[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 27 (Monday, July 12, 1999)]
[Pages 1302-1303]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Community at Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, 
South Dakota

July 7, 1999

    Thank you very much. Senator Daschle, Senator Johnson, Congressman 
Thune--can I pronounce the colonel's name right? Przybyslawski. How's 
that? [Applause]
    Let me say that I am also very grateful that we have been joined on 
this tour by several Members of Congress who are with me: 
Representatives Clyburn from South Carolina, Kanjorski from 
Pennsylvania, Kildee from Michigan, and Pastor from Arizona. And I bet 
there are people in this audience serving in our Armed Forces from all 
those States and more, and I thank them for coming as well. I thank 
Secretary Glickman, our Secretary of Agriculture, and Reverend Jesse 
Jackson, for being here.
    I came here today to say that we are profoundly grateful to the 
people of Ellsworth and the people of western South Dakota for making 
all of us feel so welcome in your beautiful home State. Last night I was 
fortunate enough to have a chance to tour two of the proudest monuments 
in all of America, Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument. And 
earlier today, as has already been said, all of us went out to the Pine 
Ridge reservation. We saw what you know are the profound needs of Indian 
country, but we saw a great deal of promise, as well.
    I'd also like to say that I am well aware, as a man who lived his 
life in a farming State before I became President, that the farmers and 
ranchers of South Dakota have not had an easy time lately. Wheat and 
livestock prices are low. They've been low. We have shown a commitment 
to see our farmers through these tough

times, and we will continue to keep that commitment. And I thank them for 
what they do.

    Most important, I want to thank the men and women of the 28th Bomb 
Wing. Now, I understand you're celebrating a Warrior Pride picnic today, 
honoring all those who have been deployed in the past year in Europe and 
around the world. And I've been told that this picnic will really get 
into high gear when I get off the ground. So I won't talk long.
    I do want to say, again, to each and every one of you individually, 
how profoundly I and your fellow countrymen and women are for your 
service in Kosovo--more than 30,000 sorties over 79 days, not a single 
pilot lost in combat; 19 NATO Allies working as a team through the 
longest and most difficult military engagement in the history of our 
Alliance. The men and women of Ellsworth were a major force behind 
Allied Force. Many of you are part of the 2d Air Expeditionary Group. 
The War Eagles of the 77th Bomb Squadron deployed out of Fairford, 
sending pairs of B-1's over targets in Kosovo twice a night.
    I want you to know that not very long ago, my wife and daughter and 
I visited a refugee camp in Kosovo full of children. The camp was in 
Macedonia, but it was full of Kosovar children who had literally seen 
the worst things that human beings can do to one another. I shudder to 
think how we would feel if our little children, those who are here 
today, had to witness those kinds of atrocities.

[[Page 1303]]

    But they never gave up hope, in large measure because they knew the 
United States was on their side. I wish every one of you in uniform 
could have heard those children in the camps, chanting, ``U.S.A., 
U.S.A., U.S.A.!'' Thanks to you, they're rebuilding their lives. Already 
they have braved landmines and other dangers so that 600,000-plus of the 
refugees have already gone home. They said it couldn't be done; it is 
being done because of you. And I thank you. The world is in your debt.
    I just want to say one more time that our allies in Europe, on which 
so much of our security depends, told me over and over and over again 
how grateful they were that America was there to stop the slaughter of 
people because of their religion or their ethnic groups. The killing of 
people has no place in the 21st century if it means innocent civilians 
are going to be slaughtered because of their race or religion. It is 
against everything America stands for. And we've stopped it. You should 
be very, very proud.
    Now, let me just say one other thing. A lot of times the spouses, 
the children, and the extended families of our bases don't get the 
credit they deserve. But I am well aware that nothing could be done 
without your support, and I want to thank you.
    The last point I'd like to make is that this whole trip we're 
taking--to the hills and hollows of Appalachia, to the Mississippi 
Delta, to the Pine Ridge reservation; we're now going to Phoenix and on 
to East Los Angeles--is designed to remind Americans that even though 
our country is now blessed by the longest economic expansion in 
peacetime in our history, not all Americans have been blessed by it. And 
we have to have a commitment to treat each other fairly and give 
everyone a chance.
    I also want to say that was a big part of why the United States 
Congress, with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, recently voted to raise 
the pay of our men and women in uniform and improve the retirement. And 
I appreciate that as well.
    I look around here and--all of you in uniform--I see men and women. 
I see people of all different faiths, races, and ethnic groups. You 
represent the kind of world we're trying to build for tomorrow, for 
these children to grow up in. And because you do what you do, we have a 
very good chance to build it.
    Thank you. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you very much. 
And I want to thank the band for the music. Will you play me a little 
more? One more piece, I loved it. Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 2:52 p.m. on the tarmac. In his remarks, he 
referred to Col. Anthony F. Przybyslawski, USAF, commander, 28th Bomb 
Wing; and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. A tape was not available 
for verification of the content of these remarks.