    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [May 10, 1991]
    [Pages 496-499]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Dedication Ceremony of the Social Sciences Complex at
    Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey
    May 10, 1991

        Thank you all very much. Thank you. Please be seated. It's a great
    pleasure to be here. President Shapiro, your words were so kind that my
    heart almost went back into fibrillation. [Laughter] I salute you, sir,
    and I thank you for the honor bestowed on me.
        To Governor Florio; and to the Members of the United States Congress
    that are here today; to Mrs. Shapiro, and the board of trustees; to
    Chairman Henderson; Dean Williamson; Associate Dean Morrow. And I'd also
    like to salute Princeton's former Presidents Goheen and Bowen. And I'm
    delighted to help dedicate this impressive complex.
        Though I must say that I'm glad that this is May and not the first
    snowfall. I don't think Barbara would let me take place in your special
    brand of Olympics. [Laughter]
        Seriously, I'm honored to receive an honorary degree from Princeton.
    Imagine: a son of Yale getting a Princeton degree.

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    ``Son of Yale''--you can snicker, but you ought to hear what they call
    me in Washington. [Laughter]
        Governor Florio's comments brought back JFK's words when he said,
    ``How lucky I was to have a Princeton degree.'' And I agree with him.
    You remember what JFK said, and I'll paraphrase it--I have the best of
    all worlds: a Princeton degree and a Yale education. [Laughter] I knew
    that would not thrill the band, but you did a great job on ``Hail To The
    Chief.'' Thank you. [Laughter]
        Well, Princeton is a great place. You know, Washington said, ``No
    college has turned out better scholars or more estimable characters.''
    That includes, of course, our last two Secretaries of State. Both have
    been outstanding public servants. Both love this university. But only
    one has a tattoo to prove it. [Laughter]
        I'll always remember the time that I saw the globe inside the
    Woodrow Wilson School lobby. Anywhere you touch it, you set off
    vibrations across the rest of its surface. I can't think of a more
    appropriate symbol for this nation's role in the world. When we act, we
    do set off tremors across the globe. And Princeton is blessed with real
    expertise in the study of the Presidency.
        And I salute Professor Fred Greenstein, and it is with some
    temerity, therefore, that I give this talk that will touch on the
    Presidency.
        I'd like to talk today about an American achievement that has
    inspired men and women worldwide, most recently, in Eastern Europe. I'm
    speaking of our Constitution. In the interest of brevity, I will focus
    on the roles of the two branches of Government in which I have had the
    honor to serve, the legislative--Congress--and the executive
    departments.
        Consider the President's role. Thomas Jefferson once noted that a
    President commands a view of the whole ground, while Congress
    necessarily adopts the views of its constituents. The President and Vice
    President are the only officials elected to serve the entire Nation. It
    is the President who is responsible for guiding and directing the
    Nation's foreign policy. The executive branch alone may conduct
    international negotiations, appoint ambassadors, and conduct foreign
    policy. Our founders noted the necessity of performing this duty with
    ``secrecy and dispatch,'' when necessary. The President also serves as
    Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces, as it was my role to do in the
    Persian Gulf.
        This does not mean that the Executive may conduct foreign business
    in a vacuum. I have a great respect for Congress, and I prefer to work
    cooperatively with it wherever possible. Though I felt after studying
    the question that I had the inherent power to commit our forces to
    battle after the U.N. resolution, I solicited congressional support
    before committing our forces to the Gulf war. So, while a President
    bears special foreign policy obligations, those obligations do not imply
    any liberty to keep Congress unnecessarily in the dark.
        The President's view of the whole ground includes a second
    responsibility: shaping the Nation's domestic agenda. Presidents do this
    by submitting annual budgets to Congress, along with a comprehensive
    legislative program.
        We've had our share of legislative successes. They include a budget
    agreement that reduces our borrowing requirements by nearly $500 billion
    over the next 5 years, a Clean Air Act that invokes the power of the
    marketplace to help America breathe cleaner air, an Americans with
    Disabilities Act--landmark civil rights legislation that enhances the
    dignity of those with disabilities, a child care bill that puts more
    power and choice in the hands of parents when it comes to the care of
    their own children.
        But Presidents may encourage change through means other than
    legislation. Our Points of Light campaign encourages the traditional
    American virtue of private service. Our America 2000 education strategy,
    which has been well-received across the land, involves dramatic reforms
    that don't make dramatic new claims on taxpayers' earnings. It draws on
    people's common frustration with an educational system that simply must
    do better. It encourages people to use their common sense and good old
    American ingenuity in creating better, revolutionary new schools. It
    won't help build a new office building in Washington, but it

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    very well may inspire people to build a better future for themselves and
    their children, school by school, community by community.
        Elsewhere, we've proposed turning programs back to States and
    localities. This enables people to craft the most appropriate solution
    for the problems that they confront in this diverse land of ours.
        The point is simple: You don't always need to propose a new program
    to pursue a national goal. Often a President can lead by encouraging the
    values of service, by helping foster a national spirit of commitment and
    responsibility.
        For too long, pundits and special interests have equated vision with
    bureaucracy. I hope one of the hallmarks of our administration will be
    its ability to encourage not just good government but also a good
    society, one that draws upon and encourages the best instincts and
    ambitions and values of the American people.
        The common thread of commitment, individual commitment, runs through
    all successful efforts to solve our most intractable problems. The
    individual who cares, who is determined to change things for the better,
    can make a difference. And all of us Americans ought to dedicate
    ourselves to making a difference.
        While a President must take on today's problems and tomorrow's
    challenges, he also has an obligation to ``preserve, protect, and
    defend'' a 200-year-old system of constitutional government. The most
    common challenge to Presidential powers comes from a predictable source,
    represented here by several able Members of the United States Congress.
        Although our founders never envisioned a Congress that would churn
    out hundreds of thousands of pages worth of reports and hearings and
    documents and laws every year, they did understand that legislators
    would try to accumulate power. James Madison, your son--Princeton's
    son--warned that ``The legislative department is everywhere extending
    the sphere of its activity, and drawing all power into its impetuous
    vortex.'' That was Mr. Madison speaking, not President Bush speaking.
        Sometimes this sort of competition falls entirely within the bounds
    of the Constitution. But consider the unnecessary requests and
    requirements that can waste the time and energy of the Executive.
        Thirty years ago, we devoted nearly 9.5 percent of our gross
    national product to defense expenditures. And today, defense spending
    accounts for only 5.3 percent of our GNP. But congressional oversight
    has grown exponentially. One hundred and seven committees and
    subcommittees--107--oversee defense programs and spending. For fiscal
    year 1989, the Pentagon devoted 500 man-years and over $50 million just
    to write reports responding to congressional queries on such items as
    plans for manning tugboats and accounting for the number of bands.
         Defense staff has to respond yearly to more than 750,000
    congressional staff inquiries. Other executive agencies exhaust their
    time and energy, often giving identical testimony to a whole battery of
    subcommittees and committees.
        Oversight, when properly exercised, helps keep the Executive
    accountable. But when it proliferates wildly, it can confuse the public
    and make it more difficult for Congress and the President to do their
    jobs properly.
        The Chief Executive also preserves, protects, and defends the
    Constitution through the use of the veto power. Six times in my
    Presidency, I have vetoed bills that would have weakened Presidential
    powers. In one case, for instance, Congress wanted to make the President
    disclose a wide variety of sensitive diplomatic contacts and
    discussions--as well as private discussions with the executive branch--
    and would have threatened to impose criminal sanctions on a wide range
    of normal diplomatic activities. I noted in my veto message that: ``The
    result would be a dangerous timidity and disarray in the conduct of U.S.
    foreign policy. Such a result is wholly contrary to the allocation of
    powers under the Constitution.''
        Elsewhere, Congress has also taken aggressive action against
    specific Presidential powers, including the power to appoint or remove
    employees who serve at the President's pleasure. It sometimes tries to
    manage executive branch--micromanage the
    executive branch--by writing too-spe-

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    cific directions for carrying out a particular law. And when this
    happens, the President has a constitutional obligation to protect his
    Office and to veto the legislation. In addition, on many occasions
    during my Presidency, I have stated that statutory provisions that
    violate the Constitution have no binding legal force.
        But there's another, often overlooked side of the veto power. Often
    vetoes encourage the Legislature to reconsider its actions. When I
    vetoed a minimum wage bill--and it wasn't an easy thing to do--I sought
    to persuade Congress that a slightly lower rate would best serve the
    public interest. And in time Congress agreed. And when Congress bundles
    up a series of unrelated measures and calls it a single bill, it
    frustrates the President's constitutional role in resisting the
    influence of special interests. It is often impractical to veto a
    tremendous bill, a major bill, especially an appropriations bill because
    of unrelated riders that would never stand a chance on their own.
        Bills of this sort can pose as much of a threat to Congress as to
    the President. And it has become an annual sport for reporters to pull
    peculiarities out of the vast spending bills, such as a Federal grant to
    study cow belches, or a Lawrence Welk Museum, and ask Congress to defend
    them. Quite often because of the added riders and the complexity of the
    whole bill, Members don't even know what they've voted for. They're so
    complex; things are added in the dark of the night.
        I have sought, and will continue to seek, a line-item veto to
    prevent such embarrassments and protect the American people from
    injudicious appropriation. Right now 43 Governors have such a power. It
    works. The President ought to have that power, too. Some believe that I
    already have that power under the Constitution.
        In closing, let me try to summarize my view of the Presidency.
    Presidents define themselves through their exercise of Presidential
    power. They must use their special authority to serve the whole Nation
    in matters of foreign and domestic policy. They must set a tone for
    governance, at once leading the people, yet following their desires.
    They must preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And they must
    encourage deliberative behavior on the part of Congress.
        But the real power of the Presidency lies in a President's ability
    to frame, through action, through example, through encouragement, what
    we as a nation must do, what is required of communities and
    institutions, large and small, in schools and factories and the hundreds
    of daily acts of individuals.
        The great joy and challenge of the Office I occupy--and believe me,
    I am honored every single day I walk into that Oval Office by the
    privilege of being President--the great joy is that the President serves
    not just as the unitary Executive but hopefully as a unifying Executive.
        As President, I feel honor-bound to strengthen the marvelous system
    of government bequeathed to us so that we may remain the freest, the
    most decent, the most prosperous, caring nation in the history of the
    world.
        Thank you, and may God bless each and every one of you. And thank
    you for the honor you've bestowed on me.

                        Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. In his
                            remarks, he referred to Harold Shapiro,
                            president of the university, and his wife,
                            Vivian; Gov. James Florio of New Jersey; James
                            Henderson, chairman of the executive committee
                            of the board of directors of the university;
                            Joseph Williamson, dean of the chapel; Sue Anne
                            Steffey Morrow, associate dean of the chapel;
                            Robert F. Goheen and William G. Bowen, former
                            presidents of the university; Secretary of State
                            James A. Baker III; former Secretary of State
                            George P. Shultz; and Fred I. Greenstein,
                            professor of politics and director of the
                            research program in leadership studies. A tape
                            was not available for verification of the
                            content of these remarks.