Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
323154850
label
West Point Commencement, West Point, NY 6/1/91 [OA 8130]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
323154850
contentType
document
title
West Point Commencement, West Point, NY 6/1/91 [OA 8130]
citationUrl
identifierLocal
13889-041
collections
Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Curt Smith Chronological Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
323154850
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
8cf6c8fa1e7acf20
ocrText
Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Smith, Curt, Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1992
OA/ID Number:
13889
Folder ID Number:
13889-041
Folder Title:
West Point Commencement, West Point, New York, 6/1/91
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
18
29
1
5
-
(Smith/Grossman)
May 16, 1991
Draft Two
WEST
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WEST POINT COMMENCEMENT
U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY
SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1991
General Vuono, General Palmer, ladies and gentlemen,
families and friends, and Cadets of the Class of 1991. // Thank
you for the privilege of being here. Barbara and I are delighted
to be at this metaphor of "duty, honor, country." // Today, I
feel as Douglas MacArthur did when he spoke of "coming home to
West Point. " I am proud to become an honorary member of the Long
Grey Line. //
((First, what a sight to see such an outstanding military
audience. / You weren't expecting Bob Hope, were you? / Second,
let me say it was good of you to invite a Navy man to speak at
West Point. I didn't want to press my luck, so I left the goat
outside. )) //
((Actually, I'm lucky to be here. I almost didn't pass
Sammy this morning. 11 And having arrived, I promise to be
brief. After all, you've endured four tough and gruelling years
-- and now comes the hard part. // Sitting through a
Commencement Address. )) //
I speak to you today as an American who knows how the walls
of oppression are tumbling down because of what our armed forces
have done to keep America's defenses up. // And as a veteran who
knows that -- like the memorial at Pearl Harbor. Or the Air
2
Force Academy, its silhouette reaching toward the sky -- this
hallowed ground reflects our deepest values, and our principles
as a people. / /
Look around you here -- at the four statues in the mess hall
/ the five Stone Warriors / the sites that housed Lee and
Pershing and beloved Ike and Schwarztkopf. // Its lessons live
as oral history -- passed from one generation to another. They
recall that ours would not be the land of the free if it were not
also the home of the brave. //
anywers
(Returning to West Point reminds me that no one should be
cut?
shocked at the ferocity of our fighting ability in any conflict.
// All they have to do is observe what we do to each other every
year in the Army-Navy Game. )) // It also reminds us of what
Woodrow Wilson meant when he said, "The American Revolution is
always a beginning, never a consummation." And de Tocqueville:
"The principle instrument of the United States is freedom." West
Point is a symbol of the essence of America: What I call the
American Character. //
The American Character allowed us to brave independence and
To
found the colonies and then push back the wilderness / then
preserve the Republic so that, united, we stood. A later
generation helped open the West's giant, sprawling checkerboard.
was
Another pulled us out of the Depression -- though remember:
above
!
Carl
We were poor in material goods, we never ragged in spirit //
Still another generation showed how the Iron Curtain was no match
for iron will and resolve. //
3
Today, I wish to talk of the American Character -- and how
it makes ours -- I say this with no apology -- the greatest
Nation in the history of the world. // Many Nations are special.
America is singular. Giving greatly of itself. Asking little of
others. Owing no allegiance to kings or queens, or despots or
dictators -- but rather, to a set of ideals. //
The first ideal is the self-reliance that has made
leadership not only America's duty but America's destiny. //
Some believe government exists to make decisions for people. We
believe government exists to help people make decisions for
themselves. // This has led, inexorably, to a second part of the
American Character. The creativity as old as 1776. // To this
day, the only footprints on the moon are American footprints. /
The only flag on the moon is the stars and stripes. // The know-
how that put it there is America's domain. // America will
always move dreams from the drawing-boards of today to the
launching pads of tomorrow. //
Togm
Two centuries ago, a French author referred to this when he
said, "Americans are the Western pilgrims, who are carrying along
with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry
which began long since in the East; they will finish the great
circle. " // Who is surprised that the Western pilgrims have made
ours what has been called the American Century. To which I say:
Why stop now? One good century deserves another. //
We come next to a third ideal I wish to speak about -- the
foundation of our strength -- belief in family. // [[You know,
4
I've been lucky -- a wonderful wife and five great kids. And
having helped put them through college, I remember receiving
letters from them, and there would always be a "P.S." at the
bottom. It was those three little words that say so much about
need Family. senns
the special bond between parents at home and kids away at school.
"Please send money. " ]] //
Like family, a fourth ideal of the American Character is a
priceless bequest. // The patriotism which has proven time and
again, from the Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf, that
hardship and adversity cannot equal courage and a cause. //
Americans know the stars and stripes are are a living testament
to the living and the dead. So it is emblazened everywhere from
our inner selves to outer space. // With new paths to explore
and new horizons to seek, we must take Old Glory into the New
World Order. Which is why I say to Congress: Let us pass a
Constitutional Amendment making it illegal to desecrate the
greatest symbol of the United States of America. //
The flag -- and all it embodies -- has led to the fifth
ideal of the American character -- the freedom that is the
heartbeat pumping life into the American Dream. // Might I add:
That beat is daily, not irregular. // We know that 1776 is not
just a date that resides in American history books, but a spirit
that lives in American hearts. Which brings me to the final
three ideals I want to discuss. Belief in God. Belief in
service. Finally, belief in the justice and equality that is the
true grandeur of America. //
5
Here is a simple fact. According to polling data, America
is the most religious nation on earth. While no country can
claim a special place in God's soul, we are better as a people
because he has a hallowed place in ours. // In a recent survey,
more Americans -- 40 per cent -- named faith in God as the most
important part of their lives. Only 2 per cent chose a job that
pays well. // Just as faith can move mountains, America has
mountains of faith. That is why: I support a little girl,
Monette Rethford, 11, of Omaha, Nebraska. She has gone to court
to protect her simple right to talk about the Bible at school
with a friend during recess. / Why I also support the
Providence, Rhode Island School Board, which is trying to protect
its right to have God mentioned during High School invocations.
// And why, today, I again call on Congress to support a
Constitutional Amendment to restore voluntary prayer to our
Nation's schools. / /
off
The seventh ideal central to this country springs directly
Bangluderb
from the tenets of our Judeo-Christian culture. The generosity
that from the Marshal Plan to disaster relief, has caused America
to aid Nations in need. We do it not because we have to but
because we want to -- not because it's the expedient way but
because it's the American way. The story of the Good Samaritan
is more than just an object lesson. It's part of the American
character. //
I have often said the definition of a successful life must
include serving others. Think of Bastogne and Bunker Hill, where
6
we upheld democracy. Or the Peace Corps and Power Through
People, where freedom waved a flag emblazened, "Service to
Nation, and to neighbor. " / Remember Clara Barton and the Red
Cross, or Mary McLeod Bethune, who made higher learning a
bequest. For 200 years, we Americans have lent a hand, tended
wounds, and helped the less fortunate. //
Today, more than ever, we must build on these beginnings.
Measuring life not by what's in our bank account -- but by
holding ourselves to account for the well-being of our community.
I speak of the last and perhaps most vital ideal of the American
Character -- the belief in justice and equality. Aiding those
for whom the American Dream seems an Impossible Dream. //
An ancient Jewish proverb reminds us, "Before the Eternal
One, the highest of men and the lowest of men are equal." And it
was Martin Luther King who said: "Injustice anywhere is a danger
to justice everywhere. " // We must end the discrimination
whether on the basis of race, national origin, sex, religion, or
disability that is worse than wrong. It is a fundamental evil
that tears at the fabric of our society, and one that all
Americans must oppose. Only by combating the Four Horsemen of
the American Night -- poverty and infirmity, hatred and fear --
can we make ours the "We" -- not "Me" -- Generation. Only then
we ensure something better than affirmative action.
[I
call
it
??
affirmative lives
//
Throughout my public life, I have believed that the rights
of none are secure unless the rights of all are respected -- and
7
how the American Dream cannot be a white, or suburban, or upper-
class domain. I have talked of how no person can be free while
another is not -- and how a strong and stable economy is the
surest guarantee of social justice. // Our goal is opportunity -
- the opportunity that feeds America's body so that America can
throw wide her heart. / Some say government can redistribute
opportunity. They are wrong. Government is finite. Opportunity
must be infinite. / What we need is to make the American Dream
brighter, the American Pie larger, the American Tomorrow more
secure. //
of course, there are those who disagree with this
philosophy. They believe in an America of, by, and for the
government. They would pit one group against other -- fracturing
America into divisive special interests. // They would deny
equal rights to all Americans --- ensuring preferential treatment
for some. And substitute the crutch of dependency for the ladder
of individual pride. I respect such views. I also totally
reject them. //
Let us remember how the Civil Rights movement began. It
began as a challenge -- that all citizens cooperate as members of
the human race, not compete as members of one race against
another. It invoked the dream that "one day children will not be
judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their
character." It asserted the inviolability of absolute rights. //
Now, let us look at today. Too often, civil rights has
become a Rubik's Cube of clashing entitlements. Too often, race-
8
exempt judgments have yielded to decisions based entirely on
race. // That was true for the parents of Marv Nevels, a Kansas
City youngster ready for kindergarten. Across the street from
his family was a superb "magnet school" with ample space --
ample, that is, except for blacks. // A rigid quota system
mandated spaces for three blacks for every two whites enrolled.
Lacking enough whites, 12 seats went empty -- even with a waiting
list of 86 black children -- and Mark was bused past his
neighborhood school. Why? The pigment of his skin. //
Here's another child, Demond Crawford of , victimized by
someone else's definition of racial equality. When Demond was
having trouble in school, his mother tried to have him tested.
She was told: Your son may not take the I.Q. test bevause he is
black -- if you reclassify him under another race, on the other
hand, we will test him. The real test, it seems, is how to
manipulate a child's heritage to fit the forms of social
engineers. // I cannot think of more uncivil rights. Instead of
a color-blind society, they create one blind to justice.
That is why our Administration has begun initiatives to
expand opportunity -- not redistribute rights. For instance,
educational choice -- parents sending their kids to the school of
their choice, not the choice of the educationlalestablishment.
Tenant management and homeownership for the poor. // I think,
too, of enterprise zones. Tough anti-crime legislation --
because no American is free if imprisoned by fear of crime. And
community opportunity areas -- shifting the power from the heavy
9
hand of the state to the hands that run the home and raise the
family. //
Expanded opportunity will also demand passage of our 1991
Civil Rights Bill -- and, here, too, I urge Congress to get on
with the job. // This legislation will help erase consideration
of factors such as race and sex from employment practices. /
Second, reflect fundamental principles of fairness that apply
m
throughout the legal syste.
Third, it will ensure that
Congress lives by the same rules it prescribes for others -It's
ending fourd Congressional exemption from Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. / And fourth, unlike opposing bills, ours does not
force employers to make the thankless choice between using quotas
and facing costly and risky litigation. Rather, it will ensure
equal opportunity and equal protection under the law.
Our civil rights bill reflects profound beliefs. I believe
in regarding Americans as Americans -- not as warring interest
groups. / I believe that all Americans are equal and should be
treated equally. / I believe in a color-blind society -- not one
blind to justice. I believe that that we are not white, black,
brown, yellow. We are Americans -- and moreover, children of the
same humane and loving God. //
Already, these beliefs have become reality at West Point, in
the Army, and in the Armed Forces of America. Look to your left
or right; to the buddy in front of you; to your classmate to the
rear. // They do not think of themselves as tokens of a
community. They are individuals -- talented, and enterprising.
10
They know how Teddy Roosevelt once said, "Whoever thinks of
himself more to the left of the hyphen than to the right of
American is not a real American. " // They -- you -- have made
the Army a better place -- because of what they are, and what
they dream. // You show how the Army has become the greatest
equal opportunity employer -- a meritocracy, where what counts is
the human heart and will, not sex or creed or color.
18-20 years ago, the All-Volunteer Army was formed. Since
then, recruiting standards have spiraled. Since then, also, the
number of black and Hispanic members of the Armed Forces have
soared from less than one in and , respectively, to today's
-
and For instance: The share of the army officers corps
-
who were black has nearly The proportion of Hispanic
generals rose per cent. Some say this shows something wrong
?? about America. I say it shows everything right about America. //
In your class today are the one thousandth black and one
The hestory of
thousandth female graduates in this great institution. The Army
does not recruit minorities. It recruits soldiers -- the finest
sons and daughters any Nation could ever have. //
For evidence, look in closing to the sands and seas of the
Persian Gulf -- where what mattered was not race, or religion,
but that our armed forces fought for what was right and good. //
Think of General Colen Powell. He has been called a role model,
an inspiration, an example of the Army as equalizer and uplifter.
What do I call him? A hero. // Think of other heroes like such
graduates of West Point as Norman Schwartzkopf, and General Fred
11
Franks, who led the U.S. VII Corps in the remarkable flanking
maneuver which made the 100-hour war an historic war. And of the
thousands of West Point graduates who served in Desert Storm. //
Think, finally, of the man sitting here on my right --
General Carl E. Vuono, your chief of staff. In closing, let me
say about a word about him -- for just as you are beginning your
careers of service to America, he is drawing to the end of his.
On a June morning in 1957 -- a morning just like this one -
- Carl Vuono took the oath of office as a second lieutenant of
Field Artillery. For the next 34 years -- in peace and war -- he
labored to build the army of Just Cause and Desert Storm -- the
First
finest our Nation has ever had and the best in the world today.
// His legacy is etched in the Arabian Peninsula, in Panama, and
in camps, posts, and installations wherever Americans have done -
- and do -- the hard work of freedom. //
When America called upon its Army to right a wrong done to
another country far from our shores, our soldiers responded with
courage and commitment. Deploying from the United States and
Eruope and supported by our magnificent Navy, Air Force, Marine
Corps, and Coast Guard, and by the forces of many Nations, our
Army stopped aggression / defended Saudi Arabia / and then,
fighting
outnumbered
demolished the fourth-largest Army in the
world. //
What a magnificent chapter in the novel called America.
What a silhouette for how -- like Patton and Powell and Stormin'
Norman -- America's Armed Forces embody the American Character.
12
// As we saw in the Gulf, a self-reliant nation is a creative
nation. A creative nation reveres a sense of family -- and knows
how patriotism and freedom can aid the dignity of the individual.
That dignity, in turn, requires faith in God / the service of
brotherhood / and justice and equality. / Thus, the ideals that
form America's heirloom of the heart. //
I began with words from Douglas MacArthur. Let me close
with how, speaking to us over the decades, he said: "The soldier
above all prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the
deepest wounds and scars of war. " Thanks to you, the peace has
been secured. Now, let us keep it -- preserve it -- for all the
peoples of the world.
This is your sacred task, and your duty to the Nation.
Thank you -- I know you will fulfill it -- and God bless the
United States of America.
#
#
#
#
12
I began with words from Douglas MacArthur. Let me close
with how, speaking to us over the decades, he said: "The soldier
above all prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the
deepest wounds and scars of war. " Thanks to you, the peace has
been secured. Now, let us keep it / preserve it / for all the
peoples of the world. //
This is your sacred task, and your duty to the Nation.
Thank you / I know you will fulfill it / and God bless the United
States of America.
#
#
#
#
(Smith/Grossman)
May 28, 1991
Draft Five
WEST
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WEST POINT COMMENCEMENT
U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY
SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1991
10 A.M.
Thank you, General Palmer, for that introduction. General
Vuono, ladies and gentlemen, families, friends, and Cadets of the
Class of 1991. // It is an honor to be here at this symbol of
"duty, honor, country" -- and to know what Douglas MacArthur
meant when he spoke of "coming home to West Point. " Barbara and
I are proud to be honorary members of the Long Grey Line. //
( (What a sight to see such an outstanding military audience.
/ Now I know how Bob Hope feels. / Also, let me say it was good
of you to invite a Navy man to speak at West Point. I didn't
want to press my luck, so I left the goat outside. )) //
((Returning to West Point reminds me that no one should be
shocked at the fierceness of our fighting ability in any
conflict. // All they have to do is observe what we do to each
other every year in the Army-Navy Game. )) //
We meet this morning not as members of opposing teams -- but
as one people called Americans. / Americans who know that --
like the memorial at Pearl Harbor, or the Air Force Academy, its
silhouette reaching toward the sky -- this ground at West Point
reflects our deepest values, and our principles as a country. //
Look around you here -- at the four statues in the mess hall
/ the five Stone Warriors / the buildings that housed Lee and Ike
2
and Pershing. / Their lessons live as oral history -- passed from
one generation to another. // They teach us what Woodrow Wilson
knew: "The American Revolution is a beginning
never a
consummation." Militarily and culturally / morally and
spiritually / West Point has always been a metaphor for the
American Character. //
The American Character allowed us to brave independence /
found the colonies and push back the wilderness / then preserve
the Republic so that, united, we stood. / One generation forged
the opening of the West. / Another ended the Depression --
because while poor in material goods, we were never ragged in
spirit. // Still a later generation showed how the Iron Curtain
was no match for America's iron courage. //
Today, I wish to talk of this American Character -- and how
it makes ours -- I say this without apology -- the greatest
Nation in the history of the world. // Many countries are
special. America is singular. Giving always of itself. Asking
little of others. Owing no allegiance to kings or queens, or
despots or dictators -- but rather, to a set of ideals. //
The first ideal is the self-reliance that moves America from
the drawing boards of today to the launching pads of tomorrow. //
This has led, inexorably, to a second ideal -- the creativity as
old as Eli Whitney and Robert Fulton. // The American Character
is also patriotic -- proving time and again, from the
Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf, that hardship and
adversity cannot outlast commitment and a just cause. // The
3
result: A devotion to freedom that is the heartbeat of the Idea
called America. // ( (Might I add: That beat is regular, not
arythmic. )) //
Next, the American Character is religious. We know, as
Lincoln said: "The question is not whether God is on our side -
- but whether we are on God's side. " // It is also generous --
causing America to aid the troubled and dispossessed . / Think
of Operation Provide Comfort for the Kurds in Iraq -- where
freedom's flag reads, "Service to Nation, and to neighbor. " / Or
how here at home, many servicemen and women returning from
Operation Desert Shield and Desert Home have become points of
light. / Talking with students about staying in school //
working hard // and turning off drugs. Their example -- which I
urge to follow -- shows how for 200 years, we Americans have lent
a hand, tended wounds, and helped the less fortunate. //
More than ever, we must now build on these foundations.
Measuring life not by what's in our bank account -- but by
holding ourselves to account for the welfare of our community.
// I mean perhaps the most crucial part of the American
Character. The belief in justice and equality that can help
those for whom the American Dream seems an Impossible Dream. //
I have come here today to talk of making that dream reality.
As at West Point, you already have. As in America, we surely
must. 11 I speak of a meritocracy, where what counts is the
human heart and will -- not creed or color or origin. // Look at
your left or right. What do you see there? People divided by
4
race? Or your friends and buddies? // Easy. You see your
friends. Members of a military that has shown what amazing
things Americans can do when they see themselves not as tokens of
a community. But as Americans have always seen themselves. As
individuals -- talented and enterprising -- judged by what we
are, and what we dream. //
More than three decades ago, the Civil Rights movement was
founded on this very ideal. It began as a challenge -- that all
citizens cooperate as members of the human race, not compete as
members of one race against another. // It invoked the dream
that "one day our children will be judged not by the color of
their skin, but by the content of their character. "
In the Army -- as here at West Point -- that "one day" is
now. // Recall what has happened since the birth of the All-
Volunteer Army. Entrance standards have risen. So has the
number of minority members in the Army -- soaring from less than
175,000 to nearly 275,000. // The percentage of minority
enlisted personnel has nearly doubled. / The number of minority
officers has almost tripled. // In your class are the one
thousandth black and one thousandth female graduates of this
great institution. The Army does not recruit minorities. It
recruits soldiers -- the finest sons and daughters any Nation
could ever have. //
America's task is to achieve what we celebrate today at West
Point. We must think of ourselves not as white, black, brown,
yellow -- but as Americans. / We must honor a humane and loving
5
God through the very lives we lead. / Above all, we must condemn
the racial suspicion which threatens our national well-being as
much as violence / or drugs / or poverty. Indeed, it may be more
venal -- for it hides in the recesses of the human soul --
unbidden and unseen --- until some occasion triggers it. / We all
have seen images of rage exploding on our streets. Cars burned /
people maimed / stores destroyed by vandals. / Too often, these
tragedies occur because one person took offense at the color of
another's skin.
Racial suspicion inspires stranger to hate stranger -- for
no reason other than their pigment -- setting people of all
colors into mindless conflict. // It is a crisis imperiling
America -- and demands an answer worthy of America. To find that
answer, we need only heed voices that reflect the true greatness
of America. //
Thirty years ago, Martin Luther King observed, "Injustice
anywhere is a danger to justice everywhere." // He knew that we
must end the discrimination -- whether on the basis of race,
national origin, sex, religion, or disability -- that tears the
fabric of our society. / Black and white, the great civil rights
leaders of the 1950s and '60s realized that only opportunity
could feed America's body so that America could throw wide her
heart. // They knew, too, that government could only enhance --
not redistribute -- opportunity. Government is finite.
Opportunity must be infinite. //
6
Today, ignoring history, some talk not of opportunity but of
redistributing rights. They would pit one group against other -
- fracturing America. Instead of equal rights for all Americans,
they would ensure preferential treatment for some. / I respect
these views. I also reject them. For what they demand -- often
explicitly, more often implicitly -- is the use of quotas.
Quotas which divide people who ought to -- and usually want to -
- work together for racial harmony. //
Take the story of Marv Nevels, a Kansas City youngster ready
for kindergarten. Across the street from his family was a superb
"magnet school" with ample space -- ample, that is, except for
blacks. // Mark was victimized by a rigid quota system mandating
spaces for three blacks for every two whites enrolled. Lacking
enough whites, 12 seats went empty -- even with a waiting list of
86 black children -- and Mark was bused past his neighborhood
school. Why? Because he was black. //
Quotas divide, not unite. In that spirit, last year I
vetoed a so-called civil rights measure that would have created
powerful incentives for employers to adopt quotas in order to
avoid litigation. This bill would have encouraged anyone to
"sue-first, ask questions later." Instead of ignoring race --
upholding the American Character -- it focused almost entirely on
race -- demeaning the American Character. // So do other things
which make suspicion their bequest. / Things like dismissing
college test scores as unfair and somehow racist. Or the
practice known as "race-norming" -- which considers minorities so
7
inferior that their tests must be scored separately from whites.
Race-norming is, in fact, race-baiting. By patronizing and
insulting minorities, it drives Americans apart instead of
bringing them together. // We need another way to achieve
justice and equality. A more unifying, moral, and noble way. //
Let me suggest it -- and how our way can spur people to trust --
not hate -- each other. Using human nature as a lever -- not a
club. //
I learned long ago that if you want something done, give
someone a reason for doing it. Don't put them on the defensive.
Don't brow-beat them. Appeal to their better selves. // As I
see it, this is the concept behind Affirmative Action. / To
some, Affirmative Action should be a slave to mindless numerical
percentages. To me, it is a way to provide opportunity for
individuals based on merit. / Some think Affirmative Action
should involve a Rubik's Cube of entitlements. I believe it is a
device to help nurture affirmative lives. // So our
Administration has fostered educational choice -- parents sending
their kids to the school of their choice, not the choice of the
educational establishment. / And we have begun other programs
that reinforce a good education. For example: Our Project HOPE
Initiative -- tenant management and homeownership for the poor. /
Enterprise zones. Tough anti-crime legislation -- because no
American is free if imprisoned by fear of crime. And community
opportunity areas -- shifting the power from the heavy hand of
the state to the hands that run the home and raise the family. //
8
These policies will ensure equal opportunity. They do not -
- cannot -- impose equal success. // To preach such fantasy
invites self-destruction through disunity. Instead, today I urge
passage of legislation which will spur justice through unity.
Our Administration's 1991 Civil Rights Bill will, first, forbid
consideration of factors such as race and sex in employment
practices. / Second, it reflects fundamental principles of
fairness that apply throughout the legal system. / Third, it
will ensure that Congress lives by the same rules it prescribes
for others -- ending Congressional exemption from Title VII of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. / Fourth, unlike opposing bills,
ours does not force employers to make a thankless choice between
using quotas and facing costly and risky litigation. Rather, it
will ensure equal opportunity and equal protection under the law.
I have spoken today of how to substitute the ladder of pride
for the crutch of dependency. Believing that the rights of none
are secure unless the rights of all are respected -- and that all
Americans are equal and should be treated equally. // This
belief reflects the heart and soul of America -- for it is
inclusive, not exclusive. It involves cooperation, not
litigation / the extended hand, not the iron fist / the
knowledge, above all, that our fate is not divisible. // Here at
West Point, you've shown the essence of the American Character -
- opportunity based on merit. Now, let us build a "We" -- not
"Me" -- Generation -- by carrying the ideals of this school to
the Nation and the world. //
9
Like Colin Powell and Norman Schwartzkopf and the Class of
1991, Douglas MacArthur embodied those ideals. I began with words
of his. Let me close with how, speaking to us over the decades,
he said: "The soldier above all prays for peace, for he must
suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. " // Our
magnificent military has helped secure the peace abroad. Now,
let us heal the wounds and scars at home -- and help the extended
hand spur harmony and brotherhood, not faction and suspicion.
Our goal is the true grandeur of America -- the dignity of
the individual. // So let us honor it -- foster it -- as
America's heirloom of the heart. // Thank you, and God bless
this sacred land -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#