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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
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S
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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:
13503
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13503-003
Folder Title:
South Dakota Centennial Celebration 9/18/89 [2]
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25
6
5
2
Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
(George Bush Library)
Document No.
Subject/Title of Document
Date
Restriction
Class.
and Type
01. Diagram
Diagram of Presidential movements, Sioux Falls Arena,
09/18/89
(b)(7)(e), (b)(7)(f)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (1 pp.)
Collection:
Record Group:
Bush Presidential Records
Office:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File, Drafts
Subseries:
WHORM Cat.:
File Location:
South Dakota Centennial Celebration 9/18/89 [2]
Date Closed:
9/17/2004
OA/ID Number:
03538
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2004-2249-S
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(b)(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
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agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
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financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA]
(b)(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
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REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
SIOUX FALLS ARENA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989, 11:15 A.M.
THANK YOU GOVERNOR MICKELSON FOR YOUR WARM
INTRODUCTION. THANK YOU, EVERYONE. [[PAUSE]]
GOOD MORNING SIOUX FALLS! [[PAUSE]]
AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] DON'T
WORRY -- I'M NOT GOING TO TRY TO SING. [[PAUSE]]
AND THANKS TO THE YOUNG MEN OF THE MCCROSSAN BOYS
RANCH FOR THE RIDE IN HERE. APPARENTLY WHEN TEDDY
ROOSEVELT CAME TO SIOUX FALLS, THEY CALLED THAT WAGON
"BUCKBOARD ONE.'
AND IT'S ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO SEE MY OLD FRIEND
BILL JANKLOW, AS WELL AS YOUR GREAT SENATOR - LARRY
PRESSLER AND ONE OF HIS COLLEAGUES AND YOUR MONTANA
NEIGHBOR - SENATOR CONRAD BURNS. CONGRATULATIONS, TOO
TO TEACHER OF THE YEAR LINDA HILLESTAD, AND A COUPLE OF
AMAZING SOUTH DAKOTONS CLYDE ICE AND NELLIE HARBERTS.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
September 14, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
ROGER B. PORTER
RBP
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: South Dakota Centennial
Ceremony
The draft presidential remarks for the South Dakota
Centennial Ceremony are positive and should go over well in
Sioux Falls.
I do have three substantive comments which I hope will
improve this draft:
1. In the second full paragraph on page 4, rather than
calling for "an end to" acid rain, we should say that he is
calling for "a massive program to reduce" acid rain.
2. We also need to be careful later on that page about the
materials that we are using regarding tree planting. I
strongly recommend eliminating the first full sentence of the
fifth paragraph, which begins "The Environmental Protection
Agency.' The paragraph can simply begin with "And as the
settlers here learned decades ago, planting trees can greatly
reduce erosion from wind and water, and as we are learning,
tree planting can help reduce carbon dioxide.
3. In the concluding paragraph on page 5, the second
sentence should read "And it has: last year, federal efforts
planted 3.4 million acres of new trees."
If you have any questions, or I can help in any other way,
please let me know.
21 Id trl SEP 68
CC: James W. Cicconi
Document No. 072206 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/13/89
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
-
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
PINKERTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Clcconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
89 SEP 13 All : 05
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE] ]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG. " [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore. " I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara."[ (PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins. " That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation. "
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowls
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
massure program to
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain, reduce
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water, and as
we are learning tree planting can help reduce CO2.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE] ] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[[PAUSE] ] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
3.4million new trees ,Gcres trees
federal efforts planted
square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
6
families and businesses, planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren."
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove. "
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
Document No. 072206 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/13/89
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
PINKERTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY N/C phone
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
81 : 212 EI FEEP 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Withonds
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
89 SEP 13 All : 05
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
[ackuaulegement] Presslev
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
NAtive Amenicah
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE] ]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG. [[PAUSE]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara." [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins." That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Two
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation."
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowl
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
major reductions m
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental EPA Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
weare learning, tree planting can help clean the air by reducing can bon diovide
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water, and, as
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
Five
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
?
[[PAUSE] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[PAUSE] ] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
government has a key respons bility in reducing air
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
pollution, the government can also act as a mod 1 and leader in
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted ? B square miles of new trees. But
340,000 acves
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
Clearly, the real solution is at the grassroots level -- Americans
joining together to shade this land and clear our air -- a new spint
of activism and volunte@rism to serve each other and save our
Planet.
6
families and businesses planted many eight times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren. "
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove. "
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
September 13, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
BRENT O. HATCH But
Associate Counsel to the President
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: South Dakota Centennial
Ceremony
Counsel's office has reviewed the above-referenced draft. We
have no legal objections.
Thank you for the opportunity to review these remarks.
CC: James W. Cicconi
It :6v pl PEP 68
Document No. 072206 55
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/13/89
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
89 SEP 13 All : 05
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE] ]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG." [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara. [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins." That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation."
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowls
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[[PAUSE]] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted
square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
6
families and businesses, planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren. "
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove."
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
Gardnu 89 SEP 13 All : 05
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE]]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG." [[PAUSE] ]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara. " [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins.' That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation." "
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowls
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE]] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[[PAUSE]] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted
square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
6
families and businesses, planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren."
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove."
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
Document No. 072206 ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/13/89
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
CICCONI
PINKERTON
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Clcconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
stuardohip brief time
C.W. COPY
(McNally/Simon)
September 10, 1989, 4:00 p.m.
Draft One (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
cuotodion
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Hello Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
I also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
insert
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG." [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara. " [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
2
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state.' =
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
0
And South Dakota is one place that never did forget what it
was that made America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness.
Self-respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins. " That's where South Dakota began, and that's where South
Dakota is today: Still a place where business is done with a
handshake.
3
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls
after
McKinley shot in .901 -- Teddy Roosevelt became the youngest
President in U.S. history, and the only one this century to be
enshrined at Mount Rushmore. Everyone knows which four
Presidents are found on the mountain. Less well known is that
the statues were chosen not to represent four American
individuals, but rather, to represent four American ideals.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation."
In the American galaxy of ideals, conservation is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we've proposed the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
We need to re-forest this bountiful land. Trees can reduce
the heat of a summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the
hungry, provide shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter.
The planting of trees can dramatically reduce erosion from wind
and water, and the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that
KA
4
a massive tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of
literally millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the
leading causes of global warming.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. For its centennial year, your sister state to
who paying for
ND trees
the north has pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year
2000. Well, I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything
7
North Dakota can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I
comed w/a
challenge you to match that pledge to join the new greening of
of your
America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
The forests are the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but
also of human life. They refresh and renew the human spirit. In
a different sense, they refresh and renew the very atmosphere:
The atmosphere of the Earth, because trees produce oxygen and
absorb carbon dioxide. And the atmosphere of human endeavor,
because every tree is a compact between generations.
is
The White House today remains blessed by an elm planted by
John Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen living trees planted by our
first President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to
the giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
Of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE]] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
5
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[[PAUSE]] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [PAUSE]]
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
S.D. deserves redit done
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
already much
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
6
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren." "
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove. "
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
status of clean
air act ?
Call for congressional action.
proneers did things on
their our
gout will help
primary reap. of gout
and industry - but
(sapling -child)
compact between generations
grand-parent grand- parent
grand child
Document No. 072206 SS
7181
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
89 SEP 13 P12: 56
9/13/89
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
PINKERTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
September 13, 1989
TO: CHRISS WINSTON
LE 16:80 8v 68
The NSC concurs with the Presidential remarks for the South Dakota
Centennial Ceremony.
Brent RSater for Scowcroft
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
CC: James W. Cicconi
Ext. 2702
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
89 SEP 13 All : 05
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [PAUSE] ]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE]]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG." [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara."[ [PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins. " That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation."
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowls
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
strengthen the Clean Air, Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE]] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[[PAUSE]] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted
square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County, Private efforts,
6
families and businesses, planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren."
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove. "
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
Simon edits
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE] ]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE] ]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [PAUSE] ]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG.' [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara. [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state." "
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins. " That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
two
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation." "
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowl
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
major reductions in
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
X
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
Of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
huh
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, Five not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
X
insect on
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
X
[[PAUSE] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[PAUSE] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
do its part
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted 538 square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
[Fed gov't only planted 10% of the trees in 1987 + 1988
6
eight
families and businesses planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren."
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove."
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
Document No. 072206 SS
WHITE RECEIVED HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
PI2ACTfOR/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
PINKERTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
no Comment
Ltd : 6d El PEP 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
89 SEP 13 All : 05
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE]]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG." [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara. [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins." That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation."
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowls
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE] ] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[ [PAUSE] ] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [ [PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted
square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
6
families and businesses, planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren." "
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove. If
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
Document No. 072206 SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/13/89
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
PINKERTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
81 :
See 9/13/898
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
89 SEP 13 All : 05
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE]]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG." [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
1- Indians not really happy about Centennial
2.- If you decide to include wetlands Interior will be to
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara.' [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins." That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation."
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious.
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowls
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE]] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[[PAUSE]] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted
square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
6
families and businesses, planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light."
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren."
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove. "
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead: Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.
Document No.
072206 SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/13/89
9/13/89 5:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
STUDDERT
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
BREEDEN
WINSTON
CARD
PINKERTON
CICCONI
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 5:00 TODAY, September 13, 1989, with a copy
to my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Legislative Affairs has reviewed. Our only comment is that
the Conguas who will be this James W. time, Cicconi we would
President may name the Members of
copiet sen. Preasur FI attend.) we
Assistant to the President
will be able to supply the names and Deputy Ext. to the 2702 Chief of Staff
of attendees as the wint appr whis - Pob Partner 9/13/89
(McNally/Simon)
September 13, 1989, 10:00 a.m.
Draft Three (B:SIOUX)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: SOUTH DAKOTA CENTENNIAL CEREMONY
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1989
Thank you. Thank you, everyone. [[PAUSE]]
Good morning Sioux Falls! [[PAUSE]]
And HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOUTH DAKOTA! [[PAUSE]] Don't worry --
I'm not going to try to sing. [[PAUSE]]
And thanks to the young men of the McCrossan Boys Ranch for
the ride in here. Apparently when Teddy Roosevelt came to Sioux
Falls, they called that wagon "Buckboard One."
We also want to thank Governor and Mrs. Mickelson for their
warm welcome. And it's always a pleasure to see my old friend
Bill Janklow, as well as Lt. Governor Walter Dale Miller and the
fine delegation that represents the Sunshine State in Washington.
We'd also like to say hello to Ben Reifel. I had the
privilege of serving in Congress with Ben -- an American Indian
who devoted his whole life to public service. And tomorrow is
his 83rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Ben! [[PAUSE]]
You know, years ago -- when I first started thinking about
running for President -- I went out for a long drive outside
Washington, to think it over alone, hoping I'd be sent a sign to
help me decide. Sure enough, a sign appeared. It said: "ONLY
2,000 MILES TO WALL DRUG. [[PAUSE]]
We're sure enjoying a friendly reception here. Outside one
lady even had a sign that said: "Add Bush to Mount Rushmore." I
2
thanked her, but protested it was too early for that. She said:
"On no, Mr. President. We were talking about adding a statue of
Barbara. " [[PAUSE]]
Before the turn of the century, when your state was not yet
10 years old, a former Ohio Congressman who had fought for
statehood came here to greet the returning heroes of the Spanish
American War -- South Dakota volunteers famous throughout America
for refusing to abandon their decimated ranks until replacements
could be shipped to the Philippines.
The ex-Congressman was President McKinley, who praised South
Dakota's early pioneers for always setting up three things
wherever their wagons stopped: School houses, churches -- and
the America flag.
McKinley called South Dakota a "new and promising state."
And in your first 100 years, you've made good that promise.
You've built a good state, a good place to call home, a good
place to raise grain and livestock and barns, and a particularly
good place to raise families. Yours is a people that draws
strength and purpose from the land, sinking deep roots, feeding
your country and nurturing the dreams of your children.
And as a new century begins, South Dakota is also a good
place for forward-looking people, a place to invest in clean
technologies and the growing service industries.
South Dakota is one place that has never forgotten what made
America great: Pride. Hard work. Neighborliness. Self-
respect, and respect for others. And, as a visitor to Sioux
3
Falls wrote in 1814, "the spirit of the west is one of faith" --
faith in God, faith in country, and faith in one another.
Maybe you've heard the definition of "the real West" in the
old cowboy poem: "Out where the handclasp's a little stronger,
out where the smile lasts a little longer, that's where the West
begins. " That's also where South Dakota begins: Still a place
where business is done with a handshake.
Some years after McKinley's visit to Sioux Falls, Teddy
Roosevelt became the youngest President in U.S. history, and the
only one this century to be enshrined at Mount Rushmore.
Everyone knows which four Presidents are found on the mountain.
Less well known is that each was chosen not to represent an
individual, but rather, to represent an American ideal.
Washington represents "freedom." Jefferson, "democracy."
Lincoln, for "equality." And Roosevelt, "conservation."
In the American galaxy of ideals, "conservation" is rarely
ranked up there alongside freedom, democracy, and equality. But
it is on Mount Rushmore, it is in South Dakota, and it's time
that tradition was rekindled everywhere.
Our stewardship of the Earth is brief. South Dakota sits
atop beds of oil and coal that, eons ago, were tropical swamps.
Above ground the landscape is cut by hills and valleys, shaped by
the huge sheets of ice that covered this land in a later age.
When the glaciers retreated they left behind a precious
resource: the rich, fertile soil of South Dakota. No one here
who witnessed the "black blizzards" of the 1930's dust bowls
4
needs to be told just how fragile that resource is, or how
important it is that we be responsible stewards of these gifts.
And what is true for our farmlands is also true for our
forests and rivers, for our oceans, and for the oceans of life-
giving air that cover this planet.
Earlier this year we introduced dramatic new proposals to
strengthen the Clean Air Act, calling for an end to acid rain,
urban smog, and other toxic emissions. And I said then that our
mission is not just to defend what's left -- but to take the
offense, to improve our environment across the board.
It's not enough to stop dirtying the air. We've got to
clean it up. And to help do that, we should remember the oldest,
cheapest, and most efficient air-purifier on Earth. Trees.
Nature has powerful rejuvenative forces. But we need to
help them along. We need to re-forest this bountiful land.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a massive
tree-planting campaign would cleanse the air of literally
millions of tons of carbon dioxide -- one of the leading causes
of global warming. And as the settlers here learned decades ago,
planting trees can greatly reduce erosion from wind and water.
For its centennial year, your sister state to the north has
pledged to plant 100 million new trees by the Year 2000. Well,
I've heard it said around Sioux Falls that anything North Dakota
can do, South Dakota can do better. [[PAUSE]] I challenge you
to come up with a pledge of your own -- to join the new greening
of America by foresting South Dakota with centennial trees.
5
of course, reforestation is only one part of our
comprehensive and sometimes highly technical proposals to clean
up America's air. But trees possess a value no high-tech
solution will ever match: trees can reduce the heat of a
summer's day, quiet a highway's noise, feed the hungry, provide
shelter from the wind and warmth in the winter. The forests are
the sanctuaries not only of wildlife, but also of the human
spirit. And every tree is a compact between generations.
The White House today is blessed by an elm planted by John
Quincy Adams, the southern magnolias of Andrew Jackson, and
Dwight Eisenhower's oaks. George Washington's home at Mount
Vernon is still shaded by a dozen trees planted by our first
President, a living link to our roots as a nation, and to the
giant whose face adorns the Black Hills of this state.
of course, not every President is blessed with a green
thumb. Three months ago I planted an elm to mark North Dakota's
new campaign. It turned out to have some kind of disease.
[[PAUSE]] So in the interest of public safety here in Sioux
Falls, they specifically asked me not to dedicate a building.
[[PAUSE]] So far, I'm having about as much luck planting as I
did fishing. [[PAUSE]]
Just as the primary responsibility for emissions enforcement
rests with government and private industry, so must government
lead the way in the greening of America. And it has: last year,
federal efforts planted
square miles of new trees. But
that's only about the size of Lincoln County. Private efforts,
6
families and businesses, planted many times that number -- enough
to blanket an area almost the size of Connecticut.
The paper here last month said that, today, there are
exactly 28,334 trees in the city of Sioux Falls. Now, first of
all, I'd like to meet the guy who counted that last 334.
[[PAUSE]] But seriously, a people that counts its trees so
carefully knows how to value them. Each one makes a difference.
And so can each one of you.
And as we commemorate the year South Dakota became a new
star in the American flag -- the American constellation -- I hope
every family in the state will become part of yet another
constellation -- the constellation we've called "A Thousand
Points of Light.'
Because you in South Dakota know what it takes to plant a
tree. It doesn't take a federal program. It doesn't take a new
bureaucracy. And it sure doesn't take some fancy new study.
What it takes is a shovel.
It is a family project you can do in your own homes --
literally -- in your own back yards. We can cultivate good
character in our children by cultivating a cleaner environment.
We need to plant new hedgerows around croplands, new windbreaks
around our homes and towns. In the middle of this century, we
built the interstate highway system, the greatest ground
transportation network since Rome. Now let's make these
corridors beautiful, quieter, greener -- and cleaner.
7
On the plains of Texas, where Barbara and I raised our
children, the story is told of a pioneer tradition that said:
"Plant plums for yourself -- and pecans for your grandchildren."
A hundred years ago, some far-sighted Texas settlers planted
tiny pecan seedlings. It took hours of back-breaking work,
hauling water in the hot prairie sun. But pecan trees take many
years to mature -- and the settlers themselves would never live
to enjoy shade or food from the trees. It was called a
"grandchildren's grove."
Other settlers wanted quick results. They planted fast-
growing plum trees. And, for a few years, they got good fruit.
But soon the soft bark split, sprouting tangled, barren plum
bushes. Instead of enjoying the protection of tall, stately
pecan trees, the grandchildren who followed were saddled with the
hardship of clearing a thicket.
It is planting time now for South Dakota -- for America --
and for all of spaceship Earth. The choices we make today can
either nurture and protect our children -- or bequeath them only
another generation of thickets and foul air.
Let us tap into the greatness of the American spirit. Let
us honor the pioneers who gave us this state by giving back to
generations yet to come. And 100 years from now, South Dakota
will still be a good place to raise children and cottonwood trees
and other precious living things.
Enjoy the celebration. Enjoy the autumn ahead. Good luck,
God bless you. And God bless America.