[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.