[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- 

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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.

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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.