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World War II Veterans 12/7/91 [OA 6040] [2]
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323151751
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World War II Veterans 12/7/91 [OA 6040] [2]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Speech Draft Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Draft Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13593
Folder ID Number:
13593-008
Folder Title:
World War II Veterans 12/7/91 [OA 6040] [2]
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
26
17
5
1
Note to
sealth stately
THE PRE
Dr. Ritter-
President's
Grant/Simon
A:Kilo-8.ts ]
Notes
December 2,
:
PRESIDENTIAL DLC REMARKS CADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
KIDO EIGHT, HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
9:50 A.M.
[Acknowledgements]
I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all of you do, too. I was seventeen years
my ren) at
old, walking across the yard in high school. My thoughts in
those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler
things: making the basketball team, entering college. That walk
across campus marked an end of innocence for me, and someone
who
later described the attack as the instant "when the impossible
happened, when warfare suddenly spread, for the first and only
time in history, to virtually the whole world."
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
chich noth
June 12, 1942
And so, on my 18th birthday ^ I was sworn into the Navy as a
Seaman Second Class. Just a scared and nervous kid, learning how
Don-
to fly the "low and slow" torpedo bombers
I named my Grumman
Needs
Avenger for Barbara. I was shocked at my first sight of Pearl
wml
Harbor in April of '44: we came into port on the San Jacinto, and
docked right behind the Essex. Nearby, the Utah was still on her
side, and parts of the Arizona still poked through the water.
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as if to demand
remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality.
Lile all surrease hids bach the I
wonted to fight for my county I leaved to
fly Tonynds Bonchus and and the on on am
came.
2
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- I wrote letters to the families of crewmen
?
who didn't return from bombing runs, and I prayed for my buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. We all did.
A thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya and Hong Kong. The first blasts at Pearl Harbor
annihilated our national illusions. They demonstrated to one and
all the futility of isolationism, the stupidity of complacency,
and the importance of preparedness. In "the two hours that
Day of
changed the world," Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into a
Inform
1
titanic contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American
spirit as never before into a single-minded resolve that could
produce only one thing: victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news that night.
After the loss at Dunkirk, the Fall of France, the blitz of
London, the scourge of the U-boats, he said that once America had
been attacked, there was "no more doubt about the end." He knew
then that the American spirit would not fail.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "with confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determination of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God." It was the steadfastness
of the American people that would "win the war" and "win the
peace that follows."
3
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the initial conflict -- "the
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at an "America First" rally in Pittsburgh at
precisely the moment that bombs here were sending Americans to
early, violent deaths. Before nightfall, our Nation discovered
that isolationism really boils down to defeatism, defiant self-
doubt -- it involves a childlike fear that evil will go away if
we just avert our eyes. You cannot defeat tyranny by avoiding
it. You cannot meet the challenges of world leadership by
retreating from the world. Fifty years after Pearl Harbor, we
know that despite our two oceans, no nation is an island.
Those who call today for an "America First" isolationism,
cartul Bulum A
in
like those who rallied in Pittsburgh 50 years ago, don't see the
GP
danger -- military and economic -- that isolationism invites. As
science and technology change, so do the means and methods of
warfare. Sneak attacks -- from terrorists, military strongmen,
and renegade nations bent on aggression -- now occupy our
attention, just as superpower tensions did a couple of years ago.
Events in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, the Middle East and
elsewhere prove that the post-Cold War world is a volatile place.
Isolationists also overlook the gains from engagement. The
United States is a Pacific nation. Next month in Asia, I'll
discuss with our Pacific allies their responsibility to share the
burdens of leadership with us in the new world order. We will
discuss our economic and political responsibilities; our roles as
4
trading partners and political allies. Together, we will
continue our march to secure free markets and free people.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
overconfidence. We failed to make proper use of new radar
technology that day in Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of people died
for it. The people of Hawaii learned the hard way the importance
of defense technologies. Today they stand at the forefront of
developing the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect America
from future surprise attacks. In fact, this year's defense
budget increased funding for SDI, and we have, for the first
time, committed to deployment of a ballistic missile defense
system. We will never know where our next enemy lurks. But we
do know the absolute importance of employing 21st Century
technologies to deal with the 21st Century world.
Pearl Harbor proved the value of unity and the strength of
America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war, now
makes us secure in peace. To the brave men and women who have
defended our country -- in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada,
Panama and the liberation of Kuwait -- I say this: we will always
remember you -- with gratitude and with pride. We will always be
prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step
forward in reconciliation, and prepared to make peace.
It is important to come to grips with the past. No nation
can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it
does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and degradations
of its past. We in the United States have come to realize the
5
great injustice in our history: that when the rights of any
individual are taken away -- even in time of war -- we are all
threatened. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was
a disgrace to America that will never be repeated.
But despite the internment of their families, thousands of
young men -- including Senator Inouye and the late Senator
Matsunaga -- volunteered in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team -- nicknamed "Go For Broke." As one
man put it, they placed duty before human rights. In liberating
dozens of French and Italian towns, they ultimately went on what
may be the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Nowhere did
mothers display their sons' gold stars more proudly than in the
bleak surroundings of the internment camps. We owe these heroes
a debt of gratitude to this day, and we honor them by working to
end the cultural misunderstanding that separates Japan and
America. Those who use caricature and racial stereotypes for
domestic political ends dishonor these proud Americans. //
The values we cherish as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- have become revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest by tyranny and despotism.
Who would have thought in 1941 that our mortal enemies --
Germany, Japan and Italy -- would now stand with us, as strong
6
allies? Five decades ago we waged a war to banish the shadow of
evil from the world, to let men and women of every country live
in the bright light of liberty. Our victory was great -- and now
Germany, Japan and Italy belong to the community of free nations.
But the struggle for freedom is not complete. We look
forward to the day when the peoples of China, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Burma can enjoy the freedom of
democracy and open economies, and can experience the excitement
of engagement in the community of free nations.
Economic security comes not through aggression but through
shared values -- free people and free markets. Today we
celebrate much of the world's evolution to democracy, as we
commemorate its fallen heroes -- the defenders of freedom -- as
well as the victims of dictatorship, who never saw the light of
liberty. Earlier this year, when former enemies joined us in the
fight against aggression in the Persian Gulf, they joined us to
fight for the values upheld by the Heroes of the Harbor.
Together, we said to those entombed in the Arizona, and buried in
fields around our great land: You did not die in vain.
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it
ended, where the Japanese signed the Articles of Surrender. But
the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy in Japan. Soon
after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who
noted that the Emperor had a "more thorough grasp of the
democratic concept than almost any [other] Japanese. He played a
7
major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan." Their
meeting made history, and the postwar era began to take shape.
I thought of the meeting with MacArthur the day in 1989 when
I attended the Emperor's funeral. I thought of it this morning,
too, as I visited the National Cemetery and the Arizona. I was
proud to have served my country, and I understand the anger that
lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
Japan's remarkable recovery and about her democracy. I thought
of this as the birthplace of the new world order.
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great cause.
Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in freedom and
peace. It is right that we are here today. And it is right that
we go on from here.
The first time I came to Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young
Navy pilot who had never even been in a war zone. I had been
trained to appreciate the gravity of war. I saw the wreckage
here. But I had yet to really understand the horrors that
awaited.
By my second visit, I wasn't much older, but I had grown up
fast. I remember flying over the island, trying to imagine the
scene that day three years earlier, when Japanese planes made
their way through the mountain passes and swooped down upon the
harbor. Having faced death and been given another chance to
live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about the things that
were important to me -- faith and family among them. As you
look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the person
8
you are, you pick out defining moments, crucial events. Over the
years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of who I am.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu who is here today. His son
writes from his home in Tokyo: "A half century ago, my father's
thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the war. He
could not have envisioned a future where his son would study and
work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that America's challenges are different. His attitude represents
that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the next
generation to do its."
I come today as President, to lead the Nation in honoring
the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and to dream
of the next fifty years, the next generation, and the beginning
of the Next American Century. We must answer our call to destiny
-- because it is America's destiny to lead, to strive -- to be
"man's last best hope on Earth." Today we dream of gaining "that
inevitable triumph ... so help us God."
Today, remembering those we loved and thinking about those
in whom we place our hearts' hopes, we know -- as we knew then
-- that we will not fail. God bless these United States of
America. Thank you.
# # #
Document No. 290176ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
12/2/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 12/3/91 2:00pm
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
SUBJECT:
HONOLULU, HAWAII - SAT. DECEMBER 7, 1991
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SUNUNU
MCCLURE
SCOWCROFT
PETERSMEYER
DARMAN
PORTER
BRADY
ROGICH
BROMLEY
SMITH
MCBRIDE
CARD
SNOW
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HOLIDAY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 2:00 p.m., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, with a copy to this
office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
communication good
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
Grant/Simon
A:Kilo-8.ts Draft three
91 DEC 2 P8: 02
December 2, 1991
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
KILO EIGHT, HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
9:50 A.M.
[Acknowledgements]
I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all of you do, too. I was seventeen years
old, walking across the yard in high school. My thoughts in
those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler
things: making the basketball team, entering college. That walk
across campus marked an end of innocence for me, and someone
later described the attack as the instant "when the impossible
happened, when warfare suddenly spread, for the first and only
time in history, to virtually the whole world."
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
And so, on my 18th birthday, I was sworn into the Navy as a
Seaman Second Class. Just a scared and nervous kid, learning how
to fly the "low and slow" torpedo bombers
...
I named my Grumman
Avenger for Barbara. I was shocked at my first sight of Pearl
Harbor in April of '44: we came into port on the San Jacinto, and
docked right behind the Essex. Nearby, the Utah was still on her
side, and parts of the Arizona still poked through the water.
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as if to demand
remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality.
good
2
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- I wrote letters to the families of crewmen
who didn't return from bombing runs, and I prayed for my buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. We all did.
A thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya and Hong Kong. The first blasts at Pearl Harbor
annihilated our national illusions. They demonstrated to one and
all the futility of isolationism, the stupidity of complacency,
and the importance of preparedness. In "the two hours that
changed the world," Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into this
titanic contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American
spirit as never before into a single-minded resolve that could
produce only one thing: victory.
Heldfand
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news that night.
x
chinased by the thous of Denhuh,
After the loss at Dunkirk, the Fall of France the blitz of then
and terror
But when
London, the scourge of the U-boats, he said that once America had
he declared
been attacked, there was "no more doubt about the end. " He knew
then that the American spirit would not failthe cause of freedom
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "With confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determination of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God." It was the steadfastness
of the American people that would "win the war" and "win the
peace that follows."
3
?
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the initial conflict -- "the in Asic
early days of lotes was in Europe or
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at an "America First" rally in Pittsburgh at
precisely the moment that bombs here were sending Americans met to
the first
in Pearl Harbor.
lost its immocence and
early, violent deaths Before nightfall, our Nation discovered
that isolationism really boils down to defeatism and defiant self-
doubt it involves a childlike fear that evil will go away if
we learned that we could not defe
we just avert our eyes. You cannot defeat tyranny by avoiding eyes.
averting one
we could not
it.
You cannot meet the challenges of world leadership by
retreating from the world. Fifty years after Pearl Harbor, we
know that despite our two oceans, no nation is an island.
tute?
Those who call today for an "America First" isolationism,
like those who rallied in Pittsburgh 50 years ago, don't see the
danger -- military and economic -- that isolationism invites. As
science and technology change, so do the means and methods of
Just
we've had to confront
warfare.
Sneak attacks -- from terrorists, military strongmen,
Forty five year Was
and renegade nations bent on aggression now occupy our
This followed fifts forty years of
one of coldtation our
attention, just as superpower tensions did a couple of years ago.
Events in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, the Middle East and continue
loved
to
incolve.
Isewhere prove that the post-Cold War world is a volatile place.
Our future stems
Isolationists also overlook the gains from engagement. The
United States is a Pacific nation. Next month in Asia, I'll
discuss with our Pacific allies their responsibility to share the
burdens of leadership with us in the new world order. We will
discuss our economic and political responsibilities; our roles as
4
trading partners and political allies. Together, we will
continue our march to secure free markets and free people.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
It is a lesson we shall never forget. In an
overconfidence. We failed to make proper use of new radar
unpreductable world
technology that day in Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of people died
for it. The people of Hawaii learned the hard way the importance
of defense technologies. Today they stand at the forefront of
developing the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect America
from future surprise attacks. In fact, this year's defense
budget increased funding for SDI, and we have, for the first
veryak
time, committed to deployment of a ballistic missile defense
we might not
future threats might excst.
system. We will never know where our next enemy lurks. -But we must
know
do know the absolute importance of employing 21st Century
how to
one defend vital
technologies to deal with the 21st Century world
interests.
And I
Pearl Harbor proved the value of unity and the strength of guarantee
you,
America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war, now we well.
makes us secure in peace. To the brave men and women who have
from the shores of Anadalconal to the
defended our country -- in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada,
Sends of Kurvait
Panama and the liberation of Kuwait -- I say this: we will always
remember you -- with gratitude and with pride. We will always be
prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step
forward in reconciliation, and prepared to seauethe make peace.
It is important to come to grips with the past. No nation
can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it
does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and degradations
of its past. We in the United States have come to realize the
5
great injustice in our history: that when the rights of any
individual are taken away -- even in time of war -- we are all
threatened. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was
a disgrace to America that will never be repeated.
But despite the internment of their families, thousands of
young men -- including Senator Inouye and the late Senator
Matsunaga -- volunteered in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team -- nicknamed "Go For Broke." As one
man put it, they placed duty before human rights. In liberating
dozens of French and Italian towns, they ultimately went on what
may be the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Nowhere did
mothers display their sons' gold stars more proudly than in the
bleak surroundings of the internment camps. We owe these heroes
a debt of gratitude to this day, and we honor them by working to
bridge
end the cultural isunderstanding that separates Japan and
America. Those who use caricature and racial stereotypes for
domestic political ends dishonor these proud Americans. //
The values we cherish as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- have become revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest by tyranny and despotism.
Who would have thought in 1941 that our mortal enemies --
Germany, Japan and Italy -- would now stand with us, as strong
- Stahwart and progressive 6 menbers of
allies? Five decades ago we waged a war to banish the shadow of
evil from the world, to let men and women of every country live
in the bright light of liberty. Our victory was great -- and now
Germany, Japan and Italy belong to the community of free nations.
But the struggle for freedom is not complete. We look
forward to the day when the peoples of China, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Burma can enjoy the freedom of
democracy and enterprise open economies, and can experience the excitement
of engagement in the community of free nations.
doesn 18
dollow
Economic security comes not through aggression but through
shared values free people and free markets. Today we
celebrate much of the world's evolution to democracy,
by commemorating baller heroes
we
But wialso
commemorate its fallen heroes the defenders of freedom, e as honor
well as the victims of dictatorship, who never saw the light of
PP
liberty. Earlier this year, when former adversances enemies joined us in the
fight against aggression in the Persian Gulf, they joined affirmed us to
fight for the values upheld by the Heroes of the Harbor.
Together, we said to those entombed in the Arizona, and buried in
fields around our great land: You did not die in vain.
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it all
came taarend,
ended, where the Japanese signed the Articles of Surrender. But
the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy in Japan.
Soon
after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who
noted that the Emperor had a "more thorough grasp of the
democratic concept than almost any [other] Japanese. He played a
other way
around?
written Many the histonans humiliation have felt
IM. the Tabancse of militing on . sceat they
7
major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan. If Their
a hopeful future for Japan
meeting made history, and the postwar era began to take shape.
that
I thought of the meeting with MacArthur the day in 1989 when
in 1989.
I attended the Emperor's funeral n I thought of it this morning,
too, as I visited the National Cemetery and the Arizona. I was
proud to have served my country, and I understand the anger that
lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
rebirth
Japan's remarkable recovery and about her democracy. I thought
of this as the birthplace of the new world order.
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great cause.
Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in freedom and
peace. It is right that we are here today. And it is right that
we go on from here.
The first time I came to Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young
Navy pilot who had never even been in a war zone. I had been
trained to appreciate the gravity of war. I saw the wreckage
here. But I had yet to really understand the horrors that
awaited.
By my second visit, I wasn't much older, but I had grown up
certainly aged.
fast. I remember flying over the island, trying to imagine the
scene that day three years earlier, when Japanese planes made
their way through the mountain passes and swooped down upon the
harbor. Having faced death and been given another chance to
live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about the things that
were important to me -- faith and family among them. As you
look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the person
8
you are, you pick out defining moments, crucial events. Over the
years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of who I am.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu who is here today. His son
writes from his home in Tokyo: "A half century ago, my father's
thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the war. He
could not have envisioned a future where his son would study and
work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that America's challenges are different. His attitude represents
that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the next
generation to do its."
I come today as President, to lead the Nation in honoring
the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and to dream
of the next fifty years, the next generation, and the beginning
of the Next American Century. We must answer our call to destiny
-- because it is America's destiny to lead, to strive -- to be
"man's last best hope on Earth." Today we dream of gaining "that
inevitable triumph ... so help us God."
Today, remembering those we loved and thinking about those
in whom we place our hearts' hopes, we know -- as we knew then
-- that we will not fail. God bless these United States of
America. Thank you.
# # #
Document No. 290176ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 12/2/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 12/3/91 2:00pm
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
SUBJECT:
HONOLULU, HAWAII - - SAT. DECEMBER 7, 1991
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SUNUNU
MCCLURE N/C
SCOWCROFT
PETERSMEYER
DARMAN
PORTER
BRADY
ROGICH
BROMLEY
SMITH
MCBRIDE
CARD
SNOW
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
TREFRY / N/C TREF /N/C
GRAY Raddemaker 5026
HOLIDAY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 2:00 p.m. , TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, with a copy to this
office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
Grant/Simon
A:Kilo-8.ts Draft three
91 DEC 2 P8: 02
December 2, 1991
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
KILO EIGHT, HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
9:50 A.M.
[Acknowledgements]
I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all of you do, too. I was seventeen years
old, walking across the yard in high school. My thoughts in
those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler
things: making the basketball team, entering college. That walk
across campus marked an end of innocence for me, and someone
later described the attack as the instant "when the impossible
happened, when warfare suddenly spread, for the first and only
time in history, to virtually the whole world."
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
And so, on my 18th birthday, I was sworn into the Navy as a
Seaman Second Class. Just a scared and nervous kid, learning how
to fly the "low and slow" torpedo bombers ...
I named my Grumman
Avenger for Barbara. I was shocked at my first sight of Pearl
Harbor in April of '44: we came into port on the San Jacinto, and
docked right behind the Essex. Nearby, the Utah was still on her
side, and parts of the Arizona still poked through the water.
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as if to demand
remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality.
2
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- I wrote letters to the families of crewmen
who didn't return from bombing runs, and I prayed for my buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. We all did.
A thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya and Hong Kong. The first blasts at Pearl Harbor
annihilated our national illusions. They demonstrated to one and
all the futility of isolationism, the stupidity of complacency,
and the importance of preparedness. In "the two hours that
changed the world," Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into a
titanic contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American
spirit as never before into a single-minded resolve that could
produce only one thing: victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news that night.
After the loss at Dunkirk, the Fall of France, the blitz of
London, the scourge of the U-boats, he said that once America had
been attacked, there was "no more doubt about the end. " He knew
then that the American spirit would not fail.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "with confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determination of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God." It was the steadfastness
of the American people that would "win the war" and "win the
peace that follows."
3
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the initial conflict -- "the
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at an "America First" rally in Pittsburgh at
precisely the moment that bombs here were sending Americans to
early, violent deaths. Before nightfall, our Nation discovered
that isolationism really boils down to defeatism, defiant self-
doubt -- it involves a childlike fear that evil will go away if
we just avert our eyes. You cannot defeat tyranny by avoiding
it. You cannot meet the challenges of world leadership by
retreating from the world. Fifty years after Pearl Harbor, we
know that despite our two oceans, no nation is an island.
Those who call today for an "America First" isolationism,
like those who rallied in Pittsburgh 50 years ago, don't see the
danger -- military and economic -- that isolationism invites. As
science and technology change, so do the means and methods of
warfare. Sneak attacks -- from terrorists, military strongmen,
and renegade nations bent on aggression -- now occupy our
attention, just as superpower tensions did a couple of years ago.
Events in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, the Middle East and
elsewhere prove that the post-Cold War world is a volatile place.
Isolationists also overlook the gains from engagement. The
United States is a Pacific nation. Next month in Asia, I'll
discuss with our Pacific allies their responsibility to share the
burdens of leadership with us in the new world order. We will
discuss our economic and political responsibilities; our roles as
4
trading partners and political allies. Together, we will
continue our march to secure free markets and free people.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
overconfidence. We failed to make proper use of new radar
technology that day in Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of people died
for it. The people of Hawaii learned the hard way the importance
of defense technologies. Today they stand at the forefront of
developing the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect America
from future surprise attacks. In fact, this year's defense
budget increased funding for SDI, and we have, for the first
time, committed to deployment of a ballistic missile defense
system. We will never know where our next enemy lurks. But we
do know the absolute importance of employing 21st Century
technologies to deal with the 21st Century world.
Pearl Harbor proved the value of unity and the strength of
America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war, now
makes us secure in peace. To the brave men and women who have
defended our country -- in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada,
Panama and the liberation of Kuwait -- I say this: we will always
remember you -- with gratitude and with pride. We will always be
prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step
forward in reconciliation, and prepared to make peace.
It is important to come to grips with the past. No nation
can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it
does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and degradations
of its past. We in the United States have come to realize the
5
great injustice in our history: that when the rights of any
individual are taken away -- even in time of war -- we are all
threatened. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was
a disgrace to America that will never be repeated.
But despite the internment of their families, thousands of
young men -- including Senator Inouye and the late Senator
Matsunaga -- volunteered in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team -- nicknamed "Go For Broke." As one
man put it, they placed duty before human rights. In liberating
dozens of French and Italian towns, they ultimately went on what
may be the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Nowhere did
mothers display their sons' gold stars more proudly than in the
bleak surroundings of the internment camps. We owe these heroes
a debt of gratitude to this day, and we honor them by working to
end the cultural misunderstanding that separates Japan and
America. Those who use caricature and racial stereotypes for
domestic political ends dishonor these proud Americans. //
The values we cherish as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- have become revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest by tyranny and despotism.
Who would have thought in 1941 that our mortal enemies --
Germany, Japan and Italy -- would now stand with us, as strong
6
allies? Five decades ago we waged a war to banish the shadow of
evil from the world, to let men and women of every country live
in the bright light of liberty. Our victory was great -- and now
Germany, Japan and Italy belong to the community of free nations.
But the struggle for freedom is not complete. We look
forward to the day when the peoples of China, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Burma can enjoy the freedom of
democracy and open economies, and can experience the excitement
of engagement in the community of free nations.
Economic security comes not through aggression but through
shared values -- free people and free markets. Today we
celebrate much of the world's evolution to democracy, as we
commemorate its fallen heroes -- the defenders of freedom -- as
well as the victims of dictatorship, who never saw the light of
liberty. Earlier this year, when former enemies joined us in the
fight against aggression in the Persian Gulf, they joined us to
fight for the values upheld by the Heroes of the Harbor.
Together, we said to those entombed in the Arizona, and buried in
fields around our great land: You did not die in vain.
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it
ended, where the Japanese signed the Articles of Surrender. But
the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy in Japan. Soon
after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who
noted that the Emperor had a "more thorough grasp of the
democratic concept than almost any [other] Japanese. He played a
7.
major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan." Their
meeting made history, and the postwar era began to take shape.
I thought of the meeting with MacArthur the day in 1989 when
I attended the Emperor's funeral. I thought of it this morning,
too, as I visited the National Cemetery and the Arizona. I was
proud to have served my country, and I understand the anger that
lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
Japan's remarkable recovery and about her democracy. I thought
of this as the birthplace of the new world order.
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great cause.
Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in freedom and
peace. It is right that we are here today. And it is right that
we go on from here.
The first time I came to Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young
Navy pilot who had never even been in a war zone. I had been
trained to appreciate the gravity of war. I saw the wreckage
here. But I had yet to really understand the horrors that
awaited.
By my second visit, I wasn't much older, but I had grown up
fast. I remember flying over the island, trying to imagine the
scene that day three years earlier, when Japanese planes made
their way through the mountain passes and swooped down upon the
harbor. Having faced death and been given another chance to
live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about the things that
were important to me -- faith and family among them. As you
look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the person
8
you are, you pick out defining moments, crucial events. Over the
years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of who I am.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu who is here today. His son
writes from his home in Tokyo: "A half century ago, my father's
thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the war. He
could not have envisioned a future where his son would study and
work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that America's challenges are different. His attitude represents
that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the next
generation to do its."
I come today as President, to lead the Nation in honoring
the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and to dream
of the next fifty years, the next generation, and the beginning
of the Next American Century. We must answer our call to destiny
-- because it is America's destiny to lead, to strive -- to be
"man's last best hope on Earth." Today we dream of gaining "that
inevitable triumph ... so help us God."
Today, remembering those we loved and thinking about those
in whom we place our hearts' hopes, we know -- as we knew then
-- that we will not fail. God bless these United States of
America. Thank you.
# # #
C
Kilo 8
X w
P.6
my
Gan. McArthur reference
didn't know a
1.
democrat if he
saw one - not
a good judge.
Soon after.
Japarese
meAnther later said the
Empores played
M.
K.
November 25, 1991
Mr. Demerest
Assistant to the President for Communications
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Demerest:
I have sent the attached letter to President Bush. If you feel
it appropriate, please feel free to include part or all of it
in the President's speech at Pearl Harbor on December 7.
My father, Bill Leu, is a survivor of the attack, as well as of
other battles. His ship was sunk in the Coral Sea, and most of
his shipmates were lost. His Navy record is untarnished.
He and my mother, Lois Leu, will attend the ceremony where the
President is scheduled to speak. They reside at 22418 77th West,
Edmonds, Washington.
I have lived in Japan for over 15 years, attending one year of
high school as an exchange student and four years of college. I
am employed by United Airlines. My wife is a Japanese national.
The purpose of the letter, of which my parents are unaware, is
to demonstrate pride in my father's generation and in America's
ability to meet challenges.
Thank you for considering including my comments to the President
in his speech.
Sincerely,
BL LEN
Robert B. Leu
Regional Corporate Communications Manager
United Airlines
Residence: 7-13-9 Oi
Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Japan
Home telephone: 011-81-3-3777-2943
November 25, 1991
President George Bush
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C.
Dear President Bush:
America's present course -- an alert and formidable military
combined with strong international relationships -- assures
the nation of peace and prosperity.
A half century ago, my father's thoughts were on surviving
the attack and winning the war. He could not have envisioned
a future where his son would study and work in Japan. But he
recognizes that the world has changed, that America's challenges
are different.
His attitude represents that of the United States: Do your
duty, and raise the next generation to do its'.
Robert Sincerely, B. for
Robert B. Leu
(Regional Corporate Communications Manager, United Airlines)
7-13-9 Oi
Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Japan
Document No. 290176ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
91 NOV 2 P I : 10
DATE: 12/2/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 12/3/91 2:00pm
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
SUBJECT:
HONOLULU, HAWAII SAT. DECEMBER 7, 1991
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SUNUNU
MCCLURE
SCOWCROFT
PETERSMEYER
DARMAN
PORTER
BRADY
ROGICH
BROMLEY
SMITH
MCBRIDE
CARD
SNOW
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HOLIDAY
REMARKS
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 2:00 p.m., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, with a copy to this
office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: Comments from Cabinet Affairs are attached.
Thanks,
a
Elizabeth Luttig
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
Grant/Simon
A:Kilo-8.ts Draft three
91 DEC 2 P8: 02
December 2, 1991
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
KILO EIGHT, HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
9:50 A.M.
[Acknowledgements]
I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all of you do, too. I was seventeen years
old, walking across the yard in high school. My thoughts in
those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler
things: making the basketball team, entering college. That walk
across campus marked an end of innocence for me, and someone
later described the attack as the instant "when the impossible
happened, when warfare suddenly spread, for the first and only
time in history, to virtually the whole world."
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
And so, on my 18th birthday, I was sworn into the Navy as a
Seaman Second Class. Just a scared and nervous kid, learning how
to fly the "low and slow" torpedo bombers
...
I named my Grumman
Avenger for Barbara. I was shocked at my first sight of Pearl
Harbor in April of '44: we came into port on the San Jacinto, and
docked right behind the Essex. Nearby, the Utah was still on her
side, and parts of the Arizona still poked through the water.
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as if to demand
remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality.
2
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- I wrote letters to the families of crewmen
who didn't return from bombing runs, and I prayed for my buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. We all did.
A thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya and Hong Kong. The first blasts at Pearl Harbor
annihilated our national illusions. They demonstrated to one and
all the futility of isolationism, the stupidity of complacency,
and the importance of preparedness. In "the two hours that
changed the world," Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into a
titanic contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American
spirit as never before into a single-minded resolve that could
produce only one thing: victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news that night.
After the loss at Dunkirk, the Fall of France, the blitz of
London, the scourge of the U-boats, he said that once America had
been attacked, there was "no more doubt about the end. " He knew
then that the American spirit would not fail.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "with confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determination of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God." It was the steadfastness
of the American people that would "win the war" and "win the
peace that follows."
3
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the initial conflict -- "the
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at an "America First" rally in Pittsburgh at
precisely the moment that bombs here were sending Americans to
early, violent deaths. Before nightfall, our Nation discovered
that isolationism really boils down to defeatism, defiant self-
doubt -- it involves a childlike fear that evil will go away if
we just avert our eyes. You cannot defeat tyranny by avoiding
it. You cannot meet the challenges of world leadership by
retreating from the world. Fifty years after Pearl Harbor, we
know that despite our two oceans, no nation is an island.
Those who call today for an "America First" isolationism,
like those who rallied in Pittsburgh 50 years ago, don't see the
danger -- military and economic -- that isolationism invites. As
science and technology change, so do the means and methods of
warfare. Sneak attacks -- from terrorists, military strongmen,
and renegade nations bent on aggression -- now occupy our
attention, just as superpower tensions did a couple of years ago.
Events in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, the Middle East and
elsewhere prove that the post-Cold War world is a volatile place.
Isolationists also overlook the gains from engagement. The
rim? rim?(Vernans) Verhans)
United States is a Pacific nation. Next month in Asia, I'll
discuss with our Pacific allies their responsibility to share the
burdens of leadership with us in the new world order. We will
discuss our economic and political responsibilities; our roles as
4
trading partners and political allies. Together, we will
continue our march to secure free markets and free people.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
overconfidence. We failed to make proper use of new radar
technology that day in Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of people died
for it. The people of Hawaii learned the hard way the importance
of defense technologies. Today they stand at the forefront of
developing the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect America
from future surprise attacks. In fact, this year's defense
budget increased funding for SDI, and we have, for the first
time, committed to deployment of a ballistic missile defense
system. We will never know where our next enemy lurks. But we
do know the absolute importance of employing 21st Century
technologies to deal with the 21st Century world.
Pearl Harbor proved the value of unity and the strength of
America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war, now
makes us secure in peace. To the brave men and women who have
defended our country -- in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada,
Panama and the liberation of Kuwait -- I say this: we will always
remember you -- with gratitude and with pride. We will always be
prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step
forward in reconciliation, and prepared to make peace.
It is important to come to grips with the past. No nation
can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it
does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and degradations
of its past. We in the United States have come to realize the
5
great injustice in our history: that when the rights of any
individual are taken away -- even in time of war -- we are all
threatened. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was
a disgrace to America that will never be repeated.
But despite the internment of their families, thousands of
young men -- including Senator Inouye and the late Senator
Matsunaga -- volunteered in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team -- nicknamed "Go For Broke." As one
man put it, they placed duty before human rights. In liberating (Veteras
dozens of French and Italian towns, they ultimately went on what
to become
may be the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Nowhere did
mothers display their sons' gold stars more proudly than in the
bleak surroundings of the internment camps. We owe these heroes
a debt of gratitude to this day, and we honor them by working to
end the cultural misunderstanding that separates Japan and
America. Those who use caricature and racial stereotypes for
domestic political ends dishonor these proud Americans. //
The values we cherish as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- have become revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest by tyranny and despotism.
Who would have thought in 1941 that our mortal enemies --
Germany, Japan and Italy -- would now stand with us, as strong
6
allies? Five decades ago we waged a war to banish the shadow of
evil from the world, to let men and women of every country live
in the bright light of liberty. Our victory was great -- and now
Germany, Japan and Italy belong to the community of free nations.
But the struggle for freedom is not complete. We look
forward to the day when the peoples of China, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Burma can enjoy the freedom of
democracy and open economies, and can experience the excitement
of engagement in the community of free nations.
Economic security comes not through aggression but through
shared values -- free people and free markets. Today we
celebrate much of the world's evolution to democracy, as we
commemorate its fallen heroes -- the defenders of freedom -- as
well as the victims of dictatorship, who never saw the light of
liberty. Earlier this year, when former enemies joined us in the
fight against aggression in the Persian Gulf, they joined us to
fight for the values upheld by the Heroes of the Harbor.
Together, we said to those entombed in the Arizona, and buried in
fields around our great land: You did not die in vain.
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it
ended, where the Japanese signed the Articles of Surrender. But
the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy in Japan. Soon
after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who
noted that the Emperor had a "more thorough grasp of the
democratic concept than almost any [other] Japanese. He played a
7
major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan. " Their
meeting made history, and the postwar era began to take shape.
I thought of the meeting with MacArthur the day in 1989 when
I attended the Emperor's funeral. I thought of it this morning,
too, as I visited the National Cemetery and the Arizona. I was
proud to have served my country, and I understand the anger that
lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
Japan's remarkable recovery and about her democracy. I thought
of this as the birthplace of the new world order.
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great cause.
Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in freedom and
peace. It is right that we are here today. And it is right that
we go on from here.
The first time I came to Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young
Navy pilot who had never even been in a war zone. I had been
trained to appreciate the gravity of war. I saw the wreckage
here. But I had yet to really understand the horrors that
awaited.
By my second visit, I wasn't much older, but I had grown up
fast. I remember flying over the island, trying to imagine the
scene that day three years earlier, when Japanese planes made
their way through the mountain passes and swooped down upon the
harbor. Having faced death and been given another chance to
live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about the things that
were important to me -- faith and family among them. As you
look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the person
8
you are, you pick out defining moments, crucial events. Over the
years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of who I am.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu who is here today. His son
writes from his home in Tokyo: "A half century ago, my father's
thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the war. He
could not have envisioned a future where his son would study and
work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that America's challenges are different. His attitude represents
that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the next
generation to do its."
I come today as President, to lead the Nation in honoring
the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and to dream
of the next fifty years, the next generation, and the beginning
of the Next American Century. We must answer our call to destiny
-- because it is America's destiny to lead, to strive -- to be
"man's last best hope on Earth." Today we dream of gaining "that
inevitable triumph ... so help us God."
Today, remembering those we loved and thinking about those
in whom we place our hearts' hopes, we know -- as we knew then
-- that we will not fail. God bless these United States of
America. Thank you.
# # #
Tony / may Kate-
d really snjoyed this. Justa few
raft three
991
minor comments and questions.
AMILIES
Thanks
I
Jo,
bout Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all
nteen years
old, walking across the yard in high school. My thoughts in
those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler
things: making the basketball team, entering college. That walk
across campus marked an end of innocence for me, and someone
later described the attack as the instant "when the impossible
happened, when warfare suddenly spread, for the first and only
time in history, to virtually the whole world."
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
And so, on my 18th birthday, I was sworn into the Navy as a
Seaman Second Class. Just a scared and nervous kid, learning how
to fly the "low and slow" torpedo bombers
I named my Grumman
Avenger for Barbara. I was shocked at my first sight of Pearl
Harbor in April of '44: we came into port on the San Jacinto, and
docked right behind the Essex. Nearby, the Utah was still on her
side, and parts of the Arizona still poked through the water.
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as if to demand
remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality.
2
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- I wrote letters to the families of crewmen
who didn't return from bombing runs, and I prayed for my buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. We all did.
A thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya and Hong Kong. The first blasts at Pearl Harbor
annihilated our national illusions. They demonstrated to one and
all the futility of isolationism, the stupidity of complacency,
and the importance of preparedness. In "the two hours that
changed the world," Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into a
titanic contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American
spirit as never before into a single-minded resolve that could
produce only one thing: victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news that night.
After the loss at Dunkirk, the Fall of France, the blitz of
London, the scourge of the U-boats, he said that once America had
been attacked, there was "no more doubt about the end. " He knew
then that the American spirit would not fail.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "with confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determination of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God. " It was the steadfastness
of the American people that would "win the war" and "win the
peace that follows. "
3
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the initial conflict -- "the
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at an "America First" rally in Pittsburgh at
precisely the moment that bombs here were sending Americans to
early, violent deaths. Before nightfall, our Nation discovered
that isolationism really boils down to defeatism, defiant self-
doubt -- it involves a childlike fear that evil will go away if
we just avert our eyes. You cannot defeat tyranny by avoiding
it. You cannot meet the challenges of world leadership by
retreating from the world. Fifty years after Pearl Harbor, we
know that despite our two oceans, no nation is an island.
Those who call today for an "America First" isolationism,
like those who rallied in Pittsburgh 50 years ago, don't see the
danger -- military and economic -- that isolationism invites. As
science and technology change, so do the means and methods of
warfare. Sneak attacks -- from terrorists, military strongmen,
and renegade nations bent on aggression -- now occupy our
attention, just as superpower tensions did a couple of years ago.
Events in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, the Middle East and
elsewhere prove that the post-Cold War world is a volatile place.
Isolationists also overlook the gains from engagement. The
United States is a Pacific nation. Next month in Asia, I'll
bomed strangest
discuss with our Pacific allies their responsibility to share the
burdens of leadership with us in the new world order. We will
discuss our economic and political responsibilities; our roles as
(Withent some more definition, people may
think we're talking about apace-based Refenses.]
trading partners and 1 political allies. Together, we will
4
continue our march to secure free markets and free people.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
overconfidence. We failed to make proper use of new radar
technology that day in Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of people died
for it. The people of Hawaii learned the hard way the importance
of defense technologies. Today they stand at the forefront of
developing the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect America
from future surprise attacks. In fact, this year's defense
budget increased funding for SDI, and we have, for the first
time, committed GPALS. to deployment of a ballistic missile defense
system We will never know where our next enemy lurks. But we
do know the absolute importance of employing 21st Century
technologies to deal with the 21st Century world.
Pearl Harbor proved the value of unity and the strength of
America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war, now
makes us secure in peace. To the brave men and women who have
february
defended our country -- in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada,
Panama and the liberation of Kuwait -- I say this: we will always
remember you -- with gratitude and with pride. We will always be
prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step
forward in reconciliation, and prepared to make peace.
It is important to come to grips with the past. No nation
can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it
does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and degradations
of its past. We in the United States have come to realize the
5
great injustice in our history: that when the rights of any
individual are taken away -- even in time of war -- we are all
threatened. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was
a disgrace to America that will never be repeated.
But despite the internment of their families, thousands of
young men -- including Senator Inouye and the late Senator
Matsunaga -- volunteered in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team -- nicknamed "Go For Broke." As one
man put it, they placed duty before human rights. In liberating
dozens of French and Italian towns, they ultimately went on what
may be the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Nowhere did
mothers display their sons' gold stars more proudly than in the
bleak surroundings of the internment camps. We owe these heroes
a debt of gratitude to this day, and we honor them by working to
sometimes
end the cultural misunderstanding that separates Japan and
America. Those who use caricature and racial stereotypes for
domestic political ends dishonor these proud Americans. //
The values we cherish as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- have become revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest by tyranny and despotism.
Who would have thought in 1941 that our mortal enemies --
Germany, Japan and Italy -- would now stand with us, as strong
Aaiti ? some of the afrian countries ?
6
allies? Five decades ago we waged a war to banish the shadow of
evil from the world, to let men and women of every country live
in the bright light of liberty. Our victory was great -- and now
Germany, Japan and Italy belong to the community of free nations.
But the struggle for freedom is not complete. We look
forward to the day when the peoples of China, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Burma can enjoy the freedom of
democracy and open economies, and can experience the excitement
of engagement in the community of free nations.
Economic security comes not through aggression but through
shared values -- free people and free markets. Today we
celebrate much of the world's evolution to democracy, as we
commemorate its fallen heroes -- the defenders of freedom -- as
well as the victims of dictatorship, who never saw the light of
liberty. Earlier this year, when former enemies joined us in the
fight against aggression in the Persian Gulf, they joined us to
fight for the values upheld by the Heroes of the Harbor.
Together, we said to those entombed in the Arizona, and buried in
fields around our great land: You did not die in vain.
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it
ended, where the Japanese signed the Articles of Surrender. But
the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy in Japan. Soon
after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who
noted that the Emperor had a "more thorough grasp of the
democratic concept than almost any [other] Japanese. He played a
Japan as the lithplace?
On Peal Huban in 1941?
what does 7 this mean?
major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan." Their
meeting made history, and the postwar era began to take shape.
I thought of the meeting with MacArthur the day in 1989 when
I attended the Emperor's funeral. I thought of it this morning,
too, as I visited the National Cemetery and the Arizona. I was
proud to have served my country, and I understand the anger that
lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
Japan's remarkable recovery and about her democracy. [I thought
of this as the birthplace of the new world order.
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great cause.
Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in freedom and
peace. It is right that we are here today. And it is right that
we go on from here.
The first time I came to Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young
Navy pilot who had never even been in a war zone. I had been
trained to appreciate the gravity of war. I saw the wreckage
here. But I had yet to really understand the horrors that
awaited.
By my second visit, I wasn't much older, but I had grown up
fast. I remember flying over the island, trying to imagine the
scene that day three years earlier, when Japanese planes made
their way through the mountain passes and swooped down upon the
harbor. Having faced death and been given another chance to
live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about the things that
were important to me -- faith and family among them. As you
look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the person
8
you are, you pick out defining moments, crucial events. Over the
years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of who I am.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu who is here today. His son
writes from his home in Tokyo: "A half century ago, my father's
thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the war. He
could not have envisioned a future where his son would study and
work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that America's challenges are different. His attitude represents
that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the next
generation to do its."
I come today as President, to lead the Nation in honoring
the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and to dream
of the next fifty years, the next generation, and the beginning
of the Next American Century. We must answer our call to destiny
-- because it is America's destiny to lead, to strive -- to be
"man's last best hope on Earth." Today we dream of gaining "that
inevitable triumph
...
so help us God."
Today, remembering those we loved and thinking about those
in whom we place our hearts' hopes, we know -- as we knew then
-- that we will not fail. God bless these United States of
America. Thank you.
# # #
Document No. 290176ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
91 NOV 2 P2
I
DATE:
12/2/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 12/3/91 2:00pm
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
SUBJECT:
HONOLULU, HAWAII - SAT. DECEMBER 7, 1991
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SUNUNU
MCCLURE
SCOWCROFT
PETERSMEYER
DARMAN
PORTER
BRADY
ROGICH
BROMLEY
SMITH
MCBRIDE
CARD
SNOW
DEMAREST
FITZWATER
GRAY
HOLIDAY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 2:00 p.m. , TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, with a copy to this
office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
See comments- important change
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
Grant/Simon
A:Kilo-8. ts Draft three
91 DEC 2 P8: 02
December 2, 1991
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
KILO EIGHT, HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
9:50 A.M.
[Acknowledgements]
I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all of you do, too. I was seventeen years
old, walking across the yard in high school. My thoughts in
those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler
things: making the basketball team, entering college. That walk
across campus marked an end of innocence for me, and someone
later described the attack as the instant "when the impossible
happened, when warfare suddenly spread, for the first and only
time in history, to virtually the whole world."
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
And so, on my 18th birthday, I was sworn into the Navy as a
Seaman Second Class. Just a scared and nervous kid, learning how
to fly the "low and slow" torpedo bombers
...
I named my Grumman
Avenger for Barbara. I was shocked at my first sight of Pearl
Harbor in April of '44: we came into port on the San Jacinto, and
docked right behind the Essex. Nearby, the Utah was still on her
side, and parts of the Arizona still poked through the water.
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as if to demand
remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality.
2
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- I wrote letters to the families of crewmen
who didn't return from bombing runs, and I prayed for my buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. We all did.
A thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya and Hong Kong. The first blasts at Pearl Harbor
annihilated our national illusions. They demonstrated to one and
all the futility of isolationism, the stupidity of complacency,
and the importance of preparedness. In "the two hours that
changed the world," Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into a
titanic contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American
spirit as never before into a single-minded resolve that could
produce only one thing: victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news that night.
After the loss at Dunkirk, the Fall of France, the blitz of
London, the scourge of the U-boats, he said that once America had
been attacked, there was "no more doubt about the end. " He knew
then that the American spirit would not fail.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "With confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determination of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God.' It was the steadfastness
of the American people that would "win the war" and "win the
peace that follows."
3
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the initial conflict -- "the
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at an "America First" rally in Pittsburgh at
precisely the moment that bombs here were sending Americans to
early, violent deaths. Before nightfall, our Nation discovered
that isolationism really boils down to defeatism, defiant self-
doubt -- it involves a childlike fear that evil will go away if
we just avert our eyes. You cannot defeat tyranny by avoiding
it. You cannot meet the challenges of world leadership by
retreating from the world. Fifty years after Pearl Harbor, we
know that despite our two oceans, no nation is an island.
Those who call today for an "America First" isolationism,
like those who rallied in Pittsburgh 50 years ago, don't see the
danger -- military and economic -- that isolationism invites. As
science and technology change, so do the means and methods of
warfare. Sneak attacks -- from terrorists, military strongmen,
and renegade nations bent on aggression -- now occupy our
attention, just as superpower tensions did a couple of years ago.
Events in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, the Middle East and
elsewhere prove that the post-Cold War world is a volatile place.
Isolationists also overlook the gains from engagement. The
United States is a Pacific nation. Next month in Asia, I'll
discuss with our Pacific allies their responsibility to share the
burdens of leadership with us in the new world order. We will
discuss our economic and political responsibilities; our roles as
4
trading partners and political allies. Together, we will
continue our march to secure free markets and free people.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
overconfidence. We failed to make proper use of new radar
technology that day in Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of people died
for it. The people of Hawaii learned the hard way the importance
of defense technologies. Today they stand at the forefront of
developing the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect America
from future surprise attacks. In fact, this year's defense
budget increased funding for SDI, and Congress we have, for the first
Howard
has joined usin supporting Initial
time, committed to deployment of a ballistic missile defense
X4657
system. We will never know where our next enemy lurks. But we
I
importe
do know the absolute importance of employing 21st Century
change
technologies to deal with the 21st Century world.
Pearl Harbor proved the value of unity and the strength of
America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war, now
makes us secure in peace. To the brave men and women who have
defended our country -- in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada,
Panama and the liberation of Kuwait -- I say this: we will always
remember you -- with gratitude and with pride. We will always be
prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step
forward in reconciliation, and prepared to make peace.
It is important to come to grips with the past. No nation
can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it
does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and degradations
of its past. We in the United States have come to realize the
5
great injustice in our history: that when the rights of any
individual are taken away -- even in time of war -- we are all
threatened. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was
a disgrace to America that will never be repeated.
But despite the internment of their families, thousands of
young men -- including Senator Inouye and the late Senator
Matsunaga -- volunteered in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team -- nicknamed "Go For Broke. As one
man put it, they placed duty before human rights. In liberating
dozens of French and Italian towns, they ultimately went on what
may be the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Nowhere did
mothers display their sons' gold stars more proudly than in the
bleak surroundings of the internment camps. We owe these heroes
a debt of gratitude to this day, and we honor them by working to
end the cultural misunderstanding that separates Japan and
America. Those who use caricature and racial stereotypes for
domestic political ends dishonor these proud Americans. //
The values we cherish as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- have become revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest by tyranny and despotism.
Who would have thought in 1941 that our mortal enemies --
Germany, Japan and Italy -- would now stand with us, as strong
6
allies? Five decades ago we waged a war to banish the shadow of
evil from the world, to let men and women of every country live
in the bright light of liberty. Our victory was great -- and now
Germany, Japan and Italy belong to the community of free nations.
But the struggle for freedom is not complete. We look
forward to the day when the peoples of China, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Burma can enjoy the freedom of
democracy and open economies, and can experience the excitement
of engagement in the community of free nations.
Economic security comes not through aggression but through
shared values -- free people and free markets. Today we
celebrate much of the world's evolution to democracy, as we
commemorate its fallen heroes -- the defenders of freedom -- as
well as the victims of dictatorship, who never saw the light of
liberty. Earlier this year, when former enemies joined us in the
fight against aggression in the Persian Gulf, they joined us to
fight for the values upheld by the Heroes of the Harbor.
Together, we said to those entombed in the Arizona, and buried in
fields around our great land: You did not die in vain.
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it
ended, where the Japanese signed the Articles of Surrender. But
the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy in Japan. Soon
after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who
noted that the Emperor had a "more thorough grasp of the
democratic concept than almost any [other] Japanese. He played a
7
major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan.' " Their
meeting made history, and the postwar era began to take shape.
I thought of the meeting with MacArthur the day in 1989 when
I attended the Emperor's funeral. I thought of it this morning,
too, as I visited the National Cemetery and the Arizona. I was
proud to have served my country, and I understand the anger that
lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
Japan's remarkable recovery and about her democracy. I thought
of this as the birthplace of the new world order.
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great cause.
Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in freedom and
peace. It is right that we are here today. And it is right that
we go on from here.
The first time I came to Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young
Navy pilot who had never even been in a war zone. I had been
trained to appreciate the gravity of war. I saw the wreckage
here. But I had yet to really understand the horrors that
awaited.
By my second visit, I wasn't much older, but I had grown up
fast. I remember flying over the island, trying to imagine the
scene that day three years earlier, when Japanese planes made
their way through the mountain passes and swooped down upon the
harbor. Having faced death and been given another chance to
live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about the things that
were important to me -- faith and family among them. As you
look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the person
8
you are, you pick out defining moments, crucial events. Over the
years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of who I am.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu who is here today. His son
writes from his home in Tokyo: "A half century ago, my father's
thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the war. He
could not have envisioned a future where his son would study and
work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that America's challenges are different. His attitude represents
that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the next
generation to do its."
I come today as President, to lead the Nation in honoring
the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and to dream
of the next fifty years, the next generation, and the beginning
of the Next American Century. We must answer our call to destiny
-- because it is America's destiny to lead, to strive -- to be
"man's last best hope on Earth." Today we dream of gaining "that
inevitable triumph
...
so help us God."
Today, remembering those we loved and thinking about those
in whom we place our hearts' hopes, we know -- as we knew then
-- that we will not fail. God bless these United States of
America. Thank you.
# # #
Document No. 290176ss
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
91 NOV 22 Ppl 1::0055 Ppll:
DATE:
12/2/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: TUESDAY, 12/3/91 2:00pm
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
HONOLULU, HAWAII - - SAT. DECEMBER 7, 1991
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SUNUNU
MCCLURE
SCOWCROFT
PETERSMEYER
DARMAN
PORTER
BRADY
ROGICH
BROMLEY
SMITH
MCBRIDE
CARD
SNOW
DEMAREST
TREFRY
FITZWATER
GRAY
HOLIDAY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 2:00 p.m., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, with a copy to this
office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Concern
Subards Tuden
LTG 450-Pet
PHILLIP D. BRADY
MAP
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
Grant/Simon
A:Kilo-8.ts Draft three
01 DEC 2 P8: 02
December 2, 1991
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ADDRESS WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
KILO EIGHT, HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
9:50 A.M.
[Acknowledgements]
I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all of you do, too. I was seventeen years
old, walking across the yard in high school. My thoughts in
those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler
things: making the basketball team, entering college. That walk
across campus marked an end of innocence for me, and someone
later described the attack as the instant "when the impossible
happened, when warfare suddenly spread, for the first and only
time in history, to virtually the whole world."
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
And so, on my 18th birthday, I was sworn into the Navy as a
Seaman Second Class. Just a scared and nervous kid, learning how
to fly the "low and slow" torpedo bombers
...
I named my Grumman
Avenger for Barbara. I was shocked at my first sight of Pearl
Harbor in April of '44: we came into port on the San Jacinto, and
docked right behind the Essex. Nearby, the Utah was still on her
side, and parts of the Arizona still poked through the water.
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as if to demand
remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality.
2
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- I wrote letters to the families of crewmen
who didn't return from bombing runs, and I prayed for my buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. We all did.
A thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya and Hong Kong. The first blasts at Pearl Harbor
annihilated our national illusions. They demonstrated to one and
all the futility of isolationism, the stupidity of complacency,
and the importance of preparedness. In "the two hours that
changed the world," Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into a
titanic contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American
spirit as never before into a single-minded resolve that could
produce only one thing: victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news that night.
After the loss at Dunkirk, the Fall of France, the blitz of
London, the scourge of the U-boats, he said that once America had
been attacked, there was "no more doubt about the end. " He knew
then that the American spirit would not fail.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "With confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determinátion of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God. " It was the steadfastness
of the American people that would "win the war" and "win the
peace that follows."
3
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the initial conflict -- "the
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at an "America First" rally in Pittsburgh at
precisely the moment that bombs here were sending Americans to
early, violent deaths. Before nightfall, our Nation discovered
that isolationism really boils down to defeatism, defiant self-
doubt -- it involves a childlike fear that evil will go away if
we just avert our eyes. You cannot defeat tyranny by avoiding
it. You cannot meet the challenges of world leadership by
retreating from the world. Fifty years after Pearl Harbor, we
know that despite our two oceans, no nation is an island.
Those who call today for an "America First" isolationism,
like those who rallied in Pittsburgh 50 years ago, don't see the
danger -- military and economic -- that isolationism invites. As
science and technology change, so do the means and methods of
warfare. Sneak attacks -- from terrorists, military strongmen,
and renegade nations bent on aggression -- now occupy our
attention, just as superpower tensions did a couple of years ago.
Events in the Persian Gulf, Yugoslavia, the Middle East and
elsewhere prove that the post-Cold War world is a volatile place.
Isolationists also overlook the gains from engagement. The
United States is a Pacific nation. Next month in Asia, I'll
discuss with our Pacific allies their responsibility to share the
burdens of leadership with us in the new world order. We will
discuss our economic and political responsibilities; our roles as
4
trading partners and political allies. Together, we will
continue our march to secure free markets and free people.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
overconfidence. We failed to make proper use of new radar
technology that day in Pearl Harbor, and hundreds of people died
for it. The people of Hawaii learned the hard way the importance
of defense technologies. Today they stand at the forefront of
developing the Strategic Defense Initiative, to protect America
from future surprise attacks. In fact, this year's defense
budget increased funding for SDI, and we have, for the first
time, committed to deployment of a ballistic missile defense
system. We will never know where our next enemy lurks. But we
do know the absolute importance of employing 21st Century
technologies to deal with the 21st Century world.
Pearl Harbor proved the value of unity and the strength of
America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war, now
makes us secure in peace. To the brave men and women who have
defended our country -- in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada,
Panama and the liberation of Kuwait -- I say this: we will always
remember you -- with gratitude and with pride. We will always be
prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step
forward in reconciliation, and prepared to make peace.
It is important to come to grips with the past. No nation
can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it
does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and degradations
of its past. We in the United States have come to realize the
5
great injustice in our history: that when the rights of any
individual are taken away -- even in time of war -- we are all
threatened. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was
a disgrace to America that will never be repeated.
But despite the internment of their families, thousands of
young men -- including Senator Inouye and the late Senator
Matsunaga -- volunteered in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the
442nd Regimental Combat Team -- nicknamed "Go For Broke." As one
man put it, they placed duty before human rights. In liberating
dozens of French and Italian towns, they ultimately went on what
may be the most decorated unit in U.S. Army history. Nowhere did
mothers display their sons' gold stars more proudly than in the
bleak surroundings of the internment camps. We owe these heroes
a debt of gratitude to this day, and we honor them by working to
end the cultural misunderstanding that separates Japan and
America. Those who use caricature and racial stereotypes for
domestic political ends dishonor these proud Americans. //
The values we cherish as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- have become revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest by tyranny and despotism.
Who would have thought in 1941 that our mortal enemies --
Germany, Japan and Italy -- would now stand with us, as strong
6
allies? Five decades ago we waged a war to banish the shadow of
evil from the world, to let men and women of every country live
in the bright light of liberty. Our victory was great -- and now
Germany, Japan and Italy belong to the community of free nations.
But the struggle for freedom is not complete. We look
forward to the day when the peoples of China, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba and Burma can enjoy the freedom of
democracy and open economies, and can experience the excitement
of engagement in the community of free nations.
Economic security comes not through aggression but through
shared values -- free people and free markets. Today we
celebrate much of the world's evolution to democracy, as we
commemorate its fallen heroes -- the defenders of freedom -- as
well as the victims of dictatorship, who never saw the light of
liberty. Earlier this year, when former enemies joined us in the
fight against aggression in the Persian Gulf, they joined us to
fight for the values upheld by the Heroes of the Harbor.
Together, we said to those entombed in the Arizona, and buried in
fields around our great land: You did not die in vain.
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it
ended, where the Japanese signed the Articles of Surrender. But
the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy in Japan. Soon
after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who
noted that the Emperor had a "more thorough grasp of the
democratic concept than almost any [other] Japanese. He played a
7
major role in the spiritual regeneration of Japan." Their
meeting made history, and the postwar era began to take shape.
I thought of the meeting with MacArthur the day in 1989 when
I attended the Emperor's funeral. I thought of it this morning,
too, as I visited the National Cemetery and the Arizona. I was
proud to have served my country, and I understand the anger that
lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
Japan's remarkable recovery and about her democracy. I thought
of this as the birthplace of the new world order.
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great cause.
Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in freedom and
peace. It is right that we are here today. And it is right that
we go on from here.
The first time I came to Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young
Navy pilot who had never even been in a war zone. I had been
trained to appreciate the gravity of war. I saw the wreckage
here. But I had yet to really understand the horrors that
awaited.
By my second visit, I wasn't much older, but I had grown up
fast. I remember flying over the island, trying to imagine the
scene that day three years earlier, when Japanese planes made
their way through the mountain passes and swooped down upon the
harbor. Having faced death and been given another chance to
live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about the things that
were important to me -- faith and family among them. As you
look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the person
8
you are, you pick out defining moments, crucial events. Over the
years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of who I am.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu who is here today. His son
writes from his home in Tokyo: "A half century ago, my father's
thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the war. He
could not have envisioned a future where his son would study and
work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that- America's challenges are different. His attitude represents
that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the next
generation to do its."
I come today as President, to lead the Nation in honoring
the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and to dream
of the next fifty years, the next generation, and the beginning
of the Next American Century. We must answer our call to destiny
-- because it is America's destiny to lead, to strive -- to be
"man's last best hope on Earth." Today we dream of gaining "that
inevitable triumph ... so help us God."
Today, remembering those we loved and thinking about those
in whom we place our hearts' hopes, we know -- as we knew then
-- that we will not fail. God bless these United States of
America. Thank you.
# # #
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 12/5/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
---
SUBJECT:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PEARL HARBOR SPEECHES
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SUNUNU
MCCLURE
SCOWCROFT
PETERSMEYER
DARMAN
PORTER
BRADY
ROGICH
BROMLEY
SMITH
CARD
MCBRIDE
DEMAREST
SNOW
FITZWATER
TREFRY
GRAY
HOLIDAY
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
RESPONSE:
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
December 4, 1991 DEC 4 P7: 20
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
DAVID DEMAREST
44
TONY SNOW TS
FROM:
JOSEPH DUGGAN
CURT SMITH
MARY ROBERT KATE SIMON GRANT mkg
R&
SUBJECT:
PEARL HARBOR SPEECHES
I. SUMMARY
On Saturday, December 7 in Hawaii, you will give three
speeches commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Pearl
Harbor attack. The first speech at 6:55 a.m. will be to
4,000 Pearl Harbor survivors and families at the National
Cemetery of the Pacific (known locally as the Punchbowl).
The second speech is at 8:25 a.m. on the Arizona Memorial to
about 250 dignitaries and survivors of the Arizona and Utah.
The third speech is to 2,500 WWII veterans and families at
9:50 a.m. at Pier K-8 in Pearl Harbor. They will be seated
and will be able to hear the speech on the Arizona Memorial.
Both the Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri will be
visible behind you during the speech.
II. DISCUSSION
The speech at the cemetery (12 minutes, on cards) is
meant as a remembrance and tribute for those who died.
The speech on the Arizona Memorial (12 minutes, on
cards) will be the emotional high point of the day and
probably the most widely televised. For that reason, this
speech is a rhetorical recreation of what happened that day
in 1941, and what it means to us today.
The third speech (15 minutes, on teleprompter)
discusses the dangers of isolationism and the triumph of
freedom over tyranny brought about by engagement. Near the
end, as you reflect upon your war experiences, you look
forward to the next 50 years.
(Duggan/Simon)
December 4, 1991
Draft Five
Punchbowl.ts
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETERY
OF THE PACIFIC
HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
6:55 a.m.
[Acknowledgements]
From this sacred ground near the waters of Pearl Harbor, we
remember the moment when the Pacific Ocean erupted in a storm of
fire and blood. // We remember a morning when America / -- where
some thought isolation meant security / -- awoke wounded and
reeling, plunged into a desperate fight for world freedom. //
I remember the crackle of the radio and the voice of our
President. "We are going to win the war, " FDR told us, "and we
are going to win the peace that follows. " //
We won the war and secured the peace because American men
and women responded bravely and instinctively to their nation's
call. Within hours after the cruel surprise attack began, many
died, having done what came naturally: They fought for their
family and friends, defending the land they loved. They did not
set out to become heroes, but they did. 11
When torpedoes crippled the USS California's ammunition
hoists, Warrant Officer Thomas Reeves stood in a smoke-filled
passageway and organized a human supply chain to move the
ammunition. He worked with all his might till the smoke overcame
him. He died that day aboard the California, and he rests today
in this cemetery. // During the attack, Chief Boatswain Edwin
2
Hill of the USS Nevada swam from the dock back to his ship,
ignoring the bombs falling around him. He too died in the attack
and rests here. //
The Bible says "love is strong as death. " To die for
country, for family: that is the truth whispered by these rows
of marble markers. //
I remember Ernie Pyle. The greatest of war correspondents,
he fell to enemy machine gun fire on Ie Shima [EE-ay SHEE-ma].
He lies here in this cemetery among the GIs he loved and honored
so well. / His plain-spoken news dispatches from the front
reminded us that behind the battle statistics were true-life
stories of how boys became men and men became heroes. He told us
what was happening in the war -- how our men were fighting. And
by telling the stories of our servicemen to their home towns and
neighborhoods, he helped us understand why we were fighting --
how our men at arms defended with all their hearts America's
deepest ideals.
Americans did not wage war against nations or races. We
fought for freedom and human dignity against the nightmare of
totalitarianism. The world must never forget that the
dictatorships we fought -- the Hitler and Tojo regimes --
committed war crimes and atrocities. Our servicemen struggled
and sacrificed not only in defense of our free way of life, but
also in the hope that the blessings of liberty some day might
extend to all peoples. ///
3
Our cause was just and honorable, but not every American
action was fully fair. This ground embraces many American
veterans whose love of country was put to the test unfairly by
our own authorities. These and other natural-born American
citizens faced wartime internment. They committed no crime.
They were sent to internment camps simply because their ancestors
were Japanese. Here lie valiant servicemen of the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team and of the Military Intelligence Service -
- Americans of Japanese ancestry who fought to defeat the Axis in
Europe and in the Pacific. Among these is the late Senator Spark
Matsunaga, a combat hero and survivor who went on to help lead
postwar Hawaii to American statehood. //
I remember sharing danger and friendship in these skies and
on this ocean. Some of my closest buddies never came home. As
all the veterans here know, when a friend or comrade in arms
falls in battle, war grabs a part of your soul. My roommate
aboard the carrier San Jacinto was Jim Wykes. As we were about
to go into combat for the first time, a strike over Wake Island,
Jim Wykes and his crew were sent on a search mission from which
they never returned. Many more from our torpedo squadron were to
give their lives. The names of many of these, and more than
18,000 other World War II servicemen lost in action in the
Pacific, are engraved on the walls of this beautiful memorial.
During every passage of my life, I've often thought of those
who never returned. Some left children behind, and today those
children, like my own kids, are raising children of their own.
4
11 And thank God, each surviving generation has honored the
memory of our heroes of the Second World War. Each new
generation has risen to meet the challenge of winning the peace.
After vanquishing the dictators of Japan, Germany, and
Italy, America's war generation helped those countries rebuild
and grow strong in the habits of democracy and free enterprise.
They affirmed again that our quarrel had not been with races or
nations. The American victors welcomed the new leaders of Japan,
Germany and Italy into alliances that won the Cold War and helped
prevent a third World War. America and our wartime allies joined
hands with the liberated peoples of our former foes to create and
nurture international organizations aimed at protecting human
rights, collective security, and economic growth.
Winning the peace, then as now, demands preparedness. The
cause of harmony among nations is not a call for pacifism. We
avoided a third World War because we were prepared to defend the
Free World against aggressors. The Pearl Harbor generation saw
its younger brothers go to Korea and its sons to Vietnam to
resist communism. Pearl Harbor's grandchildren answered the call
to the Persian Gulf to reverse Saddam's aggression against
Kuwait. How fitting it is that this great cemetery holds so many
who died for the cause of Korean and Vietnamese freedom. How
honored we are to stand on this ground, consecrated with the
remains of Marine Lance Corporal Frank Allen of Hawaii, who gave
his life 10 months ago in the battle to free Kuwait.
5
Every soldier and sailor and airman buried here offered his
life so that others might be free. Not one of them died in vain.
Our men and women who served in Korea and Vietnam -- whose
sacrifices too often have been forgotten or reviled -- are
nearing their day of greatest vindication. For I have confidence
that the tragedy of totalitarianism has entered its final scene -
- everywhere on this earth.
This morning's sun will course the Pacific skies and
illuminate the lands of Asia. Just as certainly, the movement of
human freedom will supplant dictatorships that now hold sway in
Pyongyang, Rangoon and Hanoi. Yes, in China, too -- for a
billion yearning men and women -- the future means freedom and
democracy.
This fair December dawn breaks on a world ready for renewal.
A high tide of hope swells for those committed to peace and
freedom. The nations pushed by tyrants into war against us half
a century ago join us today as free and constructive partners in
the effort for peace. The Soviet communists' designs for world
domination have collapsed before the Free World's resolve.
We've reached this morning because generation after
generation, Americans kept faith with our founders and our
heroes. From the snows of Valley Forge, to the fiery seas of
Midway and Pearl Harbor, to the sands of Iraq and Kuwait,
Americans lived and died true to our ideals. They have prepared
the way for a world of unprecedented freedom and cooperation. 11
6
Thank God you Pearl Harbor survivors are here today to see this
come to pass. 11
Today, as we remember the sacrifices of our countrymen, I
ask all Americans to join me in a prayer: Lord, give our rising
generations the wisdom to cherish their freedom and security as
hard-won treasures. Lord, give them the same courage that pulsed
in the blood of their fathers. 11
May God bless you, and God bless the United States of
America.
#
#
#
(Smith/Simon)
Draft Ten
December 4, 1991
PEARL.TS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: USS ARIZONA
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
8:25 A.M.
Captain Ross. Family and friends of the USS Arizona and USS
Utah. Fellow veterans, and Americans. //
It was a bright Sunday morning. Brave troops slept soundly
in their bunks. Those who were awake looked out and marveled at
the serene and glassy sea. /
On the stern of the USS Nevada, a brass band prepared to
play the Star Spangled Banner. On other ships, sailors readied
for the 8 a.m. flag raising. // Ray Emory, who was on the USS
:
Honolulu, read the morning newspaper. // Aboard the battleship
California, Yeoman Durell Connor wrapped Christmas presents. //
On the West Virginia, a machinist's mate looked at photos just
received from his wife. // They were of his eight-month-old son
whom he had never seen. //
On the mainland, millions listened to football games on the
radio. Others turned to songs like "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" /
comics like Terry and the Pirates / or movies like Sergeant York.
// In New York, families went window-shopping. Out West, it was
late morning -- and many families were still at church. /
At first, the hum of engines seemed routine -- and why not?
To American sailors, the idea of war seemed palpable, but remote.
/ Then, in one horrible instant, they froze in terror. The
abstract threat suddenly was real. //
2
But these men did not run -- they raced to their stations.
Some strapped pistols over pajamas -- fought, and died. // What
lived was the shock wave that soon swept across America --
forever immortalizing December 7, 1941. // Ask anyone who
endured that awful Sunday. Each felt like the writer who
observed: "Life is never again as it was before anyone you love
has died; never so innocent, never so gentle, never so pliant to
your will." / /
Today, we honor those who gave their lives at this place,
half-a-century ago. // Their names were Bertie and Gomez and
Dougherty and Granger. They came from Idaho, and Mississippi,
and the sweeping farmland of Ohio. // They were black and white,
brown and yellow, native-born and foreign-born. Most of all,
they were Americans -- hating war, but loving freedom more. //
Think of how it was for these Heroes of the Harbor -- men
who were also husbands / fathers / brothers / sons. Imagine the
chaos of guns and smoke, flaming water and ghastly carnage. Two
thousand, four hundred and three Americans gave their lives. But
in this haunting place, they live forever in our memory -- re-
minding us gently, selflessly, like chimes in the distant night.
Every 15 seconds a drop of oil still rises from the Arizona,
and drifts to the surface. As it spreads across the water, we
recall the ancient poet: "In our sleep, pain that cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair /
against our will / comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."
// It is as though God Himself were crying. //
3
He cries -- as we do -- for the living, and the dead. Men
like Commander Duncan Curry -- firing a .45 at attacking planes
as tears streamed down his face. // We remember machinist's mate
Robert Scott -- who ran the air compressors that powered the guns
aboard the California. When the compartment flooded, the crew
evacuated. Bob Scott refused. "This is my station, he said.
"I'm going to stay as long as the guns are going. " 11 Nearby,
aboard the cruiser New Orleans, Chaplain Howell Forgy assured his
troops it was all right to miss church that day. "You can praise
the Lord and pass the ammunition." //
For these men, heroism came as naturally as breath. They
reacted to assault by rushing to their posts. They knew
instinctively that a Nation is sustained by the nobility of its
cause. // Every American did. / Ted Williams, who served
America in two wars, put down his bat after the bombs began to
fall. He took up arms and risked his life so that liberty could
survive. // Enlisting in that mission were Hawaiians of Japanese
ancestry who came by the hundreds to give wounded Americans blood
-- and later thousands of kinsmen who took up arms for their
country. //
The men I speak of would be embarrassed to be called heroes.
Instead, they would tell you with defiance: Foes can sink
American ships, but not the American spirit. They may kill us,
but never the ideals that made us proud to serve. // Talk to
those who survived to fight another day. They would repeat the
Navy Hymn I memorized as a boy: "Eternal Father, strong to save
4
/ Whose arm hath bound the restless wave / O hear us when we cry
to thee / For those in peril on the sea."
I come here as a Navy man -- enlisting on my eighteenth
birthday -- 188 days after Pearl. // It was the day I graduated
from high school, and I remember how Henry Stimson, then
Secretary of War, gave the Commencement speech. / He talked of
the American soldier, and how that soldier should be -- and I
quote -- "Brave without being brutal, self-confident without
boasting, being part of an irresistible might without losing
faith in individual liberty." //
The Heroes of the Harbor engraved that passage on every
heart and soul. They fought for a world of peace, not war --
where children's dreams speak more loudly than the brashest
tyrant's guns. // Because of them, this memorial lives to pass
its lessons from one generation to the next -- lessons as clear
as the Pacific sky. //
One of Pearl Harbor's lessons is that, together, we could
"summon lightness against the dark" -- that was Dwight
Eisenhower. / Another: that when it comes to national defense,
finishing second means finishing last. / We learned that
appeasement is a bankrupt course of action -- the world stops not
at our water's edge. // Perhaps above all, that real peace --
the peace that lasts -- means the triumph of freedom -- not
merely the absence of war. //
Real peace stems from might that is moral and intellectual,
economic and military. It comes from Nations who use that might
5
to make temporary peace permanent -- and fragile peace strong. //
As we look down at the Arizona's shrunken hull -- tomb to more
than one thousand Americans -- the beguiling calm comforts us,
reminds us of the might of ideals that inspire boys to die as
men. // Every one who aches at their sacrifice knows America
must be forever vigilant -- and Americans must always remember
the brave and innocent who gave their lives to keep us free. //
Each Memorial Day, not far from this spot, Hawaiian Boy
Scouts and Girl Scouts honor the heroes of Pearl Harbor by
placing two leis on the graves of U.S. servicemen. // It is for
them -- the future -- that we must apply the lessons of the past.
// In Pearl Harbor's wake, we won the war and, thus, the peace.
In the Cold War that followed, Americans also shed their blood -
- but we used other means as well. // For nearly half-a-century,
patience, foresight, and personal diplomacy helped America stand
fast and firm for democracy. But it has never stood alone. /
Beside us stood nations committed to democracy, free markets,
free expression, and freedom of worship -- nations that include
our former enemies, Germany, Italy, and Japan. //
This year, they supported our triumph in the seas and sands
of the Gulf. By joining that great coalition, they paid solemn
tribute to the memory of December 7 -- standing tall for what is
right and good. // They said: We believe in a New World Order
where the force of law outlasts the use of force -- the kind of
world our boys died for right here. //
6
The cause of peace among Nations is the highest in the
Community of God, and man. Today, we re-enlist in its crusade. /
It is the cause of the Commonwealth of Freedom -- where
nations beat swords into plowshares. / It is the cause of the
Family of America -- where individuals, and communities, practice
the Golden Rule. / It is the cause, finally, of your family, and
mine -- of children and grandchildren: Where we say to every
child: "Someone loves you, and knows your name. " //
The men of Pearl Harbor served this cause -- honored it. //
They knew that there are things worth living for -- but also
worth dying for: Things like principle / decency / fidelity /
honor. / /
Look behind you at Battleship Row -- and behind me, at the
gun turret, still visible -- and the flag, flying proudly, from a
truly blessed shrine. //
Look into your hearts, and minds: You will see boys who
this day became men / and men who became heroes. //
Look at the water here -- clear and quiet, bidding us to sum
up and remember. One day -- in what now seems another lifetime -
- it wrapped its arms around the finest sons any Nation could
ever have; and it carried them to another, better world. //
God bless them. Let me close with words worthy of the
Heroes of the Harbor: God Bless America -- the most wondrous
land on earth. // Thank you very much.
#
#
#
#
Grant/Simon
A:Kilo-8.ts Draft five
December 4, 1991
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: WWII VETERANS AND FAMILIES
K-8 PIER, HONOLULU, HAWAII
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1991
9:50 A.M.
[Acknowledgements]
I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl
Harbor -- as I'm sure all of you do, too. I was seventeen years
old, walking across the green at school. My thoughts in those
days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to simpler things:
making the basketball team, entering college. That walk across
campus marked an end of innocence for me.
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. I was swept up in it -- I
became determined that very day. I wanted to be a Navy pilot.
And so, on my 18th birthday -- June 12, 1942 -- I was sworn
into the Navy as a Seaman Second Class. Like all American kids
back then, I wanted to fight for my country. I learned to fly
torpedo bombers and land them on aircraft carriers. I was
shocked at my first sight of Pearl Harbor in April of '44: we
came into port on the carrier San Jacinto. Nearby, the Utah was
still on her side, and parts of the Arizona still stood silent in
the water. // Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out, as
if to demand remembrance -- and warn us of our own mortality. //
Heading out with Admiral Mitscher's Fleet, we quickly saw
the face of battle -- we wrote letters to the families of crewmen
who didn't return from bombing runs, and prayed for our buddies
when their planes got hit. I lost friends. // We all did. //
2
Two thousand men died in a matter of minutes on this site, a
half century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway
Island, Malaya, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong. On that Day
of Infamy, Pearl Harbor propelled each of us into a titanic
contest for mankind's future. It galvanized the American spirit
as never before / into a single-minded resolve that could produce
only one thing: victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news. He'd faced
the Nazi conquest of Europe, the blitz of London, and the terror
of the U-boats. But when America was attacked, he declared there
was "no more doubt about the end." He knew then / that the
American spirit would not fail the cause of freedom.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the singular
American objective: "With confidence in our armed forces -- with
the unbounding determination of our people -- we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God." // It was the
steadfastness of the American people that would "win the war" and
"win the peace that follows."
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the conflict -- "the
unsought war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
gathered together at what was known in those days as an "America
First" rally in Pittsburgh -- at precisely the moment the first
Americans met early, violent deaths in Pearl Harbor. The
isolationists failed to see that the seeds of Pearl Harbor were
3
sewn in 1919, when a victorious America decided that in the
absence of a threatening enemy, we should turn all of our
energies to domestic problems. That notion of isolationism flew
escort for the bombers that attacked our men fifty years ago. //
Again, in 1945, some called for America's return to
isolationism -- as if abandoning world leadership was the
prerequisite for dealing with pressing matters back home. They
were rudely awakened by the brutal reality of the Iron Curtain,
the Soviet blockade of Berlin, and the communist invasion of
South Korea.
Now we stand triumphant -- for the third time this century
-- this time in the wake of the Cold War. As in 1919 and 1945,
we face no enemy menacing our security. Yet we stand here today
on the site of a tragedy spawned by isolationism. And it is here
we must learn -- and this time avoid -- the dangers of today's
isolationism and its economic accomplice, 11 protectionism. //
The fact is, this country has enjoyed its most lasting
growth and security when we rejected isolationism in favor of
engagement and leadership. Next month in Asia, I'll discuss with
our Pacific friends and allies their responsibility to share with
us the challenges and burdens of leadership in the post-Cold War
world. Together, we will continue our efforts to promote free
markets and free people. To do otherwise -- to believe that
turning our backs on the world would improve our lot here at home
-- is to ignore the tragic lessons of the 20th century. 11
4
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency and
overconfidence. That, too, is a lesson we shall never forget.
But Pearl Harbor also proved the value of unity and the strength
of America's resolve. The unity that made us invincible in war,
now makes us secure in peace. To those who have defended our
country -- from the shores of Guadalcanal to the hills of Korea;
and from the jungles of Vietnam to the sands of Kuwait -- I say
this: we will always remember. // We will always be prepared --
prepared to take on aggression, prepared to step forward in
reconciliation, and prepared to secure the peace.
In remembering, it is important to come to grips with the
past. No nation can fully understand itself or find its place in
the world if it does not look with clear eyes at all the glories
and disgraces of its past. We in the United States acknowledge a
great injustice in our history: The internment of Americans of
Japanese ancestry was such an injustice, and it will never be
repeated. //
The values we hold dear as a Nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion, speech, and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- are now revered by many Nations. Our
greatest victory in World War II took place not on the field of
battle, but in nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of
democracy and liberty have triumphed in a world once threatened
with conquest / by tyranny and despotism.
Today as we celebrate the world's evolution toward freedom,
we commemorate democracy's fallen heroes -- the defenders of
5
freedom -- as well as the victims of dictatorship who never saw
the light of liberty. // Earlier this year, when former
adversaries joined us in the fight against aggression in the
Persian Gulf, we affirmed the values cherished by the Heroes of
the Harbor. In effect, we said to those entombed in the Arizona,
and to all who have fallen for the sake of liberty: You did not
die in vain. //
The friends I lost -- we all lost -- upheld a great and
noble cause. Because of their sacrifice, the world now lives in
greater freedom and peace than ever before. It is right that we
are here today. // And it is right that we go on from here. //
Earlier this morning, I paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. Behind us stands the Missouri -- where it
came to an end, where the Japanese signed the Articles of
Surrender. But the Missouri was also the birthplace of democracy
in Japan. Soon after, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General
MacArthur, who noted that the Emperor had a "thorough grasp of
the democratic concept ... He played a major role in the
spiritual regeneration of Japan." Their meeting made history,
and a hopeful future for Japan began to take shape.
I thought of that meeting with MacArthur when I attended the
Emperor's funeral in 1989. I thought of it this morning, too, at
the National Cemetery of the Pacific and the Arizona. As one who
proudly served my country in World War II, I understand the anger
that lingers to this day. But this morning I also thought about
6
Japan's rebirth and about her democracy. And I thought of Pearl
Harbor as the birthplace of the new world order.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu, who is here today. His son
writes from his home, now in Tokyo, saying: "A half century ago,
my father's thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the
war. He could not have envisioned a future where his son would
study and work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has
changed, that America's challenges are different. [My father's]
attitude represents that of the United States: Do your duty, and
raise the next generation to do its.'
I can understand Bill's feelings. The first time I came to
Pearl Harbor, I was a cocky young Navy pilot who had never been
in a war zone.
On my second visit, having faced death and been given
another chance to live, I spent the time in Pearl thinking about
the things that were important to me -- faith and family among
them.
Today, I come as a grown man, a father and a grandfather.
As you look back on life, and retrace the steps that made you the
person you are, you pick out the defining moments, the crucial
events. Over the years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part of
who I am.
I come today also as President, to lead the Nation in
honoring the last fifty years, its lessons and its heroes -- and
to dream of the next fifty years, the Next American Century.
7
We must answer our call to destiny -- because it is America's
destiny to lead, to strive -- to be "man's last best hope on
Earth." Today we still dream of gaining "that inevitable triumph
... so help us God."
Today, we remember those we loved. We place our hearts'
hopes in the generations that will follow. And we know -- as we
knew fifty years ago -- that we will not fail.
God bless these United States of America. Thank you.
# # #
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
November 29, 1991
MEMORANDUM TO MARY KATE GRANT
FROM
TONY SNOW
REGARDING
KILO-8 SPEECH
This speech has everything it needs, although I suggest a
number of embellishments along the way. On the particulars of
the day, I would suggest more concrete details, perhaps
describing how things may have looked from that spot: the harbor
and the mountains in the background, etc.
Second, I think we need to dramatize the moment more: How
the first blasts at Pearl Harbor changed us forever, ended our
innocence by demonstrating the futility of isolationism, the
stupidity of complacency, the importance of preparedness, etc.
Then you can segue into the longer-range lessons of the war --
internment, etc.
Finally, this will be the final speech of a draining day.
Think about the following scheme for wrapping it up: contrast
GB's first trip -- cocky, confident, naive -- with his second --
sober, war-hardened, with this one -- reverent of the place,
optimistic about the future. The point of the day should be that
Pearl Harbor taught us that the old world had gone forever, and
subsequent history has shown that the principles and values that
we defended in the war can liberate an entire planet. We should
revel in the victims' final triumph -- their ideals won, and they
did not die in vain. Furthermore, they helped lay the foundation
for the New World Order.
12/10
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
FOR TONY SNOW
From Torhel Patterson
Tony, attached are some
of the press reachins to
your speecher in Pearl
from the Japanese viewpoint.
They were exallent.
Torher
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
09-Dec-1991 07:46 EDT
MEMORANDUM FOR:
PATTERSON@OEOB@MRGATE
FROM:
VMSMail User RAGLE
(RAGLE@OEOB@MRGATE)
SUBJECT:
GESCAN
<CLAS> UNCLASSIFIED<DTG> 090908Z DEC 91
<ORIG>FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
<SUBJ> USIS/JAPAN MEDIA REACTION REPORT -- DECEMBER
9, 1991
<TEXT>
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TOKYO 21918
USIA
FOR: STATE/EAP/J, STATE/PM; TREASURY/IMI; NSC; USIA FOR
P/M, EA; SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: USIS/JAPAN MEDIA REACTION REPORT -- DECEMBER
9, 1991
1. THIS EDITION COVERS REPORTING AND COMMENT ON:
-- PEARL HARBOR ANNIVERSARY --
LEAD STORIES: THE YOMIURI, ASAHI, SANKEI AND THE TOKYO
SHIMBUN GAVE TOP COVERAGE MONDAY MORNING TO REPORTS ON
PRESIDENT BUSH'S PEARL HARBOR SPEECHES.
11
combined circulation
30 million
-- PRESS REPORTS
HEADLINES: "BUSH: FORGET UNFORTUNATE PAST AND LOOK TO
FUTURE" (YOMIURI, ASAHI, SANKEI AND OTHERS)
2. TOKYO PAPERS GAVE TOP PLAY TO CORRESPONDENT REPORTS
FROM HONOLULU ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S SPEECHES COMMEMORATING
THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR.
EDITORIALS REFLECTED ON JAPAN'S SURPRISE ATTACK AND
EMPHASIZED THE NEED TO OVERCOME U.S.-JAPAN DIFFERENCES
THROUGH MUTUAL TRUST.
3. THE MODERATE YOMIURI'S CORRESPONDENTS YOSHIDA AND
SAKATA REPORTED FROM HONOLULU THAT "THE HIGHLIGHTS OF
THE BUSH SPEECHES WERE THAT WORLD WAR II IS PAST
HISTORY, THAT HE HAD NO RANCOR TOWARD JAPAN AND GERMANY
AND CALLED FOR U.S.-JAPAN RECONCILIATION AND LASTING
PEACE.
"THE BUSH SPEECH CALLED ON AMERICANS WHO STILL FELT A
GRUDGE TOWARD JAPAN'S SURPRISE ATTACK TO FORGIVE BY
TAKING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR AS AN
OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE THEIR FEELINGS. BESIDES POLITICAL
RECONCILIATION, THE PRESIDENT CALLED ON JAPAN TO MAKE
FURTHER EFFORTS TO OPEN ITS MARKET.
"BUSH ALSO MENTIONED THE INTERNMENT OF AMERICANS OF
JAPANESE DESCENT DURING WORLD WAR II AND APOLOGIZED FOR
THE 'GREAT INJUSTICE.'
4. THE LIBERAL ASAHI'S CORRESPONDENT MURAMATSU SAID,
"PRESIDENT BUSH APPRECIATED PRIME MINISTER MIYAZAWA'S
EXPRESSION OF 'DEEP REMORSE' IN HIS SPEECH AT A PIER
WITH THE ARIZONA MEMORIAL IN THE BACKGROUND."
5. THE CONSERVATIVE SANKEI'S CORRESPONDENT KOMORI
REPORTED THAT "PRESIDENT BUSH POINTED OUT THAT THE PEARL
HARBOR ATTACK BY JAPAN'S MILITARISTS MARKED THE
BEGINNING OF U.S. GLOBAL LEADERSHIP TO MAINTAIN FREEDOM
AND DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD. AT THE SAME TIME, BUSH
REPEATEDLY MENTIONED THE NEED FOR FRIENDSHIP AND
RECONCILIATION WITH POSTWAR JAPAN. BUT BUSH TOOK A
CRITICAL STAND TOWARD JAPAN'S PROTECTIONIST TRADE.
"THE PRESIDENT STATED THAT DURING HIS UPCOMING TRIP TO
ASIA, HE PLANS TO DISCUSS NEW BURDEN-SHARING IN THE
ASIA-PACIFIC REGION WITH JAPAN AND OTHER COUNTRIES."
6. THE YOMIURI, ASAHI AND OTHER PAPERS FRONT-PAGED
REPORTS ON THE STATEMENT ISSUED BY FOREIGN MINISTER
WATANABE EXPRESSING 'DEEP REMORSE' OVER JAPAN'S SURPRISE
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR. THE REPORTS SAID WATANABE WAS
"DEEPLY MOVED BY PRESIDENT BUSH'S PEARL HARBOR SPEECH."
UNCLAS SECTION 02 OF 06 TOKYO 21918
USIA
FOR: STATE/EAP/J, STATE/PM; TREASURY/IMI; NSC; USIA FOR
P/M, EA; SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: USIS/JAPAN MEDIA REACTION REPORT -- DECEMBER
9, 1991
-- EDITORIALS
7. THE MODERATE YOMIURI SAID SATURDAY MORNING, "DURING
THE 50 YEARS SINCE PEARL HARBOR, JAPAN AND THE U.S. HAVE
SHELVED THEIR HOSTILE FEELINGS AND DEVELOPED FRIENDLY
RELATIONS. NOW, THEIR FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP IS REGARDED
AS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN THE WORLD.
"YET, AS THE RELATIONS BECAME CLOSER AND CLOSER,
FRICTIONS SURFACED AND INTENSIFIED, ESPECIALLY IN TRADE
AND OTHER ECONOMIC AREAS.
"JAPAN AND THE U.S. SHOULD ESTABLISH A RELATIONSHIP
BASED ON MUTUAL TRUST AND BECOME TRUE PARTNERS IN
BRINGING ABOUT PROSPERITY AND PEACE IN THE WORLD.
"WHAT WE SHOULD DO IN OBSERVING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
PEARL HARBOR IS TO LEARN THE LESSON IT OFFERS AND NEVER
REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKE.
"IN THE FUTURE, WE MUST SHAPE OUR THINKING BY EXAMINING
THE INTERNATIONAL SITUATION FIRST AND ONLY THEN CONSIDER
WHAT ACTIONS JAPAN SHOULD TAKE."
8. THE LIBERAL ASAHI SAID SUNDAY MORNING, "IN THE EARLY
DAWN 50 YEARS AGO TODAY, DEC. 8, JAPANESE TROOPS
COMMENCED THEIR INVASION OF THE MALAY PENINSULA, THEN
UNDER BRITISH RULE. ABOUT AN HOUR LATER, CRACK AIR
UNITS OF JAPAN'S NAVY SWARMED DOWN ON AMERICAN MILITARY
BASES AT PEARL HARBOR IN HAWAII.
"BOTH OUTBREAKS OF MILITARY ACTION CAME WITH NO FORMAL
DECLARATION OF WAR. REGARDLESS OF THE EVENTS BEHIND
THIS PROCESS, IT HAS LED TO THE CREATION OF AN
INTERNATIONAL IMAGE OF JAPAN AS 'SNEAKY' AND 'DISHONEST.'
"THE PEOPLES OF ASIA ARE PROBABLY OF THE SAME OPINION.
THOSE IN ASIA WHO WERE PRESENTED WITH THE DREAM OF A
'GREATER EAST ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE' AND WHO TRIED
TO BELIEVE IN THAT DREAM MUST HAVE FELT A DOUBLE SENSE
OF BETRAYAL.
"THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE U.S. AND ASIA HAS CHANGED
GREATLY BETWEEN 1941 AMD 1991. TODAY, 90 PERCENT OF THE
SEMICONDUCTORS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF WEAPONS BY THE
U.S. ARE MANUFACTURED IN PLANTS LOCATED IN EAST ASIA.
THE U.S. HAS COME TO SEE ASIA AS ITS RIVAL AND THERE ARE
THOSE WHO WARN OF A GROWING ASIA-ISM.
"IT WAS THE U.S. WHICH POINTED OUT THE FOLLY OF JAPAN'S
EFFORTS TO CONTROL ASIA 50 YEARS AGO. BOTH JAPAN AND
THE U.S. SHOULD NOT FORGET THIS FACT.
"FOR THE NEXT 50 YEARS, COEXISTENCE IS THE ONLY PATH FOR
JAPAN, ASIA AND THE U.S. IT WILL BE A PERIOD WHEN A
COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY INCORPORATING NOT
ONLY THE MILITARY BUT ALSO THE ECONOMY AND CULTURE WILL
BECOME IMPORTANT. ON THIS OCCASION, LET US MEDITATE ON
FOOLISHNESS OF INCREASING MILITARY POWER."
9. THE LIBERAL MAINICHI ALSO SAID SUNDAY MORNING THAT
"HALF A CENTURY HAS PASSED SINCE THEN AND JAPAN, WHICH
UNCLAS SECTION 03 OF 06 TOKYO 21918
USIA
FOR: STATE/EAP/J, STATE/PM; TREASURY/IMI; NSC; USIA FOR
P/M, EA; SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: USIS/JAPAN MEDIA REACTION REPORT -- DECEMBER
9, 1991
HAS DEVELOPED INTO AN ECONOMIC POWER AGAINST A
BACKGROUND OF STABLE RELATIONS WITH THE U.S., IS NOW
BEING CALLED UPON TO ASSUME A POSITIVE ROLE FOR THE SAKE
OF WORLD PEACE AND PROSPERITY.
"THIS SHOULD BE DONE AMID DEEP SELF-REFLECTION ON PAST
HISTORY. THE PACIFIC WAR CAUSED TREMENDOUS CASUALTIES
AND ENDED WITH THE ATOMIC BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND
NAGASAKI.
"THE TENSION RESULTING FROM THE TRADE IMBALANCE AND
CRITICISM OF JAPAN'S RESPONSE TO THE GULF WAR IS SHOWING
SIGNS OF WORSENING FROM ECONOMIC FRICTION INTO AN
EMOTIONAL CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES.
"THE TRADE FRICTION, PORTRAYING THE PEARL HARBOR IMAGE
THAT 'THE JAPANESE ARE TREACHEROUS AND CANNOT BE
TRUSTED,' IS GIVING IMPETUS TO 'JAPAN BASHING' WHICH
MIGHT AROUSE ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENTS IN JAPAN. THE
NATIONALISTIC MOVES THAT HAVE SURFACED RECENTLY IN BOTH
COUNTRIES NEED TO BE GUARDED AGAINST.
"HOWEVER, IF PROPER ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO THIS 'MOST
IMPORTANT BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP,' AS POINTED OUT BY
PRESIDENT BUSH, THE STRONG POSSIBILITY EXISTS FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A BRIGHT FUTURE."
10. AMONG THE REGIONAL PAPERS, THE LIBERAL HOKKOKU
SHIMBUN SAID, "THE U.S.-JAPAN ALIGNMENT IS VERY
IMPORTANT AMID THE NEW WORLD ORDER, AS SEEN IN THE
REQUEST FOR AID TO THE SOVIET UNION.
"IF THE U.S. AND JAPAN STUMBLE, THE EFFECTS WILL BE FELT
NOT ONLY IN ASIA, BUT IN THE WORLD ORDER AS WELL.
"WE HOPE THAT BOTH COUNTRIES WILL DEEPEN MUTUAL
UNDERSTANDING AND COOPERATIVE RELATIONS BY HURDLING THE
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR."
-- TV REPORTS
11. THE QUASI-GOVERNMENTAL NHK-TV AND THE
PRIVATELY-OWNED NTV, TBS-TV, FUJI-TV, TV ASAHI AND TV
TOKYO GAVE TOP COVERAGE TO CORRESPONDENT REPORTS ON
PEARL HARBOR CEREMONIES CENTERING ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S
SPEECHES.
12. NHK-TV'S HONOLULU CORRESPONDENT TANAKA SAID,
"PRESIDENT BUSH MARKED THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF JAPAN'S
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR BY URGING RECONCILIATION AND AN
END TO RECRIMINATION AND RANCOR BETWEEN THE U.S. AND
JAPAN. BUSH APOLOGIZED TO JAPANESE-AMERICANS WHO WERE
INTERNED DURING THE WAR FOR THE GREAT INJUSTICE DONE TO
THEM AND THANKED PRIME MINISTER MIYAZAWA FOR EXPRESSING
DEEP REMORSE ABOUT THE ATTACK.
"BUT THE PRESIDENT TOOK A SERIOUS VIEW OF EMERGING
ECONOMIC ISOLATIONISM AND PROTECTIONISM AND CALLED FOR
JOINT EFFORTS BY THE U.S., JAPAN AND EUROPE TO CREATE A
NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER, BASED ON FREE TRADE, IN THE
POST-COLD WAR ERA. IN PARTICULAR, HE URGED JAPAN TO
OPEN ITS MARKET WIDER, AND HELP THE U.S. MAINTAIN THE
FREE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM.
UNCLAS SECTION 04 OF 06 TOKYO 21918
USIA
FOR: STATE/EAP/J, STATE/PM; TREASURY/IMI; NSC; USIA FOR
P/M, EA; SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: USIS/JAPAN MEDIA REACTION REPORT -- DECEMBER
9, 1991
"PEARL HARBOR WAS AN IDEAL OCCASION FOR THE PRESIDENT TO
APPEAL TO AMERICAN PATRIOTISM AND RECOUP PUBLIC SUPPORT
FOR HIS SECOND BID FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 1992 FOLLOWING
A DRAMATIC DROP IN HIS POPULARITY DUE TO ECONOMIC AND
OTHER DOMESTIC DIFFICULTIES.
"BUT HIS SPEECHES GAVE GREATER WEIGHT TO THE IMPORTANCE
OF A FUTURE U.S.-JAPAN COOPERATIVE RELATIONSHIP IN THE
POST-COLD WAR ERA. THE PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES WERE
APPARENTLY DESIGNED TO PREVENT ANTI-JAPANESE SENTIMENT
IN THE U.S. OVER CURRENT TRADE FRICTION FROM FLARING UP
AND HAVING NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON THE OVERALL BILATERAL
RELATIONSHIP."
13. NHK CORRESPONDENT FUJISAWA SAID, "PRESIDENT BUSH
URGED BOTH AMERICANS AND JAPANESE TO LOOK TO THE FUTURE,
NOT THE PAST, TO CREATE A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER, BASED
ON FREE TRADE, IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA. BUT HE WARNED
AGAINST ECONOMIC ISOLATIONISM AND PROTECTIONISM AND
URGED JAPAN TO OPEN ITS MARKET.
"THE PRESIDENT AVOIDED INCLUDING THE NAME 'JAPAN' IN HIS
SPEECHES TOUCHING DIRECTLY ON THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR
IN WHAT IS BELIEVED TO BE A CAREFULLY CALCULATED SCHEME
TO PREVENT THE POSSIBLE FLAREUP OF ANTI-JAPANESE
SENTIMENT IN THE U.S."
14. NHK COMMENTATOR AEBA SAID, "PRESIDENT BUSH URGED
AMERICANS AND JAPANESE TO LOOK TO THE FUTURE AND WORK
TOGETHER IN CREATING A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER IN THE
POST-COLD WAR ERA.
"THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECHES WERE PRAISEWORTHY IN
THEMSELVES. BUT THEY WERE ALSO CONSIDERED AN ALLUSION
TO THE U.S. REQUEST THAT JAPAN HELP THE BUSH
ADMINISTRATION TO TIDE OVER DOMESTIC DIFFICULTIES,
INCLUDING THE AILING ECONOMY. THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT
BUSH WILL APPLY GREATER PRESSURE ON JAPAN TO OPEN ITS
MARKET DURING HIS VISIT TO JAPAN JANUARY 7-10. JAPAN
MUST BE PREPARED
"ON THIS OCCASION, JAPAN MUST ALSO APOLOGIZE TO THE
ASIAN PEOPLE FOR THE SORROW AND SUFFERINGS IT INFLICTED
ON THEM DURING WORLD WAR II. IF JAPAN IS DETERMINED TO
WORK TOGETHER WITH THE U.S. TO CREATE A NEW
INTERNATIONAL ORDER, IT MUST APOLOGIZE TO CHINA, KOREA
AND OTHER COUNTRIES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA."
15. TBS-TV'S CORRESPONDENT SAITO SAID, "IN HIS THREE
SPEECHES, THE PRESIDENT CALLED PEARL HARBOR A THING OF
THE PAST AND GAVE GREATER WEIGHT TO THE IMPORTANCE OF
CLOSER AND STRONGER U.S.-JAPAN TIES IN THE POST-COLD WAR
ERA. HE WARNED AGAINST ECONOMIC ISOLATIONISM AND
PROTECTIONISM AND URGED JAPAN TO WORK HAND-IN-HAND WITH
THE U.S. TO MAINTAIN THE FREE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM."
16. FUJI-TV SAID, "PRESIDENT BUSH MADE DRAMATIC
SPEECHES, BASED ON HIS POLITICAL CONVICTION. HIS
SPEECHES WERE VERY FRIENDLY TO JAPAN. AFTER THE
MEMORIAL SERVICES, PEARL HARBOR AND ALL OF HAWAII BECAME
AGAIN A PEACEFUL BUT BUSTLING RESORT."
17. FUJI'S COMMENTATOR OKAMOTO SAID, "IT WAS A GOOD
OPPORTUNITY FOR PRESIDENT BUSH TO APPEAL TO AMERICAN
PATRIOTISM, TACKLE DOMESTIC PROBLEMS AND SEEK A SECOND
UNCLAS SECTION 05 OF 06 TOKYO 21918
USIA
FOR: STATE/EAP/J, STATE/PM; TREASURY/IMI; NSC; USIA FOR
P/M, EA; SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: USIS/JAPAN MEDIA REACTION REPORT -- DECEMBER
9, 1991
TERM AS PRESIDENT NEXT YEAR.
"THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECHES INDICATED THAT PEARL HARBOR IS
NO LONGER THE SYMBOL OF U.S.-JAPAN DISCORD BUT THAT OF
U.S. PREPAREDNESS FOR A FUTURE EMERGENCY.
"THE QUESTION IS HOW JAPAN WILL APOLOGIZE TO THE U.S.
AND ASIA FOR ITS WARTIME RESPONSIBILITIES IN A MORE
POSITIVE MANNER. FOR EXAMPLE, JAPAN WILL OBSERVE THE
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATOMIC BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND
NAGASAKI IN FOUR YEARS. IT IS QUESTIONABLE WHETHER A
PRIME MINISTER WILL MAKE A SPEECH BASED ON POLITICAL
BELIEFS AS SOLID AS PRESIDENT BUSH'S IN CALLING FOR
WORLD PEACE AND FREE TRADE.
"ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR, JAPAN MUST
OFFER A FORMAL APOLOGY TO THE U.S. AND ASIA."
18. TBS-TV'S SUNDAY COMMENTATOR TAKUBO SAID, "IN HIS
SPEECHES, PRESIDENT BUSH SAID THOSE WHO DIED AT PEARL
HARBOR HAD NOT DIED IN VAIN BECAUSE THE WAR TAUGHT THE
U.S. THE FOLLY OF ISOLATIONISM.
"IT IS ALSO NOTEWORTHY THAT, WHILE CALLING PEARL HARBOR
A THING OF THE PAST, BUSH URGED BOTH THE U.S. AND JAPAN
TO WORK HARDER TO CREATE A NEW WORLD ORDER, BASED ON
FREE TRADE, NOT PROTECTIONISM, IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA.
"THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECHES WERE AIMED AT URGING JAPAN TO
OPEN ITS MARKET AND ALSO AT REFUTING THE GROWING VIEWS
OF U.S. CRITICS WHO ARGUE THE U.S. SHOULD REJECT
ENGAGEMENT IN THE WORLD FOLLOWING THE END OF THE COLD
WAR, 'COME HOME AND TURN ALL OF OUR ENERGIES INWARD.'
"ALTHOUGH BUSH SAID THE U.S. AND JAPAN ARE CLOSE ALLIES,
AND THEY SHOULD LOOK TO THE FUTURE, NOT THE PAST, TO
TAKE A JOINT LEADERSHIP ROLE IN WORLD AFFAIRS, IT SEEMS
THAT THE PEOPLES OF THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT ALLIES STILL
BELIEVE DEEP INSIDE THAT THEY OWE EACH OTHER
RECONCILIATION. AFTER ALL, THE U.S. AMD JAPAN SHOULD
MAKE FORMAL APOLOGIES FOR PEARL HARBOR AND HIROSHIMA AND
NAGASAKI IN ORDER TO BREAK WITH THE PAST ONCE AND FOR
ALL AND ESTABLISH A NEW, CLOSER AND STRONGER
RELATIONSHIP FOR THE NEXT 50 YEARS."
19. FUJI'S SUNDAY COMMENTATOR TAKEMURA SAID, "SOME
JAPANESE HAD MISGIVINGS ABOUT THE POSSIBLE FLAREUP OF
ANTI-JAPANESE SENTIMENT IN THE U.S. ON THE 50TH
ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR.
"BUT U.S. MEDIA REPORTS AND OPINION POLLS BECAME
UNEXPECTEDLY MORE AMICABLE TO JAPAN AS DECEMBER S
(DECEMBER 7) APPROACHED. FOR EXAMPLE, SOME OF THEM SAID
PEARL HARBOR AWAKENED THE U.S. FROM ISOLATIONISM. ONE
U.S. MAGAZINE EVEN SAID PEARL HARBOR MARKED THE START OF
A NEW AMERICA WHICH COMMITS ITSELF TO WORLD AFFAIRS.
"AS PRESIDENT BUSH SAID IN HIS SPEECHES, AFTER THE WAR,
THE U.S. HELPED JAPAN REBUILD ITSELF AS A FREE,
DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY. JAPAN HAS BECOME AN ECONOMIC POWER
BUT HAS BEEN FAR FROM OPEN TO FOREIGN PRODUCTS.
"RATHER, IT SEEMS THAT JAPAN IS TURNING A DEAF EAR TO
U.S. CALLS FOR FREE TRADE AND IS GOING IN THE DIRECTION
UNCLAS SECTION 06 OF 06 TOKYO 21918
USIA
FOR: STATE/EAP/J, STATE/PM; TREASURY/IMI; NSC; USIA FOR
P/M, EA; SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: USIS/JAPAN MEDIA REACTION REPORT -- DECEMBER
9, 1991
OF ECONOMIC ISOLATIONISM." NEVITT
<SECT>SECTION: 01 OF 06
<SECT>SECTION: 02 OF 06
<SECT>SECTION: 03 OF 06
<SECT>SECTION: 04 OF 06
<SECT>SECTION: 05 OF 06
<SECT>SECTION: 06 OF 06
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
09-Dec-1991 07:45 EDT
MEMORANDUM FOR:
PATTERSON@OEOB@MRGATE
FROM:
VMSMail User RAGLE
(RAGLE@OEOB@MRGATE)
SUBJECT:
GESCAN
<CLAS> UNCLASSIFIED<DTG> 090252Z DEC 91
<ORIG>FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
<SUBJ>JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS DECEMBER 9.
LEAD STORIES:
<TEXT>
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TOKYO 21881
USIA
FOR: USINFO P/P, P/PFF, EA; STATE FOR EAP/J; STATE PASS
TO USTR; SECDEF FOR JCS/J-5/JAPAN, OASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN;
CIA WASHDC; TREASURY/IMA; WHITE HOUSE; COMMERCE FOR
DAS; USCINCPAC/PA; COMUSJ/PA; COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA.
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS DECEMBER 9.
LEAD STORIES:
ASAHI: "US PRESIDENT APPEALS FOR JAPAN-US CO-OPERATION
BEYOND PAST; IN SPEECH GIVEN AT CEREMONY FOR 50TH
ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR; TO SHARE RESPONSIBILITY
AFTER COLD WAR; URGES MARKET-OPENING EFFORTS"
MAINICHI: "FORMER HOKKAIDO DEVELOPMENT AGENCY DIRECTOR
GENERAL ABE RECEIVES 100 MILLION YEN FROM 'KYOWA';
'RETURNED 50 MILLION YEN'; MIYAZAWA FACTION CHIEF OF
SECRETARIAT, AT PRESENT; ADMITS SUCH FACTS AS VIOLATION
OF (POLITICAL FUNDS) CONTROL LAW"
YOMIURI: "US PRESIDENT GIVES SPEECH AT CEREMONY FOR
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR, APPEALING FOR
PERPETUAL RECONCILIATION BETWEEN JAPAN AND US; EYE TO
FUTURE, FORGETTING PAST; URGES JAPAN TO OPEN MARKET"
-
NIHON KEIZAI: "CITY BANKS BEGINNING TO RE-VIEW
SHORT-TERM PRIME RATE DECISION FORMULA; TRANSPARENCY ON
CD (CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT) STANDARDS"
SANKEI: "FUTURE FOR FRIENDSHIP, WITH GRUDGE TURNED
DOWN; US PRESIDENT GIVES SPEECH ON '50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
PEARL HARBOR'; JAPAN URGED TO OPEN MARKET; ASIA AND
PACIFIC -- HEADING TOWARD SHARING BURDEN IN NEW ERA"
TOKYO SHIMBUN: "APPEAL FOR CO-OPERATION BEYOND
UNFORTUNATE HISTORY; US PRESIDENT GIVES SPEECH ON 50TH
ANNIVERSARY OF 'PEARL HARBOR'; APOLOGIZES FOR FORCIBLE
EVACUATION OF JAPANESE-AMERICANS; SERIOUS RESOLVE
TOWARD DISSOLVING ECONOMIC FRICTION"
NO-WAR RESOLUTION (ASAHI - PAGE 2)
"A NO-WAR RESOLUTION BY JAPAN WAS REPORTED, AND
CORRESPONDING TO THE PART OF HAVING THE US AND VARIOUS
ASIAN NATIONS HARBOR EXPECTIONS, IT HAS RESULTED IN
HAVING REVERSE EFFECTS." FOREIGN MINISTRY LEADERS ARE
ALL LOOKING GLUM OVER THE FACT THAT THE DIET'S "NO-WAR
RESOLUTION," WHICH HAD BEEN CHECKED INTO BETWEEN THE
RULING AND OPPOSITION PARTIES, IN THE DIRECTION OF THE
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR, WAS NOT IN TIME FOR
"DECEMBER 8" AND THAT THERE IS NOW DEVELOPING A
SITUATION WHERE ITS ADOPTION DURING THE CURRENT DIET
SESSION HAS ALSO BECOME DIFFICULT.
THE "NO-WAR RESOLUTION" CONCEPT WAS PROPOSED BY JSP
CHAIRMAN TANABE, AND THE LDP EXECUTIVE ALSO SHOWED A
FORWARD-LOOKING POSTURE OUT OF SPECULATIONS FOR
PROMOTING THE DELIBERATIONS ON THE UN PEACE-KEEPING
OPERATIONS (PKO) CO-OPERATION LAW BILL, WHICH IS HAVING
HARD-SAILING, AND AT ONE TIME, IT MOVED FORWARD IN THE
DIRECTION OF ITS REALIZATION.
IT WAS UNDER SUCH A SITUATION THAT DEPUTY PRIME
MINISTER/FOREIGN MINISTER WATANABE EXPRESSED "DEEP
SELF-REFLECTION" OVER THE PACIFIC WAR, IN HIS INTERVIEW
WITH THE WASHINGTON POST, AND STATED DEFINITELY, ALSO
IN REGARD TO A NO-WAR RESOLUTION, THAT "IT WILL
PROBABLY BE ADOPTED AT THE DIET WITHOUT FAIL."
HOWEVER, WITH LDP SECRETARY GENERAL WATANUKI'S
PROPOSING TO JSP SECRETARY GENERAL YAMAHANA
CONSULTATIONS FOR ITS CONCRETE MATERIALIZATION, ON THE
3RD OF THIS MONTH, AS AN OCCASION, STRONG REPULSION
BURST FORTH.
UNCLAS SECTION 02 OF 04 TOKYO 21881
USIA
FOR: USINFO P/P, P/PFF, EA; STATE FOR EAP/J; STATE PASS
TO USTR; SECDEF FOR JCS/J-5/JAPAN, OASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN;
CIA WASHDC; TREASURY/IMA; WHITE HOUSE; COMMERCE FOR
DAS; USCINCPAC/PA; COMUSJ/PA; COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA.
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS DECEMBER 9.
AT A JOINT CONFERENCE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS-RELATED
DEPARTMENTS, HELD AT THE LDP HEADQUARTERS ON THE
MORNING OF THE 4TH, THE VIEW WAS VOICED THAT "IT WAS
THE GOVERNMENT WHICH GAVE RISE TO THE PACIFIC WAR. IF
AN APOLOGY IS TO BE MADE, IT SHOULD BE BY THE
GOVERNMENT." ALSO, AT AN INFORMAL DISCUSSION MEETING
OF. THE LDP'S MITSUZUKA FACTION, HELD ON THE 5TH,
SHINTARO ISHIHARA CRITICIZED "WHY DO THE DEFEATED HAVE
TO APOLOGIZE TO THE VICTOR?" AND MASAYUKI FUJIO ALSO
LASHED OUT, SAYING "WHY DO WE HAVE TO THROW MUD AT
JAPAN'S HISTORY WITH OUR OWN HANDS?"
MOVES FOR THE ADOPTION OF A NO-WAR RESOLUTION WITHIN
THE LDP CAME TO A STOP. A FOREIGN MINISTRY LEADER
VOICES CONCERN, SAYING "IT HAS GIVEN THE IMPRESSION TO
OTHER COUNTRIES THAT JAPAN IS, AFTER ALL, NOT
SELF-REFLECTING IN REAL EARNEST."
IT WAS A MISTAKE ON THE PART OF FOREIGN MINISTER
WATANABE TO MENTION IT, IN A CONCLUSIVE WAY, AT A STAGE
WHERE THE OUTLOOK FOR THE "RESOLUTION" WAS STILL NOT
CLEAR. HOWEVER, AS TO THE OTHER ARGUMENT ON
"SELF-REFLECTION/APOLOGY" WHICH AROSE WITHIN THE US
OVER THE WASHINGTON POST'S INTERVIEW WITH THE FOREIGN
MINISTER, THE FOREIGN MINISTER IS SOMEWHAT PERPLEXED.
IN REGARD TO THE FOREIGN MINISTER'S STATEMENT OF "DEEP
SELF-REFLECTION" IN HIS INTERVIEW, THE FOREIGN MINISTER
HIMSELF ADMITTED, WHEN ASKED BY A GROUP OF JAPANESE
REPORTERS, ON THE NIGHT OF THE 4TH, THAT "IF IT IS
TRANSLATED AS 'REMORSE,' IT WILL COME TO HAVE A
CONSIDERABLY STRONG MEANING, LIKE 'REGRET (TN: OR
REPENTENCE)
" THAT "IT IS ALRIGHT THAT WAY."
THE FOREIGN MINISTRY HAD ARRANGED THE INTERVIEW WITH
THE WASHINGTON POST THIS TINE, WITH THE "50TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN
AND THE US," AND "WE TRIED TO TRANSMIT OUR 'DEEP
SELF-REFLECTION' TOWARD THE ASIA/PACIFIC REGION, AS A
WHOLE, INCLUDING THE AMERICAN VICTIMS OF THE SURPRISE
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR" (FOREIGN MINISTRY SOURCE).
IT HAD INTENDED IT AS SENDING A MESSAGE, WHICH STEPPED
ONE STEP FURTHER, AND IT IS REGRETABLE THAT IT IS BEING
DISCUSSED ON A PLANE WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM ITS
ORIGINAL AIM.
WATANABE STATEMENT (NIHON KEIZAI - PAGE 2)
IN REGARD TO THE SPEECH BY US PRESIDENT BUSH AT THE
50TH ANNIVERSARY CEREMONY OF THE ATTACK ON PEARL
HARBOR, FOREIGN MINISTER WATANABE ON THE 8TH ISSUED A
STATEMENT, TO THE EFFECT THAT "HIS SPEECH WAS TO
RECONFIRM THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE WHICH THE US, WHILE
EXCLUDING ISOLATIONISM, OUGHT TO FULFILL FROM NOW ON,
AND TO EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF JAPAN-US
CO-OPERATION TOWARD AN INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF
TOMORROW. IT WAS DEEPLY IMPRESSIVE."
AS FOR JAPAN'S WAR RESPONSIBILITY, HE EXPRESSED "DEEP
SELF-REFLECTION," SAYING AS FOLLOWS: "DIRECTLY LOOKING
AT THE HISTORICAL FACT THAT THE PACIFIC WAR, WHICH
BROUGHT FORTH UNBEARABLE HARSHNESS AND SORROW TO MANY
PEOPLE MAINLY IN THE ASIA/PACIFIC REGION, INCLUDING
AMERICAN PEOPLE, WAS STARTED WITH JAPAN'S SUDDEN ATTACK
ON PEARL HARBOR ON THIS DAY OF 50 YEARS AGO, I DEEPLY
UNCLAS SECTION 03 OF 04 TOKYO 21881
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FOR: USINFO P/P, P/PFF, EA; STATE FOR EAP/J; STATE PASS
TO USTR; SECDEF FOR JCS/J-5/JAPAN, OASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN;
CIA WASHDC; TREASURY/IMA; WHITE HOUSE; COMMERCE FOR
DAS; USCINCPAC/PA; COMUSJ/PA; COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA.
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS DECEMBER 9.
SELF-REFLECT ON THE PAST ACTIONS OF JAPAN. I
WHOLEHEARTEDLY PRAY ONCE AGAIN FOR THE REPOSE OF THE
SOULS OF THE VICTIMS IN THIS WAR OF THE COUNTRIES
CONCERNED AND JAPAN.
(TN: ALL OTHER NEWSPAPERS CARRIED SIMILAR REPORTS.)
BUSH SPEECH (NIHON KEIZAI - PAGE 5)
CONCERNING US PRESIDENT BUSH'S SPEECH AT THE CEREMONY
FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR,
THE GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN IT THAT "IT EMPHASIZED THE
IMPORTANCE OF A FREE MARKET, FROM A BROAD POINT OF
VIEW." ON THAT POINT, THERE IS THE PREDOMINANT WAY OF
VIEWING THINGS THAT THAT AT HIS VISIT TO JAPAN IN
JANUARY, THE PRESIDENT WILL COME TO SEEK THE
STRENGTHENING/EXPANDING OF THE JAPAN-US STRUCTURAL
CONSULTATIONS UPON FOCUSING ON THE CLOSED NATURE OF THE
JAPANESE MARKET, AS A WHOLE, NOT THE OPENING UP OF
INDIVIDUAL SECTORS. STILL, THE PRESIDENT HAS ALSO
SHOWN THE POSTURE OF ATTACHING IMPORTANCE TO TRADE
PROBLEMS, TOO, AT HIS VISIT TO JAPAN, AS SEEN IN HIS
SEEKING THAT KEY BUSINESSMEN OF THE US ACCOMPANY HIM,
ETC. IT THEN IS EXPECTED THAT JAPAN WILL BE PRESSED TO
RESPOND TO THE OPENING OF THE MARKETS FOR AUTOMOBILES
AND RICE.
CONCERNING THE STRENGTHENING/EXPANDING OF THE
STRUCTURAL CONSULTATIONS, US SECRETARY OF STATE BAKER,
WHO VISITED JAPAN EARLIER, ALSO REFERRED TO IT. THE
JAPANESE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT CHANGE ITS POSTURE ON THE
"FOLLOW-UP OF THE FINAL REPORT IN JUNE LAST YEAR," BUT
PRESIDENT BUSH, IN HIS SPEECH THIS TIME, HAS SHOWN THE
VIEW THAT HE WILL STRONGLY SEEK THE OPENING UP OF THE
JAPANESE MARKET IN ORDER ALSO TO AVOID ISOLATIONISM AND
PROTECTIONISM IN THE US CONGRESS, ETC. FOR THIS
REASON, IT ALSO IS EXPECTED THAT (JAPAN AND THE US)
WILL REACH AGREEMENT TO START THE STRUCTURAL
CONSULTATIONS ONCE AGAIN IN A NEW FORM EVEN AT THE END
OF JANUARY.
AS REGARDS THE PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO JAPAN, THE
POSSIBILITY ALSO IS STRONG THAT THE OPENING UP OF THE
RICE MARKET WILL BECOME A THEME. IN THE GOVERNMENT,
THERE ARE SOME WHO SAY THAT THE PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO
JAPAN WILL BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO APPEAL DIRECTLY TO HIM,
SAYING "WE CANNOT ACCEPT TARIFF-IZATION OF RICE," BUT
IT SEEMS THAT THE US POSTURE IS so FIRM THAT THE
GOVERNMENT WILL FALL INTO A DIFFICULT POSITION.
ALSO, SINCE THERE HAS COME AN OUTLOOK THAT TOP LEADERS
OF THE US BIG THREE AUTO MANUFACTURERS AND OTHERS WILL
ACCOMPANY PRESIDENT BUSH, THE POSSIBILITY IS BIG THAT
CONCRETE FRUITFUL RESULTS WILL BE SOUGHT AS TO THE
OPENING UP OF THE MARKET FOR JAPANESE COMPLETED
VEHICLES AND THE EXPANSION OF THE PROCUREMENT OF AUTO
PARTS. THE JAPANESE SIDE HAS THE INTENTION OF WANTING
TO SEEK THE UNDERSTANDING (OF THE US) BY PUSHING
IMPORTS BY DOMESTIC MANUFACTURERS, WITH FY1994 AS A
GOAL, A PLAN FOR THE EXPANSION OF PROCUREMENT, AND
TIES-UP WITH US ENTERPRISES.
RECRUIT PROBLEM (NIHON KEIZAI - PAGE 1)
THE DIET WILL HOLD A LOWER HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE
MEETING ON A TWO-DAY SCHEDULE FROM THE 9TH FOR A
SESSION ON DELIBERATIONS ON THE SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET
BILL FOR THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR. THE OPPOSITION
PARTIES ARE SHOWING A POSTURE OF THOROUGHLY PURSUING
UNCLAS SECTION 04 OF 04 TOKYO 21881
USIA
FOR: USINFO P/P, P/PFF, EA; STATE FOR EAP/J; STATE PASS
TO USTR; SECDEF FOR JCS/J-5/JAPAN, OASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN;
CIA WASHDC; TREASURY/IMA; WHITE HOUSE; COMMERCE FOR
DAS; USCINCPAC/PA; COMUSJ/PA; COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA.
E.O. 12356: N/A
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS DECEMBER 9.
THE PROBLEM OF TRANSFERRING RECRUIT COSMOS UNLISTED
STOCKS TO PRIME MINISTER MIYAZAWA, INCLUDING THE
SUMMONS OF THOSE INVOLVED AS WITNESSES, AND IT IS
INEVITABLE THAT THE BUDGET COMMITTEE WILL SHOW
DEVELOPMENT OF THINGS WITH CONFUSION FROM THE
BEGINNING. IN PARALLEL WITH THIS, THE NEGOTIATIONS
BETWEEN THE RULING AND OPPOSITION PARTIES OVER THE
HANDLING OF THE UN PEACE-KEEPING OPERATIONS (PKO)
CO-OPERATION LAW BILL AND THE EXTENDING OF THE CURRENT
DIET SESSION, WITH ITS ENDING ON THE 10TH IMMEDIATELY
AHEAD, WILL ALSO COME TO A CLIMAX, AND THE TENSE
OFFENSIVES/DEFENSIVES ARE LIKELY TO CONTINUE.
CONCERNING THE RECRUIT PROBLEM, THE JSP AND VARIOUS
OTHER OPPOSITION PARTIES WILL PURSUE IT, WHILE STANDING
ON THE "THREE-POINT SET," INCLUDING THE AGREEMENT ON
DEALING, ETC., WHICH WERE PRESENTED BY THE PRIME
MINISTER ON THE 6TH. THIS IS BECAUSE THERE IS A
DISCREPANCY WITH THE EXPLANATIONS WHICH THE PRIME
MINISTER GAVE IN THE PAST WHILE TAKING THE POSITION OF
SAYING THAT IT WAS "FORMER SECRETARY TSUNEO HATTORI'S
PERSONAL DEALING,' AS CAN BE SEEN IN SUCH FACTS AS THAT
THE MAKING OF SUCH (A) REQUEST (S) TO (A) BANK (S) FOR
TRANSFERRING MONEY TO PAY FOR COSMOS STOCKS WAS FOUND
TO HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT UNDER THE NAME OF MASAO
MATSUMOTO, WHO STILL SERVES AS SECRETARY TO THE PRIME
MINISTER AT PRESENT, AND THE OPPOSITION PARTIES ARE
THEREFORE FEELING STRONG SUSPICIONS, SAYING AS
FOLLOWS: "IS IT NOT THAT THE (MIYAZAWA) OFFICE ITSELF
WAS INVOLVED IN THE DEALING?"
FOR THE FOREGOING REASON, THE BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING
IS LIKELY TO SHOW A "RECRUIT COLOR" FROM THE BEGINNING,
AND THE OPPOSITION PARTIES ARE SHOWING EVEN A POSTURE
OF NOT DESISTING FROM DEMANDING THE SUMMONS OF
WITNESSES, AND IT IS ALSO PREDICTED THAT ITS
DELIBERATIONS, DEPENDING ON THE PRIME MINISTER'S
EXPLANATIONS, WILL BE THROWN INTO CONFUSION AND WILL BE
BROKEN OFF.
(TN: SIMILAR REPORTS APPEARED IN SOME OTHER
NEWSPAPERS.)
NEVITT
<SECT>SECTION: 01 OF 04
<SECT>SECTION: 02 OF 04
<SECT>SECTION: 03 OF 04
<SECT>SECTION: 04 OF 04
Administration of George Bush, 1991 / Dec. 7
ble might
cumstances, the outcome never in doubt. It
Remarks to World War II Veterans and
liberty.
was short; thank God our casualties merci-
Families in Honolulu, Hawaii
aved that
fully few. But I ask you veterans of Pearl
December 7, 1991
ul. They
Harbor and all Americans who remember
ar, where
the unity of purpose that followed that mo-
Mrs. Rickert, thank you for that wonder-
udly than
mentous December day 50 years ago:
ful tale of how it was at Hospital Point.
of them,
Didn't we see that same strength of nation-
Thank you for that warm and generous in-
sons from
al spirit when we launched Desert Storm?
troduction. And now I have a favor to ask of
S as clear
The answer is a resounding "yes." Once
you. I hope you and everyone else will take
the war for Kuwait began, we pulled to-
a deep breath for me too, please. [Laugh-
S that to-
gether. We were united, determined, and
ter] You didn't need it, but I might; this is a
SS against
we were confident. And when it was over,
very emotional day.
enhower.
we rejoiced in exactly the same way that
I would like to salute the members of my
tional de-
we did in 1945-heads high, proud, and
Cabinet that are here today, particularly
shing last.
grateful. And what a feeling. Fifty years had
Dick Cheney, our able Secretary of Defense
isolation-
passed, but, let me tell you, the American
who's done so much for the military, so
orld does
spirit is as young and fresh as ever.
much in terms of leadership for our Nation.
1 perhaps
This unity of purpose continues to inspire
I want to salute General Powell, the Chair-
eace, the
us in the cause of peace among nations. In
man of our Joint Chiefs of Staff, and again
h of free-
their own way, amidst the bedlam and the
take this opportunity on this historic day to
ir.
anguish of that awful day, the men of Pearl
thank him for his leadership, his inspiration-
ara and I
Harbor served that noble cause, honored it.
al leadership, for all the men and women
, tomb to
They knew the things worth living for but
that serve in the Armed Forces. I want to
beguiling
he might
also worth dying for: Principle, decency, fi-
thank the commander in chief of the Pacific
delity, honor.
Fleet, Admiral Larson. And I especially
as men.
sacrifice
And so, look behind you at battleship
want to single out all the fellow veterans
vigilant.
row-behind me, the gun turret still visible,
here, particularly those who are the survi-
and the flag flying proudly from a truly
vors, the survivors of this historic day.
mber the
their lives
blessed shrine.
I expect if we went around the room, all
Look into your hearts and minds: You will
of us would remember. I remember exactly
see boys who this day became men and
when I first heard the news about Pearl
from this
are hon-
men who became heroes.
Harbor. I was 17 years old, walking across
ach grave
Look at the water here, clear and quiet,
the green at school. And my thoughts in
rl Scouts.
bidding us to sum up and remember. One
those days didn't turn to world events, but
for them,
day, in what now seems another lifetime, it
mainly to simpler things, more mundane
e lessons
wrapped its arms around the finest sons any
things, like making the basketball team or
entering college. And that walk across the
nation could ever have, and it carried them
1 the war
campus marked an end of innocence for
to a better world.
me.
war that
May God bless them. And may God bless
eir blood,
America, the most wondrous land on Earth.
When Americans heard the news, they
well. For
froze in shock. But just as quickly we came
foresight,
together. Like all American kids back then,
ica stand
Note: The President spoke at 8:10 a.m. from
I was swept up in it. I decided that very
the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl
day to go into the Navy to become a Navy
Beside us
Harbor, Hawaii. He was introduced by Cap-
pilot. And so on my 18th birthday, June
cracy and
tain Donald K. Ross, retired U.S. Navy, a
12th, 1942, I was sworn into the Navy as a
and free-
surviving crewmember of the U.S.S. Nevada
seaman second class.
:lude our
and Congressional Medal of Honor recipi-
And I was shocked, I was shocked at my
nd Japan.
ent. During his remarks, the President re-
first sight of Pearl Harbor several months
d with us
ferred to Admiral Charles Larson, Com-
later, April of '44. We came into port on the
ulf.
mander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command.
CVL-30, on the carrier San Jacinto.
If was su
Following his remarks, the President met
Nearby, the Utah was still on her side; parts
rent cir-
with survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack.
of the Arizona still stood silent in the water.
1789
Dec. 7 / Administration of George Bush, 1991
Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached
dealing with pressing matters back home.
an injustic
out as if to demand remembrance and warn
And they were rudely awakened by the
ment of
us of our own mortality.
brutal reality of the Iron Curtain, the Soviet
was a gre
Over 2,000 men died in a matter of min-
blockade of Berlin, and the Communist in-
repeated.
utes on this site, a half a century ago. Many
vasion of South Korea.
Today, a
more died that same day as Japanese forces
And now we stand triumphant, for the
Japan's Pr
assaulted the Philippines and Guam and
third time this century, this time in the
statement
Wake Island, Midway, Malaya, Thailand,
wake of the cold war. As in 1919 and 1945,
attack on
Singapore, Hong Kong. On that day of
it was a di
we face no enemy menacing our security.
infamy, Pearl Harbor propelled each of us
And yet we stand here today on the site of
ed by the
into a titanic contest for mankind's future.
America.
a tragedy spawned by isolationism. And we
It galvanized the American spirit as never,
The val
ever before into a single-minded resolve
must learn, and this time avoid, the dangers
of today's isolationism and its economic ac-
equality o
that could produce only one thing: victory.
and speec
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the
complice, protectionism. To do otherwise,
elections-
news. He'd faced the Nazi conquest of
to believe that turning our backs on the
tions. Our
Europe, the blitz of London, the terror of
world would improve our lot here at home,
took place
the U-boats. But when America was at-
is to ignore the tragic lessons of the 20th
nations W
tacked, he declared there was "no more
century.
of democ
doubt about the end." He knew then that
The fact is, this country has enjoyed its
in a worl
the American spirit would not fail the cause
most lasting growth and security when we
by tyrann
of freedom. The enemy mistook our diversi-
rejected isolationism, both political and eco-
Today a
ty, our Nation's diversity, for weakness. But
nomic, in favor of engagement and leader-
tion towai
Pearl Harbor became a rallying cry for men
ship. We're a Pacific nation. And next
mocracy's
and women from all walks of life, all colors
month in Asia, I'll discuss with our Pacific
freedom
and creeds. And in the end, this unity of
friends and allies their responsibility to
ship who
purpose made us invincible in war and now
share with us the challenges and burdens of
lier this
makes us secure in peace.
leadership in the post-cold war world.
joined us
The next day, President Roosevelt pro-
The time has come for America's trading
the Persi
claimed the singular American objective:
partners, in Europe, Asia, and around the
cherished
"With confidence in our Armed Forces,
world, to resolve that economic isolationism
The fri
with the unbounding determination of our
is wrong. To the leaders of Japan in particu-
upheld a
people, we will gain the inevitable triumph,
lar, I say: This solemn occasion should rein-
their sacr:
so help us, God." It was the steadfastness of
force our determination to join together in
er freedo
the American people that would "win the
a future energized by free markets and free
is right th
war" and "win the peace that follows."
people, And so I'll continue to speak out
is right th
We triumphed in both, despite the fact
against the voices of isolationism and pro-
As you
that the American people did not want to
tectionism, both at home and abroad.
the Arizo:
be drawn into the conflict; "the unsought
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for
us stands
war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists
complacency and overconfidence. That too
end. But
gathered together at what was known in
is a lesson we shall never forget. To those
Soon afte
those days as an "American First" rally in
who have defended our country, from the
call on G
Pittsburgh at precisely the moment the first
shores of Guadalcanal to the hills of Korea,
that the
Americans met early, violent deaths right
from the jungles of Vietnam to the sands of
the spirit
here at Pearl Harbor. The isolationists failed
Kuwait, I say this: We will always remem-
meeting 1
to see that the seeds of Pearl Harbor were
ber; we will always be prepared, prepared
for a dem
sown back in 1919, when a victorious
to take on aggression, prepared to step for-
I thoug
America decided that in the absence of a
ward in reconciliation, and prepared to
thur whe
threatening enemy abroad, we should turn
secure the peace.
al in 1989
all of our energies inward. That notion of
In remembering, it is important to come
at the Na
isolationism flew escort for the very bomb-
to grips with the past. No nation can fully
then at th
ers that attacked our men 50 years ago.
understand itself or find its place in the
As you
Again, in 1945, some called for America's
world if it does not look with clear eyes at
steps tha
return to isolationism, as if abandoning
all the glories and disgraces, too, of the past.
you pick
world leadership was the prerequisite for
We in the United States acknowledge such
ing mom
1790
Administration of George Bush, 1991 / Dec. 7
an injustice in our own history: The intern-
still defines a part of who I am. To every
ome.
ment of Americans of Japanese ancestry
veteran here, and indeed to all Americans,
the
oviet
was a great injustice, and it will never be
Pearl Harbor defines a part of who you are.
it in-
repeated.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of
Today, all Americans should acknowledge
a Pearl Harbor survivor, a Navy man
Japan's Prime Minister Miyazawa's national
named Bill Leu, who is with us here today.
the
statement of deep remorse concerning the
His son writes from his home, now in
the
attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a thoughtful,
1945,
Tokyo, saying: "A half century ago, my fa-
it was a difficult expression much appreciat-
ther's thoughts were on surviving the attack
urity.
ed by the people of the United States of
te of
and winning the war. He could not have
America.
envisioned a future where his son would
d we
The values we hold dear as a Nation-
study and work in Japan. But he recognizes
agers
equality of opportunity, freedom of religion
that the world has changed, that America's
ic ac-
and speech and assembly, free and vigorous
wise,
challenges are different. My father's atti-
elections-are now revered by many na-
1 the
tude represents that of the United States:
tions. Our greatest victory in World War II
Do your duty, and raise the next generation
ome,
took place not on the field of battle, but in
20th
to do its."
nations we once counted as foes. The ideals
I can understand Bill's feelings. I won-
of democracy and liberty have triumphed
ed its
dered how I'd feel being with you, the vet-
in a world once threatened with conquest
erans of Pearl Harbor, the survivors, on this
n we
by tyranny and despotism.
1 eco-
Today as we celebrate the world's evolu-
very special day. And I wondered if I would
ader-
feel that intense hatred that all of us felt for
tion toward freedom, we commemorate de-
next
mocracy's fallen heroes, the defenders of
the enemy 50 years ago. As I thought back
'acific
freedom as well as the victims of dictator-
to that day of infamy and the loss of friends,
ty to
ship who never saw the light of liberty. Ear-
I wondered: What will my reaction be
ens of
lier this year, when former adversaries
when I go back to Pearl Harbor? What will
joined us in the stand against aggression in
their reaction be, the other old veterans,
ading
the Persian Gulf, we affirmed the values
especially those who survived that terrible
d the
cherished by the heroes of the Harbor.
day right here?
onism
The friends I lost, that all of us lost,
Well, let me tell you how I feel. I have no
articu-
upheld a great and noble cause. Because of
rancor in my heart towards Germany or
rein-
their sacrifice, the world now lives in great-
Japan, none at all. And I hope, in spite of
her in
er freedom and peace than ever before. It
the loss, that you have none in yours. This is
d free
is right that all of us are here today. And it
no time for recrimination.
k out
is right that we go on from here.
World War II is over. It is history. We
1 pro-
As you know, I just paid my respects at
won. We crushed totalitarianism. And when
the Arizona, where it all began. And behind
that was done, we helped our enemies give
ce for
us stands the Missouri, where it came to an
birth to democracies. We reached out, both
at too
end. But the Missouri was also a beginning.
in Europe and in Asia. We made our en-
those
Soon after that, Emperor Hirohito went to
emies our friends, and we healed their
m the
call on General MacArthur, who later noted
wounds. And in the process, we lifted our-
Korea,
that the Emperor "played a major role in
selves up.
nds of
the spiritual regeneration of Japan." Their
The lessons of the war itself will live on,
mem-
meeting made history, and a hopeful future
and well they should: Preparedness;
pared
for a democratic Japan began to take shape.
strength; decency and honor; courage; sacri-
ep for-
I thought of that meeting with MacAr-
fice; the willingness to fight, even die, for
ed to
thur when I attended the Emperor's funer-
one's country-America, the land of the
al in 1989. I thought of it this morning, too,
free and the brave.
come
at the National Cemetery of the Pacific and
No, just speaking for one guy, I have no
a fully
then at the Arizona Memorial.
rancor in my heart. I can still see the faces
in the
As you look back on life and retrace the
of the fallen comrades, and I'll bet you can
eyes at
steps that made you the person you are,
see the faces of your fallen comrades too, or
e past.
you pick out the turning points, the defin-
family members. But don't you think
e such
ing moments. Over the years, Pearl Harbor
they're saying, "Fifty years have passed; our
1791
Dec. 7 / Administration of George Bush, 1991
country is the undisputed leader of the free
Naval Academy and the Army of the West
The Presiden
world, and we are at peace."? Don't you
Point, thank you for your service to this, the
Q.-perhaj
think each one is saying, "I did not die in
greatest country on the face of the Earth.
be a demarcati
vain."?
May God bless each and every one of you
The Preside
May God bless each of you who sacrificed
who served the United States of America. It
tion. It should
and served. And may God grant His loving
is a special day, and all of you helped make
can understan
protection to this, the greatest country on
it a special day.
thousand sailo
the face of the Earth, the United States of
Thank you so much.
And dealing V
America.
meeting them
Thank you all, and God bless you. Thank
Note: The President spoke at 10:17 a.m.
tional. But I ]
you very much.
aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Pearl Harbor,
look forward.
Hawaii. His remarks were broadcast live by
derstand part
Note: The President spoke at 9:20 a.m. from
the American Broadcasting Company
I lost a lot of
Kilo 8 Pier in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was
during half-time of the Army-Navy football
mates, many
introduced by Lenore Rickert, retired U.S.
game. Keith Jackson of ABC-Sports intro-
for recriminat
Navy nurse and a survivor of the Pearl
duced the President. A tape was not avail-
them feel tha
Harbor attack.
able for verification of the content of these
say, look, my
remarks.
ther did not d
Anti-Japanes
Q. A few n
Remarks at Half-Time During the
then-Prime N
Army-Navy Football Game
Interview With Charles Bierbauer of
about Japan }
December 7, 1991
CNN at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
ciated over 1
December 7, 1991
persists?
Well, first let me salute all that are there
The Presid
at that wonderful Army-Navy contest. I un-
bit about S:
Pearl Harbor
derstand you have a great ballgame under-
there's some
way.
Q. This is Charles Bierbauer with Presi-
I don't think
Over my shoulder, perhaps you can see
dent Bush on board the deck of the U.S.S.
try. And thei
the picture of Arizona where the war start-
Missouri.
feel bitter {
ed, World War II, on December 7th, 50
Mr. President, thank you for joining us
there's peop
years ago. And now I'm talking to you also
with the Arizona Memorial behind us. As
bitter about
from the deck of the Missouri where the
you were there this morning, a day which
words, inste:
war ended on September 2d, 1945. And I
you've described as a very emotional one,
try to take it
must tell you this has been a very emotional
the sense of an apology from Japan for the
I don't kr
day for the survivors of Pearl Harbor. It's an
events at Pearl Harbor, how necessary is
based on biş
emotional day for those of us who served in
that?
either side C
World War II, and it's an emotional day for
The President. I don't think it's necessary.
Q. Do you
our entire country.
The Prime Minister very forthrightly ex-
The Presi
I think it is not a day for hatred. I think it
pressed either regrets or remorse. I can't
want to say
is not a day for rancor. I think it is a day for
remember the word that was used. But this
in the days
healing and looking forward. And because
is a time for healing. This is a time for
a feeling. I
of the sacrifice of the people here at Pearl
looking forward.
then, and I
Harbor and others that followed, yester-
We won the war. We made a tremendous
case today.
day's enemies are now our friends. Yester-
contribution to freedom by winning the
residues of
day's hatred has now given way to feelings
war-war ending right on the decks of this
to speak ou
of goodwill, partnership, friendly competi-
very vessel. And this is not a time for re-
fair compel
tion. And so it has been a moving day at
crimination or rancor. And so my message
message to
Pearl Harbor. And I, as Commander in
is one of healing, of going forward-tough
they've got
Chief of the forces, have been very proud
competitors, being tough in competition for
on that ba
to be here.
business and markets, but not looking back
that we've
Let me wish all of you at that wonderful
in the sense of bitterness and hatred.
They're
football game now the very best. And may I
Q. And yet you've heard from many of
talitarians
say to the men and women of the U.S.
the survivors a sense that they still-
so we shou
1792
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Honolulu, Hawaii)
For Immediate Release
December 7, 1991
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN ADDRESS TO WORLD WAR II VETERANS AND FAMILIES
Kilo 8 Pier
Honolulu, Hawaii
9:20 A.M. (L)
THE PRESIDENT: Mrs. Rickert, thank you for that
wonderful tale of how it was at Hospital Point. Thank you for that
warm and generous introduction. And now I have a favor to ask of
you. I hope you and everyone else will take a deep breath for me,
too, please. (Laughter.) You didn't need it, but I might -- this is
a very emotional day.
I would like to salute the members of my Cabinet that
are here today, particularly Dick Cheney, our able Secretary of
Defense who's done 80 much for the military, so much in terms of
leadership for our nation. I want to salute General Powell, the
Chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff, and, again, take this
opportunity on this historic day to thank him for his leadership, his
inspirational leadership, for all the men and women that serve in the
Armed Forces. I want to thank the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific
Fleet, Admiral Larson. And I especially want to single out all the
fellow veterans here, particularly those who were the survivors, the
survivors of this historic day.
I expect if we went around the room, all of us would
remember. I remember exactly when I first heard the news about Pearl,
Harbor. I was 17 years old, walking across the green at school. And
my thoughts in those days didn't turn to world events, but mainly to
simpler things, more mundane things, like making the basketball team
or entering college. And that walk across the campus marked an end
of innocence for me.
When Americans heard the news, they froze in shock. But
just as quickly we came together. Like all American kids back then,
I was swept. up in it. I decided that very day to go into the Navy to
become a Navy pilot. And so, on my 18th birthday -- June 12th, 1942,
I was sworn into the Navy as a Seaman Second Class.
And I was shocked -- I was shocked at my first sight of
Pearl Harbor several months later -- April of '44. We came into port
on the CVL-30, on the carrier San Jacinto. Nearby, the Utah was
still on her side, parts of the Arizona still stood silent in the
water. Everywhere the skeletons of ships reached out as if to demand
remembrance and warn us of our own mortality.
Over 2,000 men died in a matter of minutes on this site,
a half a century ago. Many more died that same day as Japanese
forces assaulted the Philippines and Guam and Wake Island, Midway,
Malaya, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong. On that day of infamy, Pearl
Harbor propelled each of us into a titanic contest for mankind's
future. It galvanized the American spirit as never ever before into
a single-minded resolve that could produce only one thing -- victory.
Churchill knew it as soon as he heard the news. He'd
faced the Nazi conquest of Europe, the blitz of London, the terror of
the U-boats. But when America was attacked, he declared there was
"no more doubt about the end." He knew then that the American spirit
would not fail the cause of freedom. The enemy mistook our diversity
-- our nation's diversity -- for weakness. But Pearl Harbor became a
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rallying cry for men and women from all walks of life -- all colors
and creeds. And in the end, this unity of purpose made us invincible
in war, and now makes us secure in peace.
The next day, President Roosevelt proclaimed the
singular American objective: "With confidence in our armed forces,
with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the
inevitable triumph -- so help us God." It was the steadfastness of
the American people that would "win the war" and "win the peace that
follows.'
We triumphed in both, despite the fact that the American
people did not want to be drawn into the conflict -- "the unsought
war," it's been called. Ironically, isolationists gathered together
at what was known in those days as an "America First" rally in
Pittsburgh -- at precisely the moment the first Americans met early,
violent deaths right here at Pearl Harbor. The isolationists failed
to see that the seeds of Pearl Harbor were sown back in 1919, when a
victorious America decided that in the absence of a threatening enemy
abroad, we should turn all of our energies inward. That notion of
isolationism flew escort for the very bombers that attacked our men
50 years ago.
Again, in 1945, some called for America's return to
isolationism -- as if abandoning world leadership was the
prerequisite for dealing with pressing matters back home. And they
were rudely awakened by the brutal reality of the Iron Curtain, the
Soviet blockade of Berlin, and the communist invasion of South Korea.
And now we stand triumphant -- for the third time this
century -- this time in the wake of the Cold War. As in 1919 and
1945, we face no enemy menacing our security. And yet we stand here
today on the site of a tragedy spawned by isolationism. And it is
here, and we must learn -- and this time avoid -- the dangers of
today's isolationism and its economic accomplice, protectionism.
To do otherwise -- to believe that turning our backs on the world
would improve our lot here at home -- is to ignore the tragic lessons
of the 20th century.
The fact is, this country has enjoyed its most lasting
growth and security when we rejected isolationism -- both political
and economic -- in favor of engagement and leadership. We're a
Pacific nation. And next month in Asia, I'll discuss with our
Pacific friends and allies their responsibility to share with us the
challenges and burdens of leadership in the post-Cold War world.
The time has come for America's trading partners -- in
Europe, Asia, and around the world -- to resolve that economic
isolationism is wrong. To the leaders of Japan in particular, I say:
This solemn occasion should reinforce our determination to join
together in a future energized by free markets and free people. And
so I'll continue to speak out against the voices of isolationism and
protectionism both at home and abroad.
Fifty years ago, we paid a heavy price for complacency
and overconfidence. That, too, is a lesson we shall never forget.
To those who have defended our country -- from the shores of
Guadalcanal to the hills of Korea; from the jungles of Vietnam to the
sands of Kuwait, I say this: We will always remember. We will
always be prepared -- prepared to take on aggression, prepared to
step forward in reconciliation and prepared to secure the peace.
In remembering, it is important to come to grips with
the past. No nation can fully understand itself or find its place in
the world if it does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and
disgraces, too, of the past. We in the United States acknowledge
such an injustice in our own history: The internment of Americans of
Japanese ancestry was a great injustice, and it will never be
repeated.
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Today, all Americans should acknowledge Japan's Prime
Minister Miyazawa's national statement of deep remorse concerning the
attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a thoughtful, it was a difficult
expression much appreciated by the people of the United States of
America.
The values we hold dear as a nation -- equality of
opportunity, freedom of religion and speech and assembly, free and
vigorous elections -- are now revered by many nations. Our greatest
victory in World War II took place not on the field of battle, but in
nations we once counted as foes. The ideals of democracy and liberty
have triumphed in a world once threatened with conquest by tyranny
and despotism.
Today as we celebrate the world's evolution toward
freedom, we commemorate democracy's fallen heroes -- the defenders of
freedom as well as the victims of dictatorship who never saw the
light of liberty. Earlier this year, when former adversaries joined
us in the stand against aggression in the Persian Gulf, we affirmed
the values cherished by the heroes of the Harbor.
The friends I lost -- that all of us lost upheld a
great and noble cause. Because of their sacrifice, the world now
lives in greater freedom and peace than ever before. It is right
that all of us are here today. And it is right that we go on from
here.
As you know, I just paid my respects at the Arizona,
where it all began. And behind us stands the Missouri where it
came to an end. But the Missouri was also a beginning. Soon after
that, Emperor Hirohito went to call on General MacArthur, who later
noted that the Emperor "played a major role in the spiritual
regeneration of Japan." Their meeting made history, and a hopeful
future for a democratic Japan began to take shape.
I thought of that meeting with MacArthur when I attended
the Emperor's funeral in 1989. I thought of it this morning, too, at
the National Cemetery of the Pacific and then at the Arizona
Memorial.
As you look back on life, and retrace the steps that
made you the person you are, you pick out the turning points, the
defining moments. Over the years, Pearl Harbor still defines a part
of who I am. To every veteran here, and indeed to all Americans,
Pearl Harbor defines a part of who you are.
Recently a letter arrived from the son of a Pearl Harbor
survivor, a Navy man named Bill Leu, who is with us here today. His
son writes from his home, now in Tokyo, saying: "A half century ago,
my father's thoughts were on surviving the attack and winning the
war. He could not have envisioned a future where his son would study
and work in Japan. But he recognizes that the world has changed,
that America's challenges are different. My father's attitude
represents that of the United States: Do your duty, and raise the
next generation to do its."
I can understand Bill's feelings. I wondered how I'd
feel being with you, the veterans of Pearl Harbor -- the survivors
-- on this very special day. And I wondered if I would feel that
intense hatred that all of us felt for the enemy 50 years ago. As I
thought back to that day of infamy and the loss of friends, I
wondered: What will my reaction be when I go back to Pearl Harbor?
What will their reaction be -- the other old veterans -- especially
those who survived that terrible day right here?
Well, let me tell you how I feel. I have no rancor in
my heart towards Germany or Japan -- none at all. And I hope, in
spite of the loss, that you have none in yours. This is no time for
recrimination.
- 4 -
World War II is over. It is history. We won. We
crushed totalitarianism -- and when that was done, we helped our
enemies give birth to democracies. (Applause.) We reached out, both
in Europe and in Asia. We made our enemies our friends. And we
healed their wounds and in the process, we lifted ourselves up.
The lessons of the war itself will live on -- and well
they should. Preparedness, strength, decency and honor, courage,
sacrifice, the willingness to fight, even die, for one's country.
America, the land of the free and the brave.
No, just speaking for one guy, I have no rancor in my
heart. I can still see the faces of the fallen comrades, and I'll
bet you can see the faces of your fallen comrades, too, or family
members. But don't you think they're saying fifty years have
passed; our country is the undisputed leader of the free world, and
we vain? are at peace? Don't you think each one is saying I did not die in
May God bless each one of you who sacrificed and served.
And may God grant His loving protection to this, the greatest country
on the face of the Earth -- the United States of America.
Thank you all, and God bless you. (Applause.) Thank
you very much. (Applause.)
END
9:37 A.M. (L)