[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 50 (Monday, December 14, 1998)]
[Pages 2446-2449]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Receiving the W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award

December 8, 1998

    Thank you for the wonderful welcome. My good and longtime friend 
Paul Kirk, thank you for your wise words and your kindness and for the 
award. Generally, I don't think Presidents should get awards. But I like 
this one awful well. [Laughter]

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    I am honored to be here with the NDI. I thank Ken Wollack, Jean 
Dunn, and all the others here who worked to make your work a success. I 
thank you for establishing a fellowship in Cecile Ledsky's name. I thank 
you for honoring our other honorees who richly deserve to be recognized.
    I thank the members of our Government who have helped me to become 
involved in Ireland. I thank the Members of Congress who are here whose 
support and interest and consistent commitment has been absolutely 
indispensable for the work that we have done in these last few years.
    I thank our Ambassadors--Phil Lader, our Ambassador to Great 
Britain; and our new Ambassador to Ireland, my longtime friend Governor 
Mike Sullivan. I welcome him. Jim Lyons, thank you; Brian Atwood; all of 
our special guests from Northern Ireland and Ireland; my fellow Irish-
Americans; and a special thanks to George Mitchell. I thank you all.
    Let me also say I'm delighted to have an award named for Averell 
Harriman. Hillary and I had the great honor and real joy of getting to 
know Governor Harriman in his later years. We spent the night with him a 
time or two. We once stayed up half the night listening to him talk to 
us about how he was Roosevelt's envoy with Churchill and Stalin. It is a 
pretty hard act to follow.
    But I think--I believe Governor Harriman and the men and women of 
his generation would be proud of America, as it stands on the eve of a 
new century and a new millennium. We can look ahead to the last year of 
this, the ``American Century,'' with confidence that we have never been 
a stronger force for peace and for democracy.
    Some of the most entrenched conflicts the world has known have given 
ground in the last few years to a new spirit of cooperation. Countries 
dominated for centuries by strife, speaking a new language, talking 
about a shared future: in the Middle East, where religious hatred seemed 
as old as the region itself; in the Balkans, where I heard propagandists 
blame tensions on the battle of Kosovo in 1389; in Peru and Ecuador, 
where a border war had roots that went back centuries; and, of course, 
in Northern Ireland, where the Troubles dragged on for nearly three 
decades, but the arguments went back for hundreds of years.
    Fortunately, the people of Northern Ireland today are looking 
forward to a shared 21st century in freedom, democracy, and peace. So 
many people are making progress around the world, but we all know it's 
hard. It's hard right now in Northern Ireland. It's hard right now in 
the Middle East. Hillary and I and members of our administration are 
going to Israel and Gaza at the end of this week to do what we can to 
keep the process agreed to at Wye on track.
    It's hard in Kosovo, where American diplomacy under Dick Holbrooke's 
leadership and NATO's threat of military force averted a crisis but 
where we still must have a political settlement and political reform in 
Serbia to have a lasting peace. It is hard.
    One of the things that makes it so hard, and one of the things that 
makes democracy so essential, is that people have to be both free to be 
the best they can be, free to live their dreams and lift people 
according to their aspirations. They have to know that they count just 
as much as anyone else. But one of the things that makes democracy so 
essential is they have to know that there is some restraint, on 
themselves and on others, beyond which they cannot go.
    For how many times have I seen, these last 6 years, leaders of 
opposition factions, in talks or at the edge of conflict, or trying to 
get out of conflict, desperately, desperately want to reach across the 
lines that divide them to advance the cause of peace, but so frightened 
that, instead, they had to rub salt in their adversary's wounds, so as 
not to lose the political support of their own folks at home. It is 
imperative that we push peace and democracy at the same time.
    One thing I would like to say to the Irish here--both the Irish--
Irish from the North and from the Republic, the American Irish--is that 
it is impossible for you to understand, perhaps, that even though all 
these issues may seem unrelated, a breakthrough in one area can 
dramatically increase the confidence and the passion of other 
peacemakers.
    The Good Friday agreement and its overwhelming ratification by 
voters sent a strong signal around the world. It put a lot of extra 
pressure on me. Just a few days ago, I had

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a meeting with a group of Greek-Americans, and if I heard it once, I 
heard it 10 times, ``Now, you did all that work in Ireland, and you sat 
there for 9 days and got that Wye agreement, and I do not understand why 
the Cyprus problem is beyond reach. I know that you can make some 
progress there.''
    That's good. Headache for me, probably, but it's good. It's good 
that when people do things in one part of the world, it makes other 
people believe that they're not stuck in this mindless rut of conflict.
    So I thank you for this award. I'm very proud of my Irish heritage. 
I'm proud that I could play a role in the process so far. I'm proud of 
what the First Lady has done with the Vital Voices movement and other 
ways--for what she has done.
    As I can't say too many times, I'm grateful to Senator Mitchell, to 
the Congressmen and women in this room and beyond who have reached 
across party lines in America to work for peace across religious lines 
in Ireland. And I'm very proud of the Irish-American community.
    But the people on the other side of the Atlantic still deserve the 
lion's share of the credit. Many of them are here--Gerry Adams, Lord 
John Alderdice, David Ervine, Monica McWilliams, Gary McMichael, Malachi 
Curran--there are others. I thank Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern, their 
predecessors John Bruton, Albert Reynolds, John Major, Mo Mowlam--one of 
a kind.
    I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to see David Trimble and John 
Hume off to get the Peace Prize. But I've had some good and good-natured 
talks with them both. I told David Trimble--I know you noticed this 
tonight--ever since he won the Nobel Prize, he's dressing a lot better. 
[Laughter] Now, that's a very good sign for peace, you know. [Laughter] 
And my only complaint with the Nobel committee is that they should have 
given it to more people involved in this process as well. And we'd have 
had even a bigger, broader--[inaudible]--of enthusiasm. I thank you all.
    I want you to think about this, because we're at a little bit of a 
tough spot in the road in Ireland right now. On the day that David and 
John get the Nobel Peace Prize, for their own work and as stand-ins for 
many of you, too, the world will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of 
one of the greatest documents of the 20th century: the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights. The timing could not be better because, 
like democracy, the cause of human rights and peace are part and parcel 
of the same idea: the common claim to dignity of all humanity; the idea 
that self-respect and mutual respect are not exclusive, but two sides of 
the coin of peace and harmony.
    In his Nobel speech a few years ago, Seamus Heaney said of Northern 
Ireland, ``No place in the world prides itself more on its vigilance and 
realism. No place considers itself more qualified to censure any 
flourish of rhetoric or excess of aspiration.'' I think that is a 
dignified, Seamus-way of saying, we don't like long speeches telling us 
what we have to do. So I will give you a short speech telling you what I 
think we have to do. [Laughter]
    I hope I can strike the right note between a celebration of how far 
we've come with a plea to keep the work going. I hope the parties will 
move quickly to resolve the remaining differences, keeping an open mind, 
acting in good faith, remembering how much all have gained by the hard 
work that has already been done. Not only the letter but the spirit of 
the Good Friday accord must prevail.
    I have closely followed recent efforts to hammer out agreements for 
the new executive political structures, and the bodies to deal with 
cross-border issues. Bringing these institutions to life is absolutely 
essential to keep up the momentum for peace, and we urge a speedy 
resolution. I also applaud the tireless work of John de Chastelain 
toward achieving the vital goal of disposing of weapons now that the war 
is over.
    Hillary just came back--[applause]--thank you--Hillary just came 
back from a profoundly moving trip to Central America, where our friends 
and neighbors are struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch, the 
worst hurricane in 200 years. So devastating that we are concerned that, 
if we don't do all we can to help them rebuild, that they could lose the 
democracy, the freedom, the peace for which they have fought so long and 
hard. But one reason, we think, that it will

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hold on in Guatemala and El Salvador is because, as a part of their 
peace process, they were vigorous in decommissioning, in giving up arms 
and moving toward peace.
    Somehow or another, sooner or later, we all have to decide we can't 
shoot our way out of our differences and our difficulties.
    We know the real prize still lies ahead, that day in the not-too-
distant future when men, women, and children can walk all the streets of 
Belfast, Derry, Omagh without fear; when respect and trust has replaced 
suspicion; when machine guns and explosives are as irrelevant as suits 
of armor; when investors pour money into new ventures that spread 
opportunity to all; when the people of Ulster are known far and wide as 
the people who rose to this great challenge, proved they were bigger 
than their differences, and were able to go across the world, as I said 
the last time I was in Northern Ireland.
    And look at the people on Cyprus. Look at the people in the Balkans. 
Look at the people in Central Africa, and say, we did this, and we had 
troubles centuries old, not just 30 years. We did it. And you can, too.
    We cannot afford to be complacent or frustrated or angry. We always 
knew there would be bumps in the road and that no matter what the 
referendum vote was, after the Good Friday agreement, there would be 
difficulties. The United States pledges again to be with you every step 
of the way, because all of us know that the Irish in America for more 
than 200 years have brought us to this day, as much as any group of 
people.
    We all know, too, as I will say again, that we must have democracy 
and human rights in the end to have peace. As long as I am President, I 
will do everything I can to advance the cause of peace, democracy, and 
human rights; to do everything I can to anticipate conflicts before they 
occur; to listen to both sides when they do occur; to do my best to 
persuade parties that benefits lie just ahead if they stop living in the 
past and begin to imagine the future. Yes, in Northern Ireland, in the 
Middle East, in Cambodia, Nigeria, Congo, Cyprus, the Balkans, 
everyplace where there are children who deserve a better future waiting 
to be born.
    America will always stand with those who take risks for peace. I 
salute the NDI for keeping our democratic aspirations in sharp focus. I 
salute the honorees tonight, those of you whose names were called 
earlier. You really deserve these awards. I ask you to continue your 
efforts, to keep your spirits up, to keep your vision high, to remember 
how we felt when the Good Friday accord was ratified, to remember how 
you feel on the best days when the worst days come around, and to 
remember, no matter how tough it gets, it is always better for our 
children to reach across the lines that divide and build a future that 
they're all a part of together.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:48 p.m. at a National Democratic 
Institute dinner in the ballroom at the Shoreham Hotel. In his remarks, 
he referred to Paul G. Kirk, Jr., chairman, Kenneth D. Wollack, 
president, and Jean Dunn, vice president for administration and 
development, National Democratic Institute; former Senator George J. 
Mitchell, who chaired the multiparty talks in Northern Ireland; Special 
Envoy Richard C. Holbrooke; Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams; Alliance Party 
leader Lord John Alderdice; Progressive Unionist Party spokesman David 
Ervine; Monica McWilliams of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition; 
Ulster Democratic Party leader Gary McMichael; Northern Ireland Labour 
Party leader Malachi Curran; Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Prime 
Minister John Major of the United Kingdom; Prime Minister Bertie Ahern 
and former Prime Ministers John Bruton and Albert Reynolds of Ireland; 
United Kingdom Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Marjorie Mowlam; 
and John de Chastelain, member and chair, Independent International 
Commission on Decommissioning. The President also mentioned former 
program officer and technical writer at the State Department, Cecile W. 
Ledsky, who died December 2.