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Disabled American Veterans, Reno, NV 8/4/92 [OA 8130]
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Disabled American Veterans, Reno, NV 8/4/92 [OA 8130]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
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Record Group/Collection: George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
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Speechwriting, White House Office of
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Smith, Curt, Files
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Disabled American Veterans, Reno, Nevada, 8/4/92
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18
29
1
6
(Smith/Walters)
July 30, 1992
Draft Four
RENO
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: DISABLED VETERANS
RENO, NEVADA
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1992
[[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]]. Fellow veterans. Robin Higgins. It
is a pleasure to renew old ties -- and greet new friends. / I
want to thank Cleveland Jordan for that introduction. Thanks to
all of you who represent America's disabled veterans, their
families, and survivors -- fully 2.2 million strong. /
( (Before I came here, one of my grandkids asked how much
bravery I needed to fight in the war. / I said: "Almost as much
bravery as it takes for a Navy man to address an audience of
people from the Army, the Air Force, and the Marines. ") ) //
In that sense, I'm glad my best friend is with me. / ( (Any
of our kids will tell you Barbara's the five-star general in our
family. Believe me, when she gives the orders, an entire
division clears out. )) //
Last September, Barbara and I were honored to attend your
Salute to the Persian Gulf. Today, I'm proud to return the favor
-- and salute the American Veteran. / The American Vet is like
your neighbor: You want safe streets / good schools / a sound
economy / a world at peace. / You also believe -- and I agree:
America should serve those who also served their country. //
That is why my Administration has never wavered: We must,
and will, ensure veterans' access to quality health care. / Two
years ago, we unveiled a National Commission to outline the
2
future structure of VA medical facilities. I recall as yesterday
what I told Ed Derwinski: Our plan must not allow the closing of
a single, solitary medical center. //
Today, I can report to you: Not one VA hospital has been
closed because of review or lack of services. / What's more, we
have acted to create specialized centers from ambulatory to
community-based care. / Our Administration has funded new
outpatient clinics. From FY 1991 to '93 our VA budget has risen
almost a billion dollars per year. / By putting veterans first
-- we keep America first. I will continue to fight for those
who've fought from Verdun to Kuwait City. //
Vet or non-vet -- we have to make the world's best health
care system even better. / You know the story. Today, health
care costs too much. Just as bad, too many are excluded under
the present system -- million -- an army of uninsured
-
Americans. / We have to defeat this terrorism which leaves
people vulnerable, and alone. / /
Some of you may recall how Sam Rayburn, former Speaker of
the House, once said, "If a man has common sense, he has all the
sense there is. Today, we need to use common sense as an
arsenal of good. // Some claim: The answer to better health
care is a nationalized health system. My answer: Anyone who's
spent months trying to track down a missing VA check / or wasted
a day in line at the DVM / is going to think long and hard before
they let the government play doctor. //
3
As long as I am President, we will not adopt the dead-end
system of socialized medicine. / Instead, I ask you to support
my health care plan to stabilize costs by reforming the system.
My plan will make health insurance more efficient, and tax
deductions -- not tax hikes -- to make health insurance more
affordable for low-to-middle income families. It will also
confront this fact: Today we have too many malpractice suits /
too many lawyers / too many hustlers looking to soak the system.
( (I don't want to get into trouble with the Bar Association -
- Bar is one of my favorite names -- but I once quoted to someone
that line, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." He said,
"What works for lawyers?") ) / We'd be better off if we spent
more time caring for each other and less time suing each other. /
So let's fight the terror of rising costs by reforming
malpractice / and passing my health care plan. //
This brings me to another kind of terrorism. Terrorism
against the innocent -- against brave Americans abroad. // Three
years ago I was on my way to address your convention. You know
the event which changed my plans. / It was the death of a
husband / father / American hero. With us today is the wife of
Colonel William Higgins. Robin, on behalf of every American, I
salute you from the bottom of my heart. /
Fellow veterans, what Colonel Higgins died for --- we must
live for. The great victory he helped win based on strength ---
we will not lose because of weakness. // It is a cause you took
up arms -- and bore our burden -- for in the Argonne / in Midway
4
/ Dan Nang / the Persian Gulf. / A cause I describe as real
peace -- the triumph of freedom, not merely the absence of war.
Eight months ago, I stood aboard the USS Arizona in the
quiet of Pearl Harbor, and thought of the Navy Hymn which salutes
freedom's liegemen. You know the words: "Eternal Father, strong
to save / O hear us when we cry to thee / For those in peril on
the sea. If / It reminded me of that day -- almost fifty years ago
-- when, like you, I was a scared kid, alone in a raft, paddling
against the current to keep from washing ashore on an empty
island. I remember -- when I wasn't wondering if anyone would
find me at all -- worrying about who might find me first. //
I was fortunate. I know that. And I learned first-hand
what it means to know that America will never abandon its
fighting men, whatever their fate. / I was on a three-man
bombing crew -- where I learned of teamwork. / I learned how
friendships in battle last. / Like you, I also learned about
a purpose larger than ourselves. / I remember spending a month
aboard the submarine Finback after being shot down -- and at
night standing watch on the tower and looking at the dark. The
sky was clear. The stars resembled a blizzard of fireflies.
There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. //
How, given that, could I forget those who fought in the
swamps and deserts / those who lie in Arlington / those disabled
so that liberty might live? / I can't -- I won't. // Ask those
who served from the Sedan to Saigon. I can't forget that real
peace stems not from a care-free bus in the warmth of the summer
5
policy of disinterest -- not engagement. They're wrong. You
build it through what I learned in World War II -- and what
Saddam Hussein learned last year: No one walks away from
appeasing an aggressor. He only crawls. //
Here is what real peace has meant over the past 3 and 1/2
years. In Berlin, a wall crumbles. From Kuwait to Panama, those
enslaved now are free. / The Cold War is over -- and America
won. // Having won, we agreed with the republics of the former
Soviet Union to the first verifiable reduction in strategic
nuclear arms. Next year, President Yeltsin and I have agreed to
go even further. / Look at the record. In 1989, the enemy
blinked. In 1991, it fell. / America has changed the world --
just as we're now poised to change America. //
All this hasn't happened through smoke and mirrors. // It's
come from policies that are practical -- a Presidency that works.
// ((I'm reminded of how a writer was asked what he would take
if his house were on fire and he could remove only one thing.
His response? "I would take the fire.' ")) Well, by taking away
their fire -- we've seen that it's tyrants who've been burned.
Our task now is to build on these beginnings: To use
foreign policy -- as Dwight Eisenhower said -- to "summon
lightness against the dark." / Think of Saddam / Noriega /
Eastern Europe / how Communism is now a four-letter word: D-E-
A-D. Because we are the only Superpower for good versus evil --
America must stand fast so that democracy can stand tall. //
6
Foreign policy can first build a better world where the rule
of law defeats the rule of the jungle. / It can also build a
safer world -- which, in turn, means a prosperous America. /
Every billion dollars in exports produces almost 20,000 new
American jobs. That's why I support the North American Free
Trade Agreement: To succeed economically at home -- we must lead
economically abroad. //
Let's remember: Today ours is one world -- our fate is
indivisible -- whether we like it or not. / Half-a-century ago,
what happened in Berlin and Tokyo could not be divorced from
Washington. Today, our planet is even smaller -- thus, our peril
even greater. // Some say we can sustain progress by shutting
our door on the world and hanging a "do not disturb sign" on
America. / I say: If tunnel-vision were an art form, they would
be the Michelangelo of our age. /
[[ knows that. // So does He Like you, t
know that if the best way to ensure war is for America to be
militarily weak -- the best way to ensure peace is for America O
be militarily strong / In coming years our armed forces will
be smaller -- thanks to less threat in Europe and less fear of
war. Yet I mean to see that its defense capacity is even
greater: Our victory in the Cold War may allow us to reduce
defense spending -- but our commitment to vigilance means we wil
not reduce our resolve. //
A word about those who haven't supported any weapons since
he slingshot and the pea-shooter: They have less in common WI
7
our defense needs than Jane Fonda does with the D.A.V. / Earlier
this year I cut our-long range defense budget prudently --
sensibly. Apparently, those words don't appear in the Gospel
According to Congress. / So it wants to take $1 billion from
defense spending and give it to defense bureaucracy. It wants to
slash this year's defense budget by $7 billion / ravage the
Strategic Defense Initiative / gut our ability to update the ABM
Treaty / and harm troop readiness by stealing $7 billion from
operation and maintenance. /
Remember: These are the same people who were wrong about
Viet Nam / the Mayaquez / wrong about the Shah, Afghanistan, and
SDI. They were wrong about the freezniks and peaceniks / wrong
about Libya, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait. / Now, "there they go
again": They're wrong about defense. // They remind me of the
definition of a cynic: "The man who knows the price of
everything and the value of nothing.' // They just don't
understand: When it comes to national defense, finishing second
means finishing last. //
Well, this President understands. Understands, and
remembers. I recall what veterans have fought for -- what they
died for. I know the price you yourselves have paid. / To
weaken our defenses in an unpredictable world today is to smear
your sacrifice in the war-torn world of yesterday. / I haven't
done that -- never will. You deserve a President who knows that
giving peace a chance doesn't mean taking a chance on peace. //
8 milder
Those who dismiss foreign policy are as passe as Communism /
as wrong as appeasement / as foolish as the slogan, "Make love,
not war." Bumper stickers won't defeat bayonets / reduce nuclear
weapons / won't remake America / and send terrorism to its grave.
What will is patience, planning, and personal diplomacy -- aided
by the greatest people in the history of man. This "last best
hope of earth." We Americans.
Thank you for your support, and may God bless the United
States of America.
# # # #
(Smith/Walters)
July 31, 1992
RENO
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: DISABLED VETERANS
RENO, NEVADA
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1992
It is a pleasure to renew old ties -- and greet new friends.
I want to thank Cleve Jordan for that introduction. Thanks to
all of you who represent America's disabled veterans, their
families, and survivors -- fully 2.2 million strong. /
( (Before I came here, one of my grandkids asked how much
bravery I needed to fight in the war. / I said: "Almost as much
bravery as it takes for a Navy man to address an audience of
people from the Army, the Air Force, and the Marines. ")) //
In that sense, I bring you best wishes from my best friend.
((Barbara and I were talking about coolness under fire. I said
the more I'm criticized, the more I turn it into humor. She
said, "At this rate, you' 11 soon be funnier than Jay Leno. ") ) //
Last September, Barbara Veterans and I were honored to attend your
Salute to the Persian Gulf. Today, I'm proud to salute the
American Veteran. / The American Vet deserves safe streets / a
sound economy / a world at peace. / - You also believe -- and I
agree: America should serve those who also served their country.
That is why my Administration has never wavered: We must,
and will, ensure veterans' access to quality health care. / Two
years ago, we unveiled a National Commission to outline the
future structure of VA medical facilities. I recall telling an
2
aide: Our plan must not allow the closing of a single, solitary
medical center. //
Today, I can tell you: Not one VA hospital has been closed
because of review or lack of services. / What's more, we have
created specialized centers, funded new outpatient clinics, and
boosted our VA budget by nearly a billion dollars per year. / I
am especially proud, too, of other acts. First, the Americans
With Disabilities Act -- the most sweeping civil rights
legislation since the 1960s. / Next, I have rejected taxation of
veterans' disability compensation -- and will continue to. No
veteran should have to pay twice -- once in battle, and once in
Medicabe
peace. / Finally, yesterday I created a White House panel to
well lech Sysue
address the future of health care eligibility in the VA
Health
Department. Our goal is to ensure the success and viability of
vets' medical care. One way we will meet it is to have disabled
veterans play a key role on that panel. // By putting veterans
first -- we will keep America first. I will continue to fight
for those who've fought from Verdun to Kuwait City. //
Vet or non-vet -- we have to make the world's best health
care system even better. / You know the story. Today, health
care costs too much. Just as bad. too many are excluded under
the present system -- - million -- an army of uninsured
Americans. / We have to defeat this terrorism which leaves
people vulnerable and alone. //
Some of you may recall how Sam Rayburn, former Speaker of
the House, once said, "If a man has common sense, he has all the
3
sense there is. " Today, we need to use common sense as an
arsenal of good. / Some claim: The answer to better health care
is a nationalized health system. My answer: Anyone who's spent
months trying to track down a missing VA check / or wasted a day
in liene at the DVM / is going to think long and hard before they
let the government play doctor. //
As long as I am President, we will not adopt the dead-end
system of socialized medicine. / Instead, I ask you to support
my health plan to stabilize costs by reforming the system. My
plan will make health insurance more efficient, and tax
deductions -- not tax hikes -- will make health insurance more
affordable for low-to-middle income families. It will also
confront this fact: Today we have too many malpractice suits /
too many lawyers / too many hustlers looking to soak the system.
( (I don't want to get into trouble with the Bar Association,
but I once told someone that time, "An apple a day keeps the
doctor away. " He asked, "What works for lawyers?") ) We'd be
better off if we spent more time caring for each other and less
time suing each other. / So let's fight the terror of rising
costs by reforming malpractice / and passing my health care plan.
This brings me to another kind of terrorism. Terrorism
against the innocent -- against brave Americans abroad. / Three
years ago I was on my way to address your convention. You know
Ane help
what changed my plans. / It concerned a husband, a father, an
American hero. With us today is the wife of Colonel Rich
coroso
Nat Ac will GREAF
H.C Je Nothing with alleet & me of System
4
Higgins. Major Robin Higgins, on behalf of every American, I
admire you from the bottom of my heart. //
Fellow veterans, what Colonel Higgins died for -- we must
live for. The great victory he helped win based on strength -- we
will not lose because of weakness. / It is a cause for which you
took up arms -- and bore our burden -- in the Argonne / in Midway
/ Da Nang / the Persian Gulf. A cause I describe as real peace -
- the triumph of freedom, not merely the absence of war.
Eight months ago, I stood aboard the USS Arizona in the
quiet of Pearl Harbor, and thought of the Navy Hymn that salutes
freedom's liegemen. You know the words: "Eternal Father, strong
to save / O hear us when we cry to thee / For those in peril on
the sea. " / It reminded me of that day -- fifty years ago --
when I was a scared kid, alone in a raft, paddling against the
current to keep from washing ashore on an empty island. I
remember -- when I wasn't wonderinf if anyone would find me at
all -- worrying about who might find me first. //
I was fortune. I know that. And I learned first-hand what
it means to know that America will never abandon its fighting
men, whatever their fate. / Let me say to the families waiting
still for their loved ones: America will stand with you --until
every hero has come home. // I say this because of what I
learned in battle. It was on a three-man bombing crew -- where I
learned of teamwork. / I learned in war how friendships last. /
Like you, I also learned about a purpose larger than ourselves.
I remember spending a month aboard the submarine Finback after
5
being shot down -- and at night standing watch on the tower and
looking at the dark. The sky was clear. The stars were
brilliant. There was calm, inner peace -- God's therapy. //
How, given that, could I forget those who fought in the
swamps and deserts / those who lie in Arlington / those who
endured the wounds of war so that liberty might live? / I can't
-- I won't. / Ask those who served from the Sedan to Saigon. I
can't forget that real peace stems not from a care-free bus ride
in the warmth of the summer sun but from soul-searching walks
in the shade of peril. / I won't forget that while the Soviet
bear is dead -- there are a lot of wolves left around the world.
That's why we need a President who's earned the trust of
America's allies. / It's why we need a President who knows what
I learned in World War -- and what Saddam Hussein learned last
year: America stands for the rule of law against the law of the
jungle. / Above all, we need a President who knows: If the best
way to ensure war is for America to be militarily weak --- the
best way to ensure peace is for America to be militarily strong.
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America's defense has helped
a wall crumble in Berlin. From Kuwait to Panama, helped free
those once enslaved. Helped Communism become a four-letter word:
D-E-A-D. Let me put it plain: You were not wounded in vain.
You helped end the Cold War -- and America won. // Having won,
we agreed with the republics of the former Soviet Union to the
first verifiable reduction in strategic nuclear arms. Next year,
President Yeltsin and I have agreed to go even further. In 1989,
6
the enemy blinked. In 1991, it fell. America has changed the
world -- just as we're now poised to change America. Building
the kind of Nation you fought for abroad: A Nation of prosperity
/ better schools and safer neighborhoods / and equality for all.
All this hasn't happened through smoke and mirrors. // It's
come from a military that is practical -- national defense that
works. / ((I'm reminded of how a writer was asked what he would
take if his house were on fire and he could remove only one
thing. His response? "I would take the fire.")) By taking away
their fire -- we've seen that it's tyrants who've been burned.
One hundred and eighty-eight days after Pearl, I enlisted in
the Navy. / It was the day I graduated from high school, and
Henry Stimson, then Secretary of War, gave the Commencement
Speech. He spoke words that describe every veteran: About how
the American soldier -- and I quote -- should be "Brave without
being brutal, self-confident without boasting, being part of an
irresistible might without losing faith an individual liberty."
For more than 200 years, America's veterans have engraved
that passage on America's soul. / Our task is now to help the
military build on the beginnings of the past 3 and 1/2 years.
Yes, our armed forces will be smaller -- thanks to less threat in
Europe and less fear of war. Yet at the same time, our defense
capacity will be even greater, and here's why: Our victory in
the Cold War allows us to reduce defense spending -- but our
commitment to vigilance means we will not reduce our resolve. //
7
Earlier this year I cut our-long range defense budget
prudently -- sensibly. Apparently, those words don't appear in
the dictionary of those who seek to gut our national defense. So
they propose fully $60 billion in defense cuts beyond what we
deem responsible. On the Hill, their lackeys want to slash this
year's defense budget by $7 billion / ravage the Strategic
Defense Initiative / and harm troop readiness by stealing $7
billion from operation and maintenance. /
Here is my answer: I'm going to keep America safe -- keep
her strong -- make sure the defense budget is more than a piggy
bank for people who want to get busy beating swords into pork
barrels. / When the other side says: We're better off without
defense -- I say: Remember the lessons of Desert Storm. //
When the Scuds came raining down, thank God we didn't have
tp rely on some abstract theory of deterrence. Thank God we had
the technology to shoot those Scuds out of the sky. / The people
trying to kill SDI remind me of the definition of a cynic: "The
man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." "
They don't understand -- never will -- why I intend to push
forward with SDI: When it comes to national defense, finishing
second means finishing last. //
Well, this President understands. Understands, and
remembers. I know what veterans have fought for -- what they
died for. I know the price you yourselves have paid. To weaken
our defenses in an unpredictable world today is to smear your
sacrifice in the war-torn world of yesterday. / I haven't done
8
that -- never will. You deserve a President who knows that
giving peace a chance doesn't mean taking a chance with peace.
Those who mock a strong defense are as obsolete as Communism
/ as passe as appeasement / as foolish as the slogan, "Make love,
not war. " / Bumper stickers won't defeat bayonets / won't reduce
nuclear weapons / won't remake America / won't send terrorism to
its grave. / What will is patience, planning, and personal
diplomacy -- aided by the greatest people in the history of man.
This "last best hope on earth." We Americans. //
Fellow veterans, thank you for your support, and may God
bless this wondrous land we all fought to preserve -- the United
States of America.
# # #
#
Sept. 6 / Administration of George Bush, 1989
Administration of George Bush, 1989 / Sept. 7
grateful I am to Bill Bennett and to him for
countries for being interested in cooperat-
expression and opportunity, democracy for
a nation in which law-abiding citizens are
formulating for the first time a national
ing on this strategy.
all. Like America, too, Old Glory reflects
safe and feel safe. And that is why, 2 nights
strategy that offers hope to those little kids
the values, moral and intellectual, economic
ago, I announced America's first compre-
we saw today. Thank you very, very much.
Note: The President spoke at 1:27 p.m. in
and military, that have made and keep us
hensive national strategy to win the war on
If I would say to those non-Ambassadors
Room 450 of the Old Executive Office
strong. And like America, the flag symbol-
drugs and crime which plague the United
in the room-and please do not assume that
Building. In his remarks, he referred to
izes the gallantry of veterans who love their
States.
this is a discriminatory policy, but I am one
Reggie B. Walton, Associate Director of Na-
country, giving themselves, often their
First, our plan seeks to rid America of
who is very much indebted for the coopera-
tional Drug Control Policy for State and
lives, to its protection-storming the beach-
violent criminals with an attack on four
tion we're getting from abroad-if I could
Local Affairs; Robert M. Gates, Assistant to
es of Okinawa or scaling the cliffs of Nor-
fronts: new laws to punish them, new
ask the Ambassadors from other nations just
the President and Deputy for National Se-
mandy, taking shell-torn hills named "Ham-
agents to arrest them, new prosecutors to
to come and maybe have a handshake here.
curity Affairs; Brent Scowcroft, Assistant to
burger" and "Arrowhead."
convict them, and new prisons to hold
I would then at least have the feeling that I
the President for National Security Affairs;
Fellow veterans, for seven decades the
them. Our crime proposals are based on
have made you feel the special warmth that
and William J. Bennett, Director of Nation-
American Legion, its men and women,
these principles: Criminals in this nation
I feel toward you for coming and to your
al Drug Control Policy.
have helped write the story of America and
must understand that if they commit a
the story of our flag. And today in peace-
crime, they will be caught; and if caught,
time, as in wartime, you write their story
they will be prosecuted; and if convicted,
still. For the flag, like America, is more than
they will do time. But, you see, by taking
Remarks at the American Legion Annual Convention in Baltimore,
sentiment. It lives on the rugged island
the hoods off the streets, we can and we
Maryland
called Iwo Jima. It lifts the tiny hand of a
will take back the streets. You know, in
little girl that I saw on a street corner in
September 7, 1989
short, we propose to change the rules of the
Gdansk, Poland, waving the Stars and
Stripes. For both encapsulate freedom-the
game dramatically: mandatory time for fire-
arms offenses; no deals when criminals use
Justice Gierke-Sparky to me-as a fellow
the mistake I made exactly 1 year ago when
freedom to vote as we want, to pray when
and where we choose, the freedom to go
a gun; and for the most heinous crimes-
Legionnaire, let me first salute the first
I referred to this as Pearl Harbor Day.
Vietnam veteran to be selected national
[Laughter] I can still remember the gasp-
about our daily lives without tyranny or
you remember my promise-for anyone
commander. And all of you who represent
it was on this side of the room. I don't know
fear.
who kills a law enforcement officer, no
our nation's largest and fastest growing vet-
whether the seating has changed, but as
Fifty years ago this month, our allies went
legal penalty is too tough. We want Con-
erans organization, more than 3 million
long as I live, I'll remember the gasps from
to war to protect this freedom. For as
gress to enact the steps needed to imple-
panzer tanks crossed the Polish frontier and
ment the death penalty for those who kill
members strong-thank you for that warm
the audience. [Laughter]
welcome.
Not surprisingly, anniversaries were on
bombers savaged Warsaw, liberty confront-
our law enforcement officers.
I am proud to have been accompanied
my mind then as I traveled here from
ed the evil of fascism-which even now de-
Now, over the last few days, there's been
here by a great friend of the veterans, Con-
fines hell on Earth. And in the end, that
a lot of talk about our strategy. Some, in-
Washington. Events like this 71st national
gressman Sonny Montgomery of Mississip-
convention of the American Legion or the
conflict took more than 50 million lives and
credibly, say, well, it's not enough. This
pi-{applause}-1 see we have a few Missis-
200th birthday of the Coast Guard or the
underscored, as few things have, man's in-
from the very people who oppose the death
sippians back there-and, of course, to have
humanity to man. Our challenge today is to
penalty. It's that kind of thinking that's lost
very first anniversary of the Veterans Af-
been greeted by Maryland's outstanding
prove man's humanity to man by preserv-
too many battles already. So, let's not let
fairs Department, led by its able Secretary
Congresswoman, my great friend, Helen
and our good friend, Ed Derwinski-a de-
ing liberty without war and thus secure
these critics lose the war. I ask you to sup-
what Franklin Roosevelt called the four
port our crime plan and also the other parts
Bentley, a great friend of the veteran; and
partment intent on serving you as you have
am pleased, because I hadn't been told they
served your country. Well, as you can imag-
freedoms: freedom of speech, of religion,
of our national strategy. This strategy aims
freedom from want and fear.
to stop drug use before it starts, through
were going to be here, to see our outstand-
ine, these birthdays in turn got me thinking
about another anniversary, the 175th this
Today I want to focus on one of these
education and prevention, from grade
ing Commandant of the Coast Guard, Ad-
freedoms: freedom from fear-the fear of
school to graduate school. And third,
miral Yost, who's doing a superb job, and
year of "The Star-Spangled Banner," and
war abroad, the fear of drugs and crime at
through treatment, to help addicts who
General Rowny, a old friend of mine, a
how your convention lies so near its famous
home. To win that freedom, to build a
want to get clean, with special emphasis on
great leader, great friend of the veterans,
birthplace. Tuesday you did something that
better and safer life, will require the brav-
expectant mothers.
and a great leader in the whole field of
would have pleased Francis Scott Key and
ery and sacrifice that Americans have
And finally, we're going to work with
arms control and a strong defense. So, I feel
for which I thank you. For by supporting a
shown before and must again. Already,
other governments to help crack the inter-
among friends. And as always, it's a great
constitutional amendment making it illegal
we've done much, and now we must do
national drug rings. Yesterday's extradition
privilege to join you and a deep personal
to desecrate the American flag, you joined
more and achieve real peace, both domestic
of a major drug dealer sends a strong signal
pleasure for me to renew old ties, greet
the crusade to protect that unique symbol
of America's honor. Our flag is too sacred to
and foreign-the kind of peace which lasts.
of the courage and determination of Presi-
new friends.
First, our mission at home: to free our coun-
dent Barco and the Colombian Government
Today, surprisingly, is September 7th-
be abused.
try from the fear of drugs and crime. When
to deal with the scourge which drugs are
[laughter]-and I-{applause}-can you be-
The flag, like our great country, America,
we ask what kind of society the American
inflicting on all of us. And as veterans, you
lieve it? And I'm determined not to repeat
represents many things. It represents self-
people deserve, our answer is and must be
know how battles are often fought-house
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Sept. 7 / Administration of George Bush, 1989
Administration of George Bush, 1989 / Sept. 7
by house, block by block. Well, we'll win
remains a global stage, and America re-
gram to modernize our strategic triad, and
nuclear and chemical weapons. Now, if
this battle the same way, but we're going to
mains its leading player. And we must use
by that I mean submarines, missiles, and
that's not common sense, then I don't like
win it kid by kid, neighborhood by neigh-
our strength to maintain peace and free-
bombers. We have called for two Trident
borhood.
dom. For this we do know from World War
fishing and I don't like playing horseshoes.
submarines to be funded in 1990 and 1991.
[Laughter]
For years now, drugs have written a sad
II: The best way to protect that freedom
And today I renew that call and reaffirm
chapter in the American story. And this
Fellow veterans, real peace is not an acci-
and ensure real peace is for America to be
my commitment to the second part of our
morning I ask you to help write an ending
dent, so let us modernize our strategic
militarily strong. Thankfully, today America
triad: strategic land-based missiles. Already
all of us can be proud of. These cops out
forces and thus encourage arms control. We
is strong.
the Soviet Union is deploying two mobile
here on the street-they can't do it alone.
need the Trident, the small ICBM. We
And our strength has helped democracy's
systems. We have none. We need to move
The teachers, God bless our teachers, those
need the Peacekeeper, B-2, and SDI. And I
tide run in, even as tyranny's tide runs out.
forward with our mobile programs not only
teachers in our schools-they can't do it
have proposed to the Congress an afford-
The new breeze of freedom, which I've
to modernize our forces into the 21st centu-
alone. The addict really trying to get clean
able budget to pay for them. It is a solid,
spoken of before, is blowing in Poland, in
ry but to gain leverage for arms control.
can't do it alone-weary of abuse, can't do
well thought out, and essential program.
Hungary, in countries east and west. And
You see, what we're talking about here is
it alone. They all need your help. And I
The Congress should support it and not try
yet with even hopeful changes comes un-
simple logic; or as Sam Rayburn said, "If a
know they'll get it, just as you've helped
to substitute pet projects in place of a close-
certainty, and with uncertainty comes the
man has common sense, he has all the sense
handicapped kids, donated blood, helped
ly integrated strategic program. For this,
need for vigilance. This is no time to de-
always that National League of Families,
there is." Accordingly, our ICBM program
above all, we know: When it comes to na-
clare freedom's victory before the fact. And
calls for a new single-warhead small ICBM
and spurred good government through pro-
tional defense, finishing second means fin-
that is why we need a national defense that
missile and our ICBM missile, Peacekeeper,
grams like Boys State and Girls State.
ishing last.
ensures a strong and secure America, and
multiwarhead ICBM. The small ICBM rep-
Today, for instance, Post 65 in Rosemont,
We can have an America free from war,
why I'm pleased that the Senate largely
Minnesota, runs the program "Drug Talk."
resents the future of our ICBM force: highly
free from drugs and crime-an America
And in Russellville, Arkansas, I especially
agrees.
mobile single warhead, the very essence of
free from fear. What a wonderful legacy for
This week our defense authorization bill
stability and deterrence. But it won't be
like Post number 20's giveaway of thou-
this and generations of children to come.
moves to House-Senate conference commit-
sands of rulers, and their message says it all:
ready until 1997, so I've asked Congress for
Some might call it only a dream. To them, I
"You really measure up when you say no to
tee. And there's just one problem: The
funds to make our existing Peacekeepers
say, okay, America is the land of dreams—
House version is totally unacceptable to the
mobile by utilizing our rail system in an
dreams that come true.
drugs."
You know as I do that we are in this
Commander in Chief of the United States
emergency, providing survivability at low
God bless you all. God bless the United
together. So, let us fight on any front and
Armed Forces. It is unacceptable. It contin-
cost for this very effective and proven
States of America. And thank you for your
every front-supply and demand, education
ues unneeded programs costing nearly $20
system. The third part of our deterrent
hospitality. Thank you all very, very much.
and rehabilitation, interdiction and enforce-
billion from 1990 to 1994, holding our de-
triad-the B-2, or the Stealth bomber-em-
Remember Pearl Harbor! We'll see you.
ment, in the cities and the towns. Walter
fense budget hostage to projects that will
ploys absolutely revolutionary technology to
Lippmann once wrote of a "nation at the
strip money from programs crucial to stra-
make certain that it can penetrate defenses
Note: The President spoke at 10:05 a.m. at
mercy of violence." America must never
tegic modernization. You see, this modern-
and assure the credibility of our deterrence.
the Baltimore Convention Center. In his re-
surrender to the violence of drugs and
ization is vital, vital because America must
And finally, there is the last part of our
marks, he referred to Herman F. "Sparky"
crime. The future of our children depends
base its procurement decisions on the
defense equation; that's the Strategic De-
Gierke, national commander of the Ameri-
on it.
future capacity-the actual weapons-that
fense Initiative. SDI will begin the move-
can Legion, and Ambassador Edward L.
This morning, I've talked about our mis-
any Soviet leader might have available.
ment from offensive to defensive deter-
Rowny, Special Advisor to the President
sion to secure freedom from fear at home,
Here there are hopeful signs, for Mr. Gor-
rence and deter not merely existing threats,
and Secretary of State on Arms Control
but now let me shift. We also have another
bachev is taking some steps to reduce that
but also nations on the verge of possessing
Matters.
mission, a global mission: to free America
threat posed by the massive military ma-
from the fear of war. Wouldn't it be won-
chine that is the Soviet Armed Forces. We
derful if our kids or grandkids could grow
applaud those moves; and we hope there
up in a world where they never had to give
will be more, many more. But at the same
Remarks at the Ceremony Commemorating the 175th Anniversary
one single thought to the horror of a nucle-
time, we cannot cause the Soviet Union to
reduce its forces by unilaterally disarming
of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Baltimore, Maryland
ar war?
Half a century ago, Ike and Nimitz and
ourselves. Progress has been made precisely
September 7, 1989
Jimmy Doolittle and millions of unsung
because we have been strong. So far, in
heroes-many sitting right here today-
terms of cutting strategic weapons systems,
What a lovely day! And thank you, Con-
author, my friend, involved in this project.
fought to end a war. You fought at Guadal-
Soviet words have not been matched by
gresswoman Bentley-my friend, Helen
What a marvelous contribution he's made
canal and Monte Cassino, at Bastogne and
Soviet deeds. Our own strategic moderniza-
Bentley-for, one, inviting me here, and for
to our literary world and, I also would like
Bataan. You fought to rid the world of total-
tion program must deal with deeds and en-
joining in the invitation for me to be here. I
to think, to the national security interests of
itarianism and tyranny. Our challenge may
courage the Soviet Union to work with us in
have a very high regard for Maryland's
the United States by his writings.
be less dramatic, but just as vital: to secure
reducing the threat of nuclear war.
great Helen Bentley. I'm very pleased that
Superintendent Tyler, I'm pleased to be
freedom in a world at peace. Today ours
And that's why we've begun a vital pro-
you have Tom Clancy, the esteemed
with you, sir, having heard of your tender
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