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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S; 2004-0839-F
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:
Speech File Draft Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13494
Folder ID Number:
13494-013
Folder Title:
Poland Parliament 7/10/89 [2]
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
25
6
3
7
(Lange/Wallace)
July 7, 1989
4:30 p.m.
[POLAND.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
POLAND'S JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
THE SEJM
JULY 10, 1989
2:30 P.M.
Chairman Jaruzelski, Marshals
and
/
Prime Minister Rakowski, Senators, and Delegates.
On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I
am honored to greet the newly-elected representatives of the
Polish Parliament. To be here with you on this occasion is proof
that we live in extraordinary, indeed thrilling times.
The power and potential of this moment is made most clear to
me, when I see General Jaruzelski and Solidarity Leader Lech
Walesa sitting shoulder-to-shoulder --- committed to new progress
in Poland.
Poland and the United States are bound, it is often said, by
ties of kinship and culture. But our peoples are linked by more
than sentiment.
The May 3 Constitution of 1791 set Poland ahead of her peers
-- and ahead of her time -- in the pursuit of freedom and
democratic ideas, just as the American Constitution of March 4,
1789 set new standards for protection of the rights of the
individual.
For decades, beginning with President Wilson's Fourteen
Points, the United States has stood for Polish independence,
freedom, and prosperity. We are proud of our early and
2
longstanding commitment to Polish self-determination. As
America's President, I am here today to reaffirm that profound
commitment.
I understand something of the work you are commencing, for I
began my public service in the American Congress. Democratically
chosen legislatures are among mankind's greatest forums for
debate and dialogue. And while I have been to Poland before, I
did not expect to return so soon -- nor in such altered
circumstances in your country. So too, perhaps, many of you did
not expect to be here -- serving in this, or in any Polish
parliament. Your achievement has surpassed all expectations.
Our meeting today bears witness to the character of our age.
Some four hundred and fifty years ago, when the Polish
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to understand the natural
order of the planets -- and had the courage to question accepted
wisdom -- the world was changed forever. From this year forward,
as Poland works to reaffirm the natural order of man and
government, so too will Poland be changed forever.
For Poland today is undergoing the political and economic
equivalent of a Copernican revolution. A fundamental change in
perspective, that places the people at the center. A new
understanding, that the governed are the true source of lasting
social peace and economic prosperity -- around which government
revolves, and exists to serve.
Poland has a rich democratic heritage. The May 3rd
Constitution of 1791 was a stroke of constitutional genius.
3
Today, at the dawn of that document's third century, you are
called upon to match its genius with contemporary action. To
make a peaceful transition toward political and economic renewal
-- toward representative government that expresses the will of
the people.
I said a few weeks ago here in Europe that East and West
have arrived at the end of one era, and at the beginning of
another. Chairman Jaruzelski recently said of Poland that "the
life of the nation has undergone deep changes
the tired
society has the full right to ask when a ray of sun will shine
over Poland." In fact, this applies not just to Poland, but to
the entirety of relations between East and West.
A profound cycle of turmoil and great change is sweeping the
world from Poland to the Pacific. It is sometimes inspiring, as
here, in Warsaw. Sometimes it is agonizing, as in China today.
But the magnitude of change we sense around the world compels us
to look within ourselves -- and to God -- to forge a rare alloy
of courage and restraint.
The future beckons with both hope and uncertainty. Poland
and Hungary find themselves at a crossroads. Each has started
down its own road to reform, without guarantee of easy success.
The people of these nations -- and the courage of their leaders
-- command our admiration. The way is hard. But the moment is
right, both internally and internationally, for Poland to walk
its own path.
4
On the day Solidarity was restored, I spoke of my support
and admiration for the political experiment just getting underway
in Poland. You have since proceeded further along that road --
including holding the remarkable elections that produced this
Parliament. Let us consider what your experiment may mean, not
just for Poland, but for Europe and the world.
The divided world of the modern age began here, in Poland,
fifty years ago this summer. Your country -- and then nearly all
of Europe -- was first besieged and then occupied by
totalitarian, despotic forces. Poland was our ally. In that
fearful time, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill devised
the Atlantic Charter, which outlined principles on which we hoped
to build a better world: the right of peoples to choose the form
of government under which they will live; freedom from want; the
right to peace within secure borders; and a shared dedication to
economic growth, security, and disarmament.
But as you know better than anyone, the world we sought then
was not to be. Stalinist systems were imposed over a third of a
continent. The Cold War began. The countries of the West
organized themselves in defense of democratic principles. We
proposed that the Marshall Plan include Eastern Europe. But it
was not to be.
The Western strategy of containment was a means, but was
never an end in itself. It was no substitute for a free and
united Europe. We did not forget the frustrated and lost hopes
of 1945, nor the promise of a better world. Neither did the
5
Polish people. You have been a crucible of conflict. You are
now becoming a vessel for change -- and tyranny's victim no
longer. Poland is where the Cold War began -- and now the people
of Poland can help bring the Cold War to an end. The time has
come -- God willing -- to move beyond containment to the better
world too long deferred.
Now, at long last, two developments have allowed us to
redeem the principles of the Atlantic Charter for which the
United States and Poland fought as allies. One is the manifest
failure of the classic Stalinist system. The other is the
emergence of leaders in in Poland and Hungary who are working to
overcome the mistakes of the past with honesty, creativity, and
courage. The world watches, in awe and admiration.
Now -- in part because of what you are doing here -- the
genuine opportunity exists for us to build a Europe which many
thought was destroyed forever in the 1940s. That Europe -- the
Europe of our children -- will be open, whole, and free once
again.
We can make it so in two ways.
First, a new East-West relationship must rest on greatly
reduced levels of arms. We in the West have proposed dramatic
reductions in conventional armed forces in Europe. The new
willingness in Moscow to accept this Western framework for
reductions in troops, tanks, and other categories of weapons
gives us hope that the negotiations in Vienna will succeed. A
good beginning has been made. Constructive proposals are being
6
offered on both sides. We must continue to push hard for an
early and successful conclusion to these talks.
Second, reductions in military forces will go further and be
more sustainable if they take place in parallel with political
change. Excessive levels of arms, we believe, are the symptom
and not the source of political tensions. In Europe, those
tensions spring from an unnatural and cruel division.
Poland's decision to embrace political reform -- and
Hungary's movements in the same direction -- thus have great
importance beyond their borders. By creating political
structures legitimized by popular will, your reforms can be the
foundation of stability, security, and prosperity -- not just in
your country, but in all of Europe, now and into the next
century.
Mikhail Gorbachev has written, "universal security rests on
the recognition of the right of every nation to choose its own
path of social development and on the renunciation of
interference in the domestic affairs of other states. A nation
may choose either capitalism or socialism. This is its sovereign
right." In principle, I agree. But I might well have said that
the people of a nation may freely choose either capitalism or
socialism. That is their right.
And so the West works not to disrupt, not to interfere, not
to threaten any nation's security, but to help forge closer and
enduring ties between Poland and the rest of Europe.
7
As a result of the Roundtable Accords, Poland's fate lies
more than ever in Polish hands. And no outside force must ever
again intervene to stop Polish hands from doing Poland's work.
Your responsibility for your country's fate is immense.
Poland's friends, including the American people, want Poland to
be free, prosperous, democratic, and independent -- true to the
best traditions of your nation's past. But we cannot realize
these goals for you.
General Jaruzelski for his part is doing statesmanlike work,
moving forward with a sense of realism and courage, in a time of
great difficulty. Lech Walesa and Solidarity are deeply
committed to institutions in Poland that will serve all its
people. This Parliament, by its very existence, is advancing
pluralism, and moving toward democracy. And the Church has
served as a source of spiritual guidance and unity in turbulent
times.
Yet, even under the best circumstances, democracy has its
own challenges. It requires patience, tolerance, and give-and-
take between political opponents. But its virtue is that it
grants legitimacy to leaders and their policies. It gives
governments and societies a mandate to make hard choices. You
and I know that hard choices and austerity lie ahead for Poland.
My country understands this.
For over two hundred years, Americans have wrestled over
political and economic interests, over individual and civil
8
rights, and the role of a loyal opposition. Democracy is not a
conclusion, it is a process -- and perfecting it never ends. But
history has taught Americans one very clear lesson: democracy
works.
We understand in my country the enormous economic problems
you face. Economic privation is a danger that threatens this
great democratic experiment. I must speak honestly: economic
reform and recovery cannot occur without sacrifices. Even in an
economy as productive as ours, we still debate the role and
limits of government: How to regulate the private sector without
discouraging innovation. How to reduce our own budget deficit.
How to balance union rights and industrial efficiency. How to
handle the painful disruptions of change -- for the sake of
productivity, progress, and prosperity.
The reform of the Polish economy will be an historic
challenge. There can be no substitute for Poland's own efforts.
But I want to stress to you today that Poland is not alone.
Given the enormity of this moment, the United States stands ready
to help you as you help yourselves.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, three months ago, I outlined a
policy of support for the reforms then just beginning in Poland.
I proposed specific steps, carefully chosen to recognize the
reforms underway, and to encourage reforms yet to come. It is a
policy built on the dynamic interplay of progress in Poland, and
Western engagement -- and not on unsound credits made without
regard to necessary reforms. That was the record of the 1970s,
9
that Poland and the United States need not repeat. Our efforts
will be carefully targeted in support of an emerging new Poland.
We have made progress on the steps announced at Hamtramck.
This is where we stand:
-- Legislation is well underway that will help Polish exporters
compete more effectively in the U.S. market through our
generalized system of preferences; and that will authorize our
Overseas Private Investment Corporation to operate in Poland,
providing investment insurance and setting up missions to
stimulate U.S. investment and joint ventures here.
-- The United States is proposing a private business agreement
that will promote contacts between Poland's growing private
business sector and its American counterparts. We hope to
conclude an agreement soon.
There is great interest and excitement in the United States
about what you are doing in Poland. I hosted a White House
Symposium on July 6, to bring together citizens of my country
interested in investment, trade, and academic exchange with
Poland and Hungary. I can assure you that the American people
will be even more involved in your democratic experiment.
I have said that as Poland reforms itself, the U.S. will
respond. Much has happened even in the short time since
Hamtramck. So today, I'm pleased to announce that we plan to do
more -- and go farther -- for the sake of a stable and prosperous
Poland:
10
[[-- First, I will propose at the upcoming Economic Summit in
Paris that the nations of the Summit Seven form an International
Consortium for Poland and Hungary. We will work with our
partners at the Summit, to move quickly with increased Western
aid and technical assistance.
-- Second, I will ask the U.S. Congress to provide a $100
million fund to capitalize and invigorate the Polish private
sector -- and we will encourage parallel contributions from other
nations of the Economic Summit.
-- Third, I will ask the World Bank to move rapidly ahead with
$325 million in economically viable loans to help Polish
agriculture and industry reach the production levels they are so
clearly capable of. Another $500 million will be available as
your reform process moves along.
-- Fourth, I will ask my counterparts in the West to support an
early and generous rescheduling of Polish debt -- and will be
discussing this at the Paris Summit.
-- Fifth, economic progress should not come at the expense of
the environment. In fact, sound ecology and a strong economy can
and must coexist. So (environmental initiative) 1.
The elections which brought us together here today mean that
the path the Polish people have chosen is that of political
pluralism and economic rebirth. The road ahead is a long one.
But it is the only road which leads to prosperity and social
peace. Poland's progress along this road will show the way
11
toward a new era throughout Europe. The Western democracies will
stand with the Polish people, and other peoples of this region.
Two hundred years ago, Democratic constitutions were adopted
by three nations, embodying the powerful influence of the
enlightenment -- as a testament to ideas that endure.
The American Constitution was first, and has stood the test
of history for the over 200 years of our existence as a republic.
Constitutional democracy in France began two centuries ago this
summer. And in a few days, leaders from all over the world will
be in Paris to celebrate the anniversary of its birth.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish constitution will also be 200
years old. Your constitution of 1791 was cruelly crushed, but
never forgotten. Now, this generation's calling is to redeem the
promise of a free Polish republic. Poland has not been lost.
America wishes you well with all its heart. God in his
infinite wisdom and love is with us in this Chamber. May God
bless you and your efforts.
###
(Lange/Wallace)
July 7, 1989
4:30 p.m.
[POLAND.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
POLAND'S JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
THE SEJM
JULY 10, 1989
2:30 P.M.
Chairman Jaruzelski, Marshals
and
/
Prime Minister Rakowski, Senators, and Delegates.
On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I
am honored to greet the newly-elected representatives of the
Polish Parliament. To be here with you on this occasion is proof
that we live in extraordinary, indeed thrilling times.
The power and potential of this moment is made most clear to
me, when I see General Jaruzelski and Solidarity Leader Lech
Walesa sitting shoulder-to-shoulder -- committed to new progress
in Poland.
Poland and the United States are bound, it is often said, by
ties of kinship and culture. But our peoples are linked by more
than sentiment.
The May 3 Constitution of 1791 set Poland ahead of her peers
-- and ahead of her time -- in the pursuit of freedom and
democratic ideas, just as the American Constitution of March 4,
1789 set new standards for protection of the rights of the
individual.
For decades, beginning with President Wilson's Fourteen
Points, the United States has stood for Polish independence,
freedom, and prosperity. We are proud of our early and
2
longstanding commitment to Polish self-determination. As
America's President, I am here today to reaffirm that profound
commitment.
I understand something of the work you are commencing, for I
began my public service in the American Congress. Democratically
chosen legislatures are among mankind's greatest forums for
debate and dialogue. And while I have been to Poland before, I
did not expect to return so soon -- nor in such altered
circumstances in your country. So too, perhaps, many of you did
not expect to be here -- serving in this, or in any Polish
parliament. Your achievement has surpassed all expectations.
Our meeting today bears witness to the character of our age.
Some four hundred and fifty years ago, when the Polish
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to understand the natural
order of the planets -- and had the courage to question accepted
wisdom -- the world was changed forever. From this year forward,
as Poland works to reaffirm the natural order of man and
government, so too will Poland be changed forever.
For Poland today is undergoing the political and economic
equivalent of a Copernican revolution. A fundamental change in
perspective, that places the people at the center. A new
understanding, that the governed are the true source of lasting
social peace and economic prosperity -- around which government
revolves, and exists to serve.
Poland has a rich democratic heritage. The May 3rd
Constitution of 1791 was a stroke of constitutional genius.
3
Today, at the dawn of that document's third century, you are
called upon to match its genius with contemporary action. To
make a peaceful transition toward political and economic renewal
-- toward representative government that expresses the will of
the people.
I said a few weeks ago here in Europe that East and West
have arrived at the end of one era, and at the beginning of
another. Chairman Jaruzelski recently said of Poland that "the
life of the nation has undergone deep changes
the tired
society has the full right to ask when a ray of sun will shine
over Poland." In fact, this applies not just to Poland, but to
the entirety of relations between East and West.
A profound cycle of turmoil and great change is sweeping the
world from Poland to the Pacific. It is sometimes inspiring, as
here, in Warsaw. Sometimes it is agonizing, as in China today.
But the magnitude of change we sense around the world compels us
to look within ourselves -- and to God -- to forge a rare alloy
of courage and restraint.
The future beckons with both hope and uncertainty. Poland
and Hungary find themselves at a crossroads. Each has started
down its own road to reform, without guarantee of easy success.
The people of these nations -- and the courage of their leaders
-- command our admiration. The way is hard. But the moment is
right, both internally and internationally, for Poland to walk
its own path.
4
On the day Solidarity was restored, I spoke of my support
and admiration for the political experiment just getting underway
in Poland. You have since proceeded further along that road --
including holding the remarkable elections that produced this
Parliament. Let us consider what your experiment may mean, not
just for Poland, but for Europe and the world.
The divided world of the modern age began here, in Poland,
fifty years ago this summer. Your country -- and then nearly all
of Europe -- was first besieged and then occupied by
totalitarian, despotic forces. Poland was our ally. In that
fearful time, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill devised
the Atlantic Charter, which outlined principles on which we hoped
to build a better world: the right of peoples to choose the form
of government under which they will live; freedom from want; the
right to peace within secure borders; and a shared dedication to
economic growth, security, and disarmament.
But as you know better than anyone, the world we sought then
was not to be. Stalinist systems were imposed over a third of a
continent. The Cold War began. The countries of the West
organized themselves in defense of democratic principles. We
proposed that the Marshall Plan include Eastern Europe. But it
was not to be.
The Western strategy of containment was a means, but was
never an end in itself. It was no substitute for a free and
united Europe. We did not forget the frustrated and lost hopes
of 1945, nor the promise of a better world. Neither did the
5
Polish people. You have been a crucible of conflict. You are
now becoming a vessel for change -- and tyranny's victim no
longer. Poland is where the Cold War began -- and now the people
of Poland can help bring the Cold War to an end. The time has
come -- God willing -- to move beyond containment to the better
world too long deferred.
Now, at long last, two developments have allowed us to
redeem the principles of the Atlantic Charter for which the
United States and Poland fought as allies. One is the manifest
failure of the classic Stalinist system. The other is the
emergence of leaders in in Poland and Hungary who are working to
overcome the mistakes of the past with honesty, creativity, and
courage. The world watches, in awe and admiration.
Now -- in part because of what you are doing here -- the
genuine opportunity exists for us to build a Europe which many
thought was destroyed forever in the 1940s. That Europe -- the
Europe of our children -- will be open, whole, and free once
again.
We can make it so in two ways.
First, a new East-West relationship must rest on greatly
reduced levels of arms. We in the West have proposed dramatic
reductions in conventional armed forces in Europe. The new
willingness in Moscow to accept this Western framework for
reductions in troops, tanks, and other categories of weapons
gives us hope that the negotiations in Vienna will succeed. A
good beginning has been made. Constructive proposals are being
6
offered on both sides. We must continue to push hard for an
early and successful conclusion to these talks.
Second, reductions in military forces will go further and be
more sustainable if they take place in parallel with political
change. Excessive levels of arms, we believe, are the symptom
and not the source of political tensions. In Europe, those
tensions spring from an unnatural and cruel division.
Poland's decision to embrace political reform -- and
Hungary's movements in the same direction -- thus have great
importance beyond their borders. By creating political
structures legitimized by popular will, your reforms can be the
foundation of stability, security, and prosperity -- not just in
your country, but in all of Europe, now and into the next
century.
Mikhail Gorbachev has written, "universal security rests on
the recognition of the right of every nation to choose its own
path of social development and on the renunciation of
interference in the domestic affairs of other states. A nation
may choose either capitalism or socialism. This is its sovereign
right." In principle, I agree. But I might well have said that
the people of a nation may freely choose either capitalism or
socialism. That is their right.
And so the West works not to disrupt, not to interfere, not
to threaten any nation's security, but to help forge closer and
enduring ties between Poland and the rest of Europe.
7
As a result of the Roundtable Accords, Poland's fate lies
more than ever in Polish hands. And no outside force must ever
again intervene to stop Polish hands from doing Poland's work.
Your responsibility for your country's fate is immense.
Poland's friends, including the American people, want Poland to
be free, prosperous, democratic, and independent -- true to the
best traditions of your nation's past. But we cannot realize
these goals for you.
General Jaruzelski for his part is doing statesmanlike work,
moving forward with a sense of realism and courage, in a time of
great difficulty. Lech Walesa and Solidarity are deeply
committed to institutions in Poland that will serve all its
people. This Parliament, by its very existence, is advancing
pluralism, and moving toward democracy. And the Church has
served as a source of spiritual guidance and unity in turbulent
times.
Yet, even under the best circumstances, democracy has its
own challenges. It requires patience, tolerance, and give-and-
take between political opponents. But its virtue is that it
grants legitimacy to leaders and their policies. It gives
governments and societies a mandate to make hard choices. You
and I know that hard choices and austerity lie ahead for Poland.
My country understands this.
For over two hundred years, Americans have wrestled over
political and economic interests, over individual and civil
8
rights, and the role of a loyal opposition. Democracy is not a
conclusion, it is a process -- and perfecting it never ends. But
history has taught Americans one very clear lesson: democracy
works.
We understand in my country the enormous economic problems
you face. Economic privation is a danger that threatens this
great democratic experiment. I must speak honestly: economic
reform and recovery cannot occur without sacrifices. Even in an
economy as productive as ours, we still debate the role and
limits of government: How to regulate the private sector without
discouraging innovation. How to reduce our own budget deficit.
How to balance union rights and industrial efficiency. How to
handle the painful disruptions of change -- for the sake of
productivity, progress, and prosperity.
The reform of the Polish economy will be an historic
challenge. There can be no substitute for Poland's own efforts.
But I want to stress to you today that Poland is not alone.
Given the enormity of this moment, the United States stands ready
to help you as you help yourselves.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, three months ago, I outlined a
policy of support for the reforms then just beginning in Poland.
I proposed specific steps, carefully chosen to recognize the
reforms underway, and to encourage reforms yet to come. It is a
policy built on the dynamic interplay of progress in Poland, and
Western engagement -- and not on unsound credits made without
regard to necessary reforms. That was the record of the 1970s,
9
that Poland and the United States need not repeat. Our efforts
will be carefully targeted in support of an emerging new Poland.
We have made progress on the steps announced at Hamtramck.
This is where we stand:
-- Legislation is well underway that will help Polish exporters
compete more effectively in the U.S. market through our
generalized system of preferences; and that will authorize our
Overseas Private Investment Corporation to operate in Poland,
providing investment insurance and setting up missions to
stimulate U.S. investment and joint ventures here.
-- The United States is proposing a private business agreement
that will promote contacts between Poland's growing private
business sector and its American counterparts. We hope to
conclude an agreement soon.
-- There is great interest and excitement in the United States
about what you are doing in Poland. I hosted a White House
Symposium on July 6, to bring together citizens of my country
interested in investment, trade, and academic exchange with
Poland and Hungary. I can assure you that the American people
will be even more involved in your democratic experiment.
I have said that as Poland reforms itself, the U.S. will
respond. Much has happened even in the short time since
Hamtramck. So today, I'm pleased to announce that we plan to do
more -- and go farther -- for the sake of a stable and prosperous
Poland:
10
[[-- First, I will propose at the upcoming Economic Summit in
Paris that the nations of the Summit Seven form an International
Consortium for Poland and Hungary. We will work with our
partners at the Summit, to move quickly with increased Western
aid and technical assistance.
-- Second, I will ask the U.S. Congress to provide a $100
million fund to capitalize and invigorate the Polish private
sector -- and we will encourage parallel contributions from other
nations of the Economic Summit.
-- Third, I will ask the World Bank to move rapidly ahead with
$325 million in economically viable loans to help Polish
agriculture and industry reach the production levels they are so
clearly capable of. Another $500 million will be available as
your reform process moves along.
-- Fourth, I will ask my counterparts in the West to support an
early and generous rescheduling of Polish debt -- and will be
discussing this at the Paris Summit.
-- Fifth, economic progress should not come at the expense of
the environment. In fact, sound ecology and a strong economy can
and must coexist. So (environmental initiative) ].
The elections which brought us together here today mean that
the path the Polish people have chosen is that of political
pluralism and economic rebirth. The road ahead is a long one.
But it is the only road which leads to prosperity and social
peace. Poland's progress along this road will show the way
11
toward a new era throughout Europe. The Western democracies will
stand with the Polish people, and other peoples of this region.
Two hundred years ago, Democratic constitutions were adopted
by three nations, embodying the powerful influence of the
enlightenment -- as a testament to ideas that endure.
The American Constitution was first, and has stood the test
of history for the over 200 years of our existence as a republic.
Constitutional democracy in France began two centuries ago this
summer. And in a few days, leaders from all over the world will
be in Paris to celebrate the anniversary of its birth.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish constitution will also be 200
years old. Your constitution of 1791 was cruelly crushed, but
never forgotten. Now, this generation's calling is to redeem the
promise of a free Polish republic. Poland has not been lost.
America wishes you well with all its heart. God in his
infinite wisdom and love is with us in this Chamber. May God
bless you and your efforts.
# # #
(Lange/Wallace)
July 1989
4:30 p.m.
[POLAND.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
POLAND'S JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
THE SEJM
JULY 10, 1989
2:30 P.M.
Chairman Jaruzelski, Marshals
and
,
Prime Minister Rakowski, Senators, and Delegates.
On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I
am honored to greet the newly-elected representatives of the
Polish Parliament. To be here with you on this occasion is proof
that we live in extraordinary, indeed thrilling times.
The power and potential of this moment is made most clear to
me, when I see General Jaruzelski and Solidarity Leader Lech
Walesa sitting shoulder-to-shoulder -- committed to new progress
in Poland.
Poland and the United States are bound, it is often said, by
ties of kinship and culture. But our peoples are linked by more
than sentiment.
The May 3 Constitution of 1791 set Poland ahead of her peers
-- and ahead of her time -- in the pursuit of freedom and
democratic ideas, just as the American Constitution of March 4,
1789 set new standards for protection of the rights of the
individual.
For decades, beginning with President Wilson's Fourteen
Points, the United States has stood for Polish independence,
freedom, and prosperity. We are proud of our early and
2
longstanding commitment to Polish self-determination. As
America's President, I am here today to reaffirm that profound
commitment.
I understand something of the work you are commencing, for I
began my public service in the American Congress. Democratically
chosen legislatures are among mankind's greatest forums for
debate and dialogue. And while I have been to Poland before, I
did not expect to return so soon -- nor in such altered
circumstances in your country. So too, perhaps, many of you did
not expect to be here -- serving in this, or in any Polish
parliament. Your achievement has surpassed all expectations.
Our meeting today bears witness to the character of our age.
Some four hundred and fifty years ago, when the Polish
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to understand the natural
order of the planets -- and had the courage to question accepted
wisdom -- the world was changed forever. From this year forward,
as Poland works to reaffirm the natural order of man and
government, so too will Poland be changed forever.
For Poland today is undergoing the political and economic
equivalent of a Copernican revolution. A fundamental change in
perspective, that places the people at the center. A new
understanding, that the governed are the true source of lasting
social peace and economic prosperity -- around which government
revolves, and exists to serve.
Poland has a rich democratic heritage. The May 3rd
Constitution of 1791 was a stroke of constitutional genius.
3
Today, at the dawn of that document's third century, you are
called upon to match its genius with contemporary action. To
make a peaceful transition toward political and economic renewal
-- toward representative government that expresses the will of
the people.
I said a few weeks ago here in Europe that East and West
have arrived at the end of one era, and at the beginning of
another. Chairman Jaruzelski recently said of Poland that "the
life of the nation has undergone deep changes
the tired
society has the full right to ask when a ray of sun will shine
over Poland.' In fact, this applies not just to Poland, but to
the entirety of relations between East and West.
A profound cycle of turmoil and great change is sweeping the
world from Poland to the Pacific. It is sometimes inspiring, as
here, in Warsaw. Sometimes it is agonizing, as in China today.
But the magnitude of change we sense around the world compels us
to look within ourselves -- and to God -- to forge a rare alloy
of courage and restraint.
The future beckons with both hope and uncertainty. Poland
and Hungary find themselves at a crossroads. Each has started
down its own road to reform, without guarantee of easy success.
The people of these nations -- and the courage of their leaders
-- command our admiration. The way is hard. But the moment is
right, both internally and internationally, for Poland to walk
its own path.
4
On the day Solidarity was restored, I spoke of my support
and admiration for the political experiment just getting underway
in Poland. You have since proceeded further along that road --
including holding the remarkable elections that produced this
Parliament. Let us consider what your experiment may mean, not
just for Poland, but for Europe and the world.
The divided world of the modern age began here, in Poland,
fifty years ago this summer. Your country -- and then nearly all
of Europe -- was first besieged and then occupied by
totalitarian, despotic forces. Poland was our ally. In that
fearful time, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill devised
the Atlantic Charter, which outlined principles on which we hoped
to build a better world: the right of peoples to choose the form
of government under which they will live; freedom from want; the
right to peace within secure borders; and a shared dedication to
economic growth, security, and disarmament.
But as you know better than anyone, the world we sought then
was not to be. Stalinist systems were imposed over a third of a
continent. The Cold War began. The countries of the West
organized themselves in defense of democratic principles. We
proposed that the Marshall Plan include Eastern Europe. But it
was not to be.
The Western strategy of containment was a means, but was
never an end in itself. It was no substitute for a free and
united Europe. We did not forget the frustrated and lost hopes
of 1945, nor the promise of a better world. Neither did the
5
Polish people. You have been a crucible of conflict. You are
now becoming a vessel for change -- and tyranny's victim no
longer. Poland is where the Cold War began -- and now the people
of Poland can help bring the Cold War to an end. The time has
come -- God willing -- to move beyond containment to the better
world too long deferred.
Now, at long last, two developments have allowed us to
redeem the principles of the Atlantic Charter for which the
United States and Poland fought as allies. One is the manifest
failure of the classic Stalinist system. The other is the
emergence of leaders in in Poland and Hungary who are working to
overcome the mistakes of the past with honesty, creativity, and
courage. The world watches, in awe and admiration.
Now -- in part because of what you are doing here -- the
genuine opportunity exists for us to build a Europe which many
thought was destroyed forever in the 1940s. That Europe -- the
Europe of our children -- will be open, whole, and free once
again.
We can make it so in two ways.
First, a new East-West relationship must rest on greatly
reduced levels of arms. We in the West have proposed dramatic
reductions in conventional armed forces in Europe. The new
willingness in Moscow to accept this Western framework for
reductions in troops, tanks, and other categories of weapons
gives us hope that the negotiations in Vienna will succeed. A
good beginning has been made. Constructive proposals are being
6
offered on both sides. We must continue to push hard for an
early and successful conclusion to these talks.
Second, reductions in military forces will go further and be
more sustainable if they take place in parallel with political
change. Excessive levels of arms, we believe, are the symptom
and not the source of political tensions. In Europe, those
tensions spring from an unnatural and cruel division.
Poland's decision to embrace political reform -- and
Hungary's movements in the same direction -- thus have great
importance beyond their borders. By creating political
structures legitimized by popular will, your reforms can be the
foundation of stability, security, and prosperity -- not just in
your country, but in all of Europe, now and into the next
century.
Mikhail Gorbachev has written, "universal security rests on
the recognition of the right of every nation to choose its own
path of social development and on the renunciation of
interference in the domestic affairs of other states. A nation
may choose either capitalism or socialism. This is its sovereign
right." In principle, I agree. But I might well have said that
the people of a nation may freely choose either capitalism or
socialism. That is their right.
And so the West works not to disrupt, not to interfere, not
to threaten any nation's security, but to help forge closer and
enduring ties between Poland and the rest of Europe.
7
As a result of the Roundtable Accords, Poland's fate lies
more than ever in Polish hands. And no outside force must ever
again intervene to stop Polish hands from doing Poland's work.
Your responsibility for your country's fate is immense.
Poland's friends, including the American people, want Poland to
be free, prosperous, democratic, and independent -- true to the
best traditions of your nation's past. But we cannot realize
these goals for you.
General Jaruzelski for his part is doing statesmanlike work,
moving forward with a sense of realism and courage, in a time of
great difficulty. Lech Walesa and Solidarity are deeply
committed to institutions in Poland that will serve all its
people. This Parliament, by its very existence, is advancing
pluralism, and moving toward democracy. And the Church has
served as a source of spiritual guidance and unity in turbulent
times.
Yet, even under the best circumstances, democracy has its
own challenges. It requires patience, tolerance, and give-and-
take between political opponents. But its virtue is that it
grants legitimacy to leaders and their policies. It gives
governments and societies a mandate to make hard choices. You
and I know that hard choices and austerity lie ahead for Poland.
My country understands this.
For over two hundred years, Americans have wrestled over
political and economic interests, over individual and civil
8
rights, and the role of a loyal opposition. Democracy is not a
conclusion, it is a process -- and perfecting it never ends. But
history has taught Americans one very clear lesson: democracy
works.
We understand in my country the enormous economic problems
you face. Economic privation is a danger that threatens this
great democratic experiment. I must speak honestly: economic
reform and recovery cannot occur without sacrifices. Even in an
economy as productive as ours, we still debate the role and
limits of government: How to regulate the private sector without
discouraging innovation. How to reduce our own budget deficit.
How to balance union rights and industrial efficiency. How to
handle the painful disruptions of change -- for the sake of
productivity, progress, and prosperity.
The reform of the Polish economy will be an historic
challenge. There can be no substitute for Poland's own efforts.
But I want to stress to you today that Poland is not alone.
Given the enormity of this moment, the United States stands ready
to help you as you help yourselves.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, three months ago, I outlined a
policy of support for the reforms then just beginning in Poland.
I proposed specific steps, carefully chosen to recognize the
reforms underway, and to encourage reforms yet to come. It is a
policy built on the dynamic interplay of progress in Poland, and
Western engagement -- and not on unsound credits made without
regard to necessary reforms. That was the record of the 1970s,
9
that Poland and the United States need not repeat. Our efforts
will be carefully targeted in support of an emerging new Poland.
We have made progress on the steps announced at Hamtramck.
This is where we stand:
-- Legislation is well underway that will help Polish exporters
compete more effectively in the U.S. market through our
generalized system of preferences; and that will authorize our
Overseas Private Investment Corporation to operate in Poland,
providing investment insurance and setting up missions to
stimulate U.S. investment and joint ventures here.
-- The United States is proposing a private business agreement
that will promote contacts between Poland's growing private
business sector and its American counterparts. We hope to
conclude an agreement soon.
-- There is great interest and excitement in the United States
about what you are doing in Poland. I hosted a White House
Symposium on July 6, to bring together citizens of my country
interested in investment, trade, and academic exchange with
Poland and Hungary. I can assure you that the American people
will be even more involved in your democratic experiment.
I have said that as Poland reforms itself, the U.S. will
respond. Much has happened even in the short time since
Hamtramck. So today, I'm pleased to announce that we plan to do
more -- and go farther -- for the sake of a stable and prosperous
Poland:
10
[[-- First, I will propose at the upcoming Economic Summit in
Paris that the nations of the Summit Seven form an International
Consortium for Poland and Hungary. We will work with our
partners at the Summit, to move quickly with increased Western
aid and technical assistance.
-- Second, I will ask the U.S. Congress to provide a $100
million fund to capitalize and invigorate the Polish private
sector -- and we will encourage parallel contributions from other
nations of the Economic Summit.
-- Third, I will ask the World Bank to move rapidly ahead with
$325 million in economically viable loans to help Polish
agriculture and industry reach the production levels they are so
clearly capable of. Another $500 million will be available as
your reform process moves along.
-- Fourth, I will ask my counterparts in the West to support an
early and generous rescheduling of Polish debt -- and will be
discussing this at the Paris Summit.
-- Fifth, economic progress should not come at the expense of
the environment. In fact, sound ecology and a strong economy can
and must coexist. So (environmental initiative) ].
The elections which brought us together here today mean that
the path the Polish people have chosen is that of political
pluralism and economic rebirth. The road ahead is a long one.
But it is the only road which leads to prosperity and social
peace. Poland's progress along this road will show the way
11
toward a new era throughout Europe. The Western democracies will
stand with the Polish people, and other peoples of this region.
Two hundred years ago, Democratic constitutions were adopted
by three nations, embodying the powerful influence of the
enlightenment -- as a testament to ideas that endure.
The American Constitution was first, and has stood the test
of history for the over 200 years of our existence as a republic.
Constitutional democracy in France began two centuries ago this
summer. And in a few days, leaders from all over the world will
be in Paris to celebrate the anniversary of its birth.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish constitution will also be 200
years old. Your constitution of 1791 was cruelly crushed, but
never forgotten. Now, this generation's calling is to redeem the
promise of a free Polish republic. Poland has not been lost.
America wishes you well with all its heart. God in his
infinite wisdom and love is with us in this Chamber. May God
bless you and your efforts.
# # #
(Lange/Wallace)
July 7, 1989
4:30 p.m.
[POLAND.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
POLAND'S JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
THE SEJM
JULY 10, 1989
2:30 P.M.
Chairman Jaruzelski, Marshals
and
,
Prime Minister Rakowski, Senators, and Delegates.
On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I
am honored to greet the newly-elected representatives of the
Polish Parliament. To be here with you on this occasion is proof
that we live in extraordinary, indeed thrilling times.
The power and potential of this moment is made most clear to
me, when I see General Jaruzelski and Solidarity Leader Lech
Walesa sitting shoulder-to-shoulder -- committed to new progress
in Poland.
Poland and the United States are bound, it is often said, by
ties of kinship and culture. But our peoples are linked by more
than sentiment.
The May 3 Constitution of 1791 set Poland ahead of her peers
-- and ahead of her time -- in the pursuit of freedom and
democratic ideas, just as the American Constitution of March 4,
1789 set new standards for protection of the rights of the
individual.
For decades, beginning with President Wilson's Fourteen
Points, the United States has stood for Polish independence,
freedom, and prosperity. We are proud of our early and
2
longstanding commitment to Polish self-determination. As
America's President, I am here today to reaffirm that profound
commitment.
I understand something of the work you are commencing, for I
began my public service in the American Congress. Democratically
chosen legislatures are among mankind's greatest forums for
debate and dialogue. And while I have been to Poland before, I
did not expect to return so soon -- nor in such altered
circumstances in your country. So too, perhaps, many of you did
not expect to be here -- serving in this, or in any Polish
parliament. Your achievement has surpassed all expectations.
Our meeting today bears witness to the character of our age.
Some four hundred and fifty years ago, when the Polish
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to understand the natural
order of the planets -- and had the courage to question accepted
wisdom -- the world was changed forever. From this year forward,
as Poland works to reaffirm the natural order of man and
government, so too will Poland be changed forever.
For Poland today is undergoing the political and economic
equivalent of a Copernican revolution. A fundamental change in
perspective, that places the people at the center. A new
understanding, that the governed are the true source of lasting
social peace and economic prosperity -- around which government
revolves, and exists to serve.
Poland has a rich democratic heritage. The May 3rd
Constitution of 1791 was a stroke of constitutional genius.
3
Today, at the dawn of that document's third century, you are
called upon to match its genius with contemporary action. To
make a peaceful transition toward political and economic renewal
-- toward representative government that expresses the will of
the people.
I said a few weeks ago here in Europe that East and West
have arrived at the end of one era, and at the beginning of
another. Chairman Jaruzelski recently said of Poland that "the
life of the nation has undergone deep changes the
tired
society has the full right to ask when a ray of sun will shine
over Poland.' In fact, this applies not just to Poland, but to
the entirety of relations between East and West.
A profound cycle of turmoil and great change is sweeping the
world from Poland to the Pacific. It is sometimes inspiring, as
here, in Warsaw. Sometimes it is agonizing, as in China today.
But the magnitude of change we sense around the world compels us
to look within ourselves -- and to God -- to forge a rare alloy
of courage and restraint.
The future beckons with both hope and uncertainty. Poland
and Hungary find themselves at a crossroads. Each has started
down its own road to reform, without guarantee of easy success.
The people of these nations -- and the courage of their leaders
-- command our admiration. The way is hard. But the moment is
right, both internally and internationally, for Poland to walk
its own path.
4
On the day Solidarity was restored, I spoke of my support
and admiration for the political experiment just getting underway
in Poland. You have since proceeded further along that road --
including holding the remarkable elections that produced this
Parliament. Let us consider what your experiment may mean, not
just for Poland, but for Europe and the world.
The divided world of the modern age began here, in Poland,
fifty years ago this summer. Your country -- and then nearly all
of Europe -- was first besieged and then occupied by,
totalitarian, despotic forces. Poland was our ally. In that
fearful time, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill devised
the Atlantic Charter, which outlined principles on which we hoped
to build a better world: the right of peoples to choose the form
of government under which they will live; freedom from want; the
right to peace within secure borders; and a shared dedication to
economic growth, security, and disarmament.
But as you know better than anyone, the world we sought then
was not to be. Stalinist systems were imposed over a third of a
continent. The Cold War began. The countries of the West
organized themselves in defense of democratic principles. We
proposed that the Marshall Plan include Eastern Europe. But it
was not to be.
The Western strategy of containment was a means, but was
never an end in itself. It was no substitute for a free and
united Europe. We did not forget the frustrated and lost hopes
of 1945, nor the promise of a better world. Neither did the
5
Polish people. You have been a crucible of conflict. You are
now becoming a vessel for change -- and tyranny's victim no
longer. Poland is where the Cold War began -- and now the people
of Poland can help bring the Cold War to an end. The time has
come -- God willing -- to move beyond containment to the better
world too long deferred.
Now, at long last, two developments have allowed us to
redeem the principles of the Atlantic Charter for which the
United States and Poland fought as allies. One is the manifest
failure of the classic Stalinist system. The other is the
emergence of leaders in in Poland and Hungary who are working to
overcome the mistakes of the past with honesty, creativity, and
courage. The world watches, in awe and admiration.
Now -- in part because of what you are doing here -- the
genuine opportunity exists for us to build a Europe which many
thought was destroyed forever in the 1940s. That Europe -- the
Europe of our children -- will be open, whole, and free once
again.
We can make it so in two ways.
First, a new East-West relationship must rest on greatly
reduced levels of arms. We in the West have proposed dramatic
reductions in conventional armed forces in Europe. The new
willingness in Moscow to accept this Western framework for
reductions in troops, tanks, and other categories of weapons
gives us hope that the negotiations in Vienna will succeed. A
good beginning has been made. Constructive proposals are being
6
offered on both sides. We must continue to push hard for an
early and successful conclusion to these talks.
Second, reductions in military forces will go further and be
more sustainable if they take place in parallel with political
change. Excessive levels of arms, we believe, are the symptom
and not the source of political tensions. In Europe, those
tensions spring from an unnatural and cruel division.
Poland's decision to embrace political reform -- and
Hungary's movements in the same direction -- thus have great
importance beyond their borders. By creating political
structures legitimized by popular will, your reforms can be the
foundation of stability, security, and prosperity -- not just in
your country, but in all of Europe, now and into the next
century.
Mikhail Gorbachev has written, "universal security rests on
the recognition of the right of every nation to choose its own
path of social development and on the renunciation of
interference in the domestic affairs of other states. A nation
may choose either capitalism or socialism. This is its sovereign
right." In principle, I agree. But I might well have said that
the people of a nation may freely choose either capitalism or
socialism. That is their right.
And so the West works not to disrupt, not to interfere, not
to threaten any nation's security, but to help forge closer and
enduring ties between Poland and the rest of Europe.
7
As a result of the Roundtable Accords, Poland's fate lies
more than ever in Polish hands. And no outside force must ever
again intervene to stop Polish hands from doing Poland's work.
Your responsibility for your country's fate is immense.
Poland's friends, including the American people, want Poland to
be free, prosperous, democratic, and independent -- true to the
best traditions of your nation's past. But we cannot realize
these goals for you.
The regeme
its
General Jaruzelski for his part is doing statesmanlike work,
IS moving forward with a sense of realism and courage, in a time of
great difficulty. Lech Walesa and Solidarity are deeply
committed to institutions in Poland that will serve all its
people. This Parliament, by its very existence, is advancing
pluralism, and moving toward democracy. And the Church has
served as a source of spiritual guidance and unity in turbulent
times.
Yet, even under the best circumstances, democracy has its
own challenges. It requires patience, tolerance, and give-and-
take between political opponents. But its virtue is that it
grants legitimacy to leaders and their policies. It gives
governments and societies a mandate to make hard choices. You
and I know that hard choices and austerity lie ahead for Poland.
My country understands this.
For over two hundred years, Americans have wrestled over
political and economic interests, over individual and civil
8
rights, and the role of a loyal opposition. Democracy is not a
conclusion, it is a process -- and perfecting it never ends. But
history has taught Americans one very clear lesson: democracy
works.
We understand in my country the enormous economic problems
you face. Economic privation is a danger that threatens this
great democratic experiment. I must speak honestly: economic
reform and recovery cannot occur without sacrifices. Even in an
economy as productive as ours, we still debate the role and
limits of government: How to regulate the private sector without
discouraging innovation. How to reduce our own budget deficit.
How to balance union rights and industrial efficiency. How to
handle the painful disruptions of change -- for the sake of
productivity, progress, and prosperity.
The reform of the Polish economy will be an historic
challenge. There can be no substitute for Poland's own efforts.
But I want to stress to you today that Poland is not alone.
Given the enormity of this moment, the United States stands ready
to help you as you help yourselves.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, three months ago, I outlined a
policy of support for the reforms then just beginning in Poland.
I proposed specific steps, carefully chosen to recognize the
reforms underway, and to encourage reforms yet to come. It is a
policy built on the dynamic interplay of progress in Poland, and
Western engagement -- and not on unsound credits made without
regard to necessary reforms. That was the record of the 1970s,
9
that Poland and the United States need not repeat. Our efforts
will be carefully targeted in support of an emerging new Poland.
We have made progress on the steps announced at Hamtramck.
This is where we stand:
-- Legislation is well underway that will help Polish exporters
compete more effectively in the U.S. market through our
generalized system of preferences; and that will authorize our
Overseas Private Investment Corporation to operate in Poland,
providing investment insurance and setting up missions to
stimulate U.S. investment and joint ventures here.
-- The United States is proposing a private business agreement
that will promote contacts between Poland's growing private
business sector and its American counterparts. We hope to
conclude an agreement soon.
-- There is great interest and excitement in the United States
about what you are doing in Poland. I hosted a White House
Symposium on July 6, to bring together citizens of my country
interested in investment, trade, and academic exchange with
Poland and Hungary. I can assure you that the American people
will be even more involved in your democratic experiment.
I have said that as Poland reforms itself, the U.S. will
respond. Much has happened even in the short time since
Hamtramck. So today, I'm pleased to announce that we plan to do
more -- and go farther -- for the sake of a stable and prosperous
Poland:
10
[[ First, I will propose at the upcoming Economic Summit in
Paris that the nations of the Summit Seven form an International
Consortium for Poland and Hungary. We will work with our
discribe
partners at the Summit, to move quickly with increased Western
aid and technical assistance.
--
Second, I will ask the U.S. Congress to provide a $100
million fund to capitalize and invigorate the Polish private
sector -- and we will encourage parallel contributions from other
nations of the Economic Summit.
-- Third, I will ask the World Bank to move rapidly ahead with
$325 million in economically viable loans to help Polish
agriculture and industry reach the production levels they are SO
clearly capable of. Another $500 million will be available as
your reform process moves along.
--
Fourth, I will ask my counterparts in the West to support an
early and generous rescheduling of Polish debt
This cauld provide
and will be
clear why omounding to over 3 becomen aas 8 of our welles ad
discussing this at the Paris Summit. freends in the Cares club agree
to you us in offering generous Fems.
--
Fifth, economic progress should not come at the expense of
our common
the environment In fact, sound ecology and a strong economy can
and must coexist. So (environmental initiative) ].
The elections which brought us together here today mean that
the path the Polish people have chosen is that of political
pluralism and economic rebirth. The road ahead is a long one.
But it is the only road which leads to prosperity and social
peace. Poland's progress along this road will show the way
l pron to discuss the mm/mg call. at the
P.S.
11
toward a new era throughout Europe. The Western democracies will
stand with the Polish people, and other peoples of this region.
Two hundred years ago, Democratic constitutions were adopted
by three nations, embodying the powerful influence of the
enlightenment -- as a testament to ideas that endure.
The American Constitution was first, and has stood the test
of history for the over 200 years of our existence as a republic.
Constitutional democracy in France began two centuries ago this
summer. And in a few days, leaders from all over the world will
be in Paris to celebrate the anniversary of its birth.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish constitution will also be 200
years old. Your constitution of 1791 was cruelly crushed, but
never forgotten. Now, this generation's calling is to redeem the
promise of a free Polish republic. Poland has not been lost.
America wishes you well with all its heart. God in his
infinite wisdom and love is with us in this Chamber. May God
bless you and your efforts.
# # #
04931355
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/29/89
6/30/89 6:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: JOINT SESSION OF POLISH PARLIAMENT
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER N/Cplione
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES N/C phone
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
/
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, no later than 6:00 PM, Friday, June 30, 1989,
with an info copy to my office. Thank you.
89 JUN29 5: 10
RESPONSE:
James W, Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Lange/Wallace)
June 29, 1989
1989
11:00 a.m.
[POLAND.STA]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
POLAND'S JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
THE SEJM
JULY 10, 1989
2:30 P.M.
President Jaruzelski, Marshals
and
,
Prime Minister Rakowski, Senators, and Delegates.
On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I
am honored to greet the newly-elected representatives of the
Polish Parliament. To be here with you on this occasion is proof
that we live in extraordinary times.
Poland and the United States are bound, it is often said, by
ties of kinship and culture. But our peoples are linked by more
than sentiment.
The May 3 Constitution of 1791 set Poland ahead of her peers
-- and ahead of her time -- in the pursuit of freedom and
democratic ideals. And throughout her history, Poland has
courageously struggled, and survived, the assaults of both
ideology and armaments.
For decades, beginning with President Wilson's Fourteen
Points, the United States has stood for Polish independence,
freedom, and prosperity. Americans are proud of their early and
longstanding commitment to Polish self-determination. I am here
today to reaffirm it.
I understand something of the work you are commencing, for I
began my public service in the American Congress. Such bodies
2
are among mankind's greatest forums for debate and dialogue. And
while I have been to Poland before, I did not expect to return so
soon -- nor in such altered circumstances. So too, perhaps, many
of you did not expect to be here -- serving in this, or in any
Polish parliament. But much has happened. Our experience has
surpassed all expectations.
Our meeting today bears witness to the character of our age.
Some four hundred and fifty years ago, when the Polish
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to understand the natural
order of the planets -- and had the courage to question accepted
wisdom -- the world was changed forever. From this year forward,
as Poland works to reaffirm the natural order of man and
government, so too will Poland be changed forever.
For Poland today is undergoing the political and economic
equivalent of a Copernican revolution. A quiet change in
perspective, that places the people at the center. A new
understanding, that the governed are the true source of lasting
social and economic power -- around which government revolves,
and exists to serve.
The May 3rd Constitution of 1791 was a masterpiece of
constitutional genius. Today, at the dawn of its third century,
you are called upon to match that genius with action. To make a
peaceful transition, toward representative government that
exercises the will of the people.
I said in Mainz a few weeks ago that East and West have
arrived at the end of one era, and at the beginning of another.
3
Prime Minister Rakowski said recently that the system which
emerged in the 1940s is now throwing off its skin -- that the
system to replace it is only now beginning to take shape. I
agree. In fact, this applies not just to Poland, but to the
entirety of relations between East and West.
A profound cycle of turmoil and great change is sweeping the
world from Poland to the Pacific. It is sometimes inspiring, as
here, in Warsaw. Sometimes it is terribly painful, as in China
today. But democracy has captured the spirit of our time.
Without doubt, though democracy may be a dream deferred for many,
it remains the destiny of man.
The future beckons with both hope and uncertainty. Poland,
Hungary, and the Soviet Union find themselves at a crossroads.
Each has started down its own road to reform, without guarantee
of easy success. The way is hard. But the moment is right, both
internally and internationally, for Poland to walk its own path.
On the day Solidarity was re-legalized, I spoke of my
support and admiration for the political experiment just getting
underway in Poland. You have since proceeded further along that
road -- including holding the remarkable elections that produced
this Parliament. Let us consider what your experiment may mean,
not just for Poland, but for Europe and the world.
The divided world of the modern age began here, in Poland,
fifty years ago this summer. Your country -- and then nearly all
of Europe -- was besieged by totalitarian, despotic forces. The
4
West made common cause with the Soviet Union to defeat Hitler.
Poland was our ally. Hitler was vanquished".
But as you know better than anyone, the world we sought then
was not to be. Stalinist systems were imposed over a third of a
continent -- and the Red Army turned from liberator to occupier.
In response, the countries of the West organized themselves and
their defenses. The Cold War began.
Despite periods of tension and crisis, the West prospered
behind a shield of mutual self-defense and a policy called
containment. But the East did not prosper. Poland in particular
did not. Forty years of civil strife, wasted resources and
dashed hopes marred the lives of an entire generation. Nor did
the division of Europe bring stability, as recurring tragedies
endured in Poland since 1953 have witnessed. Such has been the
world our children have known for their entire lives.
Containment was a necessary means, and served its function.
But it was never an end in itself. It was no substitute for a
free and united Europe. We did not forget the hopes of 1945, nor
the promise of a better world. Neither did the Polish people.
You have been a crucible of conflict. You are now a vessel for
change -- and tyranny's victim no longer. Poland is where the
Cold War began -- and Poland can bring the Cold War to an end.
Now, at long last, two events have allowed us to redeem the
principles of the Atlantic Charter for which the United States
and Poland fought as allies. One is the manifest failure of the
old Stalinist model, imposed on Central and Eastern Europe to
5
provide political legitimacy and economic prosperity. The other
is the emergence of responsible leaders -- in government and in
the opposition -- in Poland, Hungary, and the USSR -- who are
working to overcome the mistakes of the past with honesty,
creativity, and courage.
Today we have the opportunity, unique in the post-war
period, to move beyond containment in East-West relations. To
set the stage for unprecedented social and economic progress in
Poland. And to see the Copernican revolution of representative
government succeed.
Now -- in part because of what you are doing here -- the
genuine opportunity exists for us to build a Europe which many
thought was destroyed forever in the 1940s. That Europe will be
open, whole, and free once again.
We can make it so in two ways.
First, a new East-West relationship must rest on greatly
reduced levels of arms. We in the West have proposed dramatic
reductions in conventional armed forces in Europe. The new
willingness in Moscow to accept this Western framework for
reductions in troops, tanks, and other categories of weapons
gives us hope that the negotiations in Vienna will succeed. A
good beginning has been made. Constructive proposals are being
offered on both sides.
Second, reductions in military forces will go further and be
more sustainable if they take place in parallel with political
change. Excessive levels of arms, we believe, are the symptom
6
and not the source of political tensions. In Europe, those
tensions spring from the unnatural imposition of unpopular -- and
therefore unstable -- political systems.
Mikhail Gorbachev has said that security has to be mutual --
that one country's security could not be assured unless other
nations also felt secure. I agree.
A Europe untrammeled by hegemonic ambition depends on a
productive U.S. - Soviet relationship. Stalin did not understand
that. But Mikhail Gorbachev is a leader of different quality and
character. I believe he understands the benefits that a Europe
whole and free can bring to all nations.
A constructive relationship between the United States and
the USSR does not mean that we regard Poland, Hungary, or any
other nation as pieces on some larger chessboard -- but as active
agents for their own future. As John Quincy Adams, our Secretary
of State said on the 4th of July, 1821, America "goes not abroad
in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the
freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and
vindicator only of her own." And so we work neither to disrupt
nor interfere, but to help reconcile Poland and her people to the
Europe they helped create -- and to promote the cause of freedom
everywhere.
As a result of the Roundtable Accords, Poland's fate lies
more than ever in Polish hands. Your friends, including the
American people, want Poland to be free, prosperous, democratic,
and independent -- true to the best traditions of your nation's
7
past. But we cannot realize these goals for you. Only Poles can
make the hard choices.
General Jaruzelski is doing statesmanlike work, moving
forward with a sense of realism, in a time of great difficulty.
And this Parliament is advancing pluralism, and moving toward
democracy. Yet, even under the best circumstances, democracy has
its own challenges. It requires patience, tolerance, and give-
and-take between political opponents. But its virtue is that it
grants legitimacy to leaders and their policies, and gives
governments a mandate to make hard choices.
For over two hundred years, Americans have wrestled over
political and economic interests, over individual and civil
rights, and the role of a loyal opposition. Democracy is not a
conclusion, it is a process -- and perfecting it never ends. But
Democracy works. And having come so far so fast, the Polish
people, both in the government and opposition, have already shown
the wisdom and daring to succeed.
We understand the enormous economic problems and challenges
you face. Economic privation is a danger that threatens this
great democratic experiment. I must speak honestly: economic
reform and recovery cannot occur without sacrifices. Even in an
economy as productive as ours, we still debate the role and
limits of government: How to regulate the private sector without
discouraging innovation. How to balance union rights and
industrial efficiency. How to handle the painful disruptions of
change -- for the sake of productivity, progress, and prosperity.
8
We have found that only the hard decisions lead to lasting
results. I believe your experience will show the same.
The reform of the Polish economy will be a great challenge.
But Poland does not stand alone. Given the enormity of this
historical moment, the United States stands ready to help you
help yourselves.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, three months ago, I outlined a
policy of support for the reforms then just beginning in Poland.
A dynamic interplay of progress and engagement -- and not a
repeat of the unsound credit policies of the 1970s. Our efforts
will be carefully targeted in support of an emerging new Poland.
We have made progress:
-- Legislation has been [prepared/passed] that will help Polish
exporters compete more effectively in the U.S. market, by
providing selective tariff relief under the generalized system of
preferences.
-- We will soon authorize our Overseas Private Investment
Corporation to operate in Poland, setting up missions to
stimulate U.S. investment and joint ventures here. The next step
is an investment agreement between the Polish government and
OPIC. I hope negotiations can get underway soon. Sound projects
can demonstrate how management, free labor unions and foreign
partners can cooperate to produce wealth for an emerging new
Poland.
-- The United States [has presented/will shortly present] for
negotiation a draft private business agreement that will promote
9
contacts between Poland's rapidly growing private business sector
its American counterparts. We hope to conclude an agreement
soon.
-- We will also continue to support viable private sector loans
by the International Finance Corporation.
-- The United States Information Agency is putting together new
and imaginative exchange programs to reach out to independent
groups now emerging. These programs can help build institutions
that will lead your country in the next century.
-- There is great interest and excitement in the United States
about what you are doing in Poland. I hosted a White House
Symposium on July 6, to bring together Americans interested in
investment, trade, and cultural and academic exchange with the
countries of East and Central Europe. This conference will also
encourage private initiatives to swap Polish debt for equity in
Polish enterprises -- and for humanitarian, charitable, and
environmental projects.
We are committed to a wide-ranging program of economic,
environmental, and educational initiatives. So today, I'm
pleased to announce that we plan to do more -- and go farther --
for the sake of a stable and prosperous Poland:
[new policy here -- approx 30 lines]
The elections which brought us together here today mean that
the path the Polish people have chosen is that of political
10
pluralism, and economic rebirth. The road ahead is a long one.
But it is the only road which leads to prosperity and social
stability. Poland's progress along this road will light the way
toward a new era throughout East and Central Europe. The Western
democracies will stand with the Polish people, and other peoples
of this region, when they too are ready.
Two hundred years ago, Democratic constitutions were adopted
by three nations, embodying the powerful and enduring influence
of the enlightenment -- of ideas that endure.
The American Constitution was first, and has stood the test
of history for the over 200 years of our existence as a republic.
Constitutional democracy in France began two centuries ago this
summer. And in a few days, leaders from all over the world will
be in Paris to celebrate the anniversary of its birth.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish constitution will also be 200
years old. Your constitution of 1791 was cruelly crushed, but
never forgotten -- just as Poland was rent and yet reborn in this
century. Now, this generation's calling is to redeem the promise
of a free Polish republic.
Today I challenge you to attain -- and sustain -- a genuine
democracy. Your momentum must remain undaunted by economic
difficulties. Working together, you can ensure that the May 3rd
Constitution enters its third century as a living document. You
can ensure that Poland's people reap all of the benefits of a
free society.
1
11
God has turned His face to Poland. Man must now reaffirm
the value of the individual voice -- and the limitless power of
freedom -- through the principles of representative government.
America wishes you well with all its heart. God bless you,
and God bless Poland.
###
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
June 30, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
ROGER B. PORTER
SPF
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks on Poland
This responds to requests for views on two Presidential
remarks, one before the joint session of the Polish
parliament, and the other before the Solidarity Workers
Monument. I have no objection to either draft. However, the
remarks before the joint session omit the core of the message:
the statement of new policies. We will stand ready to comment
on that part of the text whenever it is ready.
CC: Jim Cicconi
89 JUN 30 30 P5: 43
049313SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/29/89
6/30/89 6:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: JOINT SESSION OF POLISH PARLIAMENT
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
/
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, no later than 6:00 PM, Friday, June 30, 1989,
with an info copy to my office. Thank you.
29 0E OENNC 68
RESPONSE: No Comment
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Lange/Wallace)
June 29, 1989
1969
11:00 a.m.
28
[POLAND.STA]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
POLAND'S JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
THE SEJM
JULY 10, 1989
2:30 P.M.
President Jaruzelski, Marshals
and
,
Prime. Minister Rakowski, Senators, and Delegates.
On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I
am honored to greet the newly-elected representatives of the
Polish Parliament. To be here with you on this occasion is proof
that we live in extraordinary times.
Poland and the United States are bound, it is often said, by
ties of kinship and culture. But our peoples are linked by more
than sentiment.
The May 3 Constitution of 1791 set Poland ahead of her peers
-- and ahead of her time -- in the pursuit of freedom and
democratic ideals. And throughout her history, Poland has
courageously struggled, and survived, the assaults of both
ideology and armaments.
For decades, beginning with President Wilson's Fourteen
Points, the United States has stood for Polish independence,
freedom, and prosperity. Americans are proud of their early and
longstanding commitment to Polish self-determination. I am here
today to reaffirm it.
I understand something of the work you are commencing, for I
began my public service in the American Congress. Such bodies
2
are among mankind's greatest forums for debate and dialogue. And
while I have been to Poland before, I did not expect to return SO
soon -- nor in such altered circumstances. So too, perhaps, many
of you did not expect to be here -- serving in this, or in any
Polish parliament. But much has happened. Our experience has
surpassed all expectations.
Our meeting today bears witness to the character of our age.
Some four hundred and fifty years ago, when the Polish
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to understand the natural
order of the planets -- and had the courage to question accepted
wisdom -- the world was changed forever. From this year forward,
as Poland works to reaffirm the natural order of man and
government, so too will Poland be changed forever.
For Poland today is undergoing the political and economic
equivalent of a Copernican revolution. A quiet change in
perspective, that places the people at the center. A new
understanding, that the governed are the true source of lasting
social and economic power -- around which government revolves,
and exists to serve.
The May 3rd Constitution of 1791 was a masterpiece of
constitutional genius. Today, at the dawn of its third century,
you are called upon to match that genius with action. To make a
peaceful transition, toward representative government that
exercises the will of the people.
I said in Mainz a few weeks ago that East and West have
arrived at the end of one era, and at the beginning of another.
3
Prime Minister Rakowski said recently that the system which
emerged in the 1940s is now throwing off its skin -- that the
system to replace it is only now beginning to take shape. I
agree. In fact, this applies not just to Poland, but to the
entirety of relations between East and West.
A profound cycle of turmoil and great change is sweeping the
world from Poland to the Pacific. It is sometimes inspiring, as
here, in Warsaw. Sometimes it is terribly painful, as in China
today. But democracy has captured the spirit of our time.
Without doubt, though democracy may be a dream deferred for many,
it remains the destiny of man.
The future beckons with both hope and uncertainty. Poland,
Hungary, and the Soviet Union find themselves at a crossroads.
Each has started down its own road to reform, without guarantee
of easy success. The way is hard. But the moment is right, both
internally and internationally, for Poland to walk its own path.
On the day Solidarity was re-legalized, I spoke of my
support and admiration for the political experiment just getting
underway in Poland. You have since proceeded further along that
road -- including holding the remarkable elections that produced
this Parliament. Let us consider what your experiment may mean,
not just for Poland, but for Europe and the world.
The divided world of the modern age began here, in Poland,
fifty years ago this summer. Your country -- and then nearly all
of Europe -- was besieged by totalitarian, despotic forces. The
4
West made common cause with the Soviet Union to defeat Hitler.
Poland was our ally. Hitler was vanquished.
But as you know better than anyone, the world we sought then
was not to be. Stalinist systems were imposed over a third of a
continent -- and the Red Army turned from liberator to occupier.
In response, the countries of the West organized themselves and
their defenses. The Cold War began.
Despite periods of tension and crisis, the West prospered
behind a shield of mutual self-defense and a policy called
containment. But the East did not prosper. Poland in particular
did not. Forty years of civil strife, wasted resources and
dashed hopes marred the lives of an entire generation. Nor did
the division of Europe bring stability, as recurring tragedies
endured in Poland since 1953 have witnessed. Such has been the
world our children have known for their entire lives.
Containment was a necessary means, and served its function.
But it was never an end in itself. It was no substitute for a
free and united Europe. We did not forget the hopes of 1945, nor
the promise of a better world. Neither did the Polish people.
You have been a crucible of conflict. You are now a vessel for
change -- and tyranny's victim no longer. Poland is where the
Cold War began -- and Poland can bring the Cold War to an end.
Now, at long last, two events have allowed us to redeem the
principles of the Atlantic Charter for which the United States
and Poland fought as allies. One is the manifest failure of the
old Stalinist model, imposed on Central and Eastern Europe to
5
provide political legitimacy and economic prosperity. The other
is the emergence of responsible leaders -- in government and in
the opposition -- in Poland, Hungary, and the USSR -- who are
working to overcome the mistakes of the past with honesty,
creativity, and courage.
Today we have the opportunity, unique in the post-war
period, to move beyond containment in East-West relations. To
set the stage for unprecedented social and economic progress in
Poland. And to see the Copernican revolution of representative
government succeed.
Now -- in part because of what you are doing here -- the
genuine opportunity exists for us to build a Europe which many
thought was destroyed forever in the 1940s. That Europe will be
open, whole, and free once again.
We can make it so in two ways.
First, a new East-West relationship must rest on greatly
reduced levels of arms. We in the West have proposed dramatic
reductions in conventional armed forces in Europe. The new
willingness in Moscow to accept this Western framework for
reductions in troops, tanks, and other categories of weapons
gives us hope that the negotiations in Vienna will succeed. A
good beginning has been made. Constructive proposals are being
offered on both sides.
Second, reductions in military forces will go further and be
more sustainable if they take place in parallel with political
change. Excessive levels of arms, we believe, are the symptom
6
and not the source of political tensions. In Europe, those
tensions spring from the unnatural imposition of unpopular -- and
therefore unstable -- political systems.
Mikhail Gorbachev has said that security has to be mutual --
that one country's security could not be assured unless other
nations also felt secure. I agree.
A Europe untrammeled by hegemonic ambition depends on a
productive U.S. - Soviet relationship. Stalin did not understand
that. But Mikhail Gorbachev is a leader of different quality and
character. I believe he understands the benefits that a Europe
whole and free can bring to all nations.
A constructive relationship between the United States and
the USSR does not mean that we regard Poland, Hungary, or any
other nation as pieces on some larger chessboard -- but as active
agents for their own future. As John Quincy Adams, our Secretary
of State said on the 4th of July, 1821, America "goes not abroad
in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the
freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and
vindicator only of her own." And so we work neither to disrupt
nor interfere, but to help reconcile Poland and her people to the
Europe they helped create -- and to promote the cause of freedom
everywhere.
As a result of the Roundtable Accords, Poland's fate lies
more than ever in Polish hands. Your friends, including the
American people, want Poland to be free, prosperous, democratic,
and independent -- true to the best traditions of your nation's
7
past. But we cannot realize these goals for you. Only Poles can
make the hard choices.
General Jaruzelski is doing statesmanlike work, moving
forward with a sense of realism, in a time of great difficulty.
And this Parliament is advancing pluralism, and moving toward
democracy. Yet, even under the best circumstances, democracy has
its own challenges. It requires patience, tolerance, and give-
and-take between political opponents. But its virtue is that it
grants legitimacy to leaders and their policies, and gives
governments a mandate to make hard choices.
For over two hundred years, Americans have wrestled over
political and economic interests, over individual and civil
rights, and the role of a loyal opposition. Democracy is not a
conclusion, it is a process -- and perfecting it never ends. But
Democracy works. And having come SO far so fast, the Polish
people, both in the government and opposition, have already shown
the wisdom and daring to succeed.
We understand the enormous economic problems and challenges
you face. Economic privation is a danger that threatens this
great democratic experiment. I must speak honestly: economic
reform and recovery cannot occur without sacrifices. Even in an
economy as productive as ours, we still debate the role and
limits of government: How to regulate the private sector without
discouraging innovation. How to balance union rights and
industrial efficiency. How to handle the painful disruptions of
change -- for the sake of productivity, progress, and prosperity.
8
We have found that only the hard decisions lead to lasting
results. I believe your experience will show the same.
The reform of the Polish economy will be a great challenge.
But Poland does not stand alone. Given the enormity of this
historical moment, the United States stands ready to help you
help yourselves.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, three months ago, I outlined a
policy of support for the reforms then just beginning in Poland.
A dynamic interplay of progress and engagement -- and not a
repeat of the unsound credit policies of the 1970s. Our efforts
will be carefully targeted in support of an emerging new Poland.
We have made progress:
-- Legislation has been [prepared/passed] that will help Polish
exporters compete more effectively in the U.S. market, by
providing selective tariff relief under the generalized system of
preferences.
-- We will soon authorize our Overseas Private Investment
Corporation to operate in Poland, setting up missions to
stimulate U.S. investment and joint ventures here. The next step
is an investment agreement between the Polish government and
OPIC. I hope negotiations can get underway soon. Sound projects
can demonstrate how management, free labor unions and foreign
partners can cooperate to produce wealth for an emerging new
Poland.
-- The United States [has presented/will shortly present] for
negotiation a draft private business agreement that will promote
9
contacts between Poland's rapidly growing private business sector
its American counterparts. We hope to conclude an agreement
soon.
-- We will also continue to support viable private sector loans
by the International Finance Corporation.
-- The United States Information Agency is putting together new
and imaginative exchange programs to reach out to independent
groups now emerging. These programs can help build institutions
that will lead your country in the next century.
-- There is great interest and excitement in the United States
about what you are doing in Poland. I hosted a White House
Symposium on July 6, to bring together Americans interested in
investment, trade, and cultural and academic exchange with the
countries of East and Central Europe. This conference will also
encourage private initiatives to swap Polish debt for equity in
Polish enterprises -- and for humanitarian, charitable, and
environmental projects.
We are committed to a wide-ranging program of economic,
environmental, and educational initiatives. So today, I'm
pleased to announce that we plan to do more -- and go farther --
for the sake of a stable and prosperous Poland:
[new policy here -- approx 30 lines]
The elections which brought us together here today mean that
the path the Polish people have chosen is that of political
10
pluralism, and economic rebirth. The road ahead is a long one.
But it is the only road which leads to prosperity and social
stability. Poland's progress along this road will light the way
toward a new era throughout East and Central Europe. The Western
democracies will stand with the Polish people, and other peoples
of this region, when they too are ready.
Two hundred years ago, Democratic constitutions were adopted
by three nations, embodying the powerful and enduring influence
of the enlightenment -- of ideas that endure.
The American Constitution was first, and has stood the test
of history for the over 200 years of our existence as a republic.
Constitutional democracy in France began two centuries ago this
summer. And in a few days, leaders from all over the world will
be in Paris to celebrate the anniversary of its birth.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish constitution will also be 200
years old. Your constitution of 1791 was cruelly crushed, but
never forgotten -- just as Poland was rent and yet reborn in this
century. Now, this generation's calling is to redeem the promise
of a free Polish republic.
Today I challenge you to attain -- and sustain -- a genuine
democracy. Your momentum must remain undaunted by economic
difficulties. Working together, you can ensure that the May 3rd
Constitution enters its third century as a living document. You
can ensure that Poland's people reap all of the benefits of a
free society.
11
God has turned His face to Poland. Man must now reaffirm
the value of the individual voice -- and the limitless power of
freedom -- through the principles of representative government.
America wishes you well with all its heart. God bless you,
and God bless Poland.
###
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
00 JUN 30
June 30, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR
COMMUNICATIONS
FROM:
LEE S. LIBERMAN
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: Joint Session of
Polish Parliament
The Counsel's Office has no objection to, or comment on, the
draft Presidential remarks, except to note that "were" should be
used in place of "was" in the last line of page 3.
Attachment
CC: James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President and
Deputy to the Chief of Staff
049313SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
6/29/89
6/30/89 6:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: JOINT SESSION OF POLISH PARLIAMENT
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
CARD
WINSTON
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm.
122, x2930, no later than 6:00 PM, Friday, June 30, 1989,
with an info copy to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W, Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Lange/Wallace)
June 29, 1989
1969
11:00 a.m.
28
[POLAND. STA]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
POLAND'S JOINT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
THE SEJM
JULY 10, 1989
2:30 P.M.
President Jaruzelski, Marshals
and
,
Prime Minister Rakowski, Senators, and Delegates.
On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I
am honored to greet the newly-elected representatives of the
Polish Parliament. To be here with you on this occasion is proof
that we live in extraordinary times.
Poland and the United States are bound, it is often said, by
ties of kinship and culture. But our peoples are linked by more
than sentiment.
The May 3 Constitution of 1791 set Poland ahead of her peers
-- and ahead of her time -- in the pursuit of freedom and
democratic ideals. And throughout her history, Poland has
courageously struggled, and survived, the assaults of both
ideology and armaments.
For decades, beginning with President Wilson's Fourteen
Points, the United States has stood for Polish independence,
freedom, and prosperity. Americans are proud of their early and
longstanding commitment to Polish self-determination. I am here
today to reaffirm it.
I understand something of the work you are commencing, for I
began my public service in the American Congress. Such bodies
2
are among mankind's greatest forums for debate and dialogue. And
while I have been to Poland before, I did not expect to return so
soon -- nor in such altered circumstances. So too, perhaps, many
of you did not expect to be here -- serving in this, or in any
Polish parliament. But much has happened. Our experience has
surpassed all expectations.
Our meeting today bears witness to the character of our age.
Some four hundred and fifty years ago, when the Polish
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to understand the natural
order of the planets -- and had the courage to question accepted
wisdom -- the world was changed forever. From this year forward,
as Poland works to reaffirm the natural order of man and
government, so too will Poland be changed forever.
For Poland today is undergoing the political and economic
equivalent of a Copernican revolution. A quiet change in
perspective, that places the people at the center. A new
understanding, that the governed are the true source of lasting
social and economic power -- around which government revolves,
and exists to serve.
The May 3rd Constitution of 1791 was a masterpiece of
constitutional genius. Today, at the dawn of its third century,
you are called upon to match that genius with action. To make a
peaceful transition, toward representative government that
exercises the will of the people.
I said in Mainz a few weeks ago that East and West have
arrived at the end of one era, and at the beginning of another.
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Prime Minister Rakowski said recently that the system which
emerged in the 1940s is now throwing off its skin -- that the
system to replace it is only now beginning to take shape. I
agree. In fact, this applies not just to Poland, but to the
entirety of relations between East and West.
A profound cycle of turmoil and great change is sweeping the
world from Poland to the Pacific. It is sometimes inspiring, as
here, in Warsaw. Sometimes it is terribly painful, as in China
today. But democracy has captured the spirit of our time.
Without doubt, though democracy may be a dream deferred for many,
it remains the destiny of man.
The future beckons with both hope and uncertainty. Poland,
Hungary, and the Soviet Union find themselves at a crossroads.
Each has started down its own road to reform, without guarantee
of easy success. The way is hard. But the moment is right, both
internally and internationally, for Poland to walk its own path.
On the day Solidarity was re-legalized, I spoke of my
support and admiration for the political experiment just getting
underway in Poland. You have since proceeded further along that
road -- including holding the remarkable elections that produced
this Parliament. Let us consider what your experiment may mean,
not just for Poland, but for Europe and the world.
The divided world of the modern age began here, in Poland,
fifty years ago this summer. Your country -- and then nearly all
of Europe -- was besieged by totalitarian, despotic forces. The
were
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West made common cause with the Soviet Union to defeat Hitler.
Poland was our ally. Hitler was vanquished.
But as you know better than anyone, the world we sought then
was not to be. Stalinist systems were imposed over a third of a
continent -- and the Red Army turned from liberator to occupier.
In response, the countries of the West organized themselves and
their defenses. The Cold War began.
Despite periods of tension and crisis, the West prospered
behind a shield of mutual self-defense and a policy called
containment. But the East did not prosper. Poland in particular
did not. Forty years of civil strife, wasted resources and
dashed hopes marred the lives of an entire generation. Nor did
the division of Europe bring stability, as recurring tragedies
endured in Poland since 1953 have witnessed. Such has been the
world our children have known for their entire lives.
Containment was a necessary means, and served its function.
But it was never an end in itself. It was no substitute for a
free and united Europe. We did not forget the hopes of 1945, nor
the promise of a better world. Neither did the Polish people.
You have been a crucible of conflict. You are now a vessel for
change -- and tyranny's victim no longer. Poland is where the
Cold War began -- and Poland can bring the Cold War to an end.
Now, at long last, two events have allowed us to redeem the
principles of the Atlantic Charter for which the United States
and Poland fought as allies. One is the manifest failure of the
old Stalinist model, imposed on Central and Eastern Europe to
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provide political legitimacy and economic prosperity. The other
is the emergence of responsible leaders -- in government and in
the opposition -- in Poland, Hungary, and the USSR -- who are
working to overcome the mistakes of the past with honesty,
creativity, and courage.
Today we have the opportunity, unique in the post-war
period, to move beyond containment in East-West relations. To
set the stage for unprecedented social and economic progress in
Poland. And to see the Copernican revolution of representative
government succeed.
Now -- in part because of what you are doing here -- the
genuine opportunity exists for us to build a Europe which many
thought was destroyed forever in the 1940s. That Europe will be
open, whole, and free once again.
We can make it so in two ways.
First, a new East-West relationship must rest on greatly
reduced levels of arms. We in the West have proposed dramatic
reductions in conventional armed forces in Europe. The new
willingness in Moscow to accept this Western framework for
reductions in troops, tanks, and other categories of weapons
gives us hope that the negotiations in Vienna will succeed. A
good beginning has been made. Constructive proposals are being
offered on both sides.
Second, reductions in military forces will go further and be
more sustainable if they take place in parallel with political
change. Excessive levels of arms, we believe, are the symptom
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and not the source of political tensions. In Europe, those
tensions spring from the unnatural imposition of unpopular -- and
therefore unstable -- political systems.
Mikhail Gorbachev has said that security has to be mutual --
that one country's security could not be assured unless other
nations also felt secure. I agree.
A Europe untrammeled by hegemonic ambition depends on a
productive U.S. - Soviet relationship. Stalin did not understand
that. But Mikhail Gorbachev is a leader of different quality and
character. I believe he understands the benefits that a Europe
whole and free can bring to all nations.
A constructive relationship between the United States and
the USSR does not mean that we regard Poland, Hungary, or any
other nation as pieces on some larger chessboard -- but as active
agents for their own future. As John Quincy Adams, our Secretary
of State said on the 4th of July, 1821, America "goes not abroad
in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the
freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and
vindicator only of her own." And so we work neither to disrupt
nor interfere, but to help reconcile Poland and her people to the
Europe they helped create -- and to promote the cause of freedom
everywhere.
As a result of the Roundtable Accords, Poland's fate lies
more than ever in Polish hands. Your friends, including the
American people, want Poland to be free, prosperous, democratic,
and independent -- true to the best traditions of your nation's
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past. But we cannot realize these goals for you. Only Poles can
make the hard choices.
General Jaruzelski is doing statesmanlike work, moving
forward with a sense of realism, in a time of great difficulty.
And this Parliament is advancing pluralism, and moving toward
democracy. Yet, even under the best circumstances, democracy has
its own challenges. It requires patience, tolerance, and give-
and-take between political opponents. But its virtue is that it
grants legitimacy to leaders and their policies, and gives
governments a mandate to make hard choices.
For over two hundred years, Americans have wrestled over
political and economic interests, over individual and civil
rights, and the role of a loyal opposition. Democracy is not a
conclusion, it is a process -- and perfecting it never ends. But
Democracy works. And having come so far so fast, the Polish
people, both in the government and opposition, have already shown
the wisdom and daring to succeed.
We understand the enormous economic problems and challenges
you face. Economic privation is a danger that threatens this
great democratic experiment. I must speak honestly: economic
reform and recovery cannot occur without sacrifices. Even in an
economy as productive as ours, we still debate the role and
limits of government: How to regulate the private sector without
discouraging innovation. How to balance union rights and
industrial efficiency. How to handle the painful disruptions of
change -- for the sake of productivity, progress, and prosperity.
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We have found that only the hard decisions lead to lasting
results. I believe your experience will show the same.
The reform of the Polish economy will be a great challenge.
But Poland does not stand alone. Given the enormity of this
historical moment, the United States stands ready to help you
help yourselves.
In Hamtramck, Michigan, three months ago, I outlined a
policy of support for the reforms then just beginning in Poland.
A dynamic interplay of progress and engagement -- and not a
repeat of the unsound credit policies of the 1970s. Our efforts
will be carefully targeted in support of an emerging new Poland.
We have made progress:
-- Legislation has been [prepared/passed] that will help Polish,
exporters compete more effectively in the U.S. market, by
providing selective tariff relief under the generalized system of
preferences.
-- We will soon authorize our Overseas Private Investment
Corporation to operate in Poland, setting up missions to
stimulate U.S. investment and joint ventures here. The next step
is an investment agreement between the Polish government and
OPIC. I hope negotiations can get underway soon. Sound projects
can demonstrate how management, free labor unions and foreign
partners can cooperate to produce wealth for an emerging new
Poland.
-- The United States [has presented/will shortly present] for
negotiation a draft private business agreement that will promote
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contacts between Poland's rapidly growing private business sector
its American counterparts. We hope to conclude an agreement
soon.
-- We will also continue to support viable private sector loans
by the International Finance Corporation.
-- The United States Information Agency is putting together new
and imaginative exchange programs to reach out to independent
groups now emerging. These programs can help build institutions
that will lead your country in the next century.
-- There is great interest and excitement in the United States
about what you are doing in Poland. I hosted a White House
Symposium on July 6, to bring together Americans interested in
investment, trade, and cultural and academic exchange with the
countries of East and Central Europe. This conference will also
encourage private initiatives to swap Polish debt for equity in
Polish enterprises -- and for humanitarian, charitable, and
environmental projects.
We are committed to a wide-ranging program of economic,
environmental, and educational initiatives. So today, I'm
pleased to announce that we plan to do more -- and go farther --
for the sake of a stable and prosperous Poland:
[new policy here -- approx 30 lines]
The elections which brought us together here today mean that
the path the Polish people have chosen is that of political
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pluralism, and economic rebirth. The road ahead is a long one.
But it is the only road which leads to prosperity and social
stability. Poland's progress along this road will light the way
toward a new era throughout East and Central Europe. The Western
democracies will stand with the Polish people, and other peoples
of this region, when they too are ready.
Two hundred years ago, Democratic constitutions were adopted
by three nations, embodying the powerful and enduring influence
of the enlightenment -- of ideas that endure.
The American Constitution was first, and has stood the test
of history for the over 200 years of our existence as a republic.
Constitutional democracy in France began two centuries ago this
summer. And in a few days, leaders from all over the world will
be in Paris to celebrate the anniversary of its birth.
On May 3, 1991, the Polish constitution will also be 200
years old. Your constitution of 1791 was cruelly crushed, but
never forgotten -- just as Poland was rent and yet reborn in this
century. Now, this generation's calling is to redeem the promise
of a free Polish republic.
Today I challenge you to attain -- and sustain -- a genuine
democracy. Your momentum must remain undaunted by economic
difficulties. Working together, you can ensure that the May 3rd
Constitution enters its third century as a living document. You
can ensure that Poland's people reap all of the benefits of a
free society.
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God has turned His face to Poland. Man must now reaffirm
the value of the individual voice -- and the limitless power of
freedom -- through the principles of representative government.
America wishes you well with all its heart. God bless you,
and God bless Poland.
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