    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [June 15, 1993]
    [Page 856]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 856]]

    Remarks at a Reception for Members of the Diplomatic Corps
    June 15, 1993

        Thank you very much. I want to welcome all of you again to the White
    House, thank the Marine orchestra for providing the wonderful music, and
    tell you how very glad that Hillary and I are that you could all join us
    this evening to renew old friendships, begin new ones, and celebrate a
    new and challenging era in world affairs. I'm especially glad that we
    could be joined this evening by the Vice President and Mrs. Gore and by
    Secretary of State and Mrs. Christopher and by the dean of our
    diplomatic corps, Ambassador and Mrs. Pondi. The gathering of the
    Washington Diplomatic Corps offers us a good opportunity to become
    better acquainted and an opportunity to reflect on the state of the
    world we share.
        Standing here, we are within sight, just behind us, of the
    magnificent memorial to our third President and our first Secretary of
    State, Thomas Jefferson. He acutely understood the value of diplomacy to
    the United States. He also is the embodiment of our eternal quest for
    democracy. His words extolling democracy and human dignity still
    resonate in the hearts of all Americans and of people around the world.
        None of us here this evening can say we represent a nation that has
    arrived at a perfect solution for the problems of human governance.
    There will never be a perfect solution for the problems of people who
    themselves are not perfect. But among the many clear facts of the era we
    all share is the remarkable worldwide movement toward democracy, from
    Russia to southern Africa, from Eastern Europe to Central and South
    America. There is great hope today that governments all around the
    world, beginning with our own, are becoming increasingly democratic and
    responsive to those whom they govern. And that is a hope I share. This
    time of hope is also clearly a time of urgency for the work we will do
    and must do in the months and years ahead.
        Today, billions of people look to us, indeed challenge us, to make
    progress against one of mankind's oldest enemies: poverty, disease,
    ignorance, bigotry, or armed strife, and perhaps all of them at once.
    And they look to us as well to make progress against our new challenges,
    such as the spread of weapons of mass destruction and the degradation of
    the global environment. The urgency of these problems is evident, and
    the complexity and difficulty of them is truly daunting. While none of
    us has absolute power to make these problems disappear, each of us has
    far too much power to pretend that we can do nothing or that the
    problems do not exist. And while each of us here may hold only a piece
    or two of these troubling puzzles, surely we must remember that together
    we and the nations we represent hold all the pieces of the puzzles. So
    this evening, let us talk. And then tomorrow and the months ahead, let
    us try, for ultimately that is why our nations have sent us here.
        I look forward to working with you and the great nations you
    represent. I thank you again for joining us tonight. And I trust that
    all of us will always remember that we have been given great obligations
    and great opportunities and that together we can make a difference for
    the better.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:01 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House.