[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[June 7, 1991]
[Pages 619-622]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Swearing-In Ceremony for Henry Catto as Director of the 
United States Information Agency
June 7, 1991

    The President. Thanks for that warm welcome. I'm just delighted to 
be over here for this occasion, the formal swearing-in, and also to give 
me the opportunity to thank all of you for what you do for your country. 
I want to salute, of course, Henry Catto and Jessica; Leonard Marks is 
out here--one of the former directors of this very important agency.
    I'm delighted to stand at the side of my friend of longstanding, 
Henry Catto. I'm pleased that so many of his friends and

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family could be with us here to share in this special day. First, let me 
also salute Dick Carlson, the Director of the VOA. Dick has piloted the 
Voice during 5, I think, of its most fascinating years, and done it 
well. I am just delighted that he has agreed to serve as an ambassador 
for our country. His service to the public will continue, and I'm very 
proud that he'll be at my side.
    I'm also pleased to announce that his successor, as the new 
Director, is a man who I know will uphold this extraordinarily proud 
legacy of the Voice, and I'm talking about, now, Chase Untermeyer. He's 
now an Assistant to the President, but he was formerly an Assistant 
Secretary of the Navy, a former journalist. He was an elected official 
in Texas. And in his coming into this job, clearly he will be following 
a long line of distinguished Americans. So, he'll need your help, and 
with it I know he'll do very, very well.
    And of course, I really wanted to have this occasion over here 
because I wanted to recognize the talented professionals of USIA. One of 
the reasons that I'm here today is to thank all of you for an awful lot, 
but especially for your dedicated service during Desert Shield and 
Desert Storm. I know many of you put in an awful lot of hours. For many, 
it was a round-the-clock effort. The expertise of your people in the 
field, the fine Gulf war pamphlets that you produced, all the extra 
hours behind the microphone at VOA and in USIA's TV studios helped us 
get the word out, helped people in the Middle East and around the world 
separate fact from fiction about Iraq's aggression and the intentions of 
Saddam Hussein. We were up against an enormous propaganda machine from 
various quarters overseas. And I think that you all distinguished 
yourselves with great honor and great credit to the United States of 
America. So, thank you from this grateful heart.
    To those of us who know the history, the proud legacy of this 
agency, USIA's key role in the Gulf comes as no surprise. Since the time 
President Eisenhower created USIA nearly 40 years ago--then in the midst 
of the cold war and conflict--public diplomacy has played an integral 
role in American foreign policy. USIA is founded on the belief, the 
certainty, if you will, that ideas matter, especially to this nation, a 
nation founded on the idea of freedom.
    The cold war was itself, in the deepest sense, a war of ideas. In 
that war, USIA acted as America's advocate, spreading the message of 
democracy and freedom, doing it in a very convincing way, spreading the 
message of human rights and human dignity that went behind the Iron 
Curtain, that passed the jammers' wall of noise and into every corner of 
closed societies around the world.
    And today, at long last, thank God, the cold war has drawn to an 
end. The Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, the monument of lies posing as 
truth--all were reduced to ruins by the undeniable power of an idea: 
that all people everywhere must be free.
    Each of you shares in this great triumph of the human spirit. But 
your work, I'm sure you all know, is far from over. Just as millions 
drew hope from this American idea, so now the American example speaks to 
people the world over: in the developing countries seeking to unleash 
the power of free enterprise, to the nations now engaged in the 
difficult business of democracy-building, everywhere that men and women 
still struggle to be free. There's still this example, the American 
example, that we must get out.
    Today more than ever, in our world of instantaneous communication--
when images, ideas, and information cross the globe at the speed of 
light--the work you do at USIA advances our national interest. Your 
broadcasts, your exchanges, the overseas libraries and publications, the 
programs to teach English--all tell America's story to the world: who we 
are, how we live, and perhaps most important, what we believe in.
    That is America's message. You here at USIA take America's message 
to the world. You tell the story that the world still wants to hear.
    Let me just close now with the business at hand, a personal note 
about my dear friend and your new Director. Back on August 2d, the day 
that the Iraqi tanks first rolled into Kuwait, both Margaret Thatcher 
and I were scheduled to take part in an Aspen Institute conference out 
in Colora-

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do--Aspen, Colorado.
    We were also to be Henry's guests at their ranch in Aspen. It turned 
out to be quite a memorable ``working visit,'' as some of you may 
remember. I saw firsthand at that critical moment, though, Henry's 
understanding of a complicated situation, his unerring judgment, his 
unquestioned expertise, and above all, his unswerving devotion to 
principle, as he and I discussed, of the Iraqi invasion. Everyone who 
knows this man will agree that his considerable strength will serve him 
well in this proud new post as Director of USIA.
    So, once again, my sincerest thanks to all of you for your warm 
welcome, and much more important than that, for what you do. I expect 
over here you wonder if we over at the White House even know you exist 
at times. Maybe you're better if you don't know you exist at times. 
[Laughter] When Henry suggested we could come over here, it gives me an 
opportunity to thank you in the best way I possibly can for your 
dedicated service to the greatest country on the face of the Earth.
    Now it is with great pleasure that I will witness the swearing-in of 
Ambassador Henry Catto as Director of USIA. Thank you.

[At this point, Director Catto was sworn in.]

    Director Catto. Mr. President, Justice Kennedy, USIA colleagues here 
in Washington and watching throughout the globe on Worldnet or listening 
on the Voice of America. Spring, sir, is the season of new beginnings. 
Two springs ago in May of 1989, I had the experience of presenting my 
credentials to Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. Thanks to you, Mr. 
President, for 2 years I had the honor to represent our country in the 
United Kingdom.
    That experience reinforced a belief of mine. I've learned a little 
something about diplomacy over the years; and if I have, it's that 
public diplomacy is an indispensable component of an effective foreign 
policy.
    Scholars call ours the Information Age. The Industrial Age was 
defined by the steam engine, by the dynamo, by the electronic grid. The 
current epoch is defined by new technologies--by computers, by 
satellites, by silicon chips. In the Information Age, public diplomacy 
is not only valuable, it is essential to any prolonged success in world 
affairs.
    You mentioned, Mr. President, in your remarks, the events of August 
2d. I think it would interest everyone here to know that at one point, 
half of Prime Minister Thatcher's Cabinet were former USIA international 
visitors. Your public display of unity and determination at that 
critical moment were crucial in shaping world opinion about the need for 
an international response to the Iraqi invasion.
    The Gulf conflict was the first international crisis, unmistakably, 
of the Information Age. And appropriately, the men and women of the U.S. 
Information Agency did themselves proud. And proud they should be, Mr. 
President. As the coalition took shape, the USIA's public affairs and 
public information officers on six continents explained America's goals 
and diplomatic efforts.
    Our Worldnet facilities at American Embassies throughout the globe 
made it possible for foreign journalists to interview by satellite the 
men and women shaping American policies in the Gulf and on other issues. 
Meanwhile, here in Washington, the USIA's foreign press center helped 
American-based foreign journalists by providing briefings, press 
releases, and press conference facilities. And all the while, people of 
the Voice of America did their jobs brilliantly. They got the news; they 
told it straight. That is their job: to tell it like it is.
    Equally important, and also all the while, our exchange programs for 
scholars and teachers went on, and our AmParts lecturers made tour after 
tour, and our USIS centers around the globe helped those eager to learn 
more about America. And if I may say so, nobody could do those things 
better, either. No one could do them better than USIA.
    Once upon a time, a wise man was asked the secret of happiness. He 
responded: Find a mission in life and take it seriously. Mr. President, 
the men and women of the United States Information Agency have a 
mission. They carry and transmit to a world that hungers for America's 
story--our news, the best of our culture, information about

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our policies--an understanding of our way of life. That is our mission: 
to be America's information agency in the Information Age. We do, and we 
will, take that mission seriously.
    Mr. President, thank you for the honor you have done me and for the 
thrill you've given us all by paying us a visit here today. Thank you 
very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 10:14 a.m. in the Voice 
                        of America Auditorium. The following persons 
                        were referred to: Director Catto's wife, 
                        Jessica; Leonard H. Marks, Director of the U.S. 
                        Information Agency during the Johnson 
                        administration; Richard W. Carlson, Director of 
                        the Voice of America; Charles G. Untermeyer, 
                        Assistant to the President and Director of 
                        Presidential Personnel; President Saddam Hussein 
                        of Iraq; former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher 
                        and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom; 
                        and Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice of the 
                        Supreme Court.