[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.

                          ____________________