    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [May 1, 1995]
    [Pages 624-625]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to ``I Have A Future'' Program Participants
    May 1, 1995

        Dr. Foster, Dr. Peters, Jason and LaShonda, the ``I Have A Future''
    teens and parents, and the national community leaders that are here. I
    have received, in this room named for Presidents Theodore and Franklin
    Roosevelt, Kings and Queens, Prime Ministers and Presidents, Senators
    and Congressmen and Governors, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, world-
    famous citizens. I have never been prouder to receive people in this
    room than I am to have you here today. LaShonda and Jason have said
    everything that needs to be said about this, about Henry Foster and
    about the ``I Have A Future'' program.
        For a very long time, I have been concerned about how many of our
    young people we are losing because of teen pregnancy or drugs or
    violence or just giving up on school. This program, which combats teen
    pregnancy through abstinence and hope, which keeps people in school and
    off drugs and away from violence, is what America ought to be about. We
    have people here every day making speeches about all this. You have
    actually done something about it.
        We have people here every day rushing to define people that they're
    opposed to in little cardboard cut-out terms, so that it will fit in 15
    or 20 seconds that shoots across the airways at night on the evening
    news. Now you know, because you know Dr. Foster, how easy it is to make
    something big little, something little big, something straight twisted,
    something good look wrong.
        Henry Foster has been a teacher and a doctor. He has done everything
    he could to pro-

    [[Page 625]]

    mote life's best values. He has spent a lifetime addressing the problems
    that are now engulfing our country. If we can't save you kids, we can't
    save America. If we can't convince you that violence is wrong, that
    drugs are wrong, that teen pregnancy is wrong, that you've got to live
    for yourself and make the most of your life, we can't save America. Most
    folks get so cynical and skeptical, they think nothing good can happen.
    Well, here it is, something good happening, something wonderful
    happening, something that is changing lives and it is bringing people
    together, something that there is no partisan politics in, something
    that is just good, rooted in old-fashioned, good, decent American
    values.
        Everybody that looks at it has reached the same conclusion. My
    predecessor, President Bush, honored the success of this program by
    naming it one of the 1,000 Points of Light. President Bush's Secretary
    of Health and Human Services, Dr. Lou Sullivan, said that ``I Have A
    Future'' is the kind of program this country needs because it turns
    young people's lives around. I didn't say that, though I sure believe
    it. They said that.
        So I say to you, I'm glad you came up here to fight for Henry
    Foster, and I'm glad you came up here to fight against people who are
    compelled, for political reasons, to label Americans and put them in
    little boxes and turn them into something they're not.
        I'm glad you came up here to tell the Members of the Congress, ``If
    you want me to grow up to be a good citizen, if you want me to believe
    in the American way of life, then you had better honor it in the
    decisions you make.'' If we can't confirm Henry Foster to be the Surgeon
    General of the United States, what kind of person can we confirm? He
    deserves it, and America needs the kinds of thing that you have shown us
    here today.
        When you go home, you remember what I told you: In this room, Kings
    and Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers, Senators and Congressmen and
    Governors, Nobel Prize winners, world-famous people, but you are
    carrying the future of America in your soul, in your spirit, in what you
    believe in, and in what you do. And America has a future if you have a
    future.
        Tomorrow, you show that to the Congress, and you show that to
    America, and you say, ``We're not going to let this good man be put in a
    little box for somebody's political objectives. The future of the
    children of this country is more important than that.''
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:45 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to Surgeon General nominee
    Henry Foster; Dr. Sheila Peters, coordinator of community services, ``I
    Have A Future'' Adolescent Health Promotion Program; and program
    participants Jason Gordon and LaShonda Maryland.