[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[August 5, 1992]
[Pages 1307-1311]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Disabled American Veterans National Convention in Reno, 
Nevada
August 5, 1992

    Let me tell you that it is a great pleasure to renew old ties, greet 
new friends. And of course, I want to thank Cleveland Jordan for the 
introduction. He said he persuaded me to come. This man's tough; you get 
the arm up behind the back, twist the elbow here, and here I am. And I 
am very, very pleased. Sorry that I missed the other one, but delighted 
to be at your side and congratulate you on your service to this 
wonderful national organization.
    Butch Joeckel greeted me earlier, the national adjutant; Jesse 
Brown, the national executive director of the DAV. And of course, I want 
to single out and salute a man who's helped me enormously, Ed Derwinski, 
our Secretary of Veterans Affairs. And may I also mention Robin Higgins. 
Cleve most appropriately mentioned Colonel Higgins, and I want to salute 
her here. And thanks to all of you who represent America's disabled 
veterans, their families, their survivors; they're fully 1.4 million 
strong.
    I was just asking Joe about the vintage of some of you all. And I 
must say, looking out at the audience, and I don't want to put everybody 
in this category, a lot come out of the same war that I was in. And I 
don't want to say that you're old guys or women, but nevertheless--
[laughter]--you kind of make me feel at home here. So I'll leave it 
there.
    But I also want to bring you best wishes from a great friend and fan 
of yours named Barbara. She and I were talking about coolness under 
fire. I told her, the more I'm criticized, the more I turn it into 
humor. You know her; she said, ``The rate you're going, you'll soon be 
funnier than Johnny

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Carson.'' [Laughter]
    Last September, I was very honored to be with many here, but honored 
to attend your salute to the Persian Gulf veterans. Today, I'm proud to 
salute the American veteran. The American vet deserves safe streets, a 
sound economy, strong families, a world at peace. You believe, and I 
agree, America should serve those who served their country.
    That's why my administration has not wavered in our commitment to 
you and your families. We must change our health care system in this 
Nation, and we will. But let me be clear: We will not change our 
commitment to the integrity of veterans health care. No program is going 
to change that.
    If, in all this talk about change, Congress sends me legislation to 
dismantle the VA system, I will whip out my veto pen and knock down that 
Scud missile, that Scud missile that's aimed right at your very well-
being. If you ask how many VA hospitals I'll close, I'll say not three, 
not two, not one. If anyone again suggests taxing your benefits, I'll 
say what I have said before: Don't take it from our veterans.
    Now, I know you're concerned about having your voice heard as the 
Washington bureaucracy debates your health care future. So just 
yesterday I created a special panel there in the White House to 
guarantee your leadership's involvement. We will listen, and we will act 
to stand by those who stood up for America.
    I am very proud of the progress that we've made together. Your 
leadership has sensitized all of us, brought the problems to us, worked 
cooperatively when there were difficulties. I can't tell you how much 
cooperation we've had. But they've never held back, saying we must do 
this, we must do that. They've been strong leaders.
    We have created specialized centers. We funded new outpatient 
clinics and moved more resources into VA medical care, too. I also am 
proud of how we have built on these beginnings. Two years ago we passed 
the Americans with Disabilities Act. That is the most sweeping civil 
rights legislation since the sixties. And it will help the disabled 
enter the mainstream, and it's just about time that this country did 
that.
    Three years ago, as Cleve mentioned, I was on my way to address this 
convention, your convention. You know what changed my plans. It 
concerned a husband, a father, an American hero. And again, with us 
today is the wife of Colonel Rich Higgins, Major Robin Higgins. On 
behalf of every American, let me just once again tell you I admire your 
courage from the bottom of my heart. We all do. We're very, very 
grateful to you.
    Two years ago this week, I made a decision that I think every 
Commander in Chief, every President, dreads having to make: to send our 
men and women in the Armed Forces into harm's way. This one was at the 
beginning of Operation Desert Shield. No President, no father, no parent 
makes that decision lightly. But I acted because America must stand for 
freedom, and we must stand by those who preserve it.
    I don't want to start telling war stories here because then I'd have 
to listen to you guys. [Laughter] And I don't have time. But let me tell 
you this: From my own experience, I learned firsthand what it means to 
know that America will never abandon its fighting men, whatever their 
fate. My family never had to face the agony of a phone call in the night 
or a knock on the door. Let me say to the families waiting still for 
their loved ones: We will not forget you.
    I am pleased that the League of Families last week strongly 
supported our administration's efforts and commended my administration's 
programs. But though dramatic progress has been made, all are not 
accounted for. I will fight to make sure that America stands with you, 
the veterans, until the fate of every POW and MIA is known.
    Over the last 3\1/2\ years, America's heroes have helped a war 
crumble in Berlin; from Kuwait to Panama, helped free those once 
enslaved. Our soldiers were not wounded in vain. You helped end the cold 
war. Those who served at whatever time in recent history helped end the 
cold war. And America won the cold war.
    Having won, we worked with the republics of the former Soviet Union 
to reduce strategic nuclear arms. But President Yeltsin and I have 
agreed to go even further. You may remember my meeting with him a couple 
of months ago. We agreed to eliminate the most destabilizing of all 
those terri-

[[Page 1309]]

ble multiwarheaded ICBM's, those great big--in their case, those SS-18's 
that have cast fear into the hearts of everybody. By that agreement we 
have reduced the threat of nuclear war. This is something that every 
family in America, every child in America is grateful for.
    Let me make another point about that. Our victory in the cold war 
means that our defenses can be smaller. And so earlier this year, based 
on the recommendations, and I emphasize this point, based on the 
recommendations of Secretary Cheney and our distinguished Chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs, Colin Powell, I made some responsible cuts. I 
responsibly cut our long-range defense budget. But we cannot lose sight 
of the fact that for all the great gains that we have made for freedom, 
for all the peace of mind that we have secured for our children, the 
world remains a dangerous place.
    The Soviet bear may be extinct, but there are still plenty of wolves 
in the world, renegade rulers, terrorists, outlaw regimes, Baghdad 
bullies. And as long as I am President I will not allow a madman to get 
a finger on the nuclear trigger. We will stay strong as the United 
States.
    You know, today some have forgotten every hard-won lesson of this 
American century. I know you haven't. So some propose to cut our 
national defense, to cut $60 billion in defense beyond what our military 
experts deem responsible for the national security of this country.
    Well, let me answer them: Yes, I know this is a political year. But 
the defense budget is more than a piggy bank for people who want to get 
busy beating swords into pork barrels, and we are not going to have 
that. I owe it to you, the veterans of this country, to be able to 
certify to you that we are keeping our national security at proper 
levels.
    I know this fundamental truism, that to keep America safe, we have 
to keep America strong. That's why when the other side says ``Let's 
ravage the Strategic Defense Initiative,'' I say, ``Remember the lesson 
of Desert Storm.'' We will not leave the world defenseless against 
nuclear attacks. We will push forward with SDI.
    Think for a moment about what a strong America has helped achieve. 
Think about the worries we once faced and the world we see today: not a 
Europe in flames, not a world at war, touched off by the death throes of 
the Soviet empire, but a world at peace, a new birth of freedom; not a 
Latin America consumed by revolution and resentment that has plagued 
that area for so long but a hemisphere moving toward free trade and free 
government; not a Middle East dominated by a dictator but a region where 
ancient enemies at long last are talking peace, sitting across from each 
other at the peace table, something that people thought was impossible 
to bring about. Our policies and your backing help make all of this 
possible.
    So when the Sunday strategists say that I've spent too much time on 
foreign policy, let me just put it this way: I will never apologize for 
a single minute spent keeping America strong, safe, and free.
    Well, where do we go next? Well, I think about our challenges. When 
I do that I'm reminded of a football story, a football story, a story 
about a freshman football player thrust into a close game, the close of 
a tie game, late there in the fourth quarter, with the ball on his own 
team's one-yard line. And the coach grabbed the quarterback and he said, 
``Don't take any chances. Just fall on the ball three times and then 
punt.'' Well, on the first snap, a huge hole opened up in the line and 
the quarterback scrambled all the way to the 50. The next snap, another 
huge hole, and down to the 25 he went. On the third play, the 
quarterback ran through an opening wider then the River Nile and fell 
just one yard short of a touchdown. The crowd was going crazy, screaming 
for victory, and the freshman took the fourth snap, stepped back, calmly 
punted the ball completely out of the stadium. [Laughter] And on the 
sideline the coach was tearing his hair out. He ran onto the field 
screaming. ``What could you possibly be thinking?'' And the freshman 
replied, ``I was just thinking, you must be the dumbest coach in the 
entire world.'' [Laughter]
    As the coach of the American foreign policy, or foreign policy 
coach, it would be the height of stupidity for me to suggest that we 
just ignore our foreign commit-

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ments, as some suggest now. And by the way, I'm tempted to say that now 
the world playing field is so competitive, I'm not sure we should trust 
to a team a rookie quarterback. But that's something else again. 
[Laughter]
    Now, my point is, we can't punt out foreign concerns. We have 
important work to do. First we must do all we can to bolster the process 
of democracy, especially where democratic friends have replaced 
totalitarian enemies in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union. I 
hope you will stand with me and urge Congress to act immediately to 
approve this ``FREEDOM Support Act,'' to lend a helping hand to the 
former Soviet Union, take out an insurance policy on democracy. After 
World War I, we ignored the summons for help, and we paid dearly. We 
paid dearly for that. After World War II, we lent a helping hand, and 
our lives are richer for it. So let us not ignore the lesson of history. 
Let us act now to support freedom and free enterprise.
    Our second challenge is not to turn our back on the world economy. 
Seventy percent of our economic growth the last 4 years has come from 
exports; 7.2 million American jobs are tied to trade. I will work to 
open foreign markets, to strengthen our schools so that we can compete, 
because what is true today will be true tomorrow: Give an American 
worker the chance, and he will beat the pants off of the competition.
    Over the past 3\1/2\ years, America has changed the world, just as 
we're now ready to change America, building the kind of nation here many 
of you fought so valiantly for abroad.
    Think of what you fought for, an America of better jobs and better 
schools and safer neighborhoods and equality for all, a land where our 
kids and grandkids would live in prosperity and peace. Think of what we 
can now achieve, an America which eclipses even its greatest triumphs. 
But I need your help.
    Landing here in Reno this afternoon and being greeted by our very 
able Lieutenant Governor, Sue Wagner, who's here with us right now, I 
had an incredible treat. I was met by a Nevadan, a guy from Carson City 
named J.C. Crume, who has joined me here at the convention today. I 
think he's here; he was trying to get on in. I met him--this is a little 
history--50 years ago, 1942. I was 18 years old. He was my first flight 
instructor at the naval air station there in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He 
took this scared 18-year-old kid and put me behind the stick of a Navy 
plane. And J.C.'s hair looked a little gray, but he told me that it 
wasn't age. It's the lingering effects of the terror he felt 50 years 
ago with this young kid sitting in the back seat. [Laughter] And very 
frank and honest guy that he is.
    But more seriously, I did learn something from him and from my other 
soul mates and comrades in arms in the Navy. I learned about teamwork, 
and I learned about the importance of sticking together from Mr. Crume 
and all the other guys in the Navy. I learned to depend on my wingman 
for friendship, for support, and even for survival.
    As you know, some of you may know this history, but after I left 
basic training, J.C.'s great instruction, I was assigned to the Pacific. 
One day, my plane was shot down, TBF flying over the island of Chi Chi 
Jima, just off the island, and parachuted into the water. When I was 
swimming in the middle of the Pacific, one of my wingmen pointed me to a 
liferaft that had fallen from the plane, while another wingman then 
helped keep the enemy at bay. They put boats out from this island of Chi 
Chi Jima.
    After the Navy, I didn't wear my uniform every day, but believe me, 
friends have been part of every good fortune in my life, every good 
fortune. Now I'm about to embark on another political battle, and I know 
this is a nonpolitical convention, but I would be remiss if I did not 
express my thanks to those who have helped here and to those, regardless 
of party, who have done so much to strengthen, whatever our politics, 
strengthen support for the American veteran.
    And I am saying, some things transcend politics. And I'm just saying 
to all of you, let's stay together. Let's stay together. Let's not the 
wingman peel off as we fight for the proper recognition of and support 
for the American veteran.
    Thank you all very, very much. And may

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God bless the United States of America.

                    Note: The President spoke at 5:02 p.m. in the 
                        Goldwyn Ballroom at the Reno Hilton Hotel. In 
                        his remarks, he referred to Cleveland Jordan, 
                        national commander, DAV; Joseph C. Zengerle, 
                        national senior vice commander, DAV; and Maj. 
                        Robin Higgins, whose husband, Col. William R. 
                        Higgins, was killed while held hostage in 
                        Beirut, Lebanon.