    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [May 13, 1998]
    [Pages 753-754]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Dinner Hosted by President Roman Herzog of Germany in Berlin
    May 13, 1998

        Mr. President, Chancellor, members of the
    German and American delegations. First, Mr. President, let me thank you
    for your wonderful toast and for the spirit in which it was delivered.
    It has been a truly wonderful day to be in Berlin and to be in Potsdam.
    I am struck more than ever by the friendship that joins our two nations.
        Today I have been given many gifts, Mr. President, but to come here
    tonight to hear Bach on the saxophone is more than I could have ever
    dreamed. [Laughter] I thank you.
        I am delighted to be in this historic hotel where once one of my
    predecessors, Theodore Roosevelt, stayed. As I'm sure all Germans here
    know, who are students of America, Theodore Roosevelt was a lifelong
    admirer of the German people. As a young man he spent time in Dresden,
    and he later wrote, ``From that time to this, it would have been quite
    impossible to make me feel that the Germans were really foreigners.''
        The rebuilding of the Adlon is one of the many steps taken in recent
    years to build a new future upon the foundation of Berlin's and
    Germany's past. Here, close to the Brandenburg

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    Gate and the Reichstag, we see a united Germany that will be a force for
    peace and prosperity in the next century. Tomorrow we will commemorate
    the airlift, the Luftbrucke, the bridge we built together almost 50
    years ago.
        But long before that, the people of Germany helped America to build
    bridges, too. The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by a German-American,
    John Roebling. And German-Americans have been building other kinds of
    bridges since the beginning of our country. After all, Germans helped to
    create our Nation through revolution, helped to preserve it through
    civil war, and they are still helping to advance our democracy in the
    twilight of the 20th century.
        One hundred years ago tomorrow, a distinguished American summed up
    the lessons of the century that was then drawing to a close. Carl Schurz
    served in the Cabinet of a President, as a United States Senator, and as
    a general in the Army. He was a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. He was
    also a German, one of many who came to the United States after the
    Revolution of 1848. I might say that as a result of that revolution, the
    State from which I come has towns named Stuttgart and Ulm, where we grow
    more rice than any other place in the United States. [Laughter] Carl
    Schurz lived quite a long life. And as he reflected back on it, he was
    proud to have stood for democracy on two continents, in two nations. He
    never forgot the friends he left in Germany or the two goals that
    animated the younger generation of 1848: representative government and
    German unity. In his speech to a gathering of old '48ers on May 14,
    1898, Carl Schurz swore that he would never stop working to spread
    liberty around the world.
        Mr. President, you have led Germany toward these same goals:
    liberty, representative government, and unity. In countless ways, you
    have worked for unity, reaching out to neighboring countries, building
    consensus, laying the ground work for a new and peaceful Europe. You
    have made democracy work at home.
        Mr. President, you recently wrote, ``Even a superpower needs
    friends.'' [Laughter] Truer words were never written. [Laughter] And so
    Mr. President, I thank you for the friendship that unites us personally
    and for the unbreakable friendship that joins our people.
        And ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to join me in raising a glass to
    President Roman Herzog and to the people of the Federal Republic of
    Germany.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:27 p.m. in the Ballroom at the Hotel
    Adlon. The transcript made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary also included the remarks of President Herzog.