    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [November 30, 1995]
    [Pages 1815-1816]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception Hosted by Sir Patrick Mayhew in Belfast
    November 30, 1995

        The President. Thank you.
        Audience member. Four more years!
        The President. The plane for America leaves tomorrow morning. I want
    you to be on it. [Laughter] We'll take you back.
        Thank you, Sir Patrick and Lady Mayhew. And thank you, Sir Patrick,
    for your tireless efforts for peace in Northern Ireland.
        I want to thank the Vice Chancellor, Sir Gordon Beveridge, and
    everyone here at Queen's University for allowing us to meet at this
    wonderful place in the year of its sesquicentennial celebration. I am
    delighted to be here. And I'm also delighted that it was given to me the
    honor to make a little announcement involving Queen's. Under the
    auspices of the Fulbright program, named after the late Senator from my
    home State, J. William Fulbright, who gave me my first job in public
    life, we are establishing a distinguished Fulbright lecturer program
    here at Queen's University to bring distinguished Americans to share
    their experiences and their ideas with their academic colleagues here
    and to reach out to the community throughout Northern Ireland.
        Let me say that Hillary and I are delighted to be here with a very
    large contingent of Americans from all walks of life and from both
    political parties. I am delighted to be the first American President
    ever to visit Northern Ireland while serving as President. And I think
    all of you here know that I would, given the choice, never miss a chance
    to go to an exciting place and make new friends. But the real reason I'm
    here is because of the hard work and the tough choices that many of you
    in this room have made to advance the cause of peace and reconciliation
    in this land. And I thank you for that.
        I will take away from this visit a lot of enduring memories, a lot
    of lasting impressions of peace. When we were at the Mackie plant this
    morning, it really struck me as a symbol of Northern Ireland's rebirth
    since the cease-fire. On the shop floor, men and women who come to the
    plant by separated gates still, work together side by side with common
    goals for their families and their communities.
        I went to the Enterprise Park in East Belfast, and I met with
    tenants and managers who were

    [[Page 1816]]

    making the most of their ideas, their potential, assisted, among other
    things, by the International Fund for Ireland.
        I went to Londonderry where we had an extraordinary crowd, and I saw
    the splendor of that beautiful old city wall and also the remarkable
    Statue of Reconciliation there, which is also a sharp reminder. If
    you've seen it, you know there are two tall figures with their hands
    outstretched, but they're not quite touching yet. And of course, tonight
    at the Christmas tree lighting, for Hillary and for me it was an
    especially poignant moment not only because it reaffirmed the ties
    between our two lands with the President's Prize and the Christmas tree
    from your sister city of Nashville and because of those remarkable
    letters that those children wrote but also because of what I saw and
    felt in that vast throng of people.
        And when I was shaking hands in the crowd there when there were no
    microphones on and no cameras shining, person after person after person
    that I shook hands with said, ``We're glad you're here. We're trying to
    do this. Please stay with us; we haven't finished yet. The peace is not
    certain yet. We have to do this.'' Person after person. Person after
    person said, ``Surely we'll never go back to the way it used to be.''
    Just people in the crowd with their passion and energy and intensity.
        I will remember this day for as long as I live, with great
    gratitude. And let me say what I have said all day: I am proud that the
    United States stands with the peacemakers here. We respect each
    tradition equally. We believe peace can be built here on the basis of
    mutual consent and, in fact, only on that basis. We continue to stand
    with those who take risks. And we want to see that there are clear,
    concrete benefits to peace through trade and investments and new jobs
    and new futures. We will do everything we can to work with all of you to
    sustain the momentum that Northern Ireland has at this point.
        Let me finally say that I have taken a strict and unyielding
    position about the role of the United States as a force for peace
    throughout the world. Whether in the Middle East or in Bosnia or here,
    it is that we cannot, and we could not even if we wanted to, impose a
    peace on anyone. People must make their own peace from their heads and
    from their hearts. All we can do is to do the very best we can to create
    the best conditions in which people can make peace, to give the greatest
    encouragement to the process of peace, and to offer the hope of every
    reward we can possibly help to provide.
        That is our role. That will remain our role. The details, the
    direction, and the question of whether you will go forward, that, my
    friends, is all up to you. But if you do, we will be proud to walk with
    you.
        Thank you, and Merry Christmas.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:27 p.m. in Whitla Hall at Queen's
    University.