Our first duty in the war on terror is to protect the homeland. This morning at the White House, I signed a strong law that will make our Nation more secure. With the 2005 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, we are providing essential funding for Coast Guard patrols and port security, for the Federal air marshal program, and for technology that will defend aircraft against missiles. We are adding new resources to patrol our borders and to verify the identity of foreign visitors to America. We need to know who is coming in and out of our country. The new law includes vital money for first-responders and for better security of chemical facilities and nuclear plants and water treatment plants and bridges and subways and tunnels. All these measures show the unwavering commitment of our Government. We will do everything in our power to protect the American people. The law I signed today is part of a broad effort to defend America against new dangers. After September the 11th, we created the Department of Homeland Security to make sure our Government agencies are working together. We are transforming the FBI into an agency whose primary focus is stopping terrorism. Through Project Bio-Shield, we are developing new vaccines and treatments against biological attacks. We have trained more than a half million first-responders across America. To protect America, we passed the PATRIOT Act, giving law enforcement many of the same tools to fight terrorists that they already had to fight drug cartels and organized crime. Since September the 11th, law enforcement professionals have stopped terrorist activities in Columbus, Ohio; San Diego, California; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Buffalo, New York; and other places, including New Jersey, where we apprehended an arms dealer who was allegedly trying to sell shoulder-fired missiles to terrorists. My opponent voted for the PATRIOT Act, but now he wants to weaken it. There are plenty of safeguards in this law, making sure that civil liberties are protected and searches are authorized by court order. By seeking to dilute the PATRIOT Act, my opponent is taking the eye off the ball. The danger to America is not the PATRIOT Act or the good people who use it; the danger to America is the terrorists. And we will not let up in this fight. To protect America, our country needs the best possible intelligence. Chairman Tom Kean and other members of the September the 11th Commission made thoughtful and valuable recommendations on intelligence reform. We are already implementing the vast majority of those recommendations that can be enacted without a vote of Congress.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


We are expanding and strengthening the capabilities of the CIA. We have established the Terrorist Threat Integration Center so we can bring together all the available intelligence on terrorist threats to one place. But other changes require new laws. Congress needs to create the position of the National Intelligence Director and take other measures to make our intelligence community more effective. These reforms are necessary to stay ahead of the threats. I urge Congress to act quickly so I can sign them into law. My opponent has taken a different approach, and it shows in his record. Just one year after the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, Senator Kerry proposed a $6 billion cut in the Nation's intelligence budget. But the majority of his colleagues ignored his irresponsible proposal. In 1995, he tried to cut intelligence funding again, and this time he could not get a single Member of the United States Senate to support his bill. And that is an important difference between us. Senator Kerry has a record of trying to weaken American intelligence. I am working every day to strengthen American intelligence. In a free and open society, it is impossible to protect against every threat. So second, we must pursue a comprehensive strategy against terror. The best way to prevent attacks is to stay on the offense against the enemy overseas. We are waging a global campaign from the mountains of central Asia to the deserts of the Middle East and from the Horn of Africa to the Philippines. Since September the 11th, 2001, more than three-quarters of Al Qaida's key members and associates have been brought to justice. The rest of them know we are coming after them. If you support or harbor terrorists, you are equally guilty of terrorist murder. We destroyed the terror camps that trained thousands of killers in Afghanistan. We removed the Taliban from power. We have persuaded Governments in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to recognize the enemy and join the fight. We ended the regime of Saddam Hussein, which sponsored terror. Iraq's new Government under Prime Minister Allawi is hunting down terrorists in Iraq. We sent a message to Libya, which has now given up weapons of mass destruction programs and handed nuclear materials and equipment over to the United States. We have acted, through diplomacy and force, to shrink the area where the terrorists can operate freely, and that strategy has the terrorists on the run. My opponent has a fundamental misunderstanding on the war on terror. A reporter recently asked Senator Kerry how September the 11th changed him. He replied, It did not change me much at all.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


His unchanged worldview is obvious from the policies he still advocates. He has declared, we should not respond to threats until they are, quote, imminent. He has complained that my administration, quote, relies unwisely on the threat of military preemption against terrorist organizations. Let me repeat that. He says that preemptive action is unwise, not only against regimes but even against terrorist organizations. This kind of September the 10th attitude is no way to protect our country. The war on terror is a real war with deadly enemies, not simply a police operation. In an era of weapons of mass destruction, waiting for threats to arrive at our doorsteps is to invite disaster. Tyrants and terrorists will not give us polite notice before they attack our country. As long as I am the Commander in Chief, I will confront dangers abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. The case of one terrorist shows what is at stake. The terrorist leader we face in Iraq today, the one responsible for beheading American hostages, the one responsible for many of the car bombings and attacks against Iraqis, is a man named Zarqawi. Before September the 11th, Zarqawi ran a camp in Afghanistan that trained terrorists in the use of explosives and poisons- until coalition forces destroyed that camp. He fled to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, where he received medical care and set up operations with some two dozen terrorist associates. He operated in Baghdad and worked with associates in northern Iraq who ran camps to train terrorists and conducted chemical and biological experiments-until coalition forces arrived and ended those operations. With nowhere to operate openly, Zarqawi has gone underground and is making a stand in Iraq. Here, the difference between my opponent and me is very clear. Senator Kerry believes that fighting Zarqawi and other terrorists in Iraq is a diversion from the war on terror. I believe that fighting and defeating these killers in Iraq is a central commitment in the war on terror. If Zarqawi and his associates were not busy fighting American forces in Iraq, does Senator Kerry think they would be leading productive and peaceful lives? Clearly, these killers would be plotting and acting to murder innocent civilians in free nations, including our own. By facing these terrorists far away, our military is making the United States of America more secure. Third, to win the war on terror, America must work with allies and lead the world with clarity. And that is exactly what we are doing.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


The flags of 64 nations fly at U.S. Central Command Headquarters in Tampa, Florida, representing coalition countries that are working openly with us in the war on terror. Dozens more are helping quietly in important ways. Today, all 26 NATO nations have personnel either in Iraq, Afghanistan, or both. America's allies are standing with us in the war on terror, and we are grateful. My opponent promises that he would do better with our allies, yet he is decided that the way to build alliances is to insult our friends. As a candidate for President, Senator Kerry has managed to offend or alienate almost every one of America's fighting allies in the war on terror. He has called the countries serving alongside us in Iraq, quote, a trumped-up coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought, and the extorted. He has dismissed the sacrifice of 14 nations that have lost forces in Iraq, calling those nations window dressing. Great Britain, Australia, and the United States. He left out Poland, one of the first countries to see combat on the first days of hostilities in Iraq. He never shows respect for some of the 30 nations that are serving courageously in Iraq today. Senator Kerry even has disregarded the contributions of Iraqis who are fighting for their freedom. When he speaks of coalition casualties in Iraq, he does not count the hundreds of Iraqis who have given their lives fighting the terrorists and the insurgents. When Iraq's Prime Minister came to Washington to address Congress last month, Senator Kerry did not show up. Instead, he called a press conference and questioned the Prime Minister's credibility. The Prime Minister of Iraq is a brave man who survived the assassins of Saddam. The Prime Minister of Iraq deserves the respect of the world, not the scorn of a politician. As part of his foreign policy, Senator Kerry has talked about applying a global test. Before we act to defend ourselves, he thinks we need permission from foreign capitals. Yet, even the gulf war coalition in 1991 did not pass Senator Kerry's global test. Even with the United Nations approval, he voted against removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. If that vast, U.N.-supported operation did not pass his test, nothing ever could. Senator Kerry's global test is nothing more than an excuse to constrain the actions of our own country in a dangerous world. I believe in strong alliances. I believe in respecting other countries and working with them and seeking their advice.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


But I will never submit our national security decisions to a veto of a foreign government. Fourth, we will win the war on terror and make America safer by advancing the cause of freedom and democracy. Free societies are hopeful societies which do not nurture bitterness or the ideologies of terror and murder. Free governments in the broader Middle East will fight the terrorists instead of harboring them. And this is why a free Iraq and a free Afghanistan are vital to peace in that region and vital to the security interests of our country. After decades of tyranny in the broader Middle East, progress toward freedom will not come easily. Across a troubled region, we are seeing a movement toward elections, greater rights for women, and open discussion of peaceful reform. The election in Afghanistan less than 2 weeks ago was a landmark event in the history of liberty. That election was a tremendous defeat for the terrorists. My opponent has complained that we are trying to, quote, impose democracy on people in that region. Is that what he sees in Afghanistan, unwilling people having democracy forced upon them? We removed the Taliban by force, but democracy is rising in that country because the Afghan people, like everywhere, want to live in freedom. No one forced them to register by the millions or stand in long lines at polling places. On the day of that historic election, an Afghan widow brought all four of her daughters to vote alongside her. She said this, she said, When you see women here lined up to vote, this is something profound. But that woman's dream finally arrived, as it will one day across the greater Middle East. The dream of freedom is moving forward in Iraq. The terrorists know it, and they hate it, and they fight it. And we can expect more violence as Iraq moves toward free elections. Yet, every day in Iraq, our coalition is defeating the enemy's strategic objectives. The enemy seeks to disrupt the march toward democracy. But an Iraqi independent electoral commission is up and running, political parties are planning campaigns, voter registration will begin next month, and free and fair Iraqi elections will be held on schedule this coming January. The enemy seeks to establish sanctuaries in Iraq from which to commit acts of terror. But Iraqi and coalition forces are on the offensive in Fallujah and North Babil and have restored Government control in Samarra, Tall 'Afar, and Najaf. The enemy wants to make Iraqis afraid to join security forces.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


But every week, more and more Iraqis answer the call to arms. More than 100,000 soldiers, police, and border guards are already trained, equipped, and bravely serving their country. And well over 200,000 will be in place by the end of 2005. The enemy seeks to break the will of the Iraqi people. But as Prime Minister Allawi told the Congress, Iraqis are hopeful, optimistic, and determined to prevail in their struggle for liberty. After the enemy has failed in so many goals, what can these killers do now? They can fill up our TV screens with horrible images of suicide bombings and beheadings. These scenes are chaotic and horrific, but they are not a complete picture of what is happening in Iraq. A recent poll found that more than 75 percent of Iraqis want to vote, and they have confidence in the electoral progress. And more than 75 percent are hopeful about the future of their country. The violent acts of a few will not divert Iraqis and our coalition from the mission we have accepted. My opponent has a different outlook. While America does the hard work of fighting terror and spreading freedom, he has chosen the easy path of protest and defeatism. He refuses to acknowledge progress or praise the growing democratic spirit in Iraq. He has not made democracy a priority of his foreign policy. Is he content to watch and wait as anger and resentment grow for more decades in the Middle East, feeding more terrorism until radicals without conscience gain the weapons to kill without limit? Giving up the fight might seem easier in the short run, but we learned on September the 11th that if violence and fanaticism are not opposed at their source, they will find us where we live. America is safer today because Afghanistan and Iraq are fighting terrorists instead of harboring them. And I believe future generations of Americans will be spared violence and fear as democracy and hope and governments that oppose terror multiply across the Middle East. Victory in the war on terror requires victory in Iraq. If a terror regime were allowed to reemerge in Iraq, the terrorists would find a home, a source of funding, and vital support. They would correctly conclude that free nations do not have the will to defend themselves. When Iraq becomes a free society at the heart of the Middle East, an ally in the war on terror, and a model for hopeful reform in a region that needs hopeful reform, the terrorists will suffer a crushing defeat and every free nation will be more secure.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


Unfortunately, Senator Kerry does not share our commitment to victory in Iraq. For 3 years, depending on the headlines, the poll numbers, and political calculation, he has taken almost every conceivable position on Iraq. First, he said Saddam Hussein was a threat, and he voted for the war. Then he voted against funds for bullets and body armor for the troops he had voted to send into battle. Months later, he said that knowing everything we know now, he would have still voted for the war. Having gone back and forth so many times, the Senator from Massachusetts has now flip-flopped his way to a dangerous position. My opponent finally has settled on a strategy, a strategy of retreat. He has talked about artificial timetables to pull our troops out of Iraq. He has sent the signal that America's overriding goal in Iraq would be to leave, even if the job is not done. And that approach would lead to a major defeat in the war on terror. So long as I am the Commander in Chief, America will never retreat in the face of the terrorists. We will keep our word to the Iraqi people. We will make sure Iraqi forces can defend their country, and then American troops will return home with the honor they have earned. My opponent wants to weaken the PATRIOT Act and has a history of trying to undermine our intelligence services. I will take every necessary measure to protect the homeland. The Senator wants to wage the war on terror on the defensive. I will take the fight to the enemy. The Senator insults our friends in the world and wants to please a few critics. I am working with our friends for the sake of freedom and security. The Senator is skeptical and pessimistic about democracy in Iraq and critical of our efforts in the broader Middle East. I know that the advance of freedom is the path to security and peace. In all these areas, my opponent's views would make America less secure and the world more dangerous. And none of these positions should come as a surprise. Over a 20-year career in the United States Senate, Senator Kerry has been consistently wrong on the major national security issues facing our country. The Senator who voted against the $87 billion for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq is the same Senator who has voted against vital weapons systems during his entire career. He tried to cancel the Patriot missile, which shot down Scud missiles in Operation Desert Storm. He opposed the B-1 bomber, which was critical to victory in the Afghan campaign.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


He opposed the B-2 stealth bomber, which delivered devastating air strikes on Taliban positions. He opposed the modernized F-14D, which we used against terrorists in Tora Bora. He opposed the Apache helicopter, which destroyed enemy tanks and anti-aircraft missile launchers in Iraq. The Senator who is skeptical of democracy in Iraq also spoke with sympathy for a communist dictator in Nicaragua in the 1980s and criticized the democracy movement as terrorism. His misguided policies would have impeded the spread of freedom in Central America. The Senator who claims the world is more dangerous since America started fighting the war on terror is the same Senator who said that Ronald Reagan's policies of peace through strength actually made America less safe the same Senator who said the Reagan Presidency was 8 years of moral darkness. In this campaign, Senator Kerry can run from his record, but he cannot hide. The Senator's long record shows a clear pattern on national security. He has consistently opposed a stronger military. He has consistently looked for excuses to constrain American power. He has consistently shown poor judgment on the great issues of war and peace. When one Senator among a hundred holds a policy of weakness, it does not make a lot of difference. But the Presidency is an office of great responsibility and consequence. I have a record in office as well, and all Americans have seen that record. September the 14th, * 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. Bernie might remember the workers in hardhats that were yelling at me and yelling at us, Whatever it takes. A man grabbed me by the arm, just coming out of the rubble, and he said, Do not let me down. I have a responsibility that goes on. I acted again and again to protect the American people. I will never relent in defending our country, whatever it takes. In a new term as your President, we will finish the work we have started. We will stand up for terror-we will stand up for freedom. And on November the 2d, my fellow Americans, I ask that you stand with me.

Remarks in Marlton, New Jersey


I have had a wonderful time in Philadelphia today, and I am deeply indebted to you for being here tonight, for supporting our party, our candidates, and what we stand for. I, too, want to thank Congressman Chaka Fattah for the High Hopes program. He and the mayor met me today at the airport with a number of young children from Philadelphia who are in your school system, in your middle school system. And then later, we sat down and drank a soft drink together, and I visited with them. And Chaka asked how many of them wanted to go to college, and they all wanted to go. the High Hopes scholarship program. And we thank him. America is in your debt, Congressman. And I believe we have one of our candidates for Congress here, too, tonight, Roy Afflerbach. Let us give him a hand. I want to thank Steve Grossman for doing a superb job as the chairman of the Democratic Party. And we will not tell his mayor that he bragged on Rendell shamelessly tonight. I also want to thank Len Barrack of Philadelphia for being our finance chair. He is doing a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful job. And finally, let me say that the mayor was uncommonly generous tonight, but his administration is basically the embodiment of my philosophy of government. When we came before the American people, Al Gore and I, in 1992, we said we had a different idea, that we wanted everyone in America who was a responsible citizen to have opportunity. We wanted to come together as one community across all of our differences of race, religion, politics, income. We wanted to prove that you could be in favor of economic growth and still improve the environment. We wanted to end all these sort of false choices that had been imposed on us by the hot rhetoric of Washington for too many years. And we had a different theory of government, that we thought that the main role of government was to create the conditions and to give people the tools to make the most of their own lives. And all the initiatives that the mayor mentioned, that he so generously gave me credit for, most all of them were available to a lot of other places, too. But Philadelphia made the most of its opportunities because, in no small measure, of the gifts, the dedication, and the downright aggression of its mayor. And I cannot tell you how much I admire him for that.

Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Reception in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


You know, I am sure all of you have had an experience like this in your life in some context or another-by the time somebody calls you 15 times and asks you for something, you say yes just to stop them, you know. When Ed Rendell gets all over you like a wet blanket about something--you know you might as well just cry uncle and go on to something else. I say that because the achievements of this city have been truly phenomenal. You know, the people of Philadelphia have been quite wonderful to me and Hillary and to Al and Tipper, voting for us in record numbers and by record margins in both elections and I am very, very grateful. Let me just take a few minutes to be a little serious with you tonight. I was so moved today by all the things that were said to me on the street-did not even mind the protesters. But you like it even more when they are not in the majority-- and that seemed to be the case today. But I want you to know that, on behalf of the First Lady and on my part, I am very grateful for those personal expressions. But I do not believe that adversity is the enemy of the Democratic Party in this election. Indeed, adversity can be our friend, because it is not only good for personal reformation; it is good for people to sort of dig down deep inside and ask yourself what is really important and what is really fair. What do you really care about? What will you act for? What will you move for? The real enemy the Democrats have in this election is complacency, because we are doing pretty well as a country. We have got the lowest unemployment rate in 28 years and the lowest percentage of people on welfare in 29 years and the first balanced budget and surplus in 29 years, and it is the biggest in history. We have got the best wage growth in way over 20 years. We have got, as Steve Grossman said, the biggest drop in Hispanic poverty in 30 years and the lowest unemployment rates and poverty rates among African-Americans since statistics have been kept, the highest homeownership in history. I am grateful for that. But the real question is, what will we do with this moment? Our friends in the other party know that in spite of your presence and generosity here tonight, they always have tons more money than we do. I will tell you a little more about that in a minute.


But they also know that oftentimes at these midterm elections, the people who always vote in presidential elections, a lot of them do not vote in midterm elections. Well, they are young parents on modest incomes; they have to worry about how to juggle child care and work, and voting on a work day is another hassle. A lot of them live in cities and do not own cars and have transportation problems. And how are they going to get to work and to the polling place? I tell you, my friends, our enemy is complacency. Adversity is forcing us to focus on what is important and what we believe in and what we are prepared to fight for. And while I think it is a wonderful thing that all these good things are happening in our country, you know there are still some people in Philadelphia who have not felt the benefits of the things that have been done, and you know there is more to do. I want you to know that a long way away from here, in the high plains of America, people that work hard to feed you on the farm do not know there is been a recovery because they have to export a lot of their products, and they have been flooded out or burned out or had diseases. They have had all kinds of problems. And now the Asian markets, where they sell their food, are closed to them because the folks do not have any money over there. We could lose 10,000 family farmers in America this year, at a time of greatest prosperity for the country as a whole in a generation. So we have challenges at home. You have to see that as an obligation to look at the real challenges facing the country and take them on. That is what we have tried to do. So we, the Democrats, have gone before the American people and we said, Look, we have a program for this election, and we think it is worth your voting for. We know that the other side has tried to offer you-for most of you- a modest tax cut. Right here, before the election, they want to spend the surplus. And we have given you a harder message. We have said, Look, we have waited for this for 29 years. We worked for it for 6 years. Should not we let the red ink turn to black, and let us let it dry for a day or two before we squander it?


At a time when there is so much financial turmoil throughout the world, should not we set a good example to stabilize the global economy? And even more important, knowing as we all do-every person in this room knows that while Social Security is absolutely stable for the people who are now on it and the people who are about to go on it, when all the baby boomers get in, it is not sustainable under the present circumstances because there will only be two people working for every one person drawing Social Security. Everybody in this room between the ages of 52 and 34 is a baby boomer. Either we will have to put a whopping tax increase on our kids to maintain the system as it is, undermining their ability to raise our grandchildren, which none of us want to do; or we will have to take a whopping cut in Social Security benefits, which today keeps one-half of the senior citizens in America out of poverty. So I say, tempting though it is before an election to shovel up a little tax cut, let us show a little restraint and a little knowledge of the last 29 years and say, No, no, we are going to save Social Security first before we spend it. And believe me, the elections will send a message to the Congress about which path you wish to take. I talked about it all day today, and I never thought I'd come to Philadelphia or go anyplace in America in a political election and say, The big issue is, are we going to fund the IMF? Sounds like those people that make bowling equipment. The International Monetary Fund is a fund to which we and others contribute that helps countries that are poorer and developing, who have good policies, to try to grow their economy; or when they get in trouble, it tries to help them work out of trouble without just being absolutely destroyed. For 8 months I have been trying to get America to make its fair share of contribution. Because we cannot lead the world-and you know the troubles that Asia has; you know the troubles in Russia; you see the impact, how it echoes in Latin America, our fastest growing market for American products. You see people say, when the stock market changes here, that that has something to do with this financial trouble overseas. We have an obligation not only to others throughout the world but to our own economy. Thirty percent of this growth we have enjoyed has come from selling things to people overseas who had enough money to buy them.


And when they get in trouble, eventually we will suffer from that. And already, I have told you, our farmers are. And so I say to you, if you want to keep the American economic recovery going, if you like the way it is gone the last 6 years, and you'd like to have a few more years of it, then America has to lead the world away from the brink of the worst financial crisis in decades. And that means we have to pay our fair share to the fund that will do it. For 8 months I have had before the Congress an education program. We have succeeded in getting bipartisan agreement in the balanced budget for tax credits for all students to go to college, for the deductibility of interest on student loans, for more Pell grants. Our Democrats put that before the Republicans, and we were able to get bipartisan agreement-and now for Congressman Fattah's High Hopes program. But you all know that we do not yet have a world-class elementary and secondary education system that will guarantee to every child, without regard to race or neighborhood or income, a chance to be able to take advantage of those college opportunities. And so I came before the Congress and I said, Okay, we have listened to the educators. I, personally, and Hillary and I have been going into the schools for 20 years now listing and watching and learning, and here is our program. Number one, in the balanced budget-paid for-put up enough money for school districts across America to hire 100,000 teachers to take average class size down to 18 in the early grades. It will make a difference. Number two, provide-provide a tax incentive that will help to build or repair 5,000 school buildings. I went to Jupiter, Florida, and saw a dozen housetrailers outside a school because the population is growing so fast. The mayor took me to a school building in Philadelphia that was over 65 years old. It was one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen, but it was not in good shape because there is not enough money to repair all those buildings. And all over America in the cities, I see people say, Oh, our children are the most important things in the world to us. What does it say to them if they walk up the steps every day to a school where the windows are broken or a whole floor is closed down?


Very often, people cannot even look out the window in some of these places, because they cannot afford to heat and cool them, so they just board them up. The third thing it does is to give funds to cities for after-school and summer school programs to help kids who are in trouble. I do not believe kids should be promoted endlessly if they do not learn what they are supposed to learn. But I do not think the children should be branded failures because the system fails them. So give them those after-school programs and the summer school programs and the mentors they need to learn what they need to learn. That is a part of our program as well. The fourth thing it does is provide funds to hook every classroom in the country up to the Internet by the year 2000. If you walk out of this room tonight and-God forbid-you get hit by a car, and you are covered by an HMO plan, a managed care plan, you ought to be able to go to the nearest emergency room, not one clear across town because that is the one that happens to be covered by your plan. It says if your doctors tells you that he or she cannot help you and you need to see a specialist, you ought to be able to see one. It says if your employer changes HMO providers while you are going through a certain medical treatment, you ought to be able to finish with it. Now, let me just tell you what that means. How would you feel if you were 7 months pregnant and somebody came to you and said, I am sorry, your employer changed providers; you have got to give up your obstetrician, and here is Dr. Jones ? How would you feel if someone in your family was undergoing chemotherapy-I have been through this, a lot of you have, and you know it is a pretty traumatic thing for families. I remember when my mother went through it, we sat around and tried to make jokes about whether she'd lose her hair and what kind of wig she'd buy. How would you feel if you were two-thirds of the way through a chemotherapy protocol and somebody said, I am sorry, you have got to change your doctor ? The Congress-the House passed a bill that did not guarantee any of those things and what little it did guarantee left out 100 million Americans. Then it went to the Senate, and our crowd had a right to bring our bill up in the Senate, and they could not keep it away.


So you know what the leader of the Senate did? He shut the Senate down for 4 hours-I mean, turned out the lights; everybody got under the desks. Because they did not want to be recorded as voting against this, but they did not want to make angry the insurance companies who oppose it. This is the symbol of the difference between the two parties today, make no mistake about it. Now, what have they done with their year in the majority? Except for this higher education bill, I cannot think of much. They killed the minimum wage. They killed campaign finance reform. They killed tobacco legislation reform that would have protected our children from the dangers of tobacco. They killed the Patients' Bill of Rights. They have continued their assault on the environment. They have gone backwards on paying for the International Monetary Fund; they have taken no action on it. And they have taken no action on the education bill, and they went backwards on saving Social Security first when the House passed their tax plan. It is over in the Senate now. And what I want you to do-I thank you for coming here tonight. I thank you for these contributions. We need the money, and we will spend it well. But you have to go out and tell people, there is this cynical idea that you will not vote and that good times makes you less likely to vote. And I know it is more trouble for a lot of people you know to vote. But if you believe that America ought to be about not what goes on in Washington, DC, but what goes on in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia, in Boston, and in rural North Dakota and in rural Nebraska-if that is what you believe-if you believe in saving Social Security first, if you believe in the Patients' Bill of Rights, if you believe in education as our top investment priority, if you believe in keeping our economic recovery going, then you should support our party-not just tonight but on election day. And I want every one of you to go out every day between now and then and stir it up among your friends, and make sure that we surprise the cynics on election day. Thank you, and God bless you.


It is fitting that in the capital of the Nation a statue should stand through the ages, to remind future generations of the services to that Nation of a patriot who served his country well. It is fitting that the Government, through its representatives, should take part in the dedication of this monument. It is fitting that I should appear here in my official capacity; but it is also fitting that I should be here in my personal capacity, as one who has always been proud of the personal friendship which he held for many years with Samuel Gompers. I knew him first when as a very young man I came to New York City and received his fine support in the establishment of pure milk stations for the feeding of undernourished babies. From then on, we had many mutual tasks. It is, I think, a commentary on the progress toward social justice which we have accomplished in a short space of time, when I tell you that in the year 1911 only twenty-two years ago Samuel Gompers, Robert F. Wagner, Alfred E. Smith and I were labeled as radicals when we fought for and finally succeeded in passing a bill through the New York State Legislature, limiting the work of women in industry to fifty-four hours a week. These early struggles for social betterment struggles which in large part were initiated by him have met with growing success with every passing year. I like to think that Samuel Gompers is today, and at this moment, aware of the fact that through the quick and practical action of the National Recovery Act, child labor in the United States has at last come to n end. During the years of the Wilson Administration, the friendship between us grew and strengthened. I need not speak of his great service to organized labor in their relations with private employers; but I can speak rightfully of the splendid cooperation which at all times he gave to the sympathetic adjustment of problems relating to workers for the Government itself. He understood well the fact that those who serve the Government serve the people as a whole. It was in the fulfillment of this principle that he approached the whole subject of the relationship of labor to the Government at the outbreak of the World War. As a member of the advisory committee of the Council of National Defense, he was a part of the great organization which met the crisis Of war. But more than that, it was his patriotic leadership for the unanimous mobilization of the workers in every part of the Union which supplemented the mobilization of the men who went to the front.

Address at the Dedication of the Samuel Gompers Memorial Monument, Washington, D.C.


If I may be permitted to do so I want to express my admiration of his patriotic courage, his large vision and his statesmanlike sense of what has to be done. I like to lay my mind alongside of a mind that knows how to pull in harness. The horses that kick over the traces will have to be put in a corral. In those few words President Wilson summed up the splendid national services of Samuel Gompers, and at the same time preached a sermon that applied to capital and labor alike. That sermon is just as good today as it was in 1917. We are engaged in another war, and I believe from the bottom of my heart that organized labor is doing its share to win this war. The whole of the country has a common enemy; industry, agriculture, capital, labor are all engaged in fighting it. Just as in 1917 we are seeking to pull in harness; just as in 1917, horses that kick over the traces will have to be put in a corral. Gompers understood and went along with that thought during the years of the War, and we have many evidences of his acceptance of the fact that the horses pulling in harness were the horses of the employees and of the employers as well. In those years a few, happily a very few, horses had to be lassoed both kinds of horses; and today the conditions are very similar. In the field of organized labor there are problems just as there were in the spring of 1917 questions of jurisdiction which have to be settled quickly and effectively in order to prevent the slowing-up of the general program. There are the perfectly natural problems of selfish individuals who seek personal gain by running counter to the calm judgment of sound leadership. There are hot-heads who think that results can be obtained by noise or violence; there are insidious voices seeking to instill methods or principles which are wholly foreign to the American form of democratic government. On the part of employers there are some who shudder at anything new. There are some who think in terms of dollars and cents instead of in terms of human lives; there are some who themselves would prefer government by a privileged class instead of by majority rule. But it is clear that the sum of the recalcitrants on both sides cuts a very small figure in the total of employers and employees alike, who are going along wholeheartedly in the war against depression.


And to my fellow Americans, our newest citizens, I am so excited. You are men and women from more than 25 countries, from Brazil to Uganda, from Iraq to the Philippines. You may come from teeming cities or rural villages. But here, surrounded by the very documents whose values bind us together as one people, you have raised your hand and sworn a sacred oath. I am proud to be among the first to greet you as my fellow Americans. What a remarkable journey all of you have made. And as of today, your story is forever woven into the larger story of this Nation. In the brief time that we have together, I want to share that story with you. Because even as you have put in the work required to become a citizen, you still have a demanding and rewarding task ahead of you, and that is the hard work of active citizenship. You have rights and you have responsibilities. And now you have to help us write the next great chapter in America's story. Just about every nation in the world, to some extent, admits immigrants. We do not simply welcome new immigrants, we do not simply welcome new arrivals, we are born of immigrants. And for more than two centuries, it is remained at the core of our national character. After all, unless your family is Native American, one of the First Americans, our families-all of our families-come from someplace else. The first refugees were the Pilgrims themselves, fleeing religious persecution, crossing the stormy Atlantic to reach a new world where they might live and pray freely. Eight signers of the Declaration of Independence were immigrants. And in those first decades after independence, English, German, and Scottish immigrants came over, huddled on creaky ships, seeking what Thomas Paine called asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty. Down through the decades, Irish Catholics fleeing hunger, Italians fleeing poverty filled up our cities, rolled up their sleeves, built America. Chinese laborers jammed in steerage under the decks of steamships, making their way to California to build the Central Pacific Railroad that would transform the West and our Nation. Wave after wave of men, women, and children-from the Middle East and the Mediterranean, from Asia and Africa-poured into Ellis Island or Angel Island, their trunks bursting with their most cherished possessions-maybe a photograph of the family they left behind; a family Bible or a Torah or a Koran; a bag in one hand, maybe a child in the other-standing for hours in long lines.

Remarks at a Naturalization Ceremony at the National Archives and Records Administration


New York and cities across America were transformed into a sort of global fashion show. You had Dutch lace caps and the North African fezzes, stodgy tweed suits, colorful Caribbean dresses. And perhaps, like some of you, these new arrivals might have had some moments of doubt, wondering if they had made a mistake in leaving everything and everyone they ever knew behind. So life in America was not always easy. It was not always easy for new immigrants. Certainly, it was not easy for those of African heritage who had not come here voluntarily and yet in their own way were immigrants themselves. But, like you, they no doubt found inspiration in all those who had come before them. And they were able to muster faith that, here in America, they might build a better life and give their children something more. survivors of the Holocaust; Soviet refuseniks; refugees from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia; Iraqis and Afghans fleeing war; Mexicans, Cubans, Iranians leaving behind deadly revolutions; Central American teenagers running from gang violence; the Lost Boys of Sudan escaping civil war. They are people like Fulbert Florent Akoula from the Republic of Congo, who was granted asylum when his family was threatened by political violence. Immigrants and refugees revitalize and renew America. Immigrants like you are more likely to start your own business. Many of the Fortune 500 companies in this country were founded by immigrants or their children. Many of the tech startups in Silicon Valley have at least one immigrant founder. Immigrants are the teachers who inspire our children, and they are the doctors who keep us healthy. They are the engineers who design our skylines and the artists and the entertainers who touch our hearts. Immigrants are soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coastguardsmen who protect us, often risking their lives for an America that is not even their own yet. As an Iraqi, Muhanned Ibrahim Al Naib was the target of death threats for working with American forces. He stood by his American comrades and came to the U.S. as a refugee. And today we stand by him. And we are proud to welcome Muhanned as a citizen of the country that he already helped to defend. We celebrate this history, this heritage, as an immigrant nation. And we should be strong enough to acknowledge, as painful as it may be, that we have not always lived up to our own ideals. We have not always lived up to these documents.


From the start, Africans were brought here in chains against their will and then toiled under the whip. They also built America. A century ago, New York City shops displayed those signs, No Irish Need Apply. Catholics were targeted, their loyalty questioned, so much so that as recently as the 1950s and sixties, when JFK had to run, he had to convince people that his allegiance was not primarily to the Pope. Chinese immigrants faced persecution and vicious stereotypes and were, for a time, even banned from entering America. During World War II, German and Italian residents were detained, and in one of the darkest chapters in our history, Japanese immigrants and even Japanese American citizens were forced from their homes and imprisoned in camps. We succumbed to fear. We betrayed not only our fellow Americans, but our deepest values. We betrayed these documents. And the biggest irony of course was, is that those who betrayed these values were themselves the children of immigrants. One generation passes, two generation passes, and suddenly, we do not remember where we came from. On days like today, we need to resolve never to repeat mistakes like that again. We must resolve to always speak out against hatred and bigotry in all of its forms, whether taunts against the child of an immigrant farmworker or threats against a Muslim shopkeeper. Standing up for each other is what the values enshrined in the documents in this room compels us to do, especially when it is hard, especially when it is not convenient. All of us are called to live up to our expectations for ourselves, not just when it is convenient, but when it is inconvenient, when it is tough, when we are afraid. The tension throughout our history between welcoming or rejecting the stranger, it is about more than just immigration. It is about the meaning of America, what kind of country do we want to be. E pluribus unum-that out of many, we are one. Scripture tells us, For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as were all our fathers. We are strangers before you. In the Mexican immigrant today, we see the Catholic immigrant of a century ago. In the Syrian seeking refuge today, we should see the Jewish refugee of World War II. our parents, our grandparents, our aunts, our uncles, our cousins who packed up what they could and scraped together what they had. And their paperwork was not always in order.


And they set out for a place that was more than just a piece of land, but an idea. a place where we can be a part of something bigger. A place where we can contribute our talents and fulfill our ambitions and secure new opportunity for ourselves and for others. A place where we can retain pride in our heritage, but where we recognize that we have a common creed, a loyalty to these documents, a loyalty to our democracy; where we can criticize our government, but understand that we love it; where we agree to live together even when we do not agree with each other; where we work through the democratic process, and not through violence or sectarianism, to resolve disputes; where we live side by side as neighbors; and where our children know themselves to be a part of this Nation, no longer strangers, but the bedrock of this Nation, the essence of this Nation. And that is why today is not the final step in your journey. More than 60 years ago, at a ceremony like this one, Senator John F. Kennedy said, No form of government requires more of its citizens than does the American democracy. of being informed; of understanding that the Government is not some distant thing, but is you; of speaking out when something is not right; of helping fellow citizens when they need a hand; of coming together to shape our country's course. And that work gives purpose to every generation. It belongs to me. It belongs to the judge. It belongs to you. to follow our laws, yes, but also to engage with your communities and to speak up for what you believe in and to vote; to not only exercise the rights that are now yours, but to stand up for the rights of others. Birtukan Gudeya is here from Ethiopia. The joy of being an American is the joy of freedom and opportunity. We have been handed a work in progress, one that can evolve for the good of all Americans. I could not have said it better. That is what makes America great, not just the words on these founding documents, as precious and valuable as they are, but the progress that they have inspired. If you ever wonder whether America is big enough to hold multitudes, strong enough to withstand the forces of change, brave enough to live up to our ideals even in times of trial, then look to the generations of ordinary citizens who have proven again and again that we are worthy of that.


Today it is my pleasure to welcome Alan Greenspan back to official service to his country. Chairman of President Ford's Council of Economic Advisors; member of three Presidential commissions, including the Greenspan commission; frequent witness before congressional committees; guest lecturer at New York University; member of the board of overseers of the Hoover Institution-and the list goes on and on. Now, in becoming Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan is making perhaps the most dramatic personal sacrifice of his career, taking his name down from the door of Townsend-Greenspan, the firm he guided as president and chairman for nearly 30 years. Alan, I suppose it would have been only natural for you to have had some second thoughts as you packed up your boxes last week. But knowing you, I do not think you did. No, knowing you, I have a feeling that your thoughts had already turned to the great role in American life that you take up today. Since its creation in 1913, the Federal Reserve System, with its Board of Governors, has become one of the central institutions of our government. Charged with maintaining the soundness of the banking system, the Fed helps to make possible the many millions of financial transactions that take place in America every day, from the purchase of stocks and bonds on Wall Street to the purchase of groceries on Main Street. But perhaps the Fed is best known for its conduct of monetary policy-managing the rate of growth in the supply of money. inflation, interest rates, the overall rate of economic expansion itself. Under the chairmanship of Paul Volcker, the Fed has used its monetary policy to overcome the rampant inflation that had grown up during the late 1970's. What we are aiming for, Chairman Volcker once said, is a situation in which people can proceed about their business without worrying about what prices are going to do. And once this situation had been achieved, Chairman Volcker argued, confidence in the economy would return and economic growth would once again begin to take place. With budgetary and monetary discipline, Chairman Volcker added, the process could be sustained for years. Well, as we all know, economic growth has taken place, and it has been sustained. The economic expansion is now just 2 months short of becoming the longest peacetime economic expansion in American history. For some 5 years now, inflation has stayed well below the rates of the late 1970's, with interest rates coming down sharply as well.

Remarks at the Swearing-In Ceremony for Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System


We have seen a burst of new business formations, a virtual riot of new technologies, and the creation of over 13 1/2 million new jobs. And I know that Governor Martha Seger, who has done some briefings for us here at the White House, reported after consultations with foreign bankers and businessmen during her recent European trip that today confidence in the American economy is firmly established abroad, and this represents a source of stability for the entire world economy. I want to express my gratitude to Paul Volcker for the part he played in these accomplishments. And I want to restate my confidence in Alan Greenspan to carry these accomplishments still further, all the while maintaining the Fed's traditional independence. Here in our own country, Chairman Greenspan will bring all his skill to bear upon the task of promoting our continued economic growth while keeping inflation low. Today, keeping down inflation and sustaining economic growth is not an either-or proposition. Today, low inflation and economic growth can and must go hand in hand. Abroad, Chairman Greenspan will have to work closely with the heads of foreign central banks. With the entire globe becoming a single and highly competitive marketplace, Chairman Greenspan will play an important role in seeking solutions to the problems of developing countries and the massive debt some of them have accumulated. He will work to ensure an open and fair trading system among all nations. And he will be deeply involved in the restructuring and modernization of the American banking system to keep our own capital markets competitive with others around the world. These past 6 1/2 years-6 1/2 years of sound policies in the public sector and technological breakthroughs in the private-have produced such a dramatic change in America, perhaps most remarkably among our young people. The future looks more open and promising to young Americans than it did before, for the simple reason that it is more open and promising. There is been a convergence of policy and technology that has changed the spirit of America. Well, Alan, I guess that is the fundamental reason why I am so happy that when I asked you to become Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, you said yes. You are an economist's economist, one of the most widely respected men in your field. But you know that economics is more than numbers, that there are crucial intangibles, as well intangibles like hope, a willingness to work, and, yes, faith in the future of this great and good land.


First, may I greet the distinguished Members of Congress here in the front rows, thank them for coming, thank them for their interest in the passage of this important legislation we are here to celebrate today, but also in their interest in following up on it. May I greet, also, the Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, and our Secretary of HHS Lou Sullivan and the Vice President, of course. He and I welcome you to the Rose Garden. And may I salute the other guests that are with us. American corporations, you see, are a vital part of this team, and your support of the ADA is critical to its success. One year ago, I stood over there -- many of you present -- on the South Lawn. And I will never -- literally, never -- forget that sight or certainly the emotional feeling I felt on that day. Thousands of people from across the country had come to celebrate the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, one of the most comprehensive civil rights bills in the history of this country. And while people felt a justifiable sense of triumph last year, you also could see a feeling of eager impatience. After all, the signing of the ADA did not mark the end of a long struggle; it marked, really, a beginning. Some of you here today joined me on the South Lawn, as I mentioned, a year ago, and we have made tremendous advances since that ceremony. We have introduced changes that will transform people's worlds. The ADA has also helped us -- all of us -- to understand a little bit more about ourselves. to recognize and defend the rights of every American. This bill does more than make the American dream of equality a reality for 43 million Americans with disabilities. It offers, in a sense, fresh testimony to our Nation's greatness. It demonstrates how we can advance the cause of civil rights. It shows what can happen when we work together, drawing upon the fundamental decency of the American people. The quest for civil rights is not a zero-sum game. It should not mean advancing some at the expense of others. The quest for civil rights is a quest for individual rights and equal opportunity and it is a crusade to throw open the doors of opportunity and tear down the walls of bigotry. The ADA works because it calls upon the best in the American people, and then Americans respond. the spirit of inclusiveness, the devotion to individual rights and equal opportunity. That devotion runs deep in our Nation.

Remarks Commemorating the First Anniversary of the Signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990


Our Constitution and our courts pledge equal protection under the law. But equally important, our people believe in legal equality -- and many try to broaden opportunity in little ways, by reaching out to capable people and giving them a chance -- giving them a fair chance. America must be a country where the sons and daughters of poverty have the same grasp on the American dream as the children of privilege. And it must be a land where a child can overcome any obstacle and fulfill his or her own potential. We see this promise fulfilled by a man I presented to this Nation 4 weeks ago. tolerance, industry, and decency. And I am speaking, of course, of my nominee to the Court, Clarence Thomas. While Judge Thomas was at the EEOC, he compiled an excellent record on disability issues, with which I hope all of you are familiar. the principle that we must throw open the doors of opportunity to everyone. And this spirit should guide us as we pursue all civil rights legislation, for our greatest strength lies in our ability to work together and honor the shared values we treasure. And in so doing, we have understood more fully just how much people with disabilities have to offer. We have demonstrated that social progress includes economic growth and that both play essential roles in the American dream. Businesses support the ADA because it gives everyone a chance to be productive in the workplace. It broadens our economic mainstream. It enables society to benefit from the wisdom, energy, and industry of people who want just one thing, a fair chance. And while we have made a strong start, we have much to do. As long as the doors of opportunity are closed to even one American we must keep working at it. The passage of the ADA, the world's first declaration of equality for people with disabilities, made this country the international leader on this human rights issue. And now the world is watching to see how we use this act, how we remove the physical barriers we have created and the social barriers that we have accepted. Our success or failure in keeping the promise of the ADA will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people with disabilities, not just here in the United States but throughout the world. In America -- the most generous, optimistic Nation on the face of the Earth -- we will not rest until every man and woman and child with a dream has a fair chance to realize it. Most of this work will be done by individual Americans acting day by day to increase tolerance and understanding.


It is clearly my duty to lay before you, very fully and without reservation, the facts concerning our present relations with the Republic of Mexico. The deplorable posture of affairs in Mexico I need not describe, but I deem it my duty to speak very frankly of what this Government has done and should seek to do in fulfillment of its obligation to Mexico herself, as a friend and neighbor, and to American citizens whose lives and vital interests are daily affected by the distressing conditions which now obtain beyond our southern border. Those conditions touch us very nearly. Not merely because they lie at our very doors. That of course makes us more vividly and more constantly conscious of them, and every instinct of neighborly interest and sympathy is aroused and quickened by them; but that is only one element in the determination of our duty. We are glad to call ourselves the friends of Mexico, and we shall, I hope, have many an occasion, in happier times as well as in these days of trouble and confusion, to show that our friendship is genuine and disinterested, capable of sacrifice and every generous manifestation. The peace, prosperity, and contentment of Mexico mean more, much more, to us than merely an enlarged field for our commerce and enterprise. They mean an enlargement of the field of self-government and the realization of the hopes and rights of a nation with whose best aspirations, so long suppressed and disappointed, we deeply sympathize. We shall yet prove to the Mexican people that we know how to serve them without first thinking how we shall serve ourselves. But we are not the only friends of Mexico. The whole world desires her peace and progress; and the whole world is interested as never before. Central America is about to be touched by the great routes of the world's trade and intercourse running free from ocean to ocean at the Isthmus. The future has much in store for Mexico, as for all the States of Central America; but the best gifts can come to her only if she be ready and free to receive them and to enjoy them honorably. America in particularAmerica north and south and upon both continentswaits upon the development of Mexico; and that development can be sound and lasting only if it be the product of a genuine freedom, a just and ordered government founded upon law. Only so can it be peaceful or fruitful of the benefits of peace.

Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Mexican Affairs


Mexico has a great and enviable future before her, if only she choose and attain the paths of honest constitutional government. The present circumstances of the Republic, I deeply regret to say, do not seem to promise even the foundations of such a peace. We have waited many months, months full of peril and anxiety, for the conditions there to improve, and they have not improved. The territory in some sort controlled by the provisional authorities at Mexico City has grown smaller, not larger. The prospect of the pacification of the country, even by arms, has seemed to grow more and more remote; and its pacification by the authorities at the capital is evidently impossible by any other means than force. Difficulties more and more entangle those who claim to constitute the legitimate government of the Republic. They have not made good their claim in fact. Their successes in the field have proved only temporary. War and disorder, devastation and confusion, seem to threaten to become the settled fortune of the distracted country. As friends we could wait no longer for a solution which every week seemed further away. It was our duty at least to volunteer our good officesto offer to assist, if we might, in effecting some arrangement which would bring relief and peace and set up a universally acknowledged political authority there. Press very earnestly upon the attention of those who are now exercising authority or wielding influence in Mexico the following considerations and advice: The Government of the United States does not feel at liberty any longer to stand inactively by while it becomes daily more and more evident that no real progress is being made towards the establishment of a government at the City of Mexico which the country will obey and respect. The Government of the United States does not stand in the same case with the other great Governments of the world in respect of what is happening or what is likely to happen in Mexico. We offer our good offices, not only because of our genuine desire to play the part of a friend, but also because we are expected by the powers of the world to act as Mexico's nearest friend. We wish to act in these circumstances in the spirit of the most earnest and disinterested friendship.


It is our purpose in whatever we do or propose in this perplexing and distressing situation not only to pay the most scrupulous regard to the sovereignty and independence of Mexicothat we take as a matter of course to which we are bound by every obligation of right and honorbut also to give every possible evidence that we act in the interest of Mexico alone, and not in the interest of any person or body of persons who may have personal or property claims in Mexico which they may feel that they have the right to press. We are seeking to counsel Mexico for her own good and in the interest of her own peace, and not for any other purpose whatever. The Government of the United States would deem itself discredited if it had any selfish or ulterior purpose in transactions where the peace, happiness, and prosperity of a whole people are involved. It is acting as its friendship for Mexico, not as any selfish interest, dictates. The present situation in Mexico is incompatible with the fulfillment of international obligations on the part of Mexico, with the civilized development of Mexico herself, and with the maintenance of tolerable political and economic conditions in Central America. It is upon no common occasion, therefore, that the United States offers her counsel and assistance. All America cries out for a settlement. A satisfactory settlement seems to us to be conditioned only An immediate cessation of fighting throughout Mexico, a definite armistice solemnly entered into and scrupulously observed; Security given for an early and free election in which all will agree to take part; The consent of Gen. Huerta to bind himself not to be a candidate for election as President of the Republic at this election; and The agreement of all parties to abide by the results of the election and coperate in the most loyal way in organizing and supporting the new administration. The Government of the United States will be glad to play any part in this settlement or in its carrying out which it can play honorably and consistently with international right. It pledges itself to recognize and in every way possible and proper to assist the administration chosen and set up in Mexico in the way and on the conditions suggested. Taking all the existing conditions into consideration, the Government of the United States can conceive of no reasons sufficient to justify those who are now attempting to shape the policy or exercise the authority of Mexico in declining the offices of friendship thus offered. Can Mexico give the civilized world a satisfactory reason for rejecting our good offices?


If Mexico can suggest any better way in which to show our friendship, serve the people of Mexico, and meet our international obligations, we are more than willing to consider the suggestion. Lind executed his delicate and difficult mission with singular tact, firmness, and good judgment, and made clear to the authorities at the City of Mexico not only the purpose of his visit but also the spirit in which it had been undertaken. But the proposals he submitted were rejected, in a note the full text of which I take the liberty of laying before you. I am led to believe that they were rejected partly because the authorities at Mexico City had been grossly misinformed and misled upon two points. They did not realize the spirit of the American people in this matter, their earnest friendliness and yet sober determination that some just solution be found for the Mexican difficulties; and they did not believe that the present administration spoke, through Mr. Lind, for the people of the United States. The effect of this unfortunate misunderstanding on their part is to leave them singularly isolated and without friends who can effectually aid them. So long as the misunderstanding continues we can only await the time of their awakening to a realization of the actual facts. We cannot thrust our good offices upon them. The situation must be given a little more time to work itself out in the new circumstances; and I believe that only a little while will be necessary. The rejection of our friendship makes them new and will inevitably bring its own alterations in the whole aspect of affairs. The actual situation of the authorities at Mexico City will presently be revealed. Clearly, everything that we do must be rooted in patience and done with calm and disinterested deliberation. Impatience on our part would be childish, and would be fraught with every risk of wrong and folly. We can afford to exercise the self-restraint of a really great nation which realizes its own strength and scorns to misuse it. It was our duty to offer our active assistance. It is now our duty to show what true neutrality will do to enable the people of Mexico to set their affairs in order again and wait for a further opportunity to offer our friendly counsels. The door is not closed against the resumption, either upon the initiative of Mexico or upon our own, of the effort to bring order out of the confusion by friendly coperative action, should fortunate occasion offer.


While we wait the contest of the rival forces will undoubtedly for a little while be sharper than ever, just because it will be plain that an end must be made of the existing situation, and that very promptly; and with the increased activity of the contending factions will come, it is to be feared, increased danger to the non-combatants in Mexico as well as to those actually in the field of battle. The position of outsiders is always particularly trying and full of hazard where there is civil strife and a whole country is upset. We should earnestly urge all Americans to leave Mexico at once, and should assist them to get away in every way possiblenot because we would mean to slacken in the least our efforts to safeguard their lives and their interests, but because it is imperative that they should take no unnecessary risks when it is physically possible for them to leave the country. We should let every one who assumes to exercise authority in any part of Mexico know in the most unequivocal way that we shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of those Americans who cannot get away, and shall hold those responsible for their sufferings and losses to a definite reckoning. That can be and will be made plain beyond the possibility of a misunderstanding. For the rest, I deem it my duty to exercise the authority conferred upon me by the law of March 14, 1912, to see to it that neither side to the struggle now going on in Mexico receive any assistance from this side the border. I shall follow the best practice of nations in the matter of neutrality by forbidding the exportation of arms or munitions of war of any kind from the United States to any part of the Republic of Mexicoa policy suggested by several interesting precedents and certainly dictated by many manifest considerations of practical expediency. We cannot in the circumstances be the partisans of either party to the contest that now distracts Mexico, or constitute ourselves the virtual umpire between them. I am happy to say that several of the great Governments of the world have given this Government their generous moral support in urging upon the provisional authorities at the City of Mexico the acceptance of our proffered good offices in the spirit in which they were made. We have not acted in this matter under the ordinary principles of international obligation. All the world expects us in such circumstances to act as Mexico's nearest friend and intimate adviser. This is our immemorial relation towards her.


My fellow Americans, four years ago we launched a great national effort to rebuild our country, to renew its spirit, and to restore the allegiance of this government to its citizens. In short, we embarked on a mission to make America great again for all Americans. As I conclude my term as the 45th President of the United States, I stand before you truly proud of what we have achieved together. We did what we came here to do, and so much more. This week we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous. We extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck, a very important word. I'd like to begin by thanking just a few of the amazing people who made our remarkable journey possible. First, let me express my overwhelming gratitude for the love and support of our spectacular First Lady Melania. Let me also share my deepest appreciation to my daughter, Ivanka, my son-in-law Jared, and to Baron, Don, Eric, Tiffany, and Lara. You fill my world with light and with joy. I also want to thank Vice President Mike Pence, his wonderful wife, Karen, and the entire Pence family. Thank you as well to my chief of staff, Mark Meadows, the dedicated members of the White House staff, and the cabinet, and all of the incredible people across our administration who poured out their heart and soul to fight for America. I also want to take a moment to thank a truly exceptional group of people, the United States Secret Service. My family and I will forever be in your debt. Most of all, I want to thank the American people. We must never forget that while Americans will always have our disagreements, we are a nation of incredible, decent, faithful, and peace-loving citizens who all want our country to thrive and flourish and be very, very successful and good. All Americans were horrified by the assault on our capital. Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. Now more than ever, we must unify around our shared values and rise above the partisan rancor and forge our common destiny. Four years ago, I came to Washington as the only true outsider ever to win the presidency. I had not spent my career as a politician, but as a builder looking at open skylines and imagining infinite possibilities. I ran for president because I knew there were towering new summits for America just waiting to be scaled.

President Donald Trump Farewell Address Speech Transcript


I knew the potential for our nation was boundless as long as we put America first. So I left behind my former life and stepped into a very difficult arena, but an arena, nevertheless, with all sorts of potential if properly done. America had given me so much and I wanted to give something back. Together with millions of hardworking Patriots across this land, we built the greatest political movement in the history of our country. We also built the greatest economy in the history of the world. It was about America first because we all wanted to make America great again. We restored the principle that a nation exists to serve its citizens. Our agenda was not about right or left. It was not about Republican or Democrat, but about the good of a nation, and that means the whole nation. With the support and prayers of the American people, we achieved more than anyone thought possible. We passed the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history. We slashed more job-killing regulations than any administration had ever done before. We fix our broken trade deals, withdrew from the horrible Trans-Pacific Partnership and the impossible Paris Climate Accord, renegotiated the one-sided South Korea deal. And we replaced NAFTA with the groundbreaking USMCA, that is Mexico and Canada, a deal that is worked out very, very well. Also and very importantly, we imposed historic and monumental tariffs on China, made a great new deal with China. But before the ink was even dry, we and the whole world got hit with the China virus. Billions and billions of dollars were pouring into the US but the virus forced us to go in a different direction. The whole world suffered, but America outperformed other countries economically because of our incredible economy and the economy that we built. Without the foundations and footings, it would not have worked out this way. We would not have some of the best numbers we have ever had. We also unlocked our energy resources and became the world's number one producer of oil and natural gas by far. Powered by these policies, we built the greatest economy in the history of the world. We reignited America's job creation and achieved record-low unemployment for African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, women, almost everyone. The American dream was restored and millions were lifted from poverty in just a few short years.


The stock market set one record after another, with 148 stock market highs during the short period of time, and boosted the retirements and pensions of hardworking citizens all across our nation. 401s are at a level they have never been at before. We have never seen numbers like we have seen, and that is before the pandemic and after the pandemic. We rebuilt the American manufacturing base, opened up thousands of new factories, and brought back the beautiful phrase Made in the USA. To make life better for working families, we doubled the child tax credit and signed the largest-ever expansion of funding for childcare and development. We joined with the private sector to secure commitments to train more than 16 million American workers for the jobs of tomorrow. When our nation was hit with the terrible pandemic, we produced not one, but two vaccines with record-breaking speed and more will quickly follow. They said it could not be done, but we did it. They called it a medical miracle. And that is what they are calling it right now, a medical miracle. Another administration would have taken three, four, five, maybe even up to 10 years to develop a vaccine. We did it in nine months. We grieve for every life lost and we pledge in their memory to wipe out this horrible pandemic once and for all. When the virus took its brutal toll on the world's economy, we launched the fastest economic recovery our country has ever seen. We passed nearly $4 trillion in economic relief, saved or supported over 50 million jobs, and slashed the unemployment rate in half. These are numbers that our country has never seen before. We created choice and transparency in healthcare, stood up to big pharma in so many ways, but especially in our effort to get favored nations clauses added, which will give us the lowest prescription drug prices anywhere in the world. We passed VA Choice, VA Accountability, Right to Try, and landmark criminal justice reform. We confirmed three new justices of the United States Supreme Court. We appointed nearly 300 federal judges to interpret our Constitution as written. For years, the American people pleaded with Washington to finally secure the nation's borders. I am pleased to say, we answered that plea and achieved the most secure border in US history. We have given our brave border agents and heroic ICE officers the tools they need to do their jobs better than they have ever done before and to enforce our laws and keep America safe.


We proudly leave the next administration with the strongest and most robust border security measures ever put into place. This includes historic agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, along with more than 450 miles of powerful new wall. We restored American strength at home and American leadership abroad. The world respects us again. We reclaimed our sovereignty by standing up for America at the United Nations and withdrawing from the one-sided global deals that never served our interests. And NATO countries are now paying hundreds of billions of dollars more than when I arrived just a few years ago. We were paying the cost for the world. Now the world is helping us. And perhaps most importantly of all, with nearly $3 trillion, we fully rebuilt the American military, all made in the USA. We launched the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces in 75 years, the Space Force. And last spring, I stood at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and watched as American astronauts returned to space on American rockets for the first time in many, many years. We revitalize our alliances and rallied the nations of the world to stand up to China like never before. We obliterated the ISIS caliphate and ended the wretched life of its founder and leader al-Baghdadi. We stood up to the oppressive Iranian regime and killed the world's top terrorist, Iranian butcher, Qassem Soleimani. We recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. As a result of our bold diplomacy and principled realism, we achieved a series of historic peace deals in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords opened the doors to a future of peace and harmony, not violence and bloodshed. It is the dawn of a new Middle East, and we are bringing our soldiers home. I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars. Above all, we have reasserted the sacred idea that in America the government answers to the people. Our guiding light, our North star, our unwavering conviction has been that we are here to serve the noble everyday citizens of America. Our allegiance is not to the special interests corporations or global entities, it is to our children, our citizens, and to our nation itself. As president my top priority, my constant concern has always been the best interests of American workers and American families. I did not seek the easiest course. I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism.


I took on the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices because that is what you elected me to do. Together, we put the American people back in charge of our country. We restored self-government. We restored the idea that in America no one is forgotten because everyone matters and everyone has a voice. We fought for the principle that every citizen is entitled to equal dignity, equal treatment, and equal rights because we are all made equal by God. Everyone is entitled to be treated with respect, to have their voice heard, and to have the government listen. You are loyal to your country and my administration was always loyal to you. We worked to build a country in which every citizen could find a great job and support their wonderful families. We fought for the communities where every American could be safe and schools where every child could learn. We promoted a culture where our laws would be upheld, our heroes honored, our history preserved, and law-abiding citizens are never taken for granted. Americans should take tremendous satisfaction in all that we have achieved together. Now, as I leave the white house, I have been reflecting on the dangers that threaten the priceless inheritance we all share. As the world's most powerful nation, America faces constant threats and challenges from abroad. But the greatest danger we face is a loss of confidence in ourselves, a loss of confidence in our national greatness. A nation is only as strong as its spirit. We are only as dynamic as our pride. We are only as vibrant as the faith that beats in the hearts of our people. No nation can long thrive that loses faith in its own values, history, and heroes for these are the very sources of our unity and our vitality. What has always allowed America to prevail and triumph over the great challenges of the past has been an unyielding and unashamed conviction in the nobility of our country and its unique purpose in history. We must never lose this conviction. We must never forsake our belief in America. The key to national greatness lies in sustaining and instilling our shared national identity. That means focusing on what we have in common, the heritage that we all share. At the center of this heritage is also a robust belief in free expression, free speech, and open debate. Only if we forget who we are and how we got here could we ever allow political censorship and blacklisting to take place in America.


In America, we do not insist on absolute conformity or enforce rigid orthodoxies and punitive speech codes. We just do not do that. America is not a timid nation of tame souls who need to be sheltered and protected from those with whom we disagree. For nearly 250 years in the face of every challenge, Americans have always summoned our unmatched courage, confidence, and fierce independence. These are the miraculous traits that once led millions of everyday citizens to set out across a wild continent and carve out a new life in the great West. It was the same profound love of our God-given freedom that willed our soldiers into battle and our astronauts into space. As I think back on the past four years, one image rises in my mind above all others. Whenever I traveled all along the motorcade route, there were thousands and thousands of people. They came out with their families so that they could stand as we passed and proudly wave our great American flag. It never failed to deeply move me. I knew that they did not just come out to show their support of me. They came out to show me their support and love for our country. This is a republic of proud citizens who are united by our common conviction, that America is the greatest nation in all of history. We are and must always be a land of hope, of light, and of glory to all the world. This is the precious inheritance that we must safeguard at every single turn. For the past four years, I have worked to do just that. From a great hall of Muslim leaders in Riyadh to a great square of Polish people in Warsaw, from the floor of the Korean Assembly to the podium at the United Nations General Assembly, and from the forbidden city in Beijing to the shadow of Mount Rushmore, I fought for you. I fought for your family. I fought for our country. Above all, I fought for America and all it stands for, and that is safe, strong, proud, and free. Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday, I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning. The belief that a nation must serve its citizens will not dwindle, but instead, only grows stronger by the day. As long as the American people hold in their hearts, deep and devoted love of country, then there is nothing that this nation can not achieve.


Have you been enjoying yourselves too much? There are too many distinguished Irish and Irish Americans here tonight to mention, so I will just offer a hundred thousand welcomes to the White House. Taoiseach Kenny and his lovely wife Fionnuala. I also want to take a moment to recognize those who do the hard work of waging peace. Theresa Villiers, the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, is here. As is America's Consul General in Belfast, Greg Burton-yay, Greg-and Richard Haass, two men who helped bring the Stormont House Agreement to fruition, and we are very grateful to them. Two people who were going to be here-First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness-are home hammering out the details to implement the agreement. So we wish them good luck and Godspeed so the people of Northern Ireland can finally enjoy the full fruits of a lasting peace. But let me just mention one. When Brendan Boyle ran for Congress last year, his campaign was followed closely by folks back in Ireland, not so much because of him, although he is an impressive young man, but because of his dad. Frank Boyle grew up in Donegal. He moved to America as a young man, married an Irish lass, had two sons. He supported his family by working as a janitor for the Philadelphia public transit authority. Today, one son, Kevin, serves in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Brendan serves in the U.S. Congress. They have made people across two nations very proud. So when Irish and Americans get together, there is more than a diplomatic exchange. My eighth cousin, Henry, who has become a regular at this party, I mean--where is Henry the Eighth -he is , he is -there he is, he is back there. So is his good buddy, Ollie Hayes, who owns my favorite pub in Moneygall. And while many of you are far from home today, I am sure you have found plenty of green in the red, white, and blue because we have got 30 or 40 million family members here in the United States and millions more who wish they were. Now, Shaw said that an Irishman's heart is nothing but his imagination. And if there is any place that can set the imagination on fire, it is Ireland. I remember my own visit to Dublin and Moneygall and Belfast.

Remarks at a St. Patrick's Day Reception


A people noted for bouts of great joy and the belt of a late-night song. the cities our ancestors helped build, the canals they dug, the tracks they laid, the shipyards and factories they labored in, enduring all manner of intolerance and insult to carve out a place for themselves and their children in this new world. They put their full hearts into their work, even as their hearts were far from home. In 1897, at an Irish Fair held in New York, dirt was shipped over from each of Ireland's counties and laid out on a map. At least one immigrant knelt in prayer, grateful to be back in Fermanagh again, even if only for an instant. Meanwhile, thousands of young Irish women moved to America to find work as domestic servants. Not a day goes by, one said, that I do not look at the Moon and say it is the same in Ireland. For the story of the Irish in America is a story of overcoming hardship through strength and sacrifice and faith and family. faith in the unseen, a belief in something better around the bend. And that is why the Irish did more than help build America-I am very impressed, by the way, whoever just shushed. . I was going to wait until the Taoiseach spoke to shush everybody, but Joe handled his business. I like that, Joe. the notion that no matter who you are, where you come from, what your last name is, in this country, you can make it. And today we revel in that idea. those who struggled in obscurity, those who rose to the highest levels of politics and business and the arts. friendship and family and hard work and humility, fairness and dignity, and the persistent belief that tomorrow will be better than today. Yeats is one of my favorite poets, and the Taoiseach honored me by giving me a slim volume of his favorite works. I have believed the best of every man. And find that to believe it is enough to make a bad man show him at his best-or even a good man swing his lantern higher. Prime Minister Kenny. Have fun, do not break anything, and you can take the paper napkins, but not the cloth ones. They do not belong to be, and I want my security deposit back.


For the last few days I have been traveling on a jet airplane. I have found that you have to adjust your schedule, even on an airplane, for the simple reason you get everywhere so rapidly that after you have allowed time for a breakfast or a lunch with a little nap, you have found that the work you were supposed to do has gone by the board and you have landed. The Ambassador does a tittle bit better than that, he takes you back to Italy from here in a matter of seconds. But on this trip I have been talking a lot about America's deep desire for peace, and I know that the peoples of all nations feel exactly as the people of America do. I have traveled in many countries of the world and I have never yet found a people that were belligerent, I know of no men that just long for the battlefield and I know of no women who want to see their men, their sons and their husbands, their sweethearts or their fathers, on the battlefield. So, as far as the longing and aspirations of peoples are involved, we know we are one. But governments have a habit of getting into the way of the sentiments and the feelings of people. It is the governments that conduct propaganda, that put out what they call information--and I am not so sure it always is--people that create problems and then at least say they are attempting to solve them. Now our problem is how do we get across from people to people, so that we can each try to fulfill our own destinies according to the methods of our own choosing? Now I think this is one of the problems and the jobs that people like yourselves help to perform. Political leaders--sometimes they like to call themselves statesmen--are apt to have to deal in generalizations. But you, each of you, with the understanding you display toward another, whether he be of another race or another religion, or different from you in his ideals, but no matter how much this individual may differ, if you are working together and you can understand him and you become friends, you are doing some of the practical work that statesmen and political politicians are talking about. The courtesies that you show to a visitor, no matter how meanly he is dressed or what kind of work he does, when you can show the natural, inborn courtesy and hospitality that is expected of one of God's creatures, because he is talking to another one, that is helping.

Remarks to the Staff of the U.S. Embassy and the American Community in New Delhi.


This of course is a very simple, homely example. In all of the hours of our daily lives, you people have an unusual opportunity to do this. Of course, the example you show here, as you work among yourselves, in itself is helpful. But as you go further afield, in your clubs, in your restaurants, and your places of recreation and places of work--the more that the American Embassy, whether its employees are Americans or Indians, the more that the American Embassy gets a name for being understanding and sympathetic, this is the stuff of which finally peace will be made. It is not going to be made by two or three people sitting in something that is called a summit, and after exchanging a lot of views that rarely agree, and probably are not pertinent to the subject particularly, anyway; you are not going to get peace that way. This is going to be people that do people talking to people. So I say to you that I believe you are not only having the opportunity to do something that for yourselves would be satisfying, in the sense that for your families, for your country, and for your world community, you are really doing something valuable, but it is the kind of thing that the whole world must be doing, if we are going to have the peace that we seek, a peace with justice and of durability. And when I take a look at the Cub Scouts and children of that age, and I stop to think what will be the year, what will be the year on the calendar, when they are my age--say they are 9 now and add 60 years to that, that is two thousand and nineteen--what is that world going to be then? What are we teaching these little fellows and girls--young Americans and young Indians--how to do these things better than we have done them? Because if we do not do it, by that time, two thousand and nineteen, then indeed this poor old world, I think, will be in a sick state. But the point is, if we do our work well, they will do theirs better-and we will have the kind of earth that is moving ahead, with a greater measure of happiness for all people, a greater satisfaction in the work we ourselves have done. So as I say, when I see this kind of crowd, I think of your opportunity to do practical work, where I go around just talking too much sometimes. You are doing work that is valuable.


At the outset, let me thank the Secretary of Defense for his more than generous comments, and let me simply reiterate the theme that he set forth. We are strong, we will continue to be strong, we will keep our commitments, and we will remain a great country. Only the United States of America can make a machine like this. We have witnessed the magic moment when an intricate mass of steel and cable and sophisticated marvels of engineering suddenly become a living thing with a unique personality. No matter how many commissionings you take part in, breaking the pennant and setting the first watch involves a special reward for all of us who love the sea and the United States Navy. I thank you very much, Captain Compton, and all of the ship's company for the privilege of being here. I congratulate all who helped build her and all who man her, as well as their loved ones who-as many of you know better than I will do a lot of waiting for the sake of our country and of freedom everywhere. Their allegiance and their service to the country is also in the very best tradition of this great Nation. We all regret that Mrs. Chester W. Nimitz, St., cannot share this proud hour with all of us, but I am happy that Mrs. Lay and other members of the admiral's family are here. It is also gratifying to have Admiral Rickover here, for without these two farsighted submariners, Fleet Admiral Nimitz and Admiral Rickover, we would have no nuclear Navy. Few of us remember that it was Admiral Nimitz, as he was completing his career as Chief of Naval Operations in 1947, who recommended to the then Secretary of the Navy that the Bureau of Ships and the new Atomic Energy Commission get together to design and to build a nuclear propulsion plant for a submarine. Admiral Rickover took it from there. I see this great ship as a double symbol of today's challenging times. She is first of all a symbol of the United States, of our immense resources in materials and skilled manpower, of our inexhaustible energy, of the inventive and productive genius of our free, competitive economic system, and of our massive but controlled military strength. Wherever the United States Ship Nimitz shows her flag, she will be seen as we see her now, a solid symbol of United States strength, United States resolve made in America and manned by Americans.

Remarks at the U.S.S. Nimitz Commissioning Ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia.