[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[November 22, 1993]
[Pages 2052-2053]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the National Democratic Institute Dinner
November 22, 1993

    Thank you very much, Ken. And thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for 
that warm welcome and for the work you do. It's a real honor for me to 
be here tonight among so many friends and colleagues who have worked so 
hard to promote democracy throughout the world. The work of NDI is well-
known and highly prized, from Russia and the Baltics to Mexico, Paraguay 
to the African Continent and many other places where you are working to 
breathe life into the idea of democracy. I salute you for that work.
    I think the knowledge that so many Americans have of your work and 
the credibility it has gained in the Congress is one reason that I was 
able to secure, with the help of some of the people here present, a 
substantial increase in funding for the National Endowment for Democracy 
at a time when we were cutting more than half the items in the domestic 
and the foreign budget.
    I would also like to thank you for Brian Atwood and for the fine job 
he's done at AID.
    I am delighted that tonight you're honoring two extraordinary 
leaders, Korean President Kim Yong-sam and Senator George Mitchell. 
Their lives have given meaning to the ideals which have inspired so many 
millions of people around the world who struggle for democracy.
    President Kim's valiant efforts since his service as a young 
assemblyman to bring democracy to Korea are a model to aspiring 
democrats everywhere. He has certainly paid a price for his devotion to 
freedom and democracy. And all of us and all freedom-loving people 
everywhere in the world should honor the personal price he paid, and 
then the fact that, once given the chance to govern his country, he 
lived in office by the ideals he expressed out of office. More should do 
the same.
    I also want to thank the NDI for honoring my good friend Senator 
George Mitchell, whose contributions to democracy, whose work for 
responsive Government here at home, and whose personal integrity prove 
once again that politics can be an honorable profession. When I went to 
the meeting of the Asian-Pacific leaders in Seattle, on the heels of the 
remarkable vote for the NAFTA treaty in the House of Representatives and 
its following overwhelming support in the Senate--something which, I 
add, I am convinced is good for democracy in Mexico and throughout Latin 
America--George Mitchell made sure that I did not forget that one of my 
missions was to espouse the cause of human rights in all the countries 
of the world who seek to be our full partners in moving toward the 21st 
century, and I thank him for that.
    Not long before I came over here tonight, and after I finished the 
day's work, I went home to be with my daughter for a few moments. And 
she had a friend from school over, and they're studying for an 
examination around the kitchen table, the way I did so many times when I 
was her age. And we turned on the evening

[[Page 2053]]

news because I wanted to see what was on about the airline strike which 
was settled today, and I thank the parties involved for doing that. And 
there was a special on, as you might imagine, about John Kennedy, since 
this is the 30th anniversary of his death. And it showed a lot of 
predictable footage, but I enjoyed watching it all the same. And the 
people who were commenting on the channels I watched all pointed out 
that everyone who was old enough to remember could tell you exactly 
where he or she was at that moment on that fateful Friday 30 years ago.
    But the thing that I was most moved by was the comment that, at that 
time, 30 years ago, the American people believed in their Government and 
believed in their President and believed in the promise of democracy to 
improve the lot of the people of this country and people throughout the 
world. And of course, the commentator went on to point out how much more 
difficult it is today, not only in our country but throughout the world 
because of economic stagnation, because of the pressures from the middle 
class, because of the continuing inability of democracy to deliver on 
some of the deepest hopes and dreams of humankind.
    I say to you tonight that if we had more people in public life like 
George Mitchell and President Kim, the confidence of the people of the 
world in democracy would go up, and the confidence of the people of the 
United States in who we are, what we believe in, and what we're capable 
of doing would increase. And so I ask you tonight, as you honor them on 
this fateful anniversary, to ask also of yourselves, what can we do 
together to make people really believe in the cause for which these men 
and so many others have given so much.
    Thank you, and good night.

Note: The President spoke at 8 p.m. at the Washington Hilton Hotel. In 
his remarks, he referred to Ken Wollack, president of the institute.