[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[March 24, 1999]
[Pages 447-448]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Unveiling of a Portrait of Former Secretary of Commerce 
Ronald H. Brown
March 24, 1999

    Thank you very much. Let me, first of all, say I thought Secretary 
Daley did a remarkable job today, and he 
was the funniest I have ever heard him--[laughter]--which means either 
that the Commerce Department has been very good for him, or he has found 
an extraordinary speechwriter. [Laughter] If it is the former, I thank 
you. If it is the latter, I would like that person dispatched to the 
White House this afternoon. [Laughter]
    I want to thank Congressman Ford and 
Mr. Mayor and all of our Cabinet for 
being here. And Mickey, 
Heidi, thank you for being here; members of the 
Brown family. This is both a happy and a bittersweet day. We are now in 
the springtime, even though Washington is not quite behaving like it 
yet. Soon the dogwood that we planted on the back of the White House 
lawn will be blooming for Ron again. And now this portrait will be here 
forever, to remind us all of his service and his spirit. Mr. 
Polson, I think you did a terrific job, and I 
congratulate you. We love it.
    If Ron Brown were here, I know exactly what he'd say. He'd say, 
``Well, you did well. I'm dressed well''--[laughter]--``and I look very 
strong. But you could have made me a little thinner.'' [Laughter]
    And I'd just like to just take a minute to remind all of you about 
the spirit. Secretary Daley was kind enough to say that I had tried to 
elevate the Commerce Department. I think that is true, but I would like 
to just say a word about it as it relates to Ron Brown.
    After the election of 1992, when we were putting together our 
economic team and I had been listening rather carefully to what others 
had said and what I had seen about previous administrations and how they 
ran their economic policy, it seemed to me that, by and large, previous 
administrations had lodged the making of economic policy too much either 
in Treasury or the White House, or both, and had sort of

[[Page 448]]

overlooked the integral role of Commerce and our Trade Ambassador, on a 
daily basis, to the development of our long-term economic well-being.
    Same thing could be said of other departments, the Agriculture 
Department, the Energy Department--how they were needed to make a joint 
economic policy. And so we put together this National Economic Council 
to integrate all the Departments. And then we decided to elevate the 
economic role particularly of the Commerce Department, and to try to 
bring the Trade Ambassador into the daily work of the economic life of 
the administration, not just when there was some big trade negotiation 
going on.
    And I think the evidence is, it worked pretty well. But it worked 
pretty well in no small measure because Ron Brown was here and Mickey 
Kantor was our Trade Ambassador and 
because Ron Brown believed me when I told him that I thought the 
Commerce Department had been grossly underutilized, at least in recent 
history, in terms of building the economic potential of America, within 
our country and beyond our borders. So he bought the big idea, and then 
he sold the big idea.
    But the second point I want to make is that he did it, in no small 
measure, because of the spirit you see reflected in the set of the jaw 
and the glance of the eyes in this fine portrait. He basically believed 
there was no mountain that couldn't be climbed. He believed that 
American businesses had a responsibility to act in their enlightened 
self-interest to help themselves and others, here at home and around the 
world.
    He also believed that people driven by ancient hatreds could find a 
way to put them aside. I will never forget how excited he was in the 
last conversation we had right before he left for Bosnia, how proud he 
was that he could lead a delegation of American business people to the 
Balkans to try to make peace.
    Well, the peace process is working in Bosnia. As all of you know, 
it's under siege again in the Balkans because of what is going on in 
Kosovo. I don't want to talk about that here today except to say that 
there are basically two kinds of people that are dominating the public 
discourse around the world today: There are people that are determined 
to divide and drive wedges between and depress people because they're of 
different ethnic and racial and religious groups; and then there are 
people like Ron Brown who believe that everybody ought to be lifted up 
and brought together and don't understand why anyone would waste lives 
and take other people's lives to gain a false sense of power in a 
smaller and smaller life based on oppression.
    And when you look at this picture today, when you go out, first of 
all, I want all the members of the Commerce Department to be proud of 
what you are doing, proud of what he did, and proud of what you are 
doing under Secretary Daley, who has also, 
in my judgment, done a magnificent job. And I want you to think about 
the troubles of the world today, and I want you to see your life as an 
instrument of bringing out the spirit that Ron Brown brought to his life 
and his work in this Department every day and think about it for what it 
is, the principal opposing force to all this destructive racial, ethnic, 
religious, and cultural destruction we see all over the world today.
    Every country has to make that choice, and in a way, every business 
has to make that choice, and every person has to make that choice.
    We're all blessed that we knew Ron Brown. We're glad that his family 
is here today. We're glad we've got Alma right 
where we want her; she can't talk back. I could have given her a whole 
lecture today. [Laughter] But I know Ron Brown would want me to say, to 
use this moment to say, ``Look at this picture. Look at this life. Look 
at the troubles of the world.'' The choice is clear: America needs to 
stay on the path that he blazed.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:49 a.m. in the Herbert Hoover Building 
Auditorium at the Department of Commerce. In his remarks, he referred to 
Mayor Anthony A. Williams of Washington, DC; former U.S. Trade 
Representative Michael (Mickey) Kantor and his wife, Heidi; artist 
Steven Polson, who painted the official portrait; and Alma Brown, widow 
of Ron Brown.