    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 25 (Monday, June 27, 1994)]
    [Pages 1325-1327]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the GI Bill of Rights

    June 22, 1994

        Thank you so much, Mr. Shropshire, for that introduction and for
    your service to your country and for making the most of the GI bill. And
    thank you, Mr. Mendoza, for your service to your country and for
    reminding us of the future of the GI bill.
        Thank you, Secretary Brown, leaders of veteran service
    organizations, and staff of the department of veterans administration
    who are here; to all the Members of Congress, Senator Robb, Senator
    Thurmond, Senator Jeffords, Congressman Price, Congresswoman Byrne,
    Congressman Sangmeister, Congresswoman Brown, Congressman Bishop; and
    thank you especially, Congressman Sonny Montgomery, for a lifetime of
    devotion to this cause. I'd like to also acknowledge three of
    Congressman Montgomery's colleagues in the Senate and House on the
    relevant committee who could not be with us today: Senator Rockefeller,
    Senator Murkowski, and Congressman Stump.
        Before I begin, if I might, I'd like to say a brief word about a
    development in Brussels this morning that is in so many ways a tribute
    to the men and women who have worn the uniform of this country over the
    last 50 years. Today Russia took an important step to help shape a safer
    and more peaceful post-cold-war world.
        As all of you know, it wasn't very many days ago that we and the
    Russians were able to announce that, for the first time since both of us
    had nuclear weapons, our nuclear weapons were no longer pointed at each
    other. Today, Russia made a decision to join 20 other nations of the
    former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and Western Europe in NATO's
    Partnership For Peace, to work together on joint planning and exercises,
    and to commit themselves to a common future, to a unified Europe where
    neighbors respect their borders and do not invade them but, instead,
    work together for mutual security and progress.
        I want to join with the Secretary of State, who was on hand for the
    signing in Brussels, in commending the Russian people and their leaders
    on this farsighted choice. And I think that all of us will join them in
    saying this is another step on our long road in man's everlasting quest
    for peace. We thank them today.
        As Secretary Brown and Mr. Shropshire said in their eloquent
    remarks, I had the opportunity not long ago of commemorating the service
    of our veterans at Normandy and in the Italian campaign. Joined by some
    of the veterans who are here today, including General Mick Kicklighter,
    who did such a wonderful job in heading the committee that planned all
    those magnificent events, we remembered the sacrifices of the brave
    Americans and their Allies who freed a continent from tyranny.
        Their legacy is plain to see today in the wave of democracy sweeping
    across a united Europe. But their legacy is also clear here at home.
    Fortunately, in spite of the terrible losses, most of them did come
    home. And with a helping hand from Uncle Sam, they sparked an explosion
    of American energy and industry. They built the great American mid-

    [[Page 1326]]

    dle class, the powerful example which, more than anything else, helped
    us over the last 50 years to win the war for freedom and democracy and
    enterprise, because people could look at the American veterans, the
    legacy they made here at home and see that our system, our values, and
    our ideals worked.
        As all of you know, it was 50 years ago today that President
    Roosevelt signed the GI bill of rights. It was actually known as the
    Servicemen's Readjustment Act. Just as D-Day was the greatest military
    action in our history, so the GI bill arguably was the greatest
    investment in our people in American history. It provided the
    undergirding for what has clearly been the most successful middle class
    in all of history. That lesson, in many respects, is one I have tried to
    make the lesson of our administration: If you give the American people,
    ordinary Americans, a chance to help themselves, they will do
    extraordinary things.
        Before World War II, our country typically gave veterans pensions
    and bonuses, but they had nothing to build a future with. That's why
    despairing veterans of World War I actually marched on this city in
    1932, and why President Roosevelt, learning the lesson of World War I,
    declared that the GI bill gave ``emphatic notice to the men and women of
    our Armed Forces that the American people do not intend to let them
    down.''
        We know why the GI bill didn't let them down. It relied on the
    American values of work and responsibility. It offered not a handout,
    but a hand up. The veterans of World War I got a handout, and they
    deserved it. But it was $60 and a train ticket home. The veterans of
    World War II got a ticket to the American dream.
        The GI bill helped over 15 million returning veterans begin that
    journey. It helped all of them, black or white, Asian or Latino, rich or
    poor. But it was up to them to seize the opportunities. And look what
    they did. They built countless new homes and businesses. They flooded
    collages and trade schools. Out of the World War II class, 450,000
    became engineers; 360,000 became schoolteachers; 240,000 became
    accountants. That's before we needed them all in Washington. [Laughter]
    One hundred and eighty thousand became doctors and nurses; 150,000
    became scientists, paving our way to the next century. All of us are
    better off for their determination.
        We cannot even calculate how much our Nation has been enriched by
    the GI bill, how many communities have sprung up, how many companies
    have prospered, how many families have earned their share of the
    American dream. This much we do know, that the GI bill began the process
    of building the middle class that has been the bulwark of our prosperity
    ever since the end of World War II.
        And it's still working today. For 50 years now, soldiers like Hugo
    Mendoza have stood sentry around the globe, securing our freedom, and
    knowing that on their return they would find also a stepping stone of
    opportunity. Today, as we face yet a new era of change and challenge, we
    have new choices to make. Almost everything I am trying to do as
    President is to ensure that we make the right choices so that we can
    secure our liberty and our prosperity and expand those great virtues
    across the world as we move into the next century.
        Almost everything we are trying to do is animated by the spirit and
    the ideas behind the GI bill. Give Americans a chance to make their own
    lives in the fast-changing world; they will secure the American dream.
    They will secure our freedom. They will expand its reach if you give
    them the power to do it.
        At Normandy I was able to pay special tribute to the first
    paratroopers to land in the D-Day operation, called the Pathfinders,
    because they lighted the way for those who followed. Today, it is up to
    us to be the pathfinders of the 21st century. The powerful idea behind
    the bill of rights for the GI's is still the best light to find that
    path.
        Our job now is to do everything we can to help Americans to have the
    chance to build those better lives for themselves. That is the best way
    to prove ourselves worthy of the legacy handed down by those who
    sacrificed in the Second World War, those who have worn our uniform
    since, and those who have been given their just chance at the brass ring
    through the bill of rights for the GI's.
        Thank you very much.

    [[Page 1327]]

    Note: The President spoke at 1:25 p.m. at the Department of Veterans
    Affairs. In his remarks, he referred to Garnett G. Shropshire, World War
    II veteran, who introduced the President, and Hugo Mendoza, Persian Gulf
    war veteran.