[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[July 8, 2000]
[Pages 1395-1396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Internet Address
July 8, 2000

    Good morning. Earlier this week, we launched a new and improved 
White House website at www.whitehouse.gov. Today I want to talk a little 
about the website and about our other efforts to use technology to bring 
Government closer to the people.
    I'm proud to have been the President who brought the White House 
into the digital age. When I became President, there were just 50 
websites on the World Wide Web. Now there are 17 million, and almost 50 
million households on-line in the United States alone.
    It was just 6 years ago that we launched the very first White House 
website. Our website now has more than 9,000 pages of information, and 
that's not counting the archives. We've redesigned and updated it to 
keep pace with its growth and the rapid changes in technology. The new 
and improved White House website is another important step in our 
efforts to make Government high-speed, high-tech, and user-friendly. 
We're bringing information that matters into people's homes: policy 
papers, the citizens' handbook, links to Federal agencies.

[[Page 1396]]

    We've also made it easier to find the features that visitors use 
most, like E-mailing the White House, taking an on-line tour, or finding 
special activities for kids. And we've made the website a permanent part 
of the Executive Office of the President, so that future Presidents will 
be able to change it to suit their needs as easily as they can change 
the furniture here in the Oval Office.
    Under the leadership of Vice President Gore, we've used information technology to bring Government 
closer to citizens in many ways. People are now using U.S. Government 
websites to file their taxes, compare their Medicare options, and find 
good jobs. They're tapping into the latest health research, browsing the 
vast collections of the Library of Congress, and following along with 
NASA's missions in outer space. And we're in the process of creating a 
single, customer-focused website, www.firstgov.gov, where Americans can 
find every on-line resource offered by the Federal Government.
    But we must do more to ensure that the benefits of the information 
revolution flow to every American. That means working to close the 
digital divide, to put computers in every classroom, to train our 
teachers to make the most of them. We must also pay attention to the 
issues of computer security and the privacy of our records on computers 
so that the newest technology doesn't undermine our oldest values.
    Eighty-one years ago this week Woodrow Wilson became the very first 
President to communicate by radio. On his way home from Europe, 
President Wilson used the radio, after several unsuccessful efforts, to 
call the then-young Franklin Roosevelt, who was his Assistant Secretary 
of the Navy back in Washington. It wasn't immediately clear how this new 
technology would be used or that in just 15 years Roosevelt, as 
President, would be making radio broadcasts that 80 percent of our 
Nation would hear. But it was clear that a new door to the future had 
opened.
    We're at just such a moment again today, and the new White House 
website is just one small step toward bringing Government more fully 
into the information age. We have barely begun to understand how 
information technology will change our lives. But those of us in 
Government have a responsibility to use these new tools to expand the 
reach of democracy and give more people a chance to live their dreams.
    I'll see you on-line at whitehouse.gov, and thanks for logging on.

Note: The address was recorded at approximately 11 a.m. on July 7 in the 
Oval Office at the White House for broadcast at 10 a.m. on July 8. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
July 7 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.