[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.