[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 86 (Friday, June 8, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H3692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PRESIDENT REAGAN'S WESTMINSTER ADDRESS

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark an important 
anniversary. Thirty years ago today, President Ronald Reagan delivered 
one of his most important speeches. He delivered an address to 
Westminster in which he talked about the imperative of our supporting 
the notion of self-determination around the world, and he called for 
the establishment of one of the most important national security items 
that we have in place today. It's known as the National Endowment for 
Democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, in that speech, President Reagan said:

       We must be staunch in our conviction that freedom is not 
     the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and 
     universal right of all human beings. The objective I propose 
     is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of 
     democracy, the system of a free press, unions, political 
     parties, universities, which allows a people to choose their 
     own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own 
     differences through peaceful means.

  Three decades later, the vision that Ronald Reagan put forward in 
that famous speech is not only alive, but it's well and thriving all 
over the world. I would like to congratulate, congratulate all of those 
who have been part of the effort that was launched by that speech 30 
years ago today by Ronald Reagan.
  To the people all over the world who want to determine their futures, 
we stand with them in their quest for self-determination.

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