[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1993)]
[Pages 407-410]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Crew of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt

 March 12, 1993

    Thank you very much, Secretary Aspin, Admiral Miller, Admiral 
Johnson, Captain Bryant, Captain Moore, Colonel Schmidt, General Keys, 
and to all of you here on the crew of the Theodore Roosevelt. I think I 
can speak for the people who came in my party, including the 
distinguished Members of the United States Congress who are here. This 
has been a wonderful day for us, and we thank you.
    I am honored to be here. As many of you know, it is a great blessing 
and a great honor to be elected President of the United States. But 
there is no greater honor in the office than being the Commander in 
Chief of the finest Armed Forces in the world today and the finest 
America has ever known.
    Our Armed Forces are more than the backbone of our security. You are 
the shining model of our American values: dedication, responsibility, a 
willingness to sacrifice for the common good and for the interests and 
the very existence of this country. Our Armed Forces today stand as one 
of modern history's great success stories. Look at this crew, reflecting 
every color, every background, every region of our society. I might say 
it's been a special pleasure to me to meet at least six people from my 
home State of Arkansas here today. I'm sure there are more of you here 
that I haven't met.
    The American military pioneered our Nation's progress toward 
integration and equal opportunity. It is America's most effective 
education and training system. It's constantly asked to adapt to change 
and always, always, you have risen to the challenge. All who wear 
America's uniforms are what makes the United States of America a true 
superpower and a genuine force for peace and democracy in the world.
    Yes, this carrier can extend our reach. These planes can deliver our 
might. They are truly extraordinary tools, but only because they are in 
the hands of you. It is your skill, your professionalism, your courage, 
and your dedication to our country and to service that gives the muscle, 
sinew, and the soul of our

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strength. And today, I'm proud to be here to salute you. I want to say a 
word about the Navy and to tell you what it means to me to have a ready 
fleet.
    When word of crisis breaks out in Washington, it's no accident that 
the first question that comes to everyone's lips is, where is the 
nearest carrier? This ship's namesake, President Theodore Roosevelt, 
once said, ``The Navy of the United States is the right arm of the 
United States and is emphatically the peacemaker.'' Theodore Roosevelt 
took special pride in our Navy, and I do, too. All of you ought to know 
that he was the first American ever to win the Nobel Prize. He won the 
Nobel Peace Prize for his role in settling a war between Russia and 
Japan in the first decade of this century, in part due to the 
contributions of the United States Navy.
    This impressive ship, not yet 10 years old, already has an 
impressive history, serving with distinction during the Gulf war, where 
many of you served as well. And today we should recall that three of 
this ship's crew gave the last full measure of their devotion toward 
that victory.
    But the Theodore Roosevelt was part of history even earlier. In 
1988, it was here that an American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
first welcomed his Soviet counterpart to visit an American aircraft 
carrier. When my friend Admiral William Crowe and Marshal Sergey 
Akhromeyev stepped aboard this ship together to meet the crew and watch 
flight operations, as I have done here today, it was a key milestone on 
the road to the end of the cold war.
    Now, less than 5 years later, the world has changed faster than 
anyone on board then could have possibly imagined. The cold war is over. 
The Soviet Union itself no longer exists. The Warsaw Pact is gone. The 
specter of Soviet tanks rolling westward across the north German plain 
no longer haunts the United States.
    Yet this world remains a very dangerous place. Saddam Hussein 
confirmed that. The tragic violence in Bosnia today reminds us of that 
every day. The proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass 
destruction is a growing menace, unfortunately, not a receding one, to 
peaceful nations. And human suffering such as that now being endured by 
the people of Somalia may not threaten our shores, but still they 
require us to act.
    Such challenges are new in many ways, but we dare not overlook the 
significance that they pose to our new world. Blinders never provide 
security. A changed security environment demands not less security but a 
change in our security arrangements.
    What is happening on this ship proves that it can be done. On this 
deployment you are, as the Secretary of Defense noted, doing something 
new. You've changed your crew and your equipment to reflect the new 
challenges of the post-cold-war era. A squadron of sub-hunting planes is 
gone, giving room to carry a contingent of tough and versatile Marines, 
enabling you to address new potential challenges such as evacuations or 
taking control of troubled ports.
    You have the services working together in new ways. That enables you 
to operate perhaps with fewer ships and personnel but with greater 
efficiency and effectiveness. This isn't downsizing for its own sake. 
It's rightsizing for security's sake.
    The changes on board the Theodore Roosevelt preview the changes I 
believe we must pursue throughout our military. We must keep, however, a 
few core ideas in mind as we pursue those changes. Our military must be 
exceptionally mobile, with first-rate sealift, airlift, and the ability 
to project power. And there is no more awesome example of that than the 
fearsome striking power that can be launched from the deck of this 
mighty ship.
    Our military must also be agile, with an emphasis on maneuver, on 
speed, on technological superiority. That's exactly what the special 
purpose Marine air ground task force you have on board is all about. Our 
fire power must be precise, so that we can minimize the exposure to harm 
for the men and women who wear our uniforms and reduce civilian 
casualties where we must act.
    Our military increasingly needs to be flexible so that we can 
cooperate with diverse coalition partners in very different parts of the 
world. And we must be smart, with the intelligence and communications we 
need for the complex threats we face. And I might say I was deeply 
impressed with a wide array of communications equipment that many of

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you showed me today. Above all else, we must always be ready, given the 
unpredictability of new threats.
    None of these goals are possible unless we have a quality force. 
You, the crew of this ship, exemplify that quality with your skills, 
your experience, your training, and your dedication, many of you at 
astonishingly young ages. You have shown me that you know how to get the 
job done. I know our Nation can now have confidence that America's vital 
interests are well protected.
    While all of you from the grapes on the roof to the aviators in the 
ready rooms, to the snipes in the holes, while you carry out your 
missions so far from home over the next few months, we back at home will 
be engaged in a raging debate about defense policy. As you watch the 
news on CNN or read the newspapers that are delivered here to your ship, 
you will hear us talk of roles and missions. You will see news about 
bases and budgets. But as we reduce defense spending, we will not leave 
the men and the women who helped to win the cold war out in the cold. As 
bases close, and they must, we must not close our eyes and hearts to the 
need for new investments to create opportunities in the communities with 
the old bases.
    Defense spending has been declining ever since 1986. But I believe 
we have not had a strong enough plan for what to do with the new defense 
we are building and with those who contributed to the old defense; an 
insufficient plan for military personnel who muster out; an insufficient 
plan for civilian workers who made the wonderful weapons that helped us 
to dominate the world who now have lost their jobs; an insufficient plan 
for the communities that have been devastated or for the companies that 
have been hurt.
    We cannot repeal the laws of change. After all, you and those who 
preceded you in uniform worked so hard, fought so hard, and many died so 
that the cold war could be won and we could rely less on defense and 
focus more of our resources on building our economy here at home. But 
still, we must act boldly to deal with the consequences of the changes 
we face. That's why it's so important to make the investments we need in 
defense conversion and the education and training in new jobs and new 
industries but also to continue to make the investments we need in the 
defense that must be there for the United States and for the world 
tomorrow.
    As you follow the news of these events during your voyage, while our 
voyage back home into this great debate is taking place, I ask you to 
remember this: As your Commander in Chief, I am immensely proud of who 
you are, what you stand for, and what you are doing. As these changes 
proceed, I pledge to you that as long as I am President, you and the 
other men and women in uniform of this country will continue to be the 
best trained, the best prepared, the best equipped, and the strongest 
supported fighting force in the world. There is no single decision I 
take more seriously than decisions involving the use of force. As I 
weigh crises that confront America around the world, you will be in my 
mind and in my heart.
    This is a hopeful time, yet one still full of challenges. It is 
uncertain, and therefore, we are glad that missions such as this, while 
not darkly framed by the cold war confrontation with a nuclear 
adversary, are still smartly focused on the challenges we might face in 
the days ahead. Many new duties and dangers are taking place. And there 
is no clear direction for what things we all might have to face in the 
future. There is no sonar that can enable us to fathom all the changes 
in the terrain over which we are now setting sail.
    Napoleon had a standing order to his corps commanders to, quote, 
``March to the sound of the guns.'' He meant that when the shooting 
starts on a battlefield, it is the soldier's obligation to move into the 
fight. Well, today, there are different security challenges into which 
we must march. And at times you who serve our Nation in uniform may be 
called upon to answer not only the sound of guns but also a call of 
distress, a summons to keep the peace, even a cry of starving children. 
The calls will be more diverse, but our values remain unchanged. Our 
purposes remain clear. And your commitment to serve remains the linchpin 
in every new and continuing effort.
    I know this has been a difficult day for many of you. It can't be 
easy to leave family and friends for 6 months at sea, especially

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when the challenges before us seem unclear, and when you wonder whether 
world events may or may not place you in harm's way. But I hope you 
understand that your work is vitally important to the United States and 
to the Commander in Chief.
    This is a new and hopeful world but one full of danger. I am 
convinced that your country, through you, has a historic role in trying 
to make sure that there is, after all, a new world order, rooted in 
peace, dedicated to prosperity and opportunity.
    The American people have placed their faith in you, and you have 
placed your life at the service of your country. The faith is well 
placed, and I thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:25 p.m. in the hangar bay aboard the 
ship. In his remarks, he referred to Adm. Paul David Miller, USN, 
commander in chief, U.S. Atlantic Command; Adm. Jay L. Johnson, USN, 
commander, Carrier Group 8; Capt. Stanley W. Bryant, USN, commanding 
officer, U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt; Capt. C.W. Moore, USN, commander, 
Carrier Air Wing 8; Col. John W. Schmidt, USMC, commander, Special 
Purpose Marine Air/Ground Task Force, U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt; and 
Gen. William M. Keys, USMC, commander, Marine Forces Atlantic. This item 
was not received in time for publication in the appropriate issue.