[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 12 (Wednesday, February 4, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S579-S581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHURCHILL AND THE GREAT REPUBLIC EXHIBIT
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I was privileged today to go to the
Library of Congress where, under the auspices of Mr. Billington, the
Librarian of Congress, a very wonderful exhibit is opening entitled--
and I hold up the volume: ``Churchill and the Great Republic.'' The
exhibit formally opens tonight.
In attendance today were one of Churchill's daughters, his grandson,
and other members of the Churchill family. It was a very moving
experience. I encourage my colleagues to find time in the next week or
10 days to avail themselves of this very historical exhibit put
together by Dr. Billington.
The ceremony today, marking the opening, was attended by the
President of the United States, and I, together with my good friend
Senator Lugar, Senator Bob Bennett, and a number of Members of the
House of Representatives, were privileged to be in attendance.
I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks, the full text of
the President's speech at this auspicious occasion be printed in the
Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I think we are at a remarkable
crossroads of history. In terms of the survival of republics, this is
about the great republic, about freedom, and about all of those things
we hold very dear.
I do not intend to make a political speech, but I say without
reservation I think President Bush has given remarkable leadership,
certainly in the aftermath of 9/11, an unprecedented attack on our
sovereignty, the people of the United States of America, parallel in
many respects to Pearl Harbor but indeed more awesome than Pearl Harbor
in some respects. We are fortunate to have at the helm in the United
States a strong President, a man of courage and of wisdom. I try in my
modest way to support his leadership and that of those he has selected
as his principal team.
I found this speech very remarkable today, and I would like to read
just a paragraph:
When World War II ended, Winston Churchill immediately
understood that the victory was incomplete. Half of Europe
was occupied by an aggressive empire. And one of Churchill's
own finest hours came after the war ended in a speech he
delivered in Fulton, Missouri. Churchill warned of the new
danger facing free peoples. In stark but measured tones, he
spoke of the need for free nations to unite against the
communist expansion. Marshal Stalin denounced the speech as a
``call to war.'' A prominent American journalist called the
speech an ``almost catastrophic blunder.'' In fact, Churchill
had set a simple truth before the world: that tyranny would
not be ignored or appeased without great risk. And he boldly
asserted that freedom--freedom was the right of men and women
on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
[[Page S580]]
Churchill understood that the Cold War was not just a
standoff of armies, but a conflict of visions--a clear divide
between those who put their faith in ideologies of power, and
those who put their faith in the choices of free people. The
successors of Churchill and Roosevelt--leaders like Truman,
and Reagan and Thatcher--led a confident alliance that held
firm as communism collapsed under the weight of its own
contradictions.
Today, we are engaged in a different struggle. Instead of
an armed empire, we face stateless networks. Instead of
massed armies, we face deadly technologies that must be kept
out of the hands of terrorists and outlaw regimes.
Yet in some ways, our current struggles or challenges are
similar to those Churchill knew. The outcome of the war on
terror depends on our ability to see danger and to answer it
with strength and purpose. One by one, we are finding and
dealing with the terrorists, drawing tight what Winston
Churchill called a ``closing net of doom.'' This war also is
a conflict of visions. In their worship of power, their deep
hatreds, their blindness to innocence, the terrorists are
successors to the murderous ideologies of the 20th century.
And we are the heirs of the tradition of liberty, defenders
of the freedom, the conscience and the dignity of every
person. Others before us have shown bravery and moral clarity
in this cause. The same is now asked of us, and we accept the
responsibilities of history.
I find those words very moving, and with a deep sense of humility I
commend this President.
This is a picture of Churchill and Roosevelt. Years hence, there will
be a picture of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair. If I may say,
again with a sense of humility, historians will eventually parallel the
Churchill-Roosevelt era with the Bush-Blair era, when two individuals
of somewhat contradictory ideologies and, if we may say, party
background, nevertheless came together in this hour in the aftermath of
9/11 and formed an alliance, brought together other nations that valued
freedom, and formed a coalition that has now deposed a tyrant who, by
any fair standards, was indeed a danger to the free world.
I say to the President with complete respect, I think historians
someday may call this speech today a runner-up to the Fulton, MO,
speech.
I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
Remarks by the President on Winston Churchill and the War on Terror
The President: Thank you all very much. I'm honored to join
you as we welcome a magnificent collection to the Library of
Congress. I've always been a great admirer of Sir Winston
Churchill, admirer of his career, admirer of his strength,
admirer of his character--so much so that I keep a stern-
looking bust of Sir Winston in the Oval Office. He watches my
every move. (Laughter.)
Like few other men in this or any other age, Churchill is
admired throughout the world. And through the writings and
his personal effects, we feel the presence of the great man,
himself. As people tour this exhibit, I'm sure they'll be
able to smell the whiskey and the cigars. (Laugher.)
I appreciate Jim Billington for hosting this exhibit, and
for hosting me. It's good to see Marjorie. I appreciate the
members of Winston Churchill's family who have come: Lady
Mary Soames, who is a daughter; Winston Churchill III, the
man bears a mighty name, and his wife, Luce; Celia Sandys,
who is a granddaughter. Thank you all for coming. We're
honored to have you here in America.
I'm pleased to see my friend, the Ambassador from the
United Kingdom to America, Sir David Manning and Lady Manning
here, as well. I appreciate the members of Congress who have
come--the Chairman. We've got a couple of mighty powerful
people here, Winston, with us today--Chairmen Lugar and
Warner, Senator Bennett, Congressmen Bill Young, Doug
Bereuter, Jerry Lewis, Tom Petri, Vern Ehlers and Jane
Harman. I'm glad you all are here, thanks for taking time to
come.
This exhibit bears witness to one of the most varied and
consequential lives of modern history. Churchill's 90 years
on earth, joined together two ages. He stood in the presence
of Queen Victoria, who first reigned in 1837. He was the
Prime Minister to Elizabeth II, who reigns today. Sir Winston
met Theodore Roosevelt, and he met Richard Nixon.
Over his long career, Winston Churchill knew success and he
knew failure, but he never passed unnoticed. He was a
prisoner in the Boer War, a controversial strategist in the
Great War. He was the rallying voice of the Second World War,
and a prophet of the Cold War. He helped abolish the sweat
shops. He gave coal miners an eight-hour day. He was an early
advocate of the tank. And he helped draw boundary lines that
remain on the map of the Middle East. He was an extraordinary
man.
In spare moments, pacing and dictating to harried
secretaries, he produced 15 books. He said, ``History will be
kind to me--for I intend to write it.'' (Laughter.) History
has been kind to Winston Churchill, as it usually is to those
who help save the world.
In a decade of political exile during the 1930s, Churchill
was dismissed as a nuisance and a crank. When the crisis he
predicted arrived, nearly everyone knew that only one man
could rescue Britain. The same trait that had made him an
outcast eventually made him the leader of his country.
Churchill possessed, in one writer's words, an ``absolute
refusal, unlike many good and prudent men around him, to
compromise or to surrender.''
In the years that followed, as a great enemy was defeated,
a great partnership was formed. President Franklin Roosevelt
found in Churchill a confidence and resolve that equaled his
own. As they led the allies to victory, they passed many days
in each other's company, and grew in respect and friendship.
The President once wrote to the Prime Minister, ``It is fun
to be in the same decade with you.'' And this sense of
fellowship and common purpose between our two nations
continues to this day. I have also been privileged to know a
fine British leader, a man of conscience and unshakable
determination. In his determination to do the right thing,
and not the easy thing, I see the spirit of Churchill in
Prime Minister Tony Blair. (Applause.)
When World War II ended, Winston Churchill immediately
understood that the victory was incomplete. Half of Europe
was occupied by an aggressive empire. And one of Churchill's
own finest hours came after the war ended in a speech he
delivered in Fulton, Missouri, Churchill warned of the new
danger facing free peoples. In stark but measured tones, he
spoke of the need for free nations to unite against communist
expansion. Marshal Stalin denounced the speech as a ``call to
war.'' A prominent American journalist called the speech an
``almost catastrophic blunder.'' In fact, Churchill had set
a simple truth before the world: that tyranny could not be
ignored or appeased without great risk. And he boldly
asserted that freedom--freedom was the right of men and
women on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
Churchill understood that the Cold War was not just a
standoff of armies, but a conflict of visions--a clear divide
between those who put their faith in ideologies of power, and
those who put their faith in the choices of free people. The
successors of Churchill and Roosevelt--leaders like Truman,
and Reagan, and Thatcher--led a confident alliance that held
firm as communism collapsed under the weight of its own
contradictions.
Today, we are engaged in a different struggle. Instead of
an armed empire, we face stateless networks. Instead of
massed armies, we face deadly technologies that must be kept
out of the hands of terrorists and outlaw regimes.
Yet in some ways, our current struggles or challenges are
similar to those Churchill knew. The outcome of the war on
terror depends on our ability to see danger and to answer it
with strength and purpose. One by one, we are finding and
dealing with the terrorists, drawing tight what Winston
Churchill called a ``closing net of doom.'' This war also is
a conflict of visions. In their worship of power, their deep
hatreds, their blindness to innocence, the terrorists are
successors to the murderous ideologies of the 20th century.
And we are the heirs of the tradition of liberty, defenders
of the freedom, the conscience and the dignity of every
person. Others before us have shown bravery and moral clarity
in this cause. The same is now asked of us, and we accept the
responsibilities of history.
The tradition of liberty has advocates in every culture
and in every religion. Our great challenges support the
momentum of freedom in the greater Middle East. The stakes
could not be higher. As long as that region is a place of
tyranny and despair and anger, it will produce men and
movements that threaten the safety of Americans and our
friends. We seek the advance of democracy for the most
practical of reasons: because democracies do not support
terrorists or threaten the world with weapons of mass murder.
America is pursuing a forward strategy of freedom in the
Middle East. We're challenging the enemies of reform,
confronting the allies of terror, and expecting a higher
standard from our friends. For too long, American policy
looked away while men and women were oppressed, their rights
ignored and their hopes stifled. That era is over, and we can
be confident. As in Germany, and Japan, and Eastern Europe,
liberty will overcome oppression in the Middle East.
(Applause.)
True democratic reform must come from within. And across
the Middle East, reformers are pushing for change. From
Morocco, to Jordan, to Qatar, we're seeing elections and new
protections for women and the stirring of political
pluralism. When the leaders of reform ask for our help,
America will give it. (Applause.)
I've asked the Congress to double the budget for the
National Endowment for Democracy, raising its annual total to
$80 million. We will focus its new work on bringing free
elections and free markets and free press and free speech and
free labor unions to the Middle East. The National Endowment
gave vital service in the Cold War, and now we are renewing
its mission of freedom in the war on terror. (Applause.)
Freedom of the press and the free flow of ideas are vital
foundations of liberty. To cut through the hateful propaganda
that fills the airwaves in the Muslim world and to promote
open debate, we're broadcasting the message of tolerance and
truth in Arabic and Persian to tens of millions. In some
cities of the greater Middle East, our radio stations
[[Page S581]]
are rated number one amongst younger listeners. Next week, we
will launch a new Middle East television network called,
Alhurra--Arabia for ``the free one.'' The network will
broadcast news and movies and sports and entertainment and
educational programming to millions of people across the
region. Through all these efforts, we are telling the people
in the Middle East the truth about the values and the
policies of the United States, and the truth always serves
the cause of freedom. (Applause.)
America is also taking the side of reformers who have
begun to change the Middle East. We're providing loans and
business advice to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship in
the Middle East. We've established business internships for
women, to teach them the skills of enterprise, and to help
them achieve social and economic equality. We're supporting
the work of judicial reformers who demand independent courts
and the rule of law. At the request of countries in the
region, we're providing Arabic language textbooks to boys and
girls. We're helping education reformers improve their school
systems.
The message to those who long for liberty and those who
work for reform is that they can be certain they have a
strong ally, a constant ally in the United States of America.
(Applause.)
Our strategy and our resolve are being tested in two
countries, in particular. the nation of Afghanistan was once
the primary training ground for al Qaeda, the home of a
barbaric regime called the Taliban. It now has a new
constitution that guarantees free election and full
participation by women. (Applause.)
The nation of Iraq was for decades an ally of terror ruled
by the cruelty and caprice of one man. Today, the people of
Iraq are moving toward self-government. Our coalition is
working with the Iraqi Governing Council to draft a basic law
with a bill of rights. Because our coalition acted,
terrorists lost a source of reward money for suicide
bombings. Because we acted, nations of the Middle East no
longer need to fear reckless aggression from a ruthless
dictator who had the intent and capability to inflict great
harm on his people and people around the world. Saddam
Hussein now sits in a prison cell, and Iraqi men and women
are no longer carried to torture chambers and rape rooms, and
dumped in mass graves. Because the Baathist regime is
history, Iraq is no longer a grave and gathering threat to
free nations. Iraq is a free nation. (Applause.)
Freedom still has enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq. All the
Baathists and Taliban and terrorists know that if democracy
were to be, it would undermine violence--their hope for
violence and innocent death. They understand that if
democracy were to be undermined, then the hopes for change
throughout the Middle East would be set back. That's what
they know. That's what they think. We know that the success
of freedom in these nations would be a landmark event in the
history of the Middle East, and the history of the world.
Across the region, people would see that freedom is the path
to progress and national dignity. A thousand lies would stand
refuted, falsehoods about the incompatibility of democratic
values in Middle Eastern cultures. And all would see, in
Afghanistan and Iraq, the success of free institutions at the
heart of the greater Middle East.
Achieving this vision will the work of many nations over
time, requiring the same strength of will and confidence of
purpose that propelled freedom to victory in the defining
struggles of the last century. Today, we're at a point of
testing, when people and nations show what they're made out
of. America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins.
we will do what it takes. we will not leave until the job is
done. (Applause.)
We will succeed because when given a choice, people
everywhere, from all walks of life, from all religions,
prefer freedom to violence and terror. We will succeed
because human beings are not made by the Almighty God to live
in tyranny. We will succeed because of who we are--because
even when it is hard, Americans always do what is right.
And we know the work that has fallen to this generation.
When great striving is required of us, we will always have an
example in the man we honor today. Winston Churchill was a
man of extraordinary personal gifts, yet his greatest
strength was his unshakable confidence in the power and
appeal of freedom. It was the great fortune of mankind that
he was there in an hour of peril. And it remains the great
duty of mankind to advance the cause of freedom in our time.
May God bless the memory of Winston Churchill. May God
continue to bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa is recognized.
____________________