    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [May 28, 1997]
    [Pages 669-671]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the ``Thank You, America'' Celebration in Rotterdam,
    The Netherlands
    May 28, 1997

        Thank you. Mr. Mayor, Mrs. Peper; to His Royal Highness, the Prince
    of Orange; Prime Minister and Mrs. Kok. To all of America's Dutch
    friends here and my fellow Americans who are here tonight, thank you for
    a wonderful, wonderful welcome.
        I thank Gustaaf Sedee for his words. You know, this afternoon at The
    Hague, he spoke and introduced me and told the story of being a young
    boy growing up under the Marshall plan. Tonight he spoke and spoke so
    well. Who knows, I may be remembered as the man who accompanied Gustaaf
    Sedee to Rotterdam. [Laughter] He did not explain to you what he told us
    today, which is that as a young man, he actually got to go to the United
    States because he won an essay contest. And each of the nations
    participating in the Marshall plan picked a young person who won an
    essay contest to go and tour America and meet the President. He met
    President Truman on February 4, 1949. And I have secured a copy, an
    actual copy of the newspaper, the New York Herald-Tribune, on that day.
    And I thought that I would give it to him as an expression of our
    gratitude for all of you and what you have meant in friendship to the
    United States. So here it is.
        And Mr. Mayor, thank you for your wonderful reference to my campaign
    and my Presidency and my belief and hope in that we should never stop
    thinking about tomorrow. I think you would be a wonderful Ambassador to
    the United States. [Laughter]

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        When President Truman met with the young visitors from the Marshall
    plan nations years ago, he said he hoped that when they were as old as
    he was then, the world would know only democracy and peace. Well, today,
    the world knows things other than democracy and peace, but we stand
    closer to that dream than at any point in human history.
        For the first time ever, more than half of the people on this Earth
    live under governments of their own choosing. And here in Europe, the
    Marshall plan that President Truman launched helped to rebuild a
    continent ravaged by war, gave strength to fragile democracies, and
    sparked unparalleled prosperity.
        Tonight, in honoring those remarkable accomplishments begun 50 years
    ago, our purpose must be to summon the spirit of the Marshall generation
    to create a structure of opportunity and freedom and security for the
    next 50 years and beyond, to give the young people here in this crowd
    tonight, throughout Europe, and the rest of the world, as many as we
    can, the chance to grow up and live out their dreams.
        The generation we honor tonight fought and won a war, then built the
    institutions and understandings that prevented war's return. Now, closer
    to the start of a new century than to the end of the cold war, our
    mission is to shape the peace they made possible, to reach for a long
    sought yet never realized goal: a Europe that is undivided, democratic,
    and at peace for the first time in all history.
        America wishes to join in building a new Europe because Europe
    literally built America and because our futures are bound together. No
    nation contributed to our building more than did yours. From this great
    pier, more than a million Dutch men and women started their journey to
    America. As the mayor said, after the first Dutch vessel arrived on our
    shores in 1609, it was just a decade later, from the tiny port of
    Delft's Haven, that the Pilgrims set sail for Plymouth Rock, giving
    birth to the experiment that became the United States of America. The
    values of those early settlers became America's values: hard work and
    industry, individual freedom and tolerance, a willingness to take risks
    for boundless opportunity, a pride in country and community that knows
    no bounds.
        Here in Rotterdam, those values faced their most terrible test 57
    years ago when Nazi bombers rained fire on this city, killed 900 people,
    destroyed homes for 25,000 more, turned downtown Rotterdam into rubble,
    as we saw in the marvelous film. Even as your buildings burned, you kept
    your spirit going. The American people today know that the strength and
    courage of the Dutch Resistance helped to conquer Hitler and ensured
    your ultimate recovery. And I am especially proud tonight that the
    Allied forces had a little help from a remarkable descendant of a Dutch
    farmer by the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
        Ever since the end of World War II, Rotterdam sails have been turned
    to the wind. You rebuilt this city with daring modern architecture, a
    reflection of the daring and vision of your people. You transformed
    Rotterdam into the biggest and busiest port in the world. And when you
    did it, I might add that you took that title of biggest port in the
    world away from a small trading outpost you stumbled upon centuries
    earlier in the New World--[laughter]--it used to be called New
    Amsterdam--but we forgive you. [Laughter]
        We are proud that the Marshall plan gave Rotterdam a new start.
    Through this port most of the aid flowed to the rest of Europe. Today,
    the generosity of the Dutch people and your courage and your commitment
    to build a future better than the past--in all of this, the spirit of
    the Marshall plan lives on. From Africa to Asia, you do not forget those
    who are hungry in this world, who yearn simply to put food on their
    table and clothes on their backs. From Bosnia to Haiti, your sons and
    daughters have kept the peace and helped people turn from conflict and
    hatred to cooperation and community. America could not hope for a closer
    ally or a better friend, and the world could not have a better example
    than this great nation, large beyond its numbers and landmass in its
    influence and its power of example.
        Two centuries ago, our first Ambassador to your nation and our
    second President, John Adams, said this: ``America has considered this
    nation as her first friend in Europe, whose history and the great
    character it exhibits in the various arts of peace have been studied,
    admired, and imitated by every State in our Union.'' Well, now our Union
    and your nation have an opportunity to practice those arts of peace as
    surely as past generations stood together in world war and cold war.
        Together, we can complete the journey Marshall's generation began
    and bring all of Europe together not by the force of arms but by the

    [[Page 671]]

    possibilities of peace. Together, we have it within our power to turn
    the hope we share into a history we will all be proud of.
        So, to all of you, the people of Rotterdam and all the Netherlands,
    let me say that this celebration and its simple message, ``Thank you,
    America,'' is a great gift to all of us. In turn, I bring you a message
    from the American people. For all that you have given to my country, for
    all that you give to the world, for the example you set that shines so
    far beyond your borders, America says, thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:25 p.m. at Wilhelmina Pier. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Bram Peper of Rotterdam and his wife,
    Nelie; Willem Alexander, the Prince of Orange; Prime Minister Wim Kok of
    The Netherlands and his wife, Rita; and Gustaaf Albert Sedee, who spoke
    prior to the President.