[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 31 (Monday, August 5, 1996)]
[Pages 1347-1349]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the National Medals of Science and Technology

July 26, 1996

    Thank you very much. Thank you. Please be seated. We're honored to 
be joined today by Senator Chris Dodd; Chairman Ben Gilman; Congressman 
George Brown; Secretary Kantor; Secretary O'Leary; Secretary Shalala; 
Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Joe Stiglitz; Dr. Laura 
Tyson, the head of the National Economic Council; Dr. Neal Lane, the 
National Science Foundation Director; and Dr. Harold Varmus, the 
Director of NIH; Mary Good, the Undersecretary of Commerce for 
Technology; and, of course, the President's adviser on science and 
technology, Dr. Jack Gibbons, who has done a wonderful job. I want to 
thank him for everything he's done.
    I am very honored to be here today to present the winners of the 
National Medals of Science and Technology. Scientists have always been 
at the center of our national defense and our national conscience. 
Sometimes they have been one and the same. Thirty-three years ago today 
President Kennedy, with the advice and counsel of his science adviser, 
Jerome Wiesner, and the scientific community, called upon our Nation to 
take a step back from the shadows of war by supporting a limited nuclear 
test ban treaty. In that famous speech, President Kennedy envisioned a 
farther reaching treaty that banned all testing everywhere, including 
underground.
    Today I am proud to tell you that when the conference on disarmament 
reconvenes in Geneva on Monday, we will be one step closer to realizing 
President Kennedy's vision of a safer world. The United States will 
support without change the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty that 
the chairman of the negotiating committee proposed when the negotiations 
adjourned last June. The United Kingdom, France, and Russia have also 
announced their support for this document. Now I call upon other members 
of the conference to do the same. I urge them to endorse and forward the 
chairman's text without change to the United Nations so that the General 
Assembly can approve the treaty and open it for signature in September. 
What a remarkable thing that would be.
    This is an exciting time for our entire world and, of course, for 
America. Today we are enjoying the Olympic games, and as we applaud the 
athletes in Atlanta we have to remember that the technological advances 
of many, many people throughout the world have made it possible for all 
of us to enjoy it, perhaps more when we aren't there than even when we 
are, although having been there I can vouch for the virtue of being 
there.
    We also have to remember that America is engaged in another kind of 
competition, the competition for leadership in the world in science and 
technology and for the jobs and economic growth and social stability 
that they create. Here at home our economic strategy is working. Our 
people have created more than 10 million new jobs in the last 4 years. 
We've cut the deficit by more than half, and we're the first 
administration to cut it 4 years in a row since John Tyler in the 
1840's. Every time I say that and someone's impressed, I have to add 
that President Tyler was not reelected. [Laughter] But I think it was a 
good thing, anyway, that he did.
    Real hourly wages are rising again after dropping for a decade. The 
combined rate of unemployment, inflation, and home mortgages are the 
lowest in three decades, so our country is moving in the right 
direction. But to stay on top in the global economy, clearly we have to 
do more. I've done everything I can to increase our commitment to 
support scientific research and development at every level, especially 
at our universities. Government investment in technology is responsible 
for the computer, the jet aircraft, and the

[[Page 1348]]

Internet. Once these inventions were the stuff of science fiction. Now 
it is hard to imagine life without them. No investments we've ever made 
has paid off better in jobs, in growth, in opportunity. Breakthroughs of 
the kind we applaud today do not just happen overnight. They represent 
years and years of investment and hard work. If we want the best science 
in the world, we must have the best scientists.
    Last fall I launched a program to connect every classroom in America 
to the Internet by the year 2000. I want to make a college education 
available for every American who is willing to work for it. I want to 
make at least 2 years of education after high school as much of a 
standard for everybody as a high school education is now.
    All these things will help us to grow the economy and to allow 
America to grow together into the 21st century. But if we really want 
the America of our dreams, we must have research and development at 
universities and at every level as a funding priority for America. We 
must extend the research and development tax credit to encourage the 
private sector to do its part as well. This is absolutely critical.
    Today I'm announcing a research contract to build the world's 
fastest and largest supercomputer at the Department of Energy's Lawrence 
Livermore Laboratory in California. This new supercomputer will be 300 
times more powerful than any in the world. If it were an Olympic pole 
vaulter, for example, that means it would beat the current world record 
by about 600 stories on a typical building. [Laughter] This computer 
will be able to do in one second what it would take a person with a 
handheld calculator 30,000 years to accomplish. It will bring us closer 
to a comprehensive test ban by helping to maintain the safety and 
reliability of our own nuclear stockpile without resorting to nuclear 
testing.
    Unlike other supercomputers developed for national security 
purposes, it can quickly be switched to important civilian applications 
as well: developing new drugs and medical devices, improving weather 
forecasting, designing safer and faster airplanes, exploring space. In 
partnership, the Department of Energy and IBM will help us to build this 
machine which will go on line in 1998. The new supercomputer is the 
result of our investment in research and development. It will help to 
make sure that America enters the 21st century as the world leader in 
computing power and that we retain that lead for decades to come.
    In a few moments it will be my privilege to present the National 
Medals of Science and Technology to a number of very distinguished 
Americans, to whom we're all grateful. When I do I`ll have the honor to 
award a special posthumous National Medal of Technology to the late 
Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown. Many of you who knew and worked with 
Ron know that he was a tireless advocate of Government leadership in 
research and development, especially in technology. He understood that 
it was the key to producing world-class technology to ensure America's 
leadership in the global economy. He knew that he could do his job 
better in promoting our economic interests around the world if we were 
still leading in research and development, in technology, in 
partnerships with the private sector.
    He knew the American spirit of innovation is one of our greatest 
national resources. And for him it was embodied in the Department of 
Commerce's advanced technology program. Under his leadership that 
program prospered and forged remarkable, remarkable partnerships with 
the private sector, with remarkable results. I regret to say that there 
are some who disagree with us on this in the Congress. I think it is 
more ideology than evidence. And I hope, in the spirit of science, we 
can look at the evidence and realize that Ron Brown was right. It's hard 
not to miss him at an occasion like this which would have given him so 
much pride in our Nation and its prospects.
    As I present these awards, let us all remember the impact that the 
work of these people have on our world. Police officers are stronger and 
safer because their bulletproof vests are stronger. People undergoing 
organ transplants have a better chance of complete recovery. Our 
aviation safety is more secure.
    Like the athletes in Atlanta, these men and women have devoted 
themselves to being the best at what they do. Their vision, their 
genius, their constant commitment to do their

[[Page 1349]]

work better have made America a better place and the world a better 
place. They deserve the highest measure of our respect and praise, and 
they also deserve our support in following policies that will enable 
them and those who will succeed them to keep alive the burning torch of 
research, development, science, and technology in the United States for 
as long as we are here.
    We cannot let them down when they have done so much for us. I ask 
you to join me in honoring them and, Major, you can begin to read the 
citations.

[At this point, Maj. Michael Mudd, USA, Army aide to the President, read 
the citations, and the President presented the medals.]

    Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to adjourn. I do want to make one 
announcement. After my hamhanded attempt, Dr. Samuelson succeeded in 
putting the medal over his own head. And I don't know how many of you, 
like me, read his textbooks in college, but that is not the first 
problem that he could solve that I couldn't. [Laughter] So it's been 
another exercise in Presidential humility from you, sir. Thank you very 
much.
    It's been a wonderful afternoon. Thank you. God bless you all, and 
good day. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:50 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Paul A. Samuelson, National Medal 
of Science recipient. This item was not received in time for publication 
in the appropriate issue.