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This is not a textual record. This is used as an
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Folder Title:
National Literacy Honors 2/11/90 [OA 4391]
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5
Document No. 111218
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
2/9/90
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
5
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
RESPONSE:
01 : olv 6 833 06
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 8, 1990
1939 FEB PM >: 34
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
MARK DAVIS
MD
SUBJECT:
National Literacy Honors
On Sunday, February 11th at 5:00 p.m. in the East Room, you
and Mrs. Bush will host the National Literacy Honors. You will
speak for a minute and a half at the beginning and end of the
ceremony. During the 55 minute program, 8 honors will be
conveyed to three new learners, three teachers, and two business
people; and several stars and local student choirs will perform.
The ceremony will be taped by ABC to air as a special in early
March. Your remarks cover the importance of a literate society
to the future of America. You will read from a teleprompter.
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
Title: Read
Draft: Two
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Barbara and I are so pleased to welcome you to the East Room
of the White House.
As you know, for eight years before I was elected President,
Barbara had joined forces with you -- you who are helping to
build a more literate society -- you who joined Barbara in
bringing to light America's most fundamental concern in
education.
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\ And another of our
founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, said -- no, he wrote that:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free\\
...
it expects
what never was and never will be."
That is the scope of illiteracy -- from the most personal
and private pain to the broadest national distress; from those
who will never know that a book can be a true friend in the still
hours of the night, to those who do not even have the skills to
get a job or be an active citizen.
2
Poor literacy has to do with every human and social concern
-- labor lost, potential unfulfilled, poverty, bigotry and
despair.
We are here tonight to honor exemplary Americans --
exemplary because they represent so many other heroes in our
national literacy effort\\
so many other learners and
teachers and helpers\\
hundreds of thousands of them.
These are people who are doing what is in their own best
interests\\
and in the best interests of America. And it
is our fervent hope that they will inspire millions more to join
them.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We have been entertained tonight. But we have also been
moved. Now it's time to do more to advance literacy. And we
must do more because literacy is critical to the very future of
our country.
of course, America is still a world leader when it comes to
producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in economics, and
literature. But it's not good enough that America produces Nobel
Prize-winning novelists, if most American parents quit reading to
their children. It's not good enough that American industry
3
invents new computers, if American workers can't build them and
American consumers can't read the instructions to operate them.
Literacy is the key to our prosperity. But it is even more
-- it is essential to our freedoms, to everything that really
matters about being an American. It's as simple, and as
complicated, as that.
Last fall, I called the nation's governors together for an
Education Summit -- the first of its kind in our history. We
studied the problems of American education. And then we
developed our goals. Among them:
-- to boost the high school graduation rate to no less than
90 percent;)
-- to make our students first in the world in math and
science achievement; to assess their progress right up to
graduation;
-- and, most of all, to help every adult American become
literate by the year 2000.
If we come even close to our goals -- and we will --
millions of our fellow Americans will have the tools they need to
break out of their isolation, to move out of poverty, to get jobs
and to keep them, to share the American dream with their
children.
Parents can share that dream, starting this very night, by
sitting down to read with their kids. There is no better
investment than the children of America.
4
Thank you for all you've done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 7, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
ROGER B. PORTER
RBP
SUBJECT:
National Literacy Honors Remarks
The draft remarks for the national literacy honors
ceremonies set an appropriate tone for this important occasion.
The following suggestions may help strengthen some sections of
the remarks. We also have noted other comments on the attached
draft.
General
It would be consistent with the President's and Mrs. Bush's
work to improve literacy to make a reference to literacy's role
in the family and to being responsible parents and citizens as
well as competent workers.
A possible insert on page 3, following paragraph two, could
read: "This means we will enter the next century with Americans
able to compete in the workforce and participate in our
democratic institutions/be responsible citizens. It also means
that parents will be able to read to their children -- and
grandchildren -- and pass the heritage of literacy from
generation to generation."
Page 1, para. 1
It may send a more positive signal to refer to Mrs. Bush's
leadership in "efforts to improve literacy" rather than "the
fight against illiteracy." Use of the term "literacy" is being
encouraged by those most knowledgeable about the issue and is
being used in current legislative and administrative initiatives.
We would also suggest deleting the reference to Mrs. Bush's
"cheating at Scrabble" or substituting another line.
Page 2, "Closing," para. 2
As on page 1, we would suggest referring to "America's
effort/crusade to improve/increase literacy."
69106
In the last sentence, we would suggest substituting
"instructions to use them" for "instructions to assemble them."
-2-
Page 3, para. 2
We may want to mention the Cabinet in reference to those who
were at the Summit, especially if Cabinet members are in the
audience.
Page 3, para. 3
Accurate data on the number of illiterate Americans does not
yet exist. We would suggest referring to "tens of millions" or
"millions" of adult Americans.
Please let me know if you have any questions on the above
comments or if I can be of assistance in any way.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Attachment
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
2/6/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
2/7/90 4:00 PM
SUBJECT:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
1990 FEB -6 PM 1: 41
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
( (As you know, for eight years before I was elected
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
AAD
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble.) )
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
don't know how to read, you must sometime S endure the ridicule of
small minds.
The men and women with us tonight have faced down derision. They
decided to learn. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, I want them to know this:\\ someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in their own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
with
Last fall, the nation's governors met/me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
a shield against unemployment, against poverty, against
loneliness, \\ against defeatism and failure. And we will give
them something else. Borges ((BORE-hays)), the great Argentinean
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
to
For every American who learns/read, any library can be a heaven
on earth.
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 8, 1990
1990 FEB `8 PM >: 34
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
MARK DAVIS MD
SUBJECT:
National Literacy Honors
On Sunday, February 11th at 5:00 p.m. in the East Room, you
and Mrs. Bush will host the National Literacy Honors. You will
speak for a minute and a half at the beginning and end of the
ceremony. During the 55 minute program, 8 honors will be
conveyed to three new learners, three teachers, and two business
people; and several stars and local student choirs will perform.
The ceremony will be taped by ABC to air as a special in early
March. Your remarks cover the importance of a literate society
to the future of America. You will read from a teleprompter.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
DATE:
FROM THE PRESIDENT
To:
These Are
Good.
Each needs
to be shortened
by 1/7 the - each
15 seconds to
20 IS seconds too long.
I
If each supposed
to he 1½ minits
THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
2/9/90
Title: Read
Draft: Two
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Barbara and I are so pleased to welcome you to the East Room
of the White House.
As you know, for eight years before I was elected President,
Barbara had joined forces with you -- you who are helping to
build a more literate society -- you who joined Barbara in
bringing to light America's most fundamental concern in
education.
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\ And another of our
founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, said -- no, he wrote that:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free\\
it expects
what never was and never will be."
That is the scope of illiteracy -- from the most personal
and private pain to the broadest national distress; from those
who will never know that a book can be a true friend in the still
hours of the night, to those who do not even have the skills to
get a job or be an active citizen.
2
Poor literacy has to do with every human and social concern
-- labor lost, potential unfulfilled, poverty, bigotry and
despair.
We are here tonight to honor exemplary Americans --
exemplary because they represent so many other heroes in our
national literacy effort\\
so many other learners and
teachers and helpers\\
hundreds of thousands of them.
These are people who are doing what is in their own best
interests\\
and in the best interests of America. And it
is our fervent hope that they will inspire millions more to join
them.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We have been entertained tonight. But we have also been
moved. Now it's time to do more to advance literacy. And we
must do more because literacy is critical to the very future of
our country.
of course, America is still a world leader when it comes to
producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in economics, and
literature. But it's not good enough that America produces Nobel
Prize-winning novelists, if most American parents quit reading to
their children. It's not good enough that American industry
3
invents new computers, if American workers can't build them and
American consumers can't read the instructions to operate them.
Literacy is the key to our prosperity. But it is even more
-- it is essential to our freedoms, to everything that really
matters about being an American. It's as simple, and as
complicated, as that.
Last fall, I called the nation's governors together for an
Education Summit -- the first of its kind in our history. We
studied the problems of American education. And then we
developed our goals. Among them:
-- to boost the high school graduation rate to no less than
90 percent;
-- to make our students first in the world in math and
science achievement; to assess their progress right up to
graduation;
-- and, most of all, to help every adult American become
literate by the year 2000.
If we come even close to our goals -- and we will --
millions of our fellow Americans will have the tools they need to
break out of their isolation, to move out of poverty, to get jobs
and to keep them, to share the American dream with their
children.
Parents can share that dream, starting this very night, by
sitting down to read with their kids. There is no better
investment than the children of America.
4
Thank you for all you've done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
Title: Read
Draft: Three
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Barbara and I are so pleased to welcome you to the East Room
of the White House.
As you know, for eight years before I was elected President,
Barbara had joined forces with you -- you who are helping to
build a more literate society -- bringing to light America's most
fundamental concern in education.
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. And another of our
founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, said -- no, he wrote that:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free\\
it expects
what never was and never will be."
That is the scope of illiteracy -- from the most personal
and private pain to the broadest national distress; from those
who will never know that a book can be a friend in the still
hours of the night, to those who do not even have the skills to
get a job or be an active citizen.
2
Poor literacy has to do with every human and social concern
-- labor lost, potential unfulfilled, poverty, bigotry and
despair.
So we are here tonight to honor exemplary Americans who
represent so many other heroes in our national literacy effort\\
so many other learners and teachers and helpers. May they
inspire millions more to join them.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We have been entertained tonight. But we have also been
moved. Now it's time to advance literacy. And we must, because
literacy is critical to our very future.
Of course, America is still a world leader in so many
fields. But it's not good enough that America produces Nobel
Prize-winning novelists, if most American parents aren't reading
to their children. It's not good enough that American scientists
invent new computers, if American workers can't build them and
American consumers can't read the instructions to operate them.
Literacy is even more than the key to our prosperity. It is
essential to our freedoms, to everything that really matters
about being an American.
3
Last fall, I called the nation's governors together for an
Education Summit -- the first of its kind in our history. We
studied the problems of American education. And then we
developed our goals. Among them:
-- to boost the high school graduation rate to no less than
90 percent;
-- to make our students first in the world in math and
science achievement; to assess their progress right up to
graduation;
-- and, most of all, to help every adult American become
literate by the year 2000. III
If we come even close to our goals -- and we will --
millions of our fellow Americans will have the tools they need to
break out of their isolation, to move out of poverty, to get jobs
and to keep them, to share the American dream with their
children.
Thank you for all you've done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 1, 1990
MEMORANDUM TO GOVERNOR SUNUNU
ANDY CARD
ROGER PORTER
DAVID DEMAREST
SIG ROGICH
MARLIN FITZWATER
ANNA PEREZ
FROM:
SUSAN PORTER ROSE
SUBJECT:
BACKGROUND ON NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS,
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1990, 5:00 P.M.
On Sunday, February 11th at 5:00 p.m. in the East
Room, the President and Mrs. Bush will host National
Literacy Honors. At this gala occasion three new learners,
three tutor/teachers, and two business people will be
honored for their outstanding contributions to literacy.
They will have been selected by the National Coalition for
Literacy, the umbrella organization of 14 national literacy
organizations. ABC will produce and film the event and will
carry it in early March as a network special. ABC, in an
historic joint undertaking with PBS for the past several
years, has been at the forefront of the literacy movement
with its major corporate initiative called Project Literacy
U.S. or PLUS. There will be a single sponsor, Bell
Atlantic.
The 55-minute East Room program will include Anita
Baker, Barbara Mandrell, Patrick Swayze, Morgan Freeman, the
Eastern High School Choir, the Watkins Falls Children's
Choir, and probably a couple more "stars". Approximately
200 guests from government, the private sector, and the
literacy movement will attend. A reception will follow on
the State Floor.
It is planned that the President will open the event
and close it with a minute and a half of remarks at each
time. The honorees will each be introduced by one of the
performers and there will be a brief video about each
honoree. Mrs. Bush will read the citations for the
honorees.
Ccosing: Inoug. - "SRANDP. to parent to child."
[David Demarest: Attached are suggested remarks for
the President that were submitted by the producer, Gary
Smith and some thoughts prepared by Susan Green, a
speechwriter on Mrs. Bush's staff. Also attached is the
proposed program for the evening].
The first National Literacy Honors was held November
1988, a week after the election. It was a major black-tie
event at the Washington Hilton and was planned as a single
wrap-up of Mrs. Bush's literacy efforts for the preceding
eight years and as a launch for her next chapter. Mrs. Bush
was honored, a surprise to her until two weeks before the
event, along with a number of new learners. ABC/PLUS and
the National Coalition for Literacy hosted the evening which
was underwritten by several corporations with an interest in
literacy.
'Hope this is helpful.
CC:
Julie Cooke
Laurie Firestone
Susan Green
Chriss Winston
Alixe Glen
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH OPENING REMARKS
LITERACY HONORS
Drafted by The producer.
PRESIDENT BUSH
GOOD EVENING. (ACK)
Lausy"
WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY IN THE HISTORIC
-spr.
EAST ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE TO PAY TRIBUTE
TO A FEW INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED BY
I withing
THEIR ACTIONS, A COMMITTMENT TO LITERACY.
THE ABILITY TO READ AND COMPREHEND THE WRITTEN
WORD IS THE GATEWAY TO A WORLD OF UNDERSTANDING.
IT IS A BASIC TOOL IN THE ARSENAL AGAINST
BIGOTRY, POVERTY, DEFEATISM AND FAILURE.
CANNOT GET JOBETE
PEOPLE WHO CAN READ HAVE OPPORTUNITIES DENIED
THOSE WHO CANNOT
THEY HAVE THE ENTIRE
COMPILATION OF THE WISDOM OF THE AGES AT THEIR
FINGERTIPS
THEY CAN MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON KNOWLEDGE
/never Toood
THEY CAN FIND SUCCESS IN THE MARKETPLACE, AND
NEED NEVER FEEL INFERIOR TO ANYONE ONCE THEY
STREET signs -
WHAT A SHAME TO Miss HEADLINES.
HAVE MASTERED THAT SKILL.
THE PERSON WHO CAN READ IS AN ASSET TO HIS COUNTRY
FOR THE STRENGTH OF A DEMOCRACY IS BASED IN LARGE
MEASURE ON AN INFORMED PUBLIC.
THE PERSON WHO CAN READ CAN COMMUNICATE WITH HIS
PEERS, HIS PARENTS, HIS CHILDREN AND HIS CO-WORKERS
WITH EASE AND SECURITY.
instructions
ACT ACT OF COURE
THE PERSONS WE HONOR TONIGHT KNOW FULL WELL THE
BENEFITS AND BLESSINGS OF LITERACY. SOME ARE
BEING HONORED FOR THEIR SKILLS AND DEDICATION IN
TEACHING OTHERS HOW TO READ.
37
Books I
SOME ARE BEING HONORED FOR OVERCOMING RIDICULE AND
SHAME AND EMOTIONAL BLOCKS TO SEEK OUT THE HELP
I
NEEDED
TO ACHIEVE PARITY WITH THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS.
(MORE)
SOD 012
60:12 06. 81 NOT
PRESIDENT BUSH REMARKS (CONTINUED)
PRESIDENT BUSH
(CONTINUES)
ALL ARE BEING HONORED FOR BEING AN INSPIRATION
TO OTHERS -- A POSITIVE FORCE IN THE BATTLE
AGAINST ILLITERACY.
I'M VERY PROUD THAT MY WIFE, BARBARA, WAS HONORED
LAST YEAR FOR HER WORK ON BEHALF OF LITERACY IN
AMERICA, AND I KNOW THAT SHE IS COMPLETELY
COMMITTED TO THE MISSION OF BRINGING THE LIGHT
OF KNOWLEDGE THROUGH THE SKILL OF READING TO
EVERYONE OF OUR CITIZENS REGARDLESS OF AGE OR
BACKGROUND.
TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE WHO MAY NOT KNOW OF, OR
HAVE BEEN RELUCTANT TO ATTEND ANY OF THE PROGRAMS
IN PLACE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY TO TEACH BASIC
READING SKILLS, I URGE YOU TO WATCH THIS PROGRAM
AND, HOPEFULLY, YOU WILL BE INSPIRED TO TAKE THAT
FIRST STEP ON THE ROAD TO TRUE FREEDOM.
IT IS A GIFT THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME, AND IT IS
NEVER TOO LATE TO START.
THANK YOU.
- Susen Green, Drifted by
Mrs. Bush's
Draft Remarks for President Bush at the National Literacy Honors
office
X 7905
-
Welcome to the White House. In November of 1988, at the
First National Literacy Honors, Barbara and I made our first
public appearance after the election. That was no coincidence --
win or lose, we were determined to celebrate literacy.
Two weeks ago, before both Houses of Congress and the
American people, I reported on the State of the Union. I talked
about the idea that is America, and the freedom that inspires
that idea -- "the single, shining principle of freedom." Well,
the men who had the idea, our founding fathers, said, among other
things, that "we the people of the United States" had to "secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." And we
cannot truly secure those blessings if we are not a literate
people.
In this world today literacy, our basic education, is key to
all our freedoms, to everything that really matters. It's as
WHAT ASHAME TO Miss
simple, and as complicated, as that.
Our changing economy, our international competitiveness,
requires a more and more literate work force -- not just in the
future, but today, right now. Every business in this country
knows that our workers must be increasingly more competent
and trainable and retrainable
and flexible
and, above
all, productive. Literacy is a bottom line issue.
I
Our society needs literate people to be healthy, to be safe.
Prisons and public assistance rolls and crack houses are filled
with people without good basic skills. The educational
achievement of a parent can predict the child's success, SO
children with literate parents have a leg up on their own
educations -- they can get help and reinforcement at home, their
parents can be partners in their learning, and they may just be
more likely to stay in school
and off the streets
and off
drugs
and out of trouble.
And what about our democracy
our treasured government
of, by, and for the people
our unique brand of freedom? It
absolutely depends on a literate populace. Thomas Jefferson said
-- no, he WROTE, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free
it expects what never was and never will be." Ignorance is a
kind of slavery, for nations as well as for individuals, and
neither our nation nor our people can tolerate the bondage of
poor literacy.
5
How
Tonight we are honoring Americans who are helping to secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
They
represent thousands of other people who are doing the same great
service to the idea that is America. And I fervently hope they
will inspire millions more to join them.
2
Rev. Drift 1/24/90
1
"TO BE FREE . THE NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS"
VTR: February 11, 1990
Location: The White House
Short Rundown
#
ITEM NAME
PAGE#
SEG TIME
CUM TIME
EVENT TIME
1.
TITLE MONTAGE/GUEST BILLBOARD
0:00:50
0:00:50
2.
COMMERCIAL BILLBOARD
0:00:10
0:01:00
3.
PRESIDENT & MRS. BUSH ENTRANCE
0:00:30
0:01:30
4.
OPENING REMARKS - PRESIDENT BUSH
0:01:30
0:03:00
(President Bush)
5.
PERFORMANCE #1 - "REACH"
0:02:30
0:05:30
(Barbara Mandrell, Eastern High
School Choir, Band of 8, Marine Orchestra)
MUSIC: "REACH"
6.
INTRODUCTION CO-HOST #A
0:00:10
0:05:40
(Announcer V.O.)
7.
CO-HOST INTRODUCE INEZ ORTIZ (LEARNER)
0:01:00
0:06:40
8.
INEZ ORTIZ BACKGROUND SEGMENT
0:01:45
0:08:25
(VTPB: INEZ ORTIZ BACKGROUND)
9.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #1:
0:00:50
0:09:15
INEZ ORTIZ (LEARNER)
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Inez Ortiz)
10.
INTRODUCTION CO-HOST #B
0:00:10
0:09:25
(Announcer V.O.)
11.
CO-HOST INTRODUCE
0:01:00
0:10:25
EDWARD CASTOR (LEARNER)
12.
EDWARD CASTOR BACKGROUND SEGMENT
0:01:45
0:12:10
(VTPB: EDWARD CASTOR BACKGROUND)
#
ITEM NAME
PAGE#
SEG TIME
CUM TIME
EVENT TIME
2
13.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #2:
0:00:50
0:13:00
EDWARD CASTOR (LEARNER)
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Edward Castor)
14.
COMMERCIAL #1
0:01:30
0:14:30
15.
INTRO ANITA BAKER
0:00:10
0:14:40
(Announcer V.O.)
16.
ANITA BAKER INTRO PERFORMANCE
0:00:30
0:15:10
(Anita Baker)
17.
PERFORMANCE #2 GOD BLESS THE CHILD"
0:03:00
0:18:10
(Anita Baker)
MUSIC: "GOD BLESS THE CHILD"
18.
ANITA BAKER INTRODUCE
0:01:00
0:19:10
LORNA ANDERSON (TEACHER)
19.
LORNA ANDERSON BACKGROUND SEGMENT
0:01:45
0:20:55
(VTPB: LORNA ANDERSON BACKGROUND)
20.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #3:
0:00:50
0:21:45
LORNA ANDERSON (TEACHER)
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Lorna Anderson)
21.
ABC I.D./COMMERCIAL #2/ABC PROMO
0:02:33
0:24:18
22.
INTRO CO-HOST #D
0:00:10
0:24:28
(Announcer V.O.)
23.
CO-HOST INTRODUCE HAROLD MCGRAW
0:01:00
0:25:28
24.
HAROLD MCGRAW BACKGROUND SEGMENT
0:01:45
0:27:13
(VTPB: HAROLD MCGRAW BACKGROUND)
25.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #4:
0:00:50
0:28:03
HAROLD MCGRAW
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Harold McGraw)
26.
INTRO CO-HOST #E
0:00:10
0:28:13
(Announcer V.O.)
#
ITEM NAME
PAGE#
SEG TIME
CUM TIME
EVENT TIME
3
27.
CO-HOST INTRODUCE
0:01:00
0:29:13
JAMES-UNDERWOOD (LEARNER)
28.
JAMES UNDERWOOD
0:01:45
0:30:58
BACKGROUND SEGMENT
(VTPB: JAMES UNDERWOOD BACKGROUND)
29.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #5:
0:00:50
0:31:48
JAMES UNDERWOOD (LEARNER)
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, James Underwood)
30.
COMMERCIAL #3
0:01:00
0:34:42
ABC PROMO
0:00:30
TITLE ART WORK (with Announcer V.O.)
0:00:05
MID-NET I.D.
0:00:10
MID-STATION BREAK
0:01:04
TITLE ART WORK
0:00:05
31.
INTRO GUEST PERFORMER
0:00:10
0:34:52
(Announcer V.O.)
32.
GUEST INTRO PERFORMANCE
0:00:30
0:35:22
33.
PERFORMANCE #3 "TBA"
0:03:00
0:38:22
MUSIC: "TBA"
34.
INTRO CO-HOST #F
0:00:10
0:38:32
(Announcer V.O.)
35.
CO-HOST INTRODUCE
0:01:00
0:39:32
ARTHUR STROPE (TUTOR)
36.
ARTHUR STROPE BACKGROUND SEGMENT
0:01:45
0:41:17
(VTPB: ARTHUR STROPE BACKGROUND)
37.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #6:
0:00:50
0:42:07
ARTHUR STROPE (TUTOR)
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Arthur Strope)
38.
COMMERCIAL #4/ABC PROMO
0:02:30
0:44:37
39.
INTRO CO-HOST #G
0:00:10
0:44:47
(Announcer V.O.)
40.
CO-HOST INTRODUCE
0:01:00
0:45:47
EVANGELINA OLEA (TUTOR)
#
ITEM NAME
PAGE#
SEG TIME
CUM TIME
EVENT TIME
4
41.
EVANGELINA OLEA BACKGROUND SEGMENT
0:01:45
0:47:32
(VTPB: EVANGELINA OLEA BACKGROUND)
42.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #7:
0:00:50
0:48:22
EVANGELINA OLEA (TUTOR)
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Evangelina Olea)
43.
INTRO CO-HOST #H
0:00:10
0:48:32
(Announcer V.O.)
44.
CO-HOST INTRODUCE WALLY AMOS
0:01:00
0:49:32
45.
WALLY AMOS BACKGROUND SEGMENT
0:01:45
0:51:17
(VTPB: WALLY AMOS BACKGROUND)
46.
PRESENTION OF AWARD #8:
0:00:50
0:52:07
WALLY AMOS
(President Bush, Mrs. Bush, Wally Amos)
47.
COMMERCIAL #5/ABC PROMO
0:01:45
0:53:52
48.
BARBARA MANDRELL INTRO
0:01:00
0:54:52
LORETTA LYNN TRIBUTE
(Barbara Mandrell)
49.
PERFORMANCE #4 "TEACH ME TO READ"
0:02:30
0:57:22
(Barbara Mandrell, Loretta Lynn,
Watkins Mill Elementary School Choir)
MUSIC: "TEACH ME TO READ"
50.
PRESIDENT & MRS. BUSH CLOSING
0:01:00
0:58:22
REMARKS AND GOODNIGHTS
(President Bush, Mrs Bush)
only
51.
COMMERCIAL BILLBOARD
0:00:10
0:58:32
52.
CLOSING COMMERCIAL
0:01:00
0:59:32
BILLBOARDS AND CREDITS
( :40 for credits)
TOTAL ORIGINAL CONTENT:
0:48:20
TOTAL COMMERCIAL TIME:
0:11:12
TOTAL PROGRAM LENGTH:
0:59:32
ABC MUST OUT TIME
0:58:11
OVERS: 0:01:21
3
invents new computers, if American workers can't build them and
American consumers can't read the instructions to operate them.
Literacy is the key to our prosperity. But it is even more
-- it is essential to our freedoms, to everything that really
matters about being an American. It's as simple, and as
complicated, as that.
Last fall, I calledthe nation's governors together for an
Education Summit -- the first of its kind in our history. We
studied the problems of American education.
And then we
developed our goals. Among them:
-- to boost the high school graduation rate to no less than
90 percent;
-- to make our students first in the world in math and
science achievement; to assess their progress right up to
graduation;
-- and, most of all, to help every adult American become
literate by the year 2000.
If we come even close to our goals -- and we will --
millions of our fellow Americans will have the tools they need to
break out of their isolation, to move out of poverty, to get jobs
and to keep them, to share the American dream with their
children.
Parents can share that dream, starting this very night, by
sitting down to read with their kids. There is no better
investment than the children of America.
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
2/6/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
2/7/90 4:00 PM
SUBJECT:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE N/C
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER on CapHill
DARMAN
ROGICH N/C
BATES
NIC
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST N/C
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
N/C
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
IS Ed 9 06
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
ment
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
1990 FEB -6 PM 1: 41
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
((As you know, for eight years before I was elected
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble.) )
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
don't know how to read, you must sometime endure the ridicule of
small minds.
The men and women with us tonight faced down derision. They
decided to learn. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, I want them to know this: someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.\\\
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in their own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
Last fall, the nation's governors met me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
a shield against unemployment, against poverty, against
loneliness, against defeatism and failure. And we will give
them something else. Borges ((BORE-hays)), the great Argentinean
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
For every American who learns read, any library can be a heaven
on earth.
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 7, 1990
MEMORANDUM TO: CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
SUSAN PORTER ROSE
Chief of Staff to Mrs. Bush
We have a number of reservations about the Presidents remarks as
drafted. These are our concerns, and attached is our suggested
redraft:
1. The President and Governors have established an educational
goal of making every American adult literate. That goal is based
on the fact that poor literacy among adults causes the nation
SERIOUS economic and social problems, not that people can't enjoy
a good book. The present draft tends to emphasize the soft,
personal aspects of literacy, rather than the hard-core public
aspects and, thus, seems to diminish -- even trivialize -- the
whole issue. It seems as if the draft goes in the wrong
direction -- from an acknowledgement of the larger, more
practical, and urgent issues to an ultimate focus on "the joy of
reading." It does not seem in keeping with a national
educational goal.
Senator Simon's very extensive bill for literacy has just passed
the Senate 99-0, and the Administration has opposed it. We feel
the President's remarks must show some real understanding of the
problem as part of his agenda as Education President, and not
just a tribute to his wife's "nice" cause.
2. There is the use of old imagery that the literacy field is
moving away from -- battle metaphors about "the fight against
illiteracy." Generally speaking, the literacy community does not
feel that illiteracy is an enemy to be vanquished; the current
thinking is that it's the absence of critical life skills. We
feel that we should try not to convey a notion of the poor
downtrodden illiterate who needs help to triumph over his shame
and the derision of others. Most people with poor basic skills
are not totally illiterate, and most want to contribute but are
limited or at risk.
3. The event is not meant to highlight the "small and select
group of American heroes" as if they had won a contest of some
kind, when in fact they represent thousands of other Americans
who are working for literacy.
4. The Scrabble joke seems altogether inappropriate and may be
seen as an insult by those with the problem of poor literacy.
We feel this is an important opportunity for the President to
show a deeper understanding of the urgency of literacy as he
claims it for his own as a central part of his education agenda.
May we stay in touch, and thank you and your staff for everyone's
efforts!
CC: Mrs. Bush
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 7, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
ROGER B. PORTER
RBP
SUBJECT:
National Literacy Honors Remarks
The draft remarks for the national literacy honors
ceremonies set an appropriate tone for this important occasion.
The following suggestions may help strengthen some sections of
the remarks. We have also noted other comments on the attached
draft.
General
It would be consistent with the President's and Mrs. Bush's
work to improve literacy to make a reference to literacy's role
in the family and to being responsible parents and citizens as
well as competent workers.
A possible insert on page 3, following paragraph two, could
read: "This means we will enter the next century with Americans
able to compete in the workforce and participate in our
democratic institutions/be responsible citizens. It also means
that parents will be able to read to their children -- and
grandchildren -- and pass the heritage of literacy from
generation to generation."
Page 1, para. 1
It may send a more positive signal to refer to Mrs. Bush's
leadership in "efforts to improve literacy" rather than "the
fight against illiteracy." Use of the term "literacy" is being
encouraged by those most knowledgeable about the issue and is
being used in current legislative and administrative initiatives.
We would also suggest deleting the reference to Mrs. Bush's
"cheating at Scrabble" 02 substituting another line.
Page 2, "Closing," para. 2
As on page 1, we would suggest referring to "America's
effort/crusade to improve/increase literacy."
In the last sentence, we would suggest substituting
"instructions to use them" for "instructions to assemble them."
-2-
Page 3, para. 2
We may want to mention the Cabinet in reference to those who
were at the Summit, especially if Cabinet members are in the
audience.
Page 3, para. 3
Accurate data on the number of illiterate Americans does not
yet exist. We would suggest referring to "tens of millions" or
"millions" of adult Americans.
Please let me know if you have any questions on the above
comments or if I can be of assistance in any way.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Attachment
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
2/6/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
2/7/90 4:00 PM
SUBJECT:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
1990 FEB -6 PM 1: 41
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
( (As you know, for eight years before I was elected
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
pass
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble.) )
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
don't know how to read, you must sometime 5 endure the ridicule of
small minds.
have
The men and women with us tonight/faced down derision. They
decided to learn. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, I want them to know this: someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.\\\
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in their own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
with
Last fall, the nation's governors met/me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
a shield against unemployment, against poverty, 11 against
loneliness, against defeatism and failure. And we will give
them something else. Borges ((BORE-hays)), the great Argentinean
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
to
For every American who learns/read, any library can be a heaven
on earth.
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
'build" do "tool"
shield + war out
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
Tone-
trivialized
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
( (As you know, for eight years before I was elected
Disaster
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble.) ))
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
don't know how to read, you must sometime endure the ridicule of
small minds.
The men and women with us tonight faced down derision. They
decided to learn. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, I want them to know this: someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in their own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
Last fall, the nation's governors met me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
a shield against unemployment, against poverty, against
loneliness, \\ against defeatism and failure. And we will give
them something else. Borges ((BORE-hays) ) the great Argentinean
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
For every American who learns read, any library can be a heaven
on earth.
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 7, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
JIM PINKERTON
P
SUBJECT:
National Literacy Honors Draft
pg. 2, para. 6, line 5
"But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books
are largely unread in their own country? What's the
advantage for a nation that can invent new computers, if
no one can read the instructions to assemble them?"
We suggest rephrasing thus: "But what's the
advantage
if not everyone in their country is able to
read them? What's the advantage if not everyone is able
to read the instructions
?"
The "not everyone"
formulation is less sweeping than "no one" and "largely
unread."
3,1,1 " literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters - - our democracy."
An innocent set of questions: If by making these
sweeping statements about literacy, are we deprecating
those who are physically unable to read? For example, are
the blind illiterate? This is particularly relevant
because of the Borges quote below. Borges, like Helen
Keller, wrote books, but being blind, was he literate? If
Borges was literate because of his familiarity with
representational characters, what about Homer, who also
"wrote" books but was not?
In light of, or rather, in the dark about these
uncertainties, we suggest simply changing "is the key
to. " to "is crucial to preserving our freedoms and
everything
"
3,3,6 The word "to" has been omitted from between
"learns" and "read."
###
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
2/6/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
2/7/90 4:00 PM
SUBJECT:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
See comments
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
1990 FEB -6 PM 1: 41
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
( (As you know, for eight years before I was elected
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble.) )
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
don't know how to read, you must sometime endure the ridicule of
small minds.
The men and women with us tonight faced down derision. They
decided to learn. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, I want them to know this: someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.\\\
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in their own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
Last fall, the nation's governors met me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
of
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
Note:
the 27
a shield against unemployment, against poverty, against
million
estimate is not
loneliness, against defeatism and failure. And we will give
widely
them something else. Borges ((BORE-hays)) the great Argentinean
accepted It La but
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
several one of
For every American who learns read, any library can be a heaven
estimales
on earth.
ranging from 21
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
to 68
America and good night.
million.
#
#
#
Marting
+ 3921
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
2/6/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
2/7/90 4:00 PM
DATE:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
N/C
2/7/90
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 ; 2- 7-90 ; 3:57PM ;
2024562397-
2024566218:# 1
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
2/6/90
2/7/90 4:00 PM
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
SUBJECT:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
FIRESTONE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
NO comment
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 6, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR
COMMUNICATIONS
FROM:
JAY S. BYBEE jot
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: National Literacy Honors
Counsel's office has reviewed the above-referenced matter. We
have no legal objections.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this matter.
CC: James. W. Cicconi
06:11A 06
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
2/6/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
2/7/90 4:00 PM
SUBJECT:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
GRAY
FIRESTONE
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
OK
Bruce 3anue for S.R,
EE 6 A 48306
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
1990 FEB -6 PM 1: 41
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
( (As you know, for eight years before I was elected
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble.) )
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
don't know how to read, you must sometime endure the ridicule of
small minds.
The men and women with us tonight faced down derision. They
decided to learn. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, I want them to know this: someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.\\\
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in their own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
Last fall, the nation's governors met me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
a shield against unemployment, against poverty, against
loneliness, against defeatism and failure. And we will give
them something else. Borges ((BORE-hays)), the great Argentinean
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
For every American who learns read, any library can be a heaven
on earth.
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
( (As you know, for eight years before I was elected
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble. ))
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
Sometimes
don't know how to read, you A must endure the ridicule of small
minds. You must put aside embarrassment. And you must learn
The men and women with us tonight faced down derision. They
decided to learn
put aside shame. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, \\ I want them to know this: someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in their own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
Last fall, the nation's governors met me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
a shield against unemployment, 11 against poverty, 11 against
londers
bigotry, against defeatism and failure. And we will give them
something else. Borges ( (BORE-hays)), the great Argentinean
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
For every American who learns read, any library can be a heaven
on earth.
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
Title: Read
Draft: Two
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Barbara and I are so pleased to welcome you to the East Room
of the White House.
As you know, for eight years before I was elected President,
Barbara had joined forces with you -- you who are helping to
build a more literate society -- you who joined Barbara in
bringing to light America's most fundamental concern in
education.
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. And another of our
founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, said -- no, he wrote that:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free\\
it expects
what never was and never will be."
That is the scope of illiteracy -- from the most personal
and private pain to the broadest national distress; from those
who will never know that a book can be a true friend in the still
hours of the night, to those who do not even have the skills to
get a job or be an active citizen.
2
Poor literacy has to do with every human and social concern
-- labor lost, potential unfulfilled, poverty, bigotry and
despair.
We are here tonight to honor exemplary Americans --
exemplary because they represent so many other heroes in our
national literacy effort
so many other learners and
teachers and helpers\
hundreds of thousands of them.
These are people who are doing what is in their own best
interests
and in the best interests of America. And it
is our fervent hope that they will inspire millions more to join
them.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We have been entertained tonight. But we have also been
moved. Now it's time to do more to advance literacy. And we
must do more because literacy is critical to the very future of
our country.
Of course, America is still a world leader when it comes to
producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in economics, and
literature. But it's not good enough that America produces Nobel
Prize-winning novelists, if most American parents quit reading to
their children. It's not good enough that American industry
3
build
invents new computers, if American workers can't make them and
American consumers can't read the instructions to operate them.
Literacy is the key to our prosperity. But it is even more
-- it is essential to our freedoms, to everything that really
matters about being an American. It's as simple, and as
complicated, as that.
Last fall, VICalled the nation's governors, met me in Charlottesville
together For
am instruy.
at an Education Summit -- the first of its kind, We studied the
of american education.
Among them
problems And then we developed our goals
--- to boost the high school graduation rate to no less than
90 percent;
-- to make our students first in the world in math and
science achievement; to assess their progress right up to
graduation;
-- and, most of all, to help every adult American become
literate by the year 2000.\
If we come even close to our goals -- and we will --
millions of our fellow Americans will have the tools they need to
break out of their isolation, to move out of poverty, to get jobs
and to keep them, to share the American dream with their
children.
Parents can share that dream, starting this very night, by
Therrie no little mistment than
sitting down to read with their kids, 1 the children of America,
Thank you for all you've done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#
Presidential Remarks
OPENING
Barbara and I are so pleased to welcome you to the East Room
of the White House.
As you know, for eight years before I was elected President,
Barbara had joined forces with all of you who are helping to
build a more literate America.
Now, Barbara likes to say SHE
married very well, but tonight is one of the many occasions when
it's perfectly clear to everyone that I did pretty well myself.
Because Barbara chose to focus on our most fundamental
educational concern, and she -- and you -- have gotten the
nation's attention.
No less an authority than Benjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being,
and he replied: "a lonesome man on a rainy day who does not know
how to read." And another of our founding fathers, Thomas
Jefferson, said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free
it expects what never was and never will be." That is the scope
of literacy -- from the most personal and private pain to the
broadest national distress from those who will never know the
true friendship of a book in the still hours of the night to
/
(even
set A job OR ACTAS
those who do not have the skills to fill critical positions and
be AN ACTIVE CITIZEN
to share in governing themselves. And poor literacy has to do
SOCIAL
with every human and societal concern in between -- labor lost,
biootey
potential unfulfilled, poverty and despair and crime.
We are here tonight to honor exemplary Americans --
exemplary because they represent so many other heroes in our
national literacy effort
so many other learners and teachers
and helpers
hundreds of thousands of them. These are people
who are doing what is in their own best interests
and in the
OUR
best interest of America. And fervently hope they will inspire
millions more to join them.
CLOSING
BEEN AINED TONIGHT
Some: Mooins
BUT
Also
We have heard splendid people tonight.
We have been moved. Now
it's time to do more
?
WE must DO MORE BEC. all liteRAy
Working together for greater literacy is a test of our
national ? will, critical to the very future of America. This is
not an overstatement. America is still a world leader when it
comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in economics,
WHAT GOOD DOES IT Do CHICD REW TO LIVE IN A
in literature. But what is the advantage for a nation with Nobel
their
themat nisht
Prize-winning novelists if parents can't read to their children?
What is the advantage for a nation that can invent new computers,
CAN'T MAKE
if workers have trouble producing them and consumers can't read
OPERATE
ANDTO Att our
the instructions to assemble them?
the
-PROSPERITY BUT ALSO TO our
Literacy is key to all our freedoms, to everything that
ABOUT BEING AMERICAN every
really matters our democracy. It's as simple, and as
complicated, as that.
Last fall, the nation's governors met me in Charlottesville
at an Education Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the
developed
problem. And we have set our goal, and this is it: to make
every adult American literate by the year 2000.
If we even come close to our goal -- and we will -- millions
more of our fellow Americans will have the tools they need to
jobs to
break their isolation, to move out of poverty, to get and keep
THEM
jobs, to share with their children the American dream. Henry
A WISE MAN
Peter Brougham ("Broom"), the great British statesman, once said:
"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive,
easy to govern, but impossible to enslave." That is what we want
for all Americans.
Thank you for all you have done and will do. God bless you,
God bless America, and good night.
#
#
#
/. mention SOU oference h mading / mace e ducation
goal
Document No. 11121855
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
2/6/90
2/7/90 4:00 PM
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
PORTER ROSE
FIRESTONE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 4:00 PM, Wednesday, February 7, with a copy
RESPONSE:
NC
AA
James W. Cicconi
Assistent to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Davis/Martin
Feb. 5, 1990
1990 FEB -6 PM 1:41
Title: Read
Draft: One
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: EAST ROOM, NATIONAL LITERACY HONORS
FEBRUARY 11, SUNDAY, 5 p.m.
OPENING
Welcome to the East Room of the White House.
((As you know, for eight years before I was elected
President, Barbara was leading the fight against illiteracy that
we are advancing tonight. And to think, for all those
years, I thought she was cheating at Scrabble.) )\\\
He 1000 an authority than Renjamin Franklin was once asked
what was one of the worst things that could befall a human being.
After a moment's reflection, he replied: "A lonesome man on a
rainy day who does not know how to read. "\\
The cost of illiteracy must first be calculated in terms of
labor lost, in jobs denied -- in poverty and despair. But Ben
Franklin was right -- there is another cost -- and it is steep.
I am thinking of all those who will never know that a book can be
a true friend in the still hours of the night.
We are here tonight to honor a small and select group of
American heroes. A few are being honored for their dedication in
teaching others how to read. Others are being honored for
learning how to read.
2
This is no small feat, for if you are an adult, and you
don't know how to read, you must sometime endure the ridicule of
small minds.
The men and women with us tonight faced down derision. They
decided to learn. And they earned for themselves not just a
skill, but an ever-lasting pride no one can take away.
And so if anyone watching this show tonight has the same
problem, I want them to know this: someone in your community
is ready to teach you how to read. There is no shame -- only
honor -- for those who try.
Thank you for coming together for this critical national
effort. I believe we're in for a wonderful evening.
CLOSING
We heard a few songs, and shed a tear or two. Now it's time
to do something.
The fight against illiteracy is a test of our national will,
critical to the very future of America. This may sound like an
overstatement. America is, after all, still a world leader when
it comes to producing Nobel Prize winners in physics, in
economics and in literature. But what's the advantage for a
nation with Nobel Prize-winning novelists, if their books are
largely unread in thoir own country? What is the advantage for a
nation that can invent new computers, if no one can read the
instructions to assemble them?
3
Most of all, literacy is the key to all our freedoms, to
everything that really matters -- our democracy. It's as simple,
and as complicated, as that.
Last fall, the nation's governors met me in at an Education
Summit -- the first of its kind. We studied the problem. And we
have defined our goal, and this is it: to make every adult
American literate by the year 2000.
If we do, then we will give 27 million Americans a shield --
a shield against unemployment,\ against poverty, against
loneliness, against defeatism and failure. And we will give
them something else. Borges ((BORE-hays)), the great Argentinean
writer, once said that he imagined heaven as a kind of library.
For every American who learns read, any library can be a heaven
on earth.
Thank you for all you have done. God bless you, God bless
America and good night.
#
#
#