[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[April 27, 1997]
[Pages 502-503]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Kickoff of the Presidents' Summit for America's Future in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 27, 1997

    The President. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning!
    Audience members. Good morning!
    The President. Are you ready to go to work?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. Are you warmed up?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. Have you heard all the speeches you want to hear?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. I want to just say--let me say, first of all, how 
grateful I am to be here with all the people who have made this possible 
and with all of you. I thank the people of Philadelphia for being so 
good to me since 1992 and for being my friends and for giving me a 
chance to work with you to bring Philadelphia back. Thank you so much. I 
thank all your officials. I thank your wonderful Mayor.
    General Powell told me when he retired from the United States Army 
as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the one thing he wanted to 
do more than anything else was to find a way to give every child in this 
country a chance at a good future, and I thank him for doing that.
    I thank Colin and Alma. I thank George and Barbara Bush for their 
examples, Mrs. Bush with her literacy program, President Bush for A 
Thousand Points of Light. I thank President and Mrs. Carter for caring 
about the children of this country, for the work they've done with 
Habitat for Humanity and for going all over the world to rid the 
children of the world of dread diseases, to give them food to eat and a 
decent, humane place to grow up in. I thank all of you.
    But let's face it--I want everybody to face it. Why are we here? We 
know that a lot of us would be doing a lot of this anyway. There are a 
lot of wonderful volunteers in America. Here's why we're here. This 
country has produced a lot of jobs in the last 4 years. The crime rate 
is going down; the welfare rolls are going down. But we're still losing 
too many kids to crime, to drugs, to not having a decent income in their 
home, and to not having a bright future. And we're here because we don't 
think we have to put up with it, and we believe together we can change 
it. Isn't that right? [Applause]
    I'm here because I want the young people out here to grow up in an 
America that is even greater than the America I grew up in. That is the 
eternal dream and promise, and every one of you deserves that. I'm here 
because, frankly, I believe that as children of God, we can never 
fulfill our own ambitions until we help our brothers and sisters to 
fulfill theirs.
    I'm here because I want to redefine the meaning of citizenship in 
America. I want the children here, starting next week, and all over 
America--if you're asked in school, what does it mean to be a good 
citizen, I want the answer to be, ``Well, to be a good citizen, you have 
to obey the law. You've got to go to work or be in school. You've got to 
pay your taxes, and, oh, yes, you have to serve in your community to 
help make it a better place.''
    And General Powell, since we're going to keep this going and we all 
have to make an account of ourselves, I'll go first. Here's my 
commitment to you and your project.
    In the next 4 years, the Department of Defense will mentor, tutor, 
and teach one million children. In the next 4 years, the Department of 
Transportation and the private businesses who work with them will do 
that for one million more. We will adopt a total of 2,000 schools in the 
Federal agencies of this country. We will find one million reading 
tutors in the America Reads program, to make sure every child can read 
independently by the third grade. And our AmeriCorps volunteers will go 
across this country to recruit at least a dozen more volunteers for 
every one of them, to make sure that all of the items on your agenda 
succeed. That is our commitment.
    Are you ready to keep your commitment?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. After today is over, do you promise to keep working 
tomorrow?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. And next year?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. And the year after that?

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    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. Until the job is done?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. I promise. Say it!
    Audience members. I promise!
    The President. Let's go to work.
    God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:05 a.m. at Marcus Foster Stadium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Mayor Edward Rendell of Philadelphia; Gen. Colin 
L. Powell, USA (ret.), former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his 
wife, Alma; and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.