    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
    [November 5, 2007]
    [Pages 1422-1427]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom
    November 5, 2007

        The President. Good morning. Laura and I are
    thrilled to welcome you to the White House. We welcome the Members of
    Congress, the members of the Cabinet, and other distinguished guests.
    It's an honor to be with the Medal of Freedom recipients as well as
    their family members and friends. We're sure glad you're here.
        The Medal of Freedom is the highest civil honor that a President can
    bestow. By an Executive order of John F. Kennedy, the medal is designed
    to recognize great contributions to national security, the cause of
    peace and freedom, science, the arts, literature, and many other fields.
    The eight men and women came to this distinction by very different
    paths. Each of them, by effort and by character, has earned the respect
    of the American people and holds a unique place in the story of our
    time.
        Our first honoree, Dr. Gary Becker, once
    said: ``Many intellectuals, many economists use obscure language when
    they write. Sometimes it's a way of disguising that they are not saying
    a heck of a lot.'' [Laughter] This economist, however, is different.
    Gary Becker's many books and articles and his 19 years as a weekly
    columnist have provided--proved him to be a thinker of originality and
    clarity.
        Dr. Becker has shown that economic
    principles do not just exist in theory. Instead, they help to explain
    human behavior in fields well beyond economics. He has shown that by
    applying these principles to public policy, we can make great strides in
    promoting enterprise and public safety, protecting the environment,
    improving public schools, and strengthening the family. Dr. Becker has
    explained, as well, the real value of investing in human capital. He
    knows full well that an educated and well-trained workforce adds to the
    vigors of our economy and helps raise the standard of living for all of
    us.
        This longtime professor at the University
    of Chicago has helped train hundreds of talented economists. He has been
    a wise and challenging presence in the lives of his students, and they
    remain devoted to him. One close friend said, ``A 15-minute conversation
    with Gary Becker can change your thinking forever.'' He is without
    question one of the most influential economists of the last hundred
    years. With today's honor, he is one of only two persons to have
    received both the Nobel Prize in Economics and the Medal of Freedom. The
    other was the late Milton Friedman. And I know that today Dr. Friedman
    would be very proud of his friend and student and colleague, Mr.--or Dr.
    Gary Becker. Congratulations.
        The Medal of Freedom for Oscar Elias Biscet will be accepted this morning by his son Yan
    Valdes. His daughter Winnie is also present. Dr. Biscet is not with us today
    because he is a political prisoner of the regime in Havana. This
    ceremony at the White House is being broadcast live into Cuba. To the
    citizens of that land, I send the respect and good wishes of the United
    States.
        Oscar Biscet is a healer
    known to 11 million Cubans as a physician, a community organizer, and an
    advocate for human rights. For two decades, he has told the world what
    he has seen in Cuba: the arrogance of a one-party state; the suppression

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    of political dissent; the coercion of expectant mothers. For speaking
    the truth, Dr. Biscet has endured repeated harassment, beatings, and
    detentions. The international community agrees that Dr. Biscet's
    imprisonment is unjust, yet the regime has refused every call for his
    release.
        To the Cuban dictatorship, Dr. Biscet is a dangerous man. He is dangerous in the same way
    that Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gandhi were dangerous. He is a man of
    peace, a man of truth, and a man of faith. In captivity for most of the
    last 8 years, he has continued to embody courage and dignity. His
    example is a rebuke to the tyrants and secret police of a regime whose
    day is passing.
        Dr. Biscet is also a young
    man. God willing, he'll soon regain his freedom, as justice demands. He
    deserves to be reunited with his wife Elsa and
    all their family. And the land they call home deserves to be free. When
    that day arrives, the peoples of Cuba and the United States will stand
    together as free men and women, and the liberated country will honor a
    great man with a mighty heart, Oscar Elias Biscet.
        When tyrannies fall, it's often the prisoners and exiles who are
    called forth to lead their people. We've seen this in our own time, in
    the lives of President Havel and President
    Mandela and Prime Minister
    Maliki and, in the Republic of Liberia,
    President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
        All of her life, President Sirleaf
    has been a pioneer. The daughter of a school teacher in Monrovia, she
    crossed the ocean as a young woman and earned three degrees in the
    United States. She has been a business executive, a development expert,
    a public official, and always a patriot. She loves Liberia, and she
    loves all its people. After a cabal seized power and plunged that
    country into years of upheaval and corruption and civil war, Ellen
    Johnson Sirleaf stood up for the democratic rights of her fellow
    citizens. She never wavered, even though the consequences were house
    arrest, foreign exile, death threats, and imprisonment.
        When free elections returned to Liberia, the voters made history.
    They chose her to be the first woman ever elected to lead a nation on
    the continent of Africa. She was
    inaugurated last year, with Laura and Secretary
    of State Condoleezza Rice as proud
    witnesses. I remember asking Laura and Condi what kind of person I'd be
    dealing with. They said to expect a woman of depth and ability who know
    how to get things done. They were right. See, when the President comes
    to the Oval Office, she walks in with a to-do list. [Laughter]
        The President has the tough mind
    of a natural-born executive and the gentle instincts of a mother. Not
    surprisingly, the Liberian people have given her two affectionate
    nicknames. They call her the ``Iron Lady,'' and they call her ``Ma.''
    She's begun an age of reform in a country with deep historic ties to the
    United States. As she said to a joint meeting of our Congress: ``Liberia
    will become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and to the world of
    what the love of liberty can achieve.''
        Madam President, America is proud
    to stand with Liberia. And today America honors you as a woman of
    courage and a giver of hope. Welcome back to the White House, my friend,
    and congratulations.
        Seventeen years ago, the Federal Government established a research
    project with the ambitious goal of mapping the entire human genome. The
    genome is best described as the code of life, the ``3.1 billion-letter
    instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of
    mystery about humankind.'' Those were the words of Dr. Francis
    Collins, Director of the National Human
    Genome Research Institute and the man who led the Federal project to
    full and thrilling success.
        Many discoveries yet to be made and many scientific triumphs yet to
    be achieved will be directly traceable to the work of the Human Genome
    Project. With genetic mapping, researchers know more than ever

    [[Page 1424]]

    before about the hereditary influences behind cancer and heart disease
    and diabetes and many other conditions. And that understanding holds the
    key to earlier detection of illness, individualized treatments, and even
    lifesaving cures.
        In scope and long-term potential, the Human Genome Project has been
    compared to the Apollo project. And its leader, Dr. Collins, is a well-rounded man. Though he routinely
    works a 90-hour week, he is an accomplished singer and guitarist.
    [Laughter] I know this because I once heard him at the National Prayer
    Breakfast. You see, when a man can get up and sing in front of 3,000
    people at 8 in the morning, there's something special in his DNA.
    [Laughter]
        From his days being home-schooled by his mom on a farm in Virginia,
    Francis Collins has been relentless in
    the pursuit of knowledge. He said: ``One of the strongest motivations of
    humankind is to seek answers to profound questions and [to understand]
    what is both seen and unseen.'' He has brought his extraordinary gifts
    to bear on the technical questions of genetics and on the ethical
    questions as well. Deep scientific understanding can be used for good or
    ill, and a lot turns on knowing the difference. Francis Collins is
    unafraid of the eternal questions, unswayed by fashion, and unwilling to
    overlook the distinction between right and wrong.
        Dr. Collins has often noted that ``at
    the DNA level, we're all 99.9 percent the same. All of us.'' It's a
    reminder that the Human Genome Project, with all the promise it holds
    for tomorrow, also confirms scientifically the timeless wisdom of the
    brotherhood of man. Americans are rightly proud this project succeeded
    in our own country, and we are proud of the wise and humane American
    scientist behind it, Francis Collins.
        Brotherhood is perhaps the greatest theme in the life and character
    of Dr. Benjamin Hooks. The man has always
    had what his friend Dr. King called the strength to love. As a civil
    rights activist, public servant, and minister of the Gospel, Dr. Hooks
    has extended the hand of fellowship throughout his years. It was not an
    always thing--easy thing to do, but it was always the right thing to do.
        Benjamin Hooks grew up in a segregated
    South, where economic advantages and even common courtesies were often
    denied to African Americans. In the Army during World War II, he guarded
    European prisoners of war held in the United States. When it was time to
    get something to eat, whites-only restaurants would serve the prisoners,
    but not Sergeant Hooks. After the war, he wanted to study law, but not a
    single law school in Tennessee would admit a black man. So he went to
    DePaul University in Chicago, then came back home, determined to ``break
    down that segregation, to end those days.''
        He became a lawyer and, in time, was
    also an ordained Baptist minister. He joined the Southern Christian
    Leadership Conference and was an early crusader in that great movement.
    He also rose in the legal profession, becoming the first African
    American ever to serve as a judge of the Tennessee Criminal Court. He
    was named to the Federal Communications Commission by President Nixon.
        The Nation best remembers Benjamin Hooks as the leader of the NAACP. For 15 years, Dr. Hooks was a
    calm yet forceful voice for fairness, opportunity, and personal
    responsibility. He never tired or faltered in demanding that our Nation
    live up to its founding ideals of liberty and equality. His testimony
    had special power--for the words that he spoke and for the example that
    he set as a man of decency and rectitude.
        It's been a great journey, and he's
    traveled with a good and gracious woman at his side, Frances
    Hooks. They're a wonderful team. They've been
    married for 56 years.
        Dr. Hooks once said, ``You've got to
    believe that tomorrow somehow can be and

    [[Page 1425]]

    will be better than today.'' Because he had that belief, because he held
    on to it, because he acted upon it, an old order has passed away. And
    all Americans can be grateful for the good works and the good life of
    Benjamin L. Hooks.
        The story of an old order and the glimmers of humanity that would
    one day overtake it was unforgettably told in a book by Miss Harper
    Lee. Soon after its publication, a reviewer
    said this: ``A hundred pounds of sermons on tolerance or an equal
    measure of invective deploring the lack of it will weigh far less in the
    scale of enlightenment than a mere 18 ounces of a new fiction bearing
    the title `To Kill a Mockingbird.' ''
        Given her legendary stature as a novelist, you may be surprised to
    learn that Harper Lee, early in her career,
    was an airline reservation clerk. Fortunately for all of us, she didn't
    stick to writing itineraries. [Laughter] Her beautiful book, with its
    grateful prose and memorable characters, became one of the biggest
    selling novels of the 20th century.
        Forty-six years after winning the Pulitzer Prize, ``To Kill a
    Mockingbird'' still touches and inspires every reader. We're moved by
    the story of a man falsely accused, with old prejudice massed against
    him and an old sense of honor that rises to his defense. We learn that
    courage can be a solitary business. As the lawyer Atticus Finch tells
    his daughter: ``Before I can live with other folks, I've got to live
    with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a
    person's conscience.''
        Years after ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' was put to film, the character
    of Atticus Finch was voted the greatest movie hero of all time. It won
    Gregory Peck the Oscar. He was said to believe the role ``brought him
    closest to being the kind of man he aspired to be.'' The great actor
    counted Harper Lee among his good friends, and
    we're so pleased that Gregory Peck's wife Veronique is with us today. Thank you for coming.
        One reason ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' succeeded is the wise and kind
    heart of the author, which comes through on
    every page. This daughter of Monroeville, Alabama, had something to say
    about honor and tolerance and, most of all, love--and it still
    resonates. Last year, Harper Lee received an honorary doctorate at Notre
    Dame. As the degree was presented, the graduating class rose as one,
    held up copies of her book, and cheered for the author they love.
        ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' has influenced the character of our
    country for the better. It's been a gift to the entire world. As a model
    of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be read and
    studied forever. And so all of us are filled with admiration for a great
    American and a lovely lady named Harper Lee.
        Bob Hyde is here on behalf of his dad, the
    Honorable Henry J. Hyde, who was not able to
    be with us today. Congressman Hyde spent more than three decades as a
    towering figure on Capitol Hill. But he first name--made his name in
    Washington more than 60 years ago. He was on the Georgetown basketball
    team, and he played in the NCAA eastern championship game in 1943. After
    college and Navy service in World War II, he returned home to Illinois
    and earned a law degree and made his way into politics. This erudite,
    scholarly man has walked with kings and kept the common touch. He won 20
    elections and gave steady service to the people of Illinois for 40
    years.
        In the House, Congressman Hyde rose to the
    chairmanship of two committees: Judiciary and International Relations.
    And from the first day, he was a commanding presence, and he was a man
    of consequence. Colleagues were struck by his extraordinary intellect,
    his deep convictions, and eloquent voice. In committee and in the House
    Chamber, the background noise would stop when Henry Hyde had the floor.

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        He used his persuasive powers for noble
    causes. He stood for a strong and purposeful America, confident in
    freedom's advance and firm in freedom's defense. He stood for limited,
    accountable Government and the equality of every person before the law.
    He was a gallant champion of the weak and forgotten and a fearless
    defender of life in all its seasons.
        Henry Hyde spoke of controversial matters
    with intellectual honesty and without rancor. He proved that a man can
    have firm convictions and be a favorite of Democrats and Republicans
    alike.
        Henry likes quoting the adage, ``Make new
    friends, but keep the old; one is silver, but the other is gold.'' To so
    many on Capitol Hill, Henry Hyde's friendship is gold. They're quick to
    say it's not the same Congress without him, but that we're a better
    country because he was there. And colleagues will always admire and look
    up to the gentleman from Illinois, Henry J. Hyde. And, Bob, please tell your dad a lot of us in Washington love
    him.
        For nearly 30 years, the proceedings of the House of Representatives
    have been televised unfiltered, uninterrupted, unedited, and live. For
    this, we can thank the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, or C-
    SPAN. And for C-SPAN, we can thank a visionary American named Brian
    Lamb.
        C-SPAN is not what you'd call exciting TV, though some of the call-
    in shows do have their moments. [Laughter] It is, however, a tool that
    enlivens democracy and informs and educates citizens of all ages, at all
    hours.
        C-SPAN channels fill 17,000 broadcast hours a year. But you can
    watch for years and never hear anyone say the name Brian Lamb. Even Brian never says it.
        With his low-key manner, this native of
    Lafayette, Indiana, likes to stick with substance. He's not there to
    provide commentary or give much reaction either way. Yet vast numbers of
    Americans consider themselves fans of Brian Lamb. A writer from the
    Washington Post called it a ``cult of
    nonpersonality.'' [Laughter] The truth is, we've all seen him, and he's
    conducted some of the most fascinating interviews we have ever heard. As
    one C-SPAN watcher said, when you listen to
    Brian ``you feel like he's just like you, only smarter.'' [Laughter]
        Brian Lamb has spent most of his life in
    broadcasting, in a career that has taken many turns. The first program
    he ever hosted, back in the Midwest, was called ``Dance Date,'' a side
    we haven't seen much of. [Laughter] Brian Lamb is a Navy veteran, a
    former social aide here at the White House. In fact, when Brian was here
    a few months ago to interview a historian in the Lincoln Bedroom, the
    maitre d' of the residential staff of the White House remembered him
    from those days.
        The network Brian Lamb created has been
    called ``scrupulously nonpartisan'' and ``inherently patient.''
    Committee hearings and campaign events and conferences and rallies are
    shown from beginning to end, without editorial comment or
    interpretation. C-SPAN has no agenda and only one assumption: That
    interested viewers are intelligent and can make up their own minds about
    what they see and what they hear.
        An informed citizenry has been the strength of America since the
    days of the New England town hall. C-SPAN has revived the town hall
    spirit for a modern, continental nation. For his enormous achievement
    and his personal modesty, for his high standards and his contribution to
    our democracy, America is grateful to Mr. Brian Lamb.
        Now I call on the military aide to
    read the citations for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    [At this point, Lt. Cmdr. Robert A. Roncska, USN, Navy Aide to the
    President, read the citations, and the President presented the medals.]

        The President. Thank you all for coming. Laura and I now invite you to a reception here in the State
    Dining Room. I hope

    [[Page 1427]]

    you've enjoyed this ceremony as much as I have. May God bless you all.
    Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:01 a.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Fidel Castro Ruz of
    Cuba; former President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic; former
    President Nelson R. Mandela of South Africa; and Prime Minister Nuri al-
    Maliki of Iraq.