[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
[July 3, 1997]
[Pages 912-915]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a NATO Summit Sendoff by American Veterans
July 3, 1997

    Thank you very much. I know a good doctor. United States Navy. 
[Laughter]
    Mr. Vice President, Commander Frank, Colonel Harmon, Secretary 
Albright, Secretary Cohen, Ambassador Richardson, Mr. Berger,

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General Shalikashvili and General Ralston and members of the Joint 
Chiefs; to the distinguished veterans and community leaders here, 
especially to Judge Waters. You know, when he told that horse story, I 
nearly fell out of my chair. [Laughter] But you didn't know what I was 
thinking. [Laughter] I was thinking, there have been several days here 
in the last 4\1/2\ years when I would be grateful just to have been 
called what that doctor called him. [Laughter]
    Before I begin, I would like to state what I hope is obvious now, 
but I've never said it formally, and that is that I intend to nominate 
Deputy Secretary Gober to be the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs. We 
have been friends for many years. He did a superb job as the State 
director of veterans affairs in our home State. He was a good partner 
and support to Jesse Brown, who fulfilled his promise to me to be a 
Secretary for as well as a Secretary of Veterans Affairs. And I believe 
that Hershel will serve in that great tradition, and I thank him for 
agreeing to do so.
    Tomorrow, as the Vice President said, we will commemorate 
Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence, which I recommend 
everyone read every Independence Day. The words still ring out of our 
abiding belief in the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness.
    And we have a lot to celebrate on this July 4th. We are at peace. We 
are more prosperous than we have been in a generation, our liberty more 
secure than ever. And for the first time throughout the world--for the 
first time in our time, there are more people living under governments 
of their own choosing than are living under dictatorships. That is an 
astonishing thing, that the dream of our Founding Fathers, articulated 
so powerfully 221 years ago tomorrow, has now come within the reach of 
more than half the people on the globe.
    Next week we will take a historic step to secure that freedom for 
more people than ever before, at home and abroad, when we invite new 
democracies from Central Europe to join our alliance at the NATO Summit 
in Madrid. I thank those who have spoken before me for their support. 
Together with our efforts to build NATO's ties to Russia and to Ukraine, 
and through the Partnership For Peace with so many other of Europe's 
democracies, we're working to create a continent of Europe that is 
undivided, democratic, and at peace for the first time since nation-
states appeared on that continent.
    Our Nation has labored and sacrificed for this goal for more than 
five decades now, and now it is within reach. So in Europe next week 
we'll have the chance to strengthen the values we all hold dear: 
freedom, democracy, security. Our work in Madrid will be a capstone of 
our Nation's leadership throughout the 20th century and a cornerstone 
for a new age of possibility in the 21st century.
    I saw in one of the papers today a poll that said that only 6 
percent of the American people felt that they followed events in NATO 
closely and thought they knew a lot about it. In a way, that is a 
stunning tribute to the success of NATO, for no NATO member has ever 
been attacked. If it had not been so, a lot more people would know about 
NATO.
    Now the time has come for us to make sure more Americans understand 
the significance of NATO to our security, understand the role it can 
play in the future, and understand why it is profoundly in the interest 
of the American people to go forward with this expansion. And all the 
people on this stage today and all of you in this room today have helped 
to make a significant contribution to that work. But I hope when you 
leave here, you will continue to speak about it to your friends and 
neighbors, to the members of your organizations, to the people with whom 
you come in contact.
    There are four reasons why NATO enlargement is consistent with our 
values and supports our interests. First, it will make our alliance 
stronger and better able to address the challenges to Europe's security. 
As has already been said, if we haven't learned a single, solitary other 
lesson from the 20th century, surely we have learned that our future and 
Europe's are inevitably intertwined.
    A NATO that embraces Europe's new democracies will be more capable 
of carrying out its missions, defending the territory of its members, 
addressing conflicts that threaten our common peace. The Czechs and 
Poles served beside American soldiers in the Gulf war. Already, the 
Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Baltic States, and many 
other Central European countries that seek to join NATO are contributing 
troops to our NATO peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.

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    Indeed, we could not have deployed our troops to Bosnia as smoothly 
and swiftly as we did without the critical help of Hungary and our 
staging ground at Taszar, which I had the privilege to visit shortly 
after it was established. By bringing new and capable democracies into 
NATO and deepening our cooperation with others who are not members at 
this time but are part of our Partnership For Peace, we build a stronger 
alliance for all future challenges to transatlantic security.
    Second, enlarging NATO will plainly help to secure the gains of 
democracy in Europe. NATO can do for Europe's east what it did for 
Europe's west after World War II, provide the kind of climate necessary 
for freedom and prosperity to survive and to grow and flourish.
    Third, enlarging NATO clearly will encourage prospective members to 
resolve their differences peacefully, and that will reduce the chances 
of further conflicts in Europe. Already, the very prospect of NATO 
membership has helped to convince countries in Central Europe to improve 
ties with their neighbors, to settle border and ethnic disputes, any one 
of which could have led to a conflict in a different time and under 
different circumstances.
    Finally, enlarging NATO will erase the artificial line in Europe 
drawn by Stalin at the end of World War II. And NATO will now help 
Europe to come together in security, not be kept apart in instability. 
NATO's doors will remain open to all those willing to shoulder the 
responsibilities of membership so that we do not replace an old division 
in Europe with a new one. And this is also critically important. The 
decision the NATO allies will make in Madrid must not be a one-time 
decision.
    Today let me again say I thank the American Legion for its support. 
As the largest American veterans organization, many of your members 
fought to liberate Europe or to defend freedom there during the cold 
war. And you know that this makes it less likely that future generations 
will be called to fight and die in Europe.
    I thank the Reserve Officer Association. Your endorsement speaks 
clearly to the American people because it is you who could be called out 
of your civilian lives to make good on our commitments. And you have 
recognized that enlargement will make us safer and stronger.
    There are those who say the Central European nations who will be 
invited to join NATO are not ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with 
us. But with all respect, they are wrong. The nations we are considering 
for membership share our values and our aspirations. They have shown 
that time and again. They also have the capacity to do what is required 
of NATO members.
    As you have heard today, in 1944, in the weeks after D-Day, American 
and allied troops in Normandy sought to encircle 20 of Hitler's finest 
divisions, and some of the fiercest fighting of the war resulted. Our 
forces raced to seal the final gap between them and to prevent the enemy 
from escaping into the French countryside. Two units got the job done, 
one an American infantry division, the other a Polish armored division, 
survivors of the invasion of their land who joined forces with the 
Allies.
    That gap was closed when the Poles finally linked up with the U.S. 
90th Infantry at Chambois. The first American they encountered was the 
man who introduced me today, Captain Laughlin Waters. Now, once the 
pocket was shut there was another furious battle as the Panzers tried to 
break out. The Polish First Armored Division held a critical hilltop 
against a wave of counterattacks. When the Poles ran out of antitank 
rounds, they moved forward and repelled the enemy with only their rifles 
and their courage. After the battle of Falaise Gap, 325 Polish soldiers 
were buried near where they fell. By these graves in the heart of 
Western Europe, Allied soldiers raised a simple sign of tribute which 
said in English, ``A Polish Battlefield.''
    Judge Waters, your presence here today, 53 years later, reminds us 
of the character of those we are about to add to NATO, of the values and 
interests I talked about before. They remind us of our own freedom, 
democracy, and security. They, too, have fought and died for freedom and 
democracy, for ours as well as their own. They have fought and died for 
the freedom and democracy we celebrate tomorrow. Our ties, therefore, 
have been forged in blood. And just as they were strong allies in World 
War II, they will be again.
    So, Judge Waters, just as you and your men closed the Falaise Gap at 
Chambois, we must now close another gap, the gap of hope that has 
divided Europe since the end of World War II. We must give Europe a 
chance to live free and undivided for the first time ever. That is what 
we will do next week and in the months and years ahead, as we continue 
to work with

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Europe's democracies, strengthen NATO, and adapt it to the missions of 
the 21st century.
    Your presence here today has made our success much more likely, and 
therefore, you will have something else to celebrate tomorrow on our 
Independence Day.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:29 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Joseph J. Frank, national 
commander, American Legion; Herb Harmon, president, Reserve Officers 
Association of the United States; and Laughlin Edward Waters, Senior 
Judge, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.