our free market 
economy and the freedoms we have in this country. They could not keep 
up, and so the war came to an end, the Cold War.
  But my concern today is that we have not learned from that 
experience. There are many lessons to be learned from it. We have not 
learned from it. We have made the same mistakes we made after every 
conflict we have ever been involved in. We have cut back too much, and 
the result is that we are not prepared today adequately to defend this 
country against all of the threats we have today with us.
  Mr. Speaker, mark my word, we are living in a very dangerous world 
today. As a matter of fact, it is more dangerous than during the Cold 
War because we still have the Cold War threats of nuclear warfare plus 
now we have threats of weapons of mass destruction. And I might point 
out that we are unprepared to defend against either. Intercontinental 
ballistic missiles and nuclear warfare and theater missile defenses 
against theater missiles and all the weapons of mass destruction.
  A new study is out showing that in the future, this country will be 
subject to attack on American soil and Americans will die in large 
numbers on American soil. We have had other places to fight in the 
past, and we face this kind of a future and, Mr. Speaker, if we do not 
return to the Reagan policy of peace through strength, we will not be 
able to face this kind of a threat in the future.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. McNulty), my friend and colleague. He has been an 
indefatigable fighter on behalf of freedom during his service in this 
body.
  Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos) for yielding me this time, and I thank both of my friends from 
California for bringing this resolution to the floor. I strongly 
support it.
  Mr. Speaker, 1989 was a wondrous year to be alive, and the events 
which we celebrate actually started in Poland. After many years of 
struggle during which Lech Walesa and his followers spent their time 
under martial law, house arrest, or actually in jail, democracy 
prevailed in the great nation of Poland.
  And then, as others have said, the movement quickly spread throughout 
Eastern Europe. I will never forget as long as I live the specter of 
Erich Honecker, then the leader of East Germany, standing up before the 
world and making this pronouncement: ``This is where it stops. It shall 
not happen here,'' meaning the democracy movement.
  Within weeks of his making that statement, he was no longer the 
leader of East Germany. He was replaced by Egon Krenz, who decided to 
adopt the ``moderate hard line,'' which roughly translated meant they 
were going to try to appease the democracy movement but preserve the 
communist system. He too was quickly dispatched, and we know the rest 
of the story.
  Mr. Speaker, I was at The Berlin Wall when the people were out there 
with their hammers and chisels tearing it down piece by piece. You can 
imagine how I felt, this child of the Cold War, brought up in Green 
Island, New York, population 2,500, taught by the good sisters of St. 
Joseph who had a monthly drill where we were required to drop to the 
floor, get under our desks and prepare for the air raids by our 
totalitarian enemies. And that had an impact on me, Mr. Speaker. One 
day I would be thinking about my hopes and dreams and aspirations and 
how I wanted to be like my father and go into public service, and the 
next day we would have one of these drills and I was scared. It had a 
tremendous impact on me to think that some world leader somewhere could 
make a decision which would end humankind as we knew it.
  Mr. Speaker, I am grateful that I have lived to see the day when my 
four daughters and my three grandchildren and young people all over the 
world can look forward to growing up in a more peaceful world.
  As I was standing at the Berlin Wall watching it being torn down, I 
knew I was present for a great moment in history. I felt like the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind). I wanted some commemoration of 
that. I noticed as people were chipping away at the wall and the pieces 
were falling they would catch them and put them in their pockets as 
little mementos. And I said to myself, I think I would like to do that. 
Already, capitalism being in evidence, there were vendors out there 
selling pieces of the Berlin Wall. Ever the skeptic, I said ``how do I 
know that those pieces came off the wall?'' So I looked around and 
capitalism being further in evidence, there was a guy walking back and 
forth with hammers and chisels renting them out. So I went over with my 
military escort who spoke German and we made a deal and I paid some 
money and I grabbed a hammer and chisel and did what the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos) did. I chipped away at that wall and helped 
tear it down and brought back some of those pieces to give them to 
veterans of our Armed Forces who I knew would cherish them.
  I later went through Checkpoint Charlie, or the remnants of it, and 
talked to people in East Berlin and was just totally amazed by what 
they were telling me about what was happening. I came back to the other 
side. I was to be briefed by our commanding general, and before he 
could say anything to me I started talking and I could not stop talking 
about how excited I was at what I had just heard and witnessed. He just 
said to me: ``Mike, I wish you were with me the first day they opened 
up free access through Checkpoint Charlie. They had a ceremony and 
everybody was lined up on our side and as the people came through from 
East Berlin, they were very polite to the politicians and other 
diplomats that were in the line. But they saw my uniform and they came 
to me and one after another, they told me, `You tell your government, 
but particularly you tell your soldiers, how grateful we are for their 
vigilance through the years. Had it not been for their vigilance, we 
would not be enjoying this new freedom today.' ''
  Mr. Speaker, at that moment in my life I was never more proud to be 
an American.

                              {time}  1800

  So, to me, Mr. Speaker, it is no coincidence that Freedom Day is so 
close to Veterans' Day. We should remember what happened after those 
events, too, namely the breakup of the Soviet Union into individual 
democratic republics. I was in one of them on their Independence Day: 
Armenia. What a great thrill it was to be with them the day after their 
referendum as they danced and sang--(the gentleman from New York spoke 
in Armenian), long live free and independent Armenia.
  Let us remember all that, but especially let us remember the soldiers 
who are responsible for the freedom that is enjoyed now by hundreds of 
millions of people around the world who had been denied it all their 
lives.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). The gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cox) has 4 minutes remaining, and the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos) has 1 minute remaining.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, we have only four speakers remaining. I ask 
unanimous consent that each side be given 2 additional minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from 
Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. Speaker, I regret that there is not more time to 
discuss a very important and historical day, the 10th anniversary of 
the fall of the Berlin Wall. Like the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
McNulty), I am a member of that baby boom generation who remembers 
Khrushchev pounding his shoe, fallout shelters, and all of the images 
of the Cold War. We wondered if Eastern Europe would ever be free and 
if international Communism would ever be ended.

[[Page H11767]]

  So I am pleased to take part in this debate today. We have already 
heard the names of a number of individuals who have participated over 
time in bringing about the end of European Communism.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) mentioned President Truman 
and President Reagan. Certainly we should not forget that there were 
even members of the Reagan administration who, during that time, were 
worried about President Reagan using terms such as ``evil empire'' or 
saying, ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.'' They urged him not to 
do so, but thank goodness President Reagan was strong and was one of 
those people who enabled us to be having this celebration today.
  I want to take just a moment to honor the name of another anti-
Communist hero, Whittaker Chambers. I have just been reading the book, 
Witness, the autobiography of this courageous individual who had the 
fortitude to come forward, to name names, to risk his family, his 
finances, his future, and even his freedom to say that there were 
Communists in our own Federal Government and to play a crucial roll in 
the fight against international Communist tyranny.
  I think, while we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the falling 
of the Wall, we should also remember the name of Whittaker Chambers, 
and I honor his memory today.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cunningham).
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, those two words, Cold War, are chilling 
to the millions of people that never knew freedom before the Wall fell. 
Many U.S. citizens have never known a socialist or Communist regime, 
although many Americans gave their lives and efforts to remove just a 
small symbol and a barrier to that freedom.
  I would like to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox). I want to thank them deeply 
for the men and the women that they spoke about that fought for this 
challenge. But I would say to my friends that these same men and women 
would challenge us to continue the fight for an invisible, but a real 
wall to freedom of a socialist and Communist ideology that enslaves 
freedom itself.
  The former Soviet Union and China, in my opinion, are bitter enemies 
of the United States. Does that mean we need not engage them? No. Firm 
diplomacy, fair trade, not just trade, and even a big stick at times. 
But peace through strength is a hollow cry for many of those that 
brought down the Wall. For those that are aware of our military today 
know that that Wall would not fall under peace through strength with 
our military.
  It is a challenge that all of us in this House, both Republicans and 
Democrats and Independents, should fight for on a very bipartisan 
basis.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I ask the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos) if he would agree to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht).
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht).
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Lantos), the ranking member, for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, words have meaning. Ideas matter. Actions have 
consequences. About the time the solidarity movement began to take root 
in Poland, the Roman Catholic Cardinals sort of shocked the world, and 
they elected a Roman Catholic Cardinal from Poland to become the new 
Pope.
  As the solidarity movement gained strength, there was fear that the 
Soviets would actually send military forces to bring down that movement 
in Poland. The new Pope sent word to the Soviets that, if the Soviets 
invaded his native Poland, he would be there to meet them. Words have 
meaning.
  Then later, our President Reagan went to Europe; and against the 
advice of some of his advisors, he used those very harsh words, he 
talked about that evil empire; and he talked about the ash heap of 
history. Words have meaning.
  Then later, when President Reagan went to Berlin and he said, ``Mr. 
Gorbachev, if you mean what you say about Glasnost and Perestroika,'' 
he said, ``Mr. Gorbachev, come to Berlin and tear down this Wall.'' 
Now, those words were barely reported here in the Western press, but 
they thundered across Eastern Europe. Those words alone began to build 
up the momentum in Eastern Europe.
  So we can celebrate today the 10-year anniversary and, in some 
respects, the anniversary of the real victory of all of those veterans 
we sent to Europe. But back in World War II, we sent 16\1/2\ million 
people to fight that war. They came back, and it was not really 
concluded because half of Europe was still enslaved.
  This is a great victory for all Americans. It is a great victory for 
the people of the world. I am delighted we are moving forward with this 
resolution.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, with the agreement of the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos), I ask him to yield 1 minute to the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Miller).
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Miller).
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, this is a special occasion today 
for us to be here on the 10th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin 
Wall because it symbolizes a victory in the Cold War which dominated us 
in this 20th century, for the second half of the 20th century.
  Some of the kids are now learning in the history books what so many 
of us lived through back in the 1950s and 1960s and 1970s and 1980s.
  It is very special to celebrate, but also to say thanks to the 
millions of Americans and millions around the world that helped fight 
for freedom and democracy against the Communist evil empire, as 
President Reagan used to call it.
  Unlike victories in World War II and World War I where we had a 
signing, this was a gradual victory; and it is not totally over because 
we still have Communist dictators in the world in North Korea and Cuba.
  But the thing is we have a victory that we need to celebrate and to 
say thanks. That is why this today is a special occasion. Those 
photographs in the paper of President Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev and 
Helmut Kohl over in Berlin brings back vividly the sacrifice that was 
made. So thanks to everyone that contributed to this great great 
victory.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf), a distinguished leader in the Congressional Human 
Rights Caucus who has for years advanced the cause of freedom, to 
conclude the debate on this legislation.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I saw the Berlin Wall the first time in 1982. 
It was moving. I am honored to have this opportunity in support of this 
resolution to have the 10th anniversary but also for Freedom Day.
  People say the Berlin Wall fell down. The Berlin Wall did not fall 
down. The Berlin Wall was pushed down. Ronald Reagan pushed the Berlin 
Wall down when he gave the evil empire speech. The Pope helped push the 
Wall down. Lane Kirkland of the AFL-CIO when he gave money to Lech 
Walesa and solidarity helped push the Wall down. Natan Shiransky, when 
he got out of gulag 35 and a Russian said walk straight across the 
bridge, zigzagged back and forth against the bridge in defiance of the 
Soviet Union. Natan Shiransky helped push the Wall down. Elena Bonner 
helped push the Wall down. Zacharov helped push the Wall down.
  Whittaker Chambers, the gentleman from Mississippi, when Whittaker 
Chambers wrote in the book Witness, he said, ``When I left the 
Communist party, I believed that I was leaving the winning side and 
joining the losing side, and nothing I saw has made me think that I was 
wrong.'' Whittaker Chambers was wrong on this point, and Ronald Reagan 
was right on this point. In fairness to Members on both sides of the 
aisle in strong support of anti-Communism was right.
  Lastly, in honor of Colonel Nicholson who was the last member of the 
military. It was a military designated in West Berlin who was killed by 
the Soviets in East Berlin. We honor him with this resolution.
  I want my children to remember. I want my grandchildren to remember. 
I

[[Page H11768]]

want everyone to remember. The Berlin Wall did not fall. These people 
pushed it down.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) 
has 1\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, in concluding this debate, we need to remind ourselves 
that, as we rejoice in the 10th anniversary of the collapse of the 
symbol of tyranny, the Berlin Wall, that the battle is not yet fully 
won. There are dictators in Tehran. There are dictators in Baghdad. 
There are dictators in North Korea. There are dictators in Belgrade.
  Our job will not be finished until every single man, woman, and child 
on the face of this planet will be able to practice his religion, speak 
his mind, be able to travel freely, be able to join associations of his 
own choosing, political parties or otherwise.
  We have come a long way. The Soviet Union is nothing but a bad 
memory. But dictatorial regimes still exist. Freedom Day, as we will 
celebrate it, will not be fully a reality until in every single 
country, from the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to the Milosevic- 
controlled Yugoslavia, will be able to live and breathe freely. We hope 
that this body will then again proclaim freedom and Freedom Day on 
November 9 for all the inhabitants of this planet.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).
  (Mr. WICKER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks, and include extraneous material.)
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. Speaker, this morning, a very thoughtful editorial on 
this subject appeared in my hometown newspaper, the Northeast 
Mississippi Daily Journal.
  Mr. Speaker, I insert that editorial for the Record as follows:

                 [From the Daily Journal, Nov. 9, 1999]

  A Peaceful Revolution That Opened the Berlin Wall Must Be Sustained

       The fortified portion of it was 26 miles long. It stood up 
     to 15 feet high in spots. It was topped with barbed wire and 
     an assortment of other obstacles.
       Anyone brave or foolish enough to try to scale it had to 
     get by electronic alarms, mines, trenches and, of course, 
     armed guards. One hundred seventy people died trying.
       The Berlin Wall became the most dramatic symbol of the Cold 
     War, a stark and striking reminder of the tyranny of 
     communism. The government of East Germany had to wall in its 
     own people, so oppressive was the environment on its side of 
     the wall and so compelling were the freedoms enjoyed on the 
     other.
       Ten years ago today the wall fell, in a figurative sense. 
     Its fortified passages were opened and traffic allowed to 
     flow freely between East and West Berlin. Within a year East 
     and West Germany were unified. By 1992 the wall was 
     physically dismantled.
       Who can forget that amazing period in Eastern Europe as 
     communist governments one after the other fell, virtually 
     bloodlessly, the victims of a new yearning in their people 
     and an old rottenness in their core. The world drew 
     inspiration from the young protesters defiantly perched on 
     the wall, smashing away pieces of it, mocking its pretense to 
     control over their lives.
       The fall of the wall and the unification of East and West 
     Germany were events that virtually no one predicted would 
     occur so rapidly and with so little violence. These and 
     corresponding events in Eastern Europe, beginning with the 
     Solidarity movement in Poland in the early 1980s, exposed the 
     great vulnerability of communism or any oppressive system 
     when strong people unite against it.
       Today communism, while not completely dead, is completely 
     discredited. Even China's leadership has been forced to 
     modify its formerly orthodox communist economy in order to 
     survive, though political repression is still a fact of life 
     in that last communist power.
       Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and eight 
     years after the complete disintegration of the Soviet Union 
     and the Soviet bloc, the world is a safer place.
       And yet. . . .
       Lurking beneath the evolving democratic processes in former 
     communist countries are the forces of reaction, remnants of 
     the old guard or those nostalgic for its return. The 
     transition to democratic governments and free markets in 
     Russia and Eastern Europe has hardly been smooth; one crisis 
     after another has marked the effort by formerly communist 
     countries to make up for decades of failed economic, social 
     and political policies. There are those exploiting the 
     inevitable discontent.
       The United States has a vested interest in seeing that 
     those countries who threw off the shackles of communism and 
     brought a thaw to the nearly half-century of Cold War 
     succeed. We have preached the gospel of free markets and free 
     political systems, and we must maintain our determination to 
     assist them in working through the pains of transition that 
     can seem worse to some than the stability of the old system.
       The United States probably kept Western Europe from 
     eventually succumbing to communism by rebuilding its cities 
     and economies with the Marshall Plan after World War II. We 
     are not in a position nor is there the need to proceed with a 
     program of that magnitude today.
       But aid and assistance, government to government and 
     citizen to citizen, from the U.S. to formerly communist 
     countries, as well as active diplomatic efforts to achieve 
     the stability for freedom to flourish, are vital to our 
     national interests.
       Some would say it's time for the United States to withdraw, 
     to give up its role as a leader of the free world, to worry 
     only about internal concerns. That would be to dishonor the 
     sacrifices already made by Americans: remembered Thursday, 
     Veterans Day and the courage of those who fought to overcome 
     tyranny in their own lands.
       The Berlin Wall, and all it represented, failed 10 years 
     ago today. What followed must succeed, and we must be willing 
     to help it happen.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record an article written by 
Ben Wattenberg of the American Enterprise Institute, who first proposed 
the idea of a Freedom Day in December 1991. I am proud that we are 
finally moving forward with this idea, and I thank him for his 
commitment to ensuring that future generations recognize the important 
sacrifices made by those who fought for freedom against the evils of 
communism.

             [From the Washington Times, November 4, 1999]

                    Moving Forward With Freedom Day

                          (By Ben Wattenberg)

       Ten years ago, on Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was 
     battered down by the people it had imprisoned. The event is 
     regarded as the moment the Cold War ended. For Americans 
     without sentient memories of World War II, the end of the 
     Cold War has been the most momentous historical event of 
     their lifetimes, and so it will likely remain.
       Long yearned for, the end of the Cold War has more than 
     lived up to expectations: Democracy is on the march globally, 
     defense budgets are proportionately down, market economies 
     are beginning to flourish most everywhere, everyday people 
     are benefiting each and every day.
       The end of the Cold War actually was a process, not an 
     event. By early 1989, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had 
     pulled his troops from Afghanistan, whipped. Poles elected a 
     non-communist government; the Soviets did nothing. Hungary, 
     Czechoslovakia, East Germany and later Bulgaria installed 
     non-communist governments. It was called ``the velvet 
     revolution,'' with only Romania the exception; Nicolae 
     Ceausescu and his empress were executed.
       For almost two years, the U.S.S.R. remained a one-party 
     communist state, gradually eroding. Hard-liners attempted to 
     resist the slow motion dis-memberment. On Aug. 19, 1991, 
     Boris Yeltsin stood on a tank to resist a hard-line coup. The 
     hammer-and-sickle came down; the Russian tricolor went up. 
     Other Soviet republics declared independence, including the 
     big guy on the block, Ukraine.
       U.S. diplomats did not ``gloat'' about it. The sovereign 
     state of Russia would be unstable enough without the United 
     States rubbing it in.
       On Dec. 4, 1991, I proposed in a column that a new national 
     holiday be established to commemorate the end the Cold War. I 
     asked readers to participate in a contest to: 1. Name it; 
     2. pick a date; and 3. propose a method of celebration.
       Several hundred submissions came in. Some of the most 
     imaginative entries for a name were: ``Defrost Day,'' ``Thaw 
     Day,'' ``Ronald Reagan Day,'' ``Gorbachev Day,'' ``Borscht 
     Day,'' ``Peace Through Strength Day'' ``E Day'' (which would 
     stand for ``Evil Empire Ends Day''), ``E2D2'' (``Evil Empire 
     Death Day''), ``Jericho Day'' ``Pax Americana Day'' and 
     ``Kerensky Future Freedom Day'' (recalling that Mr. Yeltsin 
     was not the first pro-democratic leader of Russia).
       Scores of respondents offered ``Liberty Day,'' ``Democracy 
     Day,'' and mostly, ``Freedom Day.'' In June of 1992, I 
     publicly proclaimed ``Freedom Day'' the winner.
       One suggestion for the date of the new holiday was June 5, 
     for Adam Smith's birthday. But the most votes went for Nov. 
     9, the day the wall fell. So today I proclaim that date 
     Freedom Day.
       There were ideas about how to celebrate and commemorate 
     Freedom Day: Build a sibling sculpture to the Statue of 
     Liberty; eat potatoes, the universal food; build a tunnel to 
     Russia across the Bering Strait; thank God for peace; welcome 
     immigrants; mediate; issue a U.N. stamp; build ice 
     sculptures; send money to feed Russians; and do something you 
     can't do in an unfree country--make a public speech, see a 
     dirty movie, celebrate a religion, travel across a border.
       I propose that discussion on the matter of how to celebrate 
     be put on hold until we get the holiday established.
       How? Because all the major presidential candidates 
     participate in the Cold War, they should endorse the holiday. 
     Legislators

[[Page H11769]]

     ought to push for it. Anyone who worked in defense industry, 
     or paid federal taxes from 1945 to 1989, ought to support it. 
     President Clinton ought to go to the Reagan Library to 
     endorse it.
       I met with Mark Burman of the Reagan Presidential 
     Foundation. He says they are on board for a campaign. The 
     other great presidential libraries--Truman, Eisenhower, 
     Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter--should join in.
       So should anyone concerned with the teaching of American 
     history. The holiday will remind American children that their 
     recent ancestors preserved freedom. The Cold War generation 
     may not be ``the greatest'' but they did their job--victory 
     without a major hot war.
       Americans can only create an American holiday. But we ought 
     to invite all other countries to join in, Russia first. The 
     citizens of Russia won the Cold War as surely as we did. If I 
     were a Chinese dissident I'd promote the idea; it might give 
     their leaders a clue.
       If you like the idea, or have ideas, you may e-mail me at 
     W[email protected]. I'll pass the correspondence along to the 
     appropriate persons, as soon as I figure out who they are.

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Tenth 
Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Perhaps no act in the 
latter half of this century better represents the human quest for 
freedom and dignity. Perhaps no barrier more aptly symbolized the moral 
bankruptcy of an entire political movement--a movement that subjected 
its citizens to forcible detention.
  As President Kennedy noted during his famous speech in West Berlin in 
1963, the Wall was erected to keep its citizens within. As we all knew, 
the Wall was fundamentally flawed and had to come down. Its dismantling 
foreshadowed the collapse of the Soviet Union and communist domination 
of Eastern Europe. Who would have thought that less than 10 years later 
three former members of the Warsaw pact would become members of NATO? 
Who would have predicted that NATO would survive as an engine of 
security and democracy-building in Europe?
  When I was appointed to the Helsinki Commission in 1985, there were 
serious questions in the United States about the viability of the 
Helsinki process. Had the process emphasized security at the expense of 
human rights? Was it perhaps time to reconsider the process in the 
absence of tangible progress on human rights questions?
  Today, we celebrate the freedom yielded by our steadfast commitment 
to the process and by our demand that the former Soviet bloc countries 
adhere and implement the human rights standards enshrined by the 
Accords. The fall of the Berlin Wall transformed the world and 
demonstrated unreservedly the dignity of man as fundamental to 
democracy. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 
(OSCE) took a stand--that human dignity, tolerance and mutual respect 
would be the standards for all the nations of Europe as we entered in 
1990s.
  Almost immediately, the fall of the Wall ushered in new members to 
the OSCE--Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Albania. All were freed from 
the shackles of Soviet domination, and began to express a desire to 
join the Helsinki process.
  Why would they want to join when in effect we had won? Because the 
Helsinki process could serve as a source of values and act as an agent 
of conflict resolution. It provided participating States with a 
blueprint by which to guide them away from the legacy of the past. But 
most importantly it reminded members--old and new--of their 
responsibilities to their own citizens and to each other.
  This lesson would be sorely tested in the years following the Wall's 
fall with the dismemberment of Yugoslavia, the genocide of Bosnia, the 
economic collapse of Albania and the emergence of new threats to the 
citizens of Russia. The emphasis on rule of law in the Helsinki process 
would become even more relevant for all of Europe.
  One year after the fall of the Wall, at the OSCE Paris Summit, former 
political prisoners like Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa, who had fought 
for the rights espoused at Helsinki in 1975, led their countries to the 
table and recommitted themselves and their governments to the 
principles of human rights, security and economic cooperation that are 
the foundation of the Final Act. Today, 54 nations of Europe, the 
Caucasus and Central Asia are committed to the Helsinki process as 
participating States of the OSCE.
  Mr. Speaker, as we reflect on this anniversary we understand that the 
countries and peoples of the region are still in transition and will be 
for decades to come. Great strides have been made by many former 
communist countries in building democratic societies and market 
economies. Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are our NATO allies 
and are actively pursuing admission to the European Union. Other 
central and eastern European countries are taking steps to join NATO 
and the EU. Yet, progress has been uneven and much remains to be done.
  It is critical that the United States remain engaged with the peoples 
and governments of Europe and the countries which emerged from the 
former Soviet Union, especially Russia, during this difficult period. I 
agree with President Clinton when he said that we must `'reaffirm our 
determination to finish the job--to complete a Europe whole, free, 
democratic, and at peace, for the first time in all of history.'' It is 
in our strategic and national interest to do so.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 223.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________