    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [October 22, 1996]
    [Pages 1890-1896]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Community in Detroit
    October 22, 1996

        Thank you very, very much. Thank you so much. Mayor and Mrs. Archer,
    Congressman Dingell, Congressman Bonior, Congressman Levin, Governor and
    Mrs. Blanchard, Mayor Stanley--[applause]--you can clap for anyone you
    like, it's an informal day--Mayor Stanley, Bishop, Mayor Bob Kozaren of
    Hamtramck, welcome. [Applause] Thank you.
        I'd like to welcome the fourth-grade students from the Hiller
    Elementary School from Lapeer, Michigan. They're here somewhere. Where
    are they? Welcome. We're glad you're here. And students from the Academy
    of Military Science in Detroit are here somewhere, I think. Where are
    you, back there in the back? Welcome.
        I want to thank Senator Carl Levin for his extraordinary work. As
    you know--I'm sure everyone in Michigan knows that in January Senator
    Levin will become at least the ranking Democratic member of the Senate
    Armed Services Committee and perhaps the chairman of the Senate Armed
    Services Committee. We wish him well. In addition to his vigorous
    representation of the people of Michigan on all kinds of domestic
    issues, he has been a great leader for keeping our Nation strong and
    secure in this time of remarkable change. And the State, the Nation, and
    the President are in your debt, Senator. Thank you very much.
        I am delighted to be here in Detroit to discuss the challenges we
    face as we enter the 21st century, to make sure that we remain the
    world's strongest force for peace and freedom, for security and
    prosperity. Detroit is a city meeting the challenges of the future and
    is the perfect place for me to have this opportunity to visit with you.
    Yesterday I couldn't help thinking that in the empowerment zone that the
    mayor and others have worked to make so much of, which has generated $2
    billion in private capital to develop the resources of the people of
    Detroit here, and in the ground we broke yesterday for a $1.6 billion
    new airport to give you the capacity to reach out to the rest of the
    world, Detroit is doing what all of America must do. We must develop
    ourselves and reach out to the rest of the world. Congratulations,
    Mayor, and to all the other local officials here. We're delighted to be
    here.
        From its very founding, our Nation has stood for the idea that
    people have the right to control their own lives, to pursue their own
    dreams. In this century we have done far more than just stand for these
    principles; Americans have acted upon them and sacrificed for them,
    fought two World Wars so that freedom could triumph over tyranny, then
    made commitments that kept the peace, that helped to spread democracy,
    that brought great prosperity to ourselves and helped to win the cold
    war.
        Now the ideas we struggle for, democracy and freedom--freedom of
    religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, open markets, respect
    for diversity--these ideas are more and more the ideals of humanity.
    When we adopted democracy as our form of government in 1776, and then
    when we ratified our Constitution a few years later, it was an unusual
    choice that we made. Democracy had largely vanished from

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    the Earth for nearly 2,000 years, since ancient Greece.
        In this century, amid all the wars and bloodshed, we have struggled
    to advance the cause of democracy and to support those who are seeking
    it. And now, for the first time in history, 61 percent of the world's
    nations, and for the very first time in the last couple of years, over
    half of the people on the face of the globe live under democratically
    elected leaders in free countries. That's a remarkable thing. This never
    happened before.
        Four years ago when I sought the Presidency I said that to build a
    strong community based on opportunity and responsibility here at home,
    to be both prosperous and secure, we would have to continue to lead
    abroad in this new era. The burden of American leadership and the
    importance of it, indeed, the essential character of American leadership
    is one of the great lessons of the 20th century. It will be an even more
    powerful reality in the 21st century, a century in which the blocs and
    barriers that defined the world for previous generations will continue
    to give way to greater freedom, faster change, greater communications
    and commerce across national borders, and more profound innovation than
    ever before, a century in which more people than ever will have the
    chance to share in humanity's genius for progress.
        As walls come down around the world, so must the walls in our minds
    between our domestic policy and our foreign policy. Think about it. Our
    prosperity as individuals, communities, and a nation depends upon our
    economic policies at home and abroad, on Detroit's empowerment zone and
    your commitment to an airport facility that will connect you better to
    the rest of the world. Our well-being as individuals, communities, and a
    nation depends upon our environmental policies at home and abroad. Our
    security as individuals, communities, and a nation depends upon our
    policies to fight terrorism, crime, and drugs at home and abroad. We
    reduce the threats to people here in America by reducing the threats
    beyond our borders. We advance our interests at home by advancing the
    common good around the world.
        Let me just give you one example that I'll return to in a moment. In
    the last 4 years the American people, working together, have created
    10\1/2\ million new jobs. Now, that is good news. But perhaps even more
    important, more than half of those jobs are in high-wage categories.
    That is one reason that real wages for the typical working family have
    started to rise again for the first time in a decade.
        Now, that has to be seen in terms of what is happening to the
    American economy becoming connected to the rest of the world. We've had
    an all-time high in exports, an increase in exports of about 35 percent,
    and we know that export-related jobs, on average, pay considerably
    higher than jobs which are totally confined in their economic impact to
    the domestic community.
        The 200-plus agreements we've made in trade, including over 20 with
    Japan, we've seen an increase of 85 percent in the export of American
    products to Japan. I visited, as many of you know, an American auto
    dealership in Tokyo. And just yesterday we learned that our exports of
    American cars to Japan increased 40 percent in just one year last year.
    I say that simply to make the point that our economic policies at home
    and abroad affect the well-being of America's families.
        And in a world that is increasingly interconnected, we have to just
    sort of take down that artificial wall in our mind that this is
    completely a foreign policy issue and this is completely a domestic
    issue, because increasingly they impact one on the other. That is why I
    think, among other things, we have to resist those who believe that now
    that the cold war is over the United States can completely return to
    focusing on problems within our borders and basically ignore those
    beyond our borders.
        That escapism is not available to us because at the end of the cold
    war, America truly is the world's indispensable nation. There are times
    when only America can make the difference between war and peace, between
    freedom and repression, between hope and fear. We cannot and should not
    try to be the world's policeman. But where our interests and values are
    clearly at stake, and where we can make a difference, we must act and
    lead.
        We must lead in two ways: first, by meeting the immediate challenges
    to our interests from rogue regimes, from sudden explosions of ethnic,
    racial, and religious and tribal hatreds, from short-term crises; and
    second, by making long-term investments in security, prosperity, peace,
    and freedom that can prevent these problems from arising in the first
    place and that will help

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    all of us to fully seize the opportunities of the 21st century.
        We have approached the immediate challenges with strength and
    flexibility, working with others when we can, alone when we must, using
    diplomacy where possible and force where necessary.
        When I took office, the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II
    was raging in Bosnia. Thanks to U.S.-led NATO air strikes, American
    diplomacy, and IFOR's peacekeeping efforts, the war is over. Elections
    have been held. The Bosnian people are now getting on with the very hard
    work of rebuilding their lives, their land, their economy, and their
    capacity to deal with each other in an atmosphere of respect. None of it
    will be easier, but America acted, our partners and allies acted. And
    think of what would have happened if we had walked away.
        When I took office, dictators terrorized Haiti. They forced tens of
    thousands of refugees to flee. Because we backed American diplomacy with
    military force and the power of an international coalition, the
    dictators are gone; Haiti's democracy is back; the flight from fear has
    ended. Difficulties remain, but think what it would be like if America
    had not acted.
        As Senator Levin said, when I took office North Korea was moving
    forward with a dangerous nuclear program it had been working on for more
    than a decade. Thanks to our diplomacy, and with the help of Japan,
    South Korea, and China, North Korea has frozen that program under
    international monitoring. I wish that more progress were being made in
    North Korea toward openness, but think how much worse it would be if we
    had not acted.
        Two years ago the collapse of the Mexican peso jeopardized our own
    economy and the sanctity of our borders. Because we stepped in
    immediately and rallied others to join us, Mexico has rebounded. Three-
    quarters of our loans have been repaid ahead of schedule. We are earning
    interest on the deal. I believe we have made about a half a billion
    dollars so far. I know that was one of the more unpopular decisions of
    my Presidency, but think what would have happened if we had allowed our
    neighbor to the south to collapse economically without a supporting hand
    from the United States for their efforts to reform their political and
    economic systems and, therefore, to be able to work with us in a
    supportive way.
        In each of these cases we were able to succeed because, first, we
    accepted the responsibility to lead. But it isn't enough just to handle
    these immediate crises. We also must set our sights on a more distant
    horizon. Through our size, our strength, our relative wealth, and also
    through the power of our example, America has a unique ability to shape
    a world of greater security and prosperity, peace, and freedom. These
    are long-term efforts and often they take place behind the headlines.
    But only by pursuing them can we give our children the best possible
    opportunity to realize their own God-given potential.
        That's why we have worked patiently and pragmatically to reduce the
    threat of weapons of mass destruction, to take on the challenge of
    terrorism, to build an open trading system for the 21st century, to help
    secure the gains that peace and freedom are making around the world. We
    are making the future more secure by lifting the danger of weapons of
    mass destruction.
        It has taken hard negotiations and persistent diplomacy. But
    consider the results. Today, not a single Russian missile targets
    America. We are cutting our nuclear arsenals by two-thirds. We are
    working to keep the remaining weapons safe and secure. We helped to
    convince Ukraine, Kazakstan, and Belarus to give up the warheads left on
    their lands after the Soviet Union dissolved. We won the indefinite
    extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, our most powerful
    tool in keeping nuclear weapons from spreading. And just a few weeks
    ago, after literally decades of discussion that began under Presidents
    Eisenhower and Kennedy, I was proud to be the first head of state to
    sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Once enforced, it will
    end nuclear testing for all times.
        There is, to be sure, more hard work ahead of us. We must secure the
    ratification in the United States Senate of the Chemical Weapons
    Convention, to make it more difficult for rogue states and terrorists to
    acquire poison gas. We must strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention
    to help prevent the use of disease as a weapon of war. And we must
    succeed in negotiating a worldwide ban on antipersonnel landmines, which
    murder and maim more than 25,000 people a year.
        As we keep our focus on these goals, we must also keep the heat on
    terrorists who would darken the dawn of the new century. Piece by

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    piece, we have put in place a strategy to fight terrorism on three
    fronts: toughening our laws at home, tightening security in our airports
    and airplanes, and pressing our allies to adopt with us a strict policy
    of zero--zero--tolerance for terrorism.
        In the congressional session just concluded, two important pieces of
    legislation were passed to help give us the tools to fight terrorists at
    home. And almost all the Vice President's recommendations for increased
    security at our airports and on our airplanes were adopted in a billion-
    dollar bill designed to help us move immediately and aggressively to
    improve airport and airline security. I am encouraged by that.
        When I met last summer with the leaders of the G-7 nations in
    France, they agreed to work with us to try to get a zero tolerance for
    terrorism policy around the world. While we can defeat terrorists--and
    we have been successful in thwarting attempted terrorist attacks in the
    United States, attempted attacks on our planes flying out of the West
    Coast; recently there was a conviction in a United States court of a
    person we extradited back to the United States who was charged and then
    convicted of conspiring to blow up a number of airplanes flying out of
    our West Coast over the Pacific--it will be a long time before we defeat
    terrorism. But we have to remain determined and strong. If we do, we
    know we can prevail.
        It took a while for the cold war to be resolved in a way that was
    favorable to humanity and freedom, but we stayed the course, and we must
    stay the course against this. And our allies must help us. We simply
    cannot be doing business by day with people who are supporting
    terrorists who will kill us by night. That is wrong, and we must work to
    develop a common policy on that.
        We are building prosperity at home by opening markets abroad, as I
    said earlier. I believe that decades from now people will look back on
    this period and see the most far-reaching changes in the world trading
    system in generations. More than 200 trade agreements we have negotiated
    have led to more than a million new jobs. They've helped to make America
    the number one exporter again. You know that here in Detroit. You led
    the Nation here with the fastest recent growth in export trade. And
    today, for the first time since the 1970's, the United States is again
    the number one producer of automobiles in the world.
        It is not easy to both expand trade and keep the rules fair. It has
    to be done issue by issue, agreement by agreement. It is hard work, day-
    in and day-out, month-in and month-out, year-in and year-out. But we
    must continue to do it. Next month I will travel again to Asia, to the
    Philippines, for the fourth annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic
    Cooperation forum, because a lot of America's future is tied to Asia's
    future. As a Pacific power, we have a responsibility to work for
    stability and security in Asia, and an opportunity to benefit from that
    region's extraordinary economic growth.
        We are also working to advance the cause of peace and freedom around
    the world. This also is a mission rooted in both our ideals and our
    interests. After all, when people live free and they're at peace,
    they're much less likely to make war or abuse the rights of their own
    citizens, much more likely to be good trading partners and partners in
    the struggle against terrorism, international crime, and drug
    trafficking, working with us to prevent global environmental decay. From
    the Middle East to Northern Ireland, from Cuba to Burma, from Burundi to
    South Africa, those taking risks for peace and freedom know that the
    United States will stand at their side.
        Nowhere are our interests more engaged than in Europe. When Europe
    is at peace, our security is strengthened. When Europe prospers, so does
    America. We have a special bond because our Nation was formed from the
    hopes and dreams of those who came to our shores from across the
    Atlantic seeking religious freedom, fleeing persecution, looking for a
    better life. From the Pilgrims of 1620 to the Hungarian freedom fighters
    of 1956, whose struggle we commemorate tomorrow, they gave America the
    strength of diversity and the passion for freedom.
        Remarkable generations of Americans invested in Europe's peace and
    freedom with their own sacrifice. They fought two World Wars. They had
    the vision to create NATO and the Marshall plan. The vigor of those
    institutions, the force of democracy, the determination of people to be
    free, all these helped to produce victory in the cold war. But now that
    that freedom has been won, it is this generation's responsibility to
    ensure that it will not be lost again, not ever.
        President Reagan gave strength to those working to bring down the
    Iron Curtain. President

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    Bush helped to reunify Germany. And now, for the very first time since
    nation-states first appeared in Europe, we have an opportunity to build
    a peaceful, undivided, and democratic continent. It has never happened
    before; it can be done now, a continent where democracy and free markets
    know no boundaries, but where nations can be assured that their borders
    will always be secure and their sovereignty and independence will always
    be respected.
        In January 1994, during my first trip to Europe as President, I laid
    out a strategy for European integration: political integration around
    democracies, economic integration around free markets, security
    integration around military cooperation. I urged our enduring allies and
    new friends to build the bonds among our nations that are necessary for
    this time, through the European Union, through NATO, through the other
    institutions of a new Europe. I challenged all our people to summon the
    will and the resources to make this vision real.
        The United States and Europe are answering that challenge. With our
    help, the forces of reform in Europe's newly free nations have laid the
    foundations of democracy. They have political parties and free
    elections, an independent media, civilian control of the military. We've
    helped them to develop successful market economies and now are moving
    from aid to trade and investment.
        Look at what has been achieved by our common efforts. In the 7 years
    since the fall of the Berlin Wall, two-thirds of Russia's economy has
    moved from the heavy grip of the state into private hands. Poland has
    now one of the West's highest rates of growth. You're as likely to read
    about Poland on the business page as the front page today. The private
    sector produces half the national income of an independent Ukraine. From
    the Czech Republic to Hungary to Estonia, the same forces of freedom and
    free markets are creating bustling prosperity and hope for the future.
        The bedrock of our common security remains NATO. When President
    Truman signed the North Atlantic Treaty 47 years ago, he expressed the
    goal of its founders plainly but powerfully: to preserve their present
    peaceful situation and to protect it in the future. All of us here
    today, every single one of us, are the beneficiaries of NATO's
    extraordinary success in doing just that.
        NATO defended the West by deterring aggression. Even more, through
    NATO, Western Europe became a source of stability instead of hostility.
    France and Germany moved from conflict to cooperation. Democracy took
    permanent root in countries where fascism once ruled.
        I came to office convinced that NATO can do for Europe's East what
    it did for Europe's West: prevent a return to local rivalries,
    strengthen democracy against future threats, and create the conditions
    for prosperity to flourish. That's why the United States has taken the
    lead in a three-part effort to build a new NATO for a new era: first, by
    adapting NATO with new capabilities for new missions; second, by opening
    its doors to Europe's emerging democracies; third, by building a strong
    and cooperative relationship between NATO and Russia.
        To adapt NATO, we have taken on missions beyond the territory of its
    members for the first time and done so in cooperation with nonmember
    states, shifting our emphasis to smaller and more flexible forces
    prepared to provide for our defense but also trained and equipped for
    peacekeeping. We're setting up mobile headquarters to run these new
    missions more effectively and efficiently. We're giving our European
    allies a larger role within the alliance, while preserving NATO's vital
    core, which is an integrated command military structure.
        The United States will continue to take the lead in NATO, especially
    in the southern region where the most immediate threats to peace exist.
    But we welcome our allies' willingness to shoulder a greater share of
    the burden and to assume greater leadership.
        Bosnia has been the first major test of the new NATO. At first, NATO
    could act jointly only with the United Nations. But once NATO took
    charge, once its lead, its air power, together with its diplomatic
    leadership, was available fully, it pushed the Bosnian Serbs from the
    battlefield to the bargaining table. The NATO-led Implementation Force
    has restored security to Bosnia. It has given the Bosnian people a
    chance--not a guarantee but a chance--to build a lasting peace.
        But for NATO to fulfill its real promise of peace and democracy in
    Europe, it will not be enough simply to take on new missions as the need
    arises. NATO must also take in new members, including those from among
    its former adversaries. It must reach out to all the new democracies in
    Central Europe, the Baltics, and the New Independent States of the
    former Soviet Union.

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        At the first NATO summit I attended in January of 1994, I proposed
    that NATO should enlarge steadily, deliberately, openly. And our allies
    agreed. First, together, we created the Partnership For Peace as a path
    to full NATO membership for some and a strong and lasting link to the
    alliance for all. I think it would be fair to say that the Partnership
    For Peace has exceeded what even its most optimistic supporters
    predicted for it in the beginning. There are more than two dozen members
    now.
        The more than two dozen members and the astonishing amount of
    cooperation and joint training and partnership that has developed as a
    result of this Partnership For Peace has made it something of
    significance--I believe enduring significance--beyond what we ever
    imagined when we started it. And the strategy is paying off. The
    prospect of membership in or partnership with NATO has given Europe's
    new democracies a strong incentive to continue to reform and to improve
    relations with their neighbors.
        Through the Partnership For Peace, prospective new members are
    actually gaining the practical experience they need to join NATO.
    Thirteen partner nations are serving alongside NATO troops and helping
    to secure the peace in Bosnia. There are Polish and Czech combat
    battalions, Hungarian and Romanian engineering troops, soldiers from
    Ukraine and the Baltic States, forces from Sweden and Finland, and a
    full Russian brigade. Just 7 years ago, these soldiers served on
    opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. Today, their teamwork with our
    troops and other European NATO allies is erasing the lines that once
    divided Europe while bringing an end to the bloodiest conflict in Europe
    since World War II.
        We have kept NATO enlargement on track. Now it is time to take the
    next historic step forward. Last month, I called for a summit in the
    spring or early summer of next year to name the first group of future
    NATO members and to invite them to begin accession talks. Today I want
    to state America's goal. By 1999, NATO's 50th anniversary and 10 years
    after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first group of countries we
    invite to join should be full-fledged members of NATO.
        I also pledged for my part, and I believe for NATO's part as well,
    that NATO's doors will not close behind its first new members. NATO
    should remain open to all of Europe's emerging democracies who are ready
    to shoulder the responsibilities of membership. No nation will be
    automatically excluded. No country outside NATO will have a veto. We
    will work to deepen our cooperation, meanwhile, with all the nations in
    the Partnership For Peace. A gray zone of insecurity must not reemerge
    in Europe.
        Now, I want to say that as we go forward the American people should
    be aware that this plan is not free of costs. Peace and security are not
    available on the cheap. Enlargement will mean extending the most solemn
    security guarantee to our new allies. To be a NATO member means that all
    the other members make a commitment to treat an attack on one as an
    attack on all. But mark my words, if we fail to seize this historic
    opportunity to build a new NATO in a new Europe, if we allow the Iron
    Curtain to be replaced by a veil of indifference, we will pay a much
    higher price later on down the road. America will be stronger and safer
    if the democratic family continues to grow, if we bring to our ranks
    partners willing to share the risks and responsibilities of freedom.
        By overwhelming majorities this summer, both Houses of Congress
    passed a NATO enlargement facilitation act. I greatly appreciate this
    bipartisan support for our efforts to forge a broader alliance of
    prosperity, of security and, as the First Lady said in Prague on the
    last 4th of July, an alliance of values with Europe. I look forward to
    working with Congress to ratify the accession of new members, to provide
    the resources we need to meet this commitment, to secure the support of
    the American people. NATO enlargement is not directed against anyone. It
    will advance the security of everyone: NATO's old members, new members,
    and nonmembers alike.
        I know that some in Russia still look at NATO through a cold-war
    prism and, therefore, look at our proposals to expand it in a negative
    light. But I ask them to look again. We are building a new NATO, just as
    we support the Russian people in building a new Russia. By reducing
    rivalry and fear, by strengthening peace and cooperation, NATO will
    promote greater stability in Europe and Russia will be among the
    beneficiaries. Indeed, Russia has the best chance in history to help to
    build that peaceful and undivided Europe and to be an equal and
    respected and successful partner in that sort of future.

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        The great opportunity the Russian people have is to define
    themselves in terms of the future, not the past, to forge a new
    relationship with NATO as enlargement moves forward. The United States
    has suggested that Russia and NATO work out a formal agreement on
    cooperation. We should set up a regular mechanism for NATO-Russia
    meetings at all levels. We should consult on European security issues so
    that whenever possible NATO and Russia can act jointly to meet the
    challenges of the new era, just as we have acted jointly in Bosnia.
        Just think about it. In Bosnia, Russia and NATO are already partners
    for peace. We should set our sights on becoming full partners and
    bringing all of Europe together. Together we can help to turn the main
    battleground for the bloodiest century in history into a continent whose
    people remain secure and prosperous, free and at peace.
        These past 4 years it's been one of the greatest privileges of my
    life to represent America around the world, from the halls of Kremlin to
    the hillsides of Port-au-Prince, from the deserts of Jordan to the Tokyo
    Harbor, from the Charles Bridge in Prague and Riga's Freedom Square to
    the DMZ in Korea. I have heard the voices and shaken the hands of
    presidents and prime ministers and, just as important, citizens on the
    streets of distant lands. Wherever I go, whomever I talk with, the
    message to me is the same: We believe in America. We trust America. We
    want America to lead. And America must lead.
        I wish every American could see our country as much of the world
    sees us. Our friends rely upon our engagement. Our adversaries respect
    our strength. When our family went to open the Olympics in Atlanta, I
    was so moved by the statements of young people from around the world
    about the efforts the United States had made to foster peace in Bosnia,
    peace in Northern Ireland, peace in the Middle East, things these young
    athletes felt personally because it was their lives, their future, and
    the children they still hope to have on the line.
        As we enter the 21st century, we must make a commitment to remain
    true to the legacy of America's leadership, to make sure America remains
    the indispensable nation, not only for ourselves but for what we believe
    in and for all the people of the world. That is our burden. That is our
    opportunity. And it must be our future.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:52 a.m. at Fisher Theater. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Dennis W. Archer of Detroit and his wife,
    Trudy; James J. Blanchard, former Governor of Michigan, and his wife,
    Janet; Mayor Woodrow Stanley of Flint, MI; Bishop P.A. Brooks, Church of
    God in Christ, Detroit; and Mayor Robert Kozaren of Hamtramck, MI.