[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[January 24, 1997]
[Pages 73-75]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Announcing the Presidents' Summit for America's Future
January 24, 1997

    The President. I thank the Vice President and the First Lady for 
their remarks. Obviously, I am delighted to have President Bush, General 
Powell, and Secretary Cisneros back. Henry's only been off the payroll a 
day or two. [Laughter] I didn't really know if he'd come. [Laughter]
    I thank so many people here who have advocated national service and 
citizen service of various kinds for a long time. Especially I'd like to 
acknowledge, in addition to Harris Wofford and Bob Goodwin, Eli Segal 
and Ray Chambers; Al From with the Democratic Leadership Council; 
Charles Moskos, the national scholar of citizen service, who was for all 
this years before the rest of us knew it was an issue. Thank you, sir, 
for all your lifetime of work devoted to the proposition that the 
American people can forge their own destiny and solve their own 
problems. We thank you.
    This is an extraordinary collection of Americans who have gathered 
here, not only on the stage but out here in the room, to advance the 
cause of citizen service. Much of the work of America cannot be done by 
government. Much other work cannot be done by government alone. The 
solution must be the American people through voluntary service to 
others. The challenges we face today, especially those that face our 
children, require something of all of us, parents, religious and 
community groups, business, labor organizations, schools, teachers, our 
great national civic and service organizations, every citizen.
    One of my proudest moments as President was signing the bill 
creating the Corporation for National Service and AmeriCorps. During the 
last 3 years, about 50,000 Americans have earned aid for college by 
serving in their communities, doing real work to address critical 
problems, cleaning up rivers, working with the police to make the 
streets safe, helping children learn to read, and doing many, many more 
things in every State in the country.
    These AmeriCorps members and even larger numbers of Senior Service 
Corps and student volunteers have really helped to revive the spirit of 
service in America. I noticed just a few days before the Inauguration 
the publication of a national poll--I can mention that now and you think 
I have no self-interest, you see--[laughter]--the publication of a 
national poll that said that young people are serving in their 
communities in far higher percentages than just a few years ago.
    I think this is a culmination of years and years of effort. When 
President Bush held this office, he understood that so much of what is 
good in America has to be done and is being done by people who are 
outside Washington and outside the Federal Government. And we share his 
hope that by holding up examples of ordinary Americans engaged in 
extraordinary service, by holding up those thousand points of light, 
they will grow by the power of their example into millions of points of 
light. And we thank you for that.
    Citizen service belongs to no party, no ideology. It is an American 
idea which every American should embrace. Today I am pleased to announce 
that we are taking an important step to give more Americans the 
opportunity to fulfill that promise. On April 27th in Philadelphia, with 
the support and leadership of the Corporation for National Service, the 
Points of Light Foundation, General Colin Powell, and Secretary Henry 
Cisneros, President Bush and I will convene the first Presidents' summit 
on citizen service. Our goal is to mobilize America's citizen power in a 
united effort to solve our common problems, especially those that 
threaten our young people.
    Leaders from a broad spectrum will come with commitments in hand, 
concrete pledges of support, and volunteers to solve their local 
problems. In preparation for the summit some of our most prominent 
corporations and service organizations have already stepped forward. Big 
Brothers-Big Sisters has pledged to double their mentoring relations, 
matching 200,000 deserving young people with caring adults through the 
year 2000. And they have pledged to compound their efforts by having 
these adult volunteers actually do other citizen service projects with 
the young people they mentor. They not only will be serving the young 
but calling on the young to serve. Lens Crafters will provide one 
million needy Americans, especially children,

[[Page 74]]

with free vision care by the year 2003. Columbia HCA, a leading health 
care company, has committed to immunize one million children through 
their health care facilities by the year 2000. And that is just the 
beginning.
    I am delighted that General Colin Powell, who has served our country 
in so very many ways, has agreed to serve once again, this time as 
general chair of the summit. General, we're grateful that you're joining 
us. And I remember well when you had your retirement ceremony, you said 
that you were going to devote more of your life to helping young people 
to have better lives and better futures. There is nothing--nothing--you 
could do that would have a bigger impact on that goal than this. And we 
are very grateful to you, sir.
    All of you know that I believe Henry Cisneros is the finest HUD 
Secretary who ever served our country. He had a special way of getting 
people to take responsibility for their own lives and of generating real 
interpersonal human contacts in places where they had been too long 
absent. He just has a great new leadership job at Univision, and I am 
very grateful that he was willing to take substantial time out of an 
already very busy schedule in a new and fulfilling, in some ways more 
rewarding life--[laughter]--to do what I know he loves best, which is to 
help people realize their own promise. Thank you, Henry, for doing this.
    Finally, let me say I am deeply honored to be embarking on this 
joint venture with President Bush. As far as I know, there's not much of 
a precedent for this sort of thing, at least in recent history, but 
there should be. It must be true that the things which unite us as 
citizens are bigger than any one person, one party, one election, or one 
ideology. They can only be solved if we come together in partnership to 
lift each other up, a person at a time, a family at a time, a 
neighborhood at a time, a school at a time.
    The organizers of this effort have wisely chosen Philadelphia as the 
site of the summit, for the reasons that the Vice President said. I'm 
reminded at the close of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin 
Franklin made an observation about a design of the Sun that was hanging 
low on the horizon in the chair that General Washington sat in to 
preside over the Convention. And after the Constitutional Convention was 
over, he said there had been a lot of speculation about whether it was a 
rising or a setting Sun; having seen the Constitution he could say that 
it was definitely a rising Sun. I believe we can look at this assemblage 
today, look forward to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and say this 
is a rising Sun.
    I thank all of you. I thank especially those who are here on this 
platform. And I'd like to ask all of you to join me as we hear from our 
speakers. First, President Bush, to be followed by General Powell and 
Henry Cisneros.
    Mr. President, welcome back.

[At this point, former President George Bush, former Chairman of the 
Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (ret.), and former 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry G. Cisneros made brief 
remarks.]

    The President. Well, let me again thank President Bush and General 
Powell and Secretary Cisneros and all the rest of you for being here; 
especially the Members of Congress, members of the administration, the 
mayors, and others who are here.
    We are going to adjourn now and have a reception. But as we leave 
I'd like to just ask that we keep in mind the last point that Secretary 
Cisneros made. I imagine that Ray Chambers was a happy and successful 
man before he decided to give his whole life over to other people's 
welfare. But I can't imagine that he emanated the glow that he does 
today that we all see and that you see in the lives of other people who 
give.
    And I guess--you know, our wealth and power are very important in 
America, and they must be maintained. But the pursuit of happiness 
involves more. And it really is true that in giving, we receive. So if 
we give a lot, we'll get a lot, and our country will enter this new 
century in wonderful, wonderful shape.
    Thank you all, and God bless you. We're adjourned.

Note: The President spoke at 2:52 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Harris Wofford, Chief Executive 
Officer, and Eli Segal, board member, Corporation for National and 
Community Service; Robert F. Goodwin, president, Points of Light 
Foundation; Raymond G. Chambers, president, Amerlior Foundation; Al 
From, president, Democratic Leadership Council; and Charles C. Moskos, 
professor of sociology, Northwestern University.

[[Page 75]]