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Acceptance Speech for GOP Presidential Nomination 8/20/92 [OA 5811]
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Acceptance Speech for GOP Presidential Nomination 8/20/92 [OA 5811]
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Acceptance Speech for GOP Presidential Nomination 8/20/92 [OA 5811]
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26
18
4
1
1460
Aug. 19 / Administration of George Bush, 1992
the luncheon, and Senator Phil Gramm of
born November 1, 1946, in Oak Park, IL.
Texas.
Mr. Reum currently resides in Chicago, IL.
Statement by Press Secretary
Remarks at a Prayer Breakfast in
Fitzwater on Possible Changes in the
Houston
Cabinet
August 20, 1992
August 19, 1992
Thank you very much, Mary Lou. For
President Bush yesterday commented in
heaven sakes, that was just wonderful, and
a PBS interview that there would undoubt-
thank you for that wonderful introduction.
edly be changes in the Cabinet in the second
Let me repeat what I said last week to
term. He said this would be a normal situa-
the 1992
tion historically, and he did not refer to any
specific individual. The President believes his
[At this point, audience members interrupted
Cabinet is doing an excellent job.
the President's remarks.]
The President called Jack Kemp, Secretary
I apologize to those who have put together
of Housing and Urban Development, this
this ecumenical, lovely prayer breakfast, but
morning to congratulate him on his speech
you just can't control things like this. I hope
to the convention and to express his concern
you understand. I certainly do.
about Jack being singled out by the Houston
I was saying that I salute Mary Lou and
Post this morning as departing from the Cab-
thank her. Let me repeat what I said last
inet. The President assured Jack that he was
week to the 1992 summer Olympic team
referring only to the routine departure of
when they came to the White House. Wheth-
Cabinet members that historically occurs in
er they won a gold, silver, or bronze medal,
a second term.
or simply gave their best, they are all heroes
in the eyes of each American.
I also want to salute my friend and running
mate, Vice President Dan Quayle. Ninfa said
Nomination of James Michael Reum
it all; my friend Ninfa said it all: first-class.
To Be a Member of the Securities
May I salute the Mayor. And fellow Texans
and Exchange Commission
and Americans, I'm delighted to address this
August 19, 1992
ecumenical prayer breakfast on this great oc-
casion. You see, breakfast speeches are al-
The President today announced his inten-
ways my favorite. I figure it's the one meal
tion to nominate James Michael Reum, of
where broccoli is never served. [Laughter]
Illinois, to be a member of the Securities and
Let me first salute that marvelous choir
Exchange Commission for the term expiring
behind us. Think of it: a 40-piece orchestra;
June 5, 1997. He would succeed Edward H.
85 singers from the Houston Children's
Fleischman.
Choir, too; our adult choir, members of 40
Since 1979, Mr. Reum has served as a
area congregations, 1,200 voices; and then,
partner in the law firm of Hopkins & Sutter
of course, there was Alan Green, football
in Chicago, IL. He has also served as associ-
player, "A" student, Rice graduate, and mag-
ate Republican counsel for the Committee
nificent musician. Believe me, as one who
on the Judiciary in the U.S. House of Rep-
works in the divisive world of politics, it's
resentatives, 1974. From 1973 to 1974 and
amazing to hear that many voices raised in
1974 to 1978, he served as a corporate lawyer
unison on anything.
with the firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell.
As you know, we meet on a special day.
Mr. Reum graduated from Harvard Col-
Tonight I give my acceptance speech. If it
lege (B.A., 1968) and Harvard Law School
catches fire, it might give a whole new mean-
(J.D., 1972). He also served in the U.S. Army
ing to the story of the "burning bush."
0
Reserves/National Guard, 1969-75. He was
[Laughter] The only problem is I have a
of George Bush, 1992
Administration of George Bush, 1992 / Aug. 20
1461
6, in Oak Park, IL.
funny feeling that Barbara and Marilyn
Museum of Religion and Atheism now
'des in Chicago, IL.
Quayle raised the high bar quite a bit for
houses God's apostles, or the former East
me.
Germany, where Bible studies are like
But anyway, as we meet today, deep in
bluebonnets in the spring; they're busting out
the heart of Texas, we meet deep in the heart
all over. In a season of thanksgiving the world
Breakfast in
of the most religious Nation on Earth, too.
says grace. By God's providence, the cold war
I'm usually not much for polls, but here's
is over, and America's views prevailed.
a Gallup poll that makes sense to me. Ac-
I remember when, 10 years ago, one of
cording to this survey, 7 in 10 Americans be-
God's great soldiers went to Eastern Europe
h, Mary Lou. For
lieve in life after death; 8 in 10, that God
and the Soviet Union. Returning to America,
ust wonderful, and
works miracles; 9 in 10 pray; and more than
Billy Graham predicted that freedom would
derful introduction.
90 percent believe in God. To which I say,
outlast tyranny. He felt that religion was alive
said last week to
thank God for the United States of America.
way back then. The doubters said, "He's
I'm delighted that Jim Baker's here, fellow
been tricked." But Dr. Graham knew some-
Houstonian, and Susan. As he knows, and as
thing they didn't. He knew the chains of op-
embers interrupted
our Vice President knows and the other
pression forged by men were no match for
members of our Cabinet who I see out here
the keys to salvation forged by God.
) have put together
know, we open every Cabinet meeting with
I talked about this with Billy, Barbara and
rayer breakfast, but
a prayer. And it's going to be that way as
I did, just, well, it was a year ago in January
gs like this. I hope
long as I am President.
when we invited him to stay at the White
/ do.
Today we've got difficult times, but we
House the night before our troops started
ute Mary Lou and
Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night about
it what I said last
challenges face us: good schools and safe
thousands of people praying in the churches,
er Olympic team
streets, sound economy-all the problems
about our own home parish right here, Jim's
ite House. Wheth-
that Bob Lanier works with as Mayor of our
and mine, St. Martin's. I see our bishop over
or bronze medal,
great city-and a world at peace. But we will
here, and welcome, sir. St. Martin's parish,
they are all heroes
meet and master them as Americans always
with its prayer books and its crosses and
an.
have, not by running America down but by
handmade Christmas cards made in Sunday
friend and running
using God's gifts to lift America up.
schools for our troops in the Gulf. It's true
Quayle. Ninfa said
Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan's
of every parish represented at this wonderful
d it all: first-class.
friend-[laughter]-he phrased the first gift
ecumenical service. It is absolutely true of
And fellow Texans
best. "The God who gave us life," he said,
all religions.
ted to address this
"gave us liberty at the same time." Today
We prayed for the troops themselves, the
st on this great oc-
God's gift of liberty is remaking. the entire
finest sons and daughters any nation could
speeches are al-
globe. In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls come
ever have. I know how a second gift of God's,
it's the one meal
tumbling down. In Barcelona, just ask Mary
family, can lift America. I can no more imag-
served. [Laughter]
Lou, this summer the games were held with-
ine a life without family than I can a universe
it marvelous choir
out boycotts, without terrorism, without poli-
without love. Last night-here she is-you
10-piece orchestra;
tics. That's exactly as it should be.
saw Barbara on television. I'll let her explain
ouston Children's
On that score, all of us have Olympic he-
why family matters so much. I thought she
r, members of 40
roes; mine, Pablo Morales. Pablo, he's the
did a first-class job of that last night. But
voices; and then,
swimmer who missed out in 1984, didn't
here's her quote. "At the end of your life,"
1 Green, football
make the team in '88, then came back this
she said, "you will never forget not having
raduate, and mag-
year to earn a gold medal at the ripe old
passed one more test, not winning one more
me, as one who
age of 27. Now, let that be a lesson: Youth
verdict, nor closing one more deal. You will
Id of politics, it's
and inexperience are no match for maturity
regret time not spent with a husband, a child,
, voices raised in
and determination.
a friend, or a parent."
Over the past 3½ years, bayonets have
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art
on a special day.
been no match for the righteousness of God.
Linkletter, say not only the funniest but the
nce speech. If it
Look at Bulgaria, where at last people wish
most insightful things, especially about reli-
whole new mean-
Merry Christmas to each other without fear
gion. Once a Sunday school teacher started
"burning bush."
of being labeled religious. Look to Russia,
talking about the story of Jonah and the
lem is I have a
where a cathedral once called the All Union
whale, and she asked what the story showed.
1462
Aug. 20 / Administration of George Bush, 1992
A small boy raised his hand. "I know," he
on the face of the Earth, the United States
said. "People make whales sick." [Laughter]
of America, one Nation under God.
Well, each of us turns to God daily to make
Thank you, and may God bless our great
lives well, and we act through the third and
country.
greatest of God's gifts, prayer. If Congress
can spend time debating Vanna White's ap-
Note: The President spoke at 9:30 a.m. at
pearance on the Home Shopping Network,
the University of Houston. In his remarks,
surely Congress can find time to pass an
he referred to Mary Lou Retton, 1984 Olym-
amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our
pic gold medalist; Ninfa Laurenzo, Houston
classrooms. So let's do what we can to bring
business leader; and evangelist Billy Graham.
the faith of our fathers back to our schools.
You know, I've been President for 3½
years now. More than ever, I believe with
all my heart that one cannot be President
Statement by Press Secretary
of our great country without a belief in God,
Fitzwater on the Arbitrator's
without the truth that comes on one's knees.
Decision in the Railway Labor
For me, prayer has always been important
Dispute
but quite personal. You know us Episcopa-
lians. [Laughter] And yet, it has sustained me
August 20, 1992
at every point of my life: as a boy, when reli-
gious reading was part of our home life; as
On August 18, 1992, the President re-
ceived for his review the decision of the arbi-
a teenager, when I memorized the Navy
Hymn. Or how 48 years ago, aboard the sub-
trator in the one remaining railway labor dis-
marine Finback after being shot down in the
pute associated with the shutdown of the Na-
war, I went up topside one night on the deck,
tion's railroads in late June. This decision was
on the conning tower, and stood watch and
rendered pursuant to the arbitration process
looked out at the dark. The sky was clear.
established by the Congress and concerns the
The stars were brilliant like a blizzard of
dispute between the National Railroad Pas-
fireflies in the night. There was a calm inner
senger Corporation (Amtrak) and the Amer-
peace. Halfway around the world in the war
ican Train Dispatchers Association. The deci-
zone, there was a calm inner peace: God's
sion becomes final and binding upon the par-
therapy.
ties unless the President disapproves it within
This month I got a letter from a little girl,
3 days following its receipt.
The President has decided that he will not
age 11, Joy Vaughn. Oh, I love getting the
mail at the White House, but this one was
disapprove this decision. The President is
special. She lives in Mesa, Arizona, and one
grateful to the arbitrator for his work in re-
of her brothers is a missionary. She wrote,
solving this dispute.
"I just wanted to tell you that I am praying
for you." And then she added, "God is in
charge."
So Barbara and I have concluded, as every
Remarks Accepting the Presidential
family that's been privileged to live in the
Nomination at the Republican
White House I'm sure has concluded, that
National Convention in Houston
you cannot be President without believing in
August 20, 1992
God. We say our prayers every night. When
we sit in that historic family dining room on
The President. Thank you all very much.
the second floor of the White House, we say
Thank you, thank you very much. And I am
the blessing before our meals. Today I ask
proud to receive and I am honored to accept
for your prayers, not for the campaign that
your nomination for President of the United
we're in but prayers asking God to give those
States.
of us in leadership positions and give me as
May I thank my dear friend and our great
President the strength to do what is right,
leader, Bob Dole, for that wonderful intro-
the courage to lead this, the greatest Nation
duction.
345145SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
8/18/92
DATE:
92 ACTIONCONCURRENCE/COMMENT 35
DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
PROVOST
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
FINDLAY
KAUFMAN
GRAY
PORTER ROSE
HOLIDAY
MCGROARTY
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
2 AUGH7 P3: 27
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
DAN MC GROARTY Mur
FROM:
CURT SMITH
is
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON PRAYER BREAKFAST
I. SUMMARY
On Thursday, August 20, at 8:00 a.m., you will deliver
remarks to approximately 10,000 people gathered for the Houston
Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast at Hofheinz Pavilion. You will be
introduced by Mary Lou Retton.
II. DISCUSSION
Your remarks (12 minutes, prompter) focus on the powerful
role religion plays in this country -- particularly, in your own
life. Additionally, you assert a commitment to conscience when
it comes to matters of life and support for voluntary prayer in
the classroom.
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Three
August 17, 1992
A:GIFTS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
I also want to salute my friend and running mate, Vice-
President Dan Quayle. // Fellow Texans / Americans / fellow
believers in "One Nation Under God." // I am delighted to
address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on this great occasion.
( (Breakfast speeches are always my favorite. / I figure it's the
one meal where broccoli is never served. ))
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
((Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison.) )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush.) ) /
Today, as we meet deep in the heart of Texas, we meet deep
in the heart of the most religious Nation on earth, too. / I'm
2
usually not much for polls -- but here's a Gallup poll that makes
sense to me. According to this survey, seven in ten Americans
believe in life after death -- eight in ten that God works
miracles. Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe
in God. To which I say: Thank God for the United States of
America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
Jefferson phrased the first gift best. "The God who gave us
life," he said, "also gave us liberty." Today, God's gift of
liberty is remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho,
the walls come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou --
the Summer Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism /
without politics. And that's as it should be. //
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ) ).
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
3
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) )) / I know how a second
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
4
Last night you saw Barbara on television. I'll let her
explain why family matters so. "At the end of your life," she
said, "you will never forget not having passed one more test, not
winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal. You will
regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a
parent.' // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ((Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know," he said.
"People make whales sick.")) //
Each of us turns to God daily to make lives well. We act
through the third and greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So if I can disturb your breakfast with one political
observation, today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
5
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ Or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the bridge, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
Given that, how could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister smiled back. And I no longer worried about how I looked
to others. / /
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others --- but
how it looks to God. How -- like the other gifts of family and
liberty -- prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a
6
world where we say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows
your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age eleven.
Joy Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a
missionary. / She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am
proud of you. " / Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in
charge." //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
DAN MC GROARTY Mur
FROM:
CURT SMITH
V
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON PRAYER BREAKFAST
I. SUMMARY
On Thursday, August 20, at 8:00 a.m., you will deliver
remarks to approximately 10,000 people gathered for the Houston
Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast at Hofheinz Pavilion. You will be
introduced by Mary Lou Retton.
II. DISCUSSION
Your remarks (12 minutes, prompter) focus on the powerful
role religion plays in this country -- particularly, in your own
life. Additionally, you assert a commitment to conscience when
it comes to matters of life and support for voluntary prayer in
the classroom.
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Three
August 17, 1992
A:GIFTS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
I also want to salute my friend and running mate, Vice-
President Dan Quayle. // Fellow Texans / Americans / fellow
believers in "One Nation Under God." 11 I am delighted to
address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on this great occasion.
( (Breakfast speeches are always my favorite. / I figure it's the
one meal where broccoli is never served.) )
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
( (Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison.) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. )) /
Today, as we meet deep in the heart of Texas, we meet deep
in the heart of the most religious Nation on earth, too. / I'm
2
usually not much for polls -- but here's a Gallup poll that makes
sense to me. According to this survey, seven in ten Americans
believe in life after death -- eight in ten that God works
miracles. Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe
in God. To which I say: Thank God for the United States of
America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. 11
Jefferson phrased the first gift best. "The God who gave us
life, he said, "also gave us liberty." Today, God's gift of
liberty is remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho,
the walls come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou --
the Summer Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism /
without politics. And that's as it should be. 11
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. "
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
3
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) / I know how a second
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
4
Last night you saw Barbara on television. I'll let her
explain why family matters so. "At the end of your life," she's
said, "you will never forget not having passed one more test, not
winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal. You will
regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a
parent. 11 No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ((Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, he said.
"People make whales sick. ")) //
Each of us turns to God daily to make lives well. We act
through the third and greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So if I can disturb your breakfast with one political
observation, today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
5
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the bridge, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
Given that, how could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister smiled back. And I no longer worried about how I looked
to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like the other gifts of family and
liberty -- prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a
6
world where we say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows
your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age eleven.
Joy Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a
missionary. / She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am
proud of you. / Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in
charge." //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
DAN MC GROARTY Mur
FROM:
CURT SMITH
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON PRAYER BREAKFAST
I. SUMMARY
On Thursday, August 20, at 8:00 a.m., you will deliver
remarks to approximately 10,000 people gathered for the Houston
Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast at Hofheinz Pavilion. You will be
introduced by Mary Lou Retton.
II. DISCUSSION
Your remarks (12 minutes, prompter) focus on the powerful
role religion plays in this country -- particularly, in your own
life. Additionally, you assert a commitment to conscience when
it comes to matters of life and support for voluntary prayer in
the classroom.
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Three
August 17, 1992
A:GIFTS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
I also want to salute my friend and running mate, Vice-
President Dan Quayle. // Fellow Texans / Americans / fellow
believers in "One Nation Under God." // I am delighted to
address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on this great occasion.
((Breakfast speeches are always my favorite. / I figure it's the
one meal where broccoli is never served.) )
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
((Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison.) ) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush.) ) /
Today, as we meet deep in the heart of Texas, we meet deep
in the heart of the most religious Nation on earth, too. / I'm
2
usually not much for polls -- but here's a Gallup poll that makes
sense to me. According to this survey, seven in ten Americans
believe in life after death -- eight in ten that God works
miracles. Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe
in God. To which I say: Thank God for the United States of
America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
Jefferson phrased the first gift best. "The God who gave us
life," he said, "also gave us liberty." Today, God's gift of
liberty is remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho,
the walls come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou --
the Summer Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism /
without politics. And that's as it should be. //
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
3
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. 11
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ((Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) ) / I know how a second
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
4
Last night you saw Barbara on television. I'll let her
explain why family matters SO. "At the end of your life,' she's
said, "you will never forget not having passed one more test, not
winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal. You will
regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a
parent. // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ((Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, he said.
"People make whales sick. ") ) //
Each of us turns to God daily to make lives well. We act
through the third and greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So if I can disturb your breakfast with one political
observation, today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. 11
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
5
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ Or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the bridge, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
Given that, how could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister smiled back. And I no longer worried about how I looked
to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like the other gifts of family and
liberty -- prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a
6
world where we say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows
your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age eleven.
Joy Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a
missionary. / She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am
proud of you. If / Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in
charge." //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. 11 So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
345145SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
8/18/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE COMENT DUE BY:
5 ¹
DATE:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER Rm 122
BROMLEY
PROVOST
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
FINDLAY
KAUFMAN
GRAY
PORTER ROSE
HOLIDAY
MCGROARTY
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
2 AUGH7 P3: 27
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
DAN MC GROARTY mur
FROM:
CURT SMITH
is
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON PRAYER BREAKFAST
I. SUMMARY
On Thursday, August 20, at 8:00 a.m., you will deliver
remarks to approximately 10,000 people gathered for the Houston
Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast at Hofheinz Pavilion. You will be
introduced by Mary Lou Retton.
II. DISCUSSION
Your remarks (12 minutes, prompter) focus on the powerful
role religion plays in this country -- particularly, in your own
life. Additionally, you assert a commitment to conscience when
it comes to matters of life and support for voluntary prayer in
the classroom.
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Three
August 17, 1992
A:GIFTS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
I also want to salute my friend and running mate, Vice-
President Dan Quayle. // Fellow Texans / Americans / fellow
believers in "One Nation Under God." // I am delighted to
address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on this great occasion.
((Breakfast speeches are always my favorite. / I figure it's the
one meal where broccoli is never served.)
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
((Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison.) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. )) /
Today, as we meet deep in the heart of Texas, we meet deep
in the heart of the most religious Nation on earth, too. / I'm
2
usually not much for polls -- but here's a Gallup poll that makes
sense to me. According to this survey, seven in ten Americans
believe in life after death -- eight in ten that God works
miracles. Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe
in God. To which I say: Thank God for the United States of
America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
Jefferson phrased the first gift best. "The God who gave us
life," he said, "also gave us liberty." Today, God's gift of
liberty is remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho,
the walls come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou --
the Summer Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism /
without politics. And that's as it should be. //
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
3
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) ) / I know how a second
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
4
Last night you saw Barbara on television. I'll let her
explain why family matters so. "At the end of your life,' she
said, "you will never forget not having passed one more test, not
winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal. You will
regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a
parent. // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ( (Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know,' he said.
"People make whales sick. ") ) //
Each of us turns to God daily to make lives well. We act
through the third and greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to, thank Almighty
God. / So if I can disturb your breakfast with one political
observation, today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
5
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ Or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the bridge, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
Given that, how could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister smiled back. And I no longer worried about how I looked
to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like the other gifts of family and
liberty -- prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a
6
)
world where we say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows
your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age eleven.
Joy Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a
missionary. / She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am
proud of you. " / Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in
charge. " //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
Document No. 345145SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
8/14/92
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: NOON, MONDAY, AUG. 1
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
SUBJECT:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
X MOORE
DARMAN N/C
PETERSMEYER N/C
BRADY
PORTER N/C
BROMLEY
X
PROVOST
CALIO N/C
SMITH N/C
DEMAREST N/C
YEUTTER
FINDLAY
FITZWATER
GRAY Byo Dantlols
phone
KAUFMAN
HOLIDAY N/C
MCGROARTY
PORTER ROSE
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly to
Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to this office
NO LATER THAN NOON, MONDAY, AUGUST 17. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
11:00 called CFT
12:00 called
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Two
August 14, 1992
A:GIFTS
2 AUG 14 P2: 02
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
My friend and running mate, Dan Quayle. What a wonderful
job you have done as Vice-President. / Fellow Texans / Americans
/ fellow believers in "One Nation Under God." //
I am delighted to address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on
this great occasion. ((Breakfast speeches are always my favorite.
/ I figure it's the one meal where broccoli is never served. ))
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
( (Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison. )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. )) /
A couple nights ago, working on my speech, I got up to
stretch my legs. Went to the TV. Started switching channels.
As usual, drove Bar crazy with the zapper. / Then, suddenly, on
2
cable, there he was. Jack Webb, as Sergeant Joe Friday, saying
"Just the facts, ma'am." / I begin with a fact Joe Friday would
be proud of: Today, deep in the heart of Texas, we meet in the
most religious Nation on earth. //
According to the Gallup Poll, seven in ten Americans believe
in life after death -- eight in ten that God works miracles.
Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe in God. To
which I say: Thank God for the United States of America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. 11
The first gift is life itself. / I believe God put us here
not to hate but help one another -- to lend a hand / tend a wound
/ lift the weak and lonely. / The Bible asks us: "Divine thy
conscience, and let Thy conscience be Thy guide." That is why I
don't care about the cost to me: I revere the sanctity of life. /
Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life also gave us
liberty." Today, that second gift -- God's gift of liberty -- is
remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls
come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou -- the Summer
Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism / without
politics. And that's as it should be. //
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
3
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ) )
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
4
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) ) / I know how a third
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
Last night you saw my best friend on television. I'll let
her explain why family matters SO. "At the end of your life,"
she's said, "you will never forget not having passed one more
test, not winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend,
or a parent. // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ((Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, " he said.
"People make whales sick. ")) //
Each of us asks God daily to make lives well. We act
through the greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
Something's wrong when kids can get condoms at school but can't
say a prayer. / That's why I oppose the recent Supreme Court
ruling outlawing voluntary prayer at school events -- and why I
say: If the Supreme Court won't act to reverse this ruling --
Congress must and I will. /
5
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
install new lighting So Her faes will be beller-lightelon TV
ES
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the tower, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
How, given that, could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
6
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister -- Claude Payne -- smiled back. And I no longer worried
about how I looked to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like life, family, and liberty --
prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a world where we
say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age - Joy
Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a missionary. /
She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am proud of you. " /
Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in charge." //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
Document No. 345145SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
8/14/92
NOON, MONDAY, AUG. 17
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
SUBJECT:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
PROVOST
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
YEUTTER
FINDLAY
FITZWATER
KAUFMAN
GRAY
MCGROARTY
HOLIDAY
PORTER ROSE
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly to
Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to this office
NO LATER THAN NOON, MONDAY, AUGUST 17. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
No comments
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Two
August 14, 1992
A:GIFTS
2 AUG 14 P2: 02
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
My friend and running mate, Dan Quayle. What a wonderful
job you have done as Vice-President. / Fellow Texans / Americans
/ fellow believers in "One Nation Under God." //
I am delighted to address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on
this great occasion. ( (Breakfast speeches are always my favorite.
/ I figure it's the one meal where broccoli is never served.) )
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
( (Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison. )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story 'of the Burning Bush.) ) /
A couple nights ago, working on my speech, I got up to
stretch my legs. Went to the TV. Started switching channels.
As usual, drove Bar crazy with the zapper. / Then, suddenly, on
2
cable, there he was. Jack Webb, as Sergeant Joe Friday, saying
"Just the facts, ma'am." / I begin with a fact Joe Friday would
be proud of: Today, deep in the heart of Texas, we meet in the
most religious Nation on earth. //
According to the Gallup Poll, seven in ten Americans believe
in life after death -- eight in ten that God works miracles.
Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe in God. To
which I say: Thank God for the United States of America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
The first gift is life itself. / I believe God put us here
not to hate but help one another -- to lend a hand / tend a wound
/ lift the weak and lonely. / The Bible asks us: "Divine thy
conscience, and let Thy conscience be Thy guide." That is why I
don't care about the cost to me: I revere the sanctity of life. /
Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life also gave us
liberty." Today, that second gift -- God's gift of liberty -- is
remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls
come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou -- the Summer
Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism / without
politics. And that's as it should be. //
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
3
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
4
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ((Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) ) / I know how a third
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
Last night you saw my best friend on television. I'll let
her explain why family matters SO. "At the end of your life,"
she's said, "you will never forget not having passed one more
test, not winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend,
or a parent.' // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ( (Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, he said.
"People make whales sick. ")) //
Each of us asks God daily to make lives well. We act
through the greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
Something's wrong when kids can get condoms at school but can't
say a prayer. / That's why I oppose the recent Supreme Court
ruling outlawing voluntary prayer at school events -- and why I
say: If the Supreme Court won't act to reverse this ruling --
Congress must and I will. /
5
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
J
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ Or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the tower, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
How, given that, could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
6
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister -- Claude Payne -- smiled back. And I no longer worried
about how I looked to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like life, family, and liberty --
prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a world where we
say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age - . Joy
Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a missionary. /
She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am proud of you. " /
Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in charge." //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
345145SS
ocumen
6277
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMO
DUM
8/14/92
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: NOON, MONDAY, AUG. 17
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
SUBJECT:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
PROVOST
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
YEUTTER
FINDLAY
FITZWATER
KAUFMAN
GRAY
MCGROARTY
HOLIDAY
PORTER ROSE
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly to
Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to this office
NO LATER THAN NOON, MONDAY, AUGUST 17. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
August 17, 1992
TO:
DAN MCGROARTY
The NSC staff concurs with the draft presidential remarks as amended.
Brent Will Scowcroft
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
CC: Phillip D. Brady
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Two
August 14, 1992
A:GIFTS
2 AUG 14 P2: 02
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
My friend and running mate, Dan Quayle. What a wonderful
job you have done as Vice-President. / Fellow Texans / Americans
/ fellow believers in "One Nation Under God. " //
I am delighted to address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on
this great occasion. ((Breakfast speeches are always my favorite.
I
figure it's the one meal where broccoli is never served. ))
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
( (Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison. )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ((Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. RT / (This is self-deteating )
Wohumar in that!
A couple nights ago, working on my speech, I got up to
stretch my legs. Went to the TV. Started switching channels.
channel changer
As usual, drove Bar crazy with the zapper. / Then, suddenly, on
2
cable, there he was. Jack Webb, as Sergeant Joe Friday, saying
"Just the facts, ma'am." / I begin with a fact Joe Friday would
be proud of: Today, deep in the heart of Texas, we meet in the
most religious Nation on earth. //
According to the Gallup Poll, seven in ten Americans believe
in life after death -- eight in ten that God works miracles.
Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe in God. To
which I say: Thank God for the United States of America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
This morning, I want to speak to
using God's gifts to lift America up. // talk about God's gifts.
of course,
The first gift is life itself. / I believe God put us here
not to hate but help one another -- to lend a hand / tend a wound
/ lift the weak and lonely. / The Bible asks us: "Divine thy
conscience, and let Thy conscience be Thy guide." That is why I
don't care about the cost to me: I revere the sanctity of life. /
Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life also gave us
liberty." Today, that second gift -- God's gift of liberty -- is
remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls
come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou -- the Summer
Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism / without
politics. And that's as it should be. //
((On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
3
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
this passage theme
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
loses add satence Liberty other there. av please ve
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
liberty
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
4
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ((Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
and,
that
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous. )) / I know how a third
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
Last night you saw my best friend on television. I'll let she
this third gift of
her explainewhy family matters so. "At the end of your life,"
she's said, "you will never forget not having passed one more
test, not winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend,
or a parent. " // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ( (Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, " he said.
Each of US torn to God daily
"People make whales sick. ")) //
through the greatest of God's gifts yes,praner
This does
turn to
not make
Each of us asks God daily to make lives well We act
sense. what are you
trying to do or say
here?
through the greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
Something's wrong when kids can get condoms at school but can't
is prayer a
say a prayer. / That's why I oppose the recent Supreme Court
gift Ne with it God? is God a I was think a
ruling outlawing voluntary prayer at school events -- and why I
say: If the Supreme Court won't act to reverse this ruling --
Biblical Is for this !?!
Congress must and I will. /
5
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
bridge
on the tower, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
and prayer was
night. There was calm, inner peace God's
therapy.
/
How, given that, could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
6
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister -- Claude Payne -- smiled back. And I no longer worried
about how I looked to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
the greatgifts
how it looks to God. How -- like life, family, and liberty --
prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a world where we
say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age - . Joy
Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a missionary. /
She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am proud of you. " /
Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in charge." //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
No mention of The Torah
The Koran
or any other
voligiou theology
other than Biblical-based theology.
Shouldn't there this speech bea little broader.
92 AUG 17 A10: 56
Paul called from
Cabinet Affairs
N/C
?
Lois - Darmon
N/C
92 AUG 17 All : 05
345145SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
8/14/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMEN 17 22
NOON, MONDAY, AUG. 1'
DATE:
DUE Y:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
SUBJECT:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
PROVOST
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
YEUTTER
FINDLAY
FITZWATER
KAUFMAN
GRAY
MCGROARTY
HOLIDAY
PORTER ROSE
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly to
Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to this office
NO LATER THAN NOON, MONDAY, AUGUST 17. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
wonderful - No comment.
Mann Shahe
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
& DS
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Two
August 14, 1992
A:GIFTS
270614 P2: 02
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
My friend and running mate, Dan Quayle. What a wonderful
job you have done as Vice-President. / Fellow Texans / Americans
/ fellow believers in "One Nation Under God." 11
I am delighted to address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on
this great occasion. ((Breakfast speeches are always my favorite.
/ I figure it's the one meal where broccoli is never served.) )
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
( (Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison.) ) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. )) /
A couple nights ago, working on my speech, I got up to
stretch my legs. Went to the TV. Started switching channels.
As usual, drove Bar crazy with the zapper. / Then, suddenly, on
2
cable, there he was. Jack Webb, as Sergeant Joe Friday, saying
"Just the facts, ma'am." / I begin with a fact Joe Friday would
be proud of: Today, deep in the heart of Texas, we meet in the
most religious Nation on earth. //
According to the Gallup Poll, seven in ten Americans believe
in life after death -- eight in ten that God works miracles.
Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe in God. To
which I say: Thank God for the United States of America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
The first gift is life itself. / I believe God put us here
not to hate but help one another -- to lend a hand / tend a wound
/ lift the weak and lonely. / The Bible asks us: "Divine thy
conscience, and let Thy conscience be Thy guide." That is why I
don't care about the cost to me: I revere the sanctity of life. /
Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life also gave us
liberty." Today, that second gift -- God's gift of liberty -- is
remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls
come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou -- the Summer
Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism / without
politics. And that's as it should be. //
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
3
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. 11
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
4
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) )) / I know how a third
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
Last night you saw my best friend on television. I'll let
her explain why family matters so. "At the end of your life,"
she's said, "you will never forget not having passed one more
test, not winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend,
or a parent. " // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ( (Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know," he said.
"People make whales sick. ")) //
Each of us asks God daily to make lives well. We act
through the greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
Something's wrong when kids can get condoms at school but can't
say a prayer. / That's why I oppose the recent Supreme Court
ruling outlawing voluntary prayer at school events -- and why I
say: If the Supreme Court won't act to reverse this ruling --
Congress must and I will. /
5
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the tower, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
How, given that, could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
6
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister -- Claude Payne -- smiled back. And I no longer worried
about how I looked to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like life, family, and liberty --
prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a world where we
say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows your name. If
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age Joy
Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a missionary. /
She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am proud of you. " /
Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in charge. M //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Two
August 14, 1992
A:GIFTS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
My friend and running mate, Dan Quayle. What a wonderful
job you have done as Vice-President. / Fellow Texans / Americans
/ fellow believers in "One Nation Under God." //
I am delighted to address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on
this great occasion. ( (Breakfast speeches are always my favorite.
/ I figure it's the one meal where broccoli is never served.) )
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
( (Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison. )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. )) /
A couple nights ago, working on my speech, I got up to
stretch my legs. Went to the TV. Started switching channels.
As usual, drove Bar crazy with the zapper. / Then, suddenly, on
2
cable, there he was. Jack Webb, as Sergeant Joe Friday, saying
"Just the facts, ma'am." / I begin with a fact Joe Friday would
be proud of: Today, deep in the heart of Texas, we meet in the
most religious Nation on earth. //
According to the Gallup Poll, seven in ten Americans believe
in life after death -- eight in ten that God works miracles.
Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe in God. To
which I say: Thank God for the United States of America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
The first gift is life itself. / I believe God put us here
not to hate but help one another -- to lend a hand / tend a wound
/ lift the weak and lonely. / The Bible asks us: "Divine thy
conscience, and let Thy conscience be Thy guide." That is why I
don't care about the cost to me: I revere the sanctity of life. /
Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life also gave us
liberty." Today, that second gift -- God's gift of liberty -- is
remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls
come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou -- the Summer
Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism / without
politics. And that's as it should be. //
((On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
3
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ) )
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
4
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) ) / I know how a third
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
Last night you saw my best friend on television. I'll let
her explain why family matters SO. "At the end of your life,"
she's said, "you will never forget not having passed one more
test, not winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend,
or a parent. // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ( (Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, he said.
"People make whales sick. ")) //
Each of us asks God daily to make lives well. We act
through the greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
Something's wrong when kids can get condoms at school but can't
say a prayer. / That's why I oppose the recent Supreme Court
ruling outlawing voluntary prayer at school events -- and why I
say: If the Supreme Court won't act to reverse this ruling --
Congress must and I will. /
5
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the tower, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
How, given that, could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
6
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister -- Claude Payne -- smiled back. And I no longer worried
about how I looked to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like life, family, and liberty --
prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a world where we
say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows your name." "
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age Joy
Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a missionary. /
She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am proud of you. " /
Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in charge.' " //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Two
August 14, 1992
A:GIFTS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
My friend and running mate, Dan Quayle. What a wonderful
job you have done as Vice-President. / Fellow Texans / Americans
/ fellow believers in "One Nation Under God." //
I am delighted to address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on
this great occasion. ((Breakfast speeches are always my favorite.
/ I figure it's the one meal where broccoli is never served.) ))
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
((Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison. )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ( (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. )) /
A couple nights ago, working on my speech, I got up to
stretch my legs. Went to the TV. Started switching channels.
As usual, drove Bar crazy with the zapper. / Then, suddenly, on
2
cable, there he was. Jack Webb, as Sergeant Joe Friday, saying
"Just the facts, ma'am." / I begin with a fact Joe Friday would
be proud of: Today, deep in the heart of Texas, we meet in the
most religious Nation on earth. //
According to the Gallup Poll, seven in ten Americans believe
in life after death -- eight in ten that God works miracles.
Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe in God. To
which I say: Thank God for the United States of America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. 11
The first gift is life itself. / I believe God put us here
not to hate but help one another -- to lend a hand / tend a wound
/ lift the weak and lonely. / The Bible asks us: "Divine thy
conscience, and let Thy conscience be Thy guide." That is why I
don't care about the cost to me: I revere the sanctity of life. /
Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life also gave us
liberty." Today, that second gift -- God's gift of liberty -- is
remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls
come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou -- the Summer
Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism / without
politics. And that's as it should be. //
((On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
3
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
4
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) ) / I know how a third
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
Last night you saw my best friend on television. I'll let
her explain why family matters so. "At the end of your life,"
she's said, "you will never forget not having passed one more
test, not winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend,
or a parent.' // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. 11
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ((Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know," he said.
"People make whales sick. ) ) 11
Each of us asks God daily to make lives well. We act
through the greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
Something's wrong when kids can get condoms at school but can't
say a prayer. / That's why I oppose the recent Supreme Court
ruling outlawing voluntary prayer at school events -- and why I
say: If the Supreme Court won't act to reverse this ruling --
Congress must and I will. /
5
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the tower, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
How, given that, could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
THE WHITE HOUSE
wASHINGTON
92 AUG 18 A10: 33
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR DAN McGROARTY
FROM:
ROGER B. PORTER Dt FOR
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: Prayer Breakfast
We have reviewed the attached presidential remarks and
have no suggested changes from a policy standpoint. We approve
the draft in its present form.
CC: Phillip D. Brady
345145SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
8/14/92
NOON, MONDAY, AUG. 11
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
SUBJECT:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
PROVOST
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
YEUTTER
FINDLAY
FITZWATER
KAUFMAN
GRAY
MCGROARTY
HOLIDAY
PORTER ROSE
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly to
Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to this office
NO LATER THAN NOON, MONDAY, AUGUST 17. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Two
August 14, 1992
A:GIFTS
2 A0G14 P2: 02
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
My friend and running mate, Dan Quayle. What a wonderful
job you have done as Vice-President. / Fellow Texans / Americans
/ fellow believers in "One Nation Under God. //
I am delighted to address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on
this great occasion. ((Breakfast speeches are always my favorite.
/ I figure it's the one meal where broccoli is never served.) )
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
((Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison. )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. ((Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush.) ) /
A couple nights ago, working on my speech, I got up to
stretch my legs. Went to the TV. Started switching channels.
As usual, drove Bar crazy with the zapper. / Then, suddenly, on
2
cable, there he was. Jack Webb, as Sergeant Joe Friday, saying
"Just the facts, ma'am. H / I begin with a fact Joe Friday would
be proud of: Today, deep in the heart of Texas, we meet in the
most religious Nation on earth. //
According to the Gallup Poll, seven in ten Americans believe
in life after death -- eight in ten that God works miracles.
Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe in God. To
which I say: Thank God for the United States of America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
The first gift is life itself. / I believe God put us here
not to hate but help one another -- to lend a hand / tend a wound
/ lift the weak and lonely. / The Bible asks us: "Divine thy
conscience, and let Thy conscience be Thy guide." That is why I
don't care about the cost to me: I revere the sanctity of life. /
Jefferson said, "The God who gave us life also gave us
liberty." Today, that second gift -- God's gift of liberty -- is
remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho, the walls
come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou -- the Summer
Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism / without
politics. And that's as it should be. //
( (On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
3
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
4
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) ) / I know how a third
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
Last night you saw my best friend on television. I'll let
her explain why family matters so. "At the end of your life,"
she's said, "you will never forget not having passed one more
test, not winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal.
You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend,
or a parent. // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ((Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, " he said.
"People make whales sick. ") ) //
Each of us asks God daily to make lives well. We act
through the greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
Something's wrong when kids can get condoms at school but can't
say a prayer. / That's why I oppose the recent Supreme Court
ruling outlawing voluntary prayer at school events -- and why I
say: If the Supreme Court won't act to reverse this ruling --
Congress must and I will. /
5
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the tower, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
How, given that, could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
as it has in every hour as your President. //
6
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister -- Claude Payne -- smiled back. And I no longer worried
about how I looked to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like life, family, and liberty --
prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a world where we
say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows your name. "
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age - Joy
Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a missionary. /
She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am proud of you. " /
Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in charge. //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
345145SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
8/18/92
32 AUG 18 P4: 50
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
PROVOST
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
FINDLAY
KAUFMAN
GRAY
PORTER ROSE
HOLIDAY
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
See PP. 144 B
RESPONSE:
FYI: CNR DHP WFS KJH BS JTH EXECSEC WWD WHK
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
P3: 27
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
DAN MC GROARTY Mur
FROM:
CURT SMITH
is
SUBJECT:
HOUSTON PRAYER BREAKFAST
I. SUMMARY
On Thursday, August 20, at 8:00 a.m., you will deliver
remarks to approximately 10,000 people gathered for the Houston
Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast at Hofheinz Pavilion. You will be
introduced by Mary Lou Retton.
II. DISCUSSION
Your remarks (12 minutes, prompter) focus on the powerful
role religion plays in this country -- particularly, in your own
life. Additionally, you assert a commitment to conscience when
it comes to matters of life and support for voluntary prayer in
the classroom.
(Smith/Nix)
Draft Three
August 17, 1992
A:GIFTS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PRAYER BREAKFAST
HOUSTON, TEXAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1992
8:00 A.M.
manyhow
Mary Lou Retton, thank you for that introduction. Let me
repeat what I said last week to the 1992 Summer Olympic team:
Retton
Whether you won a gold, silver, or bronze medal, or simply gave
your best, you're all heroes in the eyes of each American. //
I also want to salute my friend and running mate, Vice-
President Dan Quayle. 11 Fellow Texans / Americans / fellow
believers in "One Nation Under God." // I am delighted to
address the Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast on this great occasion.
( (Breakfast speeches are always my favorite. / I figure it's the
one meal where broccoli is never served. ))
Let me first salute that marvelous choir. / Think of it. A
50-piece orchestra. 100 singers from the Houston Children's
Choir. Members of 40 area congregations. 1,000 voices.
( (Believe me, as one who works in the divisive world of politics,
it's amazing to hear that many voices raised in unison. )) //
As you know, we meet on a special day. (Tonight I give my
acceptance speech. If it catches fire, it might give a whole new
meaning to the story of the Burning Bush. )) /
Today, as we meet deep in the heart of Texas, we meet deep
in the heart of the most religious Nation on earth, too. / I'm
2
usually not much for polls -- but here's a Gallup poll that makes
sense to me. According to this survey, seven in ten Americans
believe in life after death -- eight in ten that God works
miracles. Nine in ten pray -- and more than 90 percent believe
in God. To which I say: Thank God for the United States of
America. //
Today, we Americans have much to thank God for. Yes,
challenges face us -- good schools / safe streets / a sound
economy / a world at peace. But we will meet and master them as
Americans always have. Not by running America down. But by
using God's gifts to lift America up. //
Jefferson phrased the first gift best. "The God who gave us
life," he said, "also gave us liberty." Today, God's gift of
liberty is remaking an entire globe. / In Berlin, like Jericho,
the walls come tumbling down. / In Barcelona -- ask Mary Lou --
the Summer Games were held without boycotts / without terrorism /
without politics. And that's as it should be. //
((On that score, all of us have Olympic heroes. Mine is
Pablo Morales. He's the swimmer who missed out in '84, didn't
make the team in '88, then came back this year to earn a gold
medal -- at the ripe old age of 27. Let that be a lesson: Youth
and inexperience are no match for maturity and determination. ))
Over the past three and a half years bayonets have been no
match for the righteousness of God. Look to Bulgaria -- where at
last people wish Merry Christmas to each other without fear of
being labeled religious. / Look to Russia -- where a cathedral
3
once called the All Union Museum of Religion and Atheism now
houses God's apostles. / Or the former East Germany -- where
Bible Studies are like bluebonnets in spring: They're busting
out all over. In a season of Thanksgiving, the world says grace:
By God's providence, the Cold War is over -- and America won. //
I remember when, six years ago, one of God's great soldiers
went to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Returning to
America, Billy Graham predicted that freedom would outlast
tyranny. / The doubters said he'd been tricked -- but Billy knew
something they didn't. He knew the chains of oppression forged
by men were no match for the keys to Salvation forged by God. //
I talked about this with Billy a year ago January, when I
asked him to stay at the White House the night before our troops
started Desert Storm. I thought a lot that night. About the
thousands of people praying at churches. About my home church -
- St. Martin's -- its prayer books, crosses, and hand-made
Christmas cards made in Sunday school for our troops in the Gulf.
I thought about the troops themselves -- the finest sons and
daughters any Nation could ever have. / And of how blessed
Barbara and I were to have Billy and Ruth as friends for many
years. I was counting recently: Between us, we have 10 kids and
32 grandkids. ( (Now, that's the kind of expansion that makes
even the Federal bureaucracy jealous.) )) / I know how a second
gift of God's -- family -- can lift America. I can no more
imagine a life without family than I can a universe without love.
4
Last night you saw Barbara on television. I'll let her
explain why family matters so. "At the end of your life," she
said, "you will never regret forget not having passed one more test, not
winning one more verdict, not closing one more deal. You will
regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a
parent. H // No wonder America loves Barbara Bush. //
Barbara knows that kids, quoting Art Linkletter, say not
only the funniest but most insightful things -- especially about
religion. / ((Once a Sunday school teacher started talking about
the story of Jonah and the Whale. She asked what the story
showed. A small boy raised his hand. "I know, he said.
"People make whales sick. ")) //
Each of us turns to God daily to make lives well. We act
through the third and greatest of God's gifts -- yes, prayer. /
If Congress can raise its pay in a midnight session / if
Congress can create National Tap Dance Day / if Congress can
spend time debating Vanna White's appearance on the Home Shopping
Network -- surely, Congress can allow our kids to thank Almighty
God. / So if I can disturb your breakfast with one political
observation, today I call on Congress to pass a Constitutional
Amendment allowing voluntary prayer in our classrooms. Let's
bring the Faith of our Fathers back to our schools. //
I have been President for three and a half years now.
More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be
President of the United States without a belief in God -- without
the truth that comes on one's knees. /
5
For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal
-- you know us Episcopalians. / Yet it has sustained me at every
point of my life. / As a boy, when religious reading was part of
our home life. / As a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn.
/ Or how, fifty years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after
being shot down in the War, I went on deck at night, stood watch
on the bridge, and looked out at the dark. / The sky was clear.
The stars were brilliant -- like a blizzard of fireflies in the
night. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. /
Given that, how could I forget the One through whom all
things are possible? I can't. That's why the 1988 morning after
Election Day -- my son, George W., said a prayer -- we held a
worship service at St. Martin's. / God's peace sustained me then
-- as it has in every hour as your President. //
I've tried to ask God, as the book of Micah says, "to [let
me] act just" -- to be worthy of America in war and peace. Like
a lot of people I've always worried about showing tears in public
-- the emotion. That's all faded in the past three and a half
years. I remember Barbara and I praying at Camp David before the
Air War began -- we thought about those young men and women
overseas. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. Our
minister smiled back. And I no longer worried about how I looked
to others. //
What matters in prayer is not how it looks to others -- but
how it looks to God. How -- like the other gifts of family and
liberty -- prayer can build peace among Nations. Creating a
6
world where we say to each child: "Someone loves you, and knows
your name."
This month, I got a letter from a little girl, age eleven.
Joy Vaughn -- lives in Mesa, Arizona. Her brother is a
missionary. / She wrote: "I just have to tell you that I am
proud of you. / Be stout of heart, she added. "God is in
charge." //
Joy -- what truth from the mouths of babes: As we begin
this great crusade, God is in charge. / We know that while God
can live without man -- man cannot live without God. // So pray
not for me alone -- but for the Family called America. Thank
you, God bless you, and God bless the most wondrous land on earth
-- the United States of America.
# # # #