[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[April 12, 1994]
[Pages 671-673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Reception for Representatives of Nonprofit Organizations
April 12, 1994

    Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, Secretary Shalala, 
Secretary Cisneros, and the many other people in our administration who 
are here who have long supported the nonprofit sector of this country 
and worked in it.
    I suppose no one qualifies in that regard more than the First Lady. 
Since I first met her, I've seen Hillary serve on children's advocacy 
boards, legal services boards, hospital boards, foundation boards. I was 
counting outside; I haven't checked with her, but I know that she's 
helped to form three nonprofit organizations and been associated with at 
least a dozen others. I appreciate the fact that she found a little time 
for me over the years. [Laughter]
    I say that because I have learned, not only as a Governor and a 
public official and now as President but also in my own family, the 
incredible importance of the work that all of you do and those whom you 
represent.
    When I ran for President, I said as clearly as I could that I 
thought the National Government had a responsibility to do many things 
that we were not then doing but that there were many things we could not 
do and that in the absence of a partnership with people in community 
organizations all across this country, we would surely never become the 
Nation we ought to be.
    I'd like to make a few remarks about that, but I think it is 
appropriate, since we're talking about citizenship in its best form, 
that I also make a couple of comments at the outset about a subject very 
much in the press today.
    Since Justice Blackmun announced his retirement last week, I have 
been working to find an able replacement. Last night, Senator George 
Mitchell, who was my leading candidate for the Court, came to see me and 
asked me what I wanted him to do. And I said, ``Well, I want to talk to 
you about it. I'd like to appoint you to the Supreme Court if you think 
we can do our work here for the country this year in pursuing health 
care reform and the other things we have to do.''
    And he looked at me and said, ``You know, I've always wanted to be 
on the Supreme Court, and no one can predict what it would be like if I 
were nominated and then confirmed, while sitting in the Senate and 
leading this fight, what the impact would be. I have thought of all the 
ways we could do it and all the various scenarios, and I'm only sure of 
one thing: I cannot imagine that the impact would be good in terms of 
our ability to pass health care, welfare reform, or any of the other 
things we want to do.'' But his special concern was with regard to 
health care reform. And so he said, ``I believe I should stay in the 
Senate and serve my term out and try to lead this country to health care 
reform. That's, after all, the job I was given, and it's my job until 
next January, and I'm sorry that the timing is not good, but I think 
it's the right thing to do.''
    I said, ``Well, why don't we sleep on it and see if we can think of 
a way to do it?'' This morning early I called him on the phone, and he 
said, ``I still see it the same way.'' And I said, ``Well, I haven't had 
any thunderbolts of insight about how your analysis is wrong.'' So he 
said, ``I still think I ought to do not what I want to do but what I 
should do.'' And he seemed as comfortable with that decision as any one 
that I've ever seen him make. I say that because this country needs more 
people who devote themselves not only to what they would like to do but 
what they think the country needs. He has dedicated himself to doing 
some-


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thing that, if successful, this health care reform, would be the work of 
a generation in America. His leadership role is crucial. I value it, and 
I'm grateful for it.
    And so, I would like to begin by thanking him on behalf of his 
country for his willingness to forego a great personal opportunity in 
anticipation of an enormous struggle with an uncertain result for a goal 
that is worth the careers of many of us. I thank him very much.
    The interesting thing as I look out at this crowd and I see so many 
of you whom I've known for so many years, I think of all the struggles 
that you have been in with an uncertain result, determined to make life 
better for people in any number of ways.
    In 1840, Alexis de Tocqueville said, ``If Americans want to proclaim 
a truth or propagate some feeling by the encouragement of an example, 
they form an association.'' Well, today, at the dawn of a new century, 
we're full of associations. Every now and then I hear from one I don't 
like all that much. [Laughter] Sometimes I hear from those I like very 
much things that I wish I didn't have to hear. That is a part of what 
makes America a special place.
    Every item, as I said earlier, of the national agenda I have sought 
to pursue so vigorously, ultimately depends upon people in their private 
capacities doing things differently. Much of what I try to do here is 
designed to empower people to live up to the fullest of their own 
capacities and to face their problems in their own ways most 
effectively.
    Whether that's true in health care reform or education reform or 
crime prevention or using national service through the sterling work 
that Eli Segal has done to permit people to solve their problems at the 
grassroots level, you can see it in every initiative. The whole notion 
that the Government has to empower people to take control of their own 
lives depends upon the ability of people to organize effectively, to 
lobby their Government, to influence our policies, and also to tell us 
what they know is the truth.
    Just today we received what I have seen year after year is one of 
the best examples of that kind of action with the release of yet another 
report from the Carnegie Corporation, and this one I think is one of the 
best that I have ever read on how we can better meet the needs of our 
youngest children. This report is nearly 3 years in the making, and I 
think now, it's fair to say, is the most comprehensive analysis of the 
condition of American children aged 0 to 3. It awakens us to the fact 
that millions of our infants and toddlers are living in shameful 
conditions, but also and even more importantly, offers a coherent set of 
solutions about what we ought to do about it.
    In an attempt to be a better partner with all of you in what you are 
doing, we are establishing today a nonprofit liaison network of 26 
different liaisons in every important Government Department and agency 
to work with all of you to emphasize in an organized way how much we 
value your good work, your input into our policies, your advocacies of 
things that still need to be done.
    One of the most important things in this complicated age of zillions 
of problems is that I identify what it is as President I can do and what 
it is I need someone else's help to do; of all the things that we can 
spend our time on here in the White House and in this Government, which 
things are most important and which things will spark the largest 
release of energy in a positive and constructive way around the country. 
You have to help us make that decision for, in truth, that's a decision 
that we make anew here constantly as we deal with the difficulties as 
well as the opportunities that come to this place.
    I hope this is the beginning of an even better partnership. I thank 
you very, very much for what you do, and I want to say again, I cannot 
succeed as President unless you succeed and unless you succeed in 
mobilizing millions of our countrymen and women for the important tasks 
that face us. I honestly believe that we may be at the dawn of a new 
American renaissance--a period when we are able to face, with greater 
energy and greater hope and a greater sense of community and common 
purpose, the challenges before us than has been the case in a 
generation.
    If we do it, we will make the beginning of the 21st century the most 
exciting time in American history to be young, to grow, to come to 
maturity, and to make a life. If we don't, we will have squandered a 
great legacy. The only way we can do it is if somehow there is a role 
for all of us, not just those of us in high office. You provide that 
role for all of us, and

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I will do my best to help you play it.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 4:56 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House.