[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[February 11, 2000]
[Pages 234-237]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 234]]


Remarks on the Dedication of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room and an Exchange With Reporters
February 11, 2000

    The President. It's the first time Joe Lockhart's ever introduced me, I think. [Laughter]
    Press Secretary Joe Lockhart. Probably 
the last.
    The President. I thought the last phrase was going to be, ``and the 
man who makes my job somewhere between impossible and miserable every 
day.'' [Laughter]
    Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is a happy day for all of us and, I 
believe, for people throughout the United States. I want to welcome Jim 
and Sarah and their son, Scott. I want to welcome Mike and 
Larry and Jerald 
and Pierre here, the former White House 
Press Secretaries. I also want to remember, as I know Jim and Sarah 
would want me to, Jim's Press Office Assistant Sally McElroy, who passed away last summer. Her husband, Robert 
Evans, is here, and we welcome him.
    Today we honor a man whose courage, purpose, and humor make him a 
standout Press Secretary and an outstanding human being. Jim Brady, 
after all, was the man who convinced the White House Press Corps to 
abandon decades of tradition and actually raise their hands when they 
wanted to ask a question. [Laughter] Jim Brady was the man who changed 
press conferences forever, one day in the 1970's, when he invited 
journalists to see a bipartisan group of Senators cutting the budget--
with hedge trimmers. Jim Brady was the man who, when Members of Congress 
proposed to give themselves a $50-a-day tax deduction, responded with a 
press release that was one word long: Stupid. [Laughter]
    Jim Brady is living proof that you can't kill courage, that it takes 
more than a cheap handgun to destroy a strong spirit. As he himself once 
said, ``No one can shoot away your sense of humor.''
    Jim Brady was the man who changed press conferences forever for me 
on this issue. And I want to thank him and Sarah 
from the bottom of my heart.
    Every time I saw him in the early days of my Presidency, and even 
before, when the Brady bill was being debated, I realized that his ready 
smile and sense of humor had to overcome despair that none of us can 
fully understand and pain that none of us has ever really experienced. I 
realized that he could have chosen to live his life out in private 
regret, but instead he chose a public embrace. He could have been 
remembered, no matter what he did, as a good Press Secretary, a 
committed campaigner, a world-class chili cook. But he instead chose the 
connection to other human beings and an eye to the future. Even when he 
was still in the hospital and had doubts about his own future, he 
reached out to his fellow patients, to give them reasons to keep going. 
And for more than 15 years now, he has traveled our Nation on behalf of 
the National Head Injury Foundation and other groups, with a simple 
message: Persevere; never give up.
    Jim and Sarah have known uncommon 
perseverance, and they have demonstrated to us what really counts in 
life. They have built a bipartisan coalition in this country to 
strengthen our Nation's gun laws, to make our children and our future 
safer. Against tremendous odds, they fought for 7 years to pass the 
Brady bill. It was my great honor to sign it into law in 1993. In 1994, 
we passed the assault weapons ban. We then made it illegal for a young 
person to buy or receive a handgun.
    And what has happened? We have seen gun crime fall by more than a 
third. We have seen the Brady bill keep guns out of the hands of nearly 
a half-million felons, fugitives, and stalkers. We cannot know how many 
people are alive and fully strong and healthy today because of the 
labors of Jim and Sarah Brady.
    Sometimes in Washington, it's easy to cover the politics and not the 
policy. And sometimes it's even more interesting, I'm sure, for all of 
you to cover the politics and not the policy. But when you see Jim and 
Sarah--for many of you not just colleagues but 
friends--you know that what we do here really does make a difference, 
and they have made a difference.
    As we have been painfully reminded here in Washington these past few 
days, guns still are claiming the lives of too many of our children. 
There is more work to do, and Jim and Sarah

[[Page 235]]

are ready to do it. They have called for extending Brady background 
checks to sales at gun shows, for mandating child safety locks to be 
sold with every handgun, for banning the most violent juvenile offenders 
from ever owning handguns, from ending the importation of large capacity 
ammunition clips, and for ensuring that all handgun owners have a State 
license, showing they've passed a background check and know how to 
handle a gun safely.
    It is truly fitting that this room will be named for Jim Brady, for 
working here requires tenacity and perseverance and, above all, a sense 
of humor. Joe and I also thought about enacting another one of Jim's 
ideas that he and President Reagan advocated, 
hinging the floor to give deserving reporters immediate, involuntary 
access to the swimming pool below. [Laughter] But as much as I admire 
Jim Brady, I decided that I shouldn't do that. Even though I'm not 
running for anything, I still need a little bit of press pander from 
time to time.
    Today we give name to a room. But Jim and Sarah Brady have already given far more to their national 
crusade. I want to finish my remarks by quoting a higher authority, 
Helen Thomas. [Laughter] A few years ago, Helen 
said these words to Jim Brady's biographer: 
``He's like a great tree standing by the river. He's a role model, and 
that's what life is all about. He realizes life is to be lived, that we 
should give our all, that we're lucky to be alive.''
    Jim and Sarah, may we all continue to draw 
inspiration from your strength and spirit here in the James Brady 
Briefing Room and all around our Nation.
    Now, I want to unveil this plaque and read it to you.

[At this point, the plaque was unveiled.]

    The President. It says, ``This room is named in honor of James S. 
Brady, White House Press Secretary from January 23, 1981, until January 
20, 1989. Mr. Brady served his Nation with honor and distinction, 
strengthening the bond between Government and press. May his courage and 
dedication continue to inspire all who work in this room and beyond.''
    Congratulations, Jim Brady.

[At this point, former Press Secretary James Brady and Sarah 
Brady made brief remarks.]

Internet Security

    Q. Mr. President, do you want to update us on the cyberterrorism 
investigation? Anything new there?
    The President. No, but as I said, we are going to have some people 
in next week, and we're going to look at our overall capabilities.
    Q. What can you do; what can the Government do?
    The President. Well, I think we've got a $2 billion budget up there 
on the Hill now, to increase our capacity to make all systems less 
resistant to hacking and to train more young people and pay them better 
to come and help work on our side of this issue.
    But let me say--I did a couple of interviews yesterday to make a 
general point I would like to reiterate to all of you. Basically, the 
development of the Internet and the sophistication of the computers has 
been a great thing for the world. It's brought us closer together. It's 
given opportunities to people who wouldn't otherwise have them, 
something that Jim and Sarah care a lot about. 
They've helped to empower people with disabilities all over America and 
all over the world to realize their full potential. But this greater 
openness and speed of this system and the importance of it have 
necessarily made for greater vulnerability for people who are just 
mischievous and people who have far darker motives.
    And this is no different from any other development in human 
history. If you go back, from the beginning of time, where things of 
value are stored, people with bad motives will try to get to those 
things of value. Willie Sutton said he robbed banks because that's where 
the money is.
    So now, vast things of value are stored in our computers, and 
transactions of great values occur on the Internet. And what you will 
see here, there will not be an instantaneous solution to this, but banks 
are a lot harder to rob today than they used to be. That's what's going 
to happen here. This will be an ongoing effort to try to make sure we 
get all the benefits of the Internet, all the benefits of the computer 
revolution, but we develop better defenses and better defenders. And I 
believe we will do that.
    In terms of these specific instances, we're doing everything we can 
through our FBI center in western Pennsylvania, and in other places, to 
do the appropriate investigations.

[[Page 236]]

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. In the Middle East, Mr. President, do you fear that the Israel-
Lebanon conflict is spinning out of control? And what does this mean for 
the peace process in general?
    The President. Well, so far I think both sides have tried to keep it 
within control but take the--the Israelis have taken the retaliatory 
action they felt they had to take. But there has been some restraint 
there in the hope of keeping the peace process alive.
    It seems to me that it is a sober reminder of why we ought to resume 
the peace process with great determination. A comprehensive peace 
between Syria and Lebanon and Israel is the only way, ultimately, I 
think, to resolve the continuing difficulties, over many years now, 
along that border. And similarly, I think peace between Israel and the 
Palestinians is critical to resolving the gnawing problems which reoccur 
from time to time within the borders of the countries.
    So I would hope that it would redouble people's energy for it. And 
so far, I think that that's where we are, that you don't have the people 
who are the real players here--as nearly as I can see, and I watch it 
pretty closely, you know--giving up on the peace process. You do have a 
lot of frustration, anger. There's still a surprising amount of 
misunderstanding of each other's motives, given how long these folks 
have been living together and working together. But we'll see. I'm 
hopeful.

Northern Ireland Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, the British Government is on the verge of moving 
to suspend the power-sharing Government in Northern Ireland. How would 
you view that move, first, sir? And secondarily, the editorial opinion 
there seems to blame the IRA for the latest impasse. Do you have a 
comment on that, sir?
    The President. Well, when the matter is resolved I might have more 
to say, but right now you should know that, at least before I came out 
here, the thing was still hanging some fire. But it wasn't clear to me 
what was going to happen.
    I have been heavily involved, and the whole administration has been, 
in the last few weeks in trying to keep the Irish peace process on 
track. We believe that all the requirements of the Good Friday accords, 
which the voters of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic embraced, 
should be fulfilled. And we hope that a way can be found to keep this 
going. And until there is a suspension, that's all I want to say, 
because we're working hard on this, and there's still some chance that 
we can go forward without a suspension.
    Should there be a suspension, it is imperative that all the parties 
do it on terms which do not allow a backsliding, and that the 
opportunity be taken to figure out a way forward that again will allow 
everybody to meet all the requirements that the Irish voters voted for 
in breathtaking margins.
    I don't want to say anything else until we know how this plays out 
today. We've got a few more hours here. When we see how it's resolved 
today, I will say a little more. But I have to be very careful. I've 
been working very hard on this, and I want to be a positive, not a 
negative factor.
    Press Secretary Joe Lockhart. This will 
be the last question.

2000 Election

    Q. This is a tough political question that I hope all of your 
returning guests can appreciate. You've probably heard of the expression 
``Clinton fatigue,'' and I'm wondering what you think of that as a 
phenomenon and whether that will have some bearing on how many people 
you go out to campaign for in this election year.
    The President. Well, I get tired from time to time. [Laughter] 
That's the only one I'm familiar with. [Laughter] I don't even know how 
to comment on that. I've got more requests right now to help than I can 
fulfill, and I think what I will be inclined to do is--I always feel 
that people running for office are the best judge of what's in their own 
interest, not me.
    And I got plenty to do here. But so far, I've been asked to do more 
events than I can do. And I had--I went down to the Rio Grande Valley 
this week, for example, a place that I was the first President since 
Dwight Eisenhower to visit. And I made my third visit down there. I had 
a wonderful reception.
    But I can't comment on that. I think that--my guess is that that 
will vary from State to State and congressional district to 
congressional district. I'll just--I'll do what I can to help the people 
and the causes I believe in, but I don't want to get in the way.

[[Page 237]]

    I also find that the ability of any outsider to affect in a positive 
way the course of an election is far more limited than is generally 
supposed. The voters understand that every election year they get to be 
in control again. And so, if you notice, like when I went to campaign 
for Mr. Street in Philadelphia, a place that 
has been enormously good to me, I was very careful in what I said to the 
voters. I said, ``You shouldn't be for him because I am, but you know, 
I'm your friend. Here are my reasons. I hope you'll listen to my reasons 
and make up your own mind.'' It's a very delicate thing. I've watched 
this for years.
    I remember once, Jim Brady's old boss, President Reagan, in '84, when he was winning every vote in America, 
came to Arkansas and made an appearance for my opponent. And afterward, 
on Election Day, he got 62 percent of the vote, so did I. [Laughter] So 
you have to be--you've got to be humble in these things and just sort of 
show up for work every day.

Note: The President spoke at 10:40 a.m. in the James S. Brady Press 
Briefing Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Mr. 
Brady's wife, Sarah Brady, chair, Handgun Control, Inc.; former White 
House Press Secretaries Michael McCurry, Larry M. Speakes, J.F. 
terHorst, and Pierre E.G. Salinger; and Mayor John F. Street of 
Philadelphia, PA. The transcript released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary also included the remarks of Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, who 
introduced the President, and of Mr. and Mrs. Brady. Mr. Brady was 
wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.