[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[June 20, 1999]
[Pages 977-980]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the American Community in Bonn, Germany
June 20, 1999

    Lord Mayor Dieckmann, thank you very 
much for your words and for your wonderful gift of Beethoven's music; 
Mr. Ambassador; ladies and gentlemen.
    Let me begin by saying a word of thanks to our Embassy staff and to 
those of you here in Bonn who have been our hosts for so many years. We 
are very proud of our long presence here, but we know, as the Lord Mayor 
said, that our departure is made possible by something we have dreamed 
of for a very long time, the Germany envisioned when the American High 
Commission came to Bonn in 1951. Also, thanks in large measure to 
Germany's leadership and example, we see the Europe envisioned in the 
days of Truman and Adenauer, a Europe free, undivided, and at peace, at 
last within our grasp.
    The man for whom this chapel was named, Henry Stimson, shared those 
dreams of Germany and Europe. I understand one of his relatives, Arthur 
Stimson, is here today, and we are honored by 
that. I also want to wish the chapel's pastor, Dr. Hubbard, well as he returns to America tomorrow after his 
service here. We thank you, sir, and we wish your successor, 
Reverend Satre--and Father 
McNally, thank you for being here.
    Hillary and I and Secretary Eizenstat, who's about to become the Deputy Secretary of the 
Treasury--he's moving, too--all of our Americans here are profoundly 
grateful to those of you who have served in Bonn and have done a 
remarkable job of forging the truly incredible relationship we have with 
Germany. It is a security alliance, an economic partnership, and a 
cultural bond. The gift of this chapel is meant to symbolize that whole 
relationship and to make it stronger. I thank all of you who have made 
it possible.
    As I think about where we are today compared to where we were 50 
years ago and the work we did today for the Europe our children and 
grandchildren will live in 50 years from now, I think it is altogether 
fitting that we are here in Bonn, the home of Beethoven, for his life 
makes possible for us to see one of the most important admonitions of 
the Scriptures. The Bible says, ``Where there is no vision, the people 
perish.''
    Beethoven, I believe, was the greatest composer in the history of 
the world. He was also stone deaf. He wrote his music because of his 
vision, because of the melding together of his mind, his heart, his 
memory, his imagination. Human beings are at their best, not only 
individually but working together, when they are guided by their visions 
and they are good.

[[Page 978]]

    The summit we have just completed was the last leaders' meeting of 
the 20th century. It followed our victory in Kosovo for values and for 
the vision we have of the 21st century.
    I want to talk very briefly--and I thank the rain for letting up. 
[Laughter] God approved my interpretation of the Scriptures, you see? 
[Applause] Thank you. I want to say just a few words about the vision we 
have for southeastern Europe, for our relations with Russia, for the 
challenges of the new global economy.
    Consider first the lessons we would be leaving this century for the 
next if we had come to Cologne without having taken a stand in Kosovo. 
Then we would be saying that innocent men, women, and children could be 
singled out for destruction because of their ethnic heritage or 
religious faith, even in the heart of Europe; that innocent people could 
be driven from their homes, loaded on train cars, raped and killed, 
their religious faith and their culture erased, and the world would not 
hear, see, speak, or act to stop it; that the world's most powerful 
alliance is simply powerless to stop crimes against humanity, even those 
on its own doorstep.
    Years from now, people would say that we lived through a time of 
amazing progress in human freedom and economic prosperity. But the 
children of the 21st century would have to look back and say that we 
failed a decisive moral test, that our inaction imperiled our own 
security, that we had not learned the lessons of the bloody 20th 
century.
    Now, think about how the century is actually ending, with a powerful 
statement by our 19 democracies that we will stand up for the innocents 
in the face of evil; with our Alliance strong, united, working with 
partners all across the Continent to meet common objectives; with ethnic 
cleansing not only defeated but, as the Kosovars go home, reversed; with 
the remarkable sight of German troops marching with their democratic 
Allies through the towns and villages of a Balkan country, cheered as 
liberators by people grateful to be going home in peace and safety.
    We may never have a world that is without hatred or tyranny or 
conflict, but at least instead of ending this century with helpless 
indignation in the face of it, we instead begin a new century and a new 
millennium with a hopeful affirmation of human rights and human dignity. 
The people of Kosovo have a future again. And there is no future in 
Europe for Mr. Milosevic and his policy 
of manipulating normal human differences for inhuman ends.
    Now, we find ourselves at that pivotal moment between winning a 
conflict and winning the peace. Today the last Serb forces are leaving 
Kosovo, in accordance with the deadline that has been set. Over 60,000 
Kosovars have already gone home. I believe shortly we will formalize our 
agreement with the KLA to demilitarize their forces. Of course, there 
are still dangers ahead. But we also have a remarkable opportunity, and 
what we do now will determine the character of this continent, the shape 
of our Alliance, and the nature of our partnership with Russia for years 
and years to come.
    Our biggest challenge perhaps will be to put in place a plan for 
lasting peace and stability in the Balkans. We cannot do this a 
province, a nation, a crisis at a time. All our G-8 partners have agreed 
it is time to help transform the entirety of southeastern Europe the way 
Western Europe was transformed after World War II and central Europe was 
after the cold war. We want to give the region's democracies a path to a 
prosperous and shared future, a unifying magnet that is more powerful 
than the pull of old hatreds and destruction which has threatened to 
tear them apart.
    Some say this is a dream. Some still believe the people of the 
Balkans are somehow predestined to a never-ending struggle over land, 
faith, and power. But after all, that is what, in times past, people 
used to say about England and France, or France and Germany, or Germany 
and Poland, or Poland and Russia. If we had listened to all the people 
throughout human history who said that we couldn't get along, none of us 
would be here today.
    Look around this crowd at the different faces, the different races, 
the different religious faiths. None of us would be here today if we had 
believed that any of those past conflicts was more powerful and more 
predestined than the innate goodness and potential and dignity of all 
human beings, without regard to their origin.
    Henry Stimson once said, ``The most deadly sin I know is cynicism.'' 
Today, we ought not to have much of that, for we have a lot to hope for. 
Most of central and eastern Europe is transforming itself through 
democracy and cooperation with neighbors. If the countries of 
southeastern Europe keep taking the same path, we have pledged to do our 
part to work with the World Bank, the IMF, and others to support

[[Page 979]]

the economic development and the private investment necessary to grow 
the economy and the futures of the people of southeastern Europe. We 
ought to integrate them into the global economy and into our regional 
arrangements.
    All of this, of course, will cost money, but how well spent that 
money will be. The costliest peace is cheaper than the cheapest war.
    This summit was also the first meeting between the leaders of Russia 
and the West since our disagreement over the conflict in Kosovo. Of 
course, Russia opposed our use of force there, but it did work with us 
to achieve the peace, to fulfill our objectives. Now we have committed 
to implementing this peace together in a way that will strengthen our 
relationship, reassure the security of innocent civilians--both ethnic 
Serb and Albanian--in Kosovo, and preserve the unity of NATO.
    The summit gave us a chance to work on what we have in common. 
President Yeltsin and I, for example, agreed 
to hold discussions later this year on START III, further reductions of 
our nuclear arsenals, and preserving the ABM Treaty, even as we work to 
get START II ratified.
    Our G-8 partners agreed to increase support for our enhanced threat 
reduction initiative. That is what safeguards nuclear materials, 
technology, and expertise in Russia so that horrible weapons of mass 
destruction don't fall into the wrong hands. We also recognize that 
Russia's future depends upon the health of its economy. President 
Yeltsin affirmed today that Russia can thrive 
in the global marketplace only with a strong reform program. And the 
rest of us made it clear that we will move quickly, once Russia's IMF 
program is in place, to support a rescheduling of its debt.
    Our final challenge in Cologne was to join forces to maximize the 
benefits and minimize the risks of the global economy to ordinary people 
the world over, whether in wealthy or poor countries. The rise of an 
open economy in the world represents one of the most hopeful 
developments in history. But to build public support for it, we must 
make sure that the benefits are widely shared, that when people are 
disrupted, as they inevitably will be, they are helped to get back to a 
good life, and that no one is left behind.
    At this summit we took critical steps to make the economy of the 
world more resilient, to moderate the cycles of boom and bust that have 
gripped Southeast Asia and the rest of Asia in the last couple of years, 
and to do more to protect the most vulnerable among us. We resolved to 
work with the International Labor Organization to eradicate abusive 
child labor and enforce good labor standards around the globe.
    We pledged to launch a new global trade round at the WTO meeting in 
Seattle later this year to spread the benefits of trade more broadly. 
And we launched an historic effort to move the world's poorest nations 
onto a path of growth and independence, something I have been working on 
for most of my tenure as President. Our plan will more than triple the 
amount of money available for debt reduction, reducing up to 70 percent 
of the outstanding debt of the poorest nations of the world.
    We also committed to increase the number of countries eligible for 
this aid and to deliver the relief faster, in ways that will free up the 
resources of the poor countries so they can spend that money on health 
care and education, on the fight against AIDS, on the alleviation of 
poverty, on future prosperity. It will help to ensure that no country 
committed to that kind of progress is too indebted to achieve it and to 
meet the basic needs of its people. It will help to reduce poverty and 
expand opportunity. It will help to turn debtor countries into good 
citizens of the world and good partners for Germany and the United 
States.
    So I say to you, we left this summit grateful for our long 
partnership with our European allies and especially with Germany. We 
look forward to the movement of our Embassy to Berlin, because it is the 
fulfillment of the visions of those who came before us. We will always 
be grateful for what the people of Bonn have given us in partnership and 
support.
    But as you think about the future--whenever you are tempted to 
believe that we cannot eradicate ethnic hatred from the Balkans; 
whenever you are tempted to believe that some people are destined to be 
chained in poverty and oppression; whenever you are tempted to believe 
that the world's problems, like the spread of AIDS, cannot be turned 
back--think about your native son. If anyone at any point in human 
history had ever said the greatest composer who ever lived would be 
stone deaf, they would have laughed and laughed and laughed. There is 
nothing we cannot do without the right vision.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

[[Page 980]]

Note: The President spoke at 6:35 p.m. at the Stimson Memorial Chapel. 
In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Barbel Dieckmann of Bonn, Germany; 
U.S. Ambassador to Germany John C. Kornblum; Rev. Donald R. Hubbard, 
outgoing Protestant chaplain, Rev. Douglas M. Satre, incoming Protestant 
chaplain, and Father Stephen McNally, Catholic chaplain, Stimson 
Memorial Chapel; President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro); and President Boris Yeltsin of 
Russia.