[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
[May 21, 1998]
[Pages 817-819]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Senate Ratification of the Protocols of Accession to NATO for 
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic
May 21, 1998

    Thank you very much. I suppose I should begin with an apology for 
having to dash off and pick up the paper, but I would hate to lose this 
document after all the effort we put into getting to this point. 
[Laughter]
    Mr. Vice President, thank you for your 
leadership on this issue. Senator Roth, 
Senator Biden, Secretary 
Albright, Secretary Cohen, General Ralston, Mr. 
Berger, to the Ambassadors of 
Poland, Hungary, 
the Czech Republic, and the other members 
of the diplomatic corps who are here, to Senators Levin and Lieberman and 
Lugar, Mikulski, and Smith, I thank all of you so 
much.
    Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin, I would like to make a couple 
of brief comments.

[[Page 818]]

First of all, let me say I know that all Americans are heartbroken by 
the terrible shooting at the school in Springfield, Oregon, today. And I 
would just like to say on behalf of the American people that our 
thoughts and prayers are with the families of the people who were killed 
and wounded and with that entire fine community.
    Next let me say that I welcome the wise decision made less than 24 
hours ago by President Soeharto in Indonesia. It now 
gives the Indonesian people a chance to come together to build a stable 
democracy for the 21st century. I hope that the leaders will now move 
forward promptly, with an open and peaceful transition that enjoys broad 
public support. Indonesia is a very great nation, populous, wide 
ranging, diverse, with remarkable accomplishments to its credit in the 
last few decades. It has a great future. The United States stands ready 
to work, as we have with other nations in the past, to support 
Indonesia's leaders and people as they pursue democratic reform.
    Finally, by way of introduction, let me say, since we're here to 
talk about Europe today, I'd like to put in one last plug for the vote 
in Ireland and Northern Ireland tomorrow. And I suspect all of you agree 
with me. And I hope that those fine people will lift the burden of the 
last 30 years from their shoulders and embrace a common future in peace.
    Let me say notwithstanding my good friend Senator Biden's overly 
generous remarks, we are here today because of the efforts of a lot of 
people who supported this effort: Members of Congress and former Members 
of Congress, present and former national security officials, present and 
former military leaders, representatives of our veterans, business 
unions, religious groups, ethnic communities. I especially thank 
Senators Lott and 
Daschle, Senators Helms and Biden, and you, Senator Roth, the chairman of our NATO observer group.
    You behaved in the great tradition of Truman and Marshall and 
Vandenberg, uniting our country across party for common values, common 
interests, and a common future.
    It's really amazing, isn't it, that Bill Roth and Joe Biden come from 
Delaware. I want you to know there is no truth to the rumor that I 
agreed to move the NATO headquarters to Wilmington in return for this 
vote. [Laughter] However, it does say a lot for those small States that 
these two remarkable men have made such an indispensable contribution to 
this effort. I thank the other Senators who are here for their 
passionate commitments.
    I'd also like to mention one other person, my adviser on NATO 
enlargement who managed the ratification process for the White House, 
Jeremy Rosner. Thank you, Jeremy. You did a 
great job, too, and we thank you.
    I see so many people here that--and I don't want to get into calling 
names, but I thank Mr. Brzezinski, 
Ambassador Kirkpatrick, General 
Joulwan, and so many others who are here 
who have been a part of America's effort over the last 50 years to make 
sure that, after World War II, freedom triumphs.
    We learned, at great cost in this century, that, if we wanted 
America to be secure at home, we had to stand up for our interests, our 
ideals, and our friends around the world. Because of the alliances we've 
built and the work that our people have been able to do here, we near 
the end of this great century at a remarkable pinnacle of peace, with 
prosperity and declining social problems at home, and for the very first 
time ever, a majority of the world's people living under governments of 
their own choosing.
    Since World War II, no alliance for freedom has been more important 
or enduring than NATO. And as we look ahead to the next 50 years, we 
have to imagine what the world will be like and what it is we expect to 
do and, in particular, in this case, what about NATO. Today we welcome 
Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, finally erasing the boundary line 
the cold war artificially imposed on the continent of Europe, 
strengthening an alliance that now, clearly, is better preserved to keep 
the peace and preserve our security into the 21st century.
    For the 16 of us already in NATO, enlarging our alliance will create 
three new allies ready to contribute troops and technology and ingenuity 
to protecting our territory, defending our security, and pursuing our 
vital interests. The 60 million people who live in Hungary, Poland, and 
the Czech Republic, they now know that what they build in peace, they 
will be able to keep in security. And America now knows that we have new 
allies to help us meet the new security challenges of the 21st century, 
something that our partnership in Bosnia so clearly demonstrates.
    I would say also to the nations who have joined with us in the 
Partnership For Peace, and others who have considered doing so, and 
those who hope still someday to become NATO

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members, we are in the process of adapting this organization to the 
security challenges of the 21st century, and those who are with us in 
the Partnership For Peace, those who have been part of our endeavor in 
Bosnia, we appreciate you as well. We respect your aspirations for 
security; we share your devotion to your freedom; and we hope this is a 
day which you can celebrate as well.
    We come to this day thanks to many acts of courage: courage that 
toppled the Berlin Wall, ended the cold war; sacrifice by those who 
raised freedom's banner in Budapest in 1956, in Prague in 1968, in 
Gdansk in 1980; people like Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Arpad Goncz, so 
many others. The selfless investment of blood and treasure the American 
people made in European freedom in the 20th century is also something we 
ought to stop and remember here today. There are so many people whose 
families gave so much in two World Wars and the cold war who should feel 
a personal sense of satisfaction and triumph because of this day. And I 
hope they do.
    As we look ahead to the 21st century, again I say, we have to see 
what we're doing in NATO in the larger context of preparing for a 
different era. Our goal is to help to build a Europe that is undivided, 
free, democratic, at peace, and secure, a Europe in which Russia, 
Ukraine, and other states of the former Soviet Union join with us to 
make common cause; a dynamic new Europe with partnership for commerce 
and cooperation. Therefore, we have supported the expansion of NATO and 
the Partnership For Peace. We have also supported all efforts at 
European integration and the expansion of European institutions to 
welcome new democracies. And we will continue to do so.
    We want to imagine a future in which our children will be much less 
likely to cross the Atlantic to fight and die in a war, but much more 
likely to find partners in security, in cultural and commercial and 
educational endeavors. The expansion of NATO and the Partnership For 
Peace make the positive outcome much more probable.
    This is a day for celebration but also a day for looking ahead. Our 
work to adapt all our institutions to the challenges of the new century 
is far from done. On Monday, I had the opportunity to go to Geneva to 
lay out a seven-point plan for the changes, I believe, the world trading 
system must embrace in order to fully and faithfully serve free people 
in the 21st century.
    And just very briefly before I close, let me mention the things that 
I believe we still have to do with NATO. We have to build closer ties 
with the Partnership For Peace members. We have to reinforce the 
practical cooperation between NATO and Russia, and NATO and Ukraine. We 
have to see through our efforts to secure a lasting peace in the 
Balkans, and we cannot walk away until the job is done. We must achieve 
deeper reductions in our nuclear forces and lower the limits on 
conventional arms across the European continent.
    Yes, we have more work to do, but for today, we remind the people of 
Europe that in the efforts that lie ahead, they can continue to count on 
the United States. And we remind the world that tomorrow, as yesterday, 
America will defend its values, protect its interests, and stand by its 
friends. So that years from now another generation may gather in this 
place and bask in the warm glow of liberty's light, because in our time 
we fulfilled America's eternal mission: to deepen the meaning of 
freedom, to widen the circle of opportunity, to strengthen the bonds of 
our union among ourselves and with others who believe in the primary 
importance of liberty and human dignity.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1:35 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Ambassador to the U.S. Jerzy 
Kozminski and former President Lech Walesa of Poland; Ambassador to the 
U.S. Gyorgy Banlaki and President Arpad Goncz of Hungary; Ambassador to 
the U.S. Aleksandr Vondra and President Vaclav Havel of the Czech 
Republic; former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; former 
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane J. Kirkpatrick; and Gen. 
George A. Joulwan, USA (Ret.), former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.