[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 16 (Monday, April 26, 1999)]
[Pages 681-683]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Former 
Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany

April 20, 1999

    The President. Secretary Cohen, Mr. Berger, distinguished 
Ambassadors, Senator Roth, Congressman Pickett, other Members of the 
Congress, retired Members of Congress, present and former members of the 
diplomatic corps, and to our German and American exchange students who 
are here: Welcome to the White House.
    Today it is my privilege to confer America's highest civilian honor 
on a great statesman of the 20th century, the Federal Republic of 
Germany's longest serving Chancellor, Helmut Kohl.
    President Kennedy first saw the design for the Medal of Freedom on 
July 3, 1963, just a week after he had gone to Berlin and challenged a 
new generation of Germans to forge a future of freedom and unity, of 
European integration and American partnership. No one did more to 
fulfill the hopes that President Kennedy expressed on that trip than 
Helmut Kohl.
    Very few non-Americans have received the Medal of Freedom. The last 
year a foreign leader was honored was 1991, when President Bush 
presented the award to Margaret Thatcher. That day we celebrated a 
partnership among nations and leaders that helped to end the cold war 
with a victory for freedom.
    Today we honor a partnership dedicated to building a 21st century 
Europe that can preserve the freedom and peace and find genuine unity 
for the first time. Today we honor the leader whose values and vision 
have made that possible.
    In 1991 the world was very different. The Berlin Wall had come down, 
but a profound gulf separated the eastern half of Europe from its more 
affluent neighbors to the West. Everyone agreed that something had to be 
done to bring Europe together, but not everyone had a clear idea of what 
that something should be.
    Some people thought NATO should go the way of the Warsaw Pact, and 
that in its place we had to build something new, untested, unproven, a 
community that embraced everyone but imposed no true obligations on 
anyone. Others felt that our challenges in Eastern Germany and Eastern 
Europe consisted simply of sending assistance and plenty of advice. They 
were in no hurry to open our institutions to nations and people they 
thought of as distant and foreign.
    But Helmut Kohl understood that we needed a bold vision, backed by a 
practical blueprint, grounded in the institutions that had served us so 
well for so long. He said, ``We are all called upon to construct a new 
architecture for the European house, a permanent and just peace order 
for our continent.''
    Consider the splendid house that has risen since then. Germany is 
united. Europe has achieved economic and monetary union. NATO has three 
new members. The European Union soon will embrace nations from the 
Baltics to the Balkans. What a remarkable few years it has been.
    The story of Helmut Kohl is the story of 20th century Germany. He 
was born in 1930 in Ludwigshafen, a small city on the Rhine. He saw 
firsthand the ravages of nazism. His brother, Walter, perished in the 
war that tore Europe apart. But the young man, then called ``der 
Lange,'' the tall one, was quick to see the possibilities of hope and 
rebirth in the postwar world.
    Through the Marshall plan, he saw firsthand what Europeans and 
Americans could do together to spread good will and support for 
democracy among young people.

[[Page 682]]

    When he was only 16, he was one of the very first people to join the 
Christian Democratic Union. Indeed, his membership number was 00246. And 
50 years ago, at the age of 19, he and his friends were actually briefly 
detained at the French border for causing what must be the friendliest 
border incident in history: they tried to remove some of the barriers 
between the countries and carried banners in support of Franco-German 
friendship and European unity. ``Der Lange'' was not your everyday 
teenager.
    As Helmut Kohl's political star rose, he never wavered from those 
convictions. He believed young people were crucial to the future. He 
still believes that. And we thank him, and we thank the young Germans 
and Americans who are here to honor him.
    He championed the Franco-German friendship as the linchpin of the 
new Europe, a friendship crystallized in the unforgettable moment he and 
Francois Mitterrand clasped hands at Verdun. He always maintained that 
the new architecture of Europe must be built on the foundation of 
transatlantic partnership. And he reached out to Russia, to Ukraine, to 
the other former Communist countries, to make them a part of 21st 
century Europe.
    He served as Chancellor for 16 years. Future historians will say 
Europe's 21st century began on his watch. In the months that followed 
the fall of the Berlin Wall, he conceived a generous vision for 
Germany's unification and for a new partnership between the West and a 
democratic Russia. He saw the imperative of Europe's unification, 
politically and economically. He saw the need to embrace other nations 
into Europe's family, putting Germany in the center, not on the edge any 
longer, of a united, democratic Europe, a Europe where borders do not 
limit possibilities and where nationhood is a source of pride, not a 
crucible of conflict.
    It is to protect that vision that the NATO allies are in Kosovo 
today, to defeat the cynical vision embodied by Mr. Milosevic in which 
the most primitive hatreds and brutal oppression are more important than 
mutual respect and common progress.
    Anyone who respects the legacy of Helmut Kohl knows that for peace 
to survive in Europe our alliance of democracies must stand, and stand 
together, against dictators who exploit human differences to extend 
power. And we must stay true to our vision long after we achieve 
military goals. Germany was buoyed by hope through the Marshall plan; 
Greece and Turkey, rescued by the Truman doctrine; central Europe, 
helped by the West in this decade, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 
Those were wise investments. We must be equally farsighted toward 
southeastern Europe.
    Among all the success stories of the late 20th century, none is more 
dramatic or instructive than the rebirth of Germany as a free and 
democratic nation. Germany's story has taught the world two profound 
truths: First, that it is possible for a people who love light and 
laughter to descend into the blackest darkness; and second, that it is 
also possible for a people to return to the light and lead others by 
their example.
    Germany is proof that war and ethnic hatred are not inevitable; that 
they do not represent a permanent aspect of the human condition; that 
the unacceptable is not written by fate into our destiny. But we can and 
must remain willing to act, because the work of building a new world 
never ends. That is the lesson of America, the lesson of Germany, the 
lesson of the 20th century.
    In 3 days the leaders of NATO and its partner nations will gather in 
Washington to mark the 50th anniversary of our alliance and to chart 
NATO's future path. The challenge we face in Kosovo has demonstrated 
beyond a shadow of a doubt that America and Europe need an alliance that 
combines our strength to protect our values and project stability 
eastward in Europe; an alliance ready to meet new challenges to our 
security, with allies able to contribute to the effort; an alliance open 
to new democracies making the right choices; an alliance that continues 
to work with Russia despite tensions that arise when we disagree.
    As Helmut understood so well, our vision of a Europe whole and free 
will not succeed unless it embraces a partnership with democratic 
Russia. And it will not succeed unless it is embraced by Russia. That is 
the kind of alliance that must and will emerge from the Washington 
summit.

[[Page 683]]

    I can think of no better way to begin this week of allied solidarity 
than by honoring Helmut Kohl. When I was elected President, Helmut had 
been Chancellor for a decade. Seven years later, I find myself the 
senior leader of the G-8. In countless ways, I learned from him. In 
Bonn, I once told an audience that my opinion on most issues could be 
summed up in four words: I agree with Helmut. [Laughter] Those words 
have never failed me.
    After our first meeting in 1993, he summed it up when he said, ``the 
chemistry is right.'' Well, the chemistry was right every time we met: 
Right when we planned NATO enlargement; right when we discussed our 
shared hopes for Russia; right when we talked about multilateral issues 
over a multicourse dinner at Helmut's favorite Washington restaurant, 
Filomena's--[laughter]--even right when he made me eat saumagen--
[laughter]--and in spite of that--[laughter]--I hope our dinners 
continue far into the new century.
    With the 21st century breaking over the horizon, we can look back on 
the 20th century, with its grave threats to our common humanity and its 
great leaders--Churchill, Roosevelt, de Gaulle--for unifying Germany and 
Europe, for strengthening the Western alliance and extending the hand of 
friendship to Russia, Helmut Kohl ranks with them. His place in history 
is unassailable. And he has been a true friend of the United States.
    In 1989, the year of Germany's rebirth, we heard Beethoven's ninth 
symphony as if for the first time, with Schiller's ``Ode to Joy'' 
capturing the feeling of a world coming together. In that same poem, 
ironically written just after the American Revolution, Schiller wrote 
that the circle of universal freedom begins very simply with the 
friendship linking two people.
    Helmut, President Kennedy stirred the world at the Berlin Wall when 
he said, along with freedom-loving people everywhere, ``Ich bin ein 
Berliner.'' Today a grateful United States says to you, ``Du bist ein 
Americaner.''
    In countless ways you have been an American. It is my honor to award 
you the Medal of Freedom.
    Commander, read the citation.

[At this point, Comdr. Michael M. Gilday, USN, Navy Aide to the 
President, read the citations, and the President presented the medal. 
Chancellor Kohl then made brief remarks.]

    The President. I would like to invite all of you to join us in the 
State Dining Room for a reception in honor of Chancellor Kohl.
    Thank you very much, and we're adjourned.

Note: The President spoke at 2:37 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to former Prime Minister Margaret 
Thatcher of the United Kingdom; and President Slobodan Milosevic of the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).