[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 39 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Pages 1880-1881]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the ``In the Beginning'' Exhibit at the Library of Congress

September 28, 1994

    Thank you very much. President and Mrs. Yeltsin, Mr. Speaker, 
Senator Stevens, distinguished Members of Congress and other guests: I'd 
like to say a special word of commendation to Dr. Billington. I don't 
have an informed opinion about his Russian, but his English was 
impeccable this morning.
    I'm honored to be joined by the President of the Russian Federation 
in opening the exhibit on the 200th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox 
Church in North America. We gather in a new era of cooperation between 
our countries, but this exhibit reminds us that the ties between our 
peoples are old and deep.
    Two centuries ago, eight Russian priests arrived in North America to 
minister to Russian traders and the native peoples of Alaska. Together 
they forged a partnership, a new Russian and native American community 
that eventually would stretch down the Pacific coast. Though born on 
different continents, they were all resourceful, brave, and faithful 
people.
    A century later, another Russian came to Alaska, Archbishop Tikhon. 
He soon presided over all the new Russian communities that had grown 
throughout the entire United States. He oversaw the completion of St. 
Nicholas Cathedral in New York City and returned to his mother country 
to become the first patriarch of Russia since the time of Peter the 
Great.
    In the years since, countless Russian immigrants to America have 
formed churches and cultural associations in many of our great cities 
and farming communities. They have strengthened American industry, 
education, science, and most notably, the arts: literature, music, and 
dance. As this exhibit shows, our Nation's history has long been 
enriched by the Russian people, their fortitude, their culture, and 
their faith.
    President Yeltsin, this library is a fitting place for this 
exhibition, for the Library of Congress first grew out of the personal 
library of our third President, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the 
Declaration of Independence and one of our first champions of religious 
tolerance and freedom. Today, the spirit of respect and understanding 
thrives in the exchange programs offered to the brilliant minds of young 
people from Russia and the United States. And we are joined here today 
by 30 of those students who have benefited from the exchange programs 
that our two Governments support so strongly.
    I'd like to recognize especially the efforts of our USIA Director 
Joe Duffey and Senator Bill Bradley, who have worked so hard to make 
these exchanges a reality. Thomas Jefferson would be proud of them both.
    As we remember the ties between Russia and America of two centuries 
ago, let us welcome our new ties and the new spirit of cooperation and a 
new century of partnership

[[Page 1881]]

that lies ahead, remembering that much of it began on one of the most 
important principles of our entire existence in America, the principle 
of religious liberty. When our Founders fought for the freedom of this 
country, they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honor for the right of every American to worship as he or she chooses.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 10:28 a.m. in the Great Hall. In his 
remarks, he referred to James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress.