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Folder Title: ·
Remarks on NATO Ratification 5/21/98
Staff Office-Individual:
Speechwriting-Blinken
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3378
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·THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
May 21, 1998
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON RATIFICATION OF NATO ENLARGEMENT
The Rose Garden
1:35 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT:
Thank you very much.
I suppose I should
begin with an apology for having to dash off and pick up the
paper, but I would hate to lose this· document after all the
effort we put into getting to this point.
(Laughter.)
Mr. Vice President, thank you for your leadership on this
issue.
Senator Roth, Senator Biden, Secretary Albright,
Secretary Cohen, General Ralston, Mr. Berger, to the ambassadors
of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the other members of
the diplomatic corps who .are here, to Senators Levin and
Lieberman and Lugar, Mikulski, and Smith, I thank all of you so
much.
Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin I would like to make
a couple of brief comments.
First of all; let me say I know
that all Americans are heartbroken by the terrible shooting at
the school. in Springfield, Oregon, today. And I would just like
to say on behalf of the Ainerican people that our thoughts and
prayers are with the families of the people who were killed and
wounded, and with that entire fine community.
Next let me say that I welcome the wise decision made less
than 24 hours ago by President Suharto in Indonesia.
It now
gives the Indonesian people a chance to come together to build a
stable democracy for the 21st century.
I hope _that the leaders
will now move forward promptly, with an open and peaceful
transition that enjoys broad public support.
�.-----------------------------------------
2
Indonesia is a very great nation -- populous, wide ranging,
diverse -- with remarkable accomplishments to its credit in the
last few decades.
It has a great fJture.
The United States
stands ready to work, as we have with other nations in the past,
to support Indonesia's l~aders and people as they pursue
democratic reform.
Finally, by way of introduction, let me say, since we're
here to talk about Europe today, I'd like to put in one last
plug for the vote in Ireland and Northern Ireland tomorrow. And
I suspect all of you agree with me. And I hope that those fine
people will lift the burden of the last 30 years from their
shoulders and embrace a common future in peace.
(Applause.)
Let me say notwithstanding my good friend Senator Eiden's
overly generous remarks, we are here today because of the
efforts of a lot of people who supported this effort: members
of Congress and former members of Congress, present and former
national security officials, present and former military
leaders, representatives of our veterans, business unions,
religious groups, ethnic communities.
I especially thank
Senators Lott and Daschle, Senators Helms and Biden, and you,
Senator Roth, the chairman of our NATO observer group.
You behaved in the great tradition of Truman and Marshall
and Vandenberg, uniting our country across party for common
values, common interests, and a common future.
It's really amazing, isn't it, that Bill Roth and Joe Biden
come from Delaware.
I want you to know there is no truth to the
rumor that I agreed to move the NATO headquarters to Wilmington
in return for this vote.
(Laughter.)
However, it does say a
lot for those small states that these two remarkable men have
made such an indispensable contribution to this effort.
I thank
the other senators who are here for their passionate
commitments.
I'd also like to mention one other person, my advisor on
NATO enlargement who managed the ratification process for the
White House, Jeremy Rosner.
Thank you, Jeremy. You did a great
job, too, and we thank you.
(Applause.)
I see so many people here that -- and I don't want to get
into calling names, but I thank Mr. Brzezinski, Ambassador
Kirkpatrick, General Joulwan and so many others who are here who
have been a part of America's effort over the last 50 years to
make sure that after World War II freedom triumphs.
�3
We learned at great cost in this century that if we wanted
America to be secure at home we had to stand up for our
interests, our ideals, and our friends around the world.
Because of the alliances we've built and the work that our
people have been able to: do here, we near the end of this great
century at a remarkable pinnacle of peace, with prosperity and
declining social problems at home, and for the very first time
ever a majority of the world's people living under governments
of their-own choosing.
Since World War II, no alliance for freedom has been more
important or enduring than NATO. And as we look ahead to the
next 50 years, we have to imagine what the world will be like
and what it is we expect to do and, in particular, in this case,
what about NATO.
Today we welcome Hungary, Poland, the Czech
Republic, finally erasing the boundary line the Cold War
artificially imposed on the continent of Europe, strengthening
an alliance that now, clearly, is better preserved to keep the
peace and preserve our security into the 21st century.
For the 16 of us already in NATO, enlarging our alliance
will create three new allies ready to contribute troops and
technology and ingenuity:to protecting our territory, defending
our security and pursuing our vital interest.
The 60 million
people who live in Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, they
now know that what they build in peace they will be able to keep
in security. And America now knows that we have new allies to
help us meet the new security challenges of the 21st century -something that our partnership in Bosnia so clearly
demonstrates.
I would say also to the nations who have joined with us in
the Partnership for Peace, and others who have considered doing
so, and those who hope still someday to become NATO members, we
are in the process of adapting this organization to the security
challenges of the 21st century, and those who are with us in the
Partnership for Peace, those who have been part of our endeavors
in Bosnia, we appreciate you as well. We respect your
aspirations for security; we share your devotion to your
freedom; and we hope this is a day which you can celebrate as
well.
We come to this day, thanks to many acts of courage -courage that toppled the Berlin Wall, ended the Cold War; the
sacrifices by those who raised freedom'~ banner in Budapest in
1956, in Prague in 1968, in Gdansk in 1980; people like Lech
�.-.
4
Walesa, Vaclav Havel, Arpad Goncz, so many others.
The selfless
investment of blood and treasure the American people made in
freedom in the 20th century is also something we ought to stop
and remember here today.
There are so many people whose
families gave so much in two world wars an4 the Cold War who
should feel a personal sense of satisfaction and triumph because
of this day. And I hope' they do.
As we look ahead to the 21st century, again I say, we have
to see what we're doing in NATO in the larger context of
preparing for a different era. Our goal is to help to build a
Europe that is undivided, free, democratic, at peace, and
secure; a Europe in which Russia, Ukraine, and other states of
the former Soviet Union join with us to make common cause; a
dynamic new Europe with partnership for commerce and
cooperation.
Therefore, we have supported the expansion of NATO and the
Partnership for Peace. We have also supported all efforts at
European integration and the expansion of European institutions
to welcome new democracies. And we will continue to do so.
We want to imagine a future in which our children will be
much less likely to cross the Atlantic to fight and die in a
war, but much more likely to find partners in security, in
cultural and commercial and educational endeavors. The
expansion of NATO and the Partnership for Peace make the
·positive outcome much more probable.
This is a day for celebration, but also a day for looking
ahead.
Our work to adapt a~l our institutions to the challenges
of the new century is far from done. On. Monday I had the
opportunity to go to Geneva to lay out a seven-point plan for
the changes I believe the world trading system must embrace in
order to fully and faithfully serve free people in the 21st
century.
And just' very briefly before I close, let me mention the
things that I believe we still have to do with NATO. We have to
build closer ties with the Partnership for Peace members. We
have to reinforce the pr~ctical cooperation between NATO and
Russia, and NATO and Ukraine. We have to see through our
efforts to secure a lasting peace in the Balkans, and we cannot
walk away until the job is done.
(Applause.)
We must achieve
deeper reductions in our nuclear forces and lower the limits on
conventional arms across the European continent.
�5
Yes, we have more work to do, but for today, we remind the
people of Europe that in the efforts that lie ahead, they can
continue to count on the United States. And we remind the world
that tomorrow, as yesterday, America will defend its values,
protect its interests, and stand by its friends.
So that years
from now another generation may gather in this place and bask in
the warm glow of liberty's light, because in our time we
fulfilled America's eternal mission: to deepen the meaning of
freedom, to widen the circle of opportunity, to strengthen th~
bonds of our union among ourselves and with others who believe
in ~he primary importance of liberty and human dignity.
Thank you and God bless you all.
END
1:48 P.M. EDT
�
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Speechwriting Office - Antony Blinken
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<p>Antony Blinken served in the Clinton Administration as the chief foreign policy speechwriter in the National Security Council Speechwriting Directorate from 1994 thru 1998.</p>
<p>Blinken prepared remarks for President Clinton, Anthony Lake, Samuel Berger, James Steinberg, and General Donald Kerrick. His speechwriting topics cover a variety of subjects for various audiences including but not limited to: foreign trips or head of state visits, United Nations General Assembly addresses, and State of the Union and weekly radio addresses. As an NSC speechwriter, Blinken produced speeches on major foreign policy actions during the Clinton Administration on Haiti, Iraq and Bosnia. The documents in the collection consist of speech drafts, newspaper and magazine articles, memos, correspondence, schedules, and handwritten notes.</p>
<p>This collection was made available through a <a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/freedom-of-information-act-requests">Freedom of Information Act</a> request. </p>
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Antony Blinken
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1994-1998
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36017" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Remarks on NATO Ratification 5/21/98
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Speechwriting Office
Antony Blinken
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2006-0459-F
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Box 36
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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