    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [July 26, 1996]
    [Pages 1202-1204]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1202]]

    Remarks on Presenting the National Medals of Science and Technology
    July 26, 1996

        The President. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please be seated.
    We're honored to be joined today by Senator Chris Dodd; Chairman Ben
    Gilman; Congressman George Brown; Secretary Kantor; Secretary O'Leary;
    Secretary Shalala; Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Joe
    Stiglitz; Dr. Laura Tyson, the head of the National Economic Council;
    Dr. Neal Lane, the National Science Foundation Director; and Dr. Harold
    Varmus, the Director of NIH; Mary Good, the Under Secretary of Commerce
    for Technology; and of course, the President's adviser on science and
    technology, Dr. Jack Gibbons, who has done a wonderful job. I want to
    thank him for everything he's done.
        I am very honored to be here today to present the winners of the
    National Medals of Science and Technology. Scientists have always been
    at the center of our national defense and our national conscience.
    Sometimes they have been one and the same. Thirty-three years ago today
    President Kennedy, with the advice and counsel of his science adviser,
    Jerome Wiesner, and the scientific community, called upon our Nation to
    take a step back from the shadows of war by supporting a limited nuclear
    test ban treaty. In that famous speech, President Kennedy envisioned a
    farther reaching treaty that banned all testing everywhere, including
    underground.
        Today I am proud to tell you that when the Conference on Disarmament
    reconvenes in Geneva on Monday, we will be one step closer to realizing
    President Kennedy's vision of a safer world. The United States will
    support without change the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty that
    the chairman of the negotiating committee proposed when the negotiations
    adjourned last June. The United Kingdom, France, and Russia have also
    announced their support for this document. Now I call upon other members
    of the Conference to do the same. I urge them to endorse and forward the
    chairman's text without change to the United Nations so that the General
    Assembly can approve the treaty and open it for signature in September.
    What a remarkable thing that would be.
        This is an exciting time for our entire world and, of course, for
    America. Today we are enjoying the Olympic games, and as we applaud the
    athletes in Atlanta we have to remember that the technological advances
    of many, many people throughout the world have made it possible for all
    of us to enjoy it, perhaps more when we aren't there than even when we
    are, although having been there I can vouch for the virtue of being
    there.
        We also have to remember that America is engaged in another kind of
    competition, the competition for leadership in the world in science and
    technology and for the jobs and economic growth and social stability
    that they create. Here at home our economic strategy is working. Our
    people have created more than 10 million new jobs in the last 4 years.
    We've cut the deficit by more than half, and we're the first
    administration to cut it 4 years in a row since John Tyler in the
    1840's. Every time I say that and someone's impressed, I have to add
    that President Tyler was not reelected. [Laughter] But I think it was a
    good thing, anyway, that he did.
        Real hourly wages are rising again after dropping for a decade. The
    combined rate of unemployment, inflation, and home mortgages are the
    lowest in three decades, so our country is moving in the right
    direction. But to stay on top in the global economy, clearly we have to
    do more. I've done everything I can to increase our commitment to
    support scientific research and development at every level, especially
    at our universities. Government investment in technology is responsible
    for the computer, the jet aircraft, and the Internet. Once these
    inventions were the stuff of science fiction. Now it is hard to imagine
    life without them. No investments we've ever made has paid off better in
    jobs, in growth, in opportunity. Breakthroughs of the kind we applaud
    today do not just happen overnight. They represent years and years of
    investment and hard work. If we want the best science in the world, we
    must have the best scientists.
        Last fall I launched a program to connect every classroom in America
    to the Internet by the year 2000. I want to make a college education
    available for every American who is willing to work for it. I want to
    make at least 2 years of education after high school as much

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    of a standard for everybody as a high school education is now.
        All these things will help us to grow the economy and to allow
    America to grow together into the 21st century. But if we really want
    the America of our dreams, we must have research and development at
    universities and at every level as a funding priority for America. We
    must extend the research and development tax credit to encourage the
    private sector to do its part as well. This is absolutely critical.
        Today I'm announcing a research contract to build the world's
    fastest and largest supercomputer at the Department of Energy's Lawrence
    Livermore Laboratory in California. This new supercomputer will be 300
    times more powerful than any in the world. If it were an Olympic pole
    vaulter, for example, that means it would beat the current world record
    by about 600 stories on a typical building. [Laughter] This computer
    will be able to do in one second what it would take a person with a
    hand-held calculator 30,000 years to accomplish. It will bring us closer
    to a comprehensive test ban by helping to maintain the safety and
    reliability of our own nuclear stockpile without resorting to nuclear
    testing.
        Unlike other supercomputers developed for national security
    purposes, it can quickly be switched to important civilian applications
    as well: developing new drugs and medical devices, improving weather
    forecasting, designing safer and faster airplanes, exploring space. In
    partnership, the Department of Energy and IBM will help us to build this
    machine which will go on-line in 1998. The new supercomputer is the
    result of our investment in research and development. It will help to
    make sure that America enters the 21st century as the world leader in
    computing power and that we retain that lead for decades to come.
        In a few moments it will be my privilege to present the National
    Medals of Science and Technology to a number of very distinguished
    Americans, to whom we're all grateful. When I do, I'll have the honor to
    award a special posthumous National Medal of Technology to the late
    Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown. Many of you who knew and worked with
    Ron know that he was a tireless advocate of Government leadership in
    research and development, especially in technology. He understood that
    it was the key to producing world-class technology to ensure America's
    leadership in the global economy. He knew that he could do his job
    better in promoting our economic interests around the world if we were
    still leading in research and development, in technology, in
    partnerships with the private sector.
        He knew the American spirit of innovation is one of our greatest
    national resources. And for him it was embodied in the Department of
    Commerce's advanced technology program. Under his leadership, that
    program prospered and forged remarkable, remarkable partnerships with
    the private sector, with remarkable results. I regret to say that there
    are some who disagree with us on this in the Congress. I think it is
    more ideology than evidence. And I hope, in the spirit of science, we
    can look at the evidence and realize that Ron Brown was right. It's hard
    not to miss him at an occasion like this which would have given him so
    much pride in our Nation and its prospects.
        As I present these awards, let us all remember the impact that the
    work of these people have on our world. Police officers are stronger and
    safer because their bulletproof vests are stronger. People undergoing
    organ transplants have a better chance of complete recovery. Our
    aviation safety is more secure.
        Like the athletes in Atlanta, these men and women have devoted
    themselves to being the best at what they do. Their vision, their
    genius, their constant commitment to do their work better have made
    America a better place and the world a better place. They deserve the
    highest measure of our respect and praise, and they also deserve our
    support in following policies that will enable them and those who will
    succeed them to keep alive the burning torch of research, development,
    science, and technology in the United States for as long as we are here.
        We cannot let them down when they have done so much for us. I ask
    you to join me in honoring them and, Major, you can begin to read the
    citations.

    [At this point, Maj. Michael Mudd, USA, Army aide to the President, read
    the citations, and the President presented the medals.]

        The President. Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to adjourn. I do
    want to make one announcement. After my hamhanded attempt, Dr. Samuelson
    succeeded in putting the medal over his own head. And I don't know how
    many of you, like me, read his textbooks in college, but that is not the
    first problem that he could

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    solve that I couldn't. [Laughter] So it's been another exercise in
    Presidential humility from you, sir. Thank you very much.
        It's been a wonderful afternoon. Thank you. God bless you all, and
    good day. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:50 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to U.S. Representative Benjamin A.
    Gilman and economist Paul A. Samuelson, National Medal of Science
    recipient.