[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 45 (Monday, November 15, 1993)]
[Pages 2323-2325]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Veterans Day Breakfast

 November 11, 1993

    Good morning. Please be seated.
    Hillary and I and Secretary Aspin, Secretary Brown are delighted to 
have you here. We wanted to begin this Veterans Day with the leaders of 
our veterans' organizations, with the officials of the Veterans 
Administration, with many of our men and women in uniform today, 
especially those who distin- 

[[Page 2324]]

guished themselves in the very difficult firefight in Somalia on October 
3d. Some of those brave soldiers are here with us today, and I know 
you've met them, but I'd like to begin by just asking them to stand and 
be recognized and asking all of us to thank them. [Applause] Thank you 
very much. Our Nation is very proud of them and their comrades for the 
bravery they showed on that day and for the work they continue to do.
    This is an important Veterans Day, this is the 75th anniversary of 
the end of World War I, a defining war for our Nation, when our 
forebears decided that we could no longer be a totally isolated or 
isolationist country.
    Later this morning, during ceremonies at Arlington Cemetery, I will 
present a commemorative medal to Mr. Stanley Coolbaugh, a veteran of the 
First World War who will accept it on behalf of the 30,000 living 
veterans of World War I. He was born in another century in a relatively 
young Nation protected by vast oceans. He was forced as a young man, 
along with our Nation, to answer a profound question which we still have 
to ask and answer today: To what extent must America engage with the 
rest of the world; to what extent can we just stay home and mind our own 
business? Sometimes that answer is easy, as it was when we were attacked 
at Pearl Harbor and entered the Second World War and as it became clear 
at the end of the Second World War when we had to try to contain the 
expansion of communism and engage in the cold war, an effort which 
ultimately led to perhaps the greatest peacetime victory in the world, 
the collapse of the Soviet empire.
    Now today we have to ask some of the hard questions again, about how 
much we should engage and whether we can withdraw. Some of those 
difficult questions are being answered by our men and women in uniform 
all around the world. Some of them have to be answered by those of us 
here in Washington on nonmilitary matters. I want to say a special word 
of thanks in that regard to the American Legion for endorsing the North 
American Free Trade Agreement. I said the other day to Admiral Crowe, 
who is here, that I was amazed that there were so many senior military 
officers who had spontaneously come up to me and said that they favor 
this treaty. And he and others observed, ``Well, if you've ever been in 
uniform and been around the world, you know what it means to have the 
opportunity to live in peace with your two biggest neighbors and to have 
commerce and friendly cooperation and competition and what it means to 
live and grow together. So I thank you all for that.
    This is a day when the United States has to reaffirm its commitment 
to our veterans. On Memorial Day we thank those veterans who have given 
their lives for our country and their families. Today we thank those 
veterans who have given their service to our country and who are still 
here among us and for whom we feel not only great affection but a 
profound sense of obligation.
    On Memorial Day, I pledged that our Government would declassify 
virtually all the documents related to all individuals held as prisoners 
of war or missing in action, to help answer questions that have haunted 
too many families for too long. Some of those questions may never be 
answered, but we have to try. And I can tell you that as of last night, 
in keeping with my commitment on Memorial Day to finish this job by 
Veterans Day, we have done that. We have declassified all the relevant 
documents that we can to answer the questions about the MIA's and the 
POW's.
    Secondly, I had the opportunity yesterday to sign a proclamation to 
honor our women veterans and National Women Veterans Recognition Week, 
and to welcome to the office that I hold now, Diane Evans and the board 
of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project. They presented me with this 
wonderful replica of the statue being dedicated today to recognize the 
sacrifices of all the veterans of the Vietnam War and to further the 
process of healing and reconciliation. It is a magnificent work of art, 
gripping in so many ways. And I know that today's ceremony will grab the 
attention and the emotions and the convictions of the American people.
    Third, I am about to sign into law an increase in the cost of living 
allowance for our disabled veterans. With the leadership of the relevant 
chairmen in our Congress, Senator Jay Rockefeller and Congressman Sonny 
Montgomery, this new law will help 2.5 mil- 

[[Page 2325]]

lion American veterans and their families to keep pace with the rising 
cost of living.
    And finally, as you know, with the leadership of the First Lady and 
many others, we are doing our best to provide health security to all 
American people in a way that will improve the access and quality of 
veterans' health care in America. Of all the plans that have been 
addressed to deal with the health care problem, ours is the only one 
that has made a serious effort to address the concerns of our veterans. 
I'm very proud of that, and I thank all of you who had anything to do 
with it.
    With these actions on this Veterans Day, we continue a contract we 
can never fulfill to defend our Nation's security, to defend the 
security in the interest of those who have served our Nation and made it 
secure. I know that your service can never be repaid in full, but it can 
always be honored and must never be forgotten. So today, as I sign this 
law, let me tell you on behalf of a grateful Nation, we honor you, we 
will not forget you, and we are grateful for the security that you 
provide for all of us.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 9 a.m. in the East Room at the White House. 
In his remarks, he referred to Adm. William J. Crowe, Jr., USN (Ret.), 
Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.