[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 18 (Thursday, February 24, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S792-S794]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       THE REMARKS OF KING JUAN CARLOS AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I have the pleasure to be the chairman of 
the U.S.-Spain Council, which is a council formed in 1996 between the 
American and Spanish governments and made up of members of the private 
and public sectors. This council meets once a year to discuss issues of 
common interest, and also to work on what we call a triangulation, 
utilizing the tremendous knowledge, awareness, and influence of Spain 
in the Americas to enter into cooperative efforts with the United 
States to improve economic conditions and strengthen democratic 
institutions in the Western Hemisphere.
  This past couple of days we have had the pleasure of hosting King 
Juan Carlos of Spain and his wife, Queen Sofia. This morning, I had the 
privilege of being in attendance at the Library of Congress to hear an 
address in the Great Hall by King Juan Carlos. This was a remarkable 
address that I thought my colleagues might enjoy reading.
  I was tremendously pleased that we were joined at a reception prior 
to the King's address by our majority leader, Senator Lott, who made 
excellent remarks welcoming the King to the Library of Congress, and by 
Senator Daschle, who commented on the unique cooperative relationships 
that the two countries have enjoyed. Senator Ted Stevens, chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee, who, of course, is also the head of the 
commission that deals with the Library of Congress, also shared some of 
his thoughts. In addition, a number of our colleagues were present to 
speak with King Juan Carlos, including the chairman of the Armed 
Services Committee, Senator Warner, Senator Bayh, and Senator Bob 
Graham, who, in fact, was my predecessor as the U.S. Chairman of the 
U.S.-Spain Council. It was a very worthwhile gathering.
  I feel fortunate to have attended this morning's address. In his 
address, King Juan Carlos spoke about the defining moments and 
opportunities in a nation's history. His Majesty, himself,

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has been involved in several of the defining moments in Spain's 
history. In the wake of Tuesday's terrorist assault against Democracy 
in Spain, it is comforting to see firsthand the dedication to peace and 
nonviolence that His Majesty King Juan Carlos personifies. Throughout 
his reign, King Juan Carlos has been a uniting force in his country--
forever championing human rights and consensus building. That is not to 
say, however, that he has given in to the demands of terrorist rebels. 
In fact, 25 years ago, shortly after taking office, rebels stormed the 
Parliament of Spain, held lawmakers hostage, and attempted a coup 
d'etat. As a young ruler, King Juan Carlos stood up to the rebels and 
replied that the coup would succeed only over his dead body. The rebels 
stood down only days later.
  Once again, Spain finds itself under terrorist attack. I am confident 
that under the spirit of leadership engendered by King Juan Carlos, 
Spanish authorities will restore trust and order to Spanish daily life 
and silence terrorist bombs once and for all.
  This is not to say that Spain finds itself in a precarious world 
position today. In the new millennium, Spain is a cultural, economic, 
and world leader in the European arena. As the European Union becomes 
more interconnected, and the Euro becomes the currency of trade in 
Europe, Spain will assuredly step up to its leadership position. As His 
Majesty states, Spain is not only focused on European relations. Spain 
historically has been an Atlantic nation and thus enjoys rich historic 
and economic ties with the United States and Latin America. Without 
doubt, the United States will continue to support warm relations with 
Spain in the future.
  I hope that my colleagues will take the time to read in full the 
eloquent remarks of King Juan Carlos and I ask unanimous consent that 
his remarks be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

  Address by H.M. the King at the United States Library of Congress, 
                           February 24, 2000

       Senators, Members of Congress, Director of the Library of 
     Congress, Ladies and Gentleman,
       The opportunity that you have given me to speak today in 
     this solemn and historic building, under the dome that stores 
     so much human knowledge, fills me with deep satisfaction.
       The books that surround us are codified forms of the memory 
     and of the experience of the best that humankind has 
     accomplished in this world. This is a place that undoubtedly 
     inspires excellence, which invites people to learn from the 
     past, and to plan for the future with hope and energy. We 
     stand here before history, and a past whose calm and profound 
     presence enlightens us.
       Therefore, allow me first of all to pay tribute to those 
     who, at the inception of the young American nation, made 
     their passionate struggle to establish forms of government 
     more just than those which had until then been commonly 
     accepted, compatible with a far-reaching yearning for 
     knowledge and a continuous thirst for new findings, and 
     scientific discoveries.
       George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin 
     were, in this sense, three archetypes of the men who built 
     the foundations of the incipient United States of America 
     upon ideals of freedom and democracy that were truly 
     revolutionary for their times, and were also spurred by a 
     continuous search for scientific knowledge.
       It was they who were mainly responsible for ensuring that 
     the thirteen original colonies, once Independence had been 
     attained, did not content themselves with merely maintaining 
     the model of rural society that had formed them. From the 
     start they inculcated in them--through their own example of 
     encyclopedists avid for new learning--those features which 
     still seem to me the most significant and permanent of this 
     great country: the search for scientific discovery, the 
     accumulation of knowledge, always in permanent expansion 
     driving forward the everchanging frontiers of the human mind.
       Thus, it is not surprising that the leading role of the 
     United States at the beginning of this new millennium is 
     precisely based on the great scientific and technological 
     advantage achieved by the urge for discovery instilled in it 
     by the Founding Fathers.
       In the lives of nations, great historic opportunities 
     sometimes arise which must be put to good advantage. The 
     honour and glory fell to Spain for having been the country 
     that, through the discovery of 1492, and the subsequent 
     colonial expansion, laid the groundwork for the emergence of 
     the community of nations that, on both sides of the Atlantic, 
     shares today the same human and political values.
       Spaniards at the close of the 15th century and beginning of 
     the 16th, actively joined and, in many occasions, led the 
     great political, social and scientific movements of their 
     age. Similarly, it is Spain's aim at the dawn of the 21st, 
     century to play a prominent role in an age, in which, once 
     again, we are witnessing great transformations. Motivated by 
     technological and scientific progress and an extraordinary 
     change on the international political scene, these 
     transformations light up a new century that has been born 
     under the sign of globalization.
       During the final years of the 20th century, the bipolarity 
     that had divided the world in two blocks since the second 
     World War, disappeared.
       Although it is still too soon to venture a historic 
     judgment, we can nevertheless assert that this development 
     has contributed remarkably to accelerating the process of 
     globalisation, by allowing a greater integration of the 
     economies and increasingly free communications between 
     nations.
       The gigantic leap forward by communication and information 
     technologies over the past few years has also played a part. 
     In a progressively integrated and inter-dependent world, the 
     ``new economy'' is a daily reality.
       But the great advances in science and technology in recent 
     times, and the good performance of the economies of our 
     respective countries, must not allow us to forget that a 
     large part of the world population lives in poverty.
       Globalisation, the phenomenon of the ``new economy'', is 
     sustained by free-trade and free-market principles. We must 
     support these principles since they constitute the 
     foundations of the economic prosperity of nations; but we 
     must also ensure that they are compatible with the values 
     that we all share, and which find their most worthy 
     expression in the respect for rights, for all fundamental 
     human rights, including appropriate working conditions.
       In this new international context, Spain looks with special 
     interest towards Europe and the Atlantic. After years of 
     absence, Spain is once more actively involved in the 
     political life of Europe.
       Accession to the European Union constituted a watershed in 
     the recent history of my country. Within a short time, 
     Spaniards made an exceptional effort to adapt their entire 
     economic, industrial, and even social structures to the 
     regulations of the new environment where we have chosen to 
     live.
       We can say, and I as a Spaniard am proud to do so, that 
     this effort has been rewarded by considerable success. Spain 
     today is an open and modern country, with a plural, highly-
     motivated and thriving society, which faces the future with 
     optimism and aims to play a leading role in the community of 
     developed nations.
       It is precisely because we are aware of the enormously 
     positive effect that accession to the European Union has had 
     on our country, that Spaniards from the outset have been 
     resolutely in favour of enlargement to the countries of 
     Central and Eastern Europe.
       Europeans now have the opportunity and the moral obligation 
     to incorporate into the ambitious project now under 
     construction those countries that, on account of unfair 
     historical circumstances, remained isolated from what had 
     always been their political, economic and cultural 
     environment. The possibility of extending respect for values 
     shared by us all to Central and Eastern Europe, together with 
     the economic progress of their people, is the best guarantee 
     for peace and stability for the future of our continent.
       Besides being a European country, Spain has historically 
     been and Atlantic nation. Our history is closely bound up 
     with the Transatlantic link that unites the two shores. 
     European unity cannot be built to the detriment or at the 
     expense of the relationship with the United States. Today, as 
     in the past, Transatlantic relations must constitute one of 
     the focal points of our international relations.
       Spain's Atlantic vocation is not confined to the northern 
     hemisphere. Obviously, Spain feels particularly concerned 
     with everything that happens in Latin America. This region 
     currently presents very encouraging results, both in respect 
     of political and economic progress, although many problems 
     are still pending, such as poverty and social inequality.
       The high degree of inter-relationship that exists between 
     the Iberian peoples on both sides of the Atlantic cannot be 
     explained solely in terms of the long period of time during 
     which they formed a single nation. Once the countries that 
     today make up what we call Latin America reached their 
     independence, close ties were still preserved between our 
     peoples. These ties continue to be very strong today, as 
     shown by our active participation in initiatives such as the 
     Ibero-American Summits, the promotion of relations between 
     the European Union and these countries, and the resolute 
     commitment of Spanish businessmen to the future of Latin 
     America.
       But today's Hispanic world has expanded far beyond its 
     geographical and political boundaries. It has become a major 
     force, even in the United States, where it has taken on 
     special importance.
       The Hispanic community in this country has an ever-growing 
     presence. This presence is not only the result of its strong 
     demographic growth, but rather constitutes a development with 
     major social and political repercussions, on account of the 
     progressively bigger role of the individuals that make it up.
       The United States should not forget that the Union was 
     formed with the Southern states, on whose people the Hispanic 
     imprint was deeply stamped. In short, the Hispanic

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     world is an integral part of the history of the United 
     States.
       Allow me to quote the words of: President Kennedy. In a 
     speech delivered in 1961, he said: ``Unfortunately, too many 
     Americans think that America was discovered in 1620, when the 
     pilgrims came to my state, and they forget the immense 
     adventure of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th in 
     the South and South-western part of the United States.''
       Perhaps President Kennedy's words would not respond to 
     today's reality. I am sure that the Hispanic community I 
     mentioned earlier, and which is nowadays evermore flourishing 
     and influential, will ensure that the enormous colonising 
     task undertaken by its ancestors in the 16th and 17th 
     centuries in what today are the Southern and South-western 
     states of this country is given due recognition by fellow 
     Americans.
       There is a very large Spanish section in the Library of 
     Congress. Therefore this is a good place to recall that on 
     territory that is now American, two great cultural vectors 
     meet: one coming from Northern, Anglo-Saxon Europe, the other 
     from the Mediterranean, what we could call the Latin and 
     Iberian culture.
       It is precisely on our collaboration with, and on the 
     support of this noble institution, the Library of Congress, 
     that I place my highest hopes for recognition of a new 
     awareness of Spain's historic role in creating and forming 
     the personality of the American nation.
       The widely recognized academic authority of the Library, 
     the new data-processing methods that give it an enormous 
     capacity for disseminating its bibliographical and 
     documentary treasures, as well as its plans for collaboration 
     with the most important libraries of our country, are our 
     best guarantee for success.
       Honorable Senators, Honorable Representatives, a good 
     knowledge of our past will enable us to better understand our 
     future.
       In 1840, Alexis de Tocqueville, in his work Democracy in 
     America, wrote, ``America is a country of wonders; everything 
     there is in constant change, and all change seems to be 
     progress.''
       We are now in the first year of a new century and are 
     living in times of great change. Therefore let us live up to 
     the spirit that Tocqueville saw in 19th Century America and 
     let us ensure that all change will constitute progress, so 
     that the words with which the illustrious Frenchmen described 
     those Americans will ring true: ``In America man seems to 
     have no natural limits to his efforts; in his eyes, 
     everything that has not already been achieved is because it 
     has not yet been attempted''.
       Thank you very much.

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The following statement was printed in the Record at the request of 
Mr. Daschle.)

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