[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 39 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[Pages 1419-1421]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Reception for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in 
Little Rock

September 25, 1997

    Thank you very much. Secretary Gober, President Bucha, Mayor Dailey, 
Mayor Hays, Senator Beebe. Governor McMath, it's wonderful to see you 
here tonight, sir.
    I thank Secretary Gober for his introduction. It was overly generous 
but a good illustration of Clinton's first law of politics: Whenever 
possible, try to have yourself introduced by someone you have appointed 
to high office. [Laughter] Did you hear the story Secretary Gober said 
about he was in the Army, then he was in the Marine Corps, and his wife 
was in the Navy and then the Air Force. They're the only people I ever 
knew who organized a 30-year campaign to

[[Page 1420]]

be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. [Laughter] It worked.
    He has done a wonderful job. And thank you, Secretary Togo West, for 
the job you do for the United States Army, sir. I'd also like to thank 
the United States Military Academy Cadet Glee Club. I thought they did a 
terrific job. Go ahead and give them a hand. [Applause] And I think we 
can forgive them if there was just a little more zip in the Army song 
than the others. [Laughter] That, after all, is befitting.
    Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be here with you. I thank you 
for coming to my native State. I hope you have enjoyed it. I'm 
especially honored to be in the presence of people who are in what has 
been described as the most exclusive club in America, the Congressional 
Medal of Honor Society. Along with every other American, I feel a 
profound admiration for all of you for your acts of valor and heroism. I 
am especially gratified that several who wear the medal and who are in 
this room tonight are my fellow Arkansans, including Nick Bacon, 
director of veterans affairs here; Scooter Burke; Clarence Kraft; and 
Nathan Gordon.
    No one could live in this country for very long without being 
especially impressed with how genuinely patriotic most of our fellow 
citizens are. We are a nation of immigrants, proud of our roots, proud 
of what is distinctive about us, but there's an extraordinary amount of 
love in this country for our Nation, felt by almost every single 
citizen.
    Indeed, there's so much love in our country that, as you know, we 
very often have people join the United States military even before 
they're naturalized as citizens. I never will forget when we welcomed 
the Pope to Denver for the first time and I was escorting His Holiness 
down the line of all the well-wishers there at Regis University. We got 
to a young man in a United States Army uniform, and he broke into this 
elaborate conversation with the Pope in Polish. And I thought to myself, 
we could have had a Haitian-American speaking to the Pope in Creole; we 
could have spoken to the Pope in Spanish and Chinese and Japanese, in 
any number of languages in the world. This is the only country in the 
world where you can say that. When we turned back the dictators and 
restored the duly elected leaders in Haiti, America was the only country 
in the world where we were able to send 200 United States-citizen 
soldiers to Haiti who spoke the native language, Creole. But we are 
united by this almost mystical love of our country and its history and 
what it means.
    Nonetheless, we know that in every generation there will be a few 
who stand out, who are called upon to do things of such selfless heroism 
that their patriotism shines above all the others.
    Twice since I have been President, I have bestowed the Medal of 
Honor. First, very sadly, to Master Sergeant Gary Gordon and Sergeant 
First Class Randall Shughart posthumously, two men who bravely lost 
their lives in Somalia trying to save the lives of their fellow 
soldiers. Then, this year, because so much time had passed, a much 
happier occasion. Fifty years after the fact, we recognized seven 
African-American heroes of World War II who were prepared to sacrifice 
everything for our freedom, even though they didn't have full freedom 
when they came back home. That was a wonderful day. One painful, one 
wonderful, I will never forget either one, because both of them were 
examples of the truly extraordinary heroism which all of you who wear 
this medal have demonstrated in your service.
    When the battle was darkest, when the fortunes of war often favored 
an unforgiving enemy, somehow those of you who won the Medal of Honor 
and who earned the Medal of Honor found the strength, the will to fight 
more valiantly and turn the tide, to save the lives of your comrades, to 
save the day for America.
    Your president spoke a moment ago about the event we commemorated at 
Little Rock Central High School. Forty years ago, something happened 
here that none of us who are native to this State are especially proud 
of. Our former Governor, Governor McMath, who also was a Major General 
in the Marine Corps, tried to stop it. And I'll always be grateful to 
him. But in the end, those children were not denied admission to our 
high school, because the law of the land said we were all created equal. 
A Federal court issued an order to carry out the law, and the President 
of the United States and

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the Attorney General of the United States and the 101st Airborne 
Division of the United States Army did exactly that, and they stood up 
for the Constitution. They were heroes on that day as well.
    And somehow I think it's fitting that you are here on this day, and 
we can celebrate your heroism and you can participate in a moment of 
unique citizen heroism in the history of America. Think what it was like 
for those nine kids to show up and face a jeering mob, armed only with 
their notebooks and their school books. Think what it was like for their 
parents to send them into the storm not knowing whether they would come 
home.
    But if you look at the whole history of America, and if you look at 
the whole history of our military services, we see an unbroken chain in 
the continuing struggle to make our historic commitment to freedom and 
equality more real in each succeeding generation.
    Every American knows about our military's vital role in protecting 
our national interest and our values around the world. But the Armed 
Forces also has reflected and protected our values here at home. Our 
military promotes equality by rewarding merit without regard to race or 
gender and sets an example for every American and for every American 
institution where two or more people work together.
    And as I said, you cannot talk to any person who was alive and well 
in Little Rock 40 years ago who doesn't remember that it was the Army 
paratroopers who ultimately stood as a bulwark of protection for those 
nine little children, who were there for them because their President 
ordered them to stand up for the law of the land here at home.
    So I hope that you will always remember, throughout all your 
conventions and all your meetings, that you happened to come to Little 
Rock on a special day for America and a special day for America's 
military, a special example of personal patriotism and bravery by 
civilians, and that all of us--all of us--are profoundly grateful that 
you're here, for your valor and your sacrifice, for being there when 
your country needed you the most.
    Thank you for what you have done, and thank you, too, for what you 
continue to do as living examples of everything we love most about 
America.
    God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 8:44 p.m. at the Aerospace Education 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Paul Bucha, president, 
Congressional Medal of Honor Society; Mayor Jim Dailey of Little Rock; 
Mayor Patrick Henry Hays of North Little Rock; State Senator Mike Beebe; 
former Arkansas Governor Sid McMath; and Mary Lou Keener, wife of 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Hershel Gober. A tape was not available 
for verification of the content of these remarks.