[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 45 (Monday, November 10, 1997)]
[Pages 1741-1743]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Dedication of the George Bush Presidential Library in 
College Station

November 6, 1997

    Thank you very much President and Mrs. Bush, President and Mrs. 
Ford, President and Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Reagan, Mrs. Johnson, David and 
Julie Eisenhower, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Reverend Graham, 
Governor and Mrs. Bush, Vice President and Mrs. Quayle, and to all the 
foreign dignitaries and American officials who are here.
    The sun is shining on Texas A&M today. And the sun is shining on 
America today. You know, we have an interesting country, with a lot of 
religious, racial, and political diversity. Once in a while, we all get 
together. This morning, I think it's fair to say that all Americans are 
united in tribute to President George Bush for his lifetime of service 
to America.
    I enjoyed immensely listening to the previous speakers. When Mrs. 
Reagan spoke--I hope someday Al Gore will be glad that we had lunch once 
a week. [Laughter] When President Ford spoke, I said, I hope I will look 
that good when I am 25 years younger than he is. [Laughter] When 
President Carter spoke, I thought, thank goodness he

[[Page 1742]]

just reminded the whole world that Presidents have to raise all the 
money for their libraries. [Laughter]
    In 1942, young George Bush heard Secretary of War Henry Stimson 
challenge his generation to be, and I quote, ``be brave without being 
brutal; self-confident without boasting; part of an irresistible might, 
but without losing faith in individual liberty.'' President Bush not 
only heard those words, he has lived them. And he has rallied his fellow 
citizens to serve as well in their communities, for their country, and 
for the cause of democracy around the world.
    There are many things that I, not only as President but as a 
citizen, am grateful to George and Barbara Bush for. I'd like to just 
mention a few today. As President and afterward, he has worked to ensure 
that ``A Thousand Points of Light'' is not merely a striking image but a 
lasting legacy. I thank him for that initiative and for cochairing the 
Presidents' Summit on Service.
    As President, he summoned all the Governors, including me, to the 
University of Virginia for a summit on education, where we stayed up 
more than half the night in a totally bipartisan fashion to write 
national education goals for our country. And when he was President, 
Mrs. Bush espoused the importance of literacy and the importance of 
citizens volunteering to make sure all our children can read. I thought 
of that when we launched our America Reads initiative, which now has 
tens of thousands of college students at hundreds of universities all 
across America, trying to do what Barbara Bush always said we should do, 
to make sure every one of our fellow citizens could read and read well. 
And I thank them both for that.
    As President and afterward, President Bush stood for American 
leadership for peace and prosperity, for freedom and democracy. He was 
the last President of the cold war, but he knew that American 
responsibility could not end with the cold war. And he showed us that in 
Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The vigilance President Bush displayed 
in dealing with Iraq, as we all know, is required again today. And I 
believe the American people support that vigilance, thanks in no small 
measure to your example not so long ago. And I thank you for that, Mr. 
President.
    As President and afterward, President Bush pushed America to embrace 
new alliances of trade as instruments of both economic growth and 
growing democracy. He launched NAFTA and the talks that led to the World 
Trade Organization. I was proud to complete those efforts, and I am very 
grateful for the support he continues to give, along with our other 
former Presidents, to the imperative of American leadership in expanding 
alliances of trade, not only for our economic welfare but to support our 
political ideals.
    Tomorrow the House of Representatives will vote on whether to extend 
fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements. I hope Congress will 
follow the lead that President Bush and the other former Presidents have 
set to expand trade and our vital horizons in the 21st century. I thank 
you, Mr. President, for that.
    For more than 4\1/2\ years now, even though our relationship began 
under somewhat unusual circumstances, I have been very grateful that 
whenever I called on President Bush, he was always there with wise 
counsel and, when he agreed, with public support. It's hard to express 
to someone who hasn't experienced it what it means in a moment of 
difficulty to be able to call someone who, first of all, knows exactly 
what you're up against and, secondly, will tell you the truth. And he 
has done that time and time again. I am persuaded that the country is 
better off because of it. And I thank you, Mr. President, for your 
counsel and your assistance.
    This magnificent library will be a place for scholars who try to 
understand what has happened in some of America's most important years. 
It's a place for citizens who want to know right now what went on in the 
life and career of George Bush. It's also a place from which any person 
would draw enormous inspiration, a place for the reaffirmation of our 
faith in America.
    Benjamin Franklin told our Constitutional Convention, ``The first 
man put at the helm will be a good one, but no one knows what sort will 
come afterward.'' Mr. President, I think if Benjamin Franklin were here 
today, he would say that in George Bush, America

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has had a good man whose decency and devotion have served our country 
well. And that is the story this library will tell to generations to 
come.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. in front of the library building 
at Texas A&M University. In his remarks, he referred to former First 
Ladies Barbara Bush, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Lady 
Bird Johnson; David Eisenhower, grandson of former President Dwight D. 
Eisenhower, and his wife, Julie, daughter of former President Richard M. 
Nixon; Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of former President John 
F. Kennedy; Rev. Billy Graham, who gave the invocation; Gov. George W. 
Bush of Texas, and his wife, Laura; and former Vice President Dan Quayle 
and his wife, Marilyn.