[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[November 17, 2000]
[Pages 2553-2554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the American Embassy Community in Hanoi
November 17, 2000

    The President. Thank you very much. I want to thank Senator 
Kerry for what he said and for what he's done 
all these years and for being a wonderful friend to Hillary and me in 
many, many ways. And I want to thank Sandy Berger and our whole team in the White House and the State 
Department for supporting this trip from the beginning. And I want to 
associate myself with what Hillary said--now that she's going to be a Senator, I can just let her give the 
speeches, and I can say, ``I completely agree.'' And that will save 
everyone from having to hear two speeches. [Laughter]
    But I do want to say a couple of things, if I might. First, I, too, 
want to thank you for the endless hours you have put in in preparation 
for this trip and for the work you have done representing our Nation 
here in Vietnam. I want to thank especially the Vietnamese nationals who 
work at our Embassy and who, therefore, embody this new partnership we 
have worked so hard to build these last several years.
    We started this process of reconstructing our relationship a long 
time ago, and I have been working at it now, with the people on this 
stage and others, for at least 8 years. And I'm very grateful to all of 
them. But I want to take my time tonight to say a special word of thanks 
to Pete Peterson.
    Most everybody, I guess, in Vietnam knows that he was a fighter pilot here, that he was a prisoner of war 
here. You may know that his wife was 9 months pregnant with their third 
child when he came here. He was supposed to fly 100 missions, and he was 
shot down two-thirds of the way through. And by the time he got home, 
his son was 6 years old.

[[Page 2554]]

    What you may not know is that when I met him, he was a Congressman from northern Florida, and he 
represented a district in which, I promise you, he was the only American 
in my party who would have ever been elected from that district. 
[Laughter] Otherwise, any normal person would have had to be a member of 
the other party.
    And I remember the times we spent driving through his congressional district, talking about his commitment to 
public service and talking about how desperately he wanted us to have a 
new relation with Vietnam and how he wanted to embody that, going 
beyond.
    So when the time came for a new Ambassador to be named, I literally 
only considered one person. America has, I don't know how many, 270-
something million people; I only considered one person to be our 
Ambassador to Vietnam, and Pete agreed to do 
it.
    Now, he gave all those speeches about letting go of the past and 
looking toward the future, and all we can change is the future. 
So he--one thing I like about Pete is, he 
always practices what he preaches. So he comes to Vietnam, meets Vi, and starts a new life. So you are the embodiment, madam, 
of the future for Pete, and we thank you, and we thank you for what you 
have done.
    He traveled all over Vietnam, just like he 
traveled all over America, promoting this relationship. He worked on the 
POW/MIA issue. He worked to advance the economy of Vietnam. Three times 
he led the lobbying to get our Congress to support our Jackson-Vanik 
waiver. His enthusiasm is completely infectious.
    I understand, Pete, today, that CNN and 
BBC carried the signing of our bilateral trade agreement live, at 3 a.m. 
Hanoi time, and watch parties were held all over town. Now, that's 
pretty amazing.
    I also want to thank him for the work he 
did to prevent injuries and accidents here with his safety campaign. And 
I want to express my sympathies, because I understand after you started 
this safety campaign, a mischievous television film crew caught you in a 
rare moment riding your motorcycle without a helmet. [Laughter] Now, 
that's something all of us who have been in public life can identify 
with. [Laughter]
    I want to thank you for befriending the villagers in the area where 
you were shot down and joining them to inaugurate a school. And I want 
to thank those of you who work in this Embassy, especially those of you 
who have extended your tours from 2 years to 3. I want to thank the 
members of the American business community, apparently who have signed a 
resolution cautioning the new President not to change the Ambassador in 
Hanoi. [Laughter] That's good advice to the new President. [Laughter]
    One of the most famous sayings of the Buddha is, ``Never does hatred 
by hatred cease; hatred ceases by love alone.'' This is an eternal law. 
Even eternal laws have to be made real in the lives of particular 
people, and that is a law which has been made real in the life and 
service of Pete Peterson.
    He doesn't know I'm going to do this 
today, but the Ambassador has been honored for his military service with 
the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, and the Legion of Merit for heroism 
in the uniform of his country. I think his service as Ambassador to 
Vietnam is the most important service he has ever rendered to the United 
States. And so, in the presence of all of his co-workers and friends and 
many of their rambunctious children, which makes it even better, I am 
going to award Pete Peterson with the President's Citizen's Medal. And I 
would like the commander to read the citation and then bring the medal 
up here so I can give it to Pete.

[At this point, Lt. Comdr. Pat DeQuattro, 
USCG, Coast Guard Aide to the President, read the citation, and the 
President presented the medal to Ambassador Peterson. The Ambassador then made brief remarks.]

    The President. Thank you all very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 7 p.m. in the Ballroom at the Daewoo 
Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Ambassador Peterson's wife, Vi Le. 
The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also 
included the remarks of Ambassador Peterson.