    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [August 9, 1999]
    [Pages 1421-1423]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1421]]

    Remarks at a Ceremony Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to
    Former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter in Atlanta
    August 9, 1999

        President and Mrs. Carter, members of the Carter family, including
    grandchild number 10, Hugo, who's right outside--[laughter]--members of
    the Cabinet who are here, friends of the Carters, Mr. Mayor, let me say to all of you what a great pleasure it
    is for me to be here today. I flew down on Air Force One today with a
    number of former Carter administration members who, many of them, are in
    our administration, many others are mutual friends; and we relived old
    stories.
        I remember in 1974, Governor Jimmy Carter had a role in the
    Democratic Party, and he was trying to help us all win elections. And I
    was running for Congress, and he sent Jody Powell to northwest Arkansas to help me. I should have known
    something was up. [Laughter] Thank goodness he failed, and I lost that
    election. [Laughter]
        In 1975, Jimmy Carter came to Arkansas to give a speech, met with me
    and my wife and others, and we signed on. In 1976, my home State was the
    only State besides Georgia where President Carter got more than 65
    percent of the vote. So it's a great personal honor for me to be here
    today.
        Over the past several years, the President and Mrs. Carter have
    received many awards, all of them well-deserved. Rosalynn has received
    more than a dozen just from children's organizations alone. President
    Carter has been knighted in Mali, made an honorary tribal chief in
    Nigeria and Ghana. There are at least three families in Africa he's met
    who have named their newborn child Jimmy Carter. [Laughter]
        Now these are hard acts to follow. [Laughter] But today, it is my
    privilege, on behalf of a grateful nation, to confer America's highest
    civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Jimmy and Rosalynn
    Carter.
        Twenty-two years ago, when presenting this same award posthumously
    to Dr. Martin Luther King, President Carter said, ``There are many
    Americans who do great things, who make us proud of them and their
    achievements, and who inspire us to do better ourselves. But there are
    some among those noble achievers who are exemplary in every way, who
    reach a higher plateau of achievement.''
        It is in that spirit that we look back on two extraordinary lives
    today. In the past, this award has been presented to people who have
    helped America promote freedom by fighting for human rights or righting
    social wrongs or empowering others to achieve or extending peace around
    the world. But rarely do we honor two people who have devoted themselves
    so effectively to advancing freedom in all those ways. Jimmy and
    Rosalynn Carter have done more good things for more people in more
    places than any other couple on the face of the Earth.
        To be sure, there have been other Presidents who have continued to
    contribute to the public good once they left office: Thomas Jefferson
    founded the University of Virginia; John Quincy Adams returned to
    Congress for eight terms and fought slavery; William Howard Taft became
    Chief Justice.
        But the work President Carter has done through this extraordinary
    Carter Center to improve our Nation and our world is truly unparalleled
    in our Nation's history. We've all gotten used to seeing pictures of
    President Carter building homes for people through Habitat for Humanity.
    But the full story lies in pictures we don't see, of the 115 countries
    he's visited since leaving office, to end hunger and disease and to
    spread the cause of peace; by the more than 20 elections he's helped to
    monitor, where democracy is taking root, thanks in part to his efforts;
    of the millions in Africa who are living better lives thanks to his work
    to eradicate diseases like Guinea worm and river blindness; of the
    dozens of political prisoners who have been released, thanks in part to
    letters he has written away from the public spotlight.
        I was proud to have his support when we worked together to bring
    democracy back to Haiti and to preserve stability on the Korean
    Peninsula. I am grateful for the many detailed, incisive reports he has
    sent to me from his trips to troubled nations all across the globe,
    always urging understanding of their problems and their points of view,
    always outlining practical steps to progress.

    [[Page 1422]]

        To call Jimmy Carter the greatest former President in history, as
    many have, however, does not do justice either to him or to his work.
    For, in a real sense, this Carter Center is not a new beginning, but a
    continuation of the Carter Presidency.
        The work President Carter did in those 4 years not only broke
    important new ground, it is still playing a large role in shaping the
    world we live in today. One of the proudest moments of my life was the
    day in 1993 when Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shook hands on the
    South Lawn of the White House. That day was made possible by the courage
    of the people of the Middle East and their leaders, but also by another
    handshake 20 years before and the persistence of President Carter as he
    brokered the Camp David accords. I know it is a great source of pride
    for him that, 21 years later, not a word of that agreement has been
    violated.
        If you talk to any elected leader in Latin America today, they will
    tell you that the stand President Carter took for democracy and human
    rights put America on the right side of history in our hemisphere. He
    was the first President to put America's commitment to human rights
    squarely at the heart of our foreign policy. Today, more than half the
    world's people live in freedom, not least because he had the faith to
    lend America's support to brave dissidents like Sakharov, Havel, and
    Mandela. And there were thousands of less well-known political prisoners
    languishing in jails in the 1970's who were sustained by a smuggled news
    clipping of President Carter championing their cause. His role in saving
    the life of the present President of South Korea, President Kim, is well known.
        His resolve on SALT II, even though it was never ratified, helped to
    constrain the arms race for a full decade and laid the groundwork for
    the dramatic reductions in nuclear weaponry we have seen today. By
    normalizing relations with China, he began a dialog which holds the
    promise of avoiding a new era of conflict and containment and, instead,
    building a future of cooperation with the world's most populous nation.
        Here at home, his work on deregulation helped free up competitive
    forces that continue to strengthen our economy today. His work on
    conservation, particularly the Alaska Lands Act, accelerated a process
    that has created the cleanest air and water in a generation. His
    advocacy of energy conservation and clean energy will loom even larger
    in the years ahead as our Nation and our world finally come to grips
    with the challenge of climate change. And by hiring and appointing more
    women and more minorities than any other administration to that point,
    he set a shining example of the one America we all long to live in.
        During the Carter years, Rosalynn Carter also brought vision,
    compassion, tireless energy, and commitment to the causes she advanced.
    Just as Eleanor Roosevelt will be remembered for her work on human
    rights, Rosalynn Carter will always be remembered as a pioneer on mental
    health and a champion of our children.
        For more than 30 years, she has made it her mission to erase the
    stigma surrounding mental health. As First Lady of Georgia, she used to
    travel dusty backroads to meet with people and volunteered her time at a
    State hospital. She took what she learned to the White House, where she
    chaired the President's Commission on Mental Health with style and
    grace. Afterwards, she initiated the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental
    Health Policy and has worked to promote action on mental health
    worldwide.
        We have made some progress in the last few years in extending health
    coverage and health insurance policies to mental health conditions,
    thanks in large measure to Tipper Gore's
    efforts, and in broadening public understanding and support for further
    action. It would not have happened if Rosalynn Carter hadn't done what
    she did first. Thanks to her work, I believe we will see the day not too
    long away when mental illnesses are treated just like any other
    illnesses and covered just like any other illnesses.
        We also owe her our gratitude for her efforts to ensure that all our
    children are immunized. Two decades ago, she helped America see that
    while many vaccines were being discovered, too few children were being
    vaccinated. She traveled across our country and became so recognized as
    a leader on immunization that people used to joke that every time she
    showed up, the kids would start to cry, because they knew somebody was
    going to get a shot. [Laughter]
        Her work inspired President Carter to launch a nationwide campaign
    to immunize all children by the time they enter school, an effort we
    have built on. I can tell you that in the last 2 years, we can say for
    the first time in history, 90 percent of America's children have been
    immunized against serious childhood diseases. That

    [[Page 1423]]

    would not have happened if Rosalynn Carter hadn't started this crusade
    more than two decades ago. We have seen this kind of commitment in all
    of her endeavors, from her work to organize relief for Cambodian
    refugees to her constant efforts to ensure that women get equal pay for
    equal work.
        The extraordinary partnership between these two remarkable Americans
    has remained strong for more than 50 years now. To see it merely as a
    political journey tells only part of the story. At its heart, those of
    us who admire them see their journey as one of love and faith. In many
    ways, this Center has been their ministry.
        In his book ``Living Faith,'' President Carter recalls a sermon that
    says, when we die, the marker on our grave has two dates: the day we're
    born and the day we die, and a little dash in between, representing our
    whole life on Earth, the little dash. To God, the tiny dash is
    everything.
        What a dash they have already made.
        By doing justice, by loving mercy, by walking humbly with their God,
    Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are still living their faith, still making the
    most of the dash in between the numbers.
        It will be hard for any future historian to chronicle all the good
    work they have done. It will be quite impossible for anyone to chronicle
    all the good works they have inspired in the hearts and lives of others
    throughout the world. Today, we do all we can; a grateful nation says
    thank you.
        Colonel, read the citation.

    [At this point, Lt. Col. Carlton D. Everhart, USAF, Air Force Aide to the President, read the citations,
    and the President presented the medals.]

    Note: The President spoke at 7:05 p.m. in the chapel at the Carter
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Bill Campbell of Atlanta;
    former Presidential Press Secretary Jody Powell; Chairman Yasser Arafat
    of the Palestinian Authority; President Vaclav Havel of the Czech
    Republic; former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa; and President
    Kim Dae-jung of South Korea. The transcript released by the Office of
    the Press Secretary also included the remarks of President and Mrs.
    Carter.