[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 3 (Monday, January 25, 1999)]
[Page 63]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Telephone Remarks to the Wall Street Project Conference

January 14, 1999

    I am very sorry that bad weather prevented me from being with you 
tonight. But if Mother Nature is kind, I will be in New York tomorrow. I 
want to thank all of you for coming together through the Wall Street 
Project to work to ensure that the unprecedented prosperity of our time 
reaches into every corner of America.
    We are living in blessed times. Our economy is the strongest in a 
generation. Our social fabric is mending. That's why we must seize this 
moment of prosperity to tackle some of our greatest challenges. You 
gather tonight in one of the greatest monuments of American capitalism. 
But just blocks away, there are hard-working families who have yet to 
feel the prosperity. We have not only an opportunity, we've got an 
obligation to give all of them the tools they need to share in this 
bounty.
    As leaders of the companies on the Big Board, as the men and women 
who have helped to transform America into the world's economic 
superpower, you must help to build the bridge between those who work in 
our gleaming office towers and those who live in their shadows, between 
Wall Street and our greatest untapped markets. Tomorrow I'll talk about 
my plan to work with all of you to bring capital and hope to our most 
underserved neighborhoods.
    Not too long ago, Reverend Jackson once talked about the freedom 
symphony he would write for America. The first movement would represent 
our liberation from slavery; the second would be the struggle to end 
legal segregation; the third would be the fight to win the vote; and the 
final movement would be the crusade to bring economic opportunity to all 
Americans. You can help to write that movement. In fact, it can't be 
written without you.
    I thank you for helping to make sure that no family is left behind. 
And I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 8:30 p.m. from the Oval 
Office at the White House to the conference in New York City. In his 
remarks, he referred to civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson. This 
item was not received in time for publication in the appropriate issue.