    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [June 22, 1993]
    [Pages 918-920]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 918]]

    Telephone Conversation With the Crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and
    an Exchange With Reporters
    June 22, 1993

        The President. Can you hear me?
        Mission Commander Ronald Grabe. Mr. President, I believe we hear you
    loud, but slightly broken up.
        The President. Well, we can hear you, and we are looking at you. And
    you all look wonderful.
        Commander Grabe. Well, you're loud and clear now, Mr. President.
    That's much better.
        The President. We want to congratulate you on a spectacular launch
    and on looking so happy. The American people are very reassured watching
    you on television now.
        Commander Grabe. Well, thank you sir. It's early in the mission, but
    we're very excited about the mission. It's certainly a multifaceted one,
    and it really does show the versatility of the space shuttle. We're
    doing a little bit of everything on this flight.
        The President. I know. I understand one of the things you're doing
    is chasing down the EURECA satellite that was put up by the shuttle last
    July. And I'm especially pleased about that because it shows what we can
    do in the way of international cooperation as well as science. And I
    want to congratulate you on that and wish you well.
        Astronaut Janice Voss. Thank you very much, Mr. President. We've
    been working very hard for about a year training for this rendezvous and
    retrieval. And we've had a lot of fantastic support, both in our own
    country in our own ground support team and the international team all
    over in Europe, and we're looking forward to bringing back great science
    in EURECA to the Europeans.
        The President. We're looking forward to that, too. I also understand
    that David and Jeff will be outside the shuttle practicing for the
    repair of the Hubbell telescope and for the future assembly of the space
    station. And I thought that maybe one of them or both would like to
    comment on it so people can get a good look at you now, and when they
    see you outside in your suits they'll know who they're seeing.
        Astronaut Jeff Wisoff. Well, Mr. President, we're looking very
    forward to the space walk. We feel proud to be able to represent
    America. And we're very happy of your support of the space station. We
    think it represents the best of America and their pioneering spirit. And
    the NASA team has done a really great job of preparing us for our
    flight. And I think both Dave and I just can't wait to get there.
        The President. Well, we're excited about it. And while you're up
    there, we're going to be down here trying to support the space program
    and the space station. As you know, we had a very distinguished
    commission looking at the whole space station project. They recommended
    some redesign and some management changes at NASA. But I think this
    should give us a great deal of credibility. We've got some important
    votes coming up in the Congress in the next 2 days. While you're up
    there, we're going to be down here voting on this project. And I very
    much hope that we can prevail, and I think, frankly, your success and
    your work will help us to prevail. You're doing as much up there to help
    us win the votes down here as anyone, and I thank you for that.
        Commander Grabe. Well, Mr. President, we're very gratified by your
    support of the space station. We certainly all consider it to be an
    immensely important project in continuing our leadership in science and
    technology.
        The President. Thank you. Let me just say one last thing about
    something that's very important to me. I understand that later in the
    mission Janice and Brian are going to be talking with schoolchildren
    around the world. And you may know that my daughter is a big fan of the
    space program. She's off at summer language camp now. But I want to just
    tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you're making an
    international education project out of this mission. That's very
    important to me.
        Astronaut Brian Duffy. Mr. President, we find that using amateur
    radio is an excellent way of communicating with children all around the
    world, and we're also able to excite them by using space and science. In
    letting them see space and science in action, we're able to excite them
    and hope they'll study harder.
        The President. You have no idea. You may be on this mission creating
    thousands of sci-

    [[Page 919]]

    entists for the future just by the power of your example and by this
    direct communication. I think sometimes we underestimate the impact that
    human contact in an enormously impressive setting like this can have on
    children all across the world, not only those with whom you'll talk but
    millions of others who will just see it and know that it happened.
        I want to thank all of you for the wonderful job you've done. We're
    very proud of you, and we're very proud of all the NASA folks down here
    who are supporting you. I want to encourage you and say again that I'm
    behind you, this administration is behind you, and I think the American
    people are behind you.
        Astronaut David Low. Mr. President, once again, we thank you very
    much for your support. It's a real pleasure to be up here at your
    service.
        The President. Thank you. Let's hear from the last astronaut there.
        Astronaut Nancy Sherlock. I just wanted to add my thanks for your
    support. We all feel that the space program has done a tremendous amount
    for this country, both in promoting inside the country science education
    and also with the international partners. And it means a lot to us to
    know that that support still is around and that we're going to have a
    strong space program in the future.
        The President. I'm committed to that. The American people, in
    watching you today, can see one area of human endeavor in which we are
    indisputably continuing to lead the world and bringing other countries
    into partnership. And both leadership in technology and science and
    partnership with other countries, those are the keys to our future as a
    people, to our standard of living, to our quality of life, as well as to
    our ability to continue the American tradition of exploring frontiers.
    And I'm very proud of you, and I wish you well. And we can't wait until
    you get home safe and sound. But have a great time up there, and learn a
    lot, and we'll all learn from you.
        Good luck, and God bless you all.

    [At this point, the telephone conversation ended, and the President took
    questions from reporters.]

    Homosexuals in the Military

        Q. Mr. President, there's apparently a memo circulating over at the
    Pentagon suggesting that gays should be allowed to serve in the military
    if they simply don't advertise their status. Is that what you're likely
    to recommend?
        The President. I think I should wait until I get the report from the
    Pentagon. I have not received the report. I talked to Secretary Aspin
    very briefly just a couple of days ago and asked him to proceed with
    this and let me know as soon as possible. I think the American people in
    the military are certainly ready for a resolution. But I can't comment
    on the specifics until I see it.
        Q. Does that sound like a good solution to you?
        The President. I want to see what the details are. There's been a
    lot of very helpful comment I think on this whole issue, finally, in the
    last few weeks. Senator Dole was very helpful in what he said. I thought
    some of the people who testified, interestingly enough, on both sides of
    the issue in the last set of hearings really tried to shed more light
    than heat, tried to bring down the emotionalism in the debate and get
    people to look at the facts. So I think we're ready to resolve this and
    get it behind us. And I hope that it will happen soon. But I don't want
    to comment specifically until I get a specific recommendation.
        Q. But you haven't changed your mind, have you?
        The President. Absolutely not. And I don't see this as a liberal-
    conservative issue. I mean, you've got a core who was in the Reagan
    administration supporting the idea that there has to be some provisions
    for people who don't do anything wrong but who are homosexuals serving
    in the service. You've got Barry Goldwater, you've got a lot of people
    who served with great distinction in the military who are now in the
    Congress taking the same position. So I think we're coming toward
    agreement on it, and I'm hopeful. But I'd like to see it resolved soon.

    Henry Leon Ritzenthaler

        Q. Sir, have you spoken to this fellow who claims to be your
    brother--half-brother?
        The President. No. I left word on his answering service in
    California yesterday. I didn't know he was in the air. And I also left
    word in New York. And I'd like to talk to him, and then I'll have a
    brief statement about it. But I think I should--I'd like to try one more
    day to talk to him.
        Q. I think he's afraid to call you.
        The President. Well, I hope not; I mean, we left word that it would
    be fine for him to call.

    [[Page 920]]

        Q. He's showed some reticence.
        The President. He's been, I think, very appealing and humble the way
    he's handled this whole thing. I've been impressed.

    Pat Nixon

        Q. Any thoughts on the death of Pat Nixon?
        The President. Well, I'm very sad, and I intend to try to speak with
    President Nixon today. I talked with him a couple of times in the last
    month, once when he was at the hospital and once when he had just come
    from the hospital in the last month or so, to ask his advice about
    various things. You know, they had a very long and very close marriage.
    And this must be a very difficult time for him. I think the American
    people really appreciate the dignity with which she served as First
    Lady. And I hope and believe that the Nixon family has the thoughts and
    prayers of all the American people today.
        Q. Is Panetta going to tell us anything we don't know? [Laughter]
        The President. Well, that's not so much a condemnation of me as a
    compliment to you. You know everything already. [Laughter]

    Note: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. The exchange portion of this item could not be verified because
    the tape was incomplete.