[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]

[[Page 670]]

    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.