[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[June 4, 1992]
[Pages 887-889]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Signing the Proclamation Commemorating the 50th Anniversary 
of World War II

June 4, 1992
    May I salute Secretary Card and General Powell; the Deputy Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Principi; the Deputy Secretary of Defense with 
us, Don Atwood; Secretary Larry Garrett; Secretary Rice; and Michael 
Stone of the Army; General Mundy, who's right over here; and then the 
Members of Congress who are with us today. I believe Senator Cranston 
was going to be here. Here he is, right over here; see you, Alan. And of 
course, Congressmen Montgomery, Stump, Myers, and who am I missing--
Senator, sorry. We have a distinguished group here to salute the 
occasion. And also Don

[[Page 888]]

Wilson is with us, the Archivist, and Albert McCluskey, a veteran of the 
Battle of Midway, other veterans here today, and members of civic and 
veterans service organizations, and also some other members of the Joint 
Chiefs, I see. May I salute General Kicklighter, the Executive Director, 
and members of the Department of Defense's World War II Commemoration 
Committee.
    Welcome, all, to the White House and to this special observance of 
the 50th anniversary of an event which linked Americans' hearts and 
minds, the monumental struggle known as the Second World War. Overnight, 
World War II literally transformed America from a people at peace to a 
nation at war that would define the course of history for the rest of 
this century.
    The attack on Pearl Harbor forced America to abandon isolationism 
and take up the mantle of leadership. World War II was fought for 
American soil and sovereignty. It was also fought to defend people who, 
hating war, sought only peace, people everywhere who yearn for freedom, 
then and now.
    The year 1942 was crucial to our history. Americans came together. 
Each citizen sought ways to do his or her part. And factories designed 
to build the tools of peace produced the tools of war: ships, planes, 
tanks, ammunition, all crucial to the Allied effort. It wasn't easy, but 
we did it. We did it fast. We did the hard work of freedom.
    I was 17 on December 7, 1941, and like so many here, not so many in 
this room but like some--[laughter]--enlisted on my 18th birthday as a 
Seaman Second Class. I do remember vividly the news from the early days, 
how it was grim. Guam was overrun, and the reports from the Pacific were 
rather scary; Bataan and Corregidor fell. Yet the Battle of the Coral 
Sea foiled Japanese plans to invade Port Moresby and New Guinea. And 50 
years ago this week our forces began what may have been the greatest 
naval battle of all time. Midway turned the tide of World War II. And 
the inevitable Allied victory, you could feel it. It began to take 
shape.
    Winston Churchill once said of World War II, ``There never was a war 
in all history easier to prevent.'' Today let us recall what the lion 
cried as a voice in the wilderness: ``No one ever walks away from 
appeasing an aggressor. He only crawls.''
    Weakening our defenses during a time of peace is an open invitation 
to those with the potential to wage war. And as President, as long as 
I'm President, the military's commitment to defending freedom will be 
matched by our commitment to defending the military. Some say our 
victory in the cold war allows us to pull back to our own water's edge. 
And I say, just as America's vigilance helped us win that war, so a 
strong America can now help win the peace.
    We seek a world where differences are solved peacefully, where the 
force of law really outlasts the use of force. Sacrifices made 
heroically 50 years ago have helped bring about a new and better world. 
And it's a world I thought of last December where, on the 50th 
anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Barbara and I looked at the sunken hull of 
the Arizona out there, the U.S.S. Arizona, tomb to more than a thousand 
great heroes, the greatest that any nation has ever known. There I 
thought of the wife whose best friend was her husband and the little boy 
whose brother, his idol, once vowed to take him fishing after the 
fighting stopped. I thought of the father whose son or daughter would 
now know him as a martyr but never as a dad. And I resolved once again 
we must never, ever let America's defenses down.
    The men who died there in World War II would today, I am convinced, 
and I think I said it out there, be very, very proud of America: proud 
of what we have become as a Nation because of their service and 
sacrifice, proud of how their fate and faith still stir and shape us. So 
we honor them, and we remember them so that future generations will say 
of us what we do also: God bless this wondrous land, the United States 
of America.
    World War II was a fight that we did not seek, against enemies that 
we didn't choose, for a cause that is first among all: the right of 
people everywhere to be free.
    In that spirit, then, it is my honor to once again welcome all of 
you to the White House and to sign the proclamation designating 
the National Observance of the 50th

[[Page 889]]

Anniversary of World War II. And thank you all for coming.

[At this point, the President signed the proclamation.]

    Well, the deed is done. Thank you all very much for being with us.

                    Note: The President spoke at 11:30 a.m. in the 
                        Roosevelt Room at the White House. The 
                        proclamation is listed in Appendix E at the end 
                        of this volume.