[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
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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-
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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.