[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 2000)]
[Pages 2892-2894]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the American Embassy Community in Hanoi

November 17, 2000

    The President. Thank you very much. I want to thank Senator Kerry 
for what he said and for what he's done all these years and for being a 
wonderful friend to Hillary and me in many, many ways. And I want to 
thank Sandy Berger and our whole team in the White House and State 
Department for supporting this trip from the beginning. And I want to 
associate myself with what Hillary said--now that she's going to be a 
Senator, I can just let her give the speeches, and I can say, ``I 
completely agree.'' And that will save everyone from having to hear two 
speeches. [Laughter]
    But I do want to say a couple of things, if I might. First, I, too, 
want to thank you for the endless hours you have put in in preparation 
for this trip and for the work you have

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done representing our Nation here in Vietnam. I want to thank especially 
the Vietnamese nationals who work at our Embassy and who, therefore, 
embody this new partnership we have worked so hard to build these last 
several years.
    We started this process of reconstructing our relationship a long 
time ago, and I have been working at it now, with the people on this 
stage and others, for at least 8 years. And I'm very grateful to all of 
them. But I want to take my time tonight to say a special word of thanks 
to Pete Peterson.
    Most everybody, I guess, in Vietnam knows that he was a fighter 
pilot here, that he was a prisoner of war here. You may know that his 
wife was 9 months pregnant with their third child when he came here. He 
was supposed to fly 100 missions, and he was shot down two-thirds of the 
way through. And by the time he got home, his son was 6 years old.
    What you may not know is that when I met him, he was a Congressman 
from northern Florida, and he represented a district in which, I promise 
you, he was the only American in my party who would have ever been 
elected from that district. [Laughter] Otherwise, any normal person 
would have had to be a member of the other party.
    And I remember the times we spent driving through his congressional 
district, talking about his commitment to public service and talking 
about how desperately he wanted us to have a new relation with Vietnam 
and how he wanted to embody that, going beyond.
    So when the time came for a new Ambassador to be named, I literally 
only considered one person. America has, I don't know how many, 270-
something million people; I only considered one person to be our 
Ambassador to Vietnam, and Pete agreed to do it.
    Now, he gave all those speeches about letting go of the past and 
looking toward the future, and all we can change is the future. So he--
one thing I like about Pete is, he always practices what he preaches. So 
he comes to Vietnam, meets Vi Le, and starts a new life. So you are the 
embodiment, madam, of the future for Pete, and we thank you, and we 
thank you for what you have done.
    He traveled all over Vietnam, just like he traveled all over 
America, promoting this relationship. He worked on the POW/MIA issue. He 
worked to advance the economy of Vietnam. Three times he led the 
lobbying to get our Congress to support our Jackson-Vanik waiver. His 
enthusiasm is completely infectious.
    I understand, Pete, today that CNN and BBC carried the signing of 
our bilateral trade agreement live at 3 a.m. Hanoi, and watch parties 
were held all over town. Now, that's pretty amazing.
    I also want to thank him for the work he did to prevent injuries and 
accidents here with his safety campaign. And I want to express my 
sympathies, because I understand after you started this safety campaign, 
a mischievous television film crew caught you in a rare moment riding 
your motorcycle without a helmet. [Laughter] Now, that's something all 
of us who have been in public life can identify with. [Laughter]
    I want to thank you for befriending the villagers in the area where 
you were shot down and joining them to inaugurate a school. And I want 
to thank those of you who work in this Embassy, especially those of you 
who have extended your tours from 2 years to 3. I want to thank the 
members of the American business community, apparently who have signed a 
resolution cautioning the new President not to change the Ambassador in 
Hanoi. [Laughter] That's good advice to the new President. [Laughter]
    One of the most famous sayings of the Buddha is, ``Never does hatred 
by hatred cease; hatred ceases by love alone.'' This is an eternal law. 
Even eternal laws have to be made real in the lives of particular 
people, and that is a law which has been made real in the life and 
service of Pete Peterson.
    He doesn't know I'm going to do this today, but the Ambassador has 
been honored for his military service with the Silver Star, the Purple 
Heart, and the Legion of Merit for heroism in the uniform of his 
country. I think his service as Ambassador to Vietnam is the most 
important service he has ever rendered to the United States. And so, in 
the presence of all of his co-workers and friends and many of their 
rambunctious children, which makes it even better, I am going to

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award Pete Peterson with the President's Citizen's Medal. And I would 
like the commander to read the citation and then bring the medal up here 
so I can give it to Pete.

[At this point, Lt. Comdr. Pat DeQuattro, USCG, Coast Guard Aide to the 
President, read the citation, and the President presented the medal to 
Ambassador Peterson. The Ambassador then made brief remarks.]

    The President. Thank you all very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 7 p.m. in the Ballroom at the Daewoo 
Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Ambassador Peterson's Vietnamese 
wife, Vi Le. The transcript released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary also included the remarks of Ambassador Peterson. A tape was 
not available for verification of the content of these remarks.