    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [September 27, 1995]
    [Pages 1500-1501]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1500]]

    Remarks to Oklahoma City ``Thank You America'' Participants
    September 27, 1995

        Thank you, Governor Keating. I want to thank so many people who are
    here who made me immensely proud to be an American and to have the
    opportunity to serve during this sad but amazing episode in our Nation's
    history.
        First, I thank Governor Keating for his outstanding leadership. It's
    a little-known fact, but about 30 years ago in this city, Frank Keating
    and I were college classmates. And life took us in different directions
    and to different parties and different pursuits. But when I watched him
    during this crisis, I saw the same person I had admired 30 years ago and
    had felt good about, about his strength and his eloquence and his
    conviction. And the people of Oklahoma were very fortunate to have him
    as their Governor during this period. I thank Mrs. Keating for the work
    she did, especially on that memorial service which will live in the
    minds and hearts of every one of us who participated in it, and I
    imagine every American who saw it, for as long as we live. I thank Mayor
    Norick and Mrs. Norick. I saw the mayor earlier, and the first time I
    talked to him and then when I came down to see him, I thought, of all
    the things you ever imagined could happen to you when you run for mayor,
    this is the one thing you never signed on for. But I think that he and
    his representatives here from the police and fire department and the
    people from the Oklahoma National Guard and the Oklahoma Emergency
    Management Agency who are represented here did a very, very fine job.
        I think you saw once again, when my old friend James Lee Witt was up
    here talking about it--he lives this job more than anybody who has ever
    headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And I think he has done
    great credit to that agency, and he's made America feel secure in times
    of trouble, whatever the trouble is. And I thank him for that.
        I want to say to Mr. Stinnett and the people from Fairfax County,
    Mr. Mathias and the people from Virginia Beach, Lieutenant Carr and the
    people from Montgomery County, and all the brave men and women who
    answered the call, I thank you very much. Let me also thank the Governor
    and the mayor for bringing our new Miss America here. I thought she did
    magnificently well in the contest the other night. Congratulations to
    you. We're glad to see you here.
        It is a tribute to the leadership and to the strength of Oklahomans
    that in the midst of their own continuing recovery, they took the
    trouble and time to come here and tour this country to thank those of
    you who assisted them in their hour of need. As I said at the time, and
    I want to say again, one of the lessons of the Oklahoma City tragedy is
    that, although they lost a very great deal, they did not lose America.
    They have not forgotten that. And I really appreciated what the Governor
    said when he said that if any of us ever needed them, they would be
    there.
        I was in Florida the other day, walking the streets of Jacksonville
    in a high-crime area with a man who had just been elected sheriff. And
    we had a lot of children there who were living there in this
    neighborhood. And in the last 6 months, they've been able to drive the
    crime rate down dramatically. And the Governor of Florida said, ``You
    know, one of the continuing struggles in America is for us to decide
    whether we're going to be a community or a crowd.'' He said, ``A crowd
    of people occupy the same piece of land, but they don't really relate to
    each other very well. They just kind of shove each other back and forth,
    and some win and some are left behind. A community occupies the same
    piece of land, and they recognize that they really are obligated to one
    another and that everybody's life is better when they recognize those
    obligations and act on them.''
        Oklahoma City turned the entire United States into a community. In
    fact, it turned us all into a family. We somehow found our better selves
    in the horror of what had happened to people with whom we identified.
    The feelings of the rescuers, I think, is best summed up in a note I got
    from the Fairfax County team. And they wrote:
        ``We'll never forget our time in Oklahoma City. We still are healing
    and searching for the reason why someone could do something this evil to
    people that are so good. Now, whenever we find ourselves angry over
    something, we think about the people of Oklahoma and our

    [[Page 1501]]

    anger abates. Whenever we're asked about what we did there, the answer
    always includes meeting the most wonderful people in the country. We'd
    like to thank the people of Oklahoma City for reminding us of what being
    an American really means.''
        No one could have said it better than the team. Thank you very much.
        One of the best things we can do to continue this healing process is
    to all carry on as best we can with the work that was left undone there,
    to reach out to the children, especially those who lost a parent or
    whose parents were severely disabled by the bombing.
        America believes in extending a helping hand to people who are in
    trouble through no fault of their own. And a lot of things have been
    announced to help those children and those families. We have established
    a scholarship fund here, and various Federal agencies are working on
    making sure that the children of people who were killed who worked for
    the agencies will all be able to go on to college and have their
    educational needs met. And so we decided to establish a Presidential
    scholarship fund to assist the children of the victims.
        One of the nicest things that's happened to me in the last 3 years
    is that this year on my birthday, the present my staff gave to me was
    that each of them contributed to the scholarship fund for the children
    of Oklahoma City. Since there will be many different circumstances for
    these young people, we thought it best to set up an advisory board to
    direct the proceeds of the scholarship fund. And my long-time friend
    former Governor George Nigh has agreed to chair it. Former Governor and
    Senator Henry Bellmon has agreed to serve on the board. We will be
    assisted by the Governor's office and the mayor's office. And James Lee
    Witt has also agreed to serve on the board.
        So this fund will be administered at absolutely no cost, and
    therefore, 100 percent of all the contributions given by Federal
    employees and others here in Washington and throughout the country to
    help the children will go to educate those children. And I think that is
    very, very important.
        Gandhi once said that if we are ever to reach real peace in this
    world, we shall have to begin with the children. For those of you who
    are being honored here today who brought your children, let me thank you
    for that. I hope they will always remember and always be very proud of
    what you did for their Nation in the hour of need of the people of
    Oklahoma City.
        Let me now say that I hope and pray that this will never happen
    again in our country. We are doing everything we can to prevent it from
    happening again. But we learned something about ourselves when it did
    happen that we should never forget. And I just hope that we can follow
    the lesson of the note in the Fairfax County team's statement. When we
    feel ourselves getting angry or drifting away from our fellow citizens
    or being less than we ought to be, we ought to remember how all of us
    were in the aftermath of Oklahoma City and how that magnificent spirit
    made everyone a little more human, a little more alive, and a lot more
    proud to just have the opportunity to help our fellow human beings and
    our fellow Americans who needed it. If we can remember that, then that
    lasting tragedy will always have changed America for the better.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:40 p.m. at the National Guard Memorial.
    In his remarks, he referred to Governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma, and
    his wife, Cathy; Mayor Ronald Norick of Oklahoma City, OK, and his wife,
    Carolyn; Edward L. Stinnett, member, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue
    Virginia Task Force 1 (Fairfax County); Melven R. Mathias, member, FEMA
    Urban Search and Rescue Virginia Task Force 2 (Virginia Beach); Thomas
    Carr, leader, FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Maryland Task Force 1
    (Montgomery County); and Shawntel Smith, Miss America 1995.