[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 30 (Monday, July 28, 2003)]
[Pages 955-958]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom

July 23, 2003

    The President. Good afternoon, and welcome to the White House. Laura 
and I are really glad you all are here. We're especially pleased to 
welcome the distinguished guests we honor today and their proud families 
and friends.

[[Page 956]]

    I appreciate former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for 
joining us today. Madam Secretary, thank you for coming.
    I'm honored that Kay Bailey Hutchison from the great State of Texas 
is here with us today. I appreciate the ambassadors who have joined us. 
I appreciate former Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients and their 
families who are here: Zbigniew Brzezinski is with us today; Liz 
Moynihan is the widow of Senator Moynihan; and Irving Kristol. I thank 
you all for coming.
    The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America's highest civil award. 
It is conferred upon men and women of high achievement in the arts and 
entertainment, public service, science, education, athletics, business, 
and other fields. For most recipients, this award is a special 
distinction added to many prior honors.
    Some recipients are no longer with us but are still highly regarded 
and fondly remembered. All who receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom 
have the continued respect of their peers and the lasting admiration of 
the American people.
    Julia Child already holds the highest distinction of the French 
Government. She was awarded the Legion of Honor for sharing with 
millions of Americans the appreciation and artistry of French cooking.
    Before Julia Child came along, no one imagined it could be so 
interesting to watch a meal being prepared. [Laughter] The reason, of 
course, is Julia herself, her friendly way, her engaging conversation, 
and her eagerness to teach. American cuisine and American culture have 
been enriched for decades by the unmistakable voice and the presence of 
Julia Child.
    Americans are not always in the mood for exquisite meals. Sometimes 
all we want is a hamburger at the drive-up window. [Laughter] And a lot 
of those windows are at places named for the daughter of Dave Thomas. 
The late founder of Wendy's left school without a diploma to begin 
working at a very young age.
    His great success as a restauranteur allowed Dave to fulfill other 
ambitions in his life. He became a benefactor of good causes, especially 
the cause of adoption. Dave himself was orphaned at an early age, and 
many young men and women today can thank Dave Thomas for helping to join 
them with loving parents.
    At the height of his career, Dave Thomas went back to school and 
earned a GED. His classmates voted him ``most likely to succeed.'' 
[Laughter] And today his country honors the hard work behind his success 
and the great generosity Dave Thomas showed others.
    Van Cliburn was last here in 2001, as one of the Kennedy Center 
honorees. His life of honor started early, as the 23-year-old winner of 
the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. In the years since, he has even 
further refined the gifts of a prodigy with the discipline and 
consistency of a true master. He has lived up to the high standards of 
the music teacher who first inspired him, his mother, Rildia Bee 
Cliburn. Today, throughout America and across the world, musicians find 
inspiration in his example, and all of us associate the name Van Cliburn 
with grace and the perfect touch at the piano.
    Like Van, the scholar Jacques Barzun now lives in Texas. He began 
his life 95 years ago in France. He became an American citizen in 1933 
and joined the faculty at Columbia University and gained a reputation as 
a thinker of great discernment and integrity. From his first book, 
published 71 years ago, to his latest, a bestseller published in 2000, 
Jacques Barzun has influenced generations of serious readers. Few 
academics of the last century have equaled his output and his influence, 
and today he has the profound gratitude of his adopted country.
    Charlton Heston is known for his portrayals of the most compelling 
dramatic figures: Moses, Judah Ben-Hur, Michelangelo, General Andrew 
Jackson, and Captain George Taylor. In the process, Charlton Heston 
himself has become one of the great names in film history. Over more 
than half a century, his talent and intensity have proven big enough to 
fill any role.
    The largeness of character that comes across the screen has also 
been seen throughout his life, during Charlton Heston's service in World 
War II, his leadership of a labor union, his activism on behalf of civil 
rights, and his principled defense of the Bill of Rights. Charlton 
Heston has left his mark on

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our country as an artist, as a citizen, and as a patriot, and we're 
honored he is with us today.
    We're also honored as well by the presence of an artist whose life 
brought two experiences he never could have expected, that of a prisoner 
and that of a President. In the days of Communist rule over 
Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel ridiculed the pretensions of an oppressive 
government and was viewed as an enemy of the state. The most subversive 
act of this playwright was telling the truth about tyranny, and when the 
truth finally triumphed in a ``kindhearted revolution,'' the people 
elected this dignified, charming, humble, determined man to lead their 
country. Unintimidated by threats, unchanged by political power, this 
good man has suffered much in the cause of liberty, and he has become 
one of liberty's great heroes.
    When liberty was threatened by nazism, a young Hungarian scientist 
named Edward Teller left Europe and found his way to the United States. 
Within a decade, the German Reich was at war with America and in search 
of the most terrible weapons. Dr. Teller joined the Manhattan Project 
and applied his disciplined mind to the most urgent task America had 
ever faced, to develop the atom bomb before Hitler.
    Dr. Teller contributed to the success of that mission and helped us 
to meet other great national security challenges during the cold war. In 
recent decades, he has turned his efforts to the great scientific and 
moral task of building a defense against ballistic missiles. For a long 
life of brilliant achievement and patriotic service, America is in debt 
to Dr. Edward Teller.
    Professor James Q. Wilson may be the most influential political 
scientist in America since the White House was home to Professor Woodrow 
Wilson. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated the best virtues of 
the academic profession. His theories and ideas are drawn from actual 
human experience and therefore have great practical value in addressing 
social problems. He writes with authority on a range of subjects, from 
the workings of government to the causes and prevention of crime. 
Whatever his subject, James Q. Wilson writes with intellectual rigor, 
with moral clarity, to the appreciation of a wide and growing audience. 
And it is my honor to congratulate Professor James Q. Wilson.
    Of the 108 Americans who have served on the Supreme Court of the 
United States, only one is also in the College Football Hall of Fame. 
Justice Byron White was a rare kind of person who seemed to excel at 
everything he attempted. Whether playing football or earning a Bronze 
Star in World War II or enforcing civil rights as Deputy Attorney 
General, Byron White was tough, and he was determined.
    When he was nominated, his close friend at the Supreme Court, 
President John F. Kennedy, called Byron White a man of ``character, 
experience, and intellectual force.'' Over the next three decades, 
Justice White showed those qualities in majority opinions of great depth 
and in dissenting opinions of great wisdom and courage. When he passed 
away last year, people across our country felt that loss of a superb 
judge and a great American.
    John Wooden is also a Hall of Famer, one of the only two enshrined 
both as basketball player and basketball coach. In a legendary career, 
Coach Wooden led his teams to 885 victories with only 203 losses. His 
players included some of the all-time greats: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and 
Bill Walton and Gail Goodrich, to name a few.
    But all his players will tell you the most important man on their 
team was not on the court. He was the man who taught generations of 
basketball players the fundamentals of hard work and discipline, 
patience, and teamwork. Coach Wooden remains a part of their lives as a 
teacher of the game and as an example of what a good man should be. Nell 
Wooden, the coach's wife of 53 years, would be incredibly proud of him 
again. Coach Wooden, it's wonderful to see you with us today.
    Another recipient this afternoon would have been 69 years old next 
month. Millions of Americans remember hearing the news that Roberto 
Clemente had been lost on a mission to help the people of Nicaragua 
after an earthquake. His full name was Roberto Clemente Walker, and in 
an era of Mays and Mantle and Aaron, he ranked as one of the greats.

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    He was a young man with a quick bat, a rifle arm, and a gentle 
heart. In the words of one baseball executive, ``I never saw any 
ballplayer like him. No, sir. Whenever anybody signs a big contract 
these days, we always wonder how many millions Clemente would be 
worth.'' As a former team owner, it would be a lot. [Laughter]
    Yet the true worth of this man, seen in how he lived his life and 
how he lost his life, cannot be measured in money. And all these years 
later, his family can know that America cherishes the memory of Roberto 
Clemente.
    Our country and our world have been improved by the lives of the men 
and women we honor today. And now it is my honor to present the awards, 
and I ask the military aide to read the citations.

[At this point, Lt. Col. John Newell, USAF, Air Force Aide to the 
President, read the citations, and the President presented the medals.]

    The President. Thank you all for coming. And Laura and I would now 
like to invite you to join us for a reception to honor these great 
Americans and great member of the Czech Republic, our great friend.
    Thank you all for coming. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 3:05 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of 
Texas.