[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 27 (Monday, July 10, 2000)]
[Pages 1583-1585]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Aboard the U.S.S.  John F. Kennedy  in New York City

July 4, 2000

    Let me say, if Seaman Rosa Norales-Nunez gets much more practice, 
she can start running for office in her new country someday. Wasn't she 
terrific? Let's give her another hand. I thought she was great. 
[Applause]
    I would like to also welcome the other new citizens who we swore in 
a few moments ago, and I ask you to give them a hand, too. They come 
from all over the world. [Applause]
    Hillary and Chelsea and I are honored to be here with all of you: 
Secretary and Mrs. Cohen, Attorney General Reno, Secretary Slater, 
Ambassador and Mrs. Holbrooke, Secretary Danzig; to the Members of the 
Congress who are here. I know that Senator Levin and Senator Dodd and 
former Senator John Glenn are back there behind me, and I saw Senator 
Lautenberg out in the audience. And there are a lot of other Members of 
Congress here. I'd like to ask all the Members of Congress to stand and 
be recognized. [Applause] I saw a half a dozen--Representative Lowey, 
Miller--thank you. Thank you all for being here.
    I'd also like to recognize the currently reigning Miss America, 
Heather French, who has made the welfare of our veterans her great cause 
this year. Heather, stand up and be recognized. Thank you for being 
here. [Applause]
    And I would like to recognize also, because President Kennedy 
started this event, I would like to thank Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg 
and Ed Schlossberg and their three wonderful children for being here 
today. And welcome to all of you.
    And I would like to thank Chairman Robertson and his wife. You know, 
he told me when he got up here and opened this, that's the first public 
speech he had ever made. I think he did a pretty good job, don't you? 
And besides that, he produced all these ships. So give him a hand. 
[Applause] Thank you.

[[Page 1584]]

    I want to thank all the men and women in uniform who are here, and 
all of those who have come here from other nations to be a part of the 
international naval review and Operation Sail. I want to thank Captain 
Mike Miller, the officers, and the crew of the JFK, especially. I know 
they had to ``turn to'' to make this day possible.
    For all of you who are not familiar with the exploits of the U.S.S.  
John F. Kennedy,  let me tell you that from the Atlantic to the Red Sea 
to the Mediterranean to the Arabian Gulf, this great ship has more than 
met its mission; it has proved truly worthy of its heroic and noble 
name.
    Let me also say today that there is another heroic name we honor 
today. I am especially pleased to announce that the United States Navy 
will designate its newest class of ship, the Zumwalt class, in honor of 
Admiral Elmo ``Bud'' Zumwalt. And I would like to ask his wife, Mouza, 
and his son and other family members to stand today and be recognized. 
Let's give them a big hand. Thank you. God bless you. [Applause]
    Admiral Zumwalt passed away just 2 days into this new century. He 
was my mentor, my friend, and a magnificent role model. He was a friend 
and a passionate advocate for every sailor in his beloved Navy. His 
deeply, profoundly moral leadership will shape the character and 
conscience of our Navy for generations to come, and all America salutes 
him today. He deserves to have a class of ships named after him.
    When he passed away, one of the naval aides who works for me in the 
White House, who happens to be a Filipino-American and has been in the 
United States Navy for 30 years, looked at me with tears in his eyes and 
he said, ``Admiral Zumwalt was our admiral; he cared about all of us.'' 
And today we honor him in this way.
    I just want to say one or two other things about this important day, 
for the Navy and for all Americans. On this day, which we commemorate 
because of what happened at Independence Hall with the Declaration of 
Independence, the greatest hero of our Revolution was not in 
Philadelphia but instead was here on Manhattan Island preparing his 
outnumbered army for battle. Staring out over the very waters where we 
sit today, General George Washington saw the British warships landing at 
Staten Island, the vanguard of the largest expeditionary force ever 
launched by the British Empire.
    As the armies eyed each other across this channel, the Declaration 
of Independence arrived from Philadelphia. George Washington ordered it 
to be read aloud to the troops. It was at the tip of Manhattan Island, 
just to our north, where the troops first heard they were actually 
citizens of a new nation, where they first heard the words, ``We hold 
these truths to be self-evident,'' and where they first pledged their 
lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor.
    The patriots of 1776 took these colonies and made out of them a 
country. They took a vision of liberty and made it into the law of this 
land. To a world that knew rule only by kings and lords, America's creed 
confounded imagination. In the words of one British loyalist, ``If the 
people be the governors, who shall be the governed?'' America's answer 
was, the governors and the governed must be one and the same.
    More than two centuries later, for the first time in all of history, 
more than half of the people of this globe live under governments of 
their own choosing. An astonishing long way we have come since this day 
in 1776.
    Just behind me on Ellis Island, the ancestors of more than 100 
million United States citizens took their first steps on America's soil. 
They're the forebears of the immigrants who took the oath of citizenship 
today. Pulled by the vision of liberty and opportunity, often pushed by 
forces of intolerance and hopelessness, they came and brought with them 
their skills, their knowledge, and their hearts.
    For more than a century, those who came through this gateway have 
passed a statue as large as the ideal for which it stands. ``She was 
beautiful with the early morning light,'' said one young woman fleeing 
tyranny from eastern Europe. ``The whole boat bent toward her because 
everybody went out; everybody was in the same spot; and everybody was 
crying.'' One Greek immigrant remembers looking up at the Statue of 
Liberty and asking her, ``Please, give me the chance to become someone 
in America.''
    Lady Liberty, like those whom she welcomed, was also an immigrant, a 
gift from

[[Page 1585]]

France, a nation which did so much to help to give us birth.
    Perhaps more than any other nation in all history, we have drawn our 
strength and spirit from people from other lands. Bearing different 
memories, bringing diverse traditions, immigrants have enriched our 
culture, enhanced our economy, broadened our vision of the world. And 
that is why, on this Fourth of July, standing in the shadow of Lady 
Liberty, we must resolve never to close the golden door behind us and 
always, not only to welcome people to our borders but to welcome people 
into our hearts.
    To go beyond the things which divide us, race and culture and 
religion, to understand that whether our ancestors came here on 
immigrant ships or slave ships, whether they flew across the Pacific or 
once walked across the Bering Strait a very long time ago, anyone who 
accepts the rights and responsibilities of citizenship is our fellow 
citizen, equal in the eyes of God, entitled to be treated equally and 
with dignity by all of us. That must be our resolution on this and every 
Independence Day.
    In 1827, 51 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, 
the sole surviving signer of the Declaration was Charles Carroll of 
Maryland. He wrote the following: ``I recommend to the future generation 
the principles of the Declaration as the best earthly inheritance their 
ancestors could bequeath. All of us are created equal; all are endowed 
by our Creator with certain inalienable rights; among them, life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.''
    You may have noted that last week it was my great honor to announce 
on behalf of our common endeavors with our British and Japanese and 
other counterparts, that the first rough map of the human genome has 
been decoded. We now know that there will be an explosion of scientific 
discoveries which may give the young children in this audience a life 
expectancy of 100 years. But one thing we have already learned that 
proved the wisdom of the Founders is that genetically, without regard to 
race, we are 99.9 percent the same and that the genetic differences of 
individuals within each racial and ethnic group are greater than the 
genetic differences of one group to another.
    It is important that we remember that--that, after all, the Founding 
Fathers were pretty smart and that science has confirmed what they said 
so long ago. The really difficult thing is to confirm what they said in 
our everyday lives.
    Remember this fine young woman who introduced me today, and resolve 
to make the creed of our Declaration the reality in all of our lives.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

 Note:  The President spoke at 11:50 a.m. aboard the ship in New York 
Harbor. In his remarks, he referred to Seaman Rosa Norales-Nunez, USN, 
newly sworn-in citizen, who introduced the President; Caroline Kennedy 
Schlossberg, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, her husband, Edwin 
Schlossberg, and their children, Rose, Tatiana, and John; Charles A. 
Robertson, chairman, Operation Sail, Inc.; Janet Langhart Cohen, wife of 
Secretary Cohen; Kati Marton, wife of U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. 
Richard C. Holbrooke; James Gregory Zumwalt, son of the late Adm. Elmo 
R. Zumwalt, Jr.; and Capt. Michael Miller, USN, Commanding Officer, 
U.S.S. John F.
Kennedy.  A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
these remarks.