[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 16 (Monday, April 28, 2008)]
[Pages 581-583]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the Congressional Gold Medal to Michael E. DeBakey

April 23, 2008

    Madam Speaker, Mr. Leader, Members of Congress, fellow Texans, 
distinguished guests, Dr. and Mrs. DeBakey: I'm honored to join you on 
this day of celebration.

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Throughout our Nation's history, the Congressional Gold Medal has been 
awarded sparingly, in recognition of the tremendous accomplishments that 
it takes to earn this high honor. The recipients of this medal who have 
come from the world of science are few, but they are iconic. They 
include Thomas Edison, Walter Reed, and Jonas Salk. Today we gather to 
recognize that Michael DeBakey's name belongs among them.
    I appreciate the members of the Texas delegation, Senator Hutchison, 
Representative Green, and others, who sponsored this legislation.
    As the chancellor emeritus of the Baylor College of Medicine and the 
director of the DeBakey Heart Center, Dr. DeBakey has given the citizens 
of the great State of Texas one more reason to be proud. It's a good 
thing too, because we're usually such a quiet bunch--[laughter]--
unassuming people.
    In the year that Michael DeBakey was born, Theodore Roosevelt sat in 
the White House, Henry Ford produced the first Model T automobile, and 
the average American's life expectancy was a little more than 51 years. 
That last point is worth noting, because the number today is nearly 78 
years. Our lifetimes have been extended by more than 50 percent within 
the course of a century, and the man we're honoring today is part of the 
reason why.
    It was Hippocrates, the author of the doctor's sacred oath, who 
said, ``Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there also is a love of 
humanity.'' Truer words could not be spoken of Michael DeBakey. Growing 
up in the small town of Lake Charles, Louisiana, he learned the power of 
compassion at the early age. Every Sunday, as the Speaker noted, 
Michael's parents and siblings would load the family car with clothes 
and food for children who lived in an orphanage on the outskirts of 
town. One weekend, the donations included one of his favorite ball caps. 
When Michael complained, his mother simply told him, ``You have a lot of 
caps. Those children have none.'' It was a lesson that he never forgot, 
and Michael DeBakey has been giving to the world ever since.
    The other gift that Dr. DeBakey's parents gave him was a love of 
learning. In fact, young Michael's mother and father required their 
children to check a book out of the library every week. One week, 
Michael returned home frustrated, and he told his father that he had 
found a fascinating book, but that the librarians refused to lend it to 
him. The book was actually a part of a series called the Encyclopedia 
Britannica. [Laughter] And when his father bought the set for him, 
Michael read every word of every article in every volume.
    The charitable spirit and disciplined mind that Michael developed in 
his youth have lasted throughout his life. It was his selflessness that 
caused him to volunteer for World War II, even though he was a 
successful surgeon and professional. It was his intellect that caused 
him to help develop the idea of the MASH unit during his service. It was 
his power of his mind that led him to become one of the pioneers of the 
heart transplant, bypass surgery, and the artificial heart. And it was 
his sense of compassion that led him to help create a magnet school in 
Houston for young people pursuing careers in science.
    It's been nearly 40 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded 
Dr. DeBakey the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At that point four 
decades ago, he'd already proven himself to be one of the great 
scientific minds of his generation. In the years since, that status is 
being reaffirmed by many honors he has received, including the National 
Medal of Science, induction into the Health Care Hall of Fame, a 
lifetime achievement award from the United Nations, and a Living Legend 
citation from the Library of Congress.
    But I was most interested in another distinction--it is this: that 
Dr. DeBakey was the first foreign physician made an honorary member of 
the Russian Academy of Sciences. That took quite an act to get into the 
Russian Academy of Sciences; all it took was him saving the life of a 
President. [Laughter] In 1996, only 5 years after the cold war ended, 
Dr. DeBakey traveled to Moscow and arranged Boris Yeltsin's quintuple 
bypass. President Yeltsin spoke for many of Dr. DeBakey's patients when 
he called him ``a man with a gift of performing miracles.''
    Dr. DeBakey has an impressive resume, but his truest legacy is not 
inscribed on a medal or etched into stone. It is written on the human 
heart. His legacy is the unlost

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hours with family and friends who are still with us because of his 
healing touch. His legacy is grandparents who lived to see their 
grandchildren. His legacy is holding the fragile and sacred gift of 
human life in his hands and returning it unbroken.
    For nearly 100 years, our country has been blessed with the endless 
talents and dedication of Dr. Michael DeBakey. And he has dedicated his 
career to a truly noble ambition: bettering the life of his fellow men.
    So, Dr. DeBakey, on behalf of all those you've healed and those 
you've inspired, we thank you. May God bless you.
    And now I ask the Speaker and Senator Reid to join me for the Gold 
Medal Presentation.

Note: The President spoke at 11:33 a.m. in the Rotunda at the U.S. 
Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to Katrin Fehlhaber, wife of 
Michael E. DeBakey.