[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 23 (Monday, June 13, 1994)]
[Pages 1256-1258]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Receiving a Doctorate in Civil Law from Oxford University in 
Oxford, United Kingdom

June 8, 1994

    Thank you very much, Chancellor, distinguished members of the 
university community. I must say that it was quite easy for me to take 
the chancellor's gentle ribbing about the Presidency, since he is 
probably the only chancellor of this great university ever to have 
written a biography of an American President. I thank you for your 
biography of President Truman and for your leadership and for honoring 
me.
    You know, as I walked today through the streets of Oxford with my 
wife and with my classmate, now the Secretary of Labor in our 
administration, Mr. Reich, who is here, it seemed almost yesterday when 
I first came here. And I remembered when I walked in this august 
building today how I always felt a mixture of elation and wariness, 
bordering on intimidation, in your presence. I thought if there was one 
place in the world I could come and give a speech in the proper 
language, it was here, and then I heard the degree ceremony. [Laughter] 
And sure enough, once again at Oxford I was another Yank a half step 
behind. [Laughter]
    This week the world has taken a profound journey of remembrance. 
Here in Great Britain, in the United States and France and Italy, all 
around the world we have reflected on a time when the sheer will of 
freedom's forces changed the course of this century.
    Many of you in this room, including my good friend, the former 
warden of Rhodes House, Sir Edgar Williams, who is here with me today, 
played a major role in that great combat. It was a great privilege and 
honor for me to represent the United States in paying tribute to all the 
good people who fought and won World War II, an experience I have never 
had the like of and one which has profoundly deepened my own commitment 
to the work the people of the United States have entrusted to me.
    I am also deeply honored by this degree you have bestowed on me, as 
well as the honorary fellowship I received from my college today. I must 
say that, as my wife pointed out, I could have gotten neither one of 
these things on my own. [Laughter] I had to be elected President to do 
it--with her help. Indeed, it was suggested on the way over here that if 
women had been eligible for the Rhodes Scholarship in 1968, I might be 
on my way home to Washington tonight at this very moment. [Laughter]
    I am profoundly grateful for this chance to be with you and for this 
honor, not only because of the wonderful opportunity I had to live and 
study here a quarter century ago but because of the traditions, the 
achievements, the spirit of discovery, and the deep inspiration of this 
noble university. Even in a country so steeped in history, there are few 
institutions as connected to the past as Oxford. Every ritual here, no 
matter how small, has a purpose, reminding us that we must be part of 
something larger than ourselves, heirs to a proud legacy.
    Yet Oxford could hardly be called backward-looking. Over the 
centuries, as a center of inquiry and debate, this great university

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has been very much involved in the action and passion of its time. Just 
listen outside here: everything from disputes over battles to the nature 
of the Italian Government to the character of the word ``skinhead''--
[laughter]--is being debated even as we are here.
    This university has been very much committed to passing on our 
legacy to yet another generation. Our first obligation is what I have 
been doing here this week: It is remembrance--to know how we came to be 
what we are we have all learned again this week in reflecting on the 
uncommon valor and the utter loss that bought us 50 years of freedom. I 
know I speak for everyone in this theater when I say, again, a profound 
thank you to the generation which won World War II. We can never forget 
what was done for us. Our memories of that sacrifice will be forever 
alive.
    But our obligations surely go beyond memory. After all, when the 
soldiers of D-Day broke through at Normandy, when the sons and daughters 
of democracy carried on their struggle for another half-century, winning 
the cold war against the iron grip of totalitarian repression, they 
fought not for the past but for the present and the future. And now it 
falls to us to use that hard-won freedom, to follow through in this 
time, expanding democracy, security, prosperity, fighting bigotry, 
terrorism, slaughter, and chaos around the world.
    There are--make no mistake about it--forces of disintegration at 
work in the world today, and to some extent even within our own 
countries, that could rob our children of the bright future for which so 
many of our parents gave their lives.
    There are also, to be sure, forces of humanity in progress which, if 
they prevail, could bring human history to its highest point of peace 
and prosperity. At this rare moment, we must be prepared to move 
forward, for in the end, the numberless sacrifices of our forebears 
brought us to precisely this, an age in which many threats to our very 
existence have been brought under control for the moment.
    So what shall we do with the moment? Our challenge is to unite our 
people around the opportunities of peace, as those who went before us 
united against the dangers of war and oppression. The great Oxford don 
Sir Isaiah Berlin once said, ``Men do not live only by fighting evils; 
they live by positive goals, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, 
at times incompatible.''
    History does not always give us grand crusades, but it always gives 
us opportunities. It is time to bring a spirit of renewal to the work of 
freedom--to work at home to tap the full potential of our citizens, to 
strengthen our families and communities, to fight indifference and 
intolerance; and beyond our borders, to keep our nations strong so that 
we can create a new security, here especially, all across Europe; to 
reverse the environmental destruction that feeds the civil wars in 
Africa; to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and terrorism; to light 
the lives of those still dwelling in the darkness of undemocratic rule.
    Our work in this world, all of it, will surely take all of our 
lifetimes and more. But we must keep at it, working together with 
steadiness and wisdom, with ingenuity and simple faith. To those of you 
here in this ancient temple of learning and those beyond who are of a 
younger generation, I urge you to join this work with enthusiasm and 
high hope.
    This week, at the gravesites of the generation that fought and died 
to make us the children of their sacrifice, I promised that we would be 
the new pathfinders, lighting the way in a new and still uncertain age, 
striving in peace as they struggled in war. There is no greater tribute 
to give to those who have gone before than to build for those who 
follow. Surely, that is the timeless mission of freedom and civilization 
itself. It is what binds together the past, the present, and the future. 
It is our clear duty, and we must do our best to fulfill it.
    Thank you very much for this wonderful day.

Note: The President spoke at 3:32 p.m. in the Sheldonian Theater. In his 
remarks, he referred to the Rt. Hon. Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, 
chancellor of the university.

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