[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 19 (Monday, May 17, 1999)]
[Pages 857-859]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following the White House Strategy Meeting on Children, 
Violence, and Responsibility and an Exchange With Reporters

May 10, 1999

    The President. Please be seated, everyone. We're getting our group 
up here, you see. It's a little slow--it's a large and, as you can see, 
diverse and distinguished group. We just had a wonderful meeting in the 
East Room of the White House. We had not only the Vice President and 
Tipper and Hillary and I, but many members of our administration and 
four Members of Congress: Senator Brownback and Senator Reid and Leader 
Gephardt and Representative Jennifer Dunn were there.
    And we listened to several hours of discussions; over 40 people 
spoke, many of them already heavily involved in the efforts to give our 
children a safe childhood and protect them from violence.
    This was exactly the kind of session I had hoped for, where everyone 
was talking about the problems and the opportunities; everyone was 
talking about what could be done to accept responsibility. No one was 
pointing the finger of blame.
    In the weeks and months ahead, as we launch our national campaign to 
prevent youth violence, we will build on the strong foundation of this 
day and on many of the things which have been said and many of the 
people who have said them.
    I want to say a special word of appreciation to the young people who 
are here today and who are working in their own communities to try to 
help their fellow students have a safe and wholesome life.
    As the national campaign gets underway, we know we'll have to 
overcome the old ways of doing business. We've seen some of that today 
as well, in the remarkable support that gun manufacturers have given to 
many of our commonsense gun proposals. We see in the

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efforts of networks like ABC and CBS, and private family foundations 
like Kaiser, and agencies like the FCC, all of whom have supported the 
television rating systems, and giving parents the tool of the V-chip to 
protect children from excessively violent programming.
    We know that there is more for each of us to do at home and at 
school, in Hollywood and in the heartland and here in Washington. Every 
parent, every teacher, every leader has something more to do.
    First and most fundamentally, we must do more to help parents 
fulfill their most important responsibilities, those to their children. 
Challenging parents to turn off the television when they don't like what 
they see, to use the new tools the Vice President announced recently to 
keep an eye on the computer screen, to refuse to buy products that 
glorify violence. If no one consumes these products, people will stop 
producing them. They will not build it if you don't come.
    To the media and entertainment industries, I also say we need your 
wholehearted participation in this cause. There are many changes which 
have occurred over the last generation in our society. It is true that 
we've had a lot of breakdowns in families, schools, and communities. It 
is true that we have had a rise in the availability of weapons. It is 
also true that there has been a coarsening of the culture in many ways. 
And those who influence it must be sensitive to that.
    I mentioned today that not very long ago there was a fascinating 
story on the birth of Hollywood, the virtual creation of Hollywood by 
immigrants, on one of our cable channels. And the story really 
graphically demonstrated how these immigrants, who came to the United 
States, faced initial discrimination, went to California to make a new 
life--created an image of America, and an image of the American dream 
and an image of American life in the movies that they made that had a 
very positive impact on the culture of America for decades.
    We cannot pretend that there is no impact on our culture and our 
children that is adverse if there is too much violence coming out of 
what they see and experience. And so, we have to ask people who produce 
things to consider the consequences of them--whether it's a violent 
movie, a CD, a video game. If they are made, then at least they should 
not be marketed to children.
    Finally, I urge Congress to join in this campaign by passing the 
legislation necessary to keep guns out of the hands of children. As a 
group of gun manufacturers and sportsmen made clear today, these are 
commonsense measures that they support.
    There are also other things that we can do, that I hope we will do 
to provide more support for counseling services, for mental health 
services, for other things which will help to improve our efforts.
    Again, let me say, I want to thank the Vice President and Tipper 
Gore for the work they have done on these issues for years. I want them 
to come forward and speak. But first, I want to ask the First Lady to 
speak and acknowledge that she has to go to a school as soon as she 
finishes talking here.
    She had the idea for us to call this national conference and to try 
to organize a national grassroots campaign. It was a good idea, and it 
looks like a lot better idea after today's meeting. So I want to thank 
Hillary for everything she's done and ask her to come forward and say a 
few words.

[At this point, Hillary Clinton, Tipper Gore, and Vice President Al Gore 
made brief remarks.]

    The President. Thank you very much. Thank you.
    Q. [Inaudible]--forces? Is that good enough?

Situation in the Balkans

    Q. Mr. President, are you encouraged by word of a Serb withdrawal?
    The President. Well, I'm encouraged by any good word, but I think 
that the conditions that we set out are the minimal ones to make this 
work. I don't think that the--after all the Serbs--after all the buildup 
and the hundreds of thousands of Kosovars have been driven out, many, 
many killed, I don't think they'll come back with that. So I think we 
have to do better.
    But any little daylight, any little progress is--it's better than it 
was the day before. We just have to bear down and keep working, and 
we'll work through it.

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    But I think that forces have got to be withdrawn. There has to be an 
international security force there. Otherwise, they won't come home. And 
that's the important thing.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:06 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. The transcript made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary also included the remarks of Hillary Clinton, Tipper Gore, and 
Vice President Al Gore.