[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[July 4, 1992]
[Pages 1080-1082]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at an Independence Day Celebration in Faith, North Carolina

July 4, 1992
    Thank you all very much. Mayor, thank you. Thank you very much, 
Mayor Hampton. And let me say to all of you, please be seated. 
[Laughter] Sorry about that. What a great day in Faith, and what a 
wonderful way to get here: play a couple of innings of ball, eat a 
little barbecue, drink a little of that wine or whatever they call it 
over there. [Laughter] Really, we're thrilled to be here, and thank you 
for that very, very warm welcome. I say warm, I use the term advisedly. 
[Laughter]
    I'll tell you a little Trivial Pursuit: Fifty years ago almost to 
this day, I was a naval aviation cadet at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 
That was my first taste of North Carolina hospitality, and this is my 
last and my very best up till now. So thank you all very, very much.
    It's great to see our Governor here, doing a superb job for this 
State. You'll miss him in the governorship, but we've got to keep him 
active. He's done a great job for the State of North Carolina. May I pay 
my respects to another man I've been with shoulder to shoulder, 
Congressman Coble here, and just say to all of you, Daisy Bost and all 
that worked on this program, what a magnificent show this is. The 
Governor is right: We are proud to be in Faith, North Carolina, and 
proud to see this spirit alive and well.
    I didn't hear the East Rowan High School Marching Band, but 
somebody--here they are right here. Fantastic.
    But this is a very special American day. I just came from the races 
down there in Daytona, and we saluted the king, a son of North Carolina, 
Richard Petty. Dale Earnhardt, Dale showed us around and explained it, 
so it's been a great big high of a day for me here.
     This one is a picture postcard holiday setting. You've got it all 
with the Little League and the softball games and the wheelbarrow races 
and the parade down Main Street. Now I'll be very short because I want 
to go over and try the bungee jumping. [Laughter] No, Barbara said it's 
okay to throw your hat in the ring, but not the whole body. [Laughter]
    But we meet today in the State that gave birth to flight way back a 
thousand years ago, and on the day when the eagle soars proudest of all. 
We meet in smalltown America, in many ways, as I survey our great 
country, in many ways the spiritual heart of all America.
    Several miles up the road is Salisbury, home to our friend Liddy 
Dole and home to Cheerwine--[laughter]--and a little east, Siler City, 
where television's Aunt Bea is buried. I've always wondered if Aunt Bea 
were with us today, if she'd be serving broccoli. I hope not. [Laughter]
    Not every place in America is like these wonderful towns, but its 
values can and should be because the values that the

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Mayor mentioned, the values the Governor talked about, the values that 
you hold dear are the values that hold our entire country together. And 
we never should forget that.
    When I go back to Washington, Barbara and I, we have about an hour 
and a half, I believe it is, maybe a couple of hours at the airport. 
Then we fly to Poland, where I'll stand shoulder to shoulder Sunday 
morning with Lech Walesa, the President. Remember him? The guy that 
stood up for freedom when nobody else could do it in Poland? Stood up 
and took the heat, and now Poland is free. He looks to the United 
States, and he says, ``Above all the countries, it was the United States 
of America that stood with me and offered me the hope for freedom.''
    You know what it means to be good neighbors. You know what it is to 
have families, strong and united; good schools; safe neighborhoods; job-
creating economy; and a world at peace. Now, you go over to the Faith 
Soda Shop or the Hairport or R&I Variety, and you'll see the values that 
can achieve these goals. One is faith in self-reliance. You believe in 
equal rights for all Americans. Don't let anybody knock your town; you 
stand with me against bigotry and against racism. You believe in what is 
good and what is right.
    Some regard principles as disposable, like TV dinners, but they 
couldn't be more wrong. Let others support some of this--films and the 
programs which mock small-town America. But I stand with the millions 
who support your America. And there's nothing wrong with a Nation more 
like Salisbury or Faith, North Carolina. And believe me, carry those 
principles with you.
    It's not just the name of the town, but from this springs another 
smalltown virtue: We believe America is special because of fidelity to 
God. We have not forgotten that we are one Nation under God, and that's 
an important thing to point out on July 4th.
    I heard from the Mayor that there are 553, technically, 553 
residents. But she tells me that on Sunday more than 800 attend church 
services, and that's pretty good out of a town of 553. Think of that. 
You show why, according to a Gallup poll, America is the most religious 
nation on Earth.
    Remember the small boy expressing that conviction: ``God bless 
Mother and Daddy, my brother and sister.'' And he says, ``Oh, and God, 
take care of yourself because if anything happens to you, we're all 
sunk.'' [Laughter] And that kid is right, just as right as he can be.
    So, the American people really have mountains of faith. And I 
believe the God who gave us life also gave us liberty. So again, I'd 
like to use this wonderful occasion, this national holiday, perhaps our 
greatest, to call on the Congress to pass a constitutional amendment 
permitting voluntary prayer in the public schools.
    Barbara and I were talking earlier to people for whom every day is 
the Fourth of July. They don't apologize for the choking up when you 
hear ``The Star-Spangled Banner'' or standing at attention when you say 
the Pledge of Allegiance. And they don't apologize for the lump in the 
throat when a few blocks away over here on Gantt Street in the American 
Legion building they visit a monument dedicated to the veterans, the 
living and the dead, of every American war.
    Here in Faith, memories run long, just as principles run deep. And 
Jim touched on it, but you know how to answer those who say that the 
success of Desert Storm should be forgotten. But look, you had 76,000, 
as he said, troops in this one State, deployed from North Carolina. I 
don't think Saddam Hussein--who might by now have nuclear weapons, or if 
we hadn't challenged him we'd all be paying $10 for gas as he moved into 
Saudi Arabia--I don't think he doubts for a minute the will and the 
strength and the patriotism of the American people.
    I know very well our veterans haven't 
forgotten it, those courageous, the best 
fighting forces we've ever put together. 
We stay together. I told Howard Coble--
I sometimes risk being a little personal. 
But I was shot down in World War II, and 
I learned something. I learned something 
in combat: The wingman doesn't pull 
away from the flight leader. When I was 
shot down into the Pacific, it was my 
teammates, one located my raft, another shot down a boat that was put 
out from a Japanese island, and I learned this: We are a team. We're a 
united country. When the going

[[Page 1082]]

gets tough, we get moving. We don't apologize, and we don't quit. We 
never quit. And we don't forget the POW's and the MIA's, I might add, 
either. We're with them.
    Eisenhower spoke of ``the great and priceless privilege of growing 
up in a small town.'' Well, Barbara and I are privileged to be in a 
small town that proves how right Ike was.
    And ours is a nation, believe me, ours is a nation whose best days 
lie ahead. These kids here can go to bed at night with less fear of 
nuclear war because we've been here.
    Now we've got to keep moving and bring that change to everybody in 
America that wants opportunity. And we can do it. Why? Because on this 
special day of freedom we are still the United States of America: 
nothing to apologize for, everything to be proud of.
    Thank you, and God bless each and every one of you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 3:07 p.m. at Legion 
                        Park. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Judy 
                        Hampton of Faith; Daisy Bost, program 
                        coordinator for the Independence Day celebration 
                        in Faith; Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR driver and 
                        Winston Cup champion; Elizabeth Hanford Dole, 
                        president of the American Red Cross; and the 
                        late Frances Bavier, actress.