[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[December 6, 2000]
[Pages 2616-2619]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Presenting the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights and 
the Presidential Medal of Freedom
December 6, 2000

    The President. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, and good 
morning. Let me begin by thanking Secretary Albright for her remarks and 
her 8 years of leadership, first at the United Nations and then at the 
State Department, always standing up and speaking out for human rights.
    And my friend of so many years John Lewis, 
whom I knew before I ever decided to run for President, who started with 
me, and as you can hear, is going out with me, finishing. [Laughter] In 
my private office on the second floor of the White House Residence, I 
have a picture of a very young John Lewis being beaten at the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge in Selma, that I was given when we went back there on the 
35th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. And he has worked now for 
more than 35 years. I can't help noting that he's still at it. He had a 
piece in the New York Times the other day making the simple but 
apparently controversial point that the right to vote includes not only 
the right to cast the vote but the right to have it counted. Thank you, 
John.
    I also want to welcome James Roosevelt 
and his wife, Ann, here, and Members of the 
Congress, Congressman Ben Gilman, Donald 
Payne, and Ed Pastor. 
I want to thank Sandy Berger and Eric 
Schwartz, who have worked at the White 
House on human rights since the day we got here in 1993. I want to 
thank, in his absence, Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh, who tried to come back from Africa today to be here 
but couldn't make it, and our Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights 
Commission, Nancy Rubin.
    We're here today to honor six extraordinary people. Like 
Madeleine, I also want to say that I 
wish Hillary could be here, but she's 
at Senator school today. [Laughter] It's been a great 2 days at our 
house, going to Senator school. I had to make sure that--I said 
yesterday, I said, ``This is your first day of school, and so you have 
to go to bed early. Get a good night's sleep.''--[laughter]--``Wear a 
nice dress. It's the first day of school.'' So today is the second day 
of school, and I'm sorry she couldn't be here.
    But I will always be grateful that part of our service involved the 
opportunity she had to go to Beijing 
5 years ago, to say that women's rights are human rights. And I'm 
grateful that she'll have a chance to continue that fight in the United 
States Senate.
    I'd also like to thank Melanne Verveer, 
who worked with us every day for 8 years, and for Bonnie 
Campbell at the Department of Justice and 
Theresa Loar at the Department of State.
    Thanks to so many of you in this room, for 8 years I've had the 
privilege of trying to bring Americans' actions more in line with 
America's beliefs. Secretary Albright and John Lewis both said we have 
made support for democracy and

[[Page 2617]]

freedom of religion an important part of our foreign policy. We stood up 
for civil rights and against discrimination at home and abroad and made 
it clear that America cannot simply stand by when human rights are 
trampled.
    Dr. King once said, ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice 
everywhere.'' This is a lesson we can never afford to forget, especially 
in this fast-forward century, when satellites, E-mail, and jet planes 
expand the frontiers of human contact and human awareness and bring pain 
and suffering instantly home to us. Globalization is bringing us closer 
together, with many benefits, but as with all new benefits, new 
responsibilities accompany them. And we have both the moral imperative 
and a practical incentive to do even more to recognize the rights and 
dignity of every person, everywhere.
    In spite of what we have accomplished, which the Secretary of State 
articulated so clearly, major challenges lie ahead. We can never stop 
striving at home to become the more perfect Union of our Founders' 
dreams. That means we cannot abandon the struggle against discrimination 
and injustice here.
    Specifically, let me say, I hope that in this abbreviated session of 
the Congress, that Congress will send me the hate crimes legislation 
that we worked so hard for, and which both Houses have voted for, but 
which a minority may yet be able to prevent. If we don't get it, I 
certainly hope it's one of the first pieces of legislation the next 
administration will ask for and sign into law.
    We also must continue to support emerging democracies abroad. That 
means, of course, support for free and fair elections but also support 
for strong democratic institutions, good governance in the fight against 
corruption, speaking out when the progress of democracy or the most 
basic human rights are under threat, whether it's the scourge of slavery 
in Sudan, the denial of rights to women and girls in Afghanistan, 
curtailing religious freedom in China.
    And let me say especially to the students, religious communities, 
and human rights activists who have done so much to publicize the 
atrocities of Sudan, America must continue to press for an end to these 
egregious practices and make clear that the Sudanese Government cannot 
join the community of nations until fundamental changes are made on 
these fronts.
    Ultimately, support for human rights means preparing to act to stop 
suffering and violence when our values and our interests demand it. We 
cannot right every wrong, of course, but we cannot choose inaction, 
either. I have been reminded again and again that much of the best work 
in promoting human rights and defending freedom is done by people 
outside Government, students, activists, religious leaders from all 
walks of life, sharing an unshakable belief in the simple message of the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that all humans are free and 
equal in dignity and rights.
    Ten years after the signing of the Universal Declaration, Eleanor 
Roosevelt reminded us that the destiny of human rights is in the hands 
of all our citizens and all our communities. I established the Eleanor 
Roosevelt Human Rights Awards to honor men and women who have taken the 
future of human rights into their committed hands. I have had the honor 
of working closely with several of this year's honorees and the equal 
honor of receiving advice and, on occasion, criticism from them, as 
well. So I would like to say a few words about each.
    To the Lakota Sioux, the birth of a white buffalo calf is a sign of 
peace and harmony to come, a prophecy of the end of war and, especially, 
of the suffering of children. When Tillie Black Bear founded the White Buffalo Calf Women's Society more 
than 20 years ago, she sought to end the suffering of women and children 
who were victims of domestic violence. She founded the first women's 
shelter on an Indian reservation and then went on to help found two 
more.
    A survivor of domestic violence herself, she has taught and counseled victims, batterers, and law 
enforcement officials alike. She is a founder and former president of 
the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and 
known around the Nation as a leading advocate for battered women.
    I want to add that, fittingly, Tillie 
was born on Human Rights Day, December the 10th. We thank her for her 
courage and a lifetime of commitment.
    From the tall tales he loved to tell, to the size of his ambitions, 
Fred Cuny was larger than life in every sense. But the biggest thing 
about him was his heart and his devotion to saving lives anywhere he 
could. He participated in more than 70 relief missions to some of the 
world's most desolate places. And wherever he went, he made a lasting 
difference.

[[Page 2618]]

    In Bosnia, he smuggled in enough equipment to build two water 
purification plants under snipers' noses, providing clean drinking water 
for 60 percent of the city during the worst days of the siege. General 
Shalikashvili called him ``the hero'' of our operations to help starving 
Kurds in Northern Iraq.
    His last mission, like so many others, was to a remote and dangerous 
place where outsiders rarely go but where help was desperately needed. 
That place was Chechnya, and Fred Cuny was killed there 5 years ago. His 
son, Craig, is here today to accept his father's 
award. And we thank him and all the Cuny family--and there are lots of 
them here, thank goodness--for the life of one of America's and the 
world's great humanitarians. Thank you.
    The story I am about to tell will not surprise anyone who has ever 
had any contact with Elaine Jones. She argued 
her first court case at the tender age of 11. She visited a dentist 
without getting her parents' permission, and when she couldn't pay the 
bill, the dentist decided to sue. Her parents had to work, so Elaine 
went to court alone and convinced the judge to dismiss the case. I 
wonder what the argument was? [Laughter]
    That's when she decided she wanted to be a 
lawyer, and she's been speaking truth to power ever since. She was the 
first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Virginia 
Law School; later, the first African-American to sit on the American Bar 
Association board of governors. With a brief interruption for Government 
service, she's been a leader in the NAACP's fight for equal justice for 
almost 25 years now. She is an ardent advocate before Congress, a 
skillful litigator before the Supreme Court, a constant voice for people 
in need.
    Thank you, Elaine, for being a champion of 
human rights for all Americans.
    In the spring of 1954, a young Army Lieutenant named Norman 
Dorsen found himself on the frontlines of 
justice in his very first job out of law school, defending civil 
liberties from the attacks of Senator Joe McCarthy. Now, Norman has had 
other jobs and responsibilities, but he never abandoned his post in the 
struggle to preserve the rights and liberties of every American.
    He argued and prepared briefs for landmark 
Supreme Court cases, such as Gideon v. Wainright, which established an 
accused person's right to legal counsel. He was, for 15 years, the 
President of the American Civil Liberties Union. He is now chairman of 
the board of the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights. For almost 40 
years, he's inspired law students as a professor at New York University 
Law School and director of its programs in civil liberties.
    I've gotten to know him through our 
discussions of a political Third Way, but today we thank him for 
reminding us that in every age, respect for civil liberties is the 
American way. Thank you, Norman.
    In tough places, where civilians are struggling to get out, chances 
are you will find Archbishop Theodore McCarrick working hard to get in and to help them. The litany 
of countries he has visited sounds more suited to a diplomat than an 
archbishop: the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, the countries 
devastated by Hurricane Mitch, East Timor, Ethiopia, Burundi, Cuba, 
Haiti, Colombia.
    Two years ago I was honored to send him as one of my representatives on a groundbreaking 
trip to discuss religious freedom with China's leaders. This year, he 
has been a tireless and effective leader in promoting debt relief for 
poor countries--I might say, one of the truly outstanding 
accomplishments that we have achieved in a bipartisan fashion in this 
town in the last 5 years. It's an amazing thing.
    At the same time, the Archbishop is 
much beloved for practicing at home what he preaches around the world. 
This year, as he pressed the United States to fund debt relief, he 
forgave the $10 million in debts of poor parishes in his Newark diocese.
    Archbishop, we thank you for your 
devotion to all God's children, and we welcome you to your new home in 
the diocese of Washington, DC.
    These five Americans have made our Nation and the world a better 
place. May they continue to inspire and guide us all for years to come.
    Major, read the citations.

[ At this point, Maj. William F. Mullen III, USMC, Marine Corps Aide to the President, read the 
citations, and the President presented the Eleanor Roosevelt Awards for 
Human Rights.]

    The President. Do you want to know what Elaine said to me? 
[Laughter] So I said, ``Well, what argument did you make when you were 
11 years old?'' She said, ``I said he didn't have permission to take all 
those X rays. I mean, I was just 11 years old.'' [Laughter] So this

[[Page 2619]]

guy was supposed to be the only person on Earth who could have said no 
to her. [Laughter] We need you now, girl. That's good. That's good. 
[Laughter]
    The Presidential Medal of Freedom was created by President Truman to 
honor noble service in times of war. It was expanded by President 
Kennedy to honor service in times of peace. I have been privileged to 
award the medal to many champions of liberty.
    Today we continue that tradition with a difference. The person we 
honor, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, cannot be 
with us. In fact, she doesn't even know we're here today, thinking of 
her and her struggle in her country. She sits confined, as we speak 
here, in her home in Rangoon, unable to speak to her people or the 
world. But her struggle continues, and her spirit still inspires us.
    Twelve years ago she went home to Burma 
to visit her ailing mother and found herself at the helm of a popular 
movement for democracy and human rights. A decade ago, she led her 
persecuted party in parliamentary elections that were neither free nor 
fair; yet they still won 80 percent of the seats. Her victory has never 
been recognized by the Government of Burma, but her hold on the hearts 
of the people in Burma has never been broken.
    In the years since, she had seen her 
supporters beaten, tortured, and killed, yet she has never responded to 
hatred and violence in kind. All she has ever asked for is peaceful 
dialog. She has been treated without mercy, yet she has preached 
forgiveness, promising that in a democratic Burma there will be no 
retribution and nothing but honor and respect for the military.
    No one has done more than she to teach 
us that the desire for liberty is universal, that it is a matter of 
conscience, not culture. When her son, Alexander, accepted her Nobel Peace Prize, he said she would 
never accept such an honor in her name, but only in the name of all the 
people of Burma. I imagine she would say the same thing today--that she 
would tell us that for all she has suffered, the separation from her 
family, the loss of her beloved husband, nothing compares to what the 
Burmese people, themselves, have endured--years of tyranny and poverty 
in a land of such inherent promise.
    Our thoughts are with them. This medal stands for our determination 
to help them see a better day. The only weapons the Burmese people have 
are words, reason, and the example of this astonishing, brave 
woman. Let us add our voices to their 
peaceful arsenal. Keep using every instrument of influence to support 
Aung San Suu Kyi's quest for democracy through dialog.
    Those who rule Burma should know that they can regain their place in 
the world only when they regain the trust of their own people and 
respect their chosen leaders. And the woman 
we honor today should know, America will always be a friend to freedom 
in Burma--a friend for as long as it takes to reach the goal for which 
she has sacrificed so very much.
    I would like to ask Alexander to come up 
here, and I'd like to ask the major 
to read the citation.

[ At this point, Major Mullen read 
the citation, and the President presented the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom.]

    The President. Thank you all for coming today. We are adjourned.

Note: The President spoke at 11:13 a.m. in Presidential Hall in the 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The President presented 
the awards and medal as part of the observance of Human Rights Day. In 
his remarks, he referred to James Roosevelt, grandson of Franklin and 
Eleanor Roosevelt, and his wife, Ann; Eric P. Schwartz, Senior Director, 
Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs, National Security Council; 
Melanne Verveer, Chief of Staff to the First Lady; Bonnie J. Campbell, 
Director, Violence Against Women Office, Office of Justice Programs, 
Department of Justice; Theresa Loar, Senior Coordinator for 
International Women's Issues, Department of State; and Gen. John M. 
Shalikashvili, USA (Ret.), former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.