[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 2 (Monday, January 18, 1993)]
[Pages 36-37]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to President 
Ronald Reagan

 January 13, 1993

    President Reagan, you can see from that welcome how we all feel 
about your and Nancy's return to this house that you graced. We're 
delighted to welcome you back here. And of course, I want to send my 
special greetings to those who served in the Reagan Cabinet and to the 
Reagan family. And it's a pleasure to welcome all of you back here to 
the White House.
    Being President has its privileges. And this morning I have the 
privilege to present America's highest civilian award, the Presi- 

[[Page 37]]

dential Medal of Freedom, with distinction, to my predecessor, the 40th 
President of the United States. Today we honor the American life of an 
American original. We all remember the movie in which he once said, 
``Win one for the Gipper.'' Well, as President, Ronald Reagan helped win 
one for freedom, both at home and abroad. And I consider him my friend 
and mentor, and so he is. And he's also a true American hero.
    Just think of the whistlestops that ring unsummoned, like a postcard 
from the past: Dixon, Tampico, Eureka College, WHO radio in Des Moines. 
Always Ronald Reagan embodied the heart of the American people. And once 
he described it as ``hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, 
and fair.''
    Ronald Reagan didn't just make the world believe in America; he made 
Americans believe in themselves. And I remember Inauguration Day in 1981 
and how the clouds--maybe you remember it--of a gloomy morning gave way 
as he began his speech. He turned that winter of discontent into a 
springtime of possibility.
    President Reagan believed in the American people, so he helped the 
private sector create 19 million new jobs. He knew that Government was 
too big and spent too much, and so he lowered taxes and spending, cut 
redtape, and began a peacetime boom, the longest in American history.
    Some men reflect their times. Ronald Reagan changed his times. And 
nowhere was that more true than abroad where he championed the holy 
grail of liberty. Mr. President, you helped make ours not only a safer 
but far better world in which to live. And you yourself said it best. In 
fact, you saw it coming. We recall your stirring words to the British 
Parliament. Here were the words: ``The march of freedom and democracy 
will leave Marxist-Leninism on the ash heap of history.''
    Few people believe more in liberty's inevitable triumph than Ronald 
Reagan. None, none was more a prophet in his time. Ronald Reagan rebuilt 
our military; not only that, he restored its morale. And when I became 
President, President Reagan passed on to me the most dedicated and best 
equipped fighting force that the world has ever seen.
    He signed also the INF treaty, the first agreement to eliminate a 
whole category of nuclear weapons. And it was a treaty that lay the 
foundation then for START I and the historic START II agreement that 
President Yeltsin and I signed 2 weeks ago.
    Ronald Reagan sought a world where nations could talk, not die, over 
differences and a world of prosperity, peaceful competition, and freedom 
without war. And he helped achieve it, helped end the cold war.
    When Ronald Reagan's favorite President died in 1945, the New York 
Times wrote, ``Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from 
now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House.'' Well, Mr. 
President it will not take a hundred years; millions thank God today 
that you were in the White House.
    You loved America, blessed America, and with your leadership 
certainly helped make America that shining city on a hill. All this 
explains why today Ronald Reagan becomes only the third President to 
receive the Medal of Freedom, the first to receive it in his own 
lifetime. He's a man whose life embodies freedom, who nurtured freedom 
as few Presidents ever have.
    And so now, Mr. President, let me invite you, sir, to join me as 
Major Wissler reads the citation for the Medal of Freedom. Please come 
up.

Note: The President spoke at 10:20 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. Maj. John Wissler, USMC, is Marine Corps Aide to the President.