    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [April 13, 1993]
    [Pages 422-425]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Observance of the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of
    Thomas Jefferson
    April 13, 1993

        Thank you very much, Colonel McCarty, General Streeter, my fellow
    Americans. I want to begin by offering my compliments to the United
    States Marine Band and the Virginia Glee Club, who have entertained us
    so well today. I think we should give them another hand. [Applause]
        Today we observe the birthday of perhaps the most brilliant of our
    Founding Fathers in a setting Thomas Jefferson would have very much
    approved: one that joins the beauty of human architecture with the
    rapturous side of nature, with the cherry blossoms bursting all around
    us in a wreath.
        Mr. Jefferson used to say with some pride that the Sun never found
    him in bed, that he always rose early, and he was very proud of the fact
    that well into his seventies, he could ride a horse several miles a day
    without tiring. Well, in honor of his birthday, I rose early this
    morning and finding no horses around the White House, I ran over here
    and jogged around this magnificent Tidal Basin, seeing many of my fellow
    citizens who were here even before me, at the dawn, to see this
    magnificent sight.
        Today we have come to lay our wreaths in honor of Thomas Jefferson,
    as his likeness towers behind us. And yet, no amount of bronze

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    can capture the measure of the man who helped to cut a path for our
    Nation, who personally forged the principles that continue to guide us
    as Americans and as lovers of freedom.
        As has already been said, this monument was dedicated a half a
    century ago, on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday by
    President Franklin Roosevelt, a worthy heir to the spirit of Jefferson.
    Were Jefferson here today, I think he would not want very much to talk
    about the America of his time; instead, he would be talking about the
    America of our time. He would certainly not be at a loss for ideas about
    what we ought to be doing, for he was a man blessed with an eye for
    invention, an ear for music, the hands of a farmer, the mind of a
    philosopher, the voice of a statesman, and the soul of a searcher for
    truth.
        The genius of Thomas Jefferson was his ability to get the most out
    of today while never taking his eye off tomorrow, to think big while
    enjoying the little things of daily life. Perhaps most important, he
    understood that in order for us to preserve our timeless values, people
    have to change. And free people need to devise means by which they can
    change profoundly and still peacefully. If you go back to this monument
    after the ceremony, you will see on the wall in part the following
    quotation: ``Laws and institutions must go hand-in-hand with the
    progress of the human mind as that becomes more developed, more
    enlightened, as new discoveries are made and new truths discovered, and
    manners and opinions change. With the change of circumstances,
    institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.''
        A very modern statement from our third President. In his own time,
    the pace of change was enormous. Just think back, during Jefferson's
    Presidency the steamboat made its debut, revolutionizing travel. The
    importing of slaves was banned, paving the way toward emancipation and
    the realignment of society. And he acquired the Louisiana Purchase for
    the then massive sum of $15 million. Turns out it was an awfully sound
    investment. It doubled the size of our Nation, it opened up a new
    frontier, and it enabled me to be born in the United States of America,
    and many of you as well, I suspect.
        But believe it or not, every step along the way, Thomas Jefferson
    was opposed. There were people who opposed the Louisiana Purchase,
    people who opposed his then radical conception of human liberty, and
    both the power of individuals and the limitations of the Government. He
    fought, and he prevailed.
        I wonder what he would say about our time, in which the pace of
    change is even greater. I think he would take great pride in the fact
    that we have now found ways to literally double the volume of knowledge
    every few years. But I think he would be terribly disappointed that our
    understanding in this country of the science and mathematics that he
    loved so much is still so limited and so inadequate when compared to
    that of many other nations.
        I think he would be delighted that the principles of freedom for
    which he stood all his life finally resulted in the end of the cold war
    and the demise of communism. But I think he would be deeply disappointed
    that ethnic and racial and other hatreds had kept this world such a
    dangerous and unstable place, in ways that are blatantly unreasonable,
    as he defined reason.
        I think he would be proud of the technological and economic advances
    of this time, of the increasing interconnection of peoples across
    national borders in a global economy. But I think he would be profoundly
    disturbed that even the richest countries are now having enormous
    difficulty in finding enough jobs for their people, including his own
    beloved United States, and that so much technological advance seems to
    bring the destruction of much of the environment, about which he cared
    so deeply.
        I think Jefferson would be impressed at the enormous advances in
    health care. He cared a lot about his health, and he lived to be 83
    largely by taking good care of himself. And I think he would be a little
    disappointed that more of us don't take better care of ourselves and
    appalled to think that the United States is the only advanced country
    where every person doesn't have access to affordable health care,
    something I hope we can change before long.
        If you go up there and read what's on those walls, there is an
    incredibly moving statement where Jefferson said, he trembles to think
    that God is just when he considers the real meaning of the institution
    of slavery. So I think he would be delighted at the progress we have
    made in human rights and living together across racial lines. Because he
    had such a passionate belief in individual liberty, I think he would be
    delighted by the range of personal choices and freedom of speech that
    the American people

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    enjoy today, even to say things that he would find offensive, for he
    understood the clear meaning of the First Amendment.
        But I think he would be appalled at the lack of self-respect and
    self-control and respect for others which manifests itself in the kind
    of mindless violence to which this city and others have been subject for
    the last several years, and appalled at the millions of young people who
    will never know the full measure of their freedom because they have been
    raised without order, without love, without family, without even the
    basic safety which people need to be able almost to take for granted in
    order to be citizens of a real democracy. In short, I think Thomas
    Jefferson would tell us that this is one of those times when we need to
    change.
        Clearly, the call for change that Jefferson made, he intended to be
    echoed generation after generation after generation. He believed if we
    set up the Constitution in the way that it was set up, that Americans of
    courage and good sense would always, always find themselves in the
    majority for change when they needed to be there. He believed in
    Government constantly being reformed by reason and popular will.
        That is what this administration is trying to do now. We know that
    we have an economy that, even in growth, does not produce new jobs. We
    know that we have increased by 4 times the debt of this Nation over the
    last 12 years, and we don't have much to show for it. We know that the
    people have now courageously asked us to take on the problems of jobs
    and the deficit, the environment and education and health care, to try
    to put our people first again and make Government work for them.
        The American people, deep in their bones, without even thinking
    about it, are the agents of change that Thomas Jefferson sought to write
    in perpetuity into our Constitution. For in the end, Thomas Jefferson
    understood that no politician, no government, no piece of paper could do
    for the American people what they would have to do for themselves. He
    understood better perhaps than any of his colleagues that the people of
    this country would always have to be not only the protectors of their
    own liberty but the agents of their own transformation and change. But
    he also knew that Government must be willing to supply the tools of that
    change. And that, very simply, is our task today. After all, what is a
    good education but a tool to a better life. What is a job but a tool to
    build self-sufficiency, self-esteem, and dignity for a worker and a
    family.
        As I look around this Nation, I know that Thomas Jefferson would be
    very proud and pleased by much of what has happened here. I suspect it
    would amuse and surprise him and make him very proud to think that for
    most Americans, on most days, people from 150 and more racial and ethnic
    groups live together in not only peace and law abidingness but also
    mutual respect and reinforcing strength. I think that would make him
    proud. I think he would be proud of the generosity of spirit that
    characterizes our people and manifests itself most clearly at a time of
    national crisis and national tragedy. After all, in Jefferson's time
    people gave food and shelter to travelers who came to their doors at
    night, even when they were total strangers. Jefferson himself, at
    Monticello, often offered his home over the years to bone-weary
    travelers.
        Today many of our people would do the same thing. But together,
    together, we have not faced the problems of the bone-weary travelers in
    our own land, nor have we faced the problems that we all share in
    common. We cannot turn the problems away. It is time for reasonable
    change. It is time for the Americans in our time to live up to the
    principles etched in stone in this magnificent memorial.
        Just look at the beauty around us today. Do you know that in Mr.
    Jefferson's time almost all of this was a swamp? People avoided this
    place like the plague, because they were afraid of the plague. But with
    a plan, with investment, with effort, with vision, Americans transformed
    it. And from this inhospitable terrain rose the city before us, one of
    the most magnificent capitals in the history of the world. But the
    structures around us are simply buildings. They come to life only when
    they shake from the will of the people. That is what Thomas Jefferson
    knew.
        We are the inheritors of Jefferson's rich legacy. On this the 200th
    anniversary of his birth, we can honor him best by remembering our own
    role in governing ourselves and our Nation: to speak, to move, to
    change, for it is only in change that we preserve the timeless values
    for which Thomas Jefferson gave his life, over

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    two centuries ago.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:42 p.m. at the Jefferson Memorial.