[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 45, Number 2 (Monday, January 19, 2009)]
[Pages 71-73]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the 
Department of State

January 15, 2009

    Thank you all. I got 5 days left; be seated. [Laughter]
    Madam Secretary, thank you very much for your kind introduction, and 
thank you for these beautiful reminders of how fantastic it's been to 
work with you.
    By the way, these are going to be at Southern Methodist University--
[laughter]--proudly displayed at the Presidential Center I will build to 
remind our country of the timeless values of freedom and liberty. And I 
am honored to take them back to Texas. I'm honored to take my wife back 
to Texas too. [Laughter]
    The award you gave Laura, Condi, is well deserved in my unobjective 
opinion. She has been awesome First Lady. And I'm proud to have been 
here in Washington. And you've been an awesome friend and a great 
Secretary of State.
    You know, people--I tell people all the time, they ask me about 
Condi, and I say, ``She's like my sister.'' We've been through a lot 
together. [Laughter] And one of the things about her is that she has 
never lost her great optimism. She's plenty tough when she needed to be 
tough; she's plenty charming when she needs to be charming. But during 
the darkest of days, she always had a sense of optimism and constantly 
reminded me of what is possible and what will happen if we don't lose 
confidence in fundamental

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truths. History will say that Condi Rice was one of the great 
Secretaries of State our country has ever had.
    And I thank my friend John Negroponte. I call him ``Ponte''--you 
better call him--[laughter]--Mr. Secretary. He has done a lot of hard 
work on behalf of the country, and he has really done it well--a variety 
of jobs that have required skill and dedication and courage, and each 
job he's handled with a lot of class, he really has.
    I want to thank the Ambassadors who have joined us. Thanks for 
coming. Appreciate your service to your countries. And I want to thank 
all those who work here, veterans and rookies alike. [Laughter] This is 
a fabulous Department and a vital part of making sure this country 
remains secure in the long run. And it's been a joy to work with you.
    Tonight I'm going to give a farewell address to the American people. 
It's going to be a short one. [Laughter] But it's got a lot of meaning 
to it, as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to urge our Nation to continue 
to engage the world with confidence, confidence in the transformative 
power of freedom and liberty.
    These are the ideals that gave birth to our own Nation, these 
universal ideals gave birth to America. And over the past 8 years, 
together we have worked to advance these ideals. And every member of 
this Department can be proud of the results.
    In the Middle East, we stood with dissidents and young democracies. 
Sometimes that was not easy to do, but we stood strong with those young 
democracies. We outlined a vision of two democratic states, Israel and 
Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
    In Asia, we deepened our alliances with old friends, Japan and South 
Korea, and we strengthened ties with China. I'm not so sure if this is 
historically accurate, but we may be the only administration that has 
had really good ties with Japan, South Korea, and China all at the same 
time.
    And we opened a new historic and strategic partnership with India.
    In Europe, we expanded NATO to include new democracies from the 
Baltics to the Balkans. We work in a multilateral fashion to deal with 
issues like Iran and North Korea.
    In Africa, we helped resolve old conflicts and formed new 
partnerships to confront hunger and disease and poverty. I'm often 
asked, you know, ``How come you, from Texas, care about Africa?'' And I 
remind people--I'm reminded of one of my first conversations with Condi. 
And she said, ``If I'm going to work with you, I want you to make sure 
you focus on Africa.'' She gets a lot of credit for the focus on Africa.
    I also acted on this timeless belief: To whom much is given, much is 
required. We have been given a lot in our country. And it's not only in 
our strategic interests that we deal with hunger and disease, it is in 
our moral interest that we do so as well. In the Western Hemisphere, we 
expanded trade and helped our fellow democracies deliver prosperity and 
social justice to their people. And around the world, we built a 
coalition of more than 90 nations to fight terror and advance the cause 
of freedom in the great ideological struggle of our time.
    In short, we've made our alliances stronger, we've made our Nation 
safer, and we have made the world freer. The record is a testament to 
all those who have served, including our outstanding Foreign Service 
officers. This is a profession that requires commitment and sacrifice. 
When you volunteered for the Foreign Service, you agreed to put the 
needs of your country before your own and your family. You agreed to 
spend years away from home, and you knew that your service might just 
put you in harm's way.
    Today we send our thoughts and prayers to all the men and women 
representing America in distant lands, and we pledge that we will never 
forget the brave souls who did not come home.
    As President, I have entrusted the Foreign Service with our Nation's 
most critical diplomatic missions. I have relied on your expertise, your 
advice, and your good judgment. I will always be grateful for your valor 
and your professionalism.
    Members of the Foreign Service bring this valor and professionalism 
to their work every single day. And there is one man who embodies these 
qualities above all: Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Over the years, Ryan has 
earned many honors, including the Presidential Meritorious Service Award 
and the

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rank of Career Ambassador. Today I have the privilege of honoring 
Ambassador Crocker with the highest civil award I can bestow, the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom. [Applause] Okay. It has not been bestowed 
yet. [Laughter]
    The son of an Air Force officer, Ryan Crocker has never been your 
typical diplomat. For social engagements, he likes to tell guests, ``no 
socks required.'' [Laughter] For language training, he once spent time 
herding sheep with a desert tribe in Jordan. For sport, he has jogged 
through war zones and run marathons on four continents. And for 
assignments, his preference has always been anywhere but Washington. 
[Laughter]
    During his nearly four decades in the Foreign Service, Ryan Crocker 
has become known as America's Lawrence of Arabia. His career has taken 
him to every corner of the Middle East. His understanding of the region 
is unmatched. His exploits are legendary. He has served as ambassador to 
five countries. He has repeatedly taken on the most challenging 
assignments.
    The man has never run from danger. As a young officer during the 
late 1970s, Ryan catalogued Saddam Hussein's murderous rise to power. In 
1983, he survived the terrorist attack on the American Embassy in 
Lebanon. In 1998, as the Ambassador to Syria, he witnessed an angry mob 
plunder his residence.
    After any one of these brushes with danger, most people would have 
lost their appetite for adventure--not Ryan Crocker. In the years since 
September the 11th, 2001, I have asked Ryan to hold numerous posts on 
the frontlines of the war on terror, and he has stepped forward 
enthusiastically every time.
    When the American Embassy in Kabul reopened in the beginning of 
2002, Ryan Crocker was our first envoy. When we liberated Iraq and 
removed the thug Saddam Hussein from power in 2003, I sent Ryan to help 
lead the reconstruction efforts. When the American Embassy in Pakistan 
needed new leadership, Ryan Crocker was put in charge. In 2007, I asked 
Ryan to return for a final mission to Iraq as America's Ambassador.
    Two years later, Iraq is becoming a rising democracy, an ally in the 
war on terror, an inspiring model of freedom for people across the 
Middle East. When the story of this transformation is written, 
historians will note the extraordinary partnership between two 
exceptional men: General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. As 
the General carried out a surge of military forces to improve security, 
the Ambassador led a civilian surge to improve everyday life. In 
December, after months of intense negotiations, the world saw the 
culmination of Ambassador Crocker's masterful diplomacy: two historic 
agreements for long-term cooperation between the United States and Iraq.
    This is not the first time that Ambassador Crocker has executed a 
brilliant diplomatic maneuver in Baghdad. During a rotation at the 
American Embassy nearly 30 years ago, he persuaded a young Foreign 
Service officer named Christine Barnes to be his wife. [Laughter] They 
have traveled the world together, and as Ryan prepares to retire from 
the Foreign Service, we wish the two of them many years of happiness.
    General Petraeus recently said this about his retiring colleague: 
``It was a great honor for me to be his military wingman.'' And today it 
is my great honor to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to one of 
the finest Foreign Service officers in American history, Ryan Clark 
Crocker. And now the military aide will read the citation.

Note: The President spoke at 11:14 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, commander, U.S. Central Command, in his 
former capacity as commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq. The 
transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included 
the remarks of Lt. Cmdr. Clay Beers, USN, Navy Aide to the President. 
The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of these remarks.