[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 31 (Monday, August 9, 1999)]
[Pages 1552-1553]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Death of Willie Morris

August 3, 1999

    Hillary and I were greatly saddened to learn of the death of our 
good friend Willie Morris. When I was a senior in college, I was 
captivated by his wonderful memoir, ``North Toward Home.'' I had the 
opportunity to visit New York City and meet him, then the remarkably 
young editor of Harper's magazine, who had started out in a small 
Southern town not unlike my own and who never lost his fascination with 
the human condition. In the 1980's, we became reacquainted, and I have 
enjoyed his wit, warmth, and wisdom ever since. Willie Morris was not 
only my friend, he was a national treasure. He had enormous pride in and 
love for the South, but he also had a passion to right the wrongs of our 
racial history. He will take his place beside Faulkner and Welty in the 
pantheon of the South's greatest writers. Our thoughts and prayers go to 
his wife Joanne, his son David, and his family and friends.

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