[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.
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