[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 45 (Monday, November 12, 2007)]
[Pages 1454-1458]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom
November 5, 2007
The President. Good morning. Laura and I are thrilled to welcome you
to the White House. We welcome the Members of Congress, the members of
the Cabinet, and other distinguished guests. It's an honor to be with
the Medal of Freedom recipients as well as their family members and
friends. We're sure glad you're here.
The Medal of Freedom is the highest civil honor that a President can
bestow. By an Executive order of John F. Kennedy, the medal is designed
to recognize great contributions to national security, the cause of
peace and freedom, science, the arts, literature, and many other fields.
The eight men and women came to this distinction by very different
paths. Each of them, by effort and by character, has earned the respect
of the American people and holds a unique place in the story of our
time.
Our first honoree, Dr. Gary Becker, once said, ``Many intellectuals,
many economists use obscure language when they write. Sometimes it's a
way of disguising that they are not saying a heck of a lot.'' This
economist, however, is different. Gary Becker's many books and articles
and his 19 years as a weekly columnist have provided--proved him to be a
thinker of originality and clarity.
Dr. Becker has shown that economic principles do not just exist in
theory. Instead, they help to explain human behavior in fields well
beyond economics. He has shown that by applying these principles to
public policy, we can make great strides in promoting enterprise and
public safety, protecting the environment, improving public schools, and
strengthening the family. Dr. Becker has explained, as well, the real
value of investing in human capital. He knows full well that an educated
and well-trained workforce adds to the vigors of our economy and helps
raise the standard of living for all of us.
This longtime professor at the University of Chicago has helped
train hundreds of talented economists. He has been a wise and
challenging presence in the lives of his students, and they remain
devoted to him. One close friend said, ``A 15-minute conversation with
Gary Becker can change your thinking forever.'' He is without question
one of the most influential economists of the last hundred years. With
today's honor, he is one of only two persons to have received both the
Nobel Prize in Economics and the Medal of Freedom. The other was the
late Milton Friedman. And I know that today Dr. Friedman would be very
proud of his friend and student and colleague, Dr. Gary Becker.
Congratulations.
The Medal of Freedom for Oscar Elias Biscet will be accepted this
morning by his son, Yan Valdes. His daughter, Winnie, is also present.
Dr. Biscet is not with us today because he is a political prisoner of
the regime in Havana. This ceremony at the White House is being
broadcast live into Cuba. To the citizens of that land, I send the
respect and good wishes of the United States.
Oscar Biscet is a healer known to 11 million Cubans as a physician,
a community organizer, and an advocate for human rights. For two
decades, he has told the world what he has seen in Cuba: the arrogance
of a one-party state; the suppression of political dissent; the coercion
of expectant mothers. For speaking the truth, Dr. Biscet has endured
repeated harassment, beatings, and detentions. The international
community agrees that Dr. Biscet's imprisonment is unjust, yet the
regime has refused every call for his release.
[[Page 1455]]
To the Cuban dictatorship, Dr. Biscet is a dangerous man. He is
dangerous in the same way that Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gandhi were
dangerous. He is a man of peace, a man of truth, and a man of faith. In
captivity for most of the last 8 years, he has continued to embody
courage and dignity. His example is a rebuke to the tyrants and secret
police of a regime whose day is passing.
Dr. Biscet is also a young man. God willing, he'll soon regain his
freedom, as justice demands. He deserves to be reunited with his wife,
Elsa, and all their family. And the land they call home deserves to be
free. When that day arrives, the peoples of Cuba and the United States
will stand together as free men and women, and the liberated country
will honor a great man with a mighty heart, Oscar Elias Biscet.
When tyrannies fall, it's often the prisoners and exiles who are
called forth to lead their people. We've seen this in our own time, in
the lives of President Havel and President Mandela and Prime Minister
Maliki and, in the Republic of Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
All of her life, President Sirleaf has been a pioneer. The daughter
of a school teacher in Monrovia, she crossed the ocean as a young woman
and earned three degrees in the United States. She has been a business
executive, a development expert, a public official, and always a
patriot. She loves Liberia, and she loves all its people. After a cabal
seized power and plunged that country into years of upheaval and
corruption and civil war, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf stood up for the
democratic rights of her fellow citizens. She never wavered, even though
the consequences were house arrest, foreign exile, death threats, and
imprisonment.
When free elections returned to Liberia, the voters made history.
They chose her to be the first woman ever elected to lead a nation on
the continent of Africa. She was inaugurated last year, with Laura and
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as proud witnesses. I remember
asking Laura and Condi what kind of person I'd be dealing with. They
said to expect a woman of depth and ability who know how to get things
done. They were right. See, when the President comes to the Oval Office,
she walks in with a to-do list. [Laughter]
The President has the tough mind of a natural-born executive and the
gentle instincts of a mother. Not surprisingly, the Liberian people have
given her two affectionate nicknames. They call her the ``Iron Lady,''
and they call her ``Ma.'' She's begun an age of reform in a country with
deep historic ties to the United States. As she said to a joint meeting
of our Congress, ``Liberia will become a brilliant beacon, an example to
Africa and to the world of what the love of liberty can achieve.''
Madam President, America is proud to stand with Liberia. And today
America honors you as a woman of courage and a giver of hope. Welcome
back to the White House, my friend, and congratulations.
Seventeen years ago, the Federal Government established a research
project with the ambitious goal of mapping the entire human genome. The
genome is best described as the code of life, the ``3.1 billion-letter
instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of
mystery about humankind.'' Those were the words of Dr. Francis Collins,
Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and the man who
led the Federal project to full and thrilling success.
Many discoveries yet to be made and many scientific triumphs yet to
be achieved will be directly traceable to the work of the human genome
project. With genetic mapping, researchers know more than ever before
about the hereditary influences behind cancer and heart disease and
diabetes and many other conditions. And that understanding holds the key
to earlier detection of illness, individualized treatments, and even
lifesaving cures.
In scope and long-term potential, the human genome project has been
compared to the Apollo project. And its leader, Dr. Collins, is a well-
rounded man. Though he routinely works a 90-hour week, he is an
accomplished singer and guitarist. [Laughter] I know this because I once
heard him at the National Prayer Breakfast. You see, when a man can get
up and sing in front of 3,000 people at 8 in the morning, there's
something special in his DNA. [Laughter]
[[Page 1456]]
From his days being home-schooled by his mom on a farm in Virginia,
Francis Collins has been relentless in the pursuit of knowledge. He
said, ``One of the strongest motivations of humankind is to seek answers
to profound questions and [to understand] what is both seen and
unseen.'' He has brought his extraordinary gifts to bear on the
technical questions of genetics and on the ethical questions as well.
Deep scientific understanding can be used for good or ill, and a lot
turns on knowing the difference. Francis Collins is unafraid of the
eternal questions, unswayed by fashion, and unwilling to overlook the
distinction between right and wrong.
Dr. Collins has often noted that ``at the DNA level, we're all 99.9
percent the same. All of us.'' It's a reminder that the human genome
project, with all the promise it holds for tomorrow, also confirms
scientifically the timeless wisdom of the brotherhood of man. Americans
are rightly proud this project succeeded in our own country, and we are
proud of the wise and humane American scientist behind it, Francis
Collins.
Brotherhood is perhaps the greatest theme in the life and character
of Dr. Benjamin Hooks. The man has always had what his friend Dr. King
called the strength to love. As a civil rights activist, public servant,
and minister of the Gospel, Dr. Hooks has extended the hand of
fellowship throughout his years. It was not an always thing--easy thing
to do, but it was always the right thing to do.
Benjamin Hooks grew up in a segregated South, where economic
advantages and even common courtesies were often denied to African
Americans. In the Army during World War II, he guarded European
prisoners of war held in the United States. When it was time to get
something to eat, whites-only restaurants would serve the prisoners, but
not Sergeant Hooks. After the war, he wanted to study law, but not a
single law school in Tennessee would admit a black man. So he went to
DePaul University in Chicago, then came back home, determined to ``break
down that segregation, to end those days.''
He became a lawyer and, in time, was also an ordained Baptist
minister. He joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was
an early crusader in that great movement. He also rose in the legal
profession, becoming the first African American ever to serve as a judge
of the Tennessee Criminal Court. He was named to the Federal
Communications Commission by President Nixon.
The Nation best remembers Benjamin Hooks as the leader of the NAACP.
For 15 years, Dr. Hooks was a calm yet forceful voice for fairness,
opportunity, and personal responsibility. He never tired or faltered in
demanding that our Nation live up to its founding ideals of liberty and
equality. His testimony had special power--for the words that he spoke
and for the example that he set as a man of decency and rectitude.
It's been a great journey, and he's traveled with a good and
gracious woman at his side, Frances Hooks. They're a wonderful team.
They've been married for 56 years.
Dr. Hooks once said, ``You've got to believe that tomorrow somehow
can be and will be better than today.'' Because he had that belief,
because he held on to it, because he acted upon it, an old order has
passed away. And all Americans can be grateful for the good works and
the good life of Benjamin L. Hooks.
The story of an old order and the glimmers of humanity that would
one day overtake it was unforgettably told in a book by Miss Harper Lee.
Soon after its publication, a reviewer said this: ``A hundred pounds of
sermons on tolerance or an equal measure of invective deploring the lack
of it will weigh far less in the scale of enlightenment than a mere 18
ounces of a new fiction bearing the title `To Kill a Mockingbird.' ''
Given her legendary stature as a novelist, you may be surprised to
learn that Harper Lee, early in her career, was an airline reservation
clerk. Fortunately for all of us, she didn't stick to writing
itineraries. [Laughter] Her beautiful book, with its grateful prose and
memorable characters, became one of the biggest selling novels of the
20th century.
Forty-six years after winning the Pulitzer Prize, ``To Kill a
Mockingbird'' still touches and inspires every reader. We're moved by
the story of a man falsely accused--with old prejudice massed against
him and an old sense of honor that rises to his defense. We learn that
courage can be a solitary business.
[[Page 1457]]
As the lawyer Atticus Finch tells his daughter, ``Before I can live with
other folks, I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't
abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.''
Years after ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' was put to film, the character
of Atticus Finch was voted the greatest movie hero of all time. It won
Gregory Peck the Oscar. He was said to believe the role ``brought him
closest to being the kind of man he aspired to be.'' The great actor
counted Harper Lee among his good friends, and we're so pleased that
Gregory Peck's wife, Veronique, is with us today. Thank you for coming.
One reason ``To Kill a Mockingbird'' succeeded is the wise and kind
heart of the author, which comes through on every page. This daughter of
Monroeville, Alabama, had something to say about honor and tolerance
and, most of all, love--and it still resonates. Last year, Harper Lee
received an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame. As the degree was
presented, the graduating class rose as one, held up copies of her book,
and cheered for the author they love.
``To Kill a Mockingbird'' has influenced the character of our
country for the better. It's been a gift to the entire world. As a model
of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be read and
studied forever. And so all of us are filled with admiration for a great
American and a lovely lady named Harper Lee.
Bob Hyde is here on behalf of his dad, the Honorable Henry J. Hyde,
who was not able to be with us today. Congressman Hyde spent more than
three decades as a towering figure on Capitol Hill. But he first made
his name in Washington more than 60 years ago. He was on the Georgetown
basketball team and played in the NCAA eastern championship game in
1943. After college and Navy service in World War II, he returned home
to Illinois and earned a law degree and made his way into politics. This
erudite, scholarly man has walked with kings and kept the common touch.
He won 20 elections and gave steady service to the people of Illinois
for 40 years.
In the House, Congressman Hyde rose to the chairmanship of two
committees: Judiciary and International Relations. And from the first
day, he was a commanding presence, and he was a man of consequence.
Colleagues were struck by his extraordinary intellect, his deep
convictions, and eloquent voice. In committee and in the House Chamber,
the background noise would stop when Henry Hyde had the floor.
He used his persuasive powers for noble causes. He stood for a
strong and purposeful America--confident in freedom's advance and firm
in freedom's defense. He stood for limited, accountable Government and
the equality of every person before the law. He was a gallant champion
of the weak and forgotten and a fearless defender of life in all its
seasons.
Henry Hyde spoke of controversial matters with intellectual honesty
and without rancor. He proved that a man can have firm convictions and
be a favorite of Democrats and Republicans alike.
Henry likes quoting the adage, ``Make new friends, but keep the old;
one is silver, but the other is gold.'' To so many on Capitol Hill,
Henry Hyde's friendship is gold. They're quick to say it's not the same
Congress without him, but that we're a better country because he was
there. And colleagues will always admire and look up to the gentleman
from Illinois, Henry J. Hyde. And, Bob, please tell your dad a lot of us
in Washington love him.
For nearly 30 years, the proceedings of the House of Representatives
have been televised--unfiltered, uninterrupted, unedited, and live. For
this, we can thank the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, or C-
SPAN. And for C-SPAN, we can thank a visionary American named Brian
Lamb.
C-SPAN is not what you'd call exciting TV; though some of the call-
in shows do have their moments. [Laughter] It is, however, a tool that
enlivens democracy and informs and educates citizens of all ages, at all
hours.
C-SPAN channels fill 17,000 broadcast hours a year. But you can
watch for years and never hear anyone say the name Brian Lamb. Even
Brian never says it.
With his low-key manner, this native of Lafayette, Indiana, likes to
stick with substance. He's not there to provide commentary or give much
reaction either way. Yet vast numbers of Americans consider themselves
fans
[[Page 1458]]
of Brian Lamb. A writer from the Washington Post called it a ``cult of
nonpersonality.'' [Laughter] The truth is, we've all seen him, and he's
conducted some of the most fascinating interviews we have ever heard. As
one C-SPAN watcher said, when you listen to Brian ``you feel like he's
just like you, only smarter.'' [Laughter]
Brian Lamb has spent most of his life in broadcasting, in a career
that has taken many turns. The first program he ever hosted, back in the
Midwest, was called ``Dance Date''--a side we haven't seen much of.
[Laughter] Brian Lamb is a Navy veteran, a former social aide here at
the White House. In fact, when Brian was here a few months ago to
interview a historian in the Lincoln Bedroom, the maitre d' of the
residential staff of the White House remembered him from those days.
The network Brian Lamb created has been called ``scrupulously
nonpartisan'' and ``inherently patient.'' Committee hearings and
campaign events and conferences and rallies are shown from beginning to
end, without editorial comment or interpretation. C-SPAN has no agenda
and only one assumption: that interested viewers are intelligent and can
make up their own minds about what they see and what they hear.
An informed citizenry has been the strength of America since the
days of the New England townhall. C-SPAN has revived the townhall spirit
for a modern, continental nation. For his enormous achievement and his
personal modesty, for his high standards and his contribution to our
democracy, America is grateful to Mr. Brian Lamb.
Now I call on the military aide to read the citations for the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
[Lt. Cmdr. Robert A. Roncska, USN, Navy Aide to the President, read the
citations, and the President presented the medals.]
The President. Thank you all for coming. Laura and I now invite you
to a reception here in the State Dining Room. I hope you've enjoyed this
ceremony as much as I have. May God bless you all. Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 10:01 a.m. in the East Room at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to President Fidel Castro Ruz of
Cuba; former President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic; former
President Nelson Mandela of South Africa; and Prime Minister Nuri al-
Maliki of Iraq.