I welcome you all here, those who have been introduced and distinguished Members of Congress and military leaders, veterans, others who are in the audience. Today I am announcing the normalization of diplomatic relationships with Vietnam. From the beginning of this administration, any improvement in relationships between America and Vietnam has depended upon making progress on the issue of Americans who were missing in action or held as prisoners of war. Last year, I lifted the trade embargo on Vietnam in response to their cooperation and to enhance our efforts to secure the remains of lost Americans and to determine the fate of those whose remains have not been found. In 17 months, Hanoi has taken important steps to help us resolve many cases. Twenty-nine families have received the remains of their loved ones and at last have been able to give them a proper burial. Hanoi has delivered to us hundreds of pages of documents shedding light on what happened to Americans in Vietnam. And Hanoi has stepped up its cooperation with Laos, where many Americans were lost. We have reduced the number of socalled discrepancy cases, in which we have had reason to believe that Americans were still alive after they were lost, to 55. And we will continue to work to resolve more cases. Hundreds of dedicated men and women are working on all these cases, often under extreme hardship and real danger in the mountains and jungles of Indochina. On behalf of all Americans, I want to thank them. And I want to pay a special tribute to General John Vessey, who has worked so tirelessly on this issue for ENTITY Reagan and Bush and for our administration. He has made a great difference to a great many families. And we as a nation are grateful for his dedication and for his service. I also want to thank the ENTITY delegation, led by Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Hershel Gober, Winston Lord, James Wold, who have helped us to make so much progress on this issue. And I am especially grateful to the leaders of the families and the veterans organizations who have worked with the delegation and maintained their extraordinary commitment to finding the answers we seek. Never before in the history of warfare has such an extensive effort been made to resolve the fate of soldiers who did not return. Let me emphasize, normalization of our relations with Vietnam is not the end of our effort. We will keep working until we get all the answers we can. Normalization of relations is the next appropriate step. With this new relationship we will be able to make more progress.

Remarks Announcing the Normalization of Diplomatic Relations With Vietnam


To that end, I will send another delegation to Vietnam this year. And Vietnam has pledged it will continue to help us find answers. We will hold them to that pledge. By helping to bring Vietnam into the community of nations, normalization also serves our interest in working for a free and peaceful Vietnam in a stable and peaceful Asia. We will begin to normalize our trade relations with Vietnam, whose economy is now liberalizing and integrating into the economy of the Asia-Pacific region. Our policy will be to implement the appropriate United States Government programs to develop trade with Vietnam consistent with U.S. law. As you know, many of these programs require certifications regarding human rights and labor rights before they can proceed. We have already begun discussing human rights issues with Vietnam, especially issues regarding religious freedom. Now we can expand and strengthen that dialog. The Secretary of State will go to Vietnam in August where he will discuss all of these issues, beginning with our POW and MIA concerns. I believe normalization and increased contact between Americans and Vietnamese will advance the cause of freedom in Vietnam, just as it did in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. I strongly believe that engaging the Vietnamese on the broad economic front of economic reform and the broad front of democratic reform will help to honor the sacrifice of those who fought for freedom's sake in Vietnam. I am proud to be joined in this view by distinguished veterans of the Vietnam war. They served their country bravely. They are of different parties. A generation ago they had different judgments about the war which divided us so deeply. But today they are of a single mind. They agree that the time has come for America to move forward on Vietnam. All Americans should be grateful especially that Senators John McCain, John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, Chuck Robb, and Representative Pete Peterson, along with other Vietnam veterans in the Congress, including Senator Harkin, Congressman Kolbe, and Congressman Gilchrest, who just left, and others who are out here in the audience have kept up their passionate interest in Vietnam but were able to move beyond the haunting and painful past toward finding common ground for the future. Today they and many other veterans support the normalization of relations, giving the opportunity to Vietnam to fully join the community of nations and being true to what they fought for so many years ago. Whatever we may think about the political decisions of the Vietnam era, the brave Americans who fought and died there had noble motives. They fought for the freedom and the independence of the Vietnamese people.


Oh, it is good to be back in Michigan! It is good to be back at Wayne State! my friend Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, John Conyers, Sandy Levin. We have got the dean of the House, John Dingell; the next Representative from Michigan's 12th, Debbie Dingell. We have got a full house. Three days until you get to choose a new Governor and a new Senator. And here is what you have got to do until then. If you came to this rally, I know you also are going to go vote or are I do not worry about you. I need you to grab a friend. I need you to get some classmates. I need you to get some coworkers. I need you to knock on some doors and make some phone calls. I need you to visit iwillvote.com, find your polling place. Take everybody you know to cast their ballots for Gary Peters and Mark Schauer. Let me tell you why. I love you too. But I want to tell you why you need to vote. This country has made real progress since the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. Over the past 4 years, we have seen American businesses create more than 10 million new jobs. Over the past 6 months, our economy has grown at the fastest pace in more than 10 years. I do not have to tell you the auto industry that was on the brink of collapse is back on its feet, making better cars than ever, right here in Michigan. It is a testament to the grit and the resilience of American workers. We have got some leaders here who stick up for working folks every single day. We got Mary Kay Henry from SEIU. We have got Lily Eskelsen Garcia from the NEA. We have got Dennis Williams from the UAW. We have got some labor leaders here who know what it means to fight for working families. And because of the strength and resilience of the American worker, the auto industry has come back. We have seen progress on almost every economic measure. But we are here tonight because we know we have got more work to do. As fast as we have been moving, we know we'd be moving faster if a lot more of our politicians lived by the same values of hard work and responsibility that the ordinary people they represent take with them every single day when they go to the job. And over the next week, you have got a chance to make that happen.

Remarks at a Campaign Rally for Senatorial Candidate Gary C. Peters and Gubernatorial Candidate Mark H. Schauer in Detroit, Michigan


You have the chance to choose leaders that do not put political ideology first, that do not put just winning an election first, they put you first. And you could not have a better example than Mark and Gary. You could not have a better example of the kind of leaders you want. I mean, look at these two guys. They have spent their entire lives in Michigan. Mark ran a nonprofit that helped unemployed workers get back on their feet. Gary helped folks save for college and retirement as a financial planner. Then he served in the Navy Reserve. to fight for hard-working families like yours, because your story is their story. They were not born with a silver spoon in their mouths. They know what it is like to struggle. They know what it is like to have to work hard and piece together a budget and save. And they know what it is like when their parents or grandparents make sacrifices for them. And since they have taken office, they have led. They led to clean up the Great Lakes. They helped to cut taxes for Michigan's small businesses and invest in new, high-tech manufacturing. They fought to give Michigan's minimum wage workers the raise they deserve. When the chips were down and our most iconic industry was on the line, they said, we should not walk away. If the auto industry went down, communities across this State and Midwest would have gone down too. So Mark and Gary placed their bet on Michigan. They placed their bet on American workers, making American products. And thanks to the grit and ingenuity and pride of American workers, that bet that they made paid off in a big way. Now, some of the folks who figured we should have thrown in the towel 6 years ago are the same folks who are asking you for your vote next week. They have got a lot of nerve. They have got a lot of nerve. If they are not there for you when you need them I think you should vote for Mark and Gary instead. That is what I think. Because you know they had your backs, and now we have got to get theirs. And that is what this election is all about, Michigan. When you step into that voting booth, you are making a choice not just about candidates or parties. You are making a choice about two different visions of what America is about. Who is on your side? Who is going to fight for you? Who is going to fight for your future? They love their country. They love their family.


No, but I mean what I say here. Listen, I mean what I say. They love this country. But they have got bad ideas. And I always try to explain, look, I have got members of my family who I love and have bad ideas. I still love them, I just would not put them in charge. You all have got somebody in your family like that. You are going to have them over for Thanksgiving, but you do not want to put them in charge. More tax breaks for folks at the top, less investment in education, looser rules on big banks and credit card companies and polluters, a thinner safety net for folks when they fall on hard times. You know what, we have tried those things. I mean, it would be one thing if we had not tried them. But when you have done it again and again, and each time the middle class has a tougher time, and the folks at the top are doing better and better, I do not know why we would think it would work differently this time. They are not changing their tune either. Every time the Republican Party leaders in Washington had to take a stand this year on policies that would help the middle class, their answer was no. They said no to raising the minimum wage. They said no to fair pay legislation to make sure women get paid the same as men for doing the same job. They said no to helping young people refinance their student loans. They actually voted for rules that would make it more expensive for students when they take out student loans. The only thing they voted yes on was another massive tax cut for millionaires. And it is the clearest display of whose side they are on. The same Washington Republicans who blocked a $2.85-an-hour raise for some of the hardest working people in America the folks who clean up your bedpans, the folks that make up and take care of seniors they made clear that they are not going to do that. One of the first things they do is change the rules to jam tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans through. They are not going to raise the minimum wage. Their leadership said tax cuts for those at the top are even more pressing now than they were 30 years ago. That is what they said. When one of George W. Bush's economic advisers took a look at how many jobs their agenda would create, he said, not many. They do not have an agenda for the middle class.


They do not have an agenda for Detroit. They do not have an agenda for Michigan. At a time when nearly all the gains of this recovery are flowing to the top 1 percent, cutting taxes for those same folks does not make any sense. It is the wrong vision for the future. But the good news is Mark and Gary have a different vision, a vision rooted in the conviction that in America, prosperity does not trickle down from the top, it comes up from folks who are working every single day, middle class folks, folks trying to work hard to get into the middle class. That is what we believe as Democrats. That is what we believe here in Michigan. We believe in an economy that grows for the many, not the few. Mark and Gary are not running to give tax breaks to folks who do not need them. He is running to build economies Michigan's economy from the middle class out. They know that the ideas to create jobs, they are not Democrat or Republican, but they have got to work. And they know that education, for example, is not just the key to economic growth, it is the surest path into the middle class. They are not going to slash investments in schools or make it harder for students to go to college. They are going to make it easier for students to go to college and make sure teachers are respected and make sure we got early childhood education for our kids. That is what they are going to run on. We believe that in America, public servants should work for the people they represent. Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits or ideological crusades, Mark and Gary will spend their time protecting ordinary citizens, making your lives better. looking out for you. Let me tell you something else that Mark and Gary believe in. They do not think, if you are working full time in this country you should be raising your family in poverty. They are not backed by special interests who think that the minimum wage is something we should get rid of, they are running because they think we should champion the efforts of folks who work hard, but still have trouble paying the bills at the end of the month. That is what they believe. That is what they are going to fight for. And if you believe that too, you have got to vote. Mark and Gary believe that the economy is stronger when women are full participants in our economy. I already told you Republicans said no to a national fair pay law.


One of the Republicans running for national office, he said I am quoting here he said, You could argue that money is more important for men. Now, I do not know what woman he talked to. He did not talk to you. Did he talk to you? I know he did not talk to Michelle. See, if you are going to strengthen the 21st-century economy, you have got to be in the 21st century. You have got to understand that women now make up an increasing part of the workforce. They are bringing home more of the bacon. And just like Gary talked about, we have got to make sure that women control their own health care choices. You know, it is funny, if you ask a Republican in Congress if they believe in climate change, they say, Well, uh, I am not a scientist. I am not a scientist that is what they say. But when it comes to a woman's right to choose, suddenly, they are a doctor. They have got to update their attitudes. I like that show. But it is set in the sixties. We are now in the 21st century. And we have got to understand that in America, when women succeed, America succeeds. I get that. But I want you to feel a sense of urgency these last 3 days. The biggest corporations do not need another champion. The wealthiest Americans do not need another champion. Opportunity for a few is not what Michigan is about. Opportunity for all is what built the middle class in this country. If you want something better, you have got to vote for it. You have got to work for it. If you believe working families need a tax break, not millionaires, you have got to vote for it. If you think we should invest in our children's schools and give teachers more support and get early childhood education in place so young people get a good start in life, and young people going to college are not burdened with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of debt, you have got to vote for it. You have got to fight for it. If you think that folks who work hard should get an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, you have got to vote for it. You know, I tell you, we give away our power all the time. Some of you know I started as a community organizer. And when I talked to folks in the community, the first thing I'd say is, why do you give away your power?


And they'd say, what do you mean? You sit at home and complain. But complaining and not voting, that means you are just giving away your power. That means you are you are giving away your precious right to help determine the course of your Nation. So look, Michigan, you have had my back twice. You have had my back twice. I love this State. In recent years, Michigan has led the Nation in the number of voters who vote for President, but then stay home during the midterms. According to one estimate, you have got 900,000 folks in Michigan who voted in 2008 and then did not vote in 2010 900,000. I do not know what is going on with those folks. Their vote could decide whether 28 million American workers get the raise they deserve, whether American families continue to benefit from new health care coverage. Pretty soon, they are not going to call it Obamacare anymore. Your vote will decide the course that Michigan takes from here. So Gary needs your vote, Mark needs your vote, I need your vote. But I also need you to go out there and get involved in these closing days. Talk to one of the organizers who are in the room. Grab somebody you know, get them to vote for Mark. Get them to vote for Gary. Do not let somebody else choose your future for you. The hardest thing in politics is changing the status quo. When you got a lot of people in power, they care about just keeping power, they do not care about helping you. They count on you thinking you cannot make a difference. And every day, they are sending you a message that you do not count. Despite all the cynicism, America is making progress. Despite the unyielding opposition of folks on the other side, there are workers who have jobs today who did not have them before. There are auto plants who've got shifts that were not there before. There are families who have health insurance who did not have it before. There are students who are going to college who could not afford it before. There are troops who've been coming home from Afghanistan who were not home before. There are the best cars in America and in the world rolling off assembly lines right here in Michigan, right here in the United States, that were not coming off those assembly lines before. Do not let them tell you that your vote does not matter. Cynicism did not put a man on the Moon.


I have known Margaret, as she said, a long time, and I am very proud of the job she is doing. She knows what she is talking about when it comes to the schools in America, and she and I are going to work to make sure that every child gets an excellent education. I want to thank the good folks here at Falkener for inviting ENTITY to come. As you can tell, it is not an easy thing-to host ENTITY. It is like, the entourage is pretty big, a lot of security. I have come because I appreciate the example you set. One of the things I like to do is to herald excellence. So the first thing I want to say is, congratulations to the principal and the teachers and the parents for working hard to make this a fantastically interesting place for our children to go to school. I want to thank-you know, they say to me, What do you want from the schools? I do not know if you recognize this, but we just had six Nobel Prize winners recently announced-America had six Nobel-all of whom went to public schools in America. And my hope as I travel through the halls of these schools-like this one-I am meeting Nobel Prize winners of the future. It is a noble aspiration for all of us to aim for. And so I want to thank you for letting me come. I am going to talk about No Child Left Behind. I think you are about to find out I am a passionate advocate of this important law, because I know it can save children's lives and I know it can help us meet a national objective, and that is, every child getting a good education in every school throughout the country. I bring greetings from Laura. She is actually in El Paso, Texas, today-I think she is in El Paso, Texas, today-I am confident-I think that is what she told me- where a new school out there is opening up the Laura Bush Library. And well deserved, I want you to know, because she has a great passion for making sure that every child can read. So I bring, as best I can, her passion here to this important school. I am proud to be here with Senator Richard Burr from the great State of North Carolina. I appreciate Virginia Foxx, the Congresswoman, who joined us as well. You might remember, I was ENTITY of a State.

Remarks at Waldo C. Falkener Elementary School in Greensboro, North Carolina


And I used to say, education is to a State what national defense is to the Federal Government. And so I took my role as ENTITY and being involved in public school-just like Guy Hunt did- we overlapped as Governors, and we prioritized public education. And so I spent a lot of time with schools in Texas, and I learned one thing, that these little centers of excellence always depended upon having an aggressive principal, a principal who is willing to set high standards and not allow for mediocrity to set in. So, Amy, I want to thank you for your leadership and thank you for your hospitality. I met Josette Hamrick, who is the teacher of the year. I congratulate you, Josette, for setting a good example. I also have recently gone to Mary Helen Parson's third grade school-third grade class. And Tom Ned -Tom Niedziela-he is a-both of whom are dedicated teachers. And so I want to say something about teaching. It is a necessary profession for this country. And for those of you who are teachers, I congratulate you and thank you for serving our country. I oftentimes say to people that are asking me about-do you have any recommendations for what I should be doing, and my answer is, teach. And to parents I say, remember, you are the child's first teacher. As a matter of fact, schools succeed when a parent understands that teaching begins at home, and it makes the job of the classroom teacher so much easier. But I want to thank the teachers who are here, and thank you for setting a good example. I want to thank the school board members who are here. I told the head of the school board and the other man on the school board, I said, It is a pretty tough job to be on the school board. One fellow said, Do you want to switch jobs? Local control of schools is important in order to achieve educational excellence, and I am going to talk a little about that in a minute. I also landed today and met a lady named Michelle Gilmore. Michelle volunteers as a mentor. If you are concerned about the future of North Carolina or concerned about the future of our country and you want to make a difference, become a mentor. It is amazing what happens when an adult takes time out of her life, in this case, to say to a child, I care about you, and I want to help.


The true strength of the United States of America lies in the hearts and souls of our citizens. And the amazing thing about our country is that there are millions of acts of kindness that take place on a daily basis, and it has not required one government law. And the reason I mention Michelle and the reason I welcomed her to Air Force One is because I want to, one, thank you as an individual, and remind people that you can serve America by loving a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. I like the fact that this-we are at a school named for a civil rights pioneer. I happen to believe reading is a modern-day civil right, that if you cannot read, you cannot realize the great promise of the United States of America. That is what I believe. And so I have come to this school because I believe schools should set high standards and insist upon results, like teaching a child to read. I do not think it is too much to ask in schools around the United States of America. I know what happens when a child cannot read at grade level. I know the despondency that can be caused if a child is just simply shuffled through a school. In other words, it is a school that-I equate that with educational entrepreneurship. It means people are willing to try things differently. This school is one that, interestingly enough, has got a international baccalaureate program inherent in its curriculum. And that is important because international baccalaureate programs are programs that set high standards for children in later years. So in other words, it is kind of a pre-international baccalaureate experience, all aimed at making sure that a child who goes from here has a chance to even have a greater skill level than anticipated. So it is interesting to be in a school that is a magnet school, that has got a pre-international baccalaureate program. We support magnet schools at the Federal level. First, let me just tell you my theory. Most education needs to be funded at the State and local level. I believe that is the proper role between the Federal Government and the State government. And yet there are incentive programs that come out of Washington; Title I money, for example, is an incentive program. We also have put money in our budget for magnet schools. As a matter of fact, the budget next year I have asked for has got about $100 million for magnet schools. I think magnet schools are interesting concepts to-that the local folks ought to decide to use.


I am a-also understand, and I hope you do-I know those of you involved with public schools understand that we are now living in a global economy. North Carolina understands that about as much as any State. What happens abroad affects the lives of our students in the near future. If a child in China gets a good engineering degree and a child in America does not , it means China is likely to be more competitive in the 21st century. In other words, we have got to get education right not only because it is a national responsibility but because we are in a global world. Whether we like it or not, there is competition for jobs of the future that are going to-that will take place. And therefore, it is important that we make sure that our children get a solid foundation early in order-so that our country can be competitive, as well as our children. Now, let me talk about No Child Left Behind, because I am really here to make clear to people in Congress, not only who are here but around the country, that the reauthorization of this important bill is going to be a top priority of mine. And it is not only just the reauthorization, it is the strengthening of the bill, and not the weakening of the bill. I readily concede that is a rare occurrence in Washington, DC, but nevertheless, Republicans and Democrats came together to get this important piece of legislation passed. It said, We will spend more money at the Federal level, but in return, we expect results. It seems like a simple concept, but nevertheless, it was not inherent in the education programs out of the Federal Government. As a matter of fact, in many schools around the country, that is the way it was. You know, I remember, one time, going to a school in Houston, Texas, and I said to the teacher, How is everything? It was a shock to ENTITY. It should be a shock to everybody when you hear a teacher say, my kids cannot read by the time they get to high school. The point was made to me-and this is when Margaret and I started working on this concept of measurement-that if you do not measure, you do not know. And the only way to prevent kids from just getting shuffled through schools-until the point where the high school teacher says they cannot read-is to measure early. And so part of the No Child Left Behind Act says, We expect results, and you measure.


I believe in local control of schools. I do not believe the Federal Government should be telling the people in North Carolina how to run their schools. I do not think the Federal Government ought to design the test; the people of North Carolina should design the accountability tests. Look, I understand kids-I understand the debate; you know, They are teaching the test. No, you are teaching a child to read so they can pass a comprehensive test. And if they cannot pass a comprehensive test, something is fundamentally wrong. No, what you do is you teach so that the accountability system-when you do test, a child is proficient. Active schools, schools that are meeting excellence are those that find problems early and solve the problems early, before it is too late. That is why I am at this school. This school sets high standards. And by the way, if you set low standards, guess what happens in schools? You get bad results. If you walk into a classroom full of the hard to educate and not have high standards, the hard to educate remains hard to educate. Set high standards; use curriculum that works; you can determine what works by measuring whether or not students are meeting certain standards; and correct problems early, before it is too late. That is what No Child Left Behind is all about. You know, the first year this school was tested under No Child Left Behind, it did not meet standards; like, it just was not good enough. This school decided to do something about it. See, they recognized they had a problem, and so they used Federal funding to pay for new laboratories, teacher collaboration, research on what was going right and what was going wrong. There is a new focus on results; there was frequent testing; they set up a Saturday Academy for children with low test scores that needed extra help. Four years ago, about 46 percent of third graders at this school were reading at grade level. That is okay if you are a parent of one of the 46 percent. It is not okay if you are a parent of one of the 54 percent. And the principal and the teachers understood there was a problem, and they took steps to change the status quo. And today, 76 percent are reading at grade level. That is what No Child Left Behind does.


It cannot do the teaching; it cannot be the leader; but it can help people who care deeply about the lives of a child-the life of a child to succeed, to recognize problems, address the problem, correct the problem, and teach a child to read. And that is what is -that is why I am at Falkener. This is a school that has gone from mediocre to excellent, because they have used the tools of the No Child Left Behind Act. In the fifth grade, about 68 percent of the students were reading at grade level 4 years ago; today, 88 percent of the students are reading at grade level. I cannot thank you enough for taking advantage of a law that really was living up to its name- no child being left behind. She said, Falkener has greatly benefited from this legislation. Our test scores tell our story of success. I met Tom Ned-you call him Ned, right?-Niedziela. He focused on reading comprehension and vocabulary, and his class made the largest reading gains in the fourth grade. One girl whose first language is Spanish-see, if the child's first language is Spanish, that child generally is what we call hard to educate. Inner-city kids tend to be labeled hard to educate, so all that mattered in the past was, if you are 10, you are supposed to be here, and if you are 11, you are supposed to be there. It is unacceptable for this country, by the way. That type of attitude is unacceptable. This child started the year reading at the second grade level. Thanks to Mr. Ned, she now reads at the sixth grade level. I met her.  He said, I told them, if you want to be good at something, you have got to practice. If you want to play football, you have to go to football practice. I want to thank Mr. Ned; I want to thank the students. We see the results in No Child Left Behind across the State of North Carolina. I do not know if you know this or not, but your State has been an innovative State. Your State has been one that has not shied away from accountability. In other words, you did not use excuses about testing. Your State was the first in the Nation to establish an accountability system and one of the first to have the testing plans approved under No Child Left Behind. In other words, your State led.


And I congratulate the State leaders and those involved with education for being bold on behalf of the children of your State. The percentage of fourth graders with basic math skills rose 10 points between 2000 and 2005. The percentage of eighth graders with basic math skills rose about six points between 2000 and 2005. African American fourth and eighth graders in North Carolina achieved some of the highest math scores in the Nation. It is got to make you feel good to hear African American kids are scoring some of the highest tests in the Nation. Can you imagine if the President came and said, By the way, your kids are scoring the lowest scores in the Nation ? I suspect you'd want to be doing something about that. In other words, we are measuring-each State measures, and you are able to norm to determine how States do relative to each other. In reading, 9-year-olds have made the largest gains in the past 5 years than at any point in the previous 28 years. In math, 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds earned the highest scores in the history of the test. We have an achievement gap in America that is-that I do not like and you should not like. It is the difference between reading of African American students and Latino students and White students. The gap is closing, and that is incredibly important for the United States of America, to see that achievement gap close. Inherent in No Child Left Behind are some interesting reforms. First, if we find a child falling behind early, there is extra Federal money to help that child. For the first time, the Federal Government has said, Not only do we want you to measure, but when we find a child falling behind, there is extra money to be used in either the private or public sector. See, measuring encourages parental involvement. If you measure and a parent finds out that his or her child is not succeeding, most parents are going to say, Do something about it. And what the Federal Government has said, Here is some extra money to help you, to get tutoring, to get you back up to grade level. If a school continues to fail-in other words, a school does not make progress- I believe parents ought to be liberated from that school district if they so choose and go to another public school. In other words, there has to be a consequence at some point in time for a school that will not -is not teaching and will not change, if you expect there to be concrete results.


This school started off with low scores, set high standards, and has achieved the objective. I suspect not many parents, even if they could, would want to leave, because you are meeting-you are doing the job. There are schools around the country that are not doing the job, and that is unacceptable to society. It ought to be unacceptable to school boards and parents and teachers. In DC, we started something interesting. We said that if the school fails, continue to-if there is persistent failure, that a child ought to be able to go to not only a public school but a private school. We work with the mayor to enhance-it is an interesting opportunity-said, if you fail, and the school will not change, then the DC came up with a scholarship that said this scholarship could be redeemed at a public school or a Catholic school, for example. There is a debate going on about whether we ought to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act. I think you can get a sense for where I am coming from. Not only do I think we ought to reauthorize it, I think we ought to strengthen it. I think it would be a huge mistake for the United States Congress not to reauthorize this important piece of legislation. And the reason I say that is that it is working. In other words, there is just more than words there; we have achieved concrete results. For example, we ought to make sure that scores are tested early, particularly for big districts, so that people understand what the results are. Oftentimes in-I do not know how many big districts, Margaret-but I have heard complaints from school districts where the test scores get posted for the parents after the school year begins, which is like-it does not work. So the bureaucracy, frankly, has got to be a little more facile in getting the results out, and Margaret understands that. I think we ought to continue doing what we call the Teacher Incentive Fund. It allows States and school districts to reward teachers who demonstrate results for their students. If this school board decides they want to provide incentives for teachers based upon results, the Federal Government will provide money to help you do that. I like the idea. You may not like it, and that is fine. You got elected a school board member; I did not . But nevertheless, I do believe we ought to make sure that school boards and school districts have the option.


I also think there ought to be incentives for teachers who make the decision to teach in some of the needier school districts, tougher schools-to provide an incentive. We have got a program I am going to work with Congress on to encourage math and science professionals to come into classrooms. And the reason why is, in order for us to be competitive in the future, our students have got to be proficient in math and the sciences, and we have to have more emphasis on math and science. And there is no better way to encourage a child to take math and science than to have a professional come in the class. We call them adjunct professors. Margaret and I, one time, went over to a school in Maryland, and there were some people from NASA there, two science guys from NASA that could talk the language of science. Some pretty cool guys that were there, but they were saying to eighth grade kids, Science is interesting for you. Sometimes it takes somebody in the field to be able to lend practical knowledge to convince children to continue to focus on science and math and engineering. I talked to you about how to make sure parents get better information. I do believe we ought to fund a national opportunity scholarship program to make sure parents have choices-particularly poor parents have choices beyond just public school choice. I am worried about high school, and I think the new law ought to focus a lot on high school. Four out of every-one out of every four ninth graders in America does not graduate from high school on time. If we live in a global world that is highly competitive, our kids have got to get out of high school, and they got to head to community college or college, if we are going to be competitive. And so we need to bring the same standards to our high schools that we have brought thus far to elementary and junior high schools. If it is okay to test in the third grade, it ought to be okay to test in high school to determine whether or not curricula works, whether or not teaching methodology is working, and whether or not our children are learning. Again, I told you about the international baccalaureate program. It feeds into another way for us to enhance the competitiveness of this country, and that is to encourage AP programs-Advanced Placement programs-throughout classrooms all across America. One of the bottlenecks is- a bottleneck is the number of teachers that are capable of teaching AP.


I thank you for the greeting that you have extended to me. I wish to say a word of special acknowledgment to the men of the Grand ENTITY, to the representatives of the pioneers, to the men who proved their loyalty in the supreme test from '61 to '65, and to the pioneers who showed the same qualities in winning this great West that you of the Civil War showed in your feat. I also wish to say how pleased I am to have had as my escort the men of the Naval Militia. The one thing on which this country must forever be a unit is the navy. We must have a first-class navy. A nation like ours, with the unique position of fronting at once on the Atlantic and the Pacific, a nation forced by the mere fact of destiny to play a great, a mighty, a masterful part in the world, cannot afford to neglect its navy, cannot afford to fail to insist upon the building up of the navy. We must go on with the task as we have begun it. We have a good navy now. We must make it an even better one in the future. We must have an ample supply of the most formidable type of fighting ships; we must have those ships practiced; we must see that not only are our warships the best in the world, but that the men who handle them, the men in the gun turrets, the men in the engine rooms, the men in the conning towers, are also the best of their kind. I am about to visit the grove of the great trees. I wish to congratulate you people of California, people of this region, and to congratulate all the country on what you have done in preserving these great trees. Cut down one of these giants and you cannot fill its place. The ages were their architects and we owe it to ourselves and to our children's children to preserve them. Nothing has pleased me more here in California than to see how thoroughly awake you are to preserve the monuments of the past, human and natural. I am glad to see the way in which the old mission buildings are being preserved. This great, wonderful, new State, this State which is itself an empire, situated on the greatest of oceans, should keep alive the sense of historic continuity of its past, and should as one step towards that end preserve the ancient historic landmarks within its limits.

Address at Santa Cruz, California


The other day, I was talking about education with some folks in the backyard of an Albuquerque home, and someone asked a question that is stayed with me. He asked, If we do not have homes to go to, what good is an education? It was a heartfelt question, one that could be asked by anyone who is lost a home or a job in this recession. Because if you are out of work or facing foreclosure, all that really matters is a new job. All that really matters is a roof over your head. All that really matters is getting back on your feet. That is why I am fighting each and every day to jump-start job creation in the private sector, to help our small-business owners grow and hire, to rebuild our economy so it lifts up a middle class that is been battered for so long. But even as we focus on doing all that, even as we focus on speeding up our economic recovery, we also know that when it comes to jobs, opportunity, and prosperity in the 21st century, nothing is more important than the quality of your education. At a time when most of the new jobs being created will require some kind of higher education, when countries that outeducate us today will outcompete us tomorrow, giving our kids the best education possible is an economic imperative. That is why, from the start of my administration, we have been fighting to offer every child in this country a world-class education, from the cradle to the classroom, from college through a career. Earlier this week, I announced a new Skills for America's Future initiative that will help community colleges and employers match what is taught in the classroom with what is needed in the private sector, so we can connect students looking for jobs with businesses looking to hire. We are eliminating tens of billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies for banks to administer student loans and using that money to make college more affordable for millions of students. And we have launched a Race to the Top in our States to make sure our students, all of them, are graduating from high school ready for college, so we can meet our goal of graduating a higher proportion of students from college than any other country in the world by 2020. And yet if Republicans in Congress had their way, we'd have had a harder time meeting that goal. We'd have had a harder time offering our kids the best education possible, because they'd have us cut education by 20 percent.

The President's Weekly Address


And, Moose, when I was young and read ing about George Gipp, I never thought I'd come back as the Gipper. I brought with me Dick Lyng, our Secretary of Agriculture and Notre Dame's representative in the Cabinet, and the five not the four horsemen from Congress South Bend's own Jack Hiler, our quarterback in this effort. Joe McDade, Dan Lungren, Dave Martin, and Ben Blaz. It is a pleasure to visit once again the home of the Fighting Irish. With St. Patrick's Day coming up and after seeing those film clips, it brings to mind another deathbed scene. You know, apparently the town rogue of one small Irish hamlet lay on his deathbed as the priest prepared for the atonement. Do you renounce the devil? Do you renounce him and all his works? the priest asked. And the rogue opened one eye and said, Father, this is no time for making enemies. I have said this before, but I want you to know the first time I ever saw Notre Dame was when I came here as a sports announcer, 2 years out of college, to broadcast a football game. You won, or I would not have mentioned it. And then, of course, I was here with Pat O'Brien and a whole host of Hollywood stars for the world premier of Knute Rockne. Now, let me explain, I may be saying the name differently, but when we made the picture we were told, and Bonnie upheld it to us, that it was Knute not Knute. So, you will have to get used to me saying it that way. All American how I had wanted to make that movie and play the part of George Gipp. It had a great entrance, an action middle, and a death scene right out of the opera. But it was more than that. I know that to many of you today Rockne is a revered name, a symbol of greatness and, yes, a face now on a postage stamp. But my generation, well, we actually knew the legend as it happened. We saw it unfold, and we felt it was saying something important about us as a people and a nation. And there was little room for skepticism or cynicism; we knew the legend was based on fact. I would like to interject here, if I could, that it is difficult to stand before you and make you understand how great that legend was at that time.

Remarks at the Unveiling of the Knute Rockne Commemorative Stamp at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana


It is not just a memory here and of those who knew him, but throughout this nation he was a living legend. Millions of Americans just automatically rooted for him on Saturday afternoon and rooted, therefore, for Notre Dame. Now, of course, the Rockne legend stood for fair play and honor, but you know, it was thoroughly American in another way. It placed a value on devastating quickness and agility and on confounding the opposition with good old American cleverness. that on or off the field, it is faith that makes the difference, it is faith that makes great things happen. And believe me, it took faith and a lot of it for an unknown actor to think that he could get the part of George Gipp. I was under contract to Warner Brothers, but I had been all over the studio talking about my idea for a story. Having come from sports announcing to the movies, I said I thought that the movies ought to make the life story of Knute Rockne. And then one day I picked up the Daily Variety and read where Warner Brothers was announcing that they were making the life story of Knute Rockne and were starting to cast the film. Well, all I'd ever wanted was to play the Gipper if they some day made the film. And I approached Pat O'Brien, who was going to play Rockne he'd been my choice and he told me bluntly that I talked too much and that is where Warner's got the idea. And I told him what my ambition was, and he said, Well, they are looking for a name actor. But Pat did intervene with the head of the studio, the top producer, Hal Wallis. Hal was, to put it mildly, unimpressed with my credentials. He started by telling me I did not look big enough for the part. Well, I was not very polite, because I told him, You are producing the picture, and you do not know that George Gipp weighed 5 pounds less than I weigh right now. He walked with a kind of a slouch and almost a limp. He looked like a football player only when he was on the field. And then I went home, because some cameramen had told me that the fellas in the front office, they only knew what they saw on film. And I dug down in the trunk and came up with my own pictures of myself playing football in college and brought them back and showed them to Hal Wallis .


Well, he finally let me do a test for the part, and Pat O'Brien, knowing of my nervousness and desire, graciously agreed to be a part of it and play in the scene with me. Well, of course, I had an advantage. I had known George Gipp's story for years, and the lines were straight from Knute Rockne's diary. And the test scene was one that said something about what Rockne liked to see in his players. You saw that scene where he was told to get into uniform. And Rockne told him to carry the ball, and Gipp just looked back at Rockne and cocked an eyebrow and said, How far? Well; I mentioned all this because, as I say, Knute liked spirit in his ball players. Grantland Rice tells us that once when he was working with the four backfield stars who became known as the Four Horsemen the fellow named Jimmy Crowley just could not get it right. Now, you know, I never tell ethnic jokes anymore unless they are about the Irish. But in view of the spirit of this occasion, maybe I can be permitted some leeway. Rockne, who, by the way, was Norwegian, was commonly called the Swede. He finally got exasperated after Crowley muffed a play and hollered, What is dumber than a dumb Irishman? And without missing a beat, Crowley shot right back, A smart Swede. And you know, not too long ago I was questioned about the George Gipp story. And this interviewer had really done his research. In fact, he'd even gone back and talked to my old football coach, Ralph McKenzie, at Eureka College, who was 91 years old, and asked him about my football career. Well, now, I have been through a lot of interviews, but believe me, I tensed up at hearing that. And apparently Mac described me as eager, aggressive, better on defense, overall an average football player but an outstanding talker. Well, anyway, I was asked whether I knew that George Gipp was no angel, that he played in some pool games and card games in his time. And of course, that was true, and I said so. But it was also true of George Gipp and it is legitimately part of the legend that he used his winnings from those games to buy food for destitute families and to help other students pay their way through Notre Dame.


And the reason he got so sick and later died from pneumonia was because he had promised a former teammate who had become a high school coach that he would give his students some pointers. Author James Cox tells us it was during that training session in Chicago that an icy wind blew in across Lake Michigan and the Gipper first felt the ache and sore throat that would lead to the illness that would take his life. You see, there were no miracle drugs in those days. And a promising young life was ended, but the point is, George Gipp could not forget a friend. And I have always thought that it was no mere coincidence that the legend of George Gipp and Knute Rockne emerged from this great institution of higher learning not simply because of its academic excellence but because it stands among the winds of subjectivity for lasting values and principles that are the heart of our civilization and on which all human progress is built Notre Dame not only educates its students in the development of honesty, courage, and all the other things we call character. Sportsmanship means fair play. It means having a little respect for the other fellow's point of view. It means a real application of the Golden Rule. And I know a fine example of this is the charitable care 80 of you students give the handicapped children at the Logan Center. This and other acts of good will say much about your generation. There are those who suggest the 1980's have been characterized by greed. I think our detractors are looking in the wrong places. If they want to see the goodness and love of life of this generation, the commitment to decency and a better future, let them come here to Notre Dame. It is a place where the Golden Rule, the legend of Rockne, and the idea of religious faith still live. Rockne stressed character. He knew, instinctively, the relationship between the physical and moral. That is as true of nations as it is of people. Short-term survival may depend on the knowledge of nuclear physicists and the performance of supersonic aircraft, but long-term survival depends alone on the character of man. Rockne believed in competition, yet he did not rely on brute force for winning the victory. Instead, he is remembered as the man who brought ingenuity, speed, and agility into this most American of sports. May I interrupt myself here for a second and tell you something else about him?


As a sports announcer, I was told by many of the great coaches in this land whose teams had played against Notre Dame teams under Rockne that one of their hardest problems when playing Notre Dame was that their team worshiped Rockne that they were fans of his, and that when they came out in the field the first thing they looked for was where was this great, great coach. Rockne, you see, was a man of vision. And that is how he came by his reputation as someone larger than life and a miracle man. Because of his tremendous success in sports, it is easy to forget that he was something else as well, something not too many people knew about him. He was also a man of science, having taught chemistry here at Notre Dame for 4 years. I must believe that he would not be at all surprised at the enormous advances that have taken place over the five decades since his death. Much has been said about the technological revolution in which we are living. Every time we turn around, it seems to be staring us in the face. Typewriters are being replaced in corporate offices throughout the country by highly efficient word processors. With the almost universal proliferation of copy machines, carbon paper has almost gone the way of the buggy whip. The American workplace, in recent years, has undergone a dramatic transformation. Just in the last 5 years, manufacturing productivity of our working people has increased 4.7 percent annually. I have seen it in the many companies that I have visited all across this nation, and I have heard it from the working people themselves. And do not let all the gloom and doomers tell you any different. I happen to have always believed in the American people. Given the proper tools and a level playing ground, our workers can outproduce and outcompete anyone, anywhere. It is a far different picture than the agonizing sight of a decade ago, when many were counting out American workers and American industry. We were told that Americans would no longer go the extra mile, no longer had the drive to excel; that our country was in decline and that we, as a people, should lower our expectations. Well, today we see an America ready to compete, anxious to compete. In fact, our workers are so productive that foreign companies are opening plants in the United States, sometimes to manufacture products for export to other countries. Our industrial base, contrary to a totally false yet widespread impression, is strong and, in fact, is growing.


We have added almost 300,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 6 months, and that trend is continuing. There are over 19 million manufacturing jobs today, about the same as the last 20 years, while manufacturing output is up almost 40 percent over the last 5 years. In short, American industry is lean and mean and ready to meet the competition head on. I predict that as this year progresses we will see American manufacturing reemerge as the leading force in the world marketplace. Exports will, in fact, race ahead and lead our domestic economy. What is propelling our country forward? that fundamental element of the American character that no tyranny and few of our competitors can ever hope to match. Knute Rockne knew and appreciated it the creative genius and omnipresent optimism of our people. We had faith in them these last 7 years, and they did the rest. That is why, instead of giving up, we set our sights high. We did not raise taxes, drain the investment pool, and tell our working people and business leaders to hunker down and prepare for the worst, to lower their expectations. We asked them to dream great dreams, to reach for the stars. We left resources in the private sector that others would have drained into the bureaucracy. The heavy investment made in our economy during the early part of this decade is paying off now, in a big way. The only limit on our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. We have done it by keeping our eyes on the future, by setting our sights on what can be done rather than on complaining about how much there is to do. We have done it by viewing every problem as an opportunity. Technology and commitment can overcome any challenge. The individual investment made in companies, large and small; the retraining of our work force to handle the jobs in this technological age; the search for new ideas and innovative approaches; the modernization of older industries and investment in the new; energy, creativity, and, yes, hard work on a massive scale throughout our country, from the bottom up this is the foundation of our prosperity and the impetus for national progress. Our program has been to foster innovation and to keep our country in the forefront of change. And that is why last year we committed ourselves to building the world's largest particle accelerator, superconducting super-collider to maintain our leadership in high-energy physics research and America's scientific and technological competitiveness.


That is why we are developing a space plane that by the end of the century will take off from a runway, but once at high altitude will rocket into near space and zip to its destination at 10 and even 20 times the speed of sound. And that is why I am proposing to Congress in my fiscal year '89 budget a new Thomas A. Edison prize program, offering monetary awards to any American who can develop workable, ground-breaking technologies that could improve our quality of life. And that is why scientists right here at Notre Dame are blazing trails in superconductivity research, finding ways so that this breakthrough technology can be put to use for the betterment of all mankind. Because someday, because of research being done here, transcontinental railroads will slide heavy cargoes on a magnetic cushion, cheaply and quickly across the country. Perhaps our energy costs will drop below anything we could have imagined a decade ago. Rockne exemplified the American spirit of never giving up. And that is also why this year we will see the return of the American space shuttle, symbolic of America's tenacity. And I cannot help but believe that the heroes of the Challenger will be cheering along with the rest of us when the United States reclaims its rightful leadership role in leading the conquest of this, the last frontier. Technology in these last decades has reshaped our lives. It is opened vast opportunity for the common man and has brought all of mankind into one community. Today worldwide communications and transportation have linked productive citizens of every free land. Through advances in medicine, our people are living longer, and the quality of their later years has been vastly improved. I like to remind people that I have already lived some 23 years longer than the average life expectancy when I was born. That is a source of frustration to a number of people. And you know there are always those who say the problem's too big, it cannot be helped, let us prepare for the worst. But a few years ago, we heard that about the drug problem here in America. But a few people, including my roommate, Nancy- said it was time for action, not gloom and doom. And the statistics are starting to show what her commitment and the commitment of millions of others has accomplished. Not only did a recent survey of high school seniors show that one-third fewer seniors acknowledged current use of cocaine in 1987 than the year before, but almost all the students said it was wrong to even try a drug like cocaine.


We still have a long way to go, and when Nancy and I see stories saying just that in the newspaper, we welcome them. It is the beginning of victory. your very best. And that means a drug free generation. And may I challenge you? Why not make your generation the one that said, once and for all, no more drugs in the United States of America or the world? Excellence too is returning to our schools. that values are an essential part of educational excellence. Throughout the Nation, parents and teachers are gaining greater control over local curriculums, emphasizing basics and making their children's education a priority in all of our lives. And they are right to do so, because all of the wonderful gains I have talked about so far, especially those gains built on the growth of technology, depend on young Americans who know how to think, calculate, write, and communicate. Now, there are those who see a dark side to our technological progress. Yes, they admit our well-being has been enhanced in so many ways. Technological advances now are making it more likely, for example, that our natural resources will be spared as long-haul telephone lines and electrical cable give way to the satellite transmissions and computer chips. I spoke to the young people of Europe not long ago via our WORLDNET system and reminded them that only a short time ago such a transmission would have required thousands of tons of copper wire and other resources. Instead, our talk was transmitted quickly, cheaply, efficiently, almost miraculously from our continent to theirs, via satellite. Yet it is pointed out that, regretfully, as man has advanced into this new age, so has his capability to kill and destroy; and it is no longer just those in uniform who are victimized. In World War I, more than 8 million military personnel lost their lives and over 12 million civilians died. During the Second World War, almost 20 million in uniform lost their lives; however, there were about 14 million civilians killed. And if there is ever another such conflagration, a Third World War, hundreds of millions will lose their lives. And it is estimated that 90 percent of the casualties will be civilian. When I was in college, I remember a debate in one of my classes. This was back in the days when the bomber was just being recognized as the potent weapon that it later became in the post-World War I days.


Our class debated whether or not Americans-people who, to our way of thinking, stood for high moral standards would ever drop bombs from an airplane on a city. The others felt bombing civilians would always be beyond the pale of decency, totally unacceptable human conduct, no matter how heinous the enemy. Well, a decade later, few, if any, who had been in that room objected to our country's wholesale bombing of cities. Civilization's standards of morality had changed. The thought of killing more and more people, noncombatants, became more and more acceptable. Well, today, technology is pointing toward a way out of this dilemma. It is given us the promise of basing our security in the future on protection rather than the threat of retaliation. SDI offers a chance to reverse not only the nuclear arms buildup but also to reverse the trend that in effect has put a lower and lower value on human life. Technology offers you young people who debate in today's classroom an option that threatens no one and offers a shield rather than ever sharper, more deadly swords. It offers you young people a chance to raise the moral standards of mankind. When I came here in 1981 for one of the first major addresses of my Presidency, I acknowledged the difficulties we faced in the world, not only the threat of nuclear war but also totalitarian expansion around the world, especially in places like Afghanistan. the spiritual values of our civilization and the essential decency and optimism of our peoples. We would transcend communism, that the era of the nuclear threat and totalitarian darkness would someday be put behind us, that we would look again with all the people of the Earth to the bright, sunlit uplands of world peace, world prosperity, and yes, world freedom. How much has changed since those days. And as we look back at 7 years of peace as well as progress in arms reductions and the hope of a Soviet exit from Afghanistan, we can be pleased that the inner strength of our nation and our civilization is increasingly apparent with every day that passes. And that inner strength is what Notre Dame and the legend of Rockne are all about. You know, so much is said about Rockne's influence on his ballplayers, but actually he liked to talk about their influence on him. In his autobiography, he described his inability to sleep one night before a big game.


So, he was up early in the lobby and saw 2 of his boys come down the stairs and go out, and then others came and followed them. And though he had a pretty good idea of what was going on, he decided to follow along. They did not realize it, he said in his diary, but these youngsters were making a powerful impression on me. And he said, When I saw them walking up to the Communion rail to receive and realized the hours of sleep they had sacrificed, I understood what a powerful ally their religion was to them in their work on the football field. And after Rockne found here at Notre Dame his own religious faith, a friend of his at the University of Maryland asked him if he minded telling him about it. Why should I mind telling you? You know all this hurry and battling we are going through is just an expression of our inner selves striving for something else. The way I look at it is that we are all here to try and find, each in his own way, the best road to our ultimate goal. I believe I have found my way, and I shall travel it to the end. And when they found him in the Kansas cornfield where the plane had gone down, they also found next to him a prayer book and at his fingertips the rosary of Notre Dame, the rosary of Our Lady. Knute Rockne did more spiritual good than a thousand preachers. His career was a sermon in right living. Yes, we have seen more change in the last 50 years, since Knute Rockne was with us, than in all the other epics of history combined. You are the beneficiaries of this, and it is you who'll continue the struggle and carry mankind to greater and greater heights. As Americans, as free people, you must stand firm, even when it is uncomfortable for you to do so. There will also be times of despair, times when all those around you are ready to give up. It is then I want you to remember our meeting today. And some time when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they have got and win just one for the Gipper. I do not know where I will be then, but I will know about it, and I will be happy. Good luck in the years ahead, and God bless you all.


Today, as part of an international coalition of some 60 nations, including Arab countries, our men and women in uniform continue the fight against ISIL in Iraq and in Syria. More than 2,000 coalition airstrikes have pounded these terrorists. We are disrupting their command and control and supply lines, making it harder for them to move. We are destroying their fighting positions, their tanks, their vehicles, their barracks, their training camps, and the oil and gas facilities and infrastructure that fund their operations. We are taking out their commanders, their fighters, and their leaders. In Iraq, local forces have largely held the line and, in some places, have pushed ISIL back. In Syria, ISIL failed in its major push to take the town of Kobani, losing countless fighters in the process, fighters who will never again threaten innocent civilians. And we have seen reports of sinking morale among ISIL fighters as they realize the futility of their cause. Now, make no mistake, this is a difficult mission, and it will remain difficult for some time. It is going to take time to dislodge these terrorists, especially from urban areas. But our coalition is on the offensive, ISIL is on the defensive, and ISIL is going to lose. Its barbaric murders of so many people, including American hostages, are a desperate and revolting attempt to strike fear in the hearts of people it can never possibly win over by its ideas or its ideology, because it offers nothing but misery and death and destruction. With our allies and partners, we are going to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group. And when I announced our strategy against ISIL in September, I said that we are strongest as a nation when the President and Congress work together. Today my administration submitted a draft resolution to Congress to authorize the use of force against ISIL. I want to be very clear about what it does and what it does not do. This resolution reflects our core objective to destroy ISIL. a systemic and sustained campaign of airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria; support and training for local forces on the ground, including the moderate Syrian opposition; preventing ISIL attacks in the region and beyond, including by foreign terrorist fighters who try to threaten our countries; regional and international support for an inclusive Iraqi Government that unites the Iraqi people and strengthens Iraqi forces against ISIL; humanitarian assistance for the innocent civilians of Iraq and Syria, who are suffering so terribly under ISIL's reign of horror .

Remarks on Proposed Legislation Submitted to the Congress To Authorize the Use of Military Force Against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) Terrorist Organization


I want to thank Vice President Biden, Secretaries Kerry and Hagel, and General Marty Dempsey for their leadership in advancing our strategy. Even as we meet this challenge in Iraq and Syria, we all agree that one of our weapons against terrorists like ISIL-a critical part of our strategy-is the values we live here at home. One of the best antidotes to the hateful ideologies that try to recruit and radicalize people to violent extremism is our own example as diverse and tolerant societies that welcome the contributions of all people, including people of all faiths. The resolution we have submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war, like Afghanistan or Iraq. The 2,600 American troops in Iraq today largely serve on bases, and yes, they face the risks that come with service in any dangerous environment. But they do not have a combat mission. They are focused on training Iraqi forces, including Kurdish forces. As I have said before, I am convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East. That is not in our national security interest, and it is not necessary for us to defeat ISIL. Local forces on the ground who know their countries best are best positioned to take the ground fight to ISIL, and that is what they are doing. At the same time, this resolution strikes the necessary balance by giving us the flexibility we need for unforeseen circumstances. For example, if we had actionable intelligence about a gathering of ISIL leaders, and our partners did not have the capacity to get them, I would be prepared to order our Special Forces to take action, because I will not allow these terrorists to have a safe haven. So we need flexibility, but we also have to be careful and deliberate. As Commander in Chief, I will only send our troops into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary for our national security. Finally, this resolution repeals the 2002 authorization of force for the invasion of Iraq and limits this new authorization to 3 years. I do not believe America's interests are served by endless war or by remaining on a perpetual war footing. As a nation, we need to ask the difficult and necessary questions about when, why, and how we use military force.


Well, it is wonderful to see all of you here today. First of all, give Nicole an outstanding round of applause for the great job that she did. It is wonderful to be here at Applied Materials. I want to thank Mike and everybody who helped out hosting us and a wonderful tour of the facility. Rick was showing me some of your clean rooms where you are building the equipment that makes the chips that is basically powering that is basically powering everything that you guys are taking pictures with right now. now, this is just magic. I do not know how they do it. Somebody was explaining to me that I guess one of the wafers was being cleaned, and he said, this would be the equivalent it was Alex who told me this; Alex is around here somewhere-the equivalent of, if you were mowing the South Lawn, but every blade of grass was exactly cut at the same height within a single human hair. That sounds pretty precise to me. And if that is , by the way, the precision that you operate on, if that is how you define a clean room, then Sasha and Malia are going to have to step up their game at home. I want to thank your Mayor, Lee Leffingwell, and-who is doing a great job. Lee is doing outstanding work every day and helping to bring the Austin community together. The Mayor of San Antonio in the house, my friend Julian Castro is here. a thriving, rising middle class and a dynamic, cutting-edge economy. And I see three things that we need to focus on to do it. Number one, we have got to make America a magnet for good jobs. Number two, we have got to help people earn the skills they need to do those jobs. Number three, we have got to make sure people's hard work is rewarded so that they can make a decent living doing those jobs. And if you watch the news sometimes, you may think that there is just doom and gloom out there. But the truth is, there is incredible stuff going on all across America and right here in Austin that I think can be good models for the rest of America to follow. This morning I visited Manor New Tech High School where students are learning high-tech skills that companies like Applied are looking for right now. They are getting excited, working with math and science and technology and engineering. And it is a hands-on high school, where subjects are integrated and kids are building things and conducting experiments at very early ages.

Remarks at Applied Materials, Inc., in Austin, Texas


And it is sparking their imagination in ways that may lead them to start up the next Applied or come here and work at Applied. And then I joined a few local families for lunch to talk about how we can make sure that hard work pays off with wages you can live on and raise a family, with health care that you can count on and the chance to put away some money for retirement. And we also had good barbecue which is necessary for economic growth. And then I came to Applied Materials to talk about what we can do to make America a magnet for new jobs in manufacturing. And after shedding jobs for a decade, our manufacturers have added now about 500,000 new manufacturing jobs over the past 3 years. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan, and Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. And after placing plants in other countries like China, Intel is opening its most advanced plant right here at home. This year, Apple started making Macs in America again. So there are some good trend lines there, but we have got to do everything we can to strengthen that trend. We have got to do everything we can to help the kind of high-tech manufacturing that you are doing right here at Applied. And we want to make sure it takes root here in Austin and all across the country. And that means, first of all, creating more centers of high-tech manufacturing. Last year, we launched our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio, to develop new technologies and equip workers with the skills required to master 3-D printing techniques. And in my State of the Union Address, I called on Congress to set up 15 more of these manufacturing hubs all across America, and I said that my administration was going to go ahead and move forward with three new hubs on our own, even without congressional action. Well, today we are launching a competition for those hubs. We are looking for businesses and universities that are willing to partner together to help their region help turn their region into global centers of high-tech jobs. Because we want the next revolution in manufacturing to be made in America. We are going to do that. The truth is, over the past couple decades, too many communities have been hit hard when plants closed down and jobs dried up. Nobody knows that better than folks here at Applied.


I was talking to somebody who is after showing me the wafer and some chips, and then they showed me a smartphone, they pointed to the smartphone, and they said, 40 years ago, there'd be about $3 billion just trying to get this much computing power in this little thing, except it would fill up a whole room. And even as we are working to reverse the trend of communities that have been hard hit with old manufacturing leaving, we have got to propose partnerships with local leaders in manufacturing communities to help attract new investment in the infrastructure and the research that will attract new jobs and new businesses so that communities that have been knocked down can get back up and get back on their feet. And we should help our workers get the training they need to compete for the industries of tomorrow. No job in America should go unfilled just because we do not have anybody with the right skills. Now, some of your colleagues that I met, some of them have advanced degrees. Some of them came to apply basically right out of high school. But all of you, whether it was in some cases through a university education, in some cases the military, in some cases just on-the-job training, all of you have specialized skills that are exactly what we need to continue to grow our economy. But we have got a whole bunch of folks out there who do not have those skills, either because the education system failed them or because their skills have been rendered obsolete. I want to make sure that we are training 2 million Americans at our community colleges for skills that will lead directly to a job. We and that is also why we have got to make sure that college is affordable and people are not burdened by a mountain of debt so that they can continue to upgrade their skills as well. Now, if we want to manufacture the best products, we have also got to invest in and cultivate the best ideas. Innovation, ingenuity, that is the constant of the American economy. That is one of the constants of our character. It is what keeps America on the cutting edge. And just before I came here, I visited the Capital Factory, which, as some of you know, is a place that helps startups take off. And everywhere you turn, somebody has got a new idea. They are taking risks. There was a young woman who is in a wheelchair and physically disabled, but is just incredibly inspired to make sure that she is not in any way confined by that situation.


And she is basically designed and is now manufacturing a car that people in wheelchairs can just drive their wheelchair right into the car and start driving. And then you had a young man who had a 3-D camera it was about this big and basically from filming either a static image or in the round, can basically download that immediately and create a 3-D image and then use that for 3-D manufacturing 3-D printing and manufacturing. And what currently costs about $80,000, costs about $3,000 the technology that he is developed. So they are doing amazing stuff. And one of the things we are doing to fuel more inventiveness like this to fuel more private sector innovation and discoveryis to make the vast amounts of America's data open and easy to access for the first time in history So talented entrepreneurs are doing some pretty amazing stuff with data that is already being collected by Government. So over at the Capital Factory, I met with folks behind the startup called Stormpulse, which uses Government data on weather to help businesses anticipate disruptions in service. And then you have got a Virginia company called Opower, that is used Government data on trends in energy use to save its customers $200 million on their energy bills. There is an app called iTriage, founded by a pair of ER doctors that uses data from the Department of Health and Human Services to help users understand medical symptoms and find local doctors and health care providers. And that is going to help launch more startups. It is going to help launch more businesses. Some of them undoubtedly will be using this data powered by chips that essentially started right here at Applied Materials. It is going to help more entrepreneurs come up with products and services that we have not even imagined yet. This kind of innovation and ingenuity has the potential to transform the way we do almost everything. One-third of jobs in Austin are now supported by the tech sector. And we should do all that we can to encourage this kind of innovation economy all across America, in ways that produce new jobs and new opportunities for the middle class. And we are poised for a time of progress if we are willing to seize it. Not even 5 years after the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, our jobs market and our housing market are steadily healing. Our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in decades. The American auto industry has made a comeback; it is thriving.


But we have got to keep on moving forward, and we have got to make sure that Washington is not administering self-inflicted wounds when we are making progress. So Mike and I were talking about the fact that if we can reform our tax system to eliminate some of these loopholes, potentially, we could lower some rates. Basic research, you will hear people talk about how government is not going to do anything for us. Well, we all understand that the private sector powers and drives our economy. On the other hand, most of the private sector right now has a lot of trouble financing basic research. And that basic research is the foundation for everything that is done at this company, and everything that is done for most of your customers. And we cannot afford to fall behind when it comes to basic research. So there is some key things that we can do that should not be ideological. They are not Democratic ideas or Republican ideas or Independent ideas, they are just good ideas that allow the government to help create the foundation, the platform, the environment in which companies like Applied Materials can thrive. And that is what we have got to constantly champion. And when you are talking to your Members of Congress or you are talking to elected officials, you have got to remind them we do not want government to do everything for us, but it is got a role to play on infrastructure, basic research, making sure that we have got a fair a tax system that is fair, making sure that we have got some basic stability in our budget so people are not always guessing what is going to happen around the corner. Back in 1967, when Applied Materials was just getting off the ground, there were five employees. They worked out of this small industrial unit in California. And I suppose they had a clean room in there, but I do not know what it looked like. But what they lacked in size, they made up with ingenuity and imagination and risk-taking. And over the years, as you grew to become a leader in high-tech manufacturing, that ingenuity never faltered. Whether you have been with this company for decades as I know some of you have or just for a year, you are all focused on the future. Every day, you are pushing the limits of technology a little bit further. And you are not alone, because somewhere over at the Capital Factory, there is an entrepreneur mapping out a new product on a whiteboard that may be the next big thing.


It is a very great privilege and pleasure for me to be here with you today, but before I begin I have two questions. Is it true that the tent over there is filled with good old German beer? What are we doing out here? I asked one soldier if he drank a lot of beer, and he said, Of course not, sir. The only trouble is, then he tried to blow the foam off his sauerkraut. But every one of you is entitled to all the beer, the sauerkraut, and anything else provided today. After your 2 hard months of intensive field training at Grafenwoehr, you deserve this picnic. As your Commander in Chief, I am now issuing orders that tomorrow, Monday, all members of this brigade who participated in the maneuvers will be given an extra day off. I am very, very proud to be here with the tankers, infantry, and artillery of one of the largest and most powerful combat brigades in Europe. And I am also just as pleased to be here with your wonderful families. Let me say a very special word of commendation to our German partnership units. I thank you for the cooperation you are extending to the United States and our forces. Together you have developed outstanding skills and qualities that make first-rate fighting men. I am pleased that you are learning from each other, and I am also very pleased to meet your charming wives. I deeply appreciate the very high standards of performance and morale of our NATO forces as represented by the Germans and Americans here today, and I thank the Federal Republic and the State of Hesse for the warm, warm hospitality extended to me and to all Americans who are stationed here. It is most rewarding to see firsthand this evidence of our two countries cooperating within NATO and for the common defense. It is you, together with the other forces of the Alliance, who are making our collective security a reality. As we pursue peace together, I am aware that not all of the problems in Europe and the world have been solved. And I am convinced that under present circumstances, the best guarantee for peace is a very, very strong defense. As President, speaking here in the presence of our allies, I affirm today that I will not allow our Armed Forces to be weakened under any circumstances. You deserve the best. You deserve the very best equipment and you deserve the strongest support of the citizens that you defend.

Remarks at a Picnic at Kirchgoens, Federal Republic of Germany


President, our distinguished guests, Your Excellencies I wish to express on behalf of all of us who are the guests of you, Mr. President, and your Government, our appreciation for the words you have spoken and for the welcome you have given us. We were particularly touched by the welcome we had as we drove through the streets of this very old, but very unique city, one that I am sure will be an attraction for tourists all over the world. What particularly impressed us was not simply the numbers, which certainly were very great when we consider the size of this city, but as the President said, it is sometimes possible to order people to come out. It is not possible to order them to smile. We feel that when we come to this area, with the great capital city of Guadalajara, that we come in a sense to the heart of Mexico. The music, the dance, all of the other art, that is to many of us related to Guadalajara, reminds us of how much this State means to Mexico and to the world. President, I am sure that all the members of my party would agree that of the many countries in the world which we have visited and Mrs. Nixon and I have now visited over 60 countries officially and unofficially we have never had entertainment, dance, music, and song which could surpass what we heard here which came from Guadalajara and from this State. President, we know, too, how much effort went into the arrangements for this visit, the flags along the street, and we noted particularly the little donkeys along the street on either side of the road. There are some who believe that a trip by the President to a foreign country might have political overtones, as we approach an election. Your welcoming us with a few donkeys shows that this is a completely bipartisan trip. I can assure you, Mr. President, in that spirit, speaking both officially and speaking on behalf of the people of the United States, that I bring from the heart of America, from people of my party, of the other party, from all Americans, their deep affection, their respect for this great country with which we share a border of 2,000 miles. We deeply regret that Senora Diaz Ordaz could not be with us, but we remember our meeting a year ago, and we are so delighted that your daughter could be with us here today. I would naturally expect that she, being your daughter, would have very great political sensitivity.

Toasts of the President and President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz of Mexico at a Luncheon Honoring President Nixon


But I had it brought home to me when I showed her the delightful and unique place card, which I had at my place, and I asked her what it was, whether it was a donkey or a horse. I understand from Foreign Minister Carrillo Flores that all effort was made, of course, to be sure that there were no partisan overtones in this fact. He said a call was made to the American Embassy to see if there could be some proper balance, and the American Embassy could not furnish any elephants for the line of route. President, these facetious references to our political battles in the United States allow me to emphasize again the point that I have mentioned earlier. We in our country are deeply grateful for the friendship that we have had with not only this nation as a government but the people of Mexico. The thousands of Americans who each year come to Mexico come back with a very warm place in their hearts for this country and its people, just as my wife and I have had such a place in our hearts since we were here 30 years ago. And the opportunity that we have had, and will have now, on two occasions within the space of a year, to talk about matters in which we have a mutual interest and work them out in a friendly way is one that should always characterize the relations between the United States and Mexico. The relations between our two Governments are friendly, but those relations are even more friendly, Mr. President, because the personal relations between the two men who serve as President of our two countries are friendly on a personal basis. President, as you near the end of your term, I think you should be very gratified by the crowds that were on the streets today. As I heard them shout your name, as I saw them smile, as I saw their affection, I realized that the people of Mexico were trying to tell me, as well as you, that they had been fortunate to have as their leader, as President of this country for 6 years, one of the great men of this hemisphere. President, in the last 6 years I think it can be said that never have the relations between the United States and Mexico been more close, more cooperative, more friendly with mutual respect. And for that reason, I think it is most appropriate that all of us rise and raise our glasses to the continuation of friendship and respect and cooperation between these two great countries in the Northern Hemisphere and to the health of the President of Mexico and Senora Diaz Ordaz.


Bruce is a polite guy I thought what he was going to say, It is about time you showed up. See, I see this as a moment of opportunity. I have come to celebrate the heroism of the civil rights movement and the accomplishments of the NAACP. a nation united, committed to destroying discrimination and extending to every American the full blessings the full blessings of liberty and opportunity. It is important to me. It is important to our Nation. I come from a family committed to civil rights. My faith tells me that we are all children of God, equally loved, equally cherished, equally entitled to the rights He grants us all. For nearly 200 years, our Nation failed the test of extending the blessings of liberty to African Americans. Slavery was legal for nearly 100 years and discrimination legal in many places for nearly 100 years more. Taken together, the record placed a stain on America's founding, a stain that we have not yet wiped clean. When people talk about America's Founders, they mention the likes of Washington and Jefferson and Franklin and Adams. men and women and children who did not come to America of their free will but in chains. These founders literally helped build our country. They chopped the wood; they built the homes; they tilled the fields; and they reaped the harvest. They raised the children of others even though their own children had been ripped away and sold to strangers. These founders were denied the most basic birthright, and that is freedom. Yet through captivity and oppression, they kept the faith. They carved a great nation out of the wilderness, and later, their descendants led a people out of the wilderness of bigotry. Nearly 200 years into our history as a nation, America experienced a second founding, the civil rights movement. Some of those leaders are here. These second founders, led by the likes of Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr., believed in the constitutional guarantees of liberty and equality. They trusted fellow Americans to join them in doing the right thing. boarding a bus; walking along the road; showing up peacefully at courthouses; or joining in prayer and song. Despite the sheriff's dogs and the jailer's scorn and the hangman's noose and the assassin's bullets, they prevailed. I do not know if you remember, 3 weeks ago, I went to Memphis, Tennessee.

Remarks at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Annual Convention


A lot of people focused on the fact that my friend, the Prime Minister of Japan, was an Elvis fan, because we went to Graceland. But we also went to another stop, a stop Reverend Jesse Jackson knows all too well, a painful moment in his life and in the life of our Nation, reflected in the Lorraine Motel. By the way, if you have not been there, you ought to go. Among the people greeting me there was Dr. Benjamin Hooks. It is good to see you again, sir. He led me out onto the balcony of Room 306. I remember, Dr. Hooks pointed to the window that was still half-cracked. You know what I am talking about, Jesse. It was a powerful reminder of the hardships this Nation has been through, the struggle for decency. I was honored that Dr. Hooks took time to visit with me. He talked about the hardships of the movement. We must work as one. We want a united America that is one Nation under God, where every man and child and woman is valued and treated with dignity. We want a hopeful America where the prosperity and opportunities of our great land reach into every block of every neighborhood. We want an America that is constantly renewing itself, where citizens rise above political differences to heal old wounds, to build the bonds of brotherhood, and to move us ever closer to the founding promise of liberty and justice for all. Nearly 100 years after the NAACP's birth, America remains an unfolding story of freedom, and all of us have an obligation to play our part. I want to thank your chairman, Julian Bond, for his introduction. I asked him for a few pointers on how to give a speech. I want to thank Roslyn Brock, the vice chairman of the board, as well. I thank all the board members, all the participants, all the Members of the United States Congress for joining us today as well. I congratulate Bruce Gordon on his strong leadership. I have gotten to know him. See, shortly after he was elected, he came by the Oval Office. He does not mince words. It is clear what is on his mind. I am pleased to say that I have I am an admirer of Bruce Gordon, and we have got a good working relationship. I do not know if that helps you or hurts you. I admire the man. We have had frank discussions, starting with Katrina. We talked about the challenges facing the African American community after that storm.