[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[July 23, 1994]
[Pages 1305-1307]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters in Hot Springs
July 23, 1994

President's High School Reunion

    Q. What are your thoughts as you return to the State, Mr. President?
    The President. I'm very happy to be--I'm gratified that I can be 
here. So many of my classmates and I have survived these last 30 years 
in reasonably good shape. We're here together; we're having a wonderful 
time. We just did a lot of reminiscing. I got to go through the high 
school and see some of the wonderful new things that are being done at 
the technology

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center here. But mostly it's just a time for getting together with 
family and friends.
    Q. What did you do inside at the ceremony?
    The President. We listened to one of our classmates who is a 
minister compare our class to a family and talk about family reunions 
and what family values are really about, about our shared stories and 
experiences. It was a wonderful thing. We remembered the classmates that 
we had who are no longer with us. And we sang a lot of old songs.
    Q. Mr. President--spotlight on your reunion this year--[inaudible]
    The President. Well, I hope most of them don't mind, you know. I 
just want them all to have a good time and be relaxed and have a 
wonderful time. It's really been, I think, a good thing for all of us. 
I've never missed any of my reunions. When I was Governor we always had 
a gathering on Saturday night, and then Sunday afternoon after church I 
would have everybody over at the Governor's mansion. So they may be 
regretting that I'm not Governor so we can't go to the Governor's 
mansion.
    Q. What are you going to be doing the rest of the weekend, Mr. 
President?
    The President. I'm just going to be here with my family and friends. 
And you know, tonight we have an event, and tomorrow I'm not sure. I 
have to go back a little earlier than I wanted because on Monday we're 
having Prime Minister Rabin and King Hussein at the White House. It's a 
very big day----
    Q. Mr. President, what's your fondest memory of high school?
    The President. All my friends, no question about it. We had a--you 
know, it was a different time, I think, although I think kids today are 
trying to get back to it. We were basically a close class, and we 
believed in our country, and we believed in our future, and we were kind 
of, I think, rosy in our outlook, not necessarily unrealistic. And my 
memories of those days are deeply personal, almost like family; just 
like the minister said today, it's almost like a family.
    Q. Mr. President, what kind of person were you in high school? Were 
you a jock, a--[inaudible]--or a nerd?
    The President. Well, I wasn't a jock. I was probably--a lot of 
people probably would have said I was a nerd. But I liked my friends, I 
liked music, I liked the activities, but I liked to study, too. I had a 
normal childhood.

Whitewater Hearings

    Q. Mr. President, I know it's a weekend of reflection for you, but 
Whitewater hearings are getting ready to come up. What concerns do you 
have there, because there's a lot of people in Arkansas that are paying 
close attention to it?
    The President. Well, I think they should know that we'll do just 
what we've been doing all along. What I said is that we've been fully 
cooperative, and we will be. And the only thing I ask of the Congress, 
the only thing I've ever asked of them, is not to let any of this stuff 
interfere with the business of the people.
    We're up there to do the people's business, and we've turned this 
economy around, we've got the deficit cut in half, we've got 3 years of 
deficit reduction for the first time since Truman because we're working 
on those things. We've got unprecedented expansion of trade and new 
training opportunities.
    So now, we've got to face our challenges. We've got a crime bill to 
pass, we've got a big trade bill to pass, and we've got a health care 
reform, an issue that's been on the floor of the Congress in both 
Houses, for the first time in the history of America we've ever 
considered it. So we've got big work to do, and my only concern is let's 
just keep putting the people of this country first. And I'll be 
cooperative; we'll see what happens.

Health Care Reform

    Q. Are you confident with the health care compromise?
    The President. Well, we're working on it, you know. It's no accident 
that seven Presidents of both parties in 60 years have not been able to 
figure out how to cover all Americans. But it's important to know that 
Hawaii has--and in Hawaii small businesses pay 30 percent lower rates, 
and they cover everybody. So we can do it. We can do it, and I think we 
will.

Rwanda

    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. Well, let us just say one word about that. I think, 
at the moment, rather than characterize that effort I would say that 
there are a lot of countries who wish to participate in a Rwanda 
peacekeeping force who may not have the capacity to do so. And one of 
the things that we, those of us with a lot of capacity, need to examine 
is whether there's something--

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this is over the long run--whether there's something we can do to help 
countries who want to give men and women to these kinds of projects have 
the training, have the support, have the things they need.
    I think the whole world is now focused on Rwanda; I think the hearts 
of the world are with these people who have suffered. I think that we're 
moving very quickly to try to save lives from the cholera outbreak, and 
I think we'll have progress there. I think that a lot of these African 
countries will do the very best they can. And if they're trying to do 
something that they can't do, then the rest of us need to help them 
develop the capacity to do it.

Note: The exchange began at 1:59 p.m. at Hot Springs High School. A tape 
was not available for verification of the content of this exchange.