[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 51 (Monday, December 22, 2003)]
[Pages 1813-1815]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the 100th Anniversary of the Wright Brothers' First Flight at 
Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

December 17, 2003

    Thank you all very much. Rain will never dampen our spirits. I'm 
honored to be here, and I'm honored to be in the great State of North 
Carolina.
    Madam Secretary, thank you for your fine leadership and your 
friendship. Secretary Mineta, thank you for your great leadership, as 
well. I'm proud that you're serving in my Cabinet. Mr. Governor, I 
appreciate your kind comments. I appreciate the values you hold dear to 
your heart, and I thank you for leading this great State.
    To John Travolta, we shall call him ``Moon Man'' from now on. I 
appreciate your friendship. I appreciate your love of flight. Thank you 
for being such a fine entertainer for millions of Americans, but most 
importantly, thanks for being a great American. I'm proud you're here.
    I appreciate the fact that the Secretary of the Navy, Gordon 
England, is here. The Secretary of the Air Force, James Roche, is 
traveling with me today. I appreciate Sean O'Keefe, who is the 
Administrator of NASA, who has come today. I thank all members of my 
administration who have joined us. I hope you were smart enough to have 
brought an umbrella. [Laughter]
    I know we've got Members of the Congress who are here. Senate 
Majority Leader Bill Frist from Tennessee is with us today. Senator 
Frist, thank you for coming. Senator Elizabeth Dole from the great State 
of North Carolina is with us. Senator Dole, thank you for being here. 
All Members of Congress from North Carolina and from other States, thank 
you for being here. I know we've got mayors and State officials.
    I appreciate so very much American heroes who are here, well-known 
and not so well-known heroes. Let me name four of the well-known heroes 
who are here: Neil Armstrong; Buzz Aldrin; John Glenn; one of the great 
fighter pilots ever, Chuck Yeager, is with us today. We're honored to be 
in your presence. Thank you for being pioneers.
    I'm also pleased that we're joined by Stephen Wright and Amanda 
Wright Lane, who both bear one of the great American names.
    Powered flight has advanced in ways that could not have been 
imagined on December 17, 1903. And in the future, flight will advance in 
ways that none of us can imagine as we stand here today. Yet always, for 
as long as there is human flight, we will honor the achievement of a 
cold morning on the Outer Banks of North Carolina by two young brothers 
named Orville and Wilbur Wright.
    Orville Wright lived to see the days of barnstorming and military 
aviation, the jet engine, commercial airlines, and the DC-3. The thrill 
of his life, however, was surely right here when he felt that first lift 
of the wing. He flew just 12 seconds and 40 yards, moving so slowly that 
his older brother ran alongside. And later in the day, with Wilbur at 
the controls, the machine stayed in the air for 59 seconds and traveled 
852 feet. Yet everyone who was here at that hour sensed that a great 
line had been crossed and the

[[Page 1814]]

world might never be the same. A local boy named Johnny Moore was one of 
the witnesses. He ran down the beach and said, ``They done it. They done 
it. Damned if they ain't flew!''
    The anniversary now observed might have fallen a few days earlier, 
on the 13th. But December the 13th, 1903, was a Sunday, and the brothers 
had promised their dad they wouldn't attempt to fly on the Sabbath. And 
on the day they did fly, just like today, the conditions were not ideal. 
But they went ahead anyway, so they could get home to Dayton, Ohio, for 
Christmas.
    Orville and Wilbur were, in so many ways, ordinary Americans, and 
hearing of their plans, a lot of folks must have thought those boys 
should have stayed in the bicycle business. The story is told of a 
newspaper editor who heard what the Wright brothers had been up to. He 
said, ``Man will never fly, and if he does, he won't be from Dayton.'' 
[Laughter]
    The United States Patent Office also had its doubts. So many others 
had submitted plans and models of flying machines that when the brothers 
sent in theirs, patent officials had a ready response. The office 
concluded the plans were inadequate and the machine could never function 
as intended. The New York Times once confidently explained why all 
attempts at flight were doomed from the start. To build a flying 
machine, declared one editorial, would require ``the combined and 
continuous efforts of mathematicians and mechanicians from 1 million to 
10 million years.'' As it turned out, the feat was performed 8 weeks 
after the editorial was written. And not only did the machine perform 
its function, that little wood and canvas aircraft had brought together 
all the essentials that still give flight to every modern aircraft, from 
a single-prop plane to Air Force One.
    The Wright brothers had some disappointments along the way, and 
there must have been times when they had to fight their own doubts. They 
pressed on, believing in the great work they had begun and in their own 
capacity to see it through. We would not know their names today if these 
men had been pessimists. And when it was over, they marveled at their 
own achievement. As Orville wrote in a letter to a friend, ``Isn't it 
astounding that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years 
just so we could discover them.''
    The Wright brothers' invention belongs to the world, but the Wright 
brothers belong to America. We take special pride in their qualities of 
discipline and persistence, optimism and imagination--of people like 
them and a lot of other people throughout our history. So many great 
inventions arose in this country, and so many of the great inventors 
came from unlikely backgrounds. The Wright brothers had their storefront 
bicycle shop. Thomas Edison was a newsboy. Eli Whitney and Henry Ford 
worked as farm hands. George Washington Carver was born a slave. There 
is something in the American character that always looks for a better 
way and is unimpressed when others say it cannot be done. Those traits 
still define our Nation. We still rely on men and women who overcome the 
odds and take the big chance with no advantage but their own ingenuity 
and the opportunities of a free country.
    A great American journey that began at Kitty Hawk continues in ways 
unimaginable to the Wright brothers. One small piece of their Flyer 
traveled far beyond this field. It was carried by another flying 
machine, on Apollo 11, all the way to the Sea of Tranquility on the 
Moon. These past 100 years have brought supersonic flights, frequent 
space travel, the exploration of Mars, and the Voyager One spacecraft, 
which right now is moving at 39,000 miles per hour toward the outer edge 
of our solar system. By our skill and daring, America has excelled in 
every area of aviation and space travel. And our national commitment 
remains firm: By our skill and daring, we will continue to lead the 
world in flight.
    This day, however, is one for recalling an heroic event in the 
history of our Nation and in the story of mankind. Here at the Wright 
Brothers National Memorial, we remember one small machine, and we honor 
the giants who flew it.
    May God bless you all, and may God continue to bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 9:37 a.m. at the Wright Brothers National 
Memorial. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of the Interior

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Gale A. Norton; Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta; Governor 
Michael F. Easley of North Carolina; and actor John Travolta, who served 
as master of ceremonies.