    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [April 29, 1995]
    [Pages 611-613]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
    April 29, 1995

        Thank you very much, Ken. To all the members of the White House
    press who are here; to all the members of the White House staff and the
    administration who are here and who have to endure this every year with
    me. [Laughter] Let me say I have had a wonderful time tonight. I kind of
    hate to come up here; I'd rather listen to Conan talk to that worthless
    redneck on the screen--[laughter]--for another half an hour.
        I identify with Conan O'Brien. Like me, he's a young man who came
    from obscurity--[laughter]--and chose a sidekick with more inside
    experience. And despite his many accomplishments, 250 million Americans
    never get to see him in prime time. [Laughter]
        I feel your pain. [Laughter]
        Speaking of young people, it was announced tonight, you know, that
    my Press Secretary, Mike McCurry, and his wife, Debra, just had their
    third child, Christopher. I want to make another announcement: Before my
    term is over, Christopher will become the youngest member of the White
    House Press Office--[laughter]--

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    just barely younger than the rest who work there. [Laughter]
        You know, I practiced for this night. I had all this humor and
    everything, but--and I really believe that you could tell I--I really
    liked that--whoever that awful person is that played me. [Laughter] I
    thought it was wonderful.
        The Book of Proverbs says, ``A happy heart doeth good like medicine,
    and a broken spirit drieth the bones.'' And I believe that. But I think
    you will all understand that--and I hope my wonderful comedy writers
    will understand--if I take a few moments tonight not to be too funny
    here at the end because of the tragedy in Oklahoma City, which has
    captured us all and which still is the focus of our efforts, for
    understandable reasons tonight, as the rescue workers are still laboring
    and as the law enforcement officers are still working.
        Tonight, as Ken and I were sitting here, and he let me read his
    latest essay about the heroism of the people in Oklahoma City. And I
    want to say something personal to all of you. I know that for virtually
    everybody in the press in this room, this has been a very painful
    experience for all of you, too, who have covered it, and to have been
    Americans, to have been parents and children and brothers and sisters,
    and to have identified with the human tragedy on such a massive scale.
        And what I want to do tonight is to tell you that I really
    appreciate the way this incident has been presented to the American
    people. I think you have made an extraordinary effort to capture both
    the horror and the humanity of the situation, to somehow grasp and
    communicate to your fellow citizens the incredible honor with which so
    many people have performed in these last difficult days.
        Most of you were able, and I think it was difficult, to show
    commendable restraint in not jumping to any conclusions about who did
    this terrible thing. And most of you have really done a great deal to
    help the American people find some renewed strength and energy. And I
    thank you for that. And I hope in the days ahead you will be able to
    continue it.
        As this story unfolds, I would ask you to continue to return to
    Oklahoma City, to update our country on how the families who have
    suffered so much are rebuilding their lives, and to remind us about the
    countless heroes we have all seen there. The terrible people who did
    this thing do not deserve to be celebrities, although they will become
    famous. But the victims and their families and the people who have
    labored, they don't deserve to be forgotten.
        The heroes of this tragedy embody the unbreakable spirit of our
    Nation. They should always be remembered, the hundreds of rescue workers
    who defied the rain, the cold, the heartache, and a very real risk to
    their own lives. People like Rebecca Anderson, a nurse with four
    children, whose parents still live in my home State, who was hit by a
    piece of concrete and later died trying to help others. Even in death,
    she continued to serve the living by giving her heart to save the life
    of a man from Oklahoma and one of her kidneys to save the life of a
    woman from New Mexico.
        Now, folks, that is the real America. Sometimes all of us forget it
    a little bit. Sometimes all of us are too bound up in what we are doing.
    But this country is bound together in a way that the people like those
    who committed those crimes in Oklahoma can never understand. And I know
    our Government is not perfect, and I know it makes mistakes. But this is
    a very free country and a very great country. And a lot of the people
    who are out there complaining about it today would not even be able to
    do what they do in the way they do it in most of the other democracies
    in the world today. And we should never forget it.
        I say this tonight not to pour cold water on this wonderful evening
    and not because I haven't enjoyed it--I think I laughed harder tonight
    than anybody else here--but because as long as this work is going on, I
    think I owe it to you to tell you for all of our sometimes conflicting
    interests, I am really proud of the work the American press corps did in
    bringing this to the American people. And the work is not over. The
    understanding is not over.
        We have a lot of difficult decisions to make in the weeks and months
    ahead. As you know, I feel very strongly that the country should adopt
    stronger measures against terrorism. It will be debated in the Congress.
    Some of the measures are complex. You will have to explain them to the
    American people. I ask only that in all of this, you never forget the
    human dimension that you have so skillfully and heroically brought home
    to all the people of this country.
        We are going to get through this, and when we do, we'll be even
    stronger. We've been around here now for more than 200 years because
    almost all the time more than half of

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    us wind up somehow doing the right thing. And we will do the right thing
    again.
        I'd like to close with words written by the wonderful poet W.H.
    Auden over 50 years ago: ``In the deserts of the heart, let the healing
    fountain start. In the prison of his days, teach the free man how to
    praise.''
        We praise America tonight, and we thank you for bringing it home to
    us in such a powerful way in these last days.
        Good night, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:47 p.m. at the Washington Hilton. In his
    remarks, he referred to Ken Walsh, outgoing president, White House
    Correspondents' Association, and entertainer Conan O'Brien.