    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [February 17, 1995]
    [Pages 219-220]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Memorial Service for J. William Fulbright
    February 17, 1995

        Mrs. Fulbright, the children and grandchildren of Senator Fulbright,
    all of his family and friends here assembled, we come to celebrate and
    give thanks for the remarkable life of J. William Fulbright, a life that
    changed our country and our world forever and for the better. In the
    work he did, the words he spoke, and the life he lived, Bill Fulbright
    stood against the 20th century's most destructive forces and fought to
    advance its brightest hopes.
        He was the heir of Jefferson in our time. He believed in the
    American idea, but he respected others who saw the world differently. He
    lived with passion tempered by reason. He loved politics, but cautioned
    against the arrogance of power. He cherished education as the answer to
    our common problems and our personal dreams. But he knew there would
    always be more to learn.
        Time and again for 32 years as a Congressman, a Senator, chairman of
    the Foreign Relations Committee, he worked for progress and peace, often
    against great odds and sometimes at great personal cost: expanding
    opportunities for the people of his beloved Arkansas and other Americans
    who needed help to make the most of their lives; leading the way to
    found the United Nations; taking a long, lonely stand against Joseph
    McCarthy; expanding the reach of our culture as the driving force behind
    the Kennedy Center; fighting to change our course in Vietnam; reminding
    us that the forces of freedom would win the cold war if we could avoid
    nuclear war, what he called his generation's power of veto over the
    next; and of course, in a cold dawn only 2 weeks after Hiroshima,
    calling for the creation of the international exchange program that will
    live as his most profound legacy.
        The Fulbright Scholarship Program is a perfect example of Bill
    Fulbright's faith, different kinds of people learning side by side,
    building what he called ``a capacity for empathy, a distaste for killing
    other men, and an inclination for peace.'' Next year will be the 50th
    anniversary of that program. Now it includes as its alumni Nobel Prize
    winners, Members of Congress, leaders for peace and freedom the world
    over, and many not so famous people who went home to live out the faith
    of Senator Fulbright. More than 120,000 from other countries have come
    here and more than 90,000 Americans have gone overseas to study, to
    learn, and to grow. No matter what their native tongue, all of them are
    now known by the same name, Fulbrights.
        In a way, a lot of us here, especially those of us from Arkansas and
    those who worked for him in other ways over the years, are also in our
    own way Fulbrights. Those of us who knew and loved him, who worked for
    him, who learned from him, each of us have our indelible memories, some
    of them serious, some of them quite funny.
        I must say that I was a little reluctant to accept the request that
    I speak today because I once attended a funeral with Bill Fulbright, and
    I know how much distaste he had for highly formalized rituals. If he
    were giving me instructions, he'd say, ``Bill, say something nice, be
    brief, and try to get everybody out so they can enjoy this beautiful
    day.''
        But let me tell you that those of us who understood and shared his
    roots in the Ozarks, those of us who knew what his life was like as a
    young person growing up and playing football and becoming the president
    of a university, those of us who understood later in life what he
    learned when he had the chance first to travel overseas and study in
    England and see the insanity that resulted from the squandering of the
    victory in World War I, those of us who saw firsthand the enormous
    anguish he felt, as I would see him early in the morning and late in the
    evening in the Senate office building, in the great struggles over the
    Vietnam war, those of us who saw him in his campaign in

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    1968, when this country was being literally torn apart, still trying to
    learn, trying to understand, and trying to be understood, we will never
    forget the debt that we owe him and the debt the country owes him.
        When Mrs. Fulbright spoke last year in Germany, in recognition of
    the Senator's receipt of a distinguished award from the American Chamber
    of Commerce there, she quoted from a letter Senator Fulbright received
    30 years ago. I'd like to leave it with you, so that you can remember
    something of what he did and the times in which he did it.
        She said, all this talk of leadership, freedom and education may
    seem simple, self-evident and commonplace to you now, but there was a
    time when it was considered radical, even dangerous. Thirty years ago,
    Senator Fulbright was called names I wouldn't dream of putting on paper,
    much less pronouncing to a respectable audience. He got emotional
    letters full of praise and hate. There was one which affected him far
    more deeply than all the rest. And after reading it, he closed his
    office doors, ordered all the calls held, and wrote in longhand an
    answer which he did not copy. I will read you the letter:
        ``Dear Senator Fulbright: I have never voted for you. I have never
    missed a chance to belittle you. But deep inside me, there was a nagging
    suspicion that I have been wrong. As this world plunges headlong toward
    what well may be its destruction, it gets increasingly harder to hear
    lonely voices, such as yours, calling for common sense, human reason,
    and the respect for the brotherhood of man. But be of good cheer, my
    friend, keep nipping at their heels. This old world has always nailed
    its prophets to trees, so don't be surprised at those who come at you
    with hammers and spikes. Know that those multitudes yet unborn will
    stand on our shoulders. And one among them will stand a little higher
    because he is standing on yours.''
        We owe a lot to Bill Fulbright, some of us more than others. Let us
    all remember the life he lived and the example he set.
        A few years ago, Senator Fulbright came home to Fayetteville, and we
    celebrated a Fulbright Day. I was then the Governor, and after the
    official event, we went back to his hotel room and watched the football
    game. And when the young player for one of the teams kicked a field
    goal, he looked at me and he said, ``You know, I used to do that over 60
    years ago. I don't know what happened to all those years. They sure
    passed in a hurry.'' I think we can all say that they also passed very
    well.
        Senator Fulbright's lesson is captured on the statue in the
    Fayetteville town square in these quotes: ``In the beauty of these
    gardens, we honor the beauty of his dream, peace among nations and free
    exchange of knowledge and ideas across the Earth.'' Bill Fulbright also
    left us the power of his example, always the teacher and always the
    student.
        Thank you, friend, and Godspeed.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. at the Washington National
    Cathedral. In his remarks, he referred to Harriet Fulbright, widow of
    the Senator.