    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [April 4, 2000]
    [Pages 619-621]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Senator Patrick J. Leahy
    April 4, 2000

        Thank you. Well, first, let me say to Bobby and Solange, thank you
    for having us in your home. I actually came to hear you sing,
    Emmylou, so you've got sing for me when I
    finish.
        I want to thank Pat and Marcelle for
    being wonderful friends to me and to Hillary during our sojourn here in
    Washington. I may have been younger than you when I got here, but I'll
    be older when I leave. [Laughter] I want to thank Senator Reid for being here. My great

    [[Page 620]]

    friend and former Senator DeConcini, thank
    you, sir, for being here.
        I want to thank all of you for being here for Pat Leahy. I have been
    in public life now for more than 25 years. I have, among other things--
    when I was a Governor, I served with over 150 Governors. I have known
    hundreds of Members of Congress. And I think that Pat Leahy is one of
    the ablest and most visionary legislators and one of the finest people I
    have ever served with in 25 years of public life.
        And Mr. Axworthy, I appreciate your being
    here, but you can't have him. [Laughter] And he also, by the way, tells
    a pretty good joke now and then. [Laughter]
        I'll be very brief. I think the American people are going to be
    tested this year in this election season and in the years ahead, because
    of our prosperity and because all the social indicators appear to be
    going in the right direction. Normally, democracies can be summoned to
    any sacrifice or difficult decision when people are evidently under the
    gun. And sometimes, therefore, they are most at risk of making foolish
    choices or going in the wrong direction when things seem to be going
    very well. In that way, groups of free people are like individuals. Most
    of us who are over 30, anyway, can recall at least one time in our lives
    when we made a serious mistake not because things were going so poorly
    but because things seemed to be going so well.
        And I say that because I think there really are very clear choices
    now between the direction that someone like Pat Leahy would take in his
    work for peace, for the health of our children, for the health of our
    environment, for research or a whole range of issues, and the choice
    that the majority in Congress would take or their nominee for
    President would take.
        Yet, it may seem to many voters that, oh well, there may not be much
    difference; things are rocking along here; the economy is on automatic.
    And I think it's very important that people like you get together to
    help people like Pat Leahy. I also think it's very important that you be
    able to tell your friends and neighbors who never come to political
    events like this why you came and what the stakes are.
        And I'm old enough now where I remember things sometimes I wish I
    didn't remember. I was in this city 32 years ago today, when Martin
    Luther King was killed in Memphis, and I remember it. I was in this city
    32 years ago driving down Massachusetts Avenue, 32 years ago 5 days ago,
    when Lyndon Johnson told us he couldn't run for reelection because the
    country was split right down the middle over the Vietnam war.
        What does all that have to do with this? In February we celebrated
    the longest economic expansion in American history. So I had all my
    economic team in, and we were celebrating, and we were happy. And we
    were happy because we also had a 20-year low in poverty, a 30-year low
    in unemployment, the lowest African-American and Hispanic unemployment
    rates ever recorded, the lowest female unemployment rate in 40 years. It
    was a wonderful time.
        And we were talking about the State of the Union Address, where I
    kept saying we've got to do these big things now, these big things. And
    I said, ``Hey, just for my information, when was the last longest
    economic expansion in American history?'' And it turns out it was
    between 1961 and 1969. And I will go back to what I said in the
    beginning, how you're in danger, when things seem to be going well, of
    breaking your concentration and not making good decisions, not just
    individuals but nations.
        I graduated from high school in 1964, when there was low inflation,
    low unemployment, high growth, and we thought it would go on forever.
    Lyndon Johnson had united the country after President Kennedy's tragic
    assassination, and we thought then the civil rights challenges of
    America would be handled in the courts, in the Congress, not in the
    streets. We knew that we had a few people in Vietnam, but nobody thought
    we'd have over 500,000 or that 58,000 would die or that it would tear
    the country apart.
        And then 4 years later, all this stuff I just told you started to
    happen, so that by the time I graduated from college at Georgetown on
    June 8th, it was 2 days after Robert Kennedy was killed, 2 months after
    Martin Luther King was killed and the city burned, 9 weeks after Lyndon
    Johnson said he couldn't run for reelection. And a few weeks after that,
    President Nixon was elected on the first sort of divide-and-conquer
    campaign of the modern era. He represented the Silent Majority, which
    means people like me were in the loud minority. It was ``us'' and
    ``them.'' And just a few months after that, the longest economic
    expansion in American history was history.
        Now, I am very optimistic; I'm the most optimistic person in this
    room. But what I want

    [[Page 621]]

    to tell you is, I have a memory, and I have waited for 35 years for my
    country to be in a position once again to be free to build the future of
    our dreams for our children, to be responsible citizens of the world, to
    lead the world toward peace and freedom and security. That's what this
    is all about. And we can't afford to let a single American treat this
    election in a casual fashion because of the evident responsibilities we
    have and because of the opportunities we have.
        I know Pat Leahy is not on the ballot this year, but I'm glad you're
    out here helping him, because I told you the truth. In 25 years, he's
    one of the finest people and one of the ablest, most visionary public
    servants I've ever known. That's what you need to think about all year
    long. And tomorrow if people ask you why you came here, you need to be
    able to give them this answer. And if you're around my age, you need to
    remind them of what happened to the last longest economic expansion in
    American history, when we were casual and careless enough to think it
    was on automatic. There's nothing we can't do. But we have to work at
    it, and we have to work together.
        Thank you very much.

     Note:  The President spoke at 8:20 p.m. at a private residence. In his
    remarks, he referred to reception hosts Robert Muller and Solange
    MacArthur; singer Emmylou Harris; Marcelle Leahy, wife of Senator Leahy;
    former Senator Dennis DeConcini; Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy of
    Canada; and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.