    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [August 11, 1999]
    [Pages 1428-1431]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom
    August 11, 1999

        The President. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to
    the White House. A special welcome to Senator Robb, Congressman Scott, Congressman
    Sisisky, Secretary/Senator Bentsen's old colleagues in the Cabinet, and Mr. Rubin, welcome home. Secretary Kissinger, thank you for coming. Governor
    Rossello, thank you for coming. Mrs. Ford, we're
    honored to have you here.

    Shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center

        Let me just say, before I begin the ceremony, Hillary has already
    said that like all Americans, we have prayed for the welfare of the
    children and their families and the entire community affected by the
    shootings in Los Angeles yesterday. Most of you probably know by now
    that the FBI received the gunman, who
    turned himself in, earlier today. I want to congratulate the law
    enforcement officials at all levels of government who quickly responded
    to the crime, identified the suspect, and kept the pressure on.
        We are a long way from knowing all the facts about this case, and
    therefore, I think all of us have to be somewhat careful about
    commenting. But what we have heard about the suspect and his motives is deeply disturbing. Nothing could be
    further from the values we honor here today. Therefore, I would just
    say, again, I can only hope that this latest incident will intensify our
    resolve to make America a safer place and a place of healing across the
    lines that divide us.

    Presidential Medal of Freedom

        President Kennedy once said that a nation reveals itself not only by
    the people it produces but by the people it honors. Today we honor men
    and women who represent the best of America with the Presidential Medal
    of Freedom. Our Nation's Founders believed, as do we, that freedom is a
    gift of God, not only to be defended but to be used to improve the human
    condition, to deepen the reach of freedom, to widen the circle of
    opportunity, to strengthen the bonds of our national community.
        By words and deeds, the Americans we honor today have done just
    that. And in honoring them, we honor also the values and principles of
    our Nation's founding and our Nation's future. Today I am proud to begin
    with a man who once held the office I am now
    privileged to occupy and one who has more than earned this honor.
        From his earliest days as a student and athlete, President Gerald
    Ford was destined for leadership. He was an
    outstanding player on the Michigan football team in a segregated era.
    And his horror at the discrimination to which one of his teammates was
    subjected spawned in him a lifelong commitment to equal rights for all
    people, regardless of race.
        He served with distinction on an aircraft
    carrier in the Pacific in World War II. Thirty years later, as
    Republican leader of the House, and with the strong support of his
    colleagues in Congress in both parties, he was chosen to fill the
    vacancy in the Vice Presidency, which imposed on him subsequently the
    awesome responsibility of piloting our Nation through the stormy seas of
    Watergate.
        Steady, trustworthy, Gerald Ford ended a
    long, national nightmare. He also ended a long and bitter war. And he
    signed the Helsinki Treaty on Human Rights that sent a signal of hope to
    people throughout the world and hastened the fall of communism.
        When he left the White House after 895
    days, America was stronger, calmer, and more self-confident. America
    was, in other words, more like President Ford himself.
        During 25 years in the House of Representatives, and as House
    Republican leader, he won respect from both
    sides of the aisle. It is not just his penchant for hard work or his
    acknowledged mastery of everything from budgets to

    [[Page 1429]]

    foreign policy to defense, but the way he conducted himself, arguing his
    position forcefully on the House floor but, at the end of the debate,
    always reaching over to shake the hand of his opponents. Gerald Ford
    knew when to put politics aside and when to put the interests of our
    Nation first.
        The respect he commands has grown in the
    years since he left office, whether advising Presidents in the Oval
    Office or defending affirmative action or making the case for free trade
    on the editorial pages of our leading newspapers. His opinions are still
    very much sought after. I am immensely grateful for the wise counsel he
    has given me over the years.
        And I think I can speak for Hillary and for all Americans when I also express my
    appreciation and thanks to Betty Ford, a
    tremendous First Lady who has demonstrated dignity, strength, and
    resolve, and inspired those qualities in millions of others in the way
    she has shared her life with us.
        President Ford represents what is best in
    public service and what is best about America. Colonel, please read the
    citation.

    [Lt. Col. Carlton D. Everhart, USAF, Air
    Force Aide to the President, read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. A Texas farmhand by the age of 6, a bomber pilot by
    21, a Congressman by 27, an immensely successful businessman by 35,
    Lloyd Bentsen saw and did more in his youth
    than most see and do in an entire lifetime.
        During his second 35 years, he managed
    another whole lifetime of achievement and service as a distinguished
    United States Senator from Texas. He rose to become chairman of the
    Finance Committee, where he demonstrated his lifetime concern for the
    interest of business and labor and the poor and his conviction that
    America should advance all these together.
        Then, at the tender age of 71, when he had
    every right to settle back and enjoy the comforts of retirement, Lloyd
    Bentsen answered my call to take on perhaps the toughest challenge of
    his public life, to become Secretary of the Treasury at a time of grave
    economic difficulty for our Nation.
        He accepted that challenge with
    characteristic gusto. He became one of the strongest voices in America
    and in our administration for fiscal discipline and expanded
    international trade. He became an acknowledged world leader in financial
    and economic affairs. His work with Chairman Greenspan and Mr. Rubin and others on
    our economic team earned respect around the world. Under his leadership
    in 1993, when some of the rest of us had our doubts, we passed the
    economic plan that paved the way for what is now the longest peacetime
    expansion in our history.
        For a lifetime of exceptional service to his country, I am proud to
    bestow the Medal of Freedom on Lloyd Bentsen.
        Colonel, read the citation.

    [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. Edgar Bronfman
    once said that, in forcing the world to face up to an ugly past, we help
    shape a more honorable future. That fairly describes his own personal
    mission over these last 20 years. As chairman of Seagram's, he's helped
    to build on his father's legacy and take the company to new heights. As
    President of the World Jewish Congress, he's traveled the world to
    expose the legacy of oppression of the Jewish people and to spur action
    on their behalf, winning freedom for Soviet Jews in the 1980's,
    demanding justice from financial institutions on behalf of Holocaust
    survivors in the 1990's, and, in between, supporting philanthropies that
    work to break down barriers between nations and lift the lives of
    disadvantaged young people. A life of remarkable citizen service.
        Colonel, read the citation.

    [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. Evy Dubrow came to Washington
    more than 40 years ago, ready to do battle for America's garment
    workers, and do battle she did. When it came to the well-being of
    workers and their families, this tiny woman was larger than life. The
    Halls of Congress still echo with the sound of her voice, advocating a
    higher minimum wage, safer workplaces, better education for the children
    of working families. And in opposition to President Ford and me, she also was against NAFTA. [Laughter]
        No matter how divisive the issue, however, Evy always seemed to find a way to bring people together, to
    find a solution. As she put it, there

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    are good people on both sides of each issue, and she had a knack for
    finding those people.
        By the time she retired 2 years ago, at the
    age of 80, she had won a special chair in the House Chamber, a special
    spot at the poker table in the Filibuster Room--[laughter]--and a
    special place in the hearts of even the most hard-bitten politicians in
    Washington. Even more important, for decades and decades, she won
    victory after victory for social justice.
        Colonel, read the citation.

    [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. Sister Isolina Ferre.
    For more than 20 years, in a poverty-stricken barrio in Puerto Rico,
    Sister Isolina Ferre started passing out cameras to children. She told
    them to photograph whatever they saw. The point of the project she later
    recalled, was not just to teach young people to take pictures but to
    teach them to take pride in themselves. That is what Sister Isolina does
    best, teaching people to see the best in themselves and in their
    communities and making sure they had the tools to make the most of the
    gifts God has given them.
        Armed only with her faith, she taught
    warring gangs in New York City to solve their differences without
    violence. In Puerto Rico, her network of community service centers, the
    Centro Sor Isolina Ferre, have transformed ravaged neighborhoods by
    helping residents to advocate for themselves. Her passionate fight
    against poverty, violence, and despair have earned her many awards and
    countless tributes from all around the world. Sister Isolina once said
    that a community grows only when it rediscovers itself. On behalf of the
    many communities you have helped to make that wonderful discovery, a
    grateful nation says thank you to you today.
        Colonel, please read the citation.

    [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. I wonder whether any of the assembled parents,
    family, and friends in the audience at the law school graduation at
    Howard University in 1933 knew that they were watching history in the
    making?
        Among the many talented people who graduated that day, two men stood
    side by side, one the valedictorian, the other salutatorian. Separated
    in class rank by a mere point or two, they were united in their
    determination to hasten our Nation to a day when equal opportunity was
    the birthright of every American.
        One of these men was the late Thurgood Marshall. We're honored to
    have his wife here with us today. The other
    was the man it is our privilege to honor today, Oliver White Hill. Together, these two struck a fatal blow against
    the injustice embedded in our Nation's law, the disgraceful doctrine of
    separate but equal, that kept Americans apart and held too many
    Americans back for far too long.
        In the 45 years since the Supreme Court handed down its landmark
    decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which both Thurgood Marshall
    and Oliver Hill were active in, Oliver
    Hill has barely had time to catch his breath. Throughout his long and
    rich life, he has challenged the laws of our land and the conscience of
    our country. He has stood up for equal pay, better schools, fair
    housing, for everything that is necessary to make America, truly, one,
    indivisible, and equal.
        The presence in this audience today of so many people who have
    devoted their lives to the cause of civil rights is ample evidence to
    the absolutely irreplaceable role he has
    played over these many decades. Our Nation is in his debt.
        Colonel, read the citation.

    [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. Max Kampelman was probably
    not the first young man to work his way through college who made ends
    meet by skipping meals. But surely he is one of the few people who ever
    served his country in World War II by agreeing to stop eating
    altogether. [Laughter] He volunteered to participate in a military
    experiment on the effects of starvation, hoping to help doctors find new
    ways to treat returning POW's and concentration camp survivors,
    bespeaking a lifelong passion to alleviate the suffering of the victims
    of human rights abuses.
        Forty years later, after a career spent advising public officials at
    the highest level, he would again help his
    country to fight oppression in Europe. As head of the United States
    delegation overseeing the Helsinki Act, his unflinching words kept human
    rights at the center of East-

    [[Page 1431]]

    West relations. An uncommonly gifted negotiator, he won crucial arms
    control agreements.
        Together, these efforts helped to set in motion the collapse of
    communism and the beginning of a new era of democracy. He has excelled as a diplomat, a philanthropist, a
    humanitarian. He has served both Republican and Democratic Presidents
    well. In so doing, he has been a quintessential American citizen.
        Colonel, read the citation.

    [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. I wish we all had been there with Edgar
    Wayburn when he first laid eyes on the
    spectacular vistas of the land north of San Francisco, for then we could
    have experienced the wilderness from his unique and wonderful
    perspective. As it is, millions of Americans and visitors from other
    lands have been able to experience our great American wilderness because
    of Edgar Wayburn.
        From the broad shores of Point Reyes, where we spent our second
    anniversary, to the sharp peaks of the Alaska range, to the majestic
    heights of the California redwoods, Edgar Wayburn has helped to preserve the most breathtaking examples
    of the American landscape. In fact, over the course of the more than
    half a century, both as president of the Sierra Club and as a private
    citizen, he has saved more of our wilderness than any other person
    alive. And I might add, his wife, who is here
    with us today, has been his colleague every step of the way in that
    endeavor. Those who have been involved in these struggles with him
    credit his success to his persistence and to his profound conviction as
    a physician and a conservationist that our physical health depends upon
    the health of our environment.
        As we look toward a 21st century in which the world and the United
    States must combat new challenges to our environment, and especially the
    challenge of climate change, we will need Edgar Wayburn as a model and a guide. And we should be very grateful
    that we have him.
        Colonel, read the citation.

    [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President and
    the First Lady presented the medal.]

        The President. The ancient Greeks used to bestow various honors upon
    citizens who performed outstanding service, everything from laurel
    crowns, the equivalent of our Medal of Freedom, to a lifetime of free
    dinners at state expense. [Laughter] I have not yet won bipartisan
    agreement in the Congress for that to be attached to the Medal of
    Freedom, but I can invite you to join us in the State Dining Room for a
    reception.
        Ladies and gentlemen, if hearing these life stories doesn't make us
    all prouder to be Americans, I don't know what would. I thank these
    people for the lives they have lived and the light they have shined.
        Again, we welcome them and all of you to the White House and ask you
    to join us in the State Dining Room.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:15 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to former Secretary of the Treasury
    Robert E. Rubin; former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger; Gov.
    Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico; former First Lady Betty Ford; alleged
    gunman Buford O. Furrow; Cecilia A. Suyat, widow of Supreme Court
    Justice Thurgood A. Marshall; and Mr. Wayburn's wife, Peggy. The
    transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
    the remarks of the First Lady.