[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 7 (Monday, February 20, 1995)]
[Pages 258-260]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Memorial Service for J. William Fulbright

February 17, 1995

    Mrs. Fulbright, the children and grandchildren of Senator Fulbright, 
all of his family and friends here assembled, we come to celebrate and 
give thanks for the remarkable life of J. William Fulbright, a life that 
changed our country and our world forever and for the better. In the 
work he did, the words he spoke and the life he lived, Bill Fulbright 
stood against the 20th century's most destructive forces and fought to 
advance its brightest hopes.
    He was the heir of Jefferson in our time. He believed in the 
American idea, but he respected others who saw the world differently. He 
lived with passion tempered by reason. He loved politics, but cautioned 
against the arrogance of power. He cherished education as the answer to 
our common problems and our personal dreams. But he knew there would 
always be more to learn.
    Time and again for 32 years as a Congressman, a Senator, Chairman of 
the Foreign Re- 

[[Page 259]]

lations Committee, he worked for progress and peace, often against great 
odds and sometimes at great personal cost, expanding opportunities for 
the people of his beloved Arkansas and other Americans who needed help 
to make the most of their lives, leading the way to found the United 
Nations, taking a long, lonely stand against Joseph McCarthy, expanding 
the reach of our culture as the driving force behind the Kennedy Center, 
fighting to change our course in Vietnam, reminding us that the forces 
of freedom would win the cold war if we could avoid nuclear war, what he 
called his generation's power of veto over the next, and of course, in a 
cold dawn only 2 weeks after Hiroshima, calling for the creation of the 
international exchange program that will live as his most profound 
legacy.
    The Fulbright Scholarship Program is a perfect example of Bill 
Fulbright's faith, different kinds of people learning side by side, 
building what he called ``a capacity for empathy, a distaste for killing 
other men, and an inclination for peace.'' Next year will be the 50th 
anniversary of that program. Now it includes as its alumni Nobel Prize 
winners, Members of Congress, leaders for peace and freedom the world 
over, and many not so famous people who went home to live out the faith 
of Senator Fulbright, more than 120,000 from other countries have come 
here and more than 90,000 Americans have gone overseas to study, to 
learn, and to grow. No matter what their native tongue, all of them are 
now known by the same name, Fulbrights.
    In a way, a lot of us here, especially those of us from Arkansas and 
those who worked for him in other ways over the years, are also in our 
own way Fulbrights. Those of us who knew and loved him, who worked for 
him, who learned from him, each of us have our indelible memories, some 
of them serious, some of them quite funny.
    I must say that I was a little reluctant to accept the request that 
I speak today because I once attended a funeral with Bill Fulbright, and 
I know how much distaste he had for highly formalized rituals. If he 
were giving me instructions, he'd say, ``Bill, say something nice, be 
brief, and try to get everybody out so they can enjoy this beautiful 
day.''
    But let me tell you that those of us who understood and shared his 
roots in the Ozarks, those of us who knew what his life was like as a 
young person growing up and playing football and becoming the president 
of a university, those of us who understood later in life what he 
learned when he had the chance first to travel overseas and study in 
England and see the insanity that resulted from the squandering of the 
victory in World War I, those of us who saw firsthand the enormous 
anguish he felt, as I would see him early in the morning and late in the 
evening in the Senate office building, in the great struggles over the 
Vietnam war, those of us who saw him in his campaign in 1968, when this 
country was being literally torn apart, still trying to learn, trying to 
understand, and trying to be understood, we will never forget the debt 
that we owe him and the debt the country owes him.
    When Mrs. Fulbright spoke last year in Germany, in recognition of 
the Senator's receipt of a distinguished award from the American Chamber 
of Commerce there, she quoted from a letter Senator Fulbright received 
30 years ago. I'd like to leave it with you, so that you can remember 
something of what he did, and the times in which he did it.
    She said, all this talk of leadership, freedom and education may 
seem simple, self-evident and commonplace to you now, but there was a 
time when it was considered radical, even dangerous. Thirty years ago, 
Senator Fulbright was called names I wouldn't dream of putting on paper, 
much less pronouncing to a respectable audience. He got emotional 
letters full of praise and hate. There was one which affected him far 
more deeply than all the rest. And after reading it, he closed his 
office doors, ordered all the calls held, and wrote in longhand an 
answer which he did not copy. I will read you the letter:
    ``Dear Senator Fulbright: I have never voted for you. I have never 
missed a chance to belittle you. But deep inside me, there was a nagging 
suspicion that I have been wrong. As this world plunges headlong toward 
what well may be its destruction, it gets increasingly harder to hear 
lonely voices, such as yours, calling for common sense,

[[Page 260]]

human reason, and the respect for the brotherhood of man. But be of good 
cheer, my friend, keep nipping at their heels. This old world has always 
nailed its prophets to trees, so don't be surprised at those who come at 
you with hammers and spikes. Know that those multitudes yet unborn will 
stand on our shoulders. And one among them will stand a little higher 
because he is standing on yours.''
    We owe a lot to Bill Fulbright, some of us more than others. Let us 
all remember the life he lived and the example he set.
    A few years ago, Senator Fulbright came home to Fayetteville, and we 
celebrated a Fulbright Day. I was then the Governor, and after the 
official event, we went back to his hotel room and watched the football 
game. And when the young player for one of the teams kicked a field 
goal, he looked at me and he said, ``You know, I used to do that over 60 
years ago. I don't know what happened to all those years. They sure 
passed in a hurry.'' I think we can all say that they also passed very 
well.
    Senator Fulbright's lesson is captured on the statue in the 
Fayetteville town square in these quotes: ``In the beauty of these 
gardens, we honor the beauty of his dream, peace among nations and free 
exchange of knowledge and ideas across the Earth.'' Bill Fulbright also 
left us the power of his example, always the teacher and always the 
student.
    Thank you, friend, and Godspeed.

Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. at the Washington National 
Cathedral. In his remarks, he referred to the Senator's wife, Harriet 
Fulbright.