[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 22 (Monday, June 2, 1997)]
[Pages 788-791]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Ceremony Honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan 
in The Hague

May 28, 1997

    Thank you very much, Mr. Sedee, for sharing your wonderful story. I 
forgive you for stealing the matchbook from the White House. [Laughter] 
In fact, just before we came in, I confess that I had heard he did such 
a thing, so without theft, I brought him some cufflinks and some Oval 
Office candy for his grandchildren today. [Laughter]
    Your Majesty, Prime Minister, fellow heads of state and leaders of 
government, ministers parliamentarian, Members of Congress, to the youth 
leaders from Europe and America, to all of you who had anything to do 
with or were ever touched by the Marshall plan. And I'd like to say a 
special word of appreciation to two distinguished Americans, former 
Ambassadors General Vernon Walters and Arthur Hartman, who worked on the 
Marshall plan as young men, who have come here to be with us today.
    This is a wonderful occasion. We are grateful to the Queen, the 
Government, and the people of The Netherlands for hosting us and for 
commemorating these 50 years. The words of Mr. Sedee reach out to us 
across the generations, no matter where we come from or what language we 
speak. They warn us of what can happen when people turn against one 
another and inspire us with what we can achieve when we all pull 
together. That is a message that we should emblazon in our memories.
    Just as we honor the great accomplishments of 50 years ago, as the 
Prime Minister said so eloquently, we must summon the spirit of the 
Marshall plan for the next 50 years and beyond to build a Europe that is 
democratic, at peace, and undivided for the first time in history, a 
Europe that does not repeat the darkest moments of the 20th century but 
instead fulfills the brightest promise of the 21st.
    Here in the citadel of a prosperous, tolerant Dutch democracy, we 
can barely imagine how different Europe was just 50 years ago. The 
wonderful pictures we saw with the music, helped us to imagine: Some 
30,000 dead still lay buried beneath the sea of rubble in Warsaw; 
100,000 homes had been destroyed in Holland; Germany in ruins; Britain 
facing a desperate shortage of coal and electric power; factories 
crippled all across Europe; trade paralyzed; millions fearing 
starvation.
    Across the Atlantic, the American people were eager to return to the 
lives they had left behind during the war. But they heeded the call of a 
remarkable generation of American leaders, General Marshall, President 
Truman, Senator Vandenberg, who wanted to work with like-minded leaders 
in Europe to work for Europe's recovery as they had fought for its 
survival. They knew that, as never before, Europe's fate and America's 
future were joined.
    The Marshall plan offered a cure, not a crutch. It was never a 
handout; it was always a hand up. It said to Europe, ``If you will put 
your divisions behind you, if you will work together to help yourselves, 
then America will work with you.''
    The British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, called the Marshall 
plan a lifeline to sinking men, bringing hope where there was none. From 
the Arctic Sea to the Mediterranean, European nations grabbed that 
lifeline, cooperating as never before on a common program of recovery. 
The task was not easy, but the hope they shared was more powerful than 
their differences.
    The first ship set sail from Texas to France with 19,000 tons of 
wheat. Soon, on any given day, a convoy of hope was heading to Europe 
with fuel, raw materials, and equipment. By the end of the program in 
1952, the Marshall plan had pumped $13 billion into Europe's parched 
economies. That would be the equivalent of $88 billion today. It 
provided the people of Europe with the tools they needed to rebuild 
their shattered lives. There were nets for Norwegian fishermen, wool for 
Austrian weavers, tractors for French and

[[Page 789]]

Italian farmers, machines for Dutch entrepreneurs.
    For a teenage boy in Germany, Marshall aid was the generous hand 
that helped lift his homeland from its ruinous past. He still recalls 
the American trucks driving onto the schoolyard, bringing soup that 
warmed hearts and hands. That boy grew up to be a passionate champion of 
freedom and unity in Europe and a great and cherished friend of America. 
He became the first Chancellor of a free and unified Germany. In his 
good life and fine work, Helmut Kohl has come to symbolize both the 
substance and the spirit of the Marshall plan. Thank you.
    Today we see the success of the Marshall plan and the nations it 
helped to rebuild. But more, we see it in the relations it helped to 
redefine. The Marshall plan transformed the way America related to 
Europe and, in so doing, transformed the way European nations related to 
each other. It planted the seeds of institutions that evolved to bind 
Western Europe together, from the OECD, the European Union, and NATO. It 
paved the way for reconciliation of age-old differences.
    Marshall's vision, as has been noted, embraced all of Europe. But 
the reality of his time did not. Stalin barred Europe's Eastern half, 
including some of our staunchest allies during World War II, from 
claiming their seats at the table, shutting them out of Europe's 
recovery, closing the door on their freedom. But the shackled nations 
never lost faith, and the West never accepted the permanence of their 
fate. And at last, through the efforts of brave men and women determined 
to live free lives, the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fell.
    Now, the dawn of new democracies is lighting the way to a new Europe 
in a new century, a time in which America and Europe must complete the 
noble journey that Marshall's generation began and this time with no one 
left behind. I salute Prime Minister Kok for his leadership and the 
leadership his nation is giving to ensure that this time no one will be 
left behind. [Applause] Thank you.
    Twenty-first century Europe will be a better Europe, first, because 
it will be both free and undivided; second, because it will be united 
not by the force of arms but by the possibilities of peace. We must 
remember, however, that today's possibilities are not guarantees. Though 
walls have come down, difficulties persist: in the ongoing struggle of 
newly free nations to build vibrant economies and resilient democracies; 
in the vulnerability of those who fear change and have not yet felt its 
benefits; to the appeals of extreme nationalism, hatred, and division; 
in the clouded thinking of those who still see the European landscape as 
a zero-sum game in terms of the past; and in the new dangers we face and 
cannot defeat alone, from the spread of weapons of mass destruction to 
terrorism, to organized crime, to environmental degradation.
    Our generation, like the one before us, must choose. Without the 
threat of cold war, without the pain of economic ruin, without the fresh 
memory of World War II's slaughter, it is tempting to pursue our private 
agendas, to simply sit back and let history unfold. We must resist that 
temptation. And instead, we must set out with resolve to mold the hope 
of this moment into a history we can be proud of.
    We who follow the example of the generation we honor today must do 
just that. Our mission is clear: We must shape the peace, freedom, and 
prosperity they made possible into a common future where all our people 
speak the language of democracy; where they have the right to control 
their lives and the chance to pursue their dreams; where prosperity 
reaches clear across the continent and states pursue commerce, not 
conquest; where security is the province of all free nations working 
together; where no nation in Europe is ever again excluded against its 
will from joining our alliance of values; and where we join together to 
help the rest of the world reach the objectives we hold so dear.
    The United States and Europe have embraced this mission. We're 
advancing across a map of modern miracles. With support from America and 
the European Union, Europe's newly free nations are laying the 
cornerstones of democracy. With the help of the USIA's Voice of America, 
today's celebration is being heard freely by people all across this 
great continent.

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    In Prague, where listening to Western broadcasts was once a criminal 
offense, Radio Free Europe has made a new home and an independent press 
is flourishing. In Bucharest, democracy has overcome distrust, as 
Romanians and ethnic Hungarians for the very first time are joined in a 
democratic coalition government. Thank you, sir.
    From Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, the people of Russia went to the 
polls last summer in what all of us who watched it know was a fully 
democratic, open, national election.
    We must meet the challenge now of making sure this surge of 
democracy endures. The newly free nations must persevere with the 
difficult work of reform. America and Western Europe must continue with 
concrete support for their progress, bolstering judicial systems to 
fight crime and corruption creating checks and balances against 
arbitrary power, helping to install the machinery of free and fair 
elections so that they can be repeated over and over again, 
strengthening free media and civic groups to promote accountability, 
bringing good government closer to the people so that they can have an 
actual voice in decisions affecting their lives.
    We have also helped new democracies transform their broken economies 
and move from aid to trade and investment. In Warsaw, men and women who 
once stood on line for food now share in the fruits of Europe's fastest 
growing economy, where more than 9 of 10 retail businesses rests in 
private hands. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the international 
financial institutions have channeled to the new democracies some $50 
billion to strengthen the foundations of their market economies. And as 
markets have emerged, another $45 billion in private investment has 
flowed from places like Boston and London to help support enterprises 
from Budapest to L'viv.
    Now, as the new democracies continue to scale the mountains of 
market reform, our challenge is to help them reap more fully the 
benefits of prosperity, working to make the business climate as stable 
and secure as possible, investing in their economies, sharing 
entrepreneurial skills, and opening the doors of institutions that 
enable our community to thrive.
    Again let me say America salutes the European Union's commitment to 
expand to Central and Eastern Europe. We support this historic process 
and believe it should move ahead swiftly. A more prosperous Europe will 
be a stronger Europe and also a stronger partner for Europe's North 
American friends in America and Canada.
    Nations that tackle tough reforms deserve to know that what they 
build with freedom, they can keep in security. Through NATO, the core of 
transatlantic security, we can do for Europe's East what we did in 
Europe's West: defend freedom, strengthen democracy, temper old 
rivalries, hasten integration, and provide a stable climate in which 
prosperity can grow.
    We are adapting NATO to take on new missions, opening its doors to 
Europe's new democracies, bolstering its ties to nonmembers through a 
more robust Partnership For Peace, and forging a practical, lasting 
partnership between NATO and a democratic Russia--all these things 
designed to make sure that NATO remains strong, supports the coming 
together of Europe, and leads in meeting our new security challenges.
    Yesterday in Paris, the leaders of NATO and Russia signed the 
historic founding act that will make us all more secure. We will 
consult, coordinate, and where both agree, act jointly, as we are doing 
in Bosnia now.
    Now, consider the extraordinary milestone this represents. For 
decades, the fundamental security concern in Europe was the 
confrontation between East and West. For the first time, a new NATO and 
a new Russia have agreed to work as partners to meet challenges to their 
common security in a new and undivided Europe, where no nation will 
define its greatness in terms of its ability to dominate its neighbors. 
Now we must meet the challenge of bolstering security across outdated 
divides, making the NATO partnership work with Russia, continuing NATO's 
historic transformation.
    In less than 6 weeks, NATO will meet again in Madrid to invite the 
first of Europe's new democracies to add their strength to the alliance. 
The prospect of NATO membership already has led to greater stability, 
for aspiring members are deepening reform and re

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solving the very kinds of disputes that could lead to future conflict.
    The first new members will not be the last. NATO's doors must and 
will remain open to all those able to share the responsibilities of 
membership. We will strengthen the Partnership For Peace and create a 
new Euro-Atlantic partnership council so that other nations can deepen 
their cooperation with NATO and continue to prepare for membership.
    But let us be clear: There are responsibilities as well. Enlargement 
means extending the most solemn guarantees any nation can make, a 
commitment to the security of another. Security and peace are not cheap. 
New and current allies alike must be willing to bear the burden of our 
ideas and our interests.
    Our collective efforts in Bosnia reflect both the urgency and the 
promise of our mission. Where terror and tragedy once reigned, NATO 
troops are standing with 14 partner nations, Americans and Russians, 
Germans and Poles, Norwegians and Bulgarians, all in common cause to 
bring peace to the heart of Europe. Now we must consolidate that hard-
won peace, promote political reconciliation and economic reconstruction, 
support the work of the International War Crimes Tribunal here in The 
Hague, and help the Bosnian peace make the promise of the Dayton accord 
real.
    Today I affirm to the people of Europe, as General Marshall did 50 
years ago: America stands with you. We have learned the lessons of 
history; we will not walk away.
    No less today than five decades ago, our destinies are joined. For 
America, the commitment to our common future is not an option, it is a 
necessity. We are closing the door on the 20th century, a century that 
saw humanity at its worst and at its most noble. Here, today, let us 
dedicate ourselves to working together to make the new century a time 
when partnership between America and Europe lifts the lives of all the 
people of the world.
    Let us summon the spirit of hope and renewal that the life story of 
Gustaaf Sedee represents. He has a son, Bert, who is a bank executive. 
Today, he is helping to fulfill the legacy his father so movingly 
described, for just as the Marshall plan made the investment that helped 
Holland's industry revive, Bert Sedee's bank is helping Dutch companies 
finance investments in Central and Eastern Europe. Just as the American 
people reached out to the people of his homeland, Bert Sedee and his 
colleagues are reaching out to the people in Slovenia, Latvia, Bosnia, 
and beyond.
    The youngest members of the Sedee family are also in our thoughts 
today, Gustaaf Sedee's grandchildren, Roeland and Sander, 9 months and 
1\1/2\. I wonder what they will say 50 years from today. I hope that 
they and all the young people listening, those who are aware of what is 
going on and those too young to understand it, will be able to say, ``We 
bequeath to you 50 years of peace, freedom, and prosperity.'' I hope 
that you will have raised your sons and daughters in a Europe whose 
horizons are wider than its frontiers. I hope you will be able to tell 
your grandchildren, whose faces most of us will not live to see, that 
this generation rose to the challenge to be shapers of the peace. I hope 
that we will all do this, remembering the legacy of George Marshall and 
envisioning a future brighter than any, any people have ever lived.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 4:49 p.m. in the Hall of Knights at 
Binnenhof Palace. In his remarks, he referred to Gustaaf Albert Sedee, 
who represented The Netherlands during a visit to the White House on 
February 3, 1949.