    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [April 30, 1997]
    [Pages 516-518]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Commemorating the Centennial of the Thomas Jefferson Building at
    the Library of Congress
    April 30, 1997

        I ask you tonight to listen to these words as if you had never heard
    them before and try to imagine what it was like when they broke across
    the landscape of America and the world, arguably the most important
    words ever written by an American because out of them all the rest
    flowed:
        ``When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
    people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them

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    to another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate
    and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God
    entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
    they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.--We
    hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
    that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
    that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That
    to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
    their just powers from the consent of the governed . . . . But when a
    long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
    Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is
    their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to
    provide new Guards for their future security. . . . We, therefore, the
    Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress,
    Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude
    of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good
    People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these
    United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent
    States; . . . And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm
    reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
    each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.''
        Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Speaker, Senator Daschle, Congressman Thomas,
    and other Members of Congress, the Joint Commission on the Library, Mr.
    Kluge, and the James Madison Council. Mr. Allaire, thank you all for
    what you have done to make this night come to pass. I thank Michael Ryan
    for singing the national anthem and making us feel so patriotic. He has
    served our country, as many of you know, for many years. I thank Jim
    Billington for his brilliant job and all the staff here for what they
    have done.
        Those words were Thomas Jefferson's words, with edits by John Adams
    and Benjamin Franklin. I learned something tonight looking at the Thomas
    Jefferson draft: Ben Franklin gets credit for saying that these truths
    are self-evident. And that's a pretty good edit. [Laughter] Would that
    we all had such an editor.
        As the Speaker said, now every American will be able to have access
    to these treasures, not only in this magnificent building with its
    glorious reading room and its American treasures exhibition but also
    through the Internet. Think of it, everything from the rough draft of
    the Declaration of Independence, from which I just read, to George
    Washington's letter on the importance of religious freedom, to the first
    known autobiography of a slave, to the first kiss captured in a movie,
    to Groucho Marx talking to Johnny Carson, to the magical music of
    Washington's Duke Ellington.
        But it is fitting that the books from Mr. Jefferson's library are at
    the core of the American Treasures Collection, for he above all
    understood that democracy and liberty depend upon the free flow of ideas
    and the expansion of knowledge, upon the remembrance of history and the
    imagining of the future.
        To pursue those objectives, our young Nation, at great cost,
    established this Library. From those first volumes, the Library of
    Congress has become the world's largest library, visited by 2 million
    people every year in person and millions more every week on the Internet
    Web site, with more to come as we work together to enable every school
    and library in the United States to connect to the Internet. In the most
    modern way, children in the most isolated rural districts, the poorest
    inner-city districts, the most comfortable suburbs, now will be able to
    share that rough draft of the Declaration of Independence and all the
    other wonderful resources of the Library.
        Mr. Jefferson, who looked to the future more than the past, even at
    the end of his days, would surely be very proud, Mr. Billington, of what
    his library has become.
        As we walk through these beautifully restored rooms and hallways on
    this 100th anniversary, you can almost feel the exuberance and optimism
    of the United States at the turn of the century. And now, at the dawn of
    a new century, we face yet a new age of possibilities, full of new
    challenge and hope. Yet in a sense, we are back where we were in the
    beginning. For of all our challenges, ignorance is the most threatening,
    and of all our riches, knowledge is the most enduring, except this will
    be even more true in the years ahead.
        That is why the opening of this exhibit and the restoration of this
    building is so significant. By renewing the Founders' commitment to the
    Library of Congress, we ensure that future generations will continue to
    be inspired and guided by the ideals, the values, and the thirst for

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    knowledge that are at our beginning core. We are giving all of our
    people, especially our children, what they will need to realize their
    dreams and our ever-unfolding destiny as a nation.
        As these exhibits show, we are, and have ever been, a nation of
    creators and innovators. We are all Jefferson's heirs, and we are doomed
    sometimes to succeed and sometimes to fail. I was amused at the picture
    of the massive double circular kite that Alexander Graham Bell thought
    might compete with the Wright brothers. He would do very well on the
    Frisbee circuit today, I think, but it wasn't much of an airplane. But
    if he hadn't had the courage to try that, well, we might not have had
    the telephone. We must always maintain that spirit, and we must remember
    the words of Jefferson.
        President Lincoln invoked the Jeffersonian ideal to heal a wounded
    nation as he stood at Gettysburg. President Roosevelt looked toward the
    world that would follow World War II, and he too called upon Jefferson
    for inspiration and courage. The words that he wrote then are as
    relevant today as they were in 1945, and I would like to close with
    them.
        ``We must do all in our power to conquer the doubts and the fear,
    the ignorance and the greed, for today science has brought all the
    different quarters of the globe so close together that it is impossible
    to isolate them one from another. Today we are faced with the preeminent
    fact that if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science
    of human relationships, the ability of all peoples of all kinds to live
    together and work together in the same world at peace. And to you and to
    all Americans who dedicate themselves with us to the making of an
    abiding peace, I say the only limit to our realization of tomorrow will
    be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active
    faith.''
        That was the speech Franklin Roosevelt was working on in this month,
    52 years ago, when he died in Warm Springs. Though unspoken, his words,
    like those of Jefferson, come down to us today with a freshness, a
    vitality, and a fundamental truth that must forever guide us as a
    nation.
        On Friday, we will gather to dedicate the memorial to President
    Roosevelt, the very first Presidential memorial since President
    Roosevelt dedicated the one to Thomas Jefferson in 1943. Together we
    will renew our commitment to fight tyranny with liberty, ignorance with
    knowledge, fear with hope and confidence.
        Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt, I believe, would be quite
    proud of America today--still eager to right its wrongs and seize its
    new opportunities. And I might say, I think they'd be a little impatient
    with those among us who, finding America at the pinnacle of its power,
    influence, and success, and therefore at the pinnacle of the
    responsibility outlined by President Roosevelt so long ago, would seek
    to walk away from what are our plain obligations to engage the rest of
    the world. For in the course of human events, it has fallen to us, for
    our own benefit and because it is right, to extend to a waiting world
    the ideals to which Thomas Jefferson and his friends pledged their
    lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
        Thank you, and God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:10 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
    John Kluge, chairman, James Madison Council; Paul Allaire, chairman and
    chief executive officer, Xerox Corp.; MGySgt. Michael Ryan, USMC, United
    States Marine Band; and James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress.