    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [June 27, 1996]
    [Pages 982-984]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Citizens of Perouges, France
    June 27, 1996

        Mayor de la Chapelle; Mayor Bussy; Prefect Ritter; to Mr. Mavereaux,
    the president of the local veterans association; to Henri Girousse; to
    all the World War II veterans who are here; to members of Parliament;
    especially to the children and the teachers of Perouges and Meximieux;
    to my fellow Americans: Let me begin by saying that Hillary and I and
    our party

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    are very, very pleased to be here in Perouges today, to be so warmly
    welcomed by you, and especially to be here with all the schoolchildren.
    Thank you very much. I would like to say a special word of thanks to the
    very large number of members of Parliament who are here and to the
    military band for providing such excellent music today.
        Mayor de la Chapelle, I know that your ancestor Pierre fought in our
    Revolutionary War and even advised our first President, George
    Washington. So, Mr. Mayor, I'm glad to be here with you today, and I
    would be happy to have any advice you might have for me today.
    [Applause] Thank you.
        Americans have been at home here since our soldiers trained together
    during World War I and our people fought together in the final days of
    World War II. I am glad to be here to renew our friendship with the
    people of Perouges, as we stand on the brink of a new century and an age
    of great possibility for the children who are here.
        As we drove from Lyons, Perouges rose in the distance, its great
    ramparts crowned by your beautiful church tower and tile roofs. Then we
    discovered the cobblestone streets, the narrow lanes, the hand-painted
    signs, the sundials, the drinking wells. The sense of timelessness is so
    strong in this beautiful place it is easy to forget that the story of
    Perouges is also the story of change. Weavers, craftsmen, and farmers
    once made this town a great medieval trading center. A century ago, the
    railroad passed you by and people began to leave. But then artists,
    historians, and ordinary citizens worked with government to establish
    your community as a historic monument. And ever since, the history you
    have preserved here has brought people like me from all around the world
    and allowed this wonderful community to thrive.
        We should all learn from this lesson. Today the world we live in is
    changing faster than ever. While more and more people prosper in this
    new global economy, others struggle without the proper education and
    training. While new technologies and rapid movements of information and
    money and people across national borders bring all of us closer
    together, they also make all of us more open to common dangers: crime,
    drug trafficking, and terrorism, as we saw in Saudi Arabia, where 19
    Americans were killed and many more were wounded. And I thank you, Mr.
    Mayor, for that moment of silence in their memory.
        To meet these challenges, we must show strength and steadiness and
    judgment and flexibility. We must meet our challenges and protect our
    values, just as you have here. That is what this G-7 meeting is all
    about, because I know that if we all work together, we can keep the
    world economy growing so that more and more of our people have the
    opportunity to make the most of their own lives. And if we all work
    together, we can face these terrible new threats to our security
    successfully.
        Terrorism is on our minds today because of the cowardly bombing in
    Saudi Arabia. So let me repeat what I said yesterday to the American
    people: We will not rest in our efforts to discover who is responsible,
    to track them down, and to bring them to justice. My friends, we must
    rally the forces of tolerance and freedom everywhere to work against
    terrorism, just as we are working together for peace in Bosnia today
    with the strong leadership of France and President Chirac.
        Last year the United States launched an international initiative to
    fight terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, and nuclear
    smuggling. Here in Lyons, I expect the G-7 nations to adopt 40 very
    specific recommendations to combat crime and terror, to increase our
    efforts to prevent terrorists from committing their crimes and our
    ability to track, catch, and punish them when they do. The future of the
    children here depends upon our success in this effort.
        Fifty-two years ago the French Resistance worked here in common
    cause with American GI's to win your freedom back. Now we must join
    together to face down the new threats to our freedom. Your unshakable
    devotion to freedom is literally rooted here in the heart of your town
    in this mighty linden tree, which was planted just over 200 years ago
    during the French Revolution. You call it the Tree of Liberty. Today's
    threats to the liberty your tree symbolizes are very different from
    those of 200 years ago, different from the threats of World War II or
    the cold war, but they are real, and we must face them. We must face
    them so that the children here today will enter the 21st century free
    and secure, with the greatest opportunity to live out their dreams of
    any generation in human history. That is my dream. It is one I hope we
    all share.

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        Thank you very much. God bless America, and vive la France.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:30 p.m. at Liberty Place. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Guy Passarat de la Chapelle of Perouges,
    France; Mayor Christian Bussy of Meximieux, France; and Philippe Ritter,
    Prefect of the Ain.