[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[July 21, 1994]
[Pages 1295-1297]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1295]]


Remarks to the American Legion Girls Nation
July 21, 1994

    Thank you very much. I want to welcome the delegates from Girls 
Nation and all the staff here. I would like to begin by congratulating 
Molly Spearman on being named the National Girls Nation director this 
year. She is a State representative from South Carolina, I understand, 
so that's a very good thing to do. [Laughter] I would also like to 
congratulate the president and vice president of Girls Nation, Laura 
Fernandez and Amanda Plumb.
    Thirty-one years ago I came to the White House for the first time as 
a delegate to Boys Nation. It was part of a memorable week I will never 
forget. We met President Kennedy here. We got to see a number of members 
of the Cabinet. There was an eager anticipation in 1963 of the 
Presidential election that most people assumed would occur in the next 
year. And I think it's fair to say that most of us who went home from 
that experience were inspired in one way or another to pursue a career 
in public service, more than they ever had been before. And I have seen 
that happen year in and year out to young boys and young girls who come 
through the American Legion Boys State and Girls State programs to Girls 
Nation and to Boys Nation.
    The Secretary of State of Wyoming, Kathy Karpan, now a candidate for 
Governor out there, is an alumni of this program. There will be more and 
more opportunities in national politics for young women in the years 
ahead. We now have seven women in the President's Cabinet, more than 
twice as many women as have ever served in the Cabinet of a President at 
one time, and have appointed a record number of women Federal judges and 
other women to important positions. By the time you're old enough to be 
standing here there will probably be a woman standing up here as 
President saying, ``Well, I've done a pretty good job appointing men to 
my Cabinet. [Laughter] I'm up to five and looking for some more 
qualified people to serve.''
    But as you go through life, whatever you do, I hope you'll always be 
involved in public service. And always remember that as an American 
citizen in the world's oldest and most successful continuous democracy, 
there's always an obligation to be involved in fighting for the future. 
And the only way to preserve the greatest traditions and values of this 
country is to make sure that we get to that future.
    I have done my best here to make this bewildering time of change 
seem more friendly to the American people and, at the same time, to help 
us together to rebuild many of our traditional institutions that are 
under fire today, our families, our communities, the very institution of 
work which is at the heart of the American dream.
    Our economic plan has succeeded in reducing the deficit by more than 
at any time in history. Within 5 years we'll have a Federal Government 
that will be below 2 million for the first time since John Kennedy was 
President and I came here, the smallest Federal establishment in over 30 
years. And when the Congress passes this year's budget, the two together 
will give us 3 years of deficit reduction in a row for the first time 
since Harry Truman was the President of the United States almost 50 
years ago.
    The Congress is about to pass a major crime bill that will put 
another 100,000 police officers on our streets, ban assault weapons, 
protect hunting weapons, make it illegal for minors to own handguns or 
to possess them except in the presence of a qualified supervising adult, 
provide billions of dollars for programs for young people to stay out of 
trouble as well as tougher punishment once they get in trouble.
    We are looking at a welfare reform program that will literally 
change the institution of welfare as we know it and support parenting, 
strengthen the family, and strengthen work. And of course, our most 
highly publicized struggle today is to try to figure out how to join the 
ranks of all other advanced nations and finally provide health security 
to all of our families. Only the United States of all the advanced 
economies of the world has failed to do that. Now one in six Americans 
has no health insurance, and the majority of the American people are at 
risk of losing it at one time or another in their lives.
    But the main point I want to make to you who are delegates here is 
that, as important as all these things are, public service here in

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Washington is only one way to serve your country. And the things that 
people do back home every day in the aggregate are still more important. 
A lot of what we're doing here is designed to empower people in all of 
your communities and States to do more for themselves. We're about to 
name communities that are part of a 700-community contest in America to 
get empowerment zones for their poor areas, so that private enterprise 
can go in and offer people a chance to get jobs and have a better 
future. This crime bill, the most important thing is it will add 20 
percent to the size of local police forces in America, so they can 
prevent crime as well as catch criminals. And I could go on and on and 
on. The things that happen at the grassroots level are the most 
important.
    So I would like to close by just saying I hope you will remember, as 
I know all of you have, that what you are doing now is a form of public 
service. What the staff does in supporting this program is a form of 
public service. And I think over the long run perhaps the most important 
initiative that our administration has succeeded in putting through is 
the national service program, which gives thousands of young people a 
chance to earn money against their further education by simply serving 
their communities at the grassroots level.
    This summer we'll have 7,000 young Americans in our Summer of Safety 
working on crime-related issues. This fall we'll have 20,000 young 
Americans working in communities all over America solving problems and 
earning credit against their college education. Year after next, if the 
Congress will keep supporting me, we'll have 100,000 young Americans 
working to make America a better place at the grassroots level. And all 
those young Americans together can do more to bring our country together 
and move our country forward than many people who serve in elected 
public office.
    Let me just say one last point. One of the lessons of this time is 
that there is no longer an easy dividing line between what we do here at 
home and what happens around the world, between domestic and foreign 
policy. In the last year we've had more expansion of trade opportunities 
than at any previous time period like this in a generation because we 
know we can't grow our economy at home unless we can grow abroad.
    We also are affected by the human rights and political and 
humanitarian events around the world. And I know all of you have been 
very moved by the terrible travesty of over one million refugees teeming 
out of Rwanda, being packed into a very small area. I want to say just a 
word about that because we have some Americans who are there with other 
citizens of the world trying to serve and trying to make a difference.
    Just before I came over here today, I had a briefing from the 
Administrator of our Agency for International Development, our AID 
program, Brian Atwood. We have already provided over $120 million to 
help the refugees, and we are conducting airlifts there as well, flying 
in needed supplies. But we are very concerned about the new health care 
problems that are presented by all the refugees that are there. There 
are a growing number that are dying of cholera and many, many more who 
are at risk of that. So we are going to participate, indeed, in trying 
to lead the United Nations in responding to the cholera problem and in 
dealing with the other aspects of this human catastrophe. And I have 
asked the National Security Adviser and Mr. Atwood and the Pentagon to 
implement quickly a practical plan of action that can make a difference 
on the ground in these camps in Zaire. And I will be talking more about 
it in greater detail tomorrow, but I did want to say something about it 
because that's an important part of what it means to be an American as 
we move toward the 21st century as well.
    Let me just say one thing in closing. There is a lot of speculation 
today about what the character and attitude of young Americans are. 
There was a cover of one of our major news magazines not very long ago 
showing a lot of young people and speculating about this so-called 
Generation X, the people who are just a little older than you, in their 
twenties. Well, I've got some of those Generation X folks who work here, 
who have worked here, and I spend a lot of time with young people. And I 
do not find the cynicism, the pessimism that I keep reading about.
    What I find are young people who believe in this country, who 
believe in themselves, and who believe in the future. And I guess what I 
would say is, after more than 30 years, since the time I was here and 
the time you're here, if you ask me to summarize what I have learned, it 
might be an embarrassing short list. But I can say this: You cannot 
build a future unless you believe in it and unless you believe in your-


[[Page 1297]]

selves. And if you do believe in yourselves and you believe in this 
country and you believe in your future, you can do anything you wish to 
do. And I wish you well in doing it.
    Thank you very much, and I'd like to ask Molly to come up now. Thank 
you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:11 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House.