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Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. fax
re: political (10 pages)
11/01/2000
Personal Misfile
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
Speechwriting
Josh Gottheimer
OA/Box Number: 19001
FOLDER TITLE:
Video NGLTF [National Gay and Lesbian Task Force] 10/26/00 [1]
2016-0201-S
rc2148
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information |(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA)
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA|
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
h(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors |a)(5) of the PRAJ
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy |(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRA|
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes |(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells ((b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
Draft 09/02/99 3pm
Josh Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS FOR THE SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF GAY AND
LESBIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROFESSIONALS
Location TBD
Date TBD
I'm so glad to have this opportunity to be a part of the 6th Annual Conference of Gay and
Lesbian Criminal Justice Professionals - and to congratulate you on your efforts to enhance the
understanding and skills of gays and lesbians in public safety.
It's now been thirty years since the birth of the modern gay and lesbian civil rights
movement. For the last six and a half years, my Administration has played an instrumental role
in that effort. As you know, we have taken to end discrimination against gays, lesbians, and to
ensure that they have the same rights guaranteed to their fellow Americans.
Last year, I signed an Executive Order that amends Federal equal employment
opportunity policy to prohibit discrimination in the Federal civilian work force based on sexual
orientation. We have also banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in the granting of
security clearances. As a result of these and other policies, gay and lesbian Americans now serve
openly and proudly throughout the Federal Government, including federal law enforcement
agencies. We are also working with congressional leaders to pass the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, which would prohibit most private employers from firing workers solely
because solely because of their sexual orientation.
While America's diversity is our greatest strength, we still have a long way to go in our
effort to end discrimination - and in our move toward tolerance and understanding. In 1997
alone, there were more than 8,000 reported hate crimes in our country. That's almost one every
hour. And in the last year, people across our nation were been shaken by a rash of violent acts
motivated by race and sexual orientation. These acts strike at the heart of what it means to be an
American - and at the values that have defined us as a nation.
Now is the time for us to take strong and decisive action to end all hate crimes. I urge
Congress to act quickly and pass the Hate Crimes Prevent Act - which would strengthen the
federal government's ability to prosecute perpetrators of hate crimes, including those based on
sexual orientation.
But we cannot achieve true tolerance merely through legislation. We must also change
hearts and minds. As gay and lesbian criminal justice professionals - cops, prosecutors, judges,
probation officers - you have an important role to play in that struggle. Our greatest hope for a
just society is to teach our children to respect one another, to see our differences as our greatest
strength, and to recognize the fundamental values that define us as One America. Thank you and
God bless you.
ROUTING SLIP
Date: w/25/00
From: StephanietStreett
Assistantito the President and Director.of Presidential Scheduling
File
Accept Video 11/1
Comments
SUBJECT: commission on the Celebration
of women in American History Video
Kris Balderston
Jake Siewert
-
I
Elizabeth Cotham
Lisel Loy
-
-
Samuel Berger
Capricia Marshall
-
—
Sidney Blumenthal
Thurgood Marshall Jr.
-
I
Chuck Brain
Minyon Moore
-
-
Charles Burson
Bob Nash
I
Mary Beth Cahill
Beth Nolan
-
Maria Echaveste
John Podesta
-
-
Terry Edmonds
Steve Ricchetti
-
George Frampton
Barbara Chow
-
-
Sarah Gegenheimer
Rob Rosen
Laura Graham
Rozensky/Brown
Nancy Hernreich
Kim Tilley
-
-
Mickey Ibarra
Gene Sperling
I
-
Ben Johnson
Carrie Street
I
Joel Johnson
Karen Tramontano
I
Neal Lane
Loretta Ucelli
I
Mark Lindsay
Melanne Verveer
1
-
Mara Silver
Bruce Lindsey
-
Launen Supina
Megan Moloney
Sondra seba
JB
VIDEO PROPOSAL
Date: Sept. 29, 2000
ACCEPT
REGRET
PENDING
oct
A8:
35
00
TO:
Stephanie Streett
FROM:
Mary Beth Cahill
Lauren Supina
REQUEST:
For the President to videotape a message for the President's
Commission on the Celebration of Women in American
History accepting their final report.
PURPOSE:
*
To accept the Commission's final report;
*
To thank the national leaders in the academic and
foundation communities who have supported the work of
the Commission, and encourage them to continue support
of the Commission's recommendations and agenda in the
future; and
*
To applaud the Commission co-chairs and members for
their good work in identifying the best ways to
acknowledge and celebrate the roles and accomplishments
of women in American history.
BACKGROUND:
The President's video-taped message will be shown at a
black tie dinner honoring the President's Commission on
the Celebration of American History (The Commission) co-
sponsored by George Washington University, under the
personal direction of President Steve Trachtenberg (a
personal friend of the President's), and the Eleanor
Roosevelt Papers. The event will also honor the President
for his establishment of the Commission and his
Administration's accomplishments on behalf of women and
families.
The President will accept the Commission's final report via
video-taped message, and thank the Commissioners, co-
chairs and supporters of the Commission for their efforts in
identifying the best ways to celebrate women's role in
American history.
The President established the Commission via Executive
Order 13090 on July 2, 1998, with its goal to broaden and
deepen our understanding of our nation's history in order to
represent the contributions and experiences of all. The first
meeting of the Commission was held on July 16, 1998, at
the Canandaigua County Courthouse, the site where Susan
B. Anthony was tried and convicted for voting. Since then,
the Commission has traveled across America reaching out
to individuals on ways to best celebrate the role of women
in American history. Ideas and suggestions were received
in their open meetings, by letter and through their website:
http://www.gsa.gov/staff/pa/whc.htm.
The Commission presented their first recommendation
report to the President on March 1, 1999. In order to
provide additional time to develop support systems and test
the viability of those recommendations, the President
extended the life of the Commission from March 1, 1999
to December 31, 2000. The Commission has also published
"Women's History is Everywhere: 10 Ideas for Celebrating
in Communities A How-To Community Handbook" and
"A Guide to Women's History Sites in Washington, D.C."
SOURCE OF PAYMENT:
The President's Commission on the Celebration of Women
in American History (GSA is official government contact).
Beth Newburger, Commission Co-Chair and Associate
Administrator of Communications, GSA
Ph. 202-501-0705.
VIDEO NEEDED:
Wednesday, November 1, 2000, or sooner.
DATE AIRING/ SHOWING:
Wednesday, November 15, 2000.
GW Auditorium marvin Center
DURATION:
2 minutes.
SCRIPT ATTACHED:
Yes.
STAFF CONTACT:
Sondra Seba, ph. 6-7310.
ORIGIN OF PROPOSAL:
Ann Lewis and Beth Newburger, Co-Chairs, the
President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in
American History.
DRAFT VIDEO SCRIPT FOR PRESIDENT CLINTON'S REMARKS
President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History Dinner
To be shown on November 15, 2000, at GWU
I established the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in
American History when Ann Lewis brought to my attention a few facts about the
story of America that our children are learning. Ann said that fewer than 2
percent of our textbooks are about women's history. As a result, our children are
given a skewed view of our country's history. While they can name dozens of
men who played a part, most cannot name enough women to fill the fingers on
one hand.
When you think about it, we all know how important women's contributions are to
the very fabric of our communities. Women rode side by side - - and sometimes in
front of their male counterparts to create the greatest democracy the world has
ever known. Yet we do little to recognize their deeds.
In city after city, as I've travelled around this great land of ours, I've seen few
monuments to the work of our foremothers. Yet I know, as you do, that the result
of their work is all there.
Think about Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton - women who led
the fight for a woman's right to vote. They accomplished the largest single
expansion of democracy ever on August 26, 1920, when the twentieth
ammendment was signed into law.
Think about Eleanor Roosevelt whose papers are being so brilliantly
documented right here at George Washington University. Here was a woman,
born to wealth, who understood human rights for all citizens of the world and
made that the cornerstone of the United Nations Charter.
Think about Rosa Parks, not a woman of wealth, who also understood that basic
dignity is due every person and sat quietly in the front of the bus to make her
point.
It was when I realized how little we know of these women and their sisters that I
appointed the Commission whose work we honor tonight. I knew that a group
led by Ann Lewis and Beth Newburger. with the impeccable credentials of Anna
Roosevelt, Barbara Goldsmith, Johnetta Cole, Ellen Ochoa, LaDonna Harris,
Gloria Johnson, Elaine Kim and Irene Wurtzel would bring the women in
American history forward. These Commissioners are, in their own rights, women
of history. They understand how to shine that elusive historical spotlight of
recognition on their sisters.
Tonight, the Commission will conclude its work by presenting me with their final
report. I am told that they will recommend several initiatives to ensure that, never
again, will we tell our children only half the story of how this country was formed.
I am truly sorry that I will not be with you to receive that report in person. But you
can be certain that I will read it carefully and take its recommendations to heart in
my remaining days in office.
I want to thank the Commissioners for their impressive body of work including
their first published report, their Community handbook suggesting ten ways to
bring women's history into local communities, and their Women's History Trail of
the Nation's Capital.
I especially thank my good friend, Steve Trachtenberg, for once again sharing
the resources of his great university to make this special event possible. Not
only do you understand the importance of the Commission's work but without
your vision, Steve, the National Archives and the Commission might still be
seeking a home for the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers.
Hillary joins me in wishing all of you a wonderful evening. You have our heartfelt
thanks for sharing our love of American history and our desire to set the story
straight.
October 20, 2000
MEMORANDUM FOR JEFF SHESOL and JOSH GOTTHEIMER
FROM: MARC LEWIS
SUBJECT: Executive Actions of William Jefferson Clinton from 1993-2000
Over his two terms as President, many political pundits have both lauded and criticized President
Clinton for his "reinvention of government." Some assert that the Clinton Administration has
overstepped the bounds of traditional executive procedure. They claim that since President Clinton has
been subject to a Republican-controlled Congress, he has been forced to rely upon non-traditional means
of legislation to enact new policy. According to the New York Times, President Clinton has used
"executive orders, memorandums, proclamations, regulations, and other flexing of presidential power"
more than any postwar president, including former Presidents Reagan and Bush. Careful analysis,
however, reveals that this claim should be qualified to a degree.
In his article, "Blocked by Congress, Clinton Wields a Pen" (New York Times. 5 July 2000), Marc
Lacey claims that, on average, President Clinton issues one "executive order or other policy-making
declaration" per week, for a total of 450 over the course of his Administration. According to NARA,
however, President Clinton has only issued 335 executive orders as of October 20, 2000. This amount is
consistent with the number of executive orders issued by postwar presidents:
H. Truman:
D. Eisenhower:
J. Kennedy:
L. Johnson:
R. Nixon:
896
486
214
324
346
G. Ford:
J. Carter:
R. Reagan:
G. Bush:
W. Clinton:
169
320
381
166
335
Clearly, President Clinton has not issued an exceedingly high number of executive orders during
his two terms. He has, however, utilized alternate forms of executive policy, which could possibly
account for the New York Times statistic of 450:
Presidential Determinations and Memos: This year, President Clinton has issued 33 determinations,
and averages about 46 per year. This would be a total of approximately 360 mandates of this type,
totaling over 700 actions. Since most presidential determinations and memos have little legislative effect,
this is not likely the source of the additional 115 presidential actions referred to by Lacey.
Proclamations: President Clinton issues approximately 100 proclamations per year, most of which
create the celebration of a particular day, week or month, or recognize the death of various individuals.
Most proclamations have little to no legislative efficacy. A non-hortatory proclamation, however, has
substantive legislative effect. This is a specialized type of proclamation, which might modify a trade
agreement between the U.S. and another nation, establish a national park, or suspend immigration from
terrorist countries. As of October 20, 2000, President Clinton has issued 89 such proclamations. This, in
addition to President Clinton's 335 Executive Orders, most closely accounts for Lacey's statistic of 450
"executive orders or other policy-making declarations."
It is difficult to ascertain the number of presidential determinations, memos, and proclamations
issued by former presidents. If Lacey's research is correct, however, it is clear that President Clinton has
reinvented government in an important way: he has been able to take tremendous legislative steps both
without the aid of Congress and through means other than the traditional Executive Order.
Draft 10/31/00 3:30pm
Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN
HISTORY
[LOCATION TBD]
[DATE TBD]
I am delighted to join you this evening to celebrate the work of the President's Commission on
the Celebration of Women in American History. I want to thank Steve Trachtenberg and George
Washington University for hosting this event.
to celebrate the roles and accomplishments of women in American history.
Too often, we forget just how hard our grandmothers and mothers had to fight to win these
rights. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I don't think America can ever afford to forget
their struggle. That's why I created the Commission on the Celebration of Women in History
last year.
For more than two years now, you've met with citizens across our country to find new ways for
recognizing the achievements and sacrifices of the women who shaped our history.
listened
to citizens all across the country to find ways we could popularize the achievements of the
women who shaped our nation.
I thank you for all your work, and I look forward to reading your report and acting on its
recommendations.
We must honor how far we've come and imagine both the challenges and opportunities that lie
ahead.
Women began the 20th Century with little power and few rights. They had few public role
models, few images of women participating in their world creating change for other women.
They couldn't go to the ballot box, they couldn't sit on juries, they couldn't own property, they
couldn't obtain credit. Our schoolbooks and our classrooms all but ignored the contributions of
one-half of our population.
We honor the courage, sacrifice, and commitment of those who fought for the vote and equal
pay.
To build a better America, we owe it to our children to tell a full and rich story of our nation's
history - one that celebrates the lives and contributions of all our citizens.
Alice Paul, the intrepid feminist, once said of the women's movement, "I always feel the
movement is sort of a mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic
at the end."
In 1900, near the end of the lifetime of fighting for women's rights, Susan B. Anthony described
her bold vision for the future: "The woman of the 20th Century will be the peer of man. In
education, in arts and science, in the home
church
everywhere she will be acknowledged
his equal. The 20th Century will see man and woman working together make the world better for
their having lived."
In many ways, Susan B. Anthony's dreams have been realized. Today, so many women work in
professions of their own choosing - as elected officials, judges and corporate executives,
professional athletes. today women
From women's struggle to gain the right to vote
to gaining access to the halls of academia
to pursuing the jobs and business opportunities
to competing on the field of sports
we have
seen many breathtaking changes.
Every girl and boy in America deserves to learn about he courage of Harriet Tubman, the brillian
writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt. We inspire the next
generation of activists and organizers by sharing with them the social activism of Jane Addams,
the prodigious political skills of Susan B. Anthony, and the commitment of the thousands of
nameless women who were the foot soldiers for women's suffrage.
We are still in an era of firsts: Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman to travel in space. And you
may have heard that my wife Hillary has just made history on her own.
American women now serve at the highest levels of government, Justices of the Supreme Court
and in creasing numbers in the Cabinet and the United States Congress. Women are cracking the
glass ceilings of corporate management to lead some of our country's most prominent
businesses. As parents and partners, entrepreneurs and artists, politicians and scientists, women
are helping to build an America in which all citizens are free to live out their dreams.
Our nation's cherished values of justice and liberty are symbolized by women: one bearing
scales, the other a torch
one promising fairness, the other freedom. But these symbols would
be shallow indeed had it not been for the work of women throughout history who poured their
soles into make the promises of fairness and freedom real. Susan B. Anthony, Elisabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Carrie Chapman Catt were among them; so was Mother Jones, who
fought to end child labor; Sojourner Truth, who fought for social justice. Rosa Parks, who set in
motion the civil rights movement; and ordinary women who worked every day and struggled to
move our nation in the right direction.
Report will summarize many of the advancement we've experienced - concrete steps that
women have taken and will continue to take.
Draft 10/31/00 3:30pm
Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN
HISTORY
[LOCATION TBD]
[DATE TBD]
to celebrate the roles and accomplishments of women in American history.
Too often, we forget just how hard our grandmothers and mothers had to fight to win these
rights. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I don't think America can ever afford to forget
their struggle. That's why I created the Commission on the Celebration of Women in History
last year.
For more than two years now, you've met with citizens across our country to find new ways for
recognizing the achievements and sacrifices of the women who shaped our history.
listened
to citizens all across the country to find ways we could popularize the achievements of the
women who shaped our nation.
I thank you for all your work, and I look forward to reading your report and acting on its
recommendations.
We must honor how far we've come and imagine both the challenges and opportunities that lie
ahead.
Women began the 20th Century with little power and few rights. They had few public role
models, few images of women participating in their world creating change for other women.
They couldn't go to the ballot box, they couldn't sit on juries, they couldn't own property, they
couldn't obtain credit.
We honor the courage, sacrifice, and commitment of those who fought for the vote and equal
pay.
Alice Paul, the intrepid feminist, once said of the women's movement, "I always feel the
movement is sort of a mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic
at the end."
In 1900, near the end of the lifetime of fighting for women's rights, Susan B. Anthony described
her bold vision for the future: "The woman of the 20th Century will be the peer of man. In
education, in arts and science, in the home church everywhere she will be acknowledged
his equal. The 20th Century will see man and woman working together make the world better for
their having lived."
In many ways, Susan B. Anthony's dreams have been realized. Today, so many women work in
professions of their own choosing - as elected officials, judges and corporate executives,
professional athletes. today women
From women's struggle to gain the right to vote
to gaining access to the halls of academia
to pursuing the jobs and business opportunities
to competing on the field of sports
we have
seen many breathtaking changes.
American women now serve at the highest levels of government, Justices of the Supreme Court
and in creasing numbers in the Cabinet and the United States Congress. Women are cracking the
glass ceilings of corporate management to lead some of our country's most prominent
businesses. As parents and partners, entrepreneurs and artists, politicians and scientists, women
are helping to build an America in which all citizens are free to live out their dreams.
Our nation's cherished values of justice and liberty are symbolized by women: one bearing
scales, the other a torch one promising fairness, the other freedom. But these symbols would
be shallow indeed had it not been for the work of women throughout history who poured their
soles into make the promises of fairness and freedom real. Susan B. Anthony, Elisabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Carrie Chapman Catt were among them; so was Mother Jones, who
fought to end child labor; Sojourner Truth, who fought for social justice. Rosa Parks, who set in
motion the civil rights movement; and ordinary women who worked every day and struggled to
move our nation in the right direction.
Report will summarize many of the advancement we've experienced - concrete steps that
women have taken and will continue to take.
EF
COPY
Ho
'99 MAR 15 PM3:49
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
TALKING POINTS FOR MILLENNIUM EVENING
THE WHITE HOUSE
MARCH 15, 1999
Thank you. While listening to your presentations, I was reminded that so much of the
achievements in women's rights we take for granted today were alien to women just 100
or 50 or 25 years ago. Too often, we forget just how hard our grandmothers and mothers
had to fight to win these rights.
I know I'm preaching to the choir tonight, but I don't think America can ever afford to
forget their struggle. That's why I created the Commission on the Celebration of Women
in History last year. The Commission, led by Ann Lewis, my longtime aide and brand-
new Counselor, and Beth Newburger from the General Services Administration, met with
citizens across our country to find new ways for recognizing the achievements and
sacrifices of the women who shaped our history. They have just presented me with their
report and I look forward to reading their recommendations.
I want to open tonight's discussion with a question for Professor Kessler-Harris. So
many of the great social movements in our nation were sparked by our uniquely
American spirit of voluntarism by small groups of private citizens coming together to
address problems in their communities. You've talked about how volunteering gave
millions of women the opportunity to make a difference in their communities -- even as
they were barred from the workplace and government. Professor, how did voluntary
efforts led by women evolve into social movements and legislative change?
PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE:
Working for American Women
EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
Moving From Record Deficits to Record Surplus. In 1992, the deficit was $290 billion, a record
dollar high. In 2000, we have a projected budget surplus of at least $230 billion -- the third consecutive
surplus and the largest surplus ever, even after adjusting for inflation. This is the first time we have had
three surpluses in a row in more than 50 years.
More than 22 Million New Jobs. 22.1 million new jobs have been created since 1993, the most jobs
ever created under a single Administration -- and more new jobs than Presidents Reagan and Bush
created during their three terms. 92 percent (20 million) of the new jobs have been created in the private
sector, the highest percentage in 50 years. [National Economic Council, 7/29/00)
Tax Cuts for Working Families. 15 million additional working families received additional tax relief
because of the President's expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 1998, the EITC lifted 4.3
million people out of poverty - double the number lifted out of poverty by the EITC in 1993. This year,
the President proposed expanding the EITC to provide tax relief to an additional 6.8 million hard-
pressed working families.
Highest Median Family Income in History. Since the President launched his economic plan in 1993,
median family income is the highest it has ever been. The typical family's income is up over $6,300
since 1993. Income for median households rose $1,072, or 2.7 percent, from $39,744 in 1998 to
$40,816 in 1999, marking an unprecedented fifth year of significant growth in income and the first time
in history household income rose above $40,000.
Highest Homeownership Rate in History. The homeownership rate reached 67.2 percent in the
second quarter of 2000 -- the highest ever recorded. In contrast, the homeownership rate fell from 65.6
percent in the first quarter of 1981 to 63.7 percent in the first quarter of 1993. There are almost 9 million
more homeowners than in 1993. Women's homeownership has increased 14 percent, with 1.9 million
new women homeowners since the first quarter of 1994.
Helping Parents Balance Work and Family. The Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- the first
piece of legislation the President signed into law -- enables workers to take up to 12 weeks unpaid leave
to care for a new baby or ailing family member without jeopardizing their job. Since its enactment,
millions of Americans have benefited from FMLA, and the President has expanded leave options for
Federal employees. President Clinton has called for extending this benefit to 12 million more working
families and expanding the law to allow workers to take leave for family obligations such as doctors
appointments and parent-teacher conferences. Additionally, in his FY 2001 budget, the President is
proposing new grants to enable states and regions to develop innovative paid leave options for working
parents.
Fighting for Equal Pay. The Clinton-Gore Administration has worked to ensure equal pay for women
and close the wage gap. The average woman who works full-time now earns about 75 cents for each
dollar that an average man earns. The President and Vice President have called on Congress to pass the
Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen laws prohibiting wage discrimination. This year, the
President has proposed $47 million for his Equal Pay Initiative, which will provide training to employers
on wage discrimination; train women in nontraditional jobs; provide for apprenticeships; and support
industry partnerships. Within this initiative, the National Science Foundation will invest $20 million to
remove barriers to career advancement for women scientists and engineers.
Increased the Minimum Wage. The President raised the minimum wage to $5.15 per hour, increasing
wages for six million women. This year, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have called on
Congress to pass an additional $1.00 per hour increase in the minimum wage.
Doubled Child Support Collections. President Clinton signed into law the toughest child support
crackdown in history. Federal and state child support programs broke new records in 1999, collecting
nearly $16 billion -- double the amount collected in 1992. The number of paternities established was at a
record 1.5 million in 1999 - more than triple the number from 516,000 in 1992. The number of child
support cases with collections more than doubled during the Clinton Administration, from 2.8 million in
1992 to 6.1 million in 1999. [HHS Child Support Enforcement FY 1999 Preliminary Data Report, 10/00]
EXPANDING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN
Tripled the Number of Small Business Loans to Women Entrepreneurs. Between FY 1993 and FY
2000 the SBA approved nearly 84,456 loans, amounting to nearly $12.8 billion, to women entrepreneurs
under the 7(a), 504 and MicroLoan programs. In FY 1999 alone, the Small Business Administration
granted 10,961 loans, worth $1.9 billion, to women small business owners, triple the number of loans
granted in 1992; in FY 2000 the SBA approved 10,842 loans worth just under $2 billion dollars.
More Women Starting Businesses. Women are starting businesses at twice the rate of all businesses
and staying in business longer. There are an estimated 9.1 million women-owned firms today,
employing 27.5 million people and contributing $3.6 trillion in sales and revenue to the U.S. economy.
The Small Business Administration's Office of Women's Business Ownership is working to foster this
growth.
Expanded Small Business Opportunities for Women. The Clinton-Gore Administration won $9
million in FY 2000 for women's business centers, which provide resources to help increase
entrepreneurship among women. In his FY 2001 budget, President Clinton has proposed to expand the
Women's Business Center Program budget to $12 million, an increase of 33 percent. Today this
network includes about 90 women's business centers, including the Online Women's Business Center.
In May 2000, President Clinton issued an executive order requiring departments and agencies to develop
long-term comprehensive strategies to expand opportunities for women-owned small businesses,
including mentor-protégé programs to include women-owned firms and industry-wide -- and industry-
specific -- outreach, training, and technical assistance programs for women-owned small businesses.
[Executive Order 13157, 5/23/00|
Interagency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise. The Committee is composed of
policymaking officials from various federal departments and agencies. The Committee develops public-
sector initiatives designed to foster women's business enterprise, consults with the National Women's
Business Council, and reviews public-sector programs relating to women-owned businesses.
STRENGTHENING RETIREMENT SECURITY
Saving Social Security. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have coupled fiscal discipline with
a commitment to preserve and protect Social Security. Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, the life
of the Social Security trust fund has been extended to 2037. President Clinton has proposed extending
the program's solvency to at least 2054 by paying down the national debt and dedicating the interest
2
savings to Social Security. In April 2000, President Clinton signed legislation to eliminate the confusing
and out-dated Retirement Earnings Test in order to encourage work and earnings for older Americans.
These steps would be a down payment on truly saving Social Security.
Social Security Reform is Critical to Women. Women live an average of six years longer than men,
and because they live longer they become increasingly dependent on Social Security benefits as they
age. Women represent 60 percent of all Social Security recipients at age 65, and by age 85, 71 percent
of recipients are women. Social Security provides 90 percent of income for 41 percent of all older
women; 25 percent have no other source of income. The poverty rate among elderly women is twice the
poverty rate among seniors as a whole. President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to
reforming Social Security in a manner that will ensure fairness and reduce the poverty rate of single
elderly women.
Increasing Pension Security. President Clinton proposed and signed the Retirement Protection Act of
1994, protecting the benefits of more than 40 million American workers and retirees. The President also
signed the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, which provided a tax credit to small business that
adopt pension plans; created a simplified and better defined contribution plan for small businesses; and
promoted portability.
INVESTING IN EDUCATION
More High-Quality Teachers with Smaller Class Sizes. The Clinton-Gore Administration won a
second installment of $1.3 billion for the President's plan to hire an additional 100,000 well-prepared
teachers to reduce class size in the early grades, when children learn to read and master the basic skills.
Already, 29,000 teachers have been hired through this initiative. This year's budget provides $1.75
billion, a $450 million increase -- enough to fund nearly 49,000 teachers.
Turning Around Failing Schools. 11 million low-income students now benefit from higher
expectations and a challenging curriculum geared to higher standards through Title I-Aid to
Disadvantaged Students. The FY 2000 budget provides a $134 million accountability fund to help turn
around the worst performing schools and hold them accountable for results through such measures as
overhauling curriculum, improving staffing, or even closing schools and reopening them as charter
schools. This year, the President is proposing to double funding for this fund to turn around the nation's
failing schools to ensure all children receive a quality education.
Protecting Title IX. The Clinton-Gore Administration firmly supports and enforces Title IX, which has
enabled young women to participate fully in high school and college athletics. When Title IX was
passed more than 25 years ago, only 300,000 girls participated in high school sports. In 1999, well over
two million participated. In June 2000, on the anniversary of Title IX, President Clinton issued an
Executive Order prohibiting discrimination in federal education and training programs ensuring that
the federal government holds itself to the same principles of nondiscrimination that it applies to the
education programs and activities of state and local governments, and to private institutions receiving
federal financial assistance. [Executive Order 13160, 6/23/00]
Providing Safe After-School Opportunities for 850,000 Students Each Year. The 21st Century
Community Learning Centers program provides enriching after-school and summer school opportunities
for 850,000 school-age children in rural and urban communities in FY 2000. Extended learning time has
not only been shown to increase achievement in reading and math, but to decrease youth violence and
drug use. Funding for this program more than doubled from FY 1999 to FY 2000. For FY 2001. the
President's budget calls on Congress to invest $1 billion in the 21st Century Program and to ensure that
3
all children in failing schools have access to quality after-school and summer school opportunities. This
proposal will double funding and nearly triple the number of students served to 2.5 million.
Enacted Hope Scholarships and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits. President Clinton proposed and
passed the HOPE Scholarships and Lifetime Learning tax credits, which in 1999 were claimed by an
estimated 10 million American families paying for college. The Hope Scholarship helps make the first
two years of college universally available by providing a tax credit of up to $1,500 for tuition and fees
for the first two years of college. The Lifetime Learning tax credit provides a 20 percent tax credit on
the first $5,000 of tuition and fees for students beyond the first two years of college, or taking classes
part-time (in 2003, this increases to $10,000 of tuition and fees). In his FY 2001 budget, the President
has proposed expanding the Lifetime Learning tax credit with a College Opportunity tax cut, which will
give families the option of taking a tax deduction or claiming a 28 percent credit for the first $5,000 of
college tuition and fees through 2002, and $10,000 thereafter.
Expanding Work Study and Pell Grants. One million students will be able to work their way through
college because of the President's expansion of the Work Study Program, and nearly four million
students will receive a Pell Grant of up to $3,300, the largest maximum award ever. The maximum
award has increased 43 percent under the Clinton-Gore Administration. This year President Clinton
proposed a $77 million increase in Work Study to continue to support one million awards, and a $200
increase in the Pell Grant maximum award, to raise it to $3,500.
IMPROVING OUR NATION'S HEALTH
Protected and Strengthened Medicare, Benefiting 22 Million American Women. In the 1997
Balanced Budget, the Clinton-Gore Administration protected, modernized and extended the life of the
Medicare Trust Fund while offering new options for patient choice and preventive care. New preventive
benefits passed include coverage of annual mammograms, cervical cancer screening, and tests to help
detect osteoporosis. The President proposed a plan to reform and modernize Medicare's benefits,
including an optional prescription drug benefit that is affordable and available to all beneficiaries. The
President has also proposed a reserve fund to help Medicare beneficiaries with extremely high
prescription drug costs. In March 1999, the Medicare Trustees reported that the life of the Medicare
Trust Fund has been extended until 2025. In 1993, Medicare was expected to run out of money in 1999.
Increased Funding for Breast Cancer Research. Since President Clinton and Vice President took
office, funding for breast cancer research, prevention and treatment has more than doubled. This year,
the Administration's budget will provide $27 million in funding a 56 percent increase to learn more
about environmental causes of diseases like breast cancer. In addition, the President has implemented
the Mammography Quality Standards Act to ensure the quality of mammograms. Women can now find
a certified mammography facility by calling 1-800-4-CANCER.
Providing Protection with the Patients' Bill of Rights. The President and Vice President have called
on Congress to pass Federally enforceable consumer health care protections that include: guaranteed
access to needed health care specialists including direct access to an OB-GYN; access to emergency
room services when and where the need arises; access to a timely internal and independent external
appeals process for consumers to resolve their differences with their health plans; and assurances that
doctors and patients can openly discuss treatment options. Women are particularly vulnerable without
these health care protections because they are greater users of health care services, they make three-
quarters of the health care decisions for their families, and they have specific health care needs that are
directly addressed by a patients' bill of rights. Leading by example, the President directed all federal
agencies to ensure that their employees and beneficiaries have the benefits and rights guaranteed under
4
the proposed Patients' Bill of Rights. 85 million Americans covered by federal health plans have the
security of knowing they will have fair access to health care thanks to the President's work.
Ending Genetic Discrimination. President Clinton signed an executive order banning the use of genetic
information in federal hiring and promotion actions and strengthening privacy protections of federal
employees' genetic information. The Clinton-Gore Administration has urged Congress to pass
bipartisan legislation to prohibit health plans from inappropriately using genetic screening information
to deny coverage, set premiums, or to distribute confidential information. The President also has
supported legislation that ensures that employers do not use genetic information to discriminate against
employees.
Passed Meaningful Health Insurance Reform. The President signed into law the Kennedy-
Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which helps individuals keep health
insurance when they change jobs, guarantees renewability of coverage, and ensures access to health
insurance for small businesses. As many as 25 million people will benefit from this law. The bill also
eliminated the discriminatory tax treatment the of the approximately 10 million Americans who are self-
employed; strengthened efforts to combat health care fraud, waste and abuse by creating a stable source
of funding; and provided consumer protections and tax incentives for private long-term care insurance.
Ended Drive-Through Deliveries. President Clinton proposed and signed into law legislation
requiring insurers to cover at least 48 hours of a post-natal hospital stay (72 hours for a Cesarean).
Endorsed Legislation That Would Ban Drive-Through Mastectomies. President Clinton endorsed
the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, which would allow women to stay in the hospital at least 48
hours following a mastectomy.
PROMOTING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES FOR WOMEN
Expanding Family Planning Services. President Clinton and Vice President Gore have taken strong
steps to promote safe reproductive health services for women. They won a nearly $25 million increase
for Title X family planning, the largest increase since 1993, bringing the program to almost $240 million
in FY 2000. This year, the President's budget includes a $274 million investment -- a 15 percent
increase -- to prevent unintended pregnancy and ensure access to safe, high quality family planning
services. This investment will help fund clinics and community-based health services that reach more
than 5 million women and families. In 1998 and 1999, the Clinton-Gore Administration successfully
defeated parental consent restrictions on contraceptive services for minors.
Provided Contraceptive Coverage to More than a Million Women. The FY 1999 and FY 2000
budgets require the 300 Federal Employees Health Benefits Plans (FEHBP) to cover contraceptive drugs
and devices, providing coverage to approximately 1.2 million women of childbearing age.
Protected FDA's Role in Testing RU-486. In 1993, President Clinton reversed the ban on the
importation of Mifepristone or RU-486. In 1998 and 1999, the President and Vice President
successfully fought for removal of a provision that would prohibit the FDA from testing, developing or
approving RU-486, thereby usurping the Agency's role in making scientific determinations about the
effect of drugs on the safety and health of the American people.
Signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. President Clinton signed into law the
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, establishing a safety-zone around women's health clinics.
5
Throughout the Administration, the President and Vice President have worked hard to protect a woman's
right to choose.
Reversed the "Gag Rule." President Clinton reversed the "Gag Rule," which limited the information
federally funded family planning clinics could give to women.
MAKING OUR COMMUNITIES SAFER
Lowest Crime Rates in a Generation. The overall crime rate is the lowest in 25 years, and in 1999
crime fell for the eighth consecutive year nationwide. Violent crime rate fell 7 percent in 1999 and 27
percent since 1993. Since 1993, the murder rate is down more than 25 percent to its lowest point since
1967, and gun violence has declined by more than 35 percent. [Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1998 National Crime
Victimization Survey; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports for the United States 1998, 1999; FY 2001
Budget, p. 107]
New Tools in the Fight Against Domestic Violence. President Clinton championed and signed into
law the Violence Against Women Act, bolstering local law enforcement, prosecution, and victims'
services to better address these crimes. The Clinton-Gore Administration more than quadrupled funding
to domestic violence shelters and signed the Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act, making
it a Federal crime to cross state lines intending to injure or harass another person. And the
Administration established a nationwide 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline, which provides immediate
crisis intervention, counseling and referrals for those in need.
Putting 100,000 More Police on the Streets. In 1999, ahead of schedule and under budget, the
Clinton-Gore Administration met its commitment to fund an additional 100,000 police officers for our
communities. As a part of the COPS Program, the President announced a distressed neighborhood grant
program to increase community policing in high-crime and underserved neighborhoods. To help keep
crime at record lows, in fall 1999, the President won funding for the first installment toward his goal to
hire up to 50,000 more officers by 2005. This year, the Clinton-Gore budget includes over $1 billion to
continue the successful COPS initiative to hire more officers, hire new community prosecutors, give
police the tools and technology they need to fight crime, and to fund community-wide crime fighting
efforts. [Justice Department, COPS Program, 5/12/99; National Economic Council, 11/18/99; FY 2001 Budget, p. 109]
More Than Half a Million Felons, Fugitives and Domestic Abusers Denied Guns. Since taking
effect in 1994, the Brady Law has helped to prevent a total of more than 536,000 felons, fugitives,
domestic abusers, and other prohibited purchasers from buying guns. In November 1998, the National
Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) took effect under the Brady Law, allowing access to
a fuller set of records that law enforcement officials can use to conduct checks of all prospective gun
purchases -- not just for handguns. As of March 2000, NICS has conducted over 10 million background
checks on gun purchasers, and stopped an estimated 179,000 illegal gun sales. [Bureau of Justice Statistics,
Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 1999, 6/00]
FIGHTING FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Appointed More Women Than Any Other President. Women make up 44 percent of Clinton
Administration appointees, and 29 percent of the positions requiring Senate confirmation are held by
women. Additionally, 30 percent of the President's judicial nominees are women, including Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, the second woman in history to serve on the Supreme Court.
Appointed the First Women Ever to Serve as Attorney General, Janet Reno; and Secretary of
State, Madeleine Albright. Other women who serve in the Clinton Cabinet include Alexis Herman,
6
Secretary of Labor; Donna Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Carol Browner,
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Aida Alverez, Administrator of the Small
Business Association; Charlene Barshefsky, United States Trade Representative and Janice Lachance,
Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Established White House Office for Women's Initiatives. The Office for Women's Initiatives and
Outreach was established in June 1995 to help better serve and listen to the President's constituents. The
Office was designed to contribute to the development of Administration policy as it relates to women
and families and to advocate for these important issues. The Women's Office serves as a liaison
between the White House and organizations that work to advance the interests of women and families
and serves as a valuable source for information on the Clinton Administration initiatives, programs and
resources throughout the federal government.
Ordered an Assessment of Affirmative Action Programs. The President ordered a comprehensive
review of the government's affirmative action programs, which concluded that affirmative action is still
an effective and important tool to expand educational and economic opportunity to all Americans. This
review of federal affirmative action programs has helped to ensure that these programs are fair and
effective and that they can survive legal challenges. As a result, programs that benefit African
Americans, including students, working men and women, and business owners, remain in effect and are
more likely to be upheld by the courts.
President's Interagency Council on Women. In August 1995, on the eve of the United Nations Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing, President Clinton established the President's Interagency
Council on Women in order to follow up on the work of the U.N. conference. The Council is charged
with coordinating the implementation of the Platform for Action adopted at Beijing, including the U.S.
commitments announced there. It also develops related initiatives to further women's progress and
engages in outreach and public education to support the successful implementation of the Conference
agreements.
Celebrating Women in American History. President Clinton established the President's Commission
on the Celebration of Women in American History, which recommended the best ways to celebrate
women's role in our history -- including a traveling exhibit to celebrate women in history; a how-to
handbook for communities to celebrate women's history; and a national women's history umbrella
website. In October 1998, the President signed legislation creating the Women's Progress
Commemoration Commission, which will work with the President's Commission to help commemorate,
celebrate, and preserve women's history in America. [Executive Order 13090, 7/2/98; White House, Office of the
Press Secretary, 10/31/98]
October 2000
7
"Because we must tell and retell, learn and relearn, these
women's stories, and we must make it our personal mission, in
our everyday lives, to pass these stories on to our daughters and
sons. Because we cannot-we must not-ever forget that the
rights and opportunities we enjoy as women today were not just
bestowed upon us by some benevolent ruler. They were fought
for, agonized over, marched for, jailed for and even died for by
brave and persistent women and men who came before us
That is one of the great joys and beauties of the American
experiment. We are always striving to build and move toward a
more perfect union, that we on every occasion keep faith with
our founding ideas and translate them into reality."
Hillary Rodham Clinton
On the occasion of the
150th Anniversary of the First Women's Rights Convention
Seneca Falls, NY
July 16, 1998
"The Commission shall make recommendations to the
President, through the Co-Chairs of the Commission, on
ways to best acknowledge and celebrate the roles and
accomplishments of women in American history.
Recommendations may include, among other things, the
feasibility of a focal point for women's history located in
Washington, D.C., and the use of the latest technology to
connect existing and planned women's history sites,
museums, and libraries.
The Commission shall meet to carry out its work
concerning the celebration of women in American
history."
xecutive Order 13090 estab-
-Executive Order 13090: Establishing the President's Commission
received in the open meetings of the
E
lished a Presidential Commission
on the Celebration of Women in American History
Commission, by letter and through our
to recommend how America
July 2, 1998
website. We hope this report will also
should recognize the contributions of
convey the enthusiasm with which the
women to our nation's history. In itself,
Commission was greeted as we traveled
the Executive Order was a historical
of Women in 1961. William Jefferson
when he established the President's
around the country, and the apprecia-
document. John F. Kennedy raised the
Clinton became the first President to rec-
Commission on the Celebration of
tion expressed everywhere for the
issues affecting women in contempo-
ognize the importance of women's
Women in American History.
leadership of President William Jefferson
rary society when he authorized the
historical contributions to the creation
The recommendations offered in this
Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham
President's Commission on the Status
and development of our country
report are based on the suggestions
Clinton in making this work possible.
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 1
"We have spanned the are of history. Our first meeting
was in a courtroom where Susan B. Anthony was
convicted of voting. Now we meet in the same building
MEETINGS OVERVIEW
where Madeleine Albright is Secretary of State."
meeting was the need for inclusiveness
and diversity. Again and again, speakers
T
o develop the recommendations
Ann Lewis
urged the Commission to speak for and
included in this report and
Commission Co-Chair
to some of the oft-forgotten.
required by Executive Order
13090, the President's Commission on the
Chicago, Illinois
Celebration of Women in American History
Canandaigua, New York
addressing the need to include women's
The Chicago meeting was held in the
traveled to every region of the country. In
Our first meeting was held at the Ontario
history in our lives and revolved around
Claudia Cassidy Auditorium at the
each, the Commission held open meetings
County Courthouse in Canandaigua,
the lack of women's history in school cur-
Chicago Cultural Center. Hosted
and solicited ideas from historians,
New York. Commission Co-Chairs Ann
ricula. A high school student made an
by Commissioner Anna Eleanor
archivists, activists, academics, business
Lewis and Beth Newburger called the
eloquent plea for including in her history
Roosevelt, the meeting was expanded
leaders, students and many others. We
meeting to order in the very courtroom
book the Declaration of Rights and
to two days to accommodate the
also heard testimony from other people
where Susan B. Anthony was convicted
Sentiments, the document endorsed in
number of speakers who asked to
who came to present their ideas.
of voting in the 1872 presidential
1848 to specifically declare the equal-
be heard. The themes that emerged
The response to our efforts was posi-
election. The meeting was held
ity of all citizens including women.
from members of the public, as well
tive and constructive. Not only were there
in conjunction with First Lady
as from invited speakers, were the
tremendous excitement and enthusiasm
Hillary Rodham Clinton's
Albuquerque, New Mexico
needs to focus on the work of local
for the work of the Commission, but many
visit to Seneca Falls to
The Albuquerque meeting
communities and ways to empower
invited speakers and members of the pub-
celebrate the 150th anniversary
was held in the Albuquerque
and recognize local programs.
lic also noted that the Commission itself
of the first Women's Rights
Museum, where an exhibit of
was making history.
Convention of 1848.
Hispanic women at work was on
Washington, DC
Each of our meetings was held in a
The public participation in the first
display. Hosted by Commissioner
At the meeting in the East Auditorium,
historic venue to inspire the dialogue. All
meeting was impressive because of the
LaDonna Harris, the Commissioners
Department of State, speakers
meetings were publicized and well
enormous attention focused on neigh-
heard from distinguished American
introduced a macro approach to
attended by the public. The invited speak-
boring Seneca Falls that day. Each of the
Indian scholars and prominent Latinas.
women's history recommendations.
ers represented the full range of diverse
Commissioners presented his or her vision
They also heard testimony from Molly
The Commission heard from respected
cultural backgrounds and issues of impor-
for the work we would do as we devel-
Murphy MacGregor, co-founder and
women's leaders including Betty
tance to women.
oped our recommendations. The public
president of the National Women's
Friedan, Eleanor Smeal, the Honorable
discussion revealed an intense interest in
History Project. A recurring theme at this
Pat Schroeder and the Honorable
2 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"As a working grandmother, as a trade unionist, as a
woman of color I want two things to come from this
Commission. First, I want the voices of all women to be
Louise Slaughter. The women gave the
colleges talked about the need to reach
heard at this celebration. Well known women and
meeting a modern historical context,
young people. Georgia was recognized
linking the work of our foremothers to
unknown women, women from the inner cities, farm
for its leadership in establishing the first
the more recent professional and
women, migrant women, educated and uneducated,
state historical initiative to memorialize
political struggles. National groups,
women in the fields and the mines as well as the
the lives of women, i.e, the Georgia
such as the General Federation of
schoolrooms, hospitals and offices. Second, I hope the
Commission on the Preservation of
Women's Clubs, National Woman's
information that is being documented and collected all
Women's Historical Landmarks.
Party Sewall-Belmont House and the
across the country will be shared with today's working
National Council of Women's
women and their children. Women factory workers
Organizations provided guidance on
should learn not only about their own history but about
FINDINGS
how to connect national projects with
women scientists, musicians and poets. Our children
community action. We also heard
should know the stories of their mothers and
he Commission found that
from archivists who discussed the need
grandmothers and great grandmothers because then
T
there is growing interest in the
to change the way historical
field of women's history, with
they will know what they themselves are
documents are catalogued to increase
parallel growth in research and
the visibility of women.
capable of doing.
scholarship. The result is a body of
information in new books, articles and
Gloria Johnson
Berkeley, California
Commissioner
journals, a coordinating council for
"History is who is the historian and who
women in history to encourage
collects history. History is also today and
networking at local and national levels,
what is tomorrow."
programs that empower these new
Inspired by a message from Coretta Scott
and conferences for historians and
Sara Kaplan
American women. There was strong sup-
King, many of the speakers invoked the
historic sites. There is more attention to
port for the notion of a traveling
words and spirit of Dr. King, Jr., as a
the importance of preserving the papers
When professors and graduate students
museum, the use of murals and a
guiding force in all efforts toward
of women pioneers and an increasing
gathered at the University of California at
video project that would be
equality
and
greater
emphasis on oral history projects to
Berkeley, a frequently expressed theme
attractive to young people
understanding of fellow
preserve the stories of women in every
was that more "recently arrived immigrant
and non-English speakers.
women and men.
walk of life.
women (Latino, Asian and others) must
Speakers focused on issues
There is also a growing trend to pre-
be included in the process of celebrating
Atlanta, Georgia
important to women and urged
serve women's historical sites.
women in American history." Several
The meeting in Atlanta at the Martin
the Commissioners to include
Community organizations and volunteers
speakers stressed the need to recognize
Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
lesbians, women with disabilities, non-
have stepped forward to develop inno-
that history is today and what happens
was held during the celebration of Dr.
traditional religious groups and women
vative ideas, such as the women's park
tomorrow. They strongly recommended
King's birthday and hosted by
of diverse cultures in any
built this past year in Yellow Springs, OH.
that there be support for local community
Commissioner Dr. Johnnetta Cole.
recommendations. Students from local
Women's history museums, either
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 3
"As a historian I have observed how, whenever women
leave the barricades, things slip back and we become
invisible again. As Frederick Douglass said, There is only
planned or open, including the
one way: Agitate, Agitate, Agitate.' Every tool at our
RECOMMENDATIONS
International Museum of Women (San
disposal, whether it is the use of the performing arts, or a
Francisco, CA), the Women's Museum:
visual medium, or technology, should be utilized so that
he recommendations that follow
Institute for the Future (Dallas, TX), the
women's history will become as much a part of our lives as
T
represent a distillation of the
Women's History Museum on Wheels
brushing our teeth, so that people will know the Women's
hundreds of ideas presented to
(Wheeling, WV), Women of the West
Declaration of Rights and Sentiments that states, 'All men
the Commission and suggest ways to
(Boulder, CO), the Women In Military
celebrate women in American history
Service For America Memorial Foundation
and women are created equal,' as well as they know that
that will have the greatest impact into
(Washington, DC), the National Cowgirl
other Declaration of Independence."
the next millennium. This millennial
Museum and Hall of Fame (Fort Worth,
agenda begins at the national level,
Dr: Barbara Goldsmith
TX), the National Women's Hall of Fame
Commissioner
reaches across the country with
(Seneca Falls, NY), the Women's Rights
10 recommendations for states,
National Historical Park (Seneca Falls, NY)
more emphasis on bringing history
volunteers and community activists. The
communities and local organizations,
and the National Museum of Women's
to life by connecting exciting
National Women's History Project is an
recommends a focal point in the nation's
History (Washington, DC).
academic discoveries with
excellent example of a young organization
capital and provides a challenge to the
We can be proud of the leadership in
community celebrations, with
just 20 years old) that has succeeded in rais-
popular culture.
this area by federal agencies, including the
school classrooms and with the
ing the national awareness of the importance
National Park Service of the Department
popular culture venues
of women's history by designating March
THE NATIONAL AGENDA
of the Interior, National Archives and
more attention to ways we honor
as National Women's History Month.
Records Administration, Department of
our past, through
The National Women's History
We Recommend
Education, General Services Administration,
acknowledging the roles
Project was cited again and again
Design and Display a Traveling Exhibit
NASA, Library of Congress, White House
that women have played
as a national resource deserv-
Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach,
and imagining a future in
ing greater support. A constant
"Whatever is done to celebrate
and the White House Millennium Council.
which women's lives and
theme was the request for more
women in American history, more peo-
As appreciation of the value of recog-
achievements are fully valued.
attention and support for work specif-
ple will experience it if the celebration
nizing women's history increases, we find
While professional historians, archivists
lically dedicated to women's history and
comes to where they live, rather than
an even greater demand for:
and academics lead efforts to recognize and
because women do not live separately
having people come to the celebra-
more public recognition of the
document women's lives, much of the work
from men and families - for more atten-
tion
Use traveling interactive exhibits
contributions women have made to
in site preservation and community cele-
tion to women's lives as a part of existing
to celebrate women's history
building this country
brations has been undertaken by dedicated
historical celebrations and sites.
Emphasize ways to reach young
4 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
women
Focus on ways that women
lic spaces. Another version of the exhibit
who made life possible with better and bet-
nature of the project.
can make a positive difference
will be specifically designed for children,
ter opportunity for everyone
Every
Possible partnerships would include
Dr. Janet Hauber
with interactive features. We anticipate
community has a local heroine even if they
sponsorship by the General Federation
Math/Science Network
that this exhibit would travel to local chil-
have not discovered her yet."
of Women's Clubs and others who agree
dren's museums.
The Honorable Louise Slaughter
to sponsor local celebrations and events
"Traveling exhibits which include
To be selected to host the exhibit,
Congresswoman, Rochester, NY
with inclusive host communities. The
posters, postal cards and other memora-
local communities would be expected
guidebook would be privately under-
bilia
The exhibit should feature electronic
to organize an inclusive, representative
Much of the work done by women,
written and distributed through all
media such as videos and interactive com-
host committee. We believe that the
individually as volunteers and as mem-
organizations and local officials partic-
puter programs."
attention generated by this exhibit would
bers of clubs and organizations, has
ipating in the local events.
Dr. Barbara Woods
also encourage local celebrations that
occurred in local communities.
Association of Black Women Historians
would feature the achievements of
Women founded libraries, hospi-
We Recommend
women in these communities.
tals, schools and parks, but
Build a National Women's History
The Commission recommends creation
The traveling exhibits might
many women pioneers have
Umbrella Website
of a traveling exhibit that tells the story of
spend three weeks at each
gone largely unrecognized
women's history and can be installed in
location. Allowing a fourth
because most local histor-
We recommend the development of an
communities throughout the country dur-
week for travel and set up, the
ical sites identify only the men
interactive website that would serve as an
ing our millennial year. The exhibit will be
two versions would reach 24 com-
who lived there.
umbrella for women's history sites.
made up of panels that feature nationally
munities in one year and about 45
To increase awareness of the impor-
Regularly heard throughout the
and locally prominent women in pictorial
communities if the exhibit were funded
tant roles local women have played
Commission hearings was the growing
displays accompanied by their stories. The
for two years.
throughout American history, the
importance of Internet technology in dis-
national women will be selected by a jury
Commission recommends that a hand-
seminating information. There is a growing
of professional historians and academics.
We Recommend
book be published to guide
array of excellent women's history sites,
Women from the local community will be
Write and Distribute a
communities in recognizing and cele-
such as the Assumption College
selected by the exhibiting institution for
How-To Community Handbook
brating local women. The handbook
(Worchester, MA) U.S. Women's History
inclusion in the display.
could describe in greater detail several
Workshop website (at http://www.assump-
The Commission recommends building
"No community should talk about its his-
of the recommendations in this report.
tion.edu/whw/). The Commission
two versions of the exhibit. One will be
tory, its past or its Founders Day without
It should also include guidelines that
recognizes the value of an accessible, well-
designed for libraries or other limited pub-
talking about the contributions of the women
would ensure the diverse and inclusive
publicized site that would link to the large
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 5
"In addition to celebrating the rich ethnic, racial, and
religious diversity of your community, why not celebrate
your local heroines-the women who made a difference in
your community-with an event that tells their stories and
leaves a permanent exhibit behind?"
number of sites already in existence or
Ellen Lovell
years have I learned that Tennessee was
Millennium Communities Handbook
likely to emerge. The Commission also
the last state to ratify the 19th amendment,
Published by the White House Millennium Council
recognizes that a centralized point of entry
that my grandmother was the first woman
will provide searchers with a gateway that
in her county - Humphries County, TN
can heighten interest in the subject,
"The courtyard of one of the major
- to vote in 1920, when my mother was
encourage academic collaboration and
THE COMMUNITY AGENDA
banks turned out to be the site of a
three years old and my grandmother was
expansion with minimal duplication and
church where they met to organize the
about the age I am now!"
generally enrich the body of knowledge.
WOMEN'S HISTORY Is EVERYWHERE:
suffrage movement in Denver-half men
Linda Muir
A recurring suggestion from numerous
10 IDEAS FOR CELEBRATING
and half women. We went to see the head
BellSouth
experts in women's history was the impor-
IN COMMUNITIES
of the bank and said, 'You are SO fortunate,
tance of oral histories in telling the stories
can you believe what historic grounds you
The year 2000 will mark the 80th
of women in their own families and
1. We Recommend:
are on?' They were horrified
Finally
anniversary of the passage of the Women
communities. Thus, the Commission rec-
Women Win the Right to Vote:
they agreed to a little plaque in the
Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution—
ommends a site that would feature oral
Tell the Story of Suffrage
courtyard. That is our big com-
the greatest expansion of democracy on
histories and links.
in Local Communities
memorative for women in
a single day in our history as a nation. For
The proposed site would be a
Colorado. That is embar-
72 years, ever since that first convention
costly and time-consuming endeavor.
"I started looking in
rassing."
in Seneca Falls, NY, women in ever-
However, given the interest of technol-
Colorado, which is the first
The Honorable
increasing numbers worked to win the
ogy companies in this project, the
place on the planet where men
Patricia Schroeder
full rights of citizenship. They went door-
Commission believes a technology part-
voted to give women the right to
Congresswoman (Ret.)
to-door asking for signatures on petitions.
nership could be created to sponsor and
vote
So we went around and we did
They stood on ladders on street corners
maintain the site.
not find one statue in the state for
women. They had statues for buffaloes,
"I am here as a daughter, a grand-
covered wagons, you name it-but
daughter, a sister, a niece, a wife, a mother,
nothing for women.
a
grandmother
Only in the last four
6 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"Eleanor Roosevelt was a prolific writer, a habit born of
the last century, but her product describes the twentieth
century in personal terms. Unpacking her scattered
archives will continue to reveal insights into our nation's
history for decades and generations to come."
and wagons parked at crossroads giving
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
The Commission heard from many
speeches to anyone who would
Commissioner
speakers-especially those with profes-
listen. They published their own news-
sional expertise as librarians, preservationists
papers, organized massive parades and
and archivists-about the need to allocate
precinct-level political campaigns and
2. We Recommend
"The hidden women
women
about
serious resources to the identification and
picketed the White House. They encoun-
Find the "Hidden Women:"
whom extensive material is actually held
preservation of original material. Diaries,
tered insults, ridicule, abuse and even jail
Develop Access and Archives
but [who] remain invisible because the
letters and other records enable scholars to
to win the rights first promised in the
material is contained in collections whose
study and document the history of women's
Declaration of Independence.
"A graduate student at a distinguished
titles do not indicate their
lives, yet much of this material sits unmarked
We recommend celebrating the
Eastern university was looking for diaries
presence Yesterday one of the speak-
and unnoticed. Such material could be the
millennial year by commemorating the
of rural New England women. She found
ers remarked about the homes and
source of valuable information that would
80th anniversary of women's suffrage.
them in a large box, uncatalogued and
buildings of famous men, 'there were
open history for all of us.
Local libraries can organize story-telling
marked "anonymous."
women there too.' The same can be said
While we share the excitement of the
sessions for children where local lead-
Mary Ellen Henry
even more forcefully about the papers
new work that is already underway in the
ers can tell the stories of the brave women
American University
held in the nation's archives."
field of women's history, we realize that
and men who achieved the suffrage vic-
Washington, DC
Ann Newhall
more scholarship requires greater access
tory. City officials can mark the spot
The National Historical
to original materials, more attention to
where a suffrage meeting was held.
"Many women's historic
Publications and Records
finding and appropriately cataloguing
Community groups can honor the lead-
actions and accomplishments
Commission
material related to women and more
ers who organized the campaigns and the
have been lost over time. They
National Archives and
money to make these discoveries acces-
state legislators whose votes made the dif-
remain uncollected, uncatalogued
Records Administration
sible to the public.
ference. The Commission believes that
and unacknowledged. I stress the impor-
there is no better way to remember the
tance of documenting, researching,
"As a biographer of the Founders of the
value of our rights as citizens than to honor
collecting, preserving and organizing for
United States and as a historian writing
the pioneers who made it possible.
retrieval historic facts, stories, memoirs,
textbooks for college students, I have been
achievements, actions and accomplish-
constantly frustrated by the difficulty of
ments of women and making them
learning about the lives of women in
accessible to the public."
American history."
General (Ret., )Wilma Vaught
Dr. Will Randall
Women In Military Service For
Champlain College, VT
America Memorial Foundation, Inc.
January 22, 1999
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 7
"As a Comanche woman, I understand the importance of
knowing the history of my ancestors and my community. I
We recommend the use of supporting
also understand the importance of knowing the
about women's history as if women
technology, such as the Internet, to facil-
contributions of every community, including my own, to the
were isolated from one another. We
itate the cooperation among institutions
culture and accomplishments of American society and the
prefer to work together, forming
that will make these materials accessible
global society. One of the greatest benefits of being included
organization and community-based
in a useful form. We heard about several
in history is to have a sense of who you are and to know that
structures."
collaborative efforts to archive materials,
you are a contributing member of a larger community."
Katherine Tijerina
but we also heard that institutions are
reluctant to commit resources to cata-
LaDonna Harris
"Women have made history by
logue and digitize the material. Facsimiles
Commissioner
empowering others. Women have vol-
of original documents can be available
unteered, pioneered, raised money and
everywhere, for scholars and students
about 40 focus on women. We increased
historic preservation, has been funded by
organized to improve schools, work
alike, but only if the institutions with cus-
it by 40, which means that we doubled
the Georgia legislature. Work is now under-
places and communities."
tody of the materials make them available.
it, but the downside is that still fewer than
way to develop a document establishing the
Jean Hunt
5% focus on women."
historic connection for women-related his-
Chicago Area Women's History
3. We Recommend
Page Putnam Miller
toric resources. The initiative will also
Conference
Discover/Preserve Women's History:
National Coordinating Committee
document at least five National Register
Establish Statewide Women's
for the Promotion of History
nominations for women-related historic sites.
"There are tremendously large numbers
History Initiatives
We commend Georgia's leadership and
of women in our communities making a
The state of Georgia has begun an excit-
recommend that other states and local his-
difference, addressing concerns and issues
"Of more than 1,600 listings in the
ing new Women's History initiative to
toric preservation societies undertake similar
of education, housing, the elderly, and
National Register of Historic Places com-
integrate women's history into exist-
programs. If every state adopted
they make a difference This needs
to
be
prising over 46,000 historic properties in
ing programs that record,
Georgia's goal of identifying five
recorded Start at the grassroots level."
Georgia, fewer than 2% are listed because
document, interpret and pre-
women-related historic sites, we
Belen Robles
of their association with women. Of 1,965
serve historic places. The
would add 250 sites in the mil-
League of United
Georgia historic markers, fewer than 70
initiative will identify and doc-
lennial year!
Latin American Citizens
markers relate to women."
ument historic places associated
Leslie Sharp
with women, reinterpret already
4. We Recommend
An accurate portrayal of women's his-
National Register Program Coordinator
identified historic places to reflect our
Honor the Work of Women's
tory will include recognition of the
and Women's History Initiative Coordinator
understanding of women's history, and
Organizations:
important role played by women work-
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
produce publications, heritage education
Build an Honor Roll of Local Volunteers
ing together in groups. From the earliest
programs and guidebooks to increase
days of the Female Anti-
"There were approximately 2,000
public awareness.
"So much of the important work
Slavery Societies to Chicago's Hull
national historic landmarks when we
This program, which began with a
that women do, we do in groups,
House and today's service organiza-
started our project, and of those only
regional conference on women's history and
working together. We should not talk
tions, American women have organized
8 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
joint efforts to take on some of society's
women and their hidden roles.
the site of a dramatic suffrage campaign,
it, help with the cost, get it installed." And
greatest challenges. Women's organi-
a clean milk campaign or a labor strike
so we did."
zations led the way in establishing
5. We Recommend
led by women workers. Telling the sto-
Gene Trolander
public hospitals and public parks. We
Create Community Women's
ries through a women's history trail is an
Founder, Women's Park
started libraries in new towns and estab-
History Trails:
effective reminder of the courage shown
Yellow Springs, Ohio
lished relief organizations for families
Develop a Map of Local Women's
by those women pioneers.
January 15, 1999
in distress. From campaigns to win the
History Sites
We recommend bringing students
right to vote to bake sales to fund chil-
to work on trail projects. Not only
Building women's parks is a creative
dren's programs, women have always
"We are working with fourth
will the community find a
and productive way to commemorate
been on the front lines. Individual
and fifth graders, teachers,
source of enthusiastic
the lives of local historical figures and
women serving as volunteers have con-
the principal, the PTA, the
researchers but it also will
honor the women who live in the com-
tributed thousands of hours to building
neighborhood association, the
ensure that young people are
munity today. In Yellow Springs, Ohio,
our communities. Contemporary serv-
Colorado Historical Society and a
engaged. A history trail designed
the Women's Park was financed through
ice organizations continue in that proud
couple of local historians to create a
by young people is likely to include
the sale of tiles with the names of local
tradition.
women's history trail. Students are going
information that young people find inter-
women. These tiles, which honor
We recommend that community
to do the research. They are going to
esting.
women and their contributions to the
organizations join together to iden-
decide which areas should be highlighted.
community, their service organizations
tify groups that made significant
They are going to publish a guide, and
6. We Recommend
or their families, are incorporated into
contributions to the lives of their cit-
they are going to lead tours of the neigh-
Create a City Space to Honor Women:
the park's design. The response to the
izens and develop a community
borhood."
Build a Women's History Park
Yellow Springs Park has been so positive
honor roll to memorialize both the
Marsha Semmel
that park organizers are now planning
groups and their individual leaders.
Women of the West Museum
"In Yellow Springs, Ohio, population
to produce a book featuring the women
Follow the example of schools and
4,000, practically every public place -
on the tiles.
hospitals that honor their largest finan-
Creating history trails can bring history
the streets the buildings, the parks, the
Another great example of women's
cial donors with plaques and add the
to life in local communities. Trails may
schools - they're all named for men. So
parks is the Hillary Rodham Clinton
names of volunteers whose time and
trace the path of women's firsts, i.e., the
we asked the Village Council for a park
Women's Park in Chicago. This four-acre
effort make those institutions possi-
first school to admit women, the first
to honor women. We wanted to honor
green space was dedicated in October
ble. Examine the histories of local
woman doctor or newspaper publisher
all women - everyday women and out-
1997, in honor of the First Lady's 50th
volunteer organizations and the files
or engineer, the first woman elected to
standing women, past and present. Our
birthday. It is managed by a 15-mem-
of local newspapers to find these
office. Local communities may have been
Village Council said 'OK - if you design
ber advisory council in the community.
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 9
"What we say captures what we mean and our
perception of reality. That is why I always note that in our
country, there are many heroes but there are also many
she-roes, too."
We recommend that communities con-
"I would go to the library every week
sider establishing women's parks. Both
Dr. Johnnetta Cole
and check out the same book. Clara
the informal organization of the Yellow
Commissioner
Barton, who was the only woman on
Springs Park and the more formally struc-
the shelf
I don't want my niece
tured Hillary Rodham Clinton Women's
Designing and placing historic mark-
ing sites is also important in helping to
Sarah, who's one year old today, and
Park bring elected officials and broad cross-
ers can help raise the visibility of
make all our historic celebrations more
my niece Emily to go to school in the
sections of residents together to honor
women's lives and their achievements.
inclusive by reminding us that women
fourth grade and say, 'Where are the
some of their best-loved and most
Every step of the process calls for public
lived there, too.
women? There are no books about
respected citizens.
participation-from researching, design-
women on these shelves."
ing the markers, deciding where to place
8. We Recommend
Lissa McLean
7. We Recommend
them and finally arranging the ceremony
Encourage Young People to
Build a Cooperative
of actually affixing the markers.
Discover Women's History:
"Ignorance isn't bliss. Think of all the
Community Project:
We recommend that local govern-
Include Youth in a
women you've missed."
Design and Place Historic Markers
ments work with community
Women's History Project
The slogan suggested for the
organizations to sponsor historic marker
millennium by Samantha Claire
"Why not create a contest that chal-
projects. Local historic societies,
"Celebrating women's achievements
Girls Speak Out, Atlanta
lenges young people to go out and
libraries, religious organizations and
in American history needs to start in
discover the women whose names belong
county and municipal clerks are
the classroom because one of
Among the most frequent reminders
on those historic markers in their own
especially rich sources of
the things I'm angry about is
made by speakers to the Commission was
communities?"
information about local his-
why it took me so long to
the importance of reaching out and mak-
Linda Witt
torical events and sites.
learn about so much when
ing women's history accessible to young
Women In Military Service for America
School children can learn about
I'm in college. There are so
women and men. College students and
Memorial Foundation, Inc.
their local communities by work-
many women out there, so much
teachers told us there is a great deal of inter-
ing with these officials while becoming
about them I didn't know
why
am
I
est in women's history at the college level,
"Design a special marker that incor-
involved in every aspect of the work. By
20 years old learning about
it
when
but students too often arrive at college with
porates Mrs. Clinton's theme and place it
designing markers and researching sug-
there was all the opportunity in the world
little or no awareness of that history.
prominently at all women's history sites."
gested sites, children and their leaders
when I was in elementary school and
Some of the most innovative projects
Maxine Scarbro
can take history beyond the textbook to
middle school?"
now underway include efforts to engage
Greater Federation of Women's Clubs
the places where women actually lived
Mashadi Matabane
young people as participants. The increased
and worked. Adding markers to exist-
Spelman College, GA
attention to family tourism means that
10 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
women's history sites can become family
ums in Islamic countries than in the
women who contributed time and energy
women contributed more than we were
destinations. We are particularly glad to
United States and Europe combined."
to the life of the community.
allowed at the time We belong side
see the growth of women's history sites on
Cathy Bonner
The national traveling exhibit rec-
by side."
the Internet since technology is becoming
Women's Museum:
ommended earlier in this report may
Dr. Jane Smith
the medium of choice for young people.
Institute for the Future,
become a starting point for a perma-
National Council of Negro Women
The Commission recommends that mil-
Dallas TX
nent collection of stories about local
lennial planners incorporate at least one
women. Town halls, county courts and
"The British historian E.H. Carwas wrote
women's history project that includes
"We want to introduce the public
to
local libraries are excellent venues for
that 'the great person is at once the rep-
young people as planners, researchers,
the leadership of the Civil Rights strug-
these exhibits, where the installation
resentative and the creator of social forces
narrators and/or audience. Projects
gle in San Francisco in the mid-19th
itself becomes a reason to celebrate
which change the shape of the
described elsewhere in this report, such
century, to the potters of the Santa Clara
women in American history.
world
Countless working women were
as developing local history trails, historic
Pueblo, and to the scientists at Los
Communities interested in hosting the
brave in exactly that way. What they rep-
markers or finding hidden women in the
Alamos. At our museum, these women
traveling exhibit may register their inter-
resented, what they did, has changed the
archives are excellent vehicles for involv-
will take their places with the history-
est on the Commission's homepage
shape of our world.
ing elementary and secondary school
makers of today."
(www.gsa.gov/ staff/pa/whc.htm).
"Rosa Schneiderman, Mary Kenny
students.
Marsha Semmel
O'Sullivan, Florence Rood, Margaret
Women of the West Museum
10. We Recommend
Hailey. in the name of the Hawaiian sugar
9. We Recommend
Boulder, CO
Women's History Is About
cane workers, the Somerville laundry
Support Local Women's
Every Woman:
workers, the millions of other women we
History Institutions:
A number of women's
Hold an All-Inclusive
will never know, I urge you from the bot-
Create or Host Exhibits About Women
history museums are emerg-
Her-itage Celebration
tom of my heart to give working women
ing around the country. While
in American history the recognition they
"There are 8,000 museums in America
every community may not have the
"As you speak of African-
deserve."
and fewer than 10 have a female focus.
resources to establish a museum devoted
American women, don't put us in that
Linda Chavez-Thompson
Of the 2,000 National Park Service sites,
to women's history, the Commission rec-
chapter all by ourselves
We
are
American Federation of Labor
fewer than 10 commemorate women.
ommends that communities devote some
Americans, and we are strong
Congress of Industrial Organizations
There are more women heads of muse-
public space to exhibits honoring local
Americans because African-American
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 11
" The story of America is one of journey and discovery - of
many groups and individuals who shared common
dreams and challenges, even as their differences shaped
"I was at a recent program on women's
our culture. The Hispanic community, itself of
have one statue to commemorate
history in Washington. It talked about
wonderfully varied backgrounds, continues to contribute
some of our foremothers placed in
women's history but it did not include us.
to every aspect of our society . and understanding America
an honorable position in the capitol.
The answer was 'well we didn't have
means knowing and celebrating these stories."
With the new exception of Eleanor
enough facts in the last quarter of this cen-
Roosevelt, there are essentially no
tury.' So that meant for a quarter of a
Dr: Ellen Ochoa
monuments in the nation's capital
century I didn't exist as a person."
Commissioner
dedicated to women."
Jeannie lew
Eleanor Smeal
Organization of
the first black congregation of Catholic
in their memberships to tell the stories
The Feminist Majority
Chinese-American Women
women in 1829
"
of their she-roines, of how their fore-
Sister Dolores Liptak
mothers came to this country and what
We Recommend
"Just as gender provides a means of
Trinity College
their own lives were like as children. So
Designate a Washington, DC, Women's
examining power relationships within a
many ethnic bazaars, fairs and parades
History Site
historical framework, disability similarly
At every hearing and throughout our
occur across the country, but few are
represents power relationships
As
a
correspondence, the Commission was
multicultural and fewer focus on the
"Washington, DC, is a town, that if some-
woman with a disability who has partic-
reminded of the diversity of our
accomplishments of women outside the
one were to visit one hundred years from
ipated in political, social and cultural
nation's citizens and the importance
kitchen or the craft room. Capturing the
now and examine our monuments and his-
developments that have changed the
of respecting that diversity in all the
memories of first-, second- and third-
toric sites, they would assume that the role
world for people with disabilities, I think
projects we recommend. Just as we
generation Americans can both docu-
of women was of no consequence and no
it is critical that we document the role that
want to establish that the only accu-
ment their contributions and build a rich
importance to building this country."
disability has played in the lives of men
rate history is that which includes the
tapestry of memories about the women
Christine Helen Grumm
and women."
lives and accomplishments of
who pioneered the community.
Judith Heuman
women, we are also committed
"Of the 197 statues in the Capitol build-
U.S. Department of Education
to the fact that the only
WOMEN'S HISTORY IN
ing, only seven are of women."
accurate representation of
THE NATION'S
Karen Staser
"One of the key rules is to be inclusive:
women's history is that
CAPITAL
Founder
[from] working women to the elite, reli-
which includes the lives of all
National Museum of Women's History
gion, race and ethnicity
If
we
know
the
women.
"Millions of schoolchildren
white Prudence Crandall for her courage
The Commission recommends a
and adult visitors tour
At every hearing, the Commission
in educating blacks and the work she did
her-itage millennial celebration that rep-
Washington, DC, every year. We
heard concern about the invisibility of
for African-Americans in Connecticut, we
resents the diversity within the local
have monument upon monument
women in Washington, DC, especially
should also mention the Haitian immi-
community and focuses on the stories of
and museum upon museum
among the institutions dedicated to teach-
grant Elizabeth Lang who in Baltimore in
the she-roes who brought their children
glorifying our forefathers.
ing and celebrating our nation's history.
the 1820s began the first school of young
to build a new nation. Religious and serv-
Meanwhile the women's movement
The success of the National Museum of
women of color and who also organized
ice organizations can enlist the seniors
has had to fight for seven decades to
Women in the Arts and the enthusiastic
12 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"My son's history textbooks say that Indians brought 'us'
corn; blacks gave 'us' jazz; Chinese completed 'our'
railroad and built 'our' bridges. When I was young, the few
response to the new Women In Military
Asian women appearing in the popular culture were lotus
resources around the country. A number
Service For America Memorial are exam-
geisha girls and dragon ladies Today our children can
of speakers urged us to explore the use of
ples of the support and interest that await
technology in building collaborations
serious representations of women's real
choose between contemporary forms of these old
among women's historic sites; a national
roles in our lives - the partnership of men
stereotypes and absence of images
This
Commission
will
center for women's history would be the
and women that has built this country,
contribute to the vitally important work of remembering
logical central point for such connections.
sustained our families and communities
buried histories."
Visitors to our Washington site could be
and maintained the viability of our
virtually transported to Elizabeth Cady
Dr. Elaine Kim
democracy.
Stanton's home in Seneca Falls or to any
Commissioner
We applaud the visionary leadership
of the women's historic sites around the
of the founders of new institutions that
temporary were cited by speakers before
ebrate the rich, diverse heritage of
country. Their experience on a virtual his-
have emerged in the last decade and have
the Commission as examples of obstacles
women and bring it into the cultural
tory trail might encourage them to travel
already become part of the fabric of our
to be expected. These very problems add
mainstream." Although it does not yet
to the real sites at their next opportunity.
lives. By showing what can be done, they
emphasis to the importance of creating a
have a permanent facility, the Museum
stand in stark contrast to almost all of our
venue that celebrates women's history.
has already begun to implement its mis-
We Recommend
other national memorials. That imbal-
Thus, the Commission has concluded
sion by leading the move to bring the
Organize March 2000: A National
ance continues to be a source of concern.
that appropriate celebration of
women's suffrage statue into the
Celebration
We do not assume that remedying the
women's history in the next mil-
Capitol rotunda. They have also
imbalance between memorials that honor
lennium should include the
launched a virtual museum
Many speakers before the Commission
men and women will be easy. There are
designation of a focal point
in cyberspace with an
raised the possibility of a national event
already a large number of museums and
for women's history in our
exhibit on the suffrage move-
in March 2000 that would celebrate the
monuments in the capital competing for
nation's capital.
ment.
changes in women's lives during the last
attention and resources with many oth-
Several solutions were suggested
The Commission recognizes the
century and reaffirm our commitment to
ers waiting in the wings. The difficulties
including a partnership with an exist-
complexity of designating one site.
even greater change and opportunity in
encountered in moving the statue of the
ing museum or library or building upon
However the focal point is chosen, we
the next. Among the suggestions were a
suffragist leaders out of the basement of
a current historical site. Another
recommend that it serve as a destination
festival of art and music, an international
the Capitol and the fact that the Suffrage
approach is offered by the National
for families who visit the capital to learn
assembly to assess the changes in the
exhibit at the Smithsonian's Museum of
Museum of Women's History, whose
about our nation's history and be linked
five years since the United Nations
American History is still designated as
mission is to "preserve, display and cel-
through technology with sites and
Conference on Women in Beijing and a
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 13
"On the outside of the beautiful new federal courthouse
in Boston we have carved in stone the words of Sarah
Grimke, the abolitionist daughter of South Carolina who
was criticized for daring to speak in public about the evils
gathering of young women to make
of slavery: 'Men and women are created equal. They are
improve over 2,000 recreational scenic
plans for and compare ideas about their
both moral and accountable beings and whatever is right
and historic trails; and Millennial
futures.
for men to do is right for women.
Evenings, a series showcasing the best of
This celebration was viewed as a
American culture and history that are
great opportunity for women to come
David J. Barram
broadcast and cybercast from the White
together in Washington, DC, for one or
Administrator
House.
more days. The Commission agrees that
U.S. General Services Administration
Under the Millennium Council's newest
observing Women's History Month in
project, Millennium Communities, states,
the millennial year deserves a very
tor, more women are working in the
of the scope of projects currently under-
cities, towns, communities and Native
special celebration.
government in mid-level and senior man-
way across the government.
American tribal councils will receive offi-
The Commission recommends that
agement positions than ever before.
Millennium Council
cial designation by planning local projects
the National Women's Millennial
Women are starting new businesses and
The President's Commission was
that reflect the national theme Honor the
Celebration be inclusive and represent
account for two-thirds of new business
inspired by the First Lady's concept for
Past, Imagine the Future. The handbook for
the broadest spectrum of diversity and
ventures. Women-owned businesses are
celebration of the millennium with the
this program includes suggestions for cele-
issues that are important to women. It
doing business with the government in
theme Honor the Past, Imagine the Future.
brating women's history at the state and local
should also include local communities
record numbers.
The White House Millennium Council
levels.
by virtual participation via the Internet,
Agencies of the Federal government
was created by the President and First
by interactive satellite broadcast or
and Congress have also begun pro-
Lady to give every American an
Department of Education
through simultaneous celebrations in
grams to recognize and advance
opportunity to participate in
"Expanding our teaching of history to
the cities and towns of America.
the contributions of women in
meaningful activities to mark
include examination of the roles and con-
American history. Under the
the new millennium, with
tributions of all women helps boys and
leadership of the Honorable
projects involving commu-
girls gain a better, more accurate sense of
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Senator Chris Dodd, the
nities, elected officials and
women's place in history, which in turn
ACTIVITIES
Honorable Senator Ted Stevens
private citizens. Projects of the
increases the aspirations of all children."
and the Honorable Congresswoman
Millennium Council so far include
Judy Winston
Recognition for the importance of
Louise Slaughter, Congress authorized the
Save America's Treasures, a public-pri-
U.S. Department of Education
women's history and the roles women play
Women's Progress Commemoration Act
vate partnership to preserve historic sites,
in today's lives are reflected throughout the
to recognize women's history sites. The
documents, art and artifacts; a Millennial
The U.S. Department of Education is
federal government. As in the private sec-
following descriptions give an indication
Trails program to create, extend or
considering options for using computer
14 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"When men went off to war, we honored them with
monuments in our buildings and town squares. No such
technology to assess current efforts that
honor rolls herald the accomplishments of the women who
house construction program is the largest
incorporate women's history in schools'
fought poverty, disease and social injustice at home."
new Federal building program since the
curricula. Identifying these "promising
New Deal. In recent years, GSA has
Beth Newburger,
practices" is the first important step toward
Commission Co-Chair
made a concerted effort to incorporate
encouraging the integration of women's
the legacies of local women in con-
history throughout all levels of education
struction projects. The exterior and
across the country.
States, GSA can accommodate women's
discovered that a building in a devel-
lobby of the new U.S. Courthouse in
The Department is also considering pro-
history events and exhibits within its Good
oping area of Washington, DC, was
Boston feature quotes hand carved in
posals for the development of curricula for
Neighbor, Living Buildings and Outleasing
Clara Barton's home and office from
stone on jurisprudence, justice and free-
teaching women's history through the
Programs under authority of the Public
1861 to 1868. GSA preserved the his-
dom. Five of these quotes are by
Women's Educational Equity Act Resources
Buildings Cooperative Use Act of 1976.
toric building during renovations to the
women.
Center. Grants will be available to those
Interested groups or organizations may
area and turned over the archival mate-
Notably, the main entrance to the
states that include women's history in their
hold meetings, training sessions or lec-
rial -including many Civil War
Courthouse features a quotation by Leila
history standards. The Department will
tures and display film, music, dance
period newspapers and other
Josephine Robinson on the administra-
identify the best methods to make this
or art exhibits under this pro-
documents -to the National
tion of justice. The quotation is taken
information available to all schools through
gram. Additionally, through
Park Service for further
from the legal brief Robinson wrote
the Department's website.
GSA's Public Buildings
study and preservation.
seeking, unsuccessfully, to be the first
Taken together, these programs can
Heritage Program, exhibits on
GSA established a website
female member admitted to the Bar of
introduce women's history into elemen-
historic buildings are placed in the
where visitors can explore the
Massachusetts:
tary and secondary school education,
lobbies of Federal buildings. A natural
place where Clara Barton worked
"The best administration of justice
thus ensuring that the rich diversity that
extension of this project would be the
and lived, from the intimate scale of her
may be most safely secured by allow-
comprises women's achievements, con-
inclusion of programs about women in
living space to a broad view of
ing the representation of all classes of
tributions and life stories is included in all
American history.
Washington during the Civil War. Most
the people in courts of justice."
children's education.
Clara Barton Historic House - As
importantly, GSA required developers
Inside the Courthouse a 4-foot by 30-
the real estate manager and developer
to preserve Clara Barton's home and
foot Registry of Designers and Builders,
General Services Administration
for the Federal government, GSA takes
work space and interpret it for the pub-
lists all the people who worked on the
Venues for Women's History Events and
care to preserve all historical and
lic in a historically accurate way.
building. Approximately 5% of the
Exhibits-As the manager and owner of
socially significant aspects of buildings
Incorporating Women's Legacies in
2,600 names belong to Boston-area
8,300 Federal buildings across the United
and construction sites. In 1997, GSA
Construction Projects - GSA's court-
women in the construction and electri-
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 15
"Based on workplace demographics, retaining and
advancing talented women is critical to the success of
every business. But more than being the smart thing to do,
cal trades.
it's also the right thing to do."
ing that the voices of women and men
The Commission recommends that
J. Michael Cook
will join in telling the full story of
communities take an active role in incor-
Commissioner
American history.
porating local women's legacies and work
in these new landmarks by contacting
of the foremost women in American his-
NASA
Susan Harrison, director of GSA's Art-in-
The National Historical Publications
tory, including Jane Addams, Margaret
NASA is developing a web exhibit
Architecture program at:
and Records Commission (NHPRC), the
Sanger, Emma Goldman, Elizabeth Cady
chronicling the achievements of women
grant-making agency affiliated with the
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
in aviation and space during the 20th
U.S. General Services Administration
National Archives and Records
Another Archives publication-
century and profiling women who, in
Art-in-Architecture Program
Administration chaired by Archivist of
the "Our Mothers Before Us"
the 21st century, will turn science
Room 2308
the United States John Carlin, will under-
teaching kit-provides schools with
fiction into science fact. The last com-
1800 F Street, NW
take a multi-dimensional project that
exact replicas of early American
ponent of the exhibit will forecast
Washington, DC 20405
will explore the work of Eleanor
women's petitions. School children
futuristic aerospace programs and pro-
[email protected]
Roosevelt as First Lady, proponent of
can see for themselves how women
vide links to education and career sites.
human and civil rights, and political fig-
who were denied the right to vote
The first phase of the web exhibit will
National Archives and
ure. By combining book, film and
used petitions to build support for
be on-line by July 1, 1999.
Records Administration
electronic publications and using the
such important goals as abolish-
As one element of a larger effort to doc-
"As a direct result of the President's
most modern publication and
ing slavery, fair treatment for
ument the history of spaceflight, NASA is
Commission on the Celebration of
technological media, the
American Indians and suf-
collecting oral histories of women who
Women in American History, we are
Commission expects to
frage for themselves.
have been associated with NASA in var-
preparing to launch next year an innova-
make these important doc-
The NHPRC is dedi-
ious capacities. NASA will excerpt
tive project to publish the papers of
umentary materials available
cated to ensuring access to
portions for publication in a book, tenta-
Eleanor Roosevelt!"
worldwide.
primary research material col-
tively titled Herstories About Space
Ann Newhall
The Eleanor Roosevelt project will
lected from many sources and
Exploration. Many of these oral vignettes
National Archives and Records
draw on the experience of the NHPRC in
published under rigorous scholarly stan-
will be added to the web exhibit.
Administration
the Founding Fathers Project and other
dards. The Eleanor Roosevelt project
When Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off
efforts to make available the papers of some
marks a significant step forward in ensur-
on July 9, 1999, Lt. Col. Eileen Collins
16 PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
"Young people, in the throes of creating an identity, are
heavily influenced by the popular culture of the day. In
will become the first woman to command
the 1800s and early 1900s, women turned to popular
The group Women in Theater, in Los
a space mission. To celebrate this historic
magazines, where they encountered illustrations of
Angeles, has already discovered the dra-
milestone, NASA will convene several
motherhood and domestic bliss. Soon other visions
matic potential in presenting the stories
outreach and educational events for
appeared.
of glamorous women who reflected the sexual
of women in American history. During
women and girls that will take place at
ideal of the day. Bloomer Girls faded into Gibson Girls
their March 6, 1999, celebration of
the Kennedy Space Center, FL, culmi-
who faded into Varga Girls, leaving no doubt about the
Women's History Month, they produced
nating in the shuttle launch. The agency
importance of good looks for young women and the joys of
40 separate performances in a 12-hour
also plans to convene numerous on-line
kinder and kuche for mature women."
marathon of free theater in and around
mentoring programs throughout the year
Los Angeles County. Organizer Miriam
to allow students to interact with women
Irene Wurtzel
Reed, herself a performer, hopes to see
in various careers at NASA and with
Commissioner
this celebration become a regular annual
prominent women in America.
March event "in every city and town of
sound and songs, maps and folklife doc-
As the film A League of Their Own told
the United States-communities every-
Library of Congress
umentation. This unprecedented effort
millions of Americans about women play-
where recognizing the contributions of
"What's key about an event such as the
will be an invaluable tool for researchers
ers in the national pastime, so there are
women with performances that praise
1913 Woman Suffrage Parade is that it chron-
of women's history, from biographers to
opportunities to tell many other stories
them."
icles women's history as well as reflects the
documentarians and filmmakers to social
about women's lives of she-roism and
The Commission urges our friends in
larger context of American history."
and cultural historians. The guide is sched-
achievement. The winning of suffrage is
the media, who are thinking of plots for
Ralph Eubanks
uled for publication in the fall of 2000.
at once the achievement of a nation-
movie and television scripts and radio
Library of Congress Publishing Office
wide campaign and a story filled with
programs, to consider the possibilities
drama. Women's accomplish-
offered by these dramatic events.
Specialists in 12 custodial divisions of
A CHALLENGE AND
ments translate into exciting
Though a number of fine movies and
the Library of Congress are collaborating
AN OPPORTUNITY
theater. Consider the story
documentaries have been produced in
on an illustrated guide to the Library's vast
FOR POPULAR
of the last vote in the state leg-
the last 20 years, we believe that the
resources on American women's history.
CULTURE
islature of Tennessee when the
surge of interest we have found for so
This effort is being directed by the Library's
future of suffrage was determined by
many other aspects of women's history
Publishing Office, with guidance from a
T
he Commission agrees with
a young Harry Burns who listened to his
recorded in this report - from the
team of six leading scholars of women's
all who testified to the need
mother, or Ida Wells Barnett, the news-
growth in visitors to National Park
history and culture. The guide will
to do a better job of teaching
paper editor who almost singlehandedly
Service sites to the construction of new
describe materials in many media, includ-
our children and ourselves about
took on the horrible practice of lynching,
museums - suggests that these stories
ing books, newspapers, periodicals,
women's history. Perhaps the most
or Florence Wald founding the Visiting
will find a receptive and appreciative
broadsides, legal documents, prints, pho-
powerful means of telling these
Nurses, or Elizabeth Blackwell winning
audience.
tographs, films, sheet music, recorded
stories is through the popular culture.
the right to be a doctor.
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY 17
Tomen's History Celebration
http://www.gsa.gov/staff/pa/whc.ht
WOME
HISTORY
CELEBRATION
The President's Commission on the
Celebration of Women 41. American History
President Clinton has established the Commission on the
Celebration of Women in American History to consider
how best to acknowledge and celebrate the roles and
accomplishments of women in American History. It will
hold meetings to consider ideas for such celebration,
including a focal point for women's history in Washington,
D.C., and the use of technology to connect existing and
planned historical sites, museums and libraries. The first
meeting of the Commission was held on July 16, 1998, at
the Canandaigua County Courthouse, the site where Susan
B. Anthony was tried and convicted for voting. The
Commission's recommendations will be reported to the
President.
Executive Order Establishing the Commission
Commission Member Biographies
Commission Meeting Minutes
Schedule of Commission Meetings
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's
"Save America's Treasures" Tour
Other Women's History Links
We Want To Hear From You
of 2
10/31/2000 6:36 PM
Women's History Celebration
http://www.gsa.gov/staff/pa/whc.htr
The following reports are in pdf format which requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader. If Acrobat Reader is not loaded on
your computer, you can download it for free by clicking on
the icon.
A
Get Acrobal
Adobe
Reader
"Celebrating Women's History--Recommendations
to President William Jefferson Clinton" (pdf)
"Women's History is Everywhere:
10 Ideas for Celebrating in Communities
A How-To Community Handbook" (pdf)
Go to GSA's Home Page
2 of 2
10/31/2000 6:36 PM
Josh-
Al. has a "2 second
question, she doesn't
want to bug you"
but she needs to
know before 8:00
-
- Warc
(215)382-5959
*415079*
March 1, 2000
Warm greetings to everyone participating in the Millennium
March on Washington for Equality.
Throughout my life and during my tenure as President, I have
remained dedicated to ending discrimination and to protecting the
civil rights of every citizen in our society. There are more
openly gay and lesbian individuals serving in my Administration
than in any previous Administration, and their impact, both in
expertise and in efforts to advocate for the concerns of gay men
and lesbians, is significant. We have increased AIDS funding,
research, and educational outreach. We have also opened the
door for qualified gays and lesbians to receive top security
clearances. I pledge to you that I will continue striving for
greater understanding and compassion, working not simply to
tolerate our differences, but to celebrate them.
As a nation committed to the ideals of equality, diversity,
and excellence, we must never give up the struggle to provide all
of our citizens with the opportunity to reach their full potential
and to make their own unique contributions to our world: This past
century bears witness to many important advances we've made toward
building such a society. But much work remains to be done. There
is still frustration and misunderstanding in America today about
issues affecting the lives of gays and lesbians, and all of us have
an important role to play in working to heighten public awareness
and inclusiveness. I firmly believe that, together, we can make
our national community a better place for all Americans.
Best wishes for a memorable march.
BILL CLINTON
BC/WMW/SK/MAH/emu-ckb (Corres. #7128943)
(2.millennium) (Event: 4/30/00; wants 03/01/00)
CC: Presidential Messages, 91 OEOB
SEND TO:
Mr. David Medina
Number 602
1701 16th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-3103
DO NOT MAIL - - RETURN TO PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES, 91 OEOB, FOR
DISPATCH
PHOTOCOPY
mah
PRESERVATION
Final 04/24/00 6:30pm
Gottheimer/Silver
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS FOR MILLION MILLENNIUM MARCH
WASHINGTON, DC
April 30, 2000
It is my honor to welcome you to our nation's Capitol for the Millennium March on
Washington for Equality. Your presence here today is a moving testament of your commitment to
the fundamental values of fairness and equality for all Americans.
Nearly eight years ago, when I first ran for President, I said that I had a vision for America -
and that you were a part of it. Since then, with your help, we have made important progress in
ending discrimination against gays and lesbians, and in working toward the day that you have the
same rights that are guaranteed to every American.
First, we have tried to lead by example. We have created an Administration that is the most
inclusive in history - with more than 150 openly gay and lesbian appointees. Additionally, I signed
an Executive Order that prohibits discrimination in the Federal civilian workforce based on sexual
orientation. And with your help, we are continuing our fight for an employment Abndiscrimination
act that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace.
As part of OUT commitment to fight the terrible scourge of HIV and AIDS, our
Administration has increased funding for AIDS research by more than 57 percent and for HIV
prevention by 36 percent. For the first time in the history of the AIDS epidemic, the number of
Americans diagnosed with AIDS has declined.
But while we have come a long way on our journey toward tolerance, understanding and
mutual respect, we still have a long way to go. Over the last few years, we've seen a stark increase
in the number of hate crimes committed against individuals, solely because of their skin color, faith,
or sexual orientation. These crimes tear at the fabric of the American community and at our
common values. That's why it is so important that we all work together to pass a strong, fair Hate
Crimes Prevention Act.
But we all know that we cannot achieve equal rights through legislation alone. Our greatest
hope for a just society is to teach our children to respect one another, to see our diversity as our
greatest strength, and to recognize the fundamental values that define us as One America.
As Dr. Martin Luther King once said, "Darkness can not drive our darkness; only light can
do that. Hate can not drive our hate; only love can do that." This event, and your numbers, are
further evidence that no matter how difficult the road may be, we must keep moving forward and
not succumb to the sirens of hate. Thank you again for coming together for this important cause.
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
The Joint Committee of the two Houses of Congress on Chinese Im-
migration met on Saturday, October 21, 1876, in their rooms at the
Palace Hotel, San Francisco, California.
There were present the committee, composed as follows: Senator
Morton, (chairman,) Senators Sargent and Cooper, and Representatives
Piper and Meade; also, Andrew J. Bryant, mayor of the city of San
Francisco; Hon. Frank McCoppiu, representing the senate of the State
of California; Frank M. Pixley, esq., representing the municipality; and
Cameron H. King, esq., who appeared on behalf of the auti-cooly clubs
of the city.
F. A. Bee, esq., appeared before the committee as the attorney of the
six Ch nese companies, and B. S. Brooks, esq., appeared also on behalf
of the Chinese.
Mr. McCoPPIN. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, on
the 3d of April, 1876, the senate of California adopted the following
resolutions, which were offered by Mr. Haymond, of Sacramento, who
was the chairman of the committee then appointed:
PRESERVATION
Be il resolved by the senate of the State of California, That 8 committee of five senators
PHOTOCOPY
be appointed, with power to sit at any time or place within the State, and the said commit-
tee shall make inquiry:
1. As to the number of Chinese in this State and the effect their presence has upon the
social and political condition of the State:
2. As to the probable result of Chinese immigration upon the country, if such imungration
be not discouraged:
3. As to the means of exclusion, if such committee should be of the opinion that the
presence of the Chinese element in our midst is detrimental to the interests of the country;
4. As to such other matters as, in the judgment of the committee, have a bearing upon
De question of Chinese immigration.
resolect, That said committee, on or before the first day of Decem-
the
of
the
United
States,
which
1..
the
of
for
And resolved. That said committee shall, 02 or before the first Monday i.: DP
'i) the governor of THE State of California 120 copies of said nemo
englosed, and the governor. upon receipt thereof. be requested to transmit.
the proper channels. one of said copies to the Senate and the other to the House of
of the United States
And be 11 further resolved, That said committee have full power to send for persons and
papers, and to administer oaths and examine witnesses under oath, and that a majority of
said committee shall constitute a quorum.
And be it further resolved, That said committee shall have power to employ a sergeant-at-
arins, at A compensation not to exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. and a phonographic re-
porter, at a compensation not to exceed one thousand dollars, and that two thousand dollars
of the contingent fund of the senate be set aside, out of which such compensation and the
contingent and traveling expenses of the committee shall be paid upon the order of the chair-
man thereof.
And be it further resolred. That said committee report to the senate. at its wext session; the
AUG 25 '95 07:29PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.28
13148355
COPY
THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN
SP902
8 126/95
President William J. Clinton
Remarks on 75th Anniversary
of Women's Suffrage
Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming
August 26, 1995
1
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
i
8/26/95
Acknowledgements - POTUS
Rosemary Shockley and the
Wyoming League of Women Voters
The other host organizations:
Wyoming American Association of
University Women
Wyoming National Organization of
Women
Wyoming Business and Professional
Women
*
HUG 25 'ys 07:30PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.29
THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN
8126195
[Following First Lady's introduction of
you]
Thank you. I want to thank Rosemary
Shockley and all the representatives
and distinquished guests of women's
groups here today in celebration of the
anniversary of women's suffrage and
Women's Equality Day.
I would first like to say a bit more
about the World Conference on Women. I
am very pleased that the First Lady
will be leading our American delegation
in Beijing, where I know she will make
a difference as she has every day here
at home.
2
AUG 25 '95 07:30PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.30
The remarkable delegation that we are
sending includes women and men of
achievement from all walks, from
religion, education, business, the
sciences, and other fields. They come
from all parts of the political
spectrum.
Disagnor wany meres
united
Digenty + respect & opport
for women in fam, w, wilglan
3
AUG 25 '95 07:31PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.31
As the First Lady said, the agenda for
the Conference on Women addresses
fundamental concerns about education,
domestic violence, economics,
employment, health care, and political
participation -- universal problems
that we continue to work on to find
solutions for our own people here at
home -- and they are all areas of
concern to families.
However anyone may try to paint
this conference, it is true-blue to
families, to supporting them, to
conserving them, to valuing them.
4
AUG 25 '95 07:31PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.32
And because the issues that will be
discussed at this conference are so
important to women and families here at
home, we are not going to walk away
from these issues when the conference
is over. I am establishing an Inter-
Agency Council on Women, which will
make sure that all the effort and good
ideas and hard work that are going into
this conference get put to work for
women and families here at home.
I have declared today Women's Equality
Day because where women's equality is
concerned, there is much to celebrate.
But there is still much to do.
5
AUG 25 '95 07:32PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.33
Today on this anniversary of women's
suffrage, we reaffirm our commitment to
do the job and to move America forward
together as one.
All around the nation there are
events commemorating this important
anniversary. It is a special honor to
be here with you in Wyoming, the
frontier of freedom and home of the
daughters and sons of a great victory
for equality.
6
now - UI 11.00PM WILLIC MUSC SITUMITON RUUIT
P.34
The suffragists left us a living
legacy and a continuing challenge: The
legacy is full citizenship for our
sisters, our mothers, and our
daughters, and the challenge is to
honor our legacy by using these
privileges to lead and direct our
nation.
The vote for women came at the end
of a great philosophical war. It was
bloodless, yet painful, because it was
but
Missease
It was costly, consuming
the lives of thousands of women,
It
bears dividends that still pay us all
today.
7
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
AUG 25 '95 07:33PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.35
Termas\divisive reflecting the
Strains and conflicts of American life,
and Net, it brought us closer together.
Opponents said that allowing women the
vote would mean disaster for our nation
and our families -
and it would end all distinctions
between the sexes. Happily, they were
wrong, on all counts. Aside: Hunn fasingul,
93-amic.taine usinpact-
And fortunately, men of good
trans
250-160
conscience, those who supported and
7m/2m
voted for women's suffrage, understood
SCANN
well the principles of democracy in
America. The right to vote is the most
basic of those principles
8
HUG CO ,ys 01:34PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.36
The 19th Amendment was the first and
most necessary step for women toward
the promise of real equality in
American life:
Our nation's cherished values of
justice and liberty are symbolized by
women, one bearing scales, the other a
torch; one promising fairness, the
Form -
other freedom. But these symbols would
be shallow indeed had it not been for
the work of flesh and blood women
throughout history who poured their
souls into making the promises of
fairness and freedom real.
9
AUG 25 '95 07:34PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.37
Susan B. Anthony, Elisabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Esther Morris,
and Carrie Chapman Catt were among
them; SO was Mother Jones, who fought
to end child labor; Sojourner Truth,
who fought for social justice; Rosa
Parks, who set in motion the civil
rights movement; and ordinary women who
every day worked and struggled to move
our nation in the right dirction.
10
AUG 25 '95 07:35PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.38
Looking back from the vantage point of
the present, when the contributions and
influence of women enrich every facet
of our national life, it seems
remarkable that as recently as 1920
most American women were still denied
their right to full participation in
the political activity of this country.
For the suffragists, the vote was an
open door, one that they envisioned
would lead to women in political
offices everywhere and at all levels
They believed that women would help
direct government to where it should
be, "standing behind issues that are
important to families
11
AUG 25 '95 07:37PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.2
There is no question that much has been
achieved in the last 75 years to give
women greater opportunity and a greater
voice in our democracy.
More women than ever are completing
high school and more than ever are
going on to higher education and
specialized job training, entering
fields closed to them not so long ago.
More women than ever before are
becoming entrepreneurs -- in just the
last 3 years, with the help of
Small Business Administration, the
6y80%
80%
number of businesses owned by women has
increased by 1.7 million.
12
AUG 25 '95 07:38PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.3
And now, more than ever, women are a
vital part in our Federal government.
<
In my Administration, I have appointed
more women than any other President [32
percent of PAS, 35 percent PA, 41
percent SES]. I have nominated more
women to the Federal bench [45 women of
141 nominees; 59 percent of total have
been women and minorities].
- Cubrins
- 1/3+ + Pres Antes
-
13
AUG 25 '95 07:38PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.4
We have established an Office of
Women's Initiatives and Outreach at the
White House. My administration fought
for and won the Violence Against Women
Act, and we have established an office
at the Justice Department to oversee
our efforts to combat domestic
violence. [And let me say that I will
fight to preserve these important
initiatives that are now threatened in
the Congress, and with your help, I
believe we can. ]
14
AUG 25 '95 07:39PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.5
We also have made an unprecedented
commitment to address the special
health concerns of women, by
eliminating inequities in medical
research and treatment of heart
disease, cancer, AIDS and other
diseases. The First Lady launched a
campaign to increase the use of
mammograms, which will help in early
detection and the saving of countless
SBA
2x Gonbol cut bus by tois
lives.
85%
We have made a commitment to education,
from pre school to college and to job
training, helping the children of
working families to more affordable
college leans and apprenticeships.
15
AUG 25 '95 07:39PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.6
We are fighting to save Medicare for a
simple reason: Because our elderly
citizens, so many of them women,
11
EMIA-1St
deserve respect and dignity in their
Families
-He st collean
old age.
stractn . turning arriver
OF
BaltheD- Dut of chicon
tucomes
Bigam: it
EITC
All this has been long due for
America's families. It has been needed
run
to build on the work of the brave women
S
chan, Hearthy Typ: safeFors
and men who have gone before us, and
ceauttro
keep our contract of civilization with in SMITH
the generations to come.
chsurahing cuiu Bin
PARKS
There is still SO much to do Our
Mean-
economy has enjoyed strong growth in
the last two and a half years, but not
enough families have felt its benefits.
16
AUG 25 '95 07:42PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.10
These women didn't even have the full
rights of citizenship but they moved
newson
Common Ground
country.
new
Eum
well
Digiuty
Family
Rou & aroun
Y
u was, Ken
Injour time we face new questions about
what we should be doing about the state
of our economy, our environment, our
society, our communities and our
families. How do we care for our
elderly, or protect our children at
their schools, on the streets and even
from bad influence on television.
At the same time, we face challenges in
the Congress to what we have won for
working families, to increase their
educational and economic opportunities. .
20
AUG 25 '95 07:42PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.11
We are at a point in our history when
great change makes it imperative that
we make hard decisions. Women must be
full partners in these decisions if the
decisions are to work for women and
their families.
The right the suffragists won is
precious, and it cannot be taken
lightly. All around the world, where
democracy has bloomed, people know
that; they wait for hours, in all kinds
of weather, just to exercise their
right to vote, their right to decide.
21
AUG 25 '95 07:43PM WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM
P.12
We should welcome the chance to decide
for ourselves, to build on the
foundation that was set down 75 years
ago. As we remember the sacrifices of
the suffragists and the legacy they
gave us, let us also keep in mind the
legacy we will leave to our daughters
and our sons tomorrow, through the
decisions we make today. Let's make
the decisions we can live with and they
can build on.
Thank you and God bless you.
22
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
OFFICE OF SPEECHWRITING
PHONE: 202-456-2777
FAX: 202-456-2505
Date:
Number of Pages Including Cover: DE
To:
BETH NEWBURGER
Fax:
From:
JUSH GOMHEINER
Phone:
Comments:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 15, 1999
MILLENNIUM EVENING AT THE WHITE HOUSE
WOMEN AS CITIZENS: VITAL VOICES THROUGH THE CENTURY
The East Room
7:35 P.M. EST
MRS. CLINTON: Good evening, and please be seated. Those who are here with us in the East
Room in the White House, to everyone who is watching on television or on the Internet, we
welcome you here as well.
In 1900, near the end of a lifetime of fighting for women's rights, Susan B. Anthony
described her bold vision for the future: The woman of the 20th century will be the peer of man.
In education, in art and science, in literature, in the home, the church, the state, everywhere she
will be his acknowledged equal. The 20th century will see man and woman working together to
make the world better for their having lived. All hail to the 20th century.
Well, Susan B. Anthony's words were prophetic, for in many ways her dreams have been
realized. Yet, early in this century the full participation in civic life that women now take for
granted was still out of reach. Women were constrained in their rights to own property, testify in
court, or file a lawsuit. No woman served on a jury, and by law a woman's husband was assumed
to be the guardian of her children. And a woman's wages, for which she often worked long and
horrible hours, belonged to her husband.
He, in turn, was legally obliged to support her. In many states, a married woman could
not even open a bank account. And even what a woman wore was restricted.
Now, there aremany people who look back at that time and thing, my goodness, how
could it have ever been. But we know that change occurred, although change was slow and took
the work of many women and men. And certainly we also know that women did not have the
most fundamental right of citizenship -- namely, the right to vote. My own mother was born
before women could vote.
So I'm pleased to join the President in welcoming all of you to the White House for this
Millennium Evening. With our distinguished panelists, we will "honor the past and imagine the
future" by listening to the "vital voices of women." We will reflect together on the dramatic
changes in the lives of women and all citizens in the 20th century.
Just think of the ideas, the inventions, the social movements that have so dramatically
altered our society. Now, many of those movements and ideas we can trace to our own founding,
our founding documents: the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And we can then follow those
ideas as they move toward Seneca Falls, where 150 years ago, women struggled to articulate
what their rights should be. From women's struggle to gain the right to vote to gaining the
access that we needed in the halls of academia, to pursuing the jobs and business opportunities
we were qualified for, to competing on the field of sports, we have seen many breathtaking
changes. We've also been helped in our struggle by technological advances like vacuum cleaners
and cell phones. We've made strides that, certainly, Susan B. Anthony could never have imagined.
Now, there are clearly far too many topics to cover in only 90 minutes tonight, so we've
chosen to concentrate on one of the defining stories of our time: the way women have entered
the circle of our democracy and moved America closer to our greatest ideal, that we are all
created equal.
Standing here, looking at this audience tonight, I could call the names of nearly all of you
who are here that I recognize, women and men who have made a contribution to where we stand
here on the brink of a new century, who have struggled over the years to expand the opportunities
and enlarge our democratic freedoms. Many of you have mobilized voters; you have worked for
electoral change; you've championed issues, you've been advocates. At International Vital
Voices conferences I've met other women who have struggled around the globe to bring those
same rights and freedoms to the people of their countries.
Whether we know the names of the women who have done these acts because they stand
in history, or we see them in the television or the newspaper coverage, we know that for everyone
whose name we know there are countless women who are engaged every day in the ordinary, but
remarkable, acts of citizenship.
And we will hear from our panelists tonight what it means to be so involved, and how
important it is that we continue to build our democracy and keep our freedoms and our rights
alive. I'm always moved when I hear the stories of these women. And I think tonight as we
honor the National Women's History Month each of us probably has our own stories that we
could tell.
This Sixth Millennium Evening at the White House is part of an ongoing series to
recognize the words and ideas, the science and scholarship, the innovation and creativity that
have shaped our recent history. These evenings are just part of our larger initiative that the White
House Millennium Council directs to encourage all Americans to mark this millennium in
meaningful and lasting ways, to think themselves about how to honor the past and imagine the
future.
1 certainly want to thank the scholars who have gathered with us today. And I want to
just highlight a few names of some of the people who are with us: Betty Friedan, Ellie Smeal,
Carol Gilligan, Karen Nussbaum, Governor Ann Richards, former Congresswoman Pat
Schroeder, Lt. General Claudia Kennedy, Dr. Rita Caldwell. As I said, I could go on and on.
And part of what you so represent for all of us are the very concrete steps that women
have taken, and will continue to take. The President's Commission on the Celebration of Women
in American History, led by Ann Lewis and Beth Newberger, will be issuing a report that has
really tried to summarize many of the advancements that we recognize today. The members of
the Commission, I believe, are here, and I just would like to ask them to stand, so that we can
thank them for their work in giving us this report. (Applause.)
I also want to express my
appreciation to everyone who has helped make this evening possible, especially our co-sponsor,
the National Endowment for the Humanities, led by its chair, Bill Farris, and NEH's sponsors, the
Howard Gilman Foundation and Sun Microsystems, especially John Leahy, who are responsible
for the technology that will enable us to reach millions of people around the world via satellite
and the Internet.
I also thank Pioneer New Media Technologies for providing the high-definition TV
screens in this room. And I also want to thank the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian for
the displays in the Grand Foyer.
Now, we are privileged to have with us this evening three remarkable women scholars
whose powerful voices have not only tell the story of who we are as Americans, but who we hope
to be as we enter this new millennium. Together, they will help us explore three interconnected
themes: women as volunteers and reformers; women's struggle for equal rights; and the practice
of citizenship.
Our first speaker, Professor Alice Kessler-Harris, is one of the nation's foremost labor
historians and a pioneer in establishing women's studies nationwide. Yet her extraordinary
career almost ended before it began. In graduate school she was offered a prestigious fellowship,
but when the largely male faculty learned she was pregnant, they revoked the grant.
Now, this is not the Dark Ages we are talking about. Alice's pregnancy, they argued,
reflected a lack of seriousness about her pursuit of history. (Laughter.) Now, I think we can all
agree, including those nameless faculty members that her seriousness is no longer in question.
Today she is a visiting professor at Columbia University, where she holds a joint
appointment in the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and in the history department.
She also holds a professorship of history at Rutgers University where she directed the Women's
Study program from 1990 to 1995. For almost 10 years, she gave working men and women the
chance to earn a college degree by teaching courses at the union headquarters of the UAW's
District 65 in New York, a program she founded with her husband, Bert Silverman.
Tonight, she will talk to us about the vital civic roles that women have played as
volunteers and reformers throughout our history. This is a particularly important subject,
because without women volunteers and reformers, none of what we celebrate today would have
happened in such a timely manner.
I'm also pleased that our second panelist, Professor Nancy Cott, interrupted her warm
sabbatical at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Palo Alto, California,
to join us at the White House tonight. She is the Stanley Woodward Professor of History and
American Studies at Yale University, where she has taught since 1975. She has written widely
on women's history, editing the 20-volume History of Women in the United States, and
contributing to historical documentaries, including the film entitled, "One Woman, One Vote."
Like Alice Kessler-Harris, Nancy Cott and, no doubt, many of the women here tonight,
had to struggle to have her work recognized. Early in her career, when she, was discussing the
publication of one of her books, she was stunned by one publisher's decision not to publish her
work. The reason? Interest in women's history and women's issues had peaked.
Well, tonight she will speak to us about one of the enduring stories of our time. which has
not yet peaked here or anywhere in the world -- namely, the struggle for equal rights.
Our final panelist, Ruth Simmons, embodies the spirit of citizenship and the power of
education to set our dreams and our spirits free. The daughter of sharecroppers, she was one of
11 children born and raised in a small, East Texas town. She credits the resilient spirit of her
mother for teaching her more about life than any course she took.
Today, Dr. Simmons is President of Smith College. Recognized as a truly gifted
administrator, she served for three years as Vice Provost at Princeton, where she wrote a widely
discussed report on race relations on that campus. The recipient of numerous prizes and
fellowships, Dr. Simmons was awarded the Centennial Medal from Harvard in 1997.
Throughout her life and by her own example, she has propelled many young men and women
toward lifetimes of achievement. And tonight, Dr. Simmons will share with us her thoughts
about the practice of citizenship.
I want to take just a moment to explain how the rest of this evening will work. A video
will introduce each theme, and after each presentation by our scholars, a question will be directed
to that particular speaker. After our final panelist, Dr. Simmons, completes her remarks and
responds to the question put to her, the President will start off the discussion here, and with those
of you on the Internet, moderated by our White House Millennium Council Director, Ellen
Lovell.
Now, let us look at the first theme, "Women as Volunteers and Reformers." (Applause.)
(A video is shown.)
PROFESSOR KESSLER-HARRIS: Mr. President, Mrs. Clinton, my fellow panelists and
distinguished guests: I'm delighted to be here this evening to talk about the many ways that
women, through their active participation as citizens, have shaped American democracy.
Ever since Americans rebelled against the British monarch to found their own republic
and to become citizens instead of subjects, we've envisioned citizenship as a process that
involved participation in the community as well as the nation. For many, casting a ballot and
engaging in formal political processes have been the measure of citizenship. By these gauges,
virtually all women and many men were excluded fromcitizenship in the 19th century and for
much of the 20th as well.
With little access to formal politics, women searched for other avenues through which
they could exercise the call to active participation in their society. Over the centuries, women
from all walks of life have so successfully responded that they have expanded the idea of
citizenship, broadening and deepening it by developing innovative and informal modes of
participation that aimed to enhance the well-being of all those around them and to influence
political decisions as well.
Their activities provide a model for thinking about citizenship in democracy in the next
century. Even after they won the national ballot in 1920, women continued to expand the idea of
citizenship. Let me give you just three ways that this has happened. First, women's traditional
assignment to home and family has provided a model for service to the larger society. Pioneer
feminists, like Charlotte Perkins Gilman, believed that love and duty to the home and to
motherhood sanctioned, even required, maternal activities in the public realm. As mothers of the
world, active female citizens extended their households to clean up corrupt political machines
and ensure that every mother could provide for her family.
In the early part of this century, neighborhood women who couldn't afford to feed their
families led bread riots and meat boycotts. Around the same time, millions of women organized
into hundreds of chapters of the general federation of women's clubs and the National
Association of Colored Women. These clubs campaigned against child labor to protect other
people's children from the devastating effects of work begun too soon.
Sparked by the vision of the courageous anti-lynching crusader, Ida B. Wells Barnett,
African American women fought to protect their sons and brothers from racial hatred. The ideals
of home and motherhood extend from the early part of the century into the 1960s and, indeed,
into the present. In 1961, thousands of ordinary housewives and mothers joined in a one-day
women's strike for peace that called for an end to the arms race, not the human race.
Their feelings echoed those of striking women textile workers in Lawrence.
Massachusetts, who, half a century earlier, had tried to send their children to safety, only to be
shot down by the bullets of National Guardsmen. Those women, too, had called for bread and
roses.
Because women were excluded from most channels of corporate and political power, they
developed some special imaginative strategies for exercising citizenship. Being outside formal
politics freed women to create alliances across borders of class, race and nation. It freed them as
well to imagine a citizenship with more humane dimensions.
Their activities ranged from the YWCA, the Young Women's Christian Association,
which in the early 20th century became one of the very few organizations to experiment with
black and white leadership coalitions. They include Rose Schneiderman, an immigrant cap
maker whose only schooling was in the workplace, who joined with college graduates to create
the National Women's Trade Union League.
They stretched across the world. Eleanor Roosevelt, whose education in issues of social
justice came from some of the same settlement workers and union members, also learned about
the women's peace movement from them. When she designed the United Nations Human Rights
Convention in 1948, she followed in the footsteps of Jane Addams and Lillian Wald, who had
traveled to Zurich after World War I to persuade the world's leaders to renounce war.
Finally, millions of women have organized anonymously in their communities to build
social institutions. In every community, women from all walks of life built and staffed libraries,
orphanages, day nurseries, medical clinics, schools and church programs. Sometimes in black
communities, where political structures excluded men as well as women, women's church groups
provided the bulwarks of racial self-reliance and developed the organizational skills that moved
individuals to promote community change. These skills were used in the 1950s by women who
had not yet achieved national prominence -- women like Ella Baker, Daisy Bates and Septima
Clark, who joined hundreds of lesser known women in launching the massive protests of the civil
rights movement.
Community efforts have also led women to recognize the limits of volunteer activity and
to demand governmental improvements in sanitation, transportation, housing, safety and street
lights. For example, Chicana in the Mexican American West forged local organizations around
such women's issues as neighborhood safety, education and health care. Many of these have now
become the province of governments. That's in large measure because women reached out from
their communities to demand formal support for their volunteer efforts.
In the past generation, the legal status of American women has been transformed and
their economic opportunities vastly expanded. Together, these changes have opened possibilities
for increasing women's formal political influence. It's a welcome and an overdue step.
But women's history suggests that exclusion from formal citizenship encouraged women
to extend citizenship rights and to broaden their meaning. We might then wonder how, now that
women are moving towards full, formal inclusion, we will avoid the passivity among ordinary
citizens that women have done so much to fend off. That makes this an important moment to
reflect on some of the ways that women's history can motivate and inspire greater participation in
the political process and thereby strengthen democracy in the United States and extend the
boundaries of social justice for all of us.
Thank you. (Applause.)
MS. LOVELL: Speaking of organizing, I see Evie Dubrow in the room, and she spent
over 60 years in the labor movement, including over 40 years with the International Ladies
Garment Workers Union. And Evie, I know you have a question for Alice Kessler-Harris.
MS. DUBROW: I do, but before I start, may I just take a minute to say that my sister was
one of the youngest suffragists in this country, and that she went to jail picketing the White
House. (Laughter and applause.) Where she and a number of other suffragists went on a hunger
strike. And when they came out, Alice Paul gave each of them a little prison door as a souvenir
for their work on the right to vote. So I'm delighted to be here tonight, and my question is an
interesting one, I think. How do coalitions of women across race and class lines really work?
PROFESSOR KESSLER-HARRIS: It's a difficult question. And as you know, most of
us can think of more failures than we can successes when we try to think of the ways that women
have worked across those lines. But just as gender -- well, just as ethnicity and race sometimes
are called forward as elements of solidarity, when people try to face the important issues in their
lives -- the moral issues, the economic issues that really matter to them -- so I think women, as
well as men, sometimes call upon gender solidarity when they want to face those issues. For
example, men who are told to go to war often call upon manliness and that kind of generosity to
support their patriotic feelings.
Well, I think it's been that way with women around issues
that they really cared about. For example, anti-lynching crusades, which are sparked and led by
African American women, nevertheless led them to organize and call upon white women to join
them as sisters in the campaigns against lynching that took place in the 1920s, and especially in
the 1930s in the United States. The Women's Trade Union League, which you, I know, are
familiar with, crosses class lines when middle-class women join with poorer and working women
to organize for issues of social justice, around the conditions under which working women work.
And your own union, the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, which has now
been amalgamated into UNITE, of course, was a pioneer in creating solidarity across racial and
class lines sorry, across racial lines -- in the interests of organizing working people. In the
1930s, it pioneered strategies which involved social events and occasions where black and white
men and women -- but mostly women -- could get together in music classes, on the dance floors
of local ballrooms, at basketball games, and so on -- creating a kind of solidarity that then served
them well when they were on the picket line later.
And now, what we're going to do is see images of women's fights for rights. And then
Nancy Cott will speak to you. (Applause.)
(A video is shown.)
PROFESSOR COTT: President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, my honored copanelists and
esteemed guests, it's an honor and thrill to be here tonight to talk to you about women's political
history and their struggle for rights.
Americans don't know a great deal about this history. If they know anything, they usually
know that we didn't have the vote at first and then achieved it; and possibly they know that the
first organized public demand for women to vote was a meeting at Seneca Falls, New York, in
1848 -- especially since the 150th anniversary of that was just celebrated. And I can hope that
most people know that the amendment that did remove the sex disqualification from voting as
the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, and that it was passed in this century. in 1920.
But we need to know more than these firsts in order to honor the past. We tend to make a
big fuss about firsts, but in women's history as in many things, a first breakthrough does not
mean smooth sailing and, in fact, in the campaign for the vote, successive generations had to
continue to campaign, reinvent the struggle and face failure after failure before they succeeded.
In fact, it was half the nation's history in 1920, half the nation's history since the Declaration of
Independence, women had been trying to remove the sex disqualification from the ballot when
they did succeed.
And the year 1920 is then rightly seen as the great divide between women's non-voting
history and their voting history. But it is too simple to say that no women voted before that and
all women voted after it. There were states that granted the women to vote, some quite early --
Colorado in 1893, for instance, California in 1911, New York in 1917 -- and it is too simple to
say that all women voted after 1920 because women were prevented from exercising the right to
vote by race, by poverty, by unstable residence.
The most dramatic example is African American women in the South, who, like the men
of their race, were kept from exercising the ballot by state disqualifications such as poll taxes,
literacy tests and other forms of voter qualification that were administered unequally to black and
white.
Today we tend to assume that voting is a right, even an attribute, of citizenship. But this
was not always so. This example makes a very important point, that the rights -- the content and
qualities of citizenship in our rights is not a fixed quantity, is not a fixed content. New groups
who come into the polity see rights and needs anew, and press for new definitions.
In this century, in the early part of this century, more women than ever before -- more
kinds of women than ever before thought the ballot was a right that they needed to exercise. In
the 19th century, in fact, the vast majority of women did not think they needed the ballot. But in
the early 20th century, wage-earning women such as some of those who have been mentioned
such as, for instance, the very feisty Leonora O'Reilly wanted labor legislation to be passed.
They realized women wouldn't get this without the vote.
Black women leaders, such as Mary Church Tyrell or Hallie Brown, wanted to fight
against lynching, as Alice mentioned; wanted to fight against the disenfranchisement of their
race. They needed the ballot to do so. There were middle-class women who were very
concerned with the state of the cities and social reform. There were women who wanted to enter
professions, like law or medicine, and found sex discrimination dogging their paths. And all
these groups of women realized that they had no political clout without the ballot, so they joined
the suffrage movement.
And at that time, hundreds of thousands of women devoted their lives to the campaign.
Women like Ms. Dubrow's sister, used new flamboyant techniques to alert the public to this
need. Some literally devoted their lives. A very beautiful, highly educated and accomplished
Vassar graduate named Inez Mulholland, who was known for riding a white horse to lead a grand
suffrage parade on the day of Woodrow Wilson's inaugural in this city, totally upstaging the
inauguration (laughter) devoted herself so exhaustingly to her speaking tour that she died on
the tour, because she totally neglected her health, and at barely age 30 ended her life.
Now, once women were enfranchised the ballot certainly provided a gateway, but not all
the rights that women wanted or needed. And, of course, it's not only the formal grant of rights
that matters, it is the ability to exercise those rights as the prevention of black people in the South
from voting showed. But another issue was women and holding political office. Women were
not barred by sex from holding political office by this time, but could a political aspirant get a
major party to nominate her that was the barrier.
Also, state laws at the time, in the time in the 1920s were strewn with discrimination. For
instance, a waitress could not work at night in most states when the tips were largest. A married
woman could not take out a loan in her own name. Only about half the states put women on
juries, and the other half resisted, some for decades.
These many discriminations added up to a lesser legal status, really a lesser enactment of
citizenship for women. And there was a small group of women who thought there was a way to
address this. They wanted to add another amendment to the Constitution, and they called it the
Equal Rights Amendment. If you think this was a feature only of the political landscape of the
1970s, you have to rethink that, because the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced into
Congress in 1923, and it was introduced every decade after that. It almost passed the Houses of
Congress during World War II. It did pass, of course in 1972, never to be ratified.
Now, the reason that that amendment never has been ratified are complex. 1 think one
could boil them down to the point that equal to many people means exactly the same, and they
are wary about granting women exactly the same rights as men when they feel women are
different from men.
This actually reminds me of the 1970s slogan, "Women who want to be equal to men lack
imagination." (Laughter.) But the larger truth is that women are the same as men, and are
different from men. And the question is, can something as abstract as rights encompass and
address that paradox?
The women's movement more recently, in the '60s and 70s and '80s, leapt into that
question be trying to re-envision rights, and catapulting many new concepts of rights onto the
political stage -- reproductive rights; rights to the control of one's own body; equal pay for
comparable worth; welfare rights; the right to be free of sexual harassment on the job; the right to
maternity leave; the right to equal educational and athletic facilities. All of these new claims
extended the horizon of rights and of imaginable rights, and women's invention of them changed
the whole political landscape.
Continuing this redefinition, as we look forward to the next hundred years or the next
millennium, let us try to think of more inclusive versions of rights that will be advantageous to
all Americans. I think knowing more about the past of women as citizens can help us imagine
this more generous future.
Women in this past century, the 20th century, have been struggling to define and to attain
rights that will allow us to be equal and different, too. And groups not defined by gender often
see that as their task as well. It's a task that is still ahead of us as a society. Thank you.
(Applause.)
MS. LOVELL: Thanks, Nancy. I'd like to call on a fighter for rights, Senator Birch
Bayh, leader of the Title IX legislation giving young women equal access to physical education,
and sponsor of the ERA amendment -- not in 1923, in 1973.
Senator Bayh. (Applause.)
SENATOR BAYH: It's always a privilege for me to be here with so many of you who --
we've worked together. And Evie, you started with a personal observation. Permit me to do the
same. Some people may say, how does a fellow from the heartland, right off the farm in
conservative Indiana, get involved in equal rights for women. Well, I was blessed by having two
wonderful women in my life, one who is no longer with me and one who is still tolerating me --
(laughter) -- who gave me a magnificent Ph.D. in the importance of women's rights. (Laughter.)
And I must say that is a continuing learning process.
We all know that women's inclusion as full citizens has had a profound impact on our
country. Could you help us understand a little more specifically how women voters use their
franchise as a class where there are different patterns that distinguished how women voted from
how the majority of men voted that really led our society in a better direction, if you please.
PROFESSOR COTT: Thank you. I'll try to address that. Certainly, when women first
got the vote, commentators were very interested in whether they would vote differently. One of
the prime reasons it was claimed that women needed the vote was because they were an interest
group who differed from men as a group in their needs.
As a result, when women didn't vote entirely differently from men in the 20s -- which
would have, in fact, been very difficult, given that we had a two-party system at that time -- when
women didn't vote dramatically differently from men, they were declared to vote exactly the
same as men, i.e., exactly the same as their husbands. And very quickly after women were first
enfranchised, the notion that there was what we today call a "gender gap" was quashed, and the
notion that women would form a voting bloc more or less dissipated.
It was also true at that time that women's turnout was lower than men's, that this has
happened with several groups of new voters, that it takes a while for a newly-enfranchised group
to exercise the franchise, so that the turnout of women was lower than among men in the 1920s;
then continued to grow until they were about at parity in the 1950s.
We're hampered as historians from knowing just how differently women might have
voted from men in the past in that the polls were not kept by sex -- it was only in a very few
places -- Illinois was interested in this -- before the era of exit polls. This information just isn't
gatherable. And it's really a very recent phenomenon, that really since the 1980s that the concept
of a gender gap has appeared.
It has been looked for since then and, therefore, it has been found. The percentage
differences between women's votes and men's votes on parties, on candidates, rather than on
issues, has been tracked very avidly since the mid-'80s. And percentage point differentials from
three to eight percent that in the 1920s were absolutely dismissed as meaningless because they
expected all women to vote differently from all men, have now become significant.
So I would suggest that patterns of actual voting, given that we don't have a multiparty
system in our nation if we had seven or eight parties, one might see more difference. But in a
two-party system the range is going to be small and it will mainly be trackable on issues. And
since it's very rare for candidates to run on single issues, the differences between women and
men as voters get spread out through the system and show up in very small percentage
differences -- which may be as much attributable to women's or men's race or region or education
or age as their gender, in fact.
Now, we're going to see more images, which will be about the practice of citizenship, and
that will precede Dr. Ruth Simmons's comments on that topic. (Applause.)
(A video is shown.)
DR. SIMMONS: President Clinton; Mrs. Clinton; Nancy and Alice: It's so moving to be
here tonight, honoring the extraordinary advances of women in this century.
You know, as a college president, I have the privilege each year of welcoming a large
number of young women to my campus who, in the course of four years, must confront where
they stand in relationship to history; what they will make of their world; and how they will
maximize their own capabilities in the service of their families and their communities. And then,
four years later, I'll have the joy of seeing them off, as they enter the work world, hopefully,
advance to higher learning or otherwise take on adult roles.
After studying what others have accomplished down through history, and after
apprenticing for so many years, they finally get to choose their own path. And that one phrase, I
think, captures the really dramatic change in women's lives in the United States over the course
of this century. Today, thanks to Title IX, the civil rights movement, the women's movement,
women are able to choose their path.
Young women understand that, they revel in it, and most often, they claim that privilege
with considerable pride. This is a difference wrought by the courageous reformers who insisted
on the right of women to be fully enfranchised as citizens, with the duty of choice and the right of
happiness.
Women of the next century will be molders of their future and proprietors of their fate.
Provided that society continues to protect that freedom, women will have that most
extraordinary, precious thing -- ownership of themselves.
We know that history can record and interpret only a small portion of the many
compelling stories that have influenced the phenomenal changes that we've seen. One of the
most encouraging trends of recent times has been what seems to be a greater inclusion of
unheralded lives and different voices, through oral histories, unconventional and ahistorical
sources, and first-hand accounts, with all the problematical aspects of those accounts. Past
struggles for justice are rich in these stories of lesser, lesser actors, who have helped to shape our
civic culture and transform society, without themselves qualifying for history's hall of fame.
As one who is inspired by countless lesser heroes of the women's rights and civil rights
movements, I rather like to remind people on such occasions as this, that it's also acceptable --
desirable even -- to be inspired by the common folk. It's important to acknowledge the often
invisible efforts that are the backbone of all struggles for justice. For such small examples, too,
can inspire in the young civic engagement at the highest and most socially transforming levels.
Those who live the rather routine life of involved citizens are our quotidian heroes. They are our
models for daily life.
My grandmother, Emma Campbell, grew up in the South during Reconstruction.
Although she was a smart, enterprising woman, the legacy of slavery gave her no rights,
essentially, few protections under the law. And, yet, when her husband died she had to farm and
rear her children. Though poor, she engaged in community and church life in her small town.
Her daughter, my mom, Fannie, was born in 1906. She married a laborer and a
sharecropper. And for much of her life as a domestic worker she was consigned to brutal,
unprotected labor at meager wages. After a century -- almost a century after the birth of her
mother, she remained in legal, social and economic servitude, bounded by the system that had
denied her mother equal rights.
So enduring was the legacy of racial and gender discrimination in the country of her birth,
but emulating her courageous mother, she persevered. And finally, because of her efforts and the
critical mass of reformers pushing for elimination of the laws that held her to limited education,
low wages and an economically-deprived life, her children and Emma's grandchildren were
finally able to see the light of freedom and experience greater life choices.
There is earnestness and valor to be found in the simplest acts of civic engagement, and
especially, I think, the civic engagement of poor people. Like Emma and like Fannie, Oceola
McCarty was unnoticed until she surprised the world with her bequest of scholarship funds to the
University of Southern Mississippi. Well, the world now knows of her lifetime of saving and
self-denial. But her entire life before this act of generosity could be examined for what it offers
us about the spirit of concern and commitment that ought to underpin our social relations and
civic attitude. Indeed, with women just beginning to come into their own as philanthropists.
Oceola's gift is especially important in inspiring women of means to do better than the small gifts
that have proved typical of women's philanthropy.
Imagine: If women could found and endow colleges like Spelman and Smith in the last
century, an act that contributed greatly to the reforms of this century, just imagine what women's
philanthropy will mean to the century ahead, with women controlling 60 percent of the country's
wealth. Women's philanthropy, surely, will be one of the most decisive dimensions of women's
activism in the new century.
Young people today -- they don't often know it or say it -- but they've really benefitted
enormously from the endeavors of all those who worked so hard for women's rights, both on the
front line and behind it; whether visible or not: whether recognized or not. Together, these
reformers have prepared the leaders of today by inculcating a will to change the status quo, and
they have prepared the leaders of tomorrow by proving that wrongs can be made right. They've
given our young people the best gift they could have, and that is the ownership of their future.
Thank you. (Applause.)
MS. LOVELL: I'm going to call on another college president, Dr. Jeanetta Cole,
anthropologist and former president of Spelman College.
DR. COLE: I do have a question for the sister president of one of our nation's women's
colleges. Sister president, there have been many victories, but many challenges remain for all
women.
For women of color we need to give particular focus on our inequalities. What
do you think we can do to more effectively address the ongoing inequalities experienced by
women of color?
DR. SIMMONS: Thank you, Jeanetta. It's wonderful to see you. Well, I've been quite
moved -- and I know you have, too -- by the telling of these stories from the last century and this,
when women, reformers, worked very hard to achieve rights for women of color. That's one of
the most moving aspects of the women's movement, frankly. Spelman, itself, was founded of
course by white women from Massachusetts who went down with a fervor of freedom to Atlanta
to work with Reverend Quarles to found a college for black women.
I think more than anything it's to continue to say to would be reformers that it's not
enough for women to achieve equal rights. It's not enough for women to achieve equal rights for
women who are white. We must not leave anybody behind. And with the pay differential
today, with the differential in access to many different aspects of society, I think we have to
continue to press for equality for women of color.
I'm especially concerned that we emphasize education. I don't like to raise an unpleasant
topic, but I must say I'm very concerned about the attack on affirmative action, because
(applause) -- let me say that I don't think for a moment that affirmative action is a panacea or that
it's perfect, but I do think that it provided opportunities for women to come into their own. And I
just don't want people of color and women of color to be left out of that.
So now that we see women achieving so much, white women particularly, I want to see
them reach back and embrace women of color, and say, come on and go with us. That's the most
important thing we can do to carry that message home. Thank you. (Applause.)
DR. SIMMONS: Mr. President, you've listened to us patiently and I know that you have
some remarks to make and that you might even have some questions to ask. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. First of all, let me welcome all of you here tonight and
thank our participants. I will be very brief, because the only thing that frustrates me about these
Millennial Evenings is that you will be amazed -- we will get literally thousands of questions that
will start coming in on the Internet and lots of frustrated people out there. So I don't want to take
a lot of time.
I would like to say again -- I think I speak for all of us -- when Hillary had the idea to do
these evenings, I thought they sounded interesting -- or at least maybe most of them would be
interesting. (Laughter.) They have all turned out to be fascinating and, each in their own way,
better than the ones before. And I think this is a great gift she has given our country for the
millennium and I thank her for it. (Applause.)
The remarks generated scores of questions in my mind and one fact I want to say. If you
ever want an example of whether or not the gender gap exists, you are looking at it. (Laughter.)
Because I would not be here if it did not exist. (Applause.) Or if it did not exist in the right way
I would have had bigger margins, depending on how you look at it. (Laughter.)
One of the things I wish that somebody would comment on before we get through
although, it's not my question -- is, if women learn different ways of doing things through the
century of struggle, how would this Congress be different if the party divisions were exactly the
same, but 55 percent of the members were women? That would be interesting. I don't know the
answer to that, but feel free to comment if anyone wants to. (Laughter.) I want to ask
Professor Kessler-Harris to answer a question that has concerned me quite a great deal, just from
remembering the patterns of life with my working grandmother and my working mother. Now
that we have opened more opportunities for women in the workplace, but they still are spending,
I think, even in two-parent households, more than half of the time spent raising children, and
we've even opened more opportunities for women in the political workplace, and more are being
opened all the time, I would like to have you comment on what you think the potential is for
voluntary citizens' groups of women to still produce both social movements and specific
legislative changes. That is, will voluntary groups still have the same impact? And if so, how
are we going to continue to encourage that?
Because I think that that's really the unique story of the whole 20th century, all those
parades and everything we saw in the films. Will more women in the workplace, still having to
raise the kids and in the political workplace, which may make women think they're represented
in more ordinary ways -- lead to a reduction or an increase in these voluntary associations? And
what are some specific examples where we might see voluntary movements produce social
movements and legislative change?
PROFESSOR KESSLER-HARRIS Well, that's another lecture I could give you all --
(laughter) -- but thanks for the question. I think there are two ways of answering that question,
and the first is to say that the entry of women into the workplace, entry which, of course, I, like
most of this room welcome, nevertheless poses enormous challenges, not only to what women
can continue to do at home, but to what women can continue to do in their communities. And I
think that those challenges have to be met on a series of levels that are not individually based.
I think we have to meet those challenges by providing opportunities for men as well as for
women, but for people to take care of both their homes and their workplaces. And I would
suggest that some ways of doing that are to think about issues, for example, of working time --
you know, perhaps it's time to start thinking about reducing the working week from 40 hours to
35 hours a week. Perhaps it's time to take seriously flex-time for many different kinds of workers
so that people can both work and take care of their homes and their communities.
It may be time to think about a broader concept, like thinking about Social Security as not
only a benefit that we get at the end of our lives, but a benefit that we can get during our lives,
drawing rights on Social Security -- so that we can take a year or two off here or there to take
care of our families and our children. Those are some of the ways I think that we could think
about the legislation that would provide opportunities.
And just to segue from that into your first question, I think it would not be unusual to
imagine that such legislation could be pushed for and pioneered by the kinds of women who
pushed for and pioneered early labor standards legislation.
My favorite example, for example, of the kinds of legislative consequences that happen
when groups of volunteers committed to producing social change get together probably rotates
around the state-based branches of the national consumers league, which for decades -- two, three
decades -- organized to try to get minimum wage legislation for women, maximum hour
legislation for women because they thought they couldn't get it for all workers, tried to get child
labor legislation. And of course, we know that in the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, their
efforts came to fruition.
So there are examples. In other words, the kinds of examples that I suggest might
actually answer your question. Let's think as a community about the kinds of opportunities we
can develop, actually do a precedence in the past with groups of women who could imagine
legislation to create broader social justice, and then actually discover that it was implemented
first on state levels and then on the broader national levels.
MS. LOVELL: Thank you. We are going to take our first question from the Internet.
And, Mrs. Clinton, it's for you.
MRS. CLINTON: This is from Brock Hope in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and the question is:
We all know that sports competition among children provides friendship and team skills for the
future. As the First Lady, what have you done to further this for women?
This must be a question for me because of my well-known sports abilities. (Laughter.)
You know, I one time was being interviewed on a radio show back in 1992, and this young
interviewer was looking at his notes that he had gotten from somewhere, and he said, well, we
see here that you were a diving champion in your young years. And I said, no I wasn't. And he
said, well, yes, it says right here you were a diving champion. (Laughter.) And I had long since
given up arguing. Anyone who knows so much more about my life than I do -- (laughter) -- so
this must be from the same crib sheet.
You know, I think, though, that it's a serious question because we've learned a lot in the
last several years about some of the socializing that goes on among young children and what
creates opportunities for both young men and women to see themselves as competitive and to
understand what they might do physically and what kind of mental challenges they can confront,
and sports certainly does that.
Just last week, here at the White House, in this room, we screened an HBO special about
women in sports, called "Dare to Compete." And I really recommend that to anyone, because it's
a wonderful story about how women gradually have broken down the barriers that stood in the
way for those who did have athletic abilities to pursue those abilities.
And thanks to things like Title IX, which transformed the world of women's sports, so
many more young girls in high school and college are now able to enjoy sports and enjoy the
benefits that come from being part of a team, and pushing oneself. And we, of course, now have
even professional athletes who earn their living in the world of sports.
And so I've tried to promote that through the President's Council on Physical Fitness,
through events that we've held here at the White House. But I think it's something all of us
should do more to encourage, so that any young girl who's interested and has abilities can take
advantage of the opportunities that are now available that really weren't when many of us in this
room were young women in school growing up, and didn't have that chance. (Applause.)
Q
Thank you, Mrs. Clinton.
MS. LOVELL: I'm going to recognize Deborah Tannen, a linguist and Georgetown
University professor.
THE PRESIDENT: She's coming.
PROFESSOR TANNEN: Thank you. I guess for either of you, I'm interested in the
evolution of language and how that reflects our times, and the evolution of the times. It seems
that there has been a gradual change in the language that women reformers have used to describe
their struggles. So whereas at one time we heard about the fight for women's rights that was
going to focus on women's liberation. I wonder if you observe any current trends here in the 90s,
what is the language that you're hearing that women are using to describe their struggles today?
PROFESSOR KESSLER-HARRIS I think I'd probably describe it as the language of
human rights; that is, I think we've now which is not a new language for women, women have
used that language at least since World War I, but it's become increasingly the language of the
women's movement, I think. And it reflects not nearly the sense that the liberation of women or
the achievement of women's rights will advance women to a better place in society, but the sense
that in so advancing women all of society will benefit.
And I think it also reflects the fact that we are increasingly conscious of a kind of global
dimension to both our own experiences and how those experiences are affected by an in-turn
effect those of women as well as men in the rest of the world.
So I'd say that human rights is probably the new way in which advocates for women's
rights are now imagining that they can influence the world around them. That's really, I think,
what we all imagine we're fighting for.
PROFESSOR COTT: I would just add something. It seems to me in terms of parlance,
that often the term "women's issues" is used when people want to talk about things like this, and
there's a certain vagueness to that terminology. and I think there is reason for that, that many
people feel women's rights, formal rights, have been achieved, or even that women's freedoms,
liberation have been achieved. Yet, there's still something out there.
There still are all the questions of masculinity and femininity, of what the relations
between the sexes really are in public, in private, why there are differences, some of which seem
unwanted. And I think women's issues expresses that the same way that in the last century the
general term "the woman question" similarly gestured that a whole realm of unresolved and
clearly not easy questions that remain there. and while I agree with Alice that international
human rights is a context in which formal searches for rights are more likely to be conducted,
that there's a whole other realm of questions that require a more vague sort of rubric.
DR. SIMMONS: I would definitely say that among the young students that I see, that
there is almost an evasion of language, in a sense, a shying away from using those conventional
terms to express what they are doing, what they are all about. It's intriguing, actually, to see
where they're going to come down in the end, because they're going to have to call it something --
(laughter) and I don't know what that will be. But a kind of antipathy for labels of any kind,
really. MRS. CLINTON: But I think there's something else at work here that you probably could
explain, as a linguist. Part of the reason that women shy away from any labels is because the
labels have been attacked and devalued. It is rare to find a woman who will admit that she's a
feminist. And there's nothing wrong with that. If you look at it in the dictionary, you know,
feminist is someone who believes in the equality of legal economic and social rights between
men and women and not that women are the same as or better than, but that under legal and
economic systems they deserve to have the same rights as men. But that word has taken such a
beating from those who have different conceptions or agendas that there is a backing off.
And I was interested in seeing a recent article in a newspaper talking about the
feminization of politics. And that began to creep into the political parlance back in the 96
election, when many of the initiatives that the President and the administration took -- whether it
was on child care or talking about issues that are kitchen-table kinds of issues, were all of a
sudden derided as being insignificant and leading, therefore, to the feminization of politics.
And I'm not sure that that was intended as a compliment by the people who were using it,
but I think it was really missing the point, because part of what the women's-rights-as-human-
rights agenda is meaning to do is to lead to the humanization of politics, to take the legitimate
interests of women and men as they attempt to shape their own lives, and give it some life in the
political process.
You know, shortly after I said that phrase at the speech in Beijing, I was on a Voice of
America show where a man called in from Iran. And he said to me, just what did you mean
saying that women's rights are human rights? And I said, well, shut your eyes and think of your
rights under any legal system that you function in, and those should be the same rights that
women have.
But it seemed like such a shocking concept that the language is attacked -- not the
underlying concept so much as the language -- as a first effort to try to diminish or marginalize
these remaining issues that are difficult to talk about, to put into language that people can agree
upon. And that's part of the great effort, it seems to me, that we're going to face in the next years,
is to give voice to this human rights agenda in ways that really do resonate in average people's
lives, and withstand political opposition, which will surely come. (Applause.)
MS. LOVELL: And since Professor Tannen is an expert about language, I should say
that she may be a linguist, but she's also an expert in linguistics. And we have another question
from the Internet.
MRS. CLINTON: This is a question from Laura Montaith (phonetic) of St. Martin in
Canada, and it's for Professor Simmons: What would you suggest as a means for involving men
in the education of boys about the importance of women in our society? (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Good question.
DR. SIMMONS: Well, I love that question and I'm very happy to have it. Because I
think that it's a very important issue for us. As the mother of a son, who has come along with his
peers and who I can't believe it as strongly as I feel about these issues, somehow I missed the
boat with him because he didn't quite get it. (Laughter.)
So I think it's very important in the home for fathers to take their sons by the hand and to
lead them into this wonderful light where people are equal and there doesn't have to be
supremacy of one gender over another or one race or ethnic group over another. And it can be
lovingly taught from the time a child is very young in the home. That's one of the best ways to
do it.
For those men who are taking the time to mentor young boys who don't have fathers in
the home, one of the things that they can do, in addition to taking them to athletic events and
showing them how boys can be boys, they can also talk to them about women's rights and girls
and how smart girls can be and how girls aspire to do the same kinds of things as boys.
So I think it's in the home, I think it's in the schools, obviously, I think it's by mentors
who are involved in young boys' lives.
THE PRESIDENT: I just wanted to say one thing that I have learned from a lifetime of
sort of listening to the way people talk and relate. And this goes to Deborah's, the previous
question, too -- I think if you will really study the Americans and how they vote, you will see that
sometimes they vote based on income; sometimes they vote based on racial experience;
sometimes they vote on philosophy. But a lot of the gender gap is a cultural gap, it's almost
about the way we relate to one another and define winning and losing in our own lives.
And I think in order for men to ever get through this, one of the things that men are raised
to believe is that fulfillment and success is defined in terms of winning and control; whereas
people who -- women, historically, have had more nurturing roles. They have to raise their
children. So you don't think -- maybe you have to control your child for a while, but sooner or
later you -- but winning is defined not just as winning against someone else, but it's doing
something in the context of your family, in the context of your child-rearing.
And I think a lot of subconscious patterns that men are raised with make it almost
impossible for them to really get there on this issue. And I think that for a father to raise a son to
believe that there is a way to win in life and find fulfillment in a shared victory and shared
decision-making and not always victory over someone else and continued control over someone
else, I think it's something that takes some doing.
But it's something that doesn't come naturally to men once we've been socialized. And I
think that's an important part of this that until we can change it, it will never be just like it
should be.
MS. LOVELL: I want to go to one of the students in our audience, Kristin Gayman
(phonetic), who is here with her teacher, Gloria Cobbs (phonetic) from the School Without
Walls.
Q
My question is addressed to Dr. Simmons. It is evident that women have overcome
many obstacles throughout the 19th and 20th century -- obstacles faced women of today's society
and how can women prepare for this struggle for equal rights?
DR. SIMMONS: So many of
the obstacles that young women face today are both similar and quite dissimilar to what we
actually experience. I think one of the things that young women your age, and a little bit older,
want to do is to move into those areas that are still frontiers for us.
And we have, for example, at my college, been thinking about women in careers that have
not particularly been hospitable to women science and engineering, for example. Women are
still trying to get their foot in the door in so many areas, and I think that's one of the things to
think about. Being educated at the high school level in all dimensions. Stay in your math
courses; stay in your science courses all the way through high school. Because if you do that,
you'll have the opportunity to choose, at the college level, to do anything that you want. Poetry is
wonderful. Literature is wonderful. Social sciences are very strong. Environmental science is
wonderful. But you also want to be able to choose other careers as well. We're surrounded by
technology this evening, and it's wonderful. But so many young women are not learning
technology in the way that boys are, or young men are. So it's important, especially, not to be
shut out of that dimension. Those are just a few things that I would suggest.
MS. LOVELL: This question is from Gary Daley (phonetic) also in Terre Haute.
There must be a group or people in Terre Haute watching this. And this is for Professor Cott:
How has the term "feminism" been defined in this century, and is it a term, in your view, which
has value politically, inspirationally, and philosophically, for the next century?
PROFESSOR COTT: Well, this fellow's right on your very eloquent remarks, which I
second very heartily.
The term "feminism" in fact, is a word of this century. It was not used by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. It was first used in about the 19-teens by young women who
wanted to grasp rights beyond the formal political rights. They wanted the rights to be as free as
men in the economic arena and the arena of personal life, as well as in political life.
And it was also a term adopted by the pioneers of the ERA in the 1920s. So that this is
not the first time that feminism has, as a term, has been battered. Because when it stood for
equal rights at a time when equal rights was seen as posed against certain special privileges or
certain special protections that women had in the law earlier in this century, it was also a term
that was demeaned as narrow or just undesirable.
And I think it really was not until the 1970s and in the height of the public movement of
women of various sorts -- in the 70s the term was embraced again, and since then there has been,
as you were suggesting, Mrs. Clinton, a real devolution. I sometimes worry that my students
today think feminism means either hating men or not shaving your legs, or both. (Laughter.)
And I try to tell them that it means -- roughly, the dictionary definition -- that women
ought to have the same rights or have the same opportunities as men, and however, I think that
the terminology, as much as I, myself, am in favor of the term feminism, I actually think that it
can have inspirational characteristics, but that what we ought to work toward is a proliferation of
more words that will express women's political, social, economic struggle, the ways in which
they share needs and wants for justice with men; and that the words for women's political actions
and civic action have been very limited, even in our century, and we need to discover and discuss
other terms and put them into use to express really the great variety of activities that women have
undertaken.
MRS. CLINTON: Still, I hope we don't run from feminism --
PROFESSOR COTT: No, I don't want to abandon it, I think we ought to supplement it.
DR. SIMMONS: One thing that strikes me, though, Nancy, is that the further we get
towards achieving some of the content of what we normally include under feminism. the more
young people seem to back away from using the word itself. So the more opportunities they
actually have in the work force, the more possibilities they have for political engagement and so
on, the more they're willing to say, no, no, I'm not a feminist. And it's an odd sort of
juxtaposition that the more young women get, the less they understand either the history of
feminism and its achievements or what the term can mean for them.
PROFESSOR COTT: Although, I think this is not unique to feminism, it's part of the
promise of America, in fact, that so many groups who have been historically subordinated or
repressed in one way or another, when they come into a fuller life, they tend to want to forget the
past rather than remember the past, which may have been a painful past. So it isn't unique, I
think, to young women to feel that way about this.
MS. LOVELL: We can Marsha Semmel, I found you. The Director of the Museum of
the West and, I think, women in your state could vote 23 years before the 19th Amendment?
Q Yes, and actually that's my question, is about remembering the past, as we move into
the future. And I also wanted to say that we're privileged to be one of the satellite downlink sites,
so we have a whole group on the front range of the Rocky Mountains who are able to share this,
and thank you for allowing us to share this.
My question is for Nancy Cott, and it's: why did it take so long for women to get the
national ballot after states like Colorado granted women the right to vote in the 19th century?
PROFESSOR COTT: Yes. And I should mention Wyoming, which granted women the
right to vote in 1869. So that really deserves the first credit.
Well, there are several levels of reasons, and I'll try to be brief. And I think the reasons
were somewhat different in the 19th century than they were in the early 20th. But the very
deepest-based, in terms of political understanding of citizenship in this country, and in the whole
western political tradition, the fully active citizen was not only conceptualized as a male person,
but as a man who was head of a household, and whose vote represented not only himself but his
dependents, his wife and his minor children. But it was his household that deserved
representation through his vote, so that, at the deep structure level of political understanding, for
women to vote would have meant removing a man's reason for voting, would have removed the
important part of his dependents, whom he was representing.
And this had a more social representation in the strong feeling through the 1800s and
much of the early 1900s that it just wasn't suitable for women to vote, that women had different
concerns. The way they expressed their political influence was to be different, through the
household.
And there were many, many women who were not in favor of the ballot, on the basis of
thinking that women exercised their civic responsibilities better without the ballot by influencing
their husbands, sons, brothers, nephews and by acting as volunteers along some of the lines that
Alice was describing.
By the early 20th century the concept of the vote itself changed, becoming both more of
an individualized exercise and more of a way that groups in the polity could express their group
interest -- groups like working class industrial laborers, or groups such as people who wanted to
expand land rights in the west or certain new immigrant groups. The whole scene of voting was
different in the early 20th century. And women suffragettes made a strong plea for their interests
as women needing to be represented and that was what began to carry them into success in
various states.
They were then opposed by specific interest groups like liquor interests, who thought that
women were all enfranchised; certainly, prohibition would be national. And both of those things
did happen, although in a different sequence. So I'm not sure their analysis was entirely right.
And then there were certain industrialists a lot of the Southern states were rock-ribbed against
women's suffrage, not so much on issues of race although, that was certainly very important
but because there was a huge, burgeoning textile industry in the South and Southern -- influential
Southerners many of them thought that if women were enfranchised the kinds of conditions in
Southern industries would be changed by women reformers and they didn't want those women
reformers to have the power of the vote.
So the constitutional amendment went through without any of the southern states voting
for it, ratifying it.
MRS. CLINTON: This is from Lela Turner from Lineham, Delaware. Professor Kessler-
Harris, what are the vital voices you hear when listening to the sound of the new women's
movement? Who are today's leaders?
PROFESSOR KESSLER-HARRIS: Well, present company excepted, of course,
(laughter) -- I think probably today's leaders are some of those anonymous voices that we have
not yet heard from. My guess would be that some of today's leaders are still young people,
grappling with the problems that still remain from an incomplete women's movement and from
some of the tremendous tensions that have resulted from the transformation of households and
work in the past decade or so.
I think some of today's leaders are women who are just now entering the grass-roots of
political organization, political strategies. That is, women who have been inspired, perhaps, by
people like Mrs. Clinton, and by other political leaders as well to think about how they, too, can
contribute along formal, as well as informal lines.
My guess is we don't know who the next generation of leaders are. And we know who
some of the people who have led us this far are, but we've yet to discover the people who are
already moving us forward into the future. MS. LOVELL: Well, I'd like to recognize one of
our Vital Voices, Judith Lichtman, President of the National Partnership for Women and
Families. And you have a question, I know.
Q
I was once again thrilled to hear the President's question involved the real struggle for
balancing work and family responsibilities, because as the authors of the Family and Medical
Leave and as the first law that President Clinton signed, enacted into law, we have a special bond
and great respect for his commitment.
It was Mrs. Clinton who chided me ever so gently a couple of years ago not to think
anymore or speak anymore with respect to language of juggling family and work responsibilities.
because she reminded me that for many women it's a struggle. Women are struggling to balance
work and family responsibilities.
And so I thought both about the question of how do we raise boys and men to be involved
in family responsibilities and then Professor Cott's quick comment about juries and women being
excluded from juries really, I know, until quite the 70s, and wondered if that's the reason?
Was it stereotypic notions about women's work, responsibilities within the family and the home
that kept us from participating in public life, i.e, juries, until the 70s, in many states?
PROFESSOR COTT: Well, yes, to put it most simply. There were many, many
arguments brought against women as jurist, some of which were about feminine characterizations
that women were irrational simple things of this sort. (Laughter.) But in fact where the fight
lasted the longest was on differential jury requirements that is, that all men would be required
to serve, but women only when they chose to. And that, of course, meant that women exempted
themselves from juries, as most people, being lazy by nature, would.
However, the question was why was this so, why could a woman, say, just by being
female she could choose to exempt herself. And the argument was, well, women are needed at
home to cook the dinners, to take care of the children. In fact, I mean, we've dealt with this for
decades now. But many things, differences in the law, particularly, that appear as privileges to
women can also be seen as lesser obligations which, therefore, mean a kind of lesser capacity as
citizens.
And there is language even in a Supreme Court decision of 1961 which allowed a state
statute of that sort to stand, which basic language in the discussion at the Supreme Court in
which said, well, who will cook the dinners if women are off at jury service?
This is in a period when a very high proportion of women were already in the labor force.
But it was really due to the transformative work of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and women in the
1970s who worked so hard on so many transformative sex discrimination cases that the jury
difference statutes were overruled by the Supreme Court, which said in 75 that men and women
had to serve on the same terms.
As much as we can differ honestly as reasonable people on the question of whether equal
rights mean the same rights, I think that we do want to say that women and men have the same
obligations as citizens, and one of those very basic obligations and basic to our system of
democracy is jury service. PROFESSOR KESSLER-HARRIS: Could I come in on that, just
for a second, to say that -- of course, one of the things that prevented women from participating
in public life, or prevented them until the 70s, was that notion of discrimination, and what it was
it used to be said that discrimination against women was benign discrimination.
And under the guise of protecting women against all kinds of things against working,
as Nancy mentioned, as waitresses at night; under the guise of protecting them in their future
motherhood; under the guise of protecting their families and households it was said that this
kind of legislation that prevented women from doing certain things -- serving on juries, working
at certain jobs, and so on -- was good discrimination, not bad discrimination.
And that argument was made by both men and women through the 1960s, until finally, in
the early 1970s, it was sort of confronted plainly, and we began to see it was a matter, sort of
the perception of men and women, as well as changes in the law, that we began to understand
that such discrimination could not be seen as benign, and that it was as destructive as any other
form of discrimination.
MRS. CLINTON: Of course, many of those arguments were raised again to defeat the
ERA, and that is a very recent history. You know the debates that were held in the 1970s over
that.
This next question is from Marie Theresa Penwillio (phonetic) from Cambridge,
Massachusetts, and it's for me, but it really is for everybody: As a first-year student at Harvard
University, it's often somewhat difficult for me to understand the struggle which so many women
went through to give me the opportunities that I oftentimes take for granted. Yet, it seems to my
generation as if the struggle is over. Yet, we know that there is still a heavily unbalanced power
distribution in government and top executive positions. Do you foresee an end to this inequity?
MRS. CLINTON: I will just start, and I hope everyone will contribute. You know, the
very fact that this question could come from a young woman who says that she's a student at
Harvard as opposed to a student at Radcliffe makes a very telling statement, because certainly
when I was her age, Harvard was not open to young women.
So within her lifetime, or my lifetime, anyway, there have been a lot of changes, and I do
hope that young women are least aware of the history. I mean, it's very important for them to be
looking forward, but I think they do so at their peril if they don't have some understanding of the
past and the struggles of their own mothers, as well as people whose lives they might read about
in history books.
Clearly, the unbalanced power distribution is a worldwide phenomenon. This is not an
American phenomenon. And one of the interesting issues that I've looked at as I've traveled in
other countries and spoken with many, many women in various positions of leadership and
advocacy roles, is how even in societies that have given much greater lip service to women's
equality, it often falls far short of the aspiration that is set as an ideal.
And I think that has to do with many of the questions we were just beginning to discuss.
And those are the very difficult and personal matters of this balance or this struggle, as Judith
said, about the choices in women's lives.
And, you know, it's wonderful to have the choices that we now have to chart our own
futures. But the result is that there are still many more complexities involved in women's
choices, in general, being very stereotypical, than there are in men's choices, And that for women
it's a constant stream of choices that have to be met. Does one take the promotion that is offered
when one has a young child, knowing that that means you won't have the time to really invest in
your child the way you want to. And, if so, does that mean you're forever off the track in
government or business.
If you are an older woman, after you've raised your children, you've done what you
thought you needed to do -- not what someone else expected of you -- will you be judged fairly if
you attempt to re-enter the work force, even though you have an enormous amount to give to any
organization that would be willing to employ you.
These are very difficult, personal decisions. And, of course, the lesson that young women
often receive is that they can't "have it all." Which means that they cannot have the kind of
family life they think they would like, plus the kind of professional life they would like to pursue.
And until we get to a point where that is either a question that young men pose themselves, or
neither young men or women have to pose, then there will continue to be an imbalance. And the
imbalance will reflect the different life choices that are now open to women, but which exact
consequences down the road as women attempt to try to have a fulfilling personal and
professional life, as well as to make public contributions.
And I think it's important we keep all three of those aspects in mind, which is part of the
reason why the speakers addressed different characteristics, because there are public roles that are
not paid for, that are outside the home, that are critical to the functioning of any community,
which women have traditionally carried out, but which more and more women feel, under the
pressure of work, and paid work, and work in the home, they can no longer fulfill. And so we're
losing a lot because of the absence of that volunteerism that was always a hallmark of women's
contributions.
So I think that the question that Marie Theresa poses goes to the heart of the most
difficult area, and perhaps the one that we're now ready to address as a society, and that is this
intensely personal area of how one democratizes relationships. And that is a very difficult
challenge. And so for the issues that young women will particularly confront, that will remain at
the forefront of how they define their own lives, and how we as society define the conflicting
roles that women take on, and between men and women.
Perhaps -- Alice, or Nancy, or Ruth?
PROFESSOR KESSLER-HARRIS: I mean, 1 completely agree with everything you've
said, and think that perhaps we could even push it one step further. And that is to say that, in
order to do that, I think we have to begin to think about the issue that was raised by one of the
earlier questions, which is how men are socialized and whether we can't begin to imagine
households in which men and women take equal responsibilities, or divide the responsibilities in
some kind of more equitable way than is now the case.
But then I think we have to go yet one step further to say that I don't actually think we'll
be able to do that until we begin to reduce some of our emphasis as families and as a society on
the kinds of materialist values that we now possess. But I think in order to do that, we're going to
have to think a little less as individuals, as families and as a society about what we possess and
how we use it than -- and a little more about the sort of sharing of some of the social goods and
social well-being of our society -- that until we can drop some of those materialist values or push
them back a little bit and do a little more sharing, it will be very difficult to start reevaluating
relationships in any one family until we think about how we're relating in the world as a whole.
MRS. CLINTON: You know, I was recently in California with Congresswoman Ellen
Tauscher and I was in her district, and we're told by many of the people there that they commute
two and a half hours to jobs at places like Sun Microsystems and others, and that they spend
three to five hours on the road in their cars, away from their children and away from their
spouses.
It makes it nearly impossible for them to think about how to balance family and work, let
alone participate in the PTA, be a coach of a Little League team or whatever. And that's just one
example, and it's certainly not confined to California or to the high-tech industry; you can find it
throughout our country. And so there are social aspects of how individuals make these decisions,
and I think that's an important lesson to be reminded of as we end this century.
You know, there were certainly social aspects as to how people lived their lives at the
beginning of the last century that influenced how many hours they had to work. And there are
stories of Jane Adams going through the neighborhood around Hull House and finding children
tied to chairs because both parents had to be in the factories for 12 hours a day and there was no
child care. So that sparked a movement that led to a lot of the changes that increased the quality
of life for people in our country.
Well, today we may have to rethink how do we do this. And technology may be a friend
in this because if there can be more opportunities to work at home or more decentralized work
places, ways that both women and men can feel that they're more connected both to their home
and to their community, that might create the kind of environment for some of these changes.
MS. LOVELL: And that's a perfect introduction to Ron Menson's* question to Dr.
Simmons, isn't it? And Ron Menson is a senior project officer of the Ford Foundation.
If you notice I'm speaking faster it's because our time is fleeing so fast, so I'm going to
encourage you to keep your answers short so we can get to the rest of the questions.
Q
Well, thank you. I'd just like to say, though, prior to my question, that I think in the
personal choices that you've spoken of, Mrs. Clinton, the whole question of how couples manage
a dual career is part of it. And I think, just personally, I'd like to commend you and the President
for that modeling, that helps a lot of people figure out what the possibilities are. (Applause.)
You've talked a great deal about the work of women as volunteers. In my own work at
the Foundation, I see the need for men to become more involved in family and in community.
Dr. Simmons, does having more women in public life mean that fewer volunteers will be
available to conduct or direct activities that were specialized by women? And how can more
Americans be encouraged to play this wider role?
DR. SIMMONS: I actually don't think so. And my reason for saying that is just my own
experience in, for example, the communities of which I'm a part, and particularly African-
American communities. I think that, if anything, people are committing themselves more to civic
engagement. Older Americans who have retired -- some of them retiring older, some of them
retiring quite young. I have a niece, who's only 50 years old, who's retired from corporate life.
And what's she doing? She's volunteering in a local school, and also for the Diabetes
Association.
So I think there is something -- I see also on the other end of the age continuum, young
people who are engaging in these kinds of activities to an incredible extent. All of our students
do this kind of service, more or less, today. It's a dramatic change. These are not individuals
who will let go of that feeling of being involved in those communities. So they will mature as
adults, and retire, and put even more time into community endeavors.
So I think not. I think that also those people who are in public life are also finding ways
to volunteer, to be involved in various dimensions. So I think, personally, it's a very rich
environment for volunteer efforts. And so it's wonderful on this day to be thinking back about
the ways in which this started for women and to see that today, women still have that fire in them
to get things done in this country.
There's a whole world out there where women are still suffering bondage, and where
children are in incredible circumstances. And women care about that, as men do as well, and
want to help. So I just see many opportunities for more involvement.
MRS. CLINTON: Dr. Simmons's last comment leads, amazingly, and totally unplanned,
to this e-mail question from attorney Vicky LeBlanc of Delafield, Wisconsin, and this is for the
President: What can we as ordinary Americans do to help the women of Afghanistan?
(Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Vicky. First of all, I'm sure all of you here know how
horrible the conditions are for women in Afghanistan. Hillary and I had an event here at the
White House not very long ago, we had two Afghan women here, among others, to sort of stand
for what women in their country are going through.
I want someone in the audience to help me. There is a national organization of women, a
group now focused on this, and mostly the leaders are in California, although some in the East
Coast -- Ann, what's the name of it?
MS. LEWIS: The Feminist Majority. And Ellie Smeal is here --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Ellie is here working -- Feminist Majority is working on it.
And I'm going to have a meeting with some of their leaders very soon to talk about what more I
can do, aside from not recognizing the Taliban and speaking against it.
I think the important thing is that we need people to support this organization. We need
women and men around the country to engage in contributing to a common effort to highlight
what is going on, who is being hurt, what the consequences are to the society as a whole and
what we can do to help the people that are being hurt.
This is the 50th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights. It is
simply not acceptable to say that this is nothing more than an expression of religious convictions.
We just had an election in Iran, local elections. There were hundreds of women candidates. We
see, even in Iraq, a country we have serious differences with, their women are not subject to these
sorts of constraints because they are women.
And I think the most important thing I could say to an ordinary citizen is, write your
member of Congress and tell them not to acknowledge or recognize the government under any
circumstances until there are changes, and -- (applause) -- get in touch with the Feminist Majority
and get all the material, and make sure that you are doing whatever you can do to help those
women over there and to give support for the ones that are sticking their necks out to try to
change things.
MS. LOVELL: Thank you. A last quick question from Carol Gilligan, the founder of the
Harvard Project on Psychology, and a quick answer.
Q
This is for Professor Cott. Nancy, we've heard a lot about women's reformers and the
fight for rights. But I wonder if you could say more about what you see as women's
responsibilities as citizens.
PROFESSOR COTT: Well, briefly, I think we all share responsibilities as citizens that
women and men are similarly indebted to the public and have a respect for the public interest and
participate in it. I do think that as the President was referring to before, if women's historical and
social situation has lend them some special qualities or lent many of them special qualities, then
perhaps those can be especially valuable.
I mean, two areas that I think they might be are, one, in the area of finding ways to end
war-making, not because I think women are intrinsically peaceful -- I don't -- but because in fact,
historically, they have been much less involved in war-making as a gender group, and so -- this is
certainly what women pacifists of the 20s, 30s, '40s thought and hoped, and I think there is
potential for that for finding different means of reconciliation of differences.
And secondly, I mean, a very big problem of the world in general, not so much of our
country, that I think women have a special interest in is the question of world over-population. I
mean, it's clear around the world that where women are more educated birth rates drop.
So I do think that there are -- those are two very major areas. The 20th century has been
the most destructive century in human history in terms of states' destruction of human lives. And
let's hope the 21st reverses that pattern and maybe women citizens have something special to
contribute to that.
MRS. CLINTON: And, Carol, I would just add that one of the ways we can honor the
past is by voting. And there are still too many women who, for whatever reason, do not choose
to exercise their right to vote -- which Evie's sisters and others fought for, for so many years.
And it doesn't have to be different from men's voting, it just has to be an expression of one's own
beliefs and a way of demonstrating one's responsibility as a citizen, the most fundamental
obligation, it seems to me, in a democracy.
So anything we can do informally and formally to encourage women to feel empowered
at least to vote is a step in the direction of making them feel that they have responsibilities which
they will fulfill in this democracy.
MS. LOVELL: I'm sorry, didn't get to all your great questions. Mr. President, your final
thoughts?
THE PRESIDENT: When the Founders wrote the documents that got us all started, they
said they were doing all this so that we could better protect life and liberty, and pursue happiness.
And even they were smart enough to know that they weren't really writing that for white male
propertyholders only, even though those were the only folks that could vote then. So a great deal
of the history of this country is about the expansion of the notion of liberty, with notions of
equality and justice. And we hardly ever think about what they meant by the pursuit of
happiness. They didn't mean riding the rides at the county fair. They really meant the pursuit of
a good life, dreaming dreams and trying to live them.
When I think about what the women's issues of the 21st century will be, I do think there
will still be some significant liberty, equality issues related to wealth and power -- closing the
wage gap, the earnings gap, dealing with the enormously complicated problem of the fact that
there are more elderly women than men -- because you may be genetically superior to us after all
-- (laughter) -- and that, as a consequence, their poverty rate is twice the rate of elderly men.
Breaking all the glass ceilings that have been alluded to.
But I predict to you that there will be increasing focus, more than at any time in our
history, on the latter purpose of our getting together as a nation and that is the pursuit of
happiness. And I believe that will require us to deal with questions of balance and
interdependence, more than ever before. The one we talked about a little tonight is a balance
between work and family. There is no more important job for any society than raising children.
And men have to recognize that, too. But I think that will be a big deal, how to balance work and
family.
The other big balance questions will come involve with how do you keep society together
with all the diversity we share, not just gender, but the racial diversity, the cultural diversity, the
religious diversity. And women will be uniquely positioned to play a major role in that.
And, finally -- I'll just give one other example because we're running out of time -- how
do we balance our obligation to prosper as well as we can and preserve the planet in the face of
the evidence on climate change and other things.
So I believe there will be a huge challenge, which is an enormous opportunity for women,
in the whole area of our pursuit of happiness properly defined.
When Susan B. Anthony came here in 1906 and gave what turned out to be her last public
comment, in a church here in Washington, D.C. -- the last public word she ever uttered was,
"Failure is impossible." I am persuaded by the presence of you in this crowd and those whom
you represent that on the edge of a new century she's still right.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END
9:30 P.M. EST
Search - 19 Results headline (women's history)
http://www.lexis.com/research/retrieve?_.bz&_nd5=7057de8ad0d614b14902ed23ccad4
Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
February 29, 2000
CITE: 36 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 415
LENGTH: 727 words
HEADLINE: Proclamation 7277 -- Women's History Month, 2000
BODY:
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Last spring, three women astronauts paused during a shuttle mission to pay homage to the past.
Thousands of miles into space, floating above the floor of the shuttle, they raised a women's suffrage
banner and posed for a picture. Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, a participant in this special tribute and a
member of the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History, said, "We
wanted to show how far women have come in this century and to honor the people who fought for
our rights." Each year during the month of March, citizens across our country pause to honor the
many heroes whose diligence and determination have helped to forge our Nation and enable people
like Ellen Ochoa and her colleagues to soar so high.
Women's History Month is about highlighting the extraordinary achievements of women throughout
our history, while recognizing the equally significant obstacles they had to overcome along the road
to success. It is about the women who bravely donned uniforms and fought for our country. It is
about the passion and vision of women educators like Mary McLeod Bethune, who, with only $ 1.50
in her pocket, founded a school for young black women. It is about the perseverance and pioneering
spirit of women like Margaret Chung, the first Chinese American woman physician, who supported
herself through medical school by washing dishes and lecturing on China. It is about Alice Paul's fight
for the vote and Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich's campaign to end discrimination against Alaska
Natives. It is about the writings of Zora Neale Hurston, the paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe, the
leadership of labor organizer Dolores Huerta, and the trailblazing artistry of photographer Margaret
Bourke-White. It is also about the millions of unsung women whose contributions have made life
better for their families and their communities.
Inspired by the courageous pioneers who came before them, women today continue to shape our
Nation's destiny. Last year, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Eileen Collins became the first woman
commander of a space shuttle mission. American violinists Sarah Chang, Pamela Frank, and Nadja
Salerno-Sonnenberg were the first women to take home the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize in its
25-year history. And, in a game attended by the largest crowd of all time for a women's sporting
event, the U.S. women's soccer team captured the World Cup. Today, 58 women hold seats in the
U.S. House of Representatives, and 9 women are United States Senators. More women hold
high-level positions in my Administration than in any other in history. And in the private sector,
women own nearly 9 million small businesses, employing millions of Americans and contributing
significantly to the strength of our economy.
As we honor the past and celebrate the present, we must also focus on the future. Our choices today
will have an enormous impact on the destiny of our daughters and granddaughters, our sons and
grandsons. We must rededicate ourselves to forging a society in which gender no longer
predetermines a person's opportunities or station in life. We must shatter the glass ceiling; eradicate
wage discrimination; and ensure that every American has the tools to meet both family and work
responsibilities and to retire in security. By breaking down the remaining barriers and opening wide
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the doors of opportunity, we can make the future brighter for women and for all Americans.
Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March
2000 as Women's History Month. I encourage all Americans to observe this month with appropriate
programs, ceremonies, and activities, and to remember throughout the year the many contributions
of courageous women who have made our Nation strong.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of
our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred
and twenty-fourth.
William J. Clinton
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., March 1, 2000]
NOTE: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 2.
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Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
March 1, 1999
CITE: 35 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 335
LENGTH: 702 words
HEADLINE: Proclamation 7170 -- Women's History Month, 1999
BODY:
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
A little more than a century ago, an editorial in the Pittsburgh Dispatch opposing women's suffrage
and criticizing women in the work force so infuriated a young reader that she wrote a letter in
protest. Her articulate response prompted the newspaper's editor to offer her a job, and thus
Elizabeth Cochrane -- later known as Nellie Bly began her career in journalism. A pioneer of
investigative reporting, she exposed the brutal conditions in the care of the mentally ill, reported on
poor working conditions in factories, and wrote of the indignities suffered by women in prison. This
year, as we reflect on America's past in preparation for our celebration of the new millennium, we
recognize that the talent, energy, intellect, and determination of countless women like Nellie Bly
have shaped our destiny and enriched our society since our earliest days as a Nation.
From the women who organized the East India Company tea boycotts before the Boston Tea Party to
Deborah Sampson, who fought as a soldier in the Revolutionary War; from Angelina and Sarah
Grimke, who spoke out against slavery to Harriet Tubman, who risked her life as a conductor on the
Underground Railroad; from suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt to sharecropper Fannie Lou Hamer, who
faced violence and endured intimidation to become a leader of the Civil Rights movement; from
environmentalist Rachel Carson, who changed our way of looking at the world, to physicist
Chien-Shiung Wu, who changed our way of looking at the universe, women's history is truly
America's history. That is why I was pleased to establish in July of last year the President's
Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History, whose recommendations will help us
to better understand and rejoice to appreciate the role and accomplishments of women.
During Women's History Month, we honor the generations of women who have served our Nation as
doctors and scientists, teachers and factory workers, soldiers and secretaries, athletes and mothers.
We honor the women who have worked the land, cared for children and the elderly, nurtured families
and businesses, served in charitable organizations and public office. And we remember the good
friends we have so recently lost women such as Bella Abzug, Majority Stoneman Douglas, and
Florence Griffith-Joyner -- whose achievements and example continue to light our lives.
But we must do more than remember. We must build on the legacy of the millions of women,
whether renowned or anonymous, who have contributed so much to the strength and character of
our Nation. We must ensure that women have equal access to the education and opportunities they
need to excel. We must guarantee that women receive equal pay in the workplace. We must promote
policies and programs including affordable, high-quality child care that enable working women
to succeed both on the job and in their homes. And we must work to ensure that women have the
comfort of knowing they can retire in security. Women who have gone before us accomplished so
much, often in the face of hardship and discrimination; we can only imagine what women will
accomplish in the future if we break down the remaining barriers that prevent them from reaching
their full potential.
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Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March
1999 as Women's History Month. I encourage all Americans to observe this month with appropriate
programs, ceremonies, and activities, and to remember throughout the year the many heroic women
whose many and varied contributions have enriched our lives.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of March, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-third.
William J. Clinton
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:21 a.m., March 2, 1999]
NOTE: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 3.
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Public Papers of the Presidents
March 2, 1998
CITE: 34 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 362
HEADLINE: Proclamation 7071 -- Women's History Month, 1998
HIGHLIGHT:
NOTE: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 4.
BODY:
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
The Preamble to the Constitution begins, "We, the people." Yet that phrase, inspiring as it is, has not
always included all Americans. Women's history in America has been the story of the struggle of
women of all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds to be included in that simple but powerful
statement. It is the story as well of how, in striving to reach their own great potential, women have
strengthened and enriched our Nation.
In every era of American history, women have braved enormous challenges to change our world for
the better. Women of faith in the early 17th century dared a dangerous journey and the unknown
wilderness to seek freedom of conscience in a new land. As our Nation struggled for independence
and to establish a new, more enlightened form of government, women like Esther DeBerdt Reed and
Sarah Franklin Bache supplied food, clothes, and funds for Washington's soldiers. Freedom fighters
like Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman led hundreds of enslaved men and women to liberty
through the Underground Railroad, and social reformers like Gertrude Bonnin advanced the human
rights of American Indians. Suffragists like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Luisa
Capetillo challenged the conventions of their times and sought to secure for women one of the most
basic rights within our democracy.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the women's rights movement in America and its
immeasurable contributions to our Nation's promise of justice and equality for all. The visionary
women and men who gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, in July of 1848 for the first Women's
Rights Convention in history gave voice so powerfully to women's aspirations for inclusion and
empowerment that their vision continues to shape our world today.
Once disenfranchised, American women now serve at the highest levels of government, as Justices of
the Supreme Court and in increasing numbers in the Cabinet and the United States Congress. Once
denied the resources and opportunities to play organized sports, American women made sporting
history this year by winning the first-ever Olympic Gold Medal in women's ice hockey. Women are
cracking the glass ceilings of corporate management to lead some of our country's most prominent
businesses. As parents and partners, entrepreneurs and artists, politicians and scientists, women are
helping to build an America in which all citizens, regardless of gender, are free to live out their
dreams.
Thanks to the efforts of women leaders, little girls across America today know far fewer limits than
did their mothers and grandmothers. But there still remains work to be done to create a more just
America, and we must rededicate ourselves to ending the discrimination that women still face. We
must continue our efforts to help women succeed at work and at home, to be free from violent crime,
and to enjoy quality health care. In doing so, we will confirm our conviction that "We, the people"
includes us all.
Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March
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1998 as Women's History Month. I encourage all Americans to observe this month with appropriate
programs, ceremonies, and activities, and to remember throughout the year the many voices and
stories of courageous women who have made our Nation strong.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of March, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-second.
William J. Clinton
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:31 a.m., March 3, 1998]
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Remarks at a Democratic Leadership Council Gala,
October 13, 1999
Thank you. Let me say, first, it's good to be back. I want to thank Al From and Senator Joe
Lieberman. And I have seen Senator Robb and Senator Breaux. I understand Senator Landrieu is
here. I saw Cal Dooley, and I know there are some other Members of the House here. My former
Chief of Staff and Envoy to Latin America, Mack McLarty, is here. I saw Harris Wofford, who has
done a magnificent job with our national service program. And I know there are a lot of others here.
[p.2028]
But I want to say something about Sam Fried, the gentleman who introduced me. First of all, he gave
a good speech, didn't he? I mean, he's got a great gift in capturing our vision. And he also did the
nicest thing imaginable; he said how much he liked my phrase about putting a human face on the
global economy, which I use three times a day. He didn't tell you the truth. He gave me that phrase,
Sam Fried. So he could either be a speechwriter or a Senate candidate from Ohio or anyplace else he
wants to run. But I think we need to recruit people from the private sector to run for office with the
DLC message. And thank you, my long time friend.
This conference is designed to talk about trade in the global economy in the information society. And
I want to talk about that tonight. But I want to try to put it into some sort of context.
I began a conversation with many of you, and led by and prodded by Al From, 15 years ago now.
Tonight we know some things about the Third Way and about our credo of opportunity for all,
responsibility from all, and a community of all Americans. We know some things tonight about that
that we only believed 15 years ago. We know that if this credo is translated into meaningful ideas and
real policies, that it's not only good politics; it's very good for America.
In 1992, when Al Gore and I went before the American people, we made an argument. And that's all
it was: it was an argument. We said, "We want to put people first. We want a country that's run by
opportunity, responsibility, and community. We want a new economic policy. We want a new crime
policy. We want a new welfare policy. We want a new environmental policy. We want a new foreign
policy. We want to make America strong, America united, America a responsible partner and leader
for peace and prosperity and security in the world." And it was just an argument. Thank goodness it
was a good enough argument, under the circumstances, to win the election, thanks to an awful lot of
you.
Tonight, it is not an argument anymore. We took those ideas-we took the specific commitments of
policy; we implemented them. We did what we said we would do in our very specific campaign-and
I've got to say something parenthetically, because I owe this to a lot of you in the DLC. I've always
believed ideas matter. But when I ran for President, I violated all the conventional wisdom. We made
more specific commitments on more issues than any candidate ever had who was a nominee of a
major party. And a scholar of the Presidency, Thomas Patterson, said that we had kept a higher
percentage of those commitments, even though we made a larger number of them, than any of the
previous five Presidents.
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And what really mattered to me is, when I went back to New Hampshire in February of this year, on
the seventh anniversary of the New Hampshire primary, people there who pay attention to what you
say, because you have to ask every individual 14 times for his or her vote, or you can't play
there-and I love the place; you know, it was like running back home-but person after person after
person came up to me on the street that day, not at the Democratic Party event at night, on the street,
and said, "Mr. President, it's a good thing we've got an"-they had an unemployment rate of below
2½ percent-they said, "Things are good here, but the thing we really appreciate is, you did what you
said you would do."
It would not have been possible if I had not been part of the DLC. It would not have been possible if
we hadn't thought through in advance what it was we wanted to do, if we hadn't gone from an
identification of our guiding values to an analysis of the situation, to a description of what we wanted
to achieve, to a strategy, to specific tactics. This organization made that possible.
So let me say, first of all, it's not an argument anymore. The results are in. We have the lowest
unemployment rate in 29 years, the lowest welfare rolls in 30 years, the lowest crime rates in 26
years, the lowest poverty rates in 20 years, the first back-to-back budget surpluses in 42 years, the
highest homeownership in history, the longest peacetime expansion in history. It is not an argument
any more; it works, and you should be proud of that.
The other thing I want to say is, a lot of our specific ideas have worked. The Vice [p.2029] President's
leadership in reinventing government has given us the smallest Federal establishment since 1962,
even though the most active executive initiatives in memory.
We have proved you could grow the economy and protect the environment. I went down to Virginia
today to a national forest and announced that we were going to close 40 million acres of the nearly
200 million acres of national forest to roadbuilding, to preserve water quality and biodiversity and
recreational quality.
We have proved that you can empower poor people to make the most of their own lives, with the
earned-income tax credit, the empowerment zone program, the community development financial
institutions, and now the new markets initiative.
AmeriCorps, which was a DLC idea-national service-has now enlisted over 100,000 young people
in the service of our country at the community level in 5 years, a goal that took the Peace Corps 20
years to reach.
We also supported the Brady bill. We supported the family and medical leave law, two bills vetoed in
the previous administration. And all of the objections to them turned out to be wrong.
So I say to you, you can be proud of that. We pursued an aggressive policy to become engaged in the
rest of the world, to recognize that we live in an interdependent world in which we ought to lead. And
whether it has been pursuing peace from the Balkans to the Middle East to Northern Ireland; to
building self-capacity to prevent hardship through the Africa Crisis Response Initiative to give the
African nations the capacity to prevent future Rwandas; to developing economic capacities in poor
countries; to our efforts to combat terrorism and the spread of the weapons of mass destruction, we
have made progress. And I thank you all for that.
Now, by contrast, it is interesting to me to watch the debate in the present election, which I'm not a
part of, and to see how people try to say, "Well, maybe there can be a new Republican Party like there
is a new Democratic Party." Remember this: They're like we were in '92; it's just an argument.
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The Democratic Party-a heavy majority of the Democratic Party has come together to move
forward. But their party still is overwhelmingly, including all those people they've got running for
President-they supported that tax cut, which would have completely undermined our ability to save
Social Security and Medicare and get this country out of debt over the next 15 years, and which they
said they could pay for, even though now they admit they can't even pay for the money they've
already spent this year. They all stuck with the NRA, and the Republican congressional leadership,
when we tried to close the gun show loophole, after we proved that background checks do not
undermine people's legitimate hunting and sporting interests. They're over there opposing the hate
crimes legislation in the face of painful evidence that we are still in the grip of bigotry. They're not
for the "Employment Non-Discrimination Act."
We see that on so many other issues. On education, we're for high standards, no social promotion,
making failing schools turn around or close down, and thousands of charter schools. They're still
hawking vouchers, even though we know the Federal Government only provides 7 percent of the total
educational expenditures in the first place. On health care, they're out there all against the Patients'
Bill of Rights, even though their own Members, who were doctors, in the House of Representatives
couldn't bear the position that the party had taken.
So I would say to you, I'm proud of where we are. I'm proud of where the Democrats are. I'm proud of
where our party has gone. And I still believe that when it comes to defining the future, the American
public will be with the new Democratic Party instead of the right wing of the Republican Party which
is driving their agenda.
And we saw it again tonight when they rejected on a party-line vote the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, after it had been ratified by 11 of our NATO Allies, including Britain and France, nuclear
powers, endorsed by the President and four former Chiefs of Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 32
Nobel laureate physicists, the heads of our own nuclear weapons labs. They basically said, "Don't
bother me with that. I just don't think it's good." And it now has come out, [p.2030] of course, that there
was a partisan commitment to vote against the treaty by more than enough to defeat it before it was
ever brought up and anybody ever heard the first argument.
We are trying to work with Republicans, independents, and Democrats to move this country forward.
That is the difference in the new Democratic Party. And we are still confronting a level of extremism
and partisanship which is truly chilling for the long-term interests of America.
But tonight I ask you not to think about our differences with the Republicans but to think about the
one remaining issue on which we have not forged a consensus within our party. And that is how we're
going to respond to globalization, to the global economy, the information age, and the whole nature
of how we relate to other countries in terms of economics, the environment, and trade.
For all of our changes, we had overwhelming majorities of both parties in both Houses voted for the
Balanced Budget Act, overwhelming majorities of our party in both Houses voted for welfare reform.
We are still not of one mind, and we do not have a consensus on the way forward with trade. So
tonight I would like to talk to you about what I think we should do and where I think we should be,
not only because I think we have serious responsibilities to the rest of the world but because we know
that, until the Asian financial crisis, 30 percent of our growth in this marvelous expansion came from
the expansion of trade and the opportunities that we found there.
I believe a strong, properly constructed global trading system is good for all the nations of the world.
I know it's good for America because of the evidence of what has happened here. Today, the worst of
the global financial crisis is behind us, and I think the time has come to take an important step
forward. I believe we can make our economy even stronger and make open trade an even greater
force for peace and prosperity in the new century.
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I know some believe that isolating ourselves from the world will shield us from the forces of change
that are causing so much disruption, so much instability, and so much inequality. I understand why
they fear it, but I disagree that they can hide from it. America can only seize the problems of the new
century if we shoulder our responsibility to lead to a responsible system of worldwide trade.
If we fulfill that responsibility, if we lead boldly and resolutely, pairing solid principles with concrete
proposals, we can fulfill our promise in the global economy and help other people as well. We can
create for billions of people the conditions that allow them to work and live and raise their families in
dignity, and I might add, we can give those nations the kind of greater prosperity necessary to have
more responsible environmental and public health policies. We can expand the circle of opportunity,
share the promise of prosperity more widely than ever, and in so doing also help to bring down walls
of oppression in other countries. We can, in short, put a human face on the global economy.
How are we going to do it, and how are we going to begin? In a little more than a month's time, in
Seattle, Washington, our Nation will host a gathering of leaders from government, business, labor,
and civil society. That meeting of the World Trade Organization will launch a new round of global
trade talks that I called for in my State of the Union Address last January.
We've had eight such rounds in the last 50 years, helping trade to grow fifteen-fold worldwide. It's no
coincidence that this period has seen the most rapid sustained economic growth ever recorded. Every
trade round in this half-century has served to expand frontiers of opportunity, to expand the circle of
prosperity and the rule of law and the spread of peace. I want the round we launch in Seattle to do the
same.
But I also want it to be a new kind of trade round for a new century, a round that is about jobs and
development, a round about broadly shared prosperity, about improving the quality of life and work
around the world. I want to ensure that the global trading system of the 21st century honors our
values and meets our goals.
Of course, different nations will bring different perspectives and different interests. To reach a truly
global agreement, of course, we've got to work together in good faith. America will do its part.[p.2031]
Tonight I want to set out our agenda for Seattle and the ways we intend to expand opportunity from
the world's oldest business, farming, to its newest, electronic commerce.
First, we want to ensure that in this round agriculture is treated as fairly as other sectors in the global
economy. That's long overdue. In America, farmers are the lifeblood of our land, as they are in so
many other places. They help to fuel our unprecedented prosperity. Unfortunately, too few of our
farmers are reaping the bounty they themselves have sown. Flood and drought and crop disease, as
well as the financial crisis in Asia, have threatened the livelihoods not only of many farmers but of
some entire farm communities.
Every American has a stake in the strength of agriculture. So let's be clear: One way we can revive
the rural economy in America is to open markets abroad. The family farmer in America finds trade
not an abstraction. It is vital to the bottom line and to their survival.
America is the largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. One in every three acres planted
here is growing food for abroad. Five years ago, during the last trade round, we joined with our
trading partners to put agriculture on the WTO's agenda. In Seattle, we should move forward fairly
but aggressively to expand our opportunities for farmers and ranchers.
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We must eliminate export subsidies. All farmers deserve a chance to compete on the quality of their
goods, not against the size of other countries" Government grants. In the European Union, fully half
of the overall budget is spent on agricultural subsidies. The EU accounts for 85 percent of the world's
farm export subsidies-85 percent. This stacks the deck against farmers from Arkansas to Argentina
to Africa. In Seattle, we'll work to end this unfair advantage and level the playing field.
At the same time, we have to lower tariff barriers. Tariffs remain much too high, and on average,
they're 5 times higher abroad than they are in America. And we must work to reduce the domestic
supports that distort trade by paying farmers to overproduce and drive prices down. These steps will
help farmers to produce the vast and varied variety of food for the best possible prices. The benefits
will accrue not just to them but to the global fight against hunger and malnutrition.
We should also see that the promise of biotechnology is realized by consumers, as well as producers,
and the environment, ensuring that the safety of our food will be guaranteed with science-based and
transparent domestic regulation and maintaining market access based on that sound science.
Second, we can lift living standards worldwide if we level the playing field for goods and services.
Manufacturing remains a powerful engine of our own economic growth; it generates nearly a fifth of
our GDP and two-thirds of our exports. It employs more than 18 million Americans in good jobs.
This sector has grown since 1992, accelerated greatly by expanded trade, boosted by agreements
made at previous trade rounds. If the Asian crisis has hurt our manufacturers-and it certainly
has-it's because expanded trade is vital to their economic health, and it will remain so.
Since 1948, we have cut major industrial nations' tariffs on manufactured goods by 90 percent. Where
they remain too high, we can do better, beginning in Seattle where we'll join other nations in pressing
to lower barriers even further, some entirely and immediately.
Eight key industries, from an environmental technology to medical instruments to chemicals to toys,
stand ready to take this step now. They account for nearly a third of our exports. So let's take that step
at Seattle and set ambitious goals for other manufacturing sectors.
And there's one special aim we should achieve at Seattle: We should follow the lead of Korea and
Hungary and work.together on an agreement to promote transparent procedures and discourage
corruption in the $3.1 trillion government procurement market worldwide.
We should set equally ambitious goals for services. Trade is no longer just agricultural and
manufactured goods. It's construction and distribution and entertainment. America is the world's
largest exporter of services, in quantity and quality. And though we've made really important
advances in agreements on [p.2032] financial and communication services, too many markets remain
closed to us. In Seattle, I want to open those markets more fully and unlock the full creative and
entrepreneurial potential of our people.
Third, we have to have a trading system that taps the full potential of the information age. The
revolution in information technology can be the greatest global force for prosperity in this century.
Last year, in the U.S. alone, electronic commerce totaled about $50 billion. That number may reach
$1.4 trillion in 3 years. Three years later almost half our work force will either be employed by the
new information industries or rely on their services and products.
Around the world, the number of Internet users may reach 1 billion in 5 years. Now, currently, no
country charges customs duties on telephone calls, fax transmissions, E-mail, or computer links when
they cross borders. That's the way it should be. The lines of communication should not crackle with
interference.
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Last year the world's nations joined the U.S. in placing a moratorium on tariffs on E-commerce. In
Seattle, we should pledge to extend that ban and reach a second agreement to eliminate remaining
tariffs on the tools of the high-tech revolution.
Fourth, as I have often said, in the immortal words of Sam Fried, we must put a human face on the
global economy. We're Democrats; we've got to make sure this deal works for ordinary people. We
need to ensure working people everywhere feel they have a stake in global trade, that it gives them a
chance for a better life, that they know that spirited economic competition will not become a race to
the bottom in labor standards and environmental pollution.
I know to some people in some nations open trade seems at odds with these basic human goals, but 1
think the opposite is true. A strong system of trade and a dialog like the one we'll begin in Seattle are
our best means to achieve those goals.
For those of us who believe the global economy can be a force for good, our defining mission must
be to spread its benefits more broadly and to make rules for trade that support our values. It is nothing
more than an international commitment to doing what we're trying to do here with the new markets
agenda and with the empowerment zones. I really believe, if we work it right, we can bring the
benefits of enterprise to the people and the places in America that have not yet felt it, from
Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta to the Indian reservations to the inner cities. And I feel that way
about the rest of the world.
So I ask you to support our efforts to have international organizations work to protect and enhance
the environment while expanding trade and to have a decent regard for the need to have basic labor
standards so that people who work receive the dignity and reward of work.
The American agenda in Seattle includes a thorough review of the round's environmental impact, as
well as win-win opportunities that benefit both the economy and the environment. We will continue
to ensure that WTO rules recognize our right to take science-based health, safety, and environmental
measures even when they are higher than international standards.
In Seattle, the WTO should also create a working group on trade and labor. And I know you're going
to have some labor people here tomorrow, and I congratulate you on that. We have got to keep
working on this and banging our heads together until we reach a consensus that is consistent with the
reality of the modern world and its opportunities and consistent with the values that we both share.
How can we deny the legitimacy or the linking of these issues, trade and labor, in a global economy?
I think the WTO should commit to collaborate more closely with the International Labor
Organization, which has worked so hard to protect human rights and to ban child labor, and with the
International Environmental Organization. To facilitate this process, in the last year or so, I have gone
to Geneva twice, once to talk about new trade rules for the global economy and once to meet with the
ILO to talk about the necessity of banning child labor everywhere in the world.
This organization needs to be on the forefront of integrating our objectives and trying to build a
global economy that will promote open trade and open prosperity and lift the [p.2033] standards of
living and the quality of life for people throughout the world. They should be reinforcing efforts, not
efforts in conflict.
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I also believe that the WTO itself has got to become more open and accessible. You know, every
NGO, just about, with an environmental or a labor ax to grind is going to be outside the meeting
room in Seattle, demonstrating against us, telling us what a terrible thing world trade is. Now, I think
they're dead wrong about that. But all over the world, when issues come up, a lot of people
representing these groups have some legitimate question or legitimate interest in being heard in the
debate. And the WTO has been treated for too long like some private priesthood for experts, where
we know what's right, and we pat you on the head, and tell you to just go right along and play by the
rules that we preach.
The world doesn't work that way anymore. This open world we're trying to build, where anybody can
get on the Internet and say anything, is a rowdy, raucous place. And if we want the world trading
system to have legitimacy, we have got to allow every legitimate group with any kind of beef,
whether they're right or wrong, to have some access to the deliberative process of the WTO. And I
hope you will support that.
Finally, let me say, we have got to expand the family of nations that benefit from trade and play by
the rules. In Seattle and beyond, we have to be guided by Franklin Roosevelt's vision, a basic
essential to a permanent peace is a decent standard of living for all individual men and women and
children in the world. Freedom from fear is eternally linked with freedom from want.
It was this understanding that led the generation of postwar leaders to embrace what was still a
revolutionary idea: that freedom, not just of commerce but of governments and ideas and human
transit, was the surest route to prosperity for the greatest number of people. This new round should
promote development in places where poverty and hunger still stoke despair.
We just went over, I think in the last 24 hours, 6 billion people on the face of the Earth. Half of them
live on $2 a day or less; 1.3 billion live on $1 a day or less. One of the reasons that I want to expand
the reach of global trade is because I want more people to be able to lift themselves up. One of the
reasons I want to expand the reach of global technology is that I believe if we work to bridge the
digital divide here at home and around the world, we can help poor people in poor countries skip 20
or 30 or 40 years in the ordinary pace of development because of the explosion of technology. And I
believe we can prove to them that they grow a middle class and grow a wealthy country without have
to pollute the atmosphere, as their forebears did in the industrial era. I believe that.
But for those who share our views and our party, we must make clear there is no easy way to this. We
can't get this done if we're not willing to build a global economic system and tear down these trade
barriers and trade with people more and give them access to our markets and try to get our technology
and our investments into their markets and build the right kind of partnership.
We can't just say we want all these things and then always find some reason to be against whatever
trade agreement is worked out. We have got to have a global trading system, and we're either going to
keep pushing it forward, or we're going to fall behind.
Let me just say, to kind of amplify this, there are some specific things that I hope we will do to show
that we're acting in good faith. I hope we will get congressional approval in this session of Congress
to expand our trade with Africa and the Caribbean Basin. I have proposed two initiatives there. There
is broad bipartisan support for it. I hope and pray we will get that out of this session of Congress.
1 hope we will bring more countries into the WTO in Seattle. Thirty-three nations are applying for
WTO membership today. Two-thirds once had communist command and control economies. It is
remarkable and hopeful to all the-listen to this-Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and
Mongolia wanting to enter the world trading system.
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This is not charity. This is an economic and political imperative. It is good for us because we want
more trading partners. Never forget, your country has 4 percent of the world's people and 22 percent
of its wealth. We've go to sell something to the other 96 percent if we want to hold on to our standard
[p.2034] of living. And the more people we bring into our network of possibility, the better they do, the
better we'll do. It is very, very important to remember this.
It's also important to remember that as these countries that are new to the experience of freedom and
the rule of law and cooperation with other nations that has no element of coercion in it-they are new
to all this-the more they have chance to be a part of it, the more they will like it and the more they
will become a part of an international system of democracy and law that is so important to the future
of our children.
In that same spirit, I am still determined to pursue an agreement for China to join the WTO on viable,
commercial terms, again, not as a favor, but to reinforce China's efforts to open, to reform its
markets, to subscribe to the rules of the global trading system, and, inevitably, as more and more
people have access to more and more information, more and more contacts, to feel that stability
comes from openness and not repression of thought or religion or political views.
What is at stake here is more than the spread of free markets or the strength of the global economy,
even more than the chance to lift billions of people into a worldwide middle class. It is a chance to
move the world closer toward genuine interdependence rooted in shared commitments to peace and
reconciliation.
This is a moment of great promise, a moment where we have to lead. A lot of things happen in this
country that send mixed signals to people around the world that I regret. And most of them come out
of the initiative of the other party in Congress: the failure to pay our U.N. dues; the failure to embrace
the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; the abysmal budget for foreign affairs, when we can spend a
little money in helping our neighbors and get untold benefit; and the zeroing out of our
market-oriented initiative to meet our responsibilities to reduce global warming.
But one thing is still on our plate: We have not granted renewed fast-track authority; we are not
pursuing the Free Trade Area of the Americas; we haven't yet passed the Africa trade initiative and
the Caribbean Basin one, although I think we might get that done, because in our party, we have not
been able to resolve these conflicts.
They've got a lot more work to do in their party than we do in ours, as I explained at the outset. We
have worked through where we are on budget discipline, on economic management, on foreign
policy, on environmental policy, on crime policy, on education policy, on health care policy. There
has been an enormous modernization of the thinking and direction of the Democratic Party, and we
can be proud of it. But we can't go to the American people and say we have a whole vision for the
future that will be a unifying vision until we get over this one last big hump.
This is an exciting issue, and it is a difficult issue. And the labor people who will come here
tomorrow have real interests at stake which ought to be heard. The environmental community people
have real interests at stake which ought to be heard. But we're going to globalize one way or the
other, and we'll be at the front of the line or the back or somewhere in the middle. And I believe it is
profoundly in our interest and in the interests of the world for America to be leading the pack.
And I promise you, if we take initiative, it will lead to a cleaner environment and higher labor
standards and more values that are consistent with ours, including letting more people be part of the
process.
So what you are doing here is real, real important. It's our last big challenge to be the party that
reflects the values, the heart, and the dreams of 21st century America.
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Good luck, and God bless you. Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 9:30 p.m. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Al
From, president, Democratic Leadership Council; Senator Joseph I. Lieberman and Representative
Calvin M. Dooley, cofounders, New Democrat Network; event chair Samuel P. Fried, senior vice
president and general counsel, The Limited, Inc., who introduced the President; and Thomas
Patterson, professor of Government and the press, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
University. [p.2035]
Source: United States. Executive Office of the President, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Week Ending Friday, October 15,
1999 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), 35:2027-2034
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The Administration's Proposal to Protect American Workers' Health and Safety
October 30, 2000
In order to protect the health and safety of America's workers, the Clinton-Gore Administration has
proposed a new rule aimed at reducing approximately 1.8 million repetitive stress injuries resulting from
repetitive motion or overexertion that affect workers. Based on extensive scientific research and public
comment, the Administration's proposal - which is expected to be finalized shortly -- would save prevent
300,000 workers the pain and suffering associated with these injuries of these injuries per year, and save
American businesses $9 billion a year in workers compensation and lost productivity.
At the behest of special interests, the Republican Congressional Leaders have tried to block these standards
with a legislative rider on the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriation Bill. In rejecting a compromise reached
by Republican and Democratic negotiators, the Republican Leadership has forced a budget stalemate, which
has kept Congress in session to the latest date in an election year since World War II. The President has
called on Republican Leaders to set aside partisan bickering, drop their efforts to delay important protections
for America's workers, and pass a budget that funds America's priorities.
Millions of Workers Every Year Suffer From Repetitive Stress and Overexertion
Injuries on the Job:
Repetitive injuries are the most prevalent type of occupational injury in today's workplaces, affecting
1.8 million workers annually and accounting for one-third of all lost-workday injuries. These "on
the job" repetitive stress injuries include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and herniated spinal discs.
These "on-the-job" injuries cause 600,000 American workers to miss work and cost employers an
estimated $15 to $20 billion in workers' compensation costs annually.
The Administration's Proposal Would Dramatically Cut Repetitive Stress Injuries
The Administration's proposed rule would reduce the considerable physical and economic toll
imposed by repetitive stress injuries by requiring employers to put in place new programs to
address these injuries and prevent them in the future. A basic program would consist of
management leadership, employee participation, and hazard identification and reporting. This proposed
rule applies to employers in general industry whose employees work in manufacturing jobs or manual
handling jobs or report repetitive stress disorders (This proposed rule does not apply to agriculture,
construction, or maritime operations.)
The proposed rule would reduce these injuries by 26 percent over a ten-year period, saving 3 million
fewer workers the pain and suffering associated with these injuries.
The proposed rule would reduce costs in workers compensation and lost productivity, saving
employers a total of $9 billion a year.
The Rules Are Based on Strong Science and Extensive Public Comment
The Department of Labor's OSHA initiated its studies of repetitive stress injuries and ergonomic
standards more than 10 years ago under Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole.
A substantial body of evidence indicates a relationship between repetitive stress injuries and exposure
to workplace factors, and many case studies demonstrate the ability of ergonomic programs to reduce
these injuries.
The Department of Labor has engaged in outreach to employers and workers and has conducted several
months of public hearings, collecting 7,000 pre-hearing comments and hearing more than a thousand
witnesses.
The Rules Build on a Strong Record of Protecting America's Workers
President Clinton has revitalized enforcement at the Labor Department by adding more front-line
enforcers, streamlining and targeting enforcement, and has opposed efforts that would make
workplaces less safe. Workplace injuries and illnesses are occurring at the lowest rate since the
government started keeping statistics in the early 1970s.
P.02
Oct-31-00 10:42A
Good Evening: On behalf of Hillary and myself, I would like to congratulate The National Gay and
Lesbian Foundation for presenting Creating Change 2000: The National Conference for the Gay.
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender movement.
For the past 8 years I have had the honor of serving as your President. And I believe that America
today is fundamentally a more fair and humane place. Many of the changes have been made in
partnership with NGLTF through your tireless leadership and commitment to educating and
organizing, on the local, state and national levels.
On the Federal level, we've had many successes. We've implemented an executive order mandating
that security clearances no longer be denied based on sexual orientation, and another E.O. that
prohibits discrimination against 1.8 million Federal employees. We expanded the Office of Public
Liaison to provide outreach to gays and lesbians. And WC have the most inclusive administration in
history with over 150 openly gay appointees including James Hormel, as the nation's first openly gay
ambassador.
Considerable progress has been made at the local level as well. Here in Atlanta, residents have just
elected Karla Drenner to be the first openly gay state representative in Georgia's history.
But we know that much work remains to be done. It's past time to enact Federal hate crimes
legislation. We continue to grieve for the loss of Matthew Shepard, James Byrd, Joseph Illeto, Brandon
l'eena and countless others whose names did not make the newspapers.
It's also time to pass Federal legislation banning workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation
- a law that would cover all 50 states. Today, 1 know that in 39 states, a person can be fired from their
job just because of his or her sexual orientation. That is wrong, and one of my regrets is that during
most of my administration, we faced a hostile Congress that repeatedly refused to pass the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
Yet. il is not just about passing legislation. It is about fundamental fairness and equal rights for all.
We're making progress because more people are identifying with our common humanity. The
American people are fundamentally good people. They nearly always get it right once they have a
chance to be educated. have a personal experience or an opportunity to understand. That's what
Creating Change is all about. Thank you NGLTF for all the work you have done and the work you
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Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
August 26, 1995
CITE: 31 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 1458
LENGTH: 3673 words
HEADLINE: Remarks on the 75th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
BODY:
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, I think, Hillary. [Laughter] In my own defense, I
brought these boots home about 10 years ago, and the shine has kind of come off of them now.
[Laughter] They don't wake anybody at night anymore.
I want to thank Rosemary Shockley and all the representatives and guests of the women's
organizations who are here who put this wonderful event together. I want to thank the wonderful
people who work for the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks for making this an incredible
vacation for our family. We have had a wonderful couple of days.
Yesterday we were up in Yellowstone, and I remarked that I had had a lot of incredible things happen
to me in my life, but in spite of that, if anybody had ever told me that within the space of about 8
minutes I would be feeding bison to wolves and then would be hailed on in August [laughter] or
as one of the park rangers said, this is "hail on the Chief" [laughter] I would never have
believed it. So this has been an incredible thing for me, and I'm so profoundly grateful to everybody
here in Wyoming who has made our vacation so wonderful.
I'm glad to be here for this occasion. I was thinking how amazing it is that a State like Wyoming
would be the first place, the first democracy anywhere in the world to give women the right to vote.
And maybe it was because the men were more secure here than they were other places at the time. [
aughter] But for whatever reason, it was a very good thing.
I have always been interested in these issues because, as Hillary said, I was born to a working
mother in the 1940's and raised by a working grandmother in the 1940's. So my mother and my
grandmother were both working 50 years or so ago, just 25 years after women were given the right
to vote in the country as a whole.
I'd like to say a word, if I might, at the beginning about this World Conference on Women. I'm glad
the First Lady is going to lead our delegation. And you heard her describe the delegation. They come
from all walks of life, from different political parties and religions, and they disagree about a lot of
things. But they do agree that if you look at the world and imagine what the future is going to be like
and if you believe as I do that more and more the fate of Americans even in landlocked States like
Wyoming and Arkansas, where I grew up and lived until I became President will be caught up in
the fate of what happens to people all around the world, we must have a common agreement that we
need a united front for treating women all over the world with dignity and respect and giving them
opportunities in the family and education and in the workplace.
We can't imagine what it's like in America because of the progress being made in this country by
women, but there are still places where women babies are more likely to be little girl babies are
more likely to be killed just because they are little girls. There are countries in the world today that
have a huge imbalance in the number of males and females because the little girls are killed at birth
because they're not thought to have sufficient value.
There are still countries in the world that try to force women not to have children, and that's
something we can't imagine in this country, where that's the most profound right that women have
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in the family. There are still countries in the world where a young bride can be burned if her family
can't come up with the dowry or won't come up with a little more. There are still places in the world
that are held in abject poverty because women who are entrepreneurial and creative and willing to
work don't have a chance even to borrow what would be a pittance in America to start a little
business to ply their trades and work their skills.
And all of this will affect us because we're going to live in a global economy. And if we want to trade
with the rest of the world and promote democracy and freedom with the rest of the world, then,
obviously, we need to be working with people who are trying to unleash the potential of every citizen
in their country. And we believe that's the only thing that works here in America.
One of the most troubling things to me about our politics today in America is that everything gets
turned into just another version of the same old political fight, and all these issues seem to be torn
like Silly Putty into extremes. So now there's this huge effort in America to try to convince the
American people that this conference is somehow anti-family and that we're sending some sort of
radical delegation there. Why? Not because it's true, but because it furthers the almost addictive,
almost narcotic drive among some elements in our society to take every single issue and use it as a
cause for division among our people when we need to be more divided united.
This conference is going to talk about education and domestic violence and grassroots economics,
employment, health care, political participation. It's going to talk about a lot of things we take for
granted here in this country that we think if everybody had access to it around the world we'd be a
lot better off. And however anyone might try to paint this conference, the truth is it is true-blue to
families, to supporting them, to conserving them, to valuing them.
And I want you to know that I think America will have some things to learn from this conference as
well. And we don't intend to walk away from it when it's over. I'm going to establish an interagency
council on women to make sure that all the effort and the good ideas actually get implemented when
we come back home.
I have declared this day Women's Equality Day because there is so much to celebrate and so much
still to do. All around the country, as I'm sure you know, there are events commemorating this
important anniversary, but no place has a better claim to it than Wyoming, for all the reasons that
Hillary said.
The suffragists left us a living legacy and a continuing challenge. The legacy is full citizenship for our
mothers, our sisters, our daughters. The continuing challenge is to honor that legacy by using these
privileges to lead our Nation in the right direction.
The vote for women came at the end of an enormous philosophical war. Some of the things said kind
of remind me about what people are saying about this conference on women now. It was bloodless,
but it was highly costly. It literally consumed the lives of thousands of American women who were
dedicated to gaining the right to vote. The dividends that were won we are still reaping today.
But remember what the opponents said about that. The opponents said that allowing women the
vote would mean a disaster for our Nation; it would destroy our families; it would end all distinctions
between the sexes. [Laughter] Happily, they were wrong on all counts. [Laughter] But the arguments
then and the arguments you hear about this conference on women today, they illustrate one of
Clinton's laws of politics, which is that the American people have one peculiarity: they're all for
change in general, but a lot of them are against it in particular. [Laughter]
I remember back in 1993 when I was trying to get Congress to enact my deficit reduction program
that would also have lowered taxes on working families with children and increased our investment
in education and technology and the people who wouldn't vote for it said it would mean the end of
the American economy. It would bring on a great recession. It would just be a disaster. It would be
the end of everything good and true about America. A bunch of those folks are running for President
today. [Laughter]
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So it turned out that the results of that program were that we reduced the deficit from $ 290 billion
to $ 160 billion. We got about halfway home toward our goal of balancing the budget before anything
is done this year. We got 7 million new jobs, 2 1/2 million new homeowners, 1 1/2 million new small
businesses, the largest number in American history, the stock market at 4,700, and things are
rocking along pretty good. And they still say it was just the worst thing that ever happened.
Everybody is for change in general, but it's difficult to get people to do the particular things to
achieve those changes. I think that's important to remember.
Somehow, by some magic of harmony with this beautiful nature behind me and a sense of
self-confidence and fairness, men who were in the decisionmaking process in Wyoming found the
self-confidence and the innate fairness, without regard to their other partisan or philosophical
differences, to say it doesn't make sense to have half our folks not have the right to vote. And that's
a great tribute to the people of Wyoming. It led directly to the passage of the 19th amendment,
without which none of these other things would have happened.
And of course, as Hillary already said as she introduced the survivors here of that remarkable slate of
women who swept the elections in Jackson in 1920 -- I thought that was an incredible thing, and I
liked it a lot until I read that one of the women actually defeated her own husband. [Laughter] Those
guys have even more self-confidence than I do when it came to that. [Laughter]
If you think about it, it's interesting, women have always had great symbolic importance in our
country's democracy. Our greatest symbols for justice and liberty are women. Think about it, a
woman holding the scales of justice, blindfolded; the Statue of Liberty holding a torch. One promises
fairness; the other, freedom.
We are a country that, more than anything else, is still around after all this time because we kept
expanding the boundaries of fairness and freedom, because we never listened to not only the
naysayers among us but also the naysayers in our own spirits, for each of us, inside, every day
wakes up with the scales balanced between hope and fear. And somehow we've always found the
magic balance to go forward for fairness and freedom.
Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Esther Morris, Carrie Chapman Catt, they
helped to achieve that. Mother Jones fought to end child labor. Sojourner Truth fought to end
discrimination and to establish social justice. My friend Rosa Parks set in motion the civil rights
movement by simply refusing to sit in the wrong place on a bus. A lot of ordinary women all over this
country, decade after decade after decade, have worked to advance the cause of fairness and
freedom.
When we look back on them from the vantage point of the present, it's hard to imagine that as
recently as 1920 American women couldn't vote. The suffragists had a lot of vision. They knew that
the vote would be an opening, a door through which women could help to direct our Government to
where it should be and with which women could stand behind issues that would make their families
stronger and their children's lives better.
When you look back, it seems remarkable that all this has happened in the last 75 years. Now, more
and more women are completing higher and higher levels of education, entering fields which were
closed to them not so long ago. Every time I visit a Federal facility, every time I go to these national
parks, I marvel at how many of the park rangers are women.
We just celebrated, Hillary and I did, a milestone in the progress to erect a memorial in Washington
to the women who are veterans of our wars. And I was so proud to be able to say at this ceremony
that in the 2 1/2 years I have been President, we have opened more than 250,000 positions in the
United States military to women that were closed just 2 1/2 years ago.
In the last 3 years, the Small Business Administration in our administration has cut its budget by 40
percent, almost doubled its loan volume, and increased loans to women entrepreneurs by 85 percent.
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We're not at 50 percent yet, but I have six women in my Cabinet, twice the number of any previous
administration, and over one-third of our Presidential appointees and about one-third of the new
Federal judges appointed in the last 2 1/2 years are women. Women are beginning to participate
more fully throughout this country in the life of America. And so far as I know, the sky is not falling
anywhere. [Laughter]
We also have to recognize that the people who were against the right to vote for women were wrong
when they said this would abolish all differences between the sexes. And some of the differences that
still exist are not such good ones. We know that women are still, in peculiar ways, more vulnerable
to violence, and we have established a violence against women section in the Department of Justice
which is doing exemplary work. And the former Attorney General of Iowa, Bonnie Campbell, heads
that, and she is also going to the women's conference.
We have tried to do a lot of work to see that our national medical research focuses more on the
health concerns of women. I was stunned when I started running for President, I never knew before
how women had been systematically left out of a lot of the research efforts in the health area,
particularly areas relating to cancer. And so we have done a lot of work to make sure that in medical
research and treatment, with heart disease, cancer, AIDS, and other diseases, women are more fully
represented in the testing protocols and the research to make sure that we do what we ought to do.
Hillary has launched a national campaign to try to increase the use of mammograms which will help
in the early detection and the saving of thousands of lives. And I hope it will be ever more successful.
As you look ahead, I ask you to think about what is the agenda for women and for families, for more
than any other people in our society, women have always carried on the struggle to find both
personal fulfillment and still fulfill the social obligation of maintaining strong families and giving our
children a better chance. And I think now that's what we want for all Americans.
If you look at the American economy today, the truth is that most people don't have the option not
to work. For those who do, I applaud them for any decision they choose to make because the most
important thing in our society is still raising children and doing a good job of it. That is still the first
and most important job of our society.
But if you look at this world toward which we are moving, the 21st century, the way we work and live
is changing dramatically. And we are in a big, huge debate today, not just in Washington but in
every State in the country, about how we're going to reestablish common ground, how can we agree
on the basic things we have to do to enable our people to succeed, first and foremost, in raising their
children, secondly, in being successful in the workplace, and thirdly, in preserving our freedom and
our way of life. Those will be the great challenges, the new family values challenges for the 21st
century. And we have to ask and answer those questions.
If I might, let me just suggest a few things that I think are quite important if we are going to extol
family values and give women a chance to live up to the fullest of their God-given capacities as we
move into this next century.
First of all, we've got to say, it is the policy of the United States of America for people to be able to
succeed as parents and as workers. It is the policy of the United States for people to be able to
succeed. In that sense, perhaps the most important law I've signed since becoming President is the
first one, the family and medical leave law. The people again everybody was for change in general
but against it in particular. People got up and gave the awfullest speeches you ever heard about that
law. They said it would mean the end of the free enterprise system, businesses would go bankrupt,
stores would be boarded up everywhere.
We have no instance, not a single one, of a business going bankrupt because of the family and
medical leave law. But there are a whole lot of people out there who can take a little time off from
work when their children are sick sometimes their children are dying without losing their job.
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And that's a good thing. There are women who can take time off from work to deal with their own
illnesses without losing their health insurance and thereby losing their ability to work, because of
that law. So I think that's a part of our family values agenda.
If you look at the family values agenda, you have to say in the world toward which we are moving
the level of education people have determines their income and their capacity to earn more than ever
before in American history. So I think giving every child a good start in school and guaranteeing
everybody the fight to go to college with an affordable college loan, preserving programs like the
national service program that allows people to work their way through college, giving every
unemployed person in the country the right to what I call a "GI bill" for America's workers, a voucher
that they can take to the nearest community college so that they can get retrained when they lose
their jobs, these are family value issues that will profoundly affect the women of our country and
their ability to do well in the future.
I think immunizing all the children in this country is a pretty important family values issue. I think
we ought to keep going until we've got the job done. I think we ought to recognize that, yes, we
have to slow the rate of inflation in Medicare and Medicaid, but we shouldn't forget that if we want
our working people to be able to educate their children, then we ought not to cut Medicare and
Medicaid so much that they will undermine the ability of middle class people to have their parents
get the care they need and undermine senior citizens' ability to get that kind of care.
Let me make it clear: I believe balancing the budget is a family values issue. I think it this year
this year, we would have a surplus in the budget but for the interest run up on the debt accumulated
in the 12 years before I showed up in Washington. This is a big issue.
Next year, interest on the debt will be bigger than the defense budget. We're worried about getting
an adequate budget for the parks here. We're worried about getting an adequate budget for
education. No American has a stake in a permanent deficit. That also is a family values issue; lifting
the burden of this awful debt off of our children is a family values issue. But we can do it without
breaking Medicare and bankrupting the ability of middle class families to know that their parents can
get the health care they need while they educate their children. We can do both, but we must do
both. It's not an either-or choice.
I think maintaining what you see behind me is a family values issue, and making it available for all
the American people. And I think being willing to honestly confront some of the most difficult
conflicts in our society where short-term economic gain will cause a heavy price over the long run is
also an important part of our maturing as a country.
And let me just mention one issue, a difficult one. Everybody told me that I all my political
advisers told me I had taken leave of my senses when I said it was time to stop walking away from
the terrible health consequences of teenage smoking. But I believe the United States is right to say
this is a children's disease. Kids are being addicted, 3,000 kids a day start smoking, 1,000 of them
1,000 of them will have their lives shortened as a result of it. I think that is a family values issue,
and we should take it and face it together.
So if we're going to do this, it is important that we remember the kind of self-confidence that was
demonstrated in Wyoming when women got the right to vote. It is important that men and women,
with all their differences, political and otherwise, have the level of self-confidence to sit down and
say, America is still a great big family. Like every great big family, there's a whole lot of differences,
and there's always going to be a whole lot of argument, and we're always going to be looking at
some of our family members cross-eyed, like we do our second cousin that we wish wouldn't show up
to the reunion. [Laughter] But there are limits to the extent to which we can demonize one another.
We've got to treat each other with respect and work through these things.
And if we really want the day when women will become full partners in the decision-making process
in America and we believe that's a good thing -- and we want to face these issues which will
determine whether we go into the 21st century with the American dream alive and well and the
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American community strong and together, we have got to have that level of self-confidence. We have
got to remember that every time, every time we have faced the choice between going forward with
freedom or fairness, two things symbolized by women, we have had to deal with the demon of
insecurity in our country and even inside.
And we have heard all these proclamations, all these Chicken Little proclamations that every change
we make -- that we knew we ought to make would cause the sky to fall, and we're still around after
almost 220 years because somehow, someway when it came time to make the decision, we decided
Chicken Little was wrong.
Blind justice was right; the Statue of Liberty was right; and the kind of self-confidence displayed by
the people of Wyoming when they led the world in giving women the fight to vote was right. It was
fight then, and it still is.
Thank you, and God bless you.
NOTE: The President spoke at approximately 11:30 a.m. at Jackson Lake Lodge on the 75th
anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution. In his remarks, he referred
to Rosemary Shockley, president, League of Women Voters of Wyoming.
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 24, 2000
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN STATEMENT ON EQUAL PAY
Presidential Hall
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
11:44 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, first of all, I think Sharon was
a little apprehensive coming out here because she doesn't do public
speaking for a living, but I thought she was magnificent and I thank her
for it. (Applause.) I want to thank Secretary Herman, for her
leadership on this issue, and Secretary Shalala, and our EEOC Chair, Ida
Castro, who is here.
We have a number of members of Congress who are here and I would
like to acknowledge their presence, because this will be a bipartisan
effort. I thank -- we'll start down here, Congressman Eliot Engel, from
New York; Congressman Jim McGovern, from Massachusetts; Congresswoman
Ellen Tauscher, from California; Representative Eleanor Holmes-Norton,
from the District of Columbia; Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson,
from Texas; Representative Rosa DeLauro, from Connecticut;
Representative Ted Strickland, from Ohio; Representative Connie Morella,
from Maryland; and Representative Albert Wynn from Maryland. Thank you
all for coming. (Applause.)
I'd also like to thank Donna DeVarona for being here. She was the
World's Cup organizing chair last year, and herself a great athlete; and
she's now working with General McCaffrey and the Olympic's Committee to
try to make sure that the Olympics in Sydney and all future Olympics are
properly conducted in every conceivable way. Thank you very much for
being here, we're delighted to see you. (Applause.)
I want to thank Michelle Akers for coming here and telling the
story of her life and her family's. I think all of us who saw the
Women's World Cup final -- and I had the privilege of being there, much
to the dismay of my wife and daughter, I had the privilege of going --
(laughter) -- were truly overwhelmed by the experience. It was one of
those just excruciatingly exciting moments. Grown people of both
genders were weeping in our group.
And afterward, you may remember that Michelle took quite a blow and
was hurt. And I saw her walking through the stadium after the game and
I went up to her and I said, you're my favorite because you can take a
punch, and I know something about that. (Laughter.) And so I am
delighted that she was able to come here and be with us today; and
delighted that she has both continued to fight for the interests of
women athletes, and never forgotten about the experience of her own
mother.
You heard Michelle talking about the role of Title IX. Whenever
something really magnificent happens, like that World Cup final, it's a
tribute to -- it's not just a moment. In that moment, you see years and
years and years of hard work and determination and victory and
disappointment -- all the things people go through -- that is all lost
in the glory of the moment. And something no one ever thinks about is,
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how did these people get this opportunity? What kind of framework was
there SO that they got to develop their talents, and live their dreams?
Well, that's what Title IX is all about, and we've had the honor,
Hillary and I have, of having big events here at the White House to
celebrate Title IX, and that wonderful HBO series on the history of
women and sports, which I hope you've all seen -- if you hadn't, you
ought to make arrangements to do so.
But if you were thinking about the application of the principle of
Title IX to the workplace, and you think about Sharon Long's heroic
story -- and how many people like her there have been; how many
countless people like her there have been, who didn't stand up and fight
like she did -- then you have to view the Equal Pay Act as Title IX for
the playing field of life. That's why I'm glad both these women are
here today.
We want to make sure that in every field of endeavor, everyone
knows that those who work hard and play by the rules will have the
chance to make the most of their abilities. This is about the value of
work, the values of our country. It's about whether people can truly
have a chance to choose the life they will lead; and for women,
increasingly, it's about whether they'll have the chance to succeed both
at home and at work.
That's what the Family Leave Law was all about. Twenty million
people have now taken advantage of that, to take some time off and not
lose their jobs when there's a baby born or a sick parent. It's what
the Earned Income Tax Credit and the minimum wage and the child care
reference and the strengthened pension coverage that these members of
Congress have worked with me on over these last few years are all about.
And so, today, because there's still a big need, as you have heard, we
want to take new steps this year to reward work, to strengthen pay and
to make equal pay a reality for all Americans.
First of all, I want to propose a $27-million equal pay initiative,
which will be part of my budget, to expand opportunities for women and
to do more to end wage discrimination. If Congress agrees, we'll be
making the largest investment ever to promote equal pay. There's never
been a better time to take on this challenge. We have the strongest
economy in generations; more than 20 million new jobs; next month, the
longest economic expansion in American history.
Working women have had a big role in this economic expansion. You
heard Secretary Herman detailing that in just the last year. And women
are sharing in the progress. Listen to this: even though we have a
higher percentage of women in the work force than ever before, the
female unemployment rate is now the lowest since the end of World War II
the lowest female household poverty rate female-headed household
poverty rate we have ever recorded; wages for women up 25 percent since
1992. The pay gap has narrowed by about half since the Equal Pay Act
was passed back in 1963.
But that means that we've still got half to go, after 37 years.
And 25 percent is a lot of money. You heard -- Secretary Herman gave
you her grocery store analogy. How would you like to show up for work
every day, but only get to take home three out of every four paychecks?
If someone tried to do that, there would be riots in the street; but if
you get paid 75 percent for the same kind of work, it's as if you were
only picking up three paychecks, instead of four, in four pay periods.
The average woman has to work, therefore, an extra 17 weeks a year
to earn what a similarly-qualified man in the same kind of job makes.
And even after you make adjustments -- and that's why I thought what
Sharon said was SO important today, to hammer home this point. Yes,
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some of this can be explained -- by differences in education, experience
and occupation. But even after you make all those adjustments, there is
still a very significant gap. As women get older, the gap gets wider.
And it is widest, regrettably, for women of color. African-American
women earn 64 cents for every dollar earned by white men; Hispanic women
just 55 cents.
Now, this is not just a women's issue. And I appreciate the fact
that we have five women members of Congress and four men here. I'm the
son of a working mother, the grandson of a working grandmother, the
husband of a working wife, and my daughter plans to follow suit. I've
joked, every time I do an event like this, that the first time in our
entire marriage that I made more money than Hillary was when I became
President -- (laughter) -- and all I'm really doing is trying to give
other men the privilege of riding on the same gravy train I did all
these years. (Laughter.)
But it's not a women's issue. If a woman with a family is being
denied equal pay for equal work, then her husband suffers. Her children
suffer. The family dynamic suffers. You think about how much time you
spend at work every day, you can't go to a workplace and feel like
you're getting the shaft and not have it have an impact that goes even
beyond economics on your home life. And I'm glad -- Sharon has her
husband and family members here today, they all paid. Everybody pays.
So this is a big issue in that sense. I'd also like to point out
that it's a much bigger economic issue, even in the paycheck. Why?
Because if you make less, then you have less going into your Social
Security account and you 11 earn less in your Social Security check.
Because if you make less, you're far less likely to be able to have your
own retirement plan. And if you do have one, it'll be smaller.
The average woman who is about to retire -- keep in mind the pay
gap is 75 percent -- the average woman who is about to retire, if she
even gets a pension in the first place, can expect only about half the
pension benefits of the average man who retires. So the pay gap leads
to an even bigger retirement gap. And this is something we have to
think about more and more and more. And again, it's not just a women's
issue.
The poverty rate among elderly women is about twice the poverty
rate for people over 65 generally. The number of people over 65 will
double in the next 30 years. Americans today who are 65 years old
already have a life expectancy in excess of 82 years. And women live a
few years longer than men, on the average. This is a huge deal, with
implications for our entire society -- even for families where women do
not experience discrimination in the workplace. They, too, will be
affected in an aging society where more and more retirees are women who
are severely disadvantaged.
So today we want to close those gaps. First, I propose $10 million
for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to train more than 1,000
EEOC enforcement personnel to identify and respond to wage
discrimination. This would be, believe it or not, the first time the
EEOC has ever received funding for this kind of training. The resources
will also be used to educate employers and workers about their
responsibilities and their rights under the law.
I made this request last year, and Congress failed to pass it. I
again implore Congress to do the right thing and pass this funding. And
I hope you will help us do this. If we train enough people to spot the
problems early and work on them aggressively, the EEOC can help give us
more stories like Sharon Long's, without the waiting time.
Second, another important way to close the wage gap is to open new
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opportunities. So we propose a $17 million investment in the Department
of Labor, to include resources to expand opportunities for women in
non-traditional jobs. We're making headway in the construction
industry. We're also going to put a special focus on the jobs of the
future in the high-tech industry.
Today -- listen to this -- men outnumber women by more than two to
one in many high-tech occupations. These are among the highest-paid
jobs in our economy, paying on average almost 80 percent above the
average jobs. Now, that's another element of the digital divide. We
need to close the divide in employment and expand opportunities for
women in these kinds of jobs.
Third, and finally, we need to clearly send the message that wage
discrimination against women is just as unacceptable as discrimination
based on race or ethnicity. So once again I ask the Congress to pass
the paycheck fairness act sponsored by Representative DeLauro and
Senator Tom Daschle. Pass it. It's a good bill. There is no excuse
not to pass it. We plainly need to strengthen the law. We've had the
other Equal Pay Act on the books since 1963, and we've still got a 25
percent gap. The evidence is there. We should have been able to
eliminate this problem after 37 years, and we have to do more.
Again, I say and I thank, particularly, Representative Morella
for being here, this is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. It's a
family issue and it's an American issue. It's about what kind of
country we want our children to grow up in. I am delighted that these
young women and the soccer team have come here as a team. And it must
be a great thrill for them to see Michelle Akers, and I hope it spurs
them to greater achievement in athletics and in academics. Most of them
won't be professional soccer players. Most of them will be in the work
force.
We do not want them to grow up and have children in a country which
still has not solved this problem. And we can do better. Again I say
that the same rules that apply on the playing field ought to apply in
life. People who work hard and play by the rules ought to be rewarded,
and rewarded in proportion to their contribution, not their gender.
This is a time of enormous promise. As I always say when I urge
greater action to bring economic opportunity to poor areas that have
been left behind, if we can't deal with this issue now, at a time of
unprecedented prosperity, when in the wide world will we ever get around
to dealing with it?
I thank the members of Congress for their commitment. I thank you
for being here. I ask you to help us bear down, and act, now.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END
12:00 P.M. EST
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001
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20566-0001
202 416-8000
FAX 202 416 8205
October 20, 2000
To Styl that
To: JOSH 62505
MARA 6 1213
TO: Ellen Lovell
FR: Ann Stock A.S.
CC: Beth Mohsinger
FYI: Melanne Verveer
Capricia Marshall
RE: Script for POTUS Video/Larry Wilker Farewell Dinner
Attached, please find a draft of the script for President Clinton's video for Larry's
farewell dinner. 1 have timed it and it should take approximately a minute and a half.
Thanks so much for helping with this. Please send the invoice for the filming to me care
of the Kennedy Center.
10/31/00 TUE 04:05 FAX
002
10-25-00; 1:31AM;Kennedy Center
;202 416 8421
#
6
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20566-0001
202 416-8000
FAX 202 416 8205
Good evening.
We've gathered tonight to honor the achievements of a man who, over the past ten years,
has made a considerable impact on the cultural life of our country-a man who's opened
the doors to the arts to millions of Americans.
When I came to Washington in 1993, I knew the Kennedy Center as many Americans
do-a place where the arts are celebrated, where the Kennedy Center Honors are
awarded, where the great ballet companies, international theater troupes, and finest
musicians perform. I soon learned that the Kennedy Center does much more.
Under Larry Wilker's guidance, the Kennedy Center has become a national leader in arts
education. During his tenure, hundreds of thousands of school children have learned the
value-and the lifelong joy-of the arts. Through Kennedy Center programs, their
teachers have learned to incorporate the arts into every part of the curriculum, sparking
imagination, spurring creativity, and fostering discipline and thinking skills. And their
parents and community leaders have learned to advocate for arts education, so the work
begun here will be carried on into the future.
Ten years is a long time in the life of a child-more than enough time to learn the values
of a lifetime, to develop talents and skills, and to discover what makes them unique and
valuable. The work that the Kennedy Center has done with these children will have far-
reaching and fortunate effects on the future of our nation.
Hillary and I thank you Larry, for your leadership, your insights, and your passion.
Thank you for a job well done.
Search - 1 Result mtv and vote
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Public Papers of the Presidents
Public Papers of the Presidents
August 30, 1996
CITE: 32 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 1596
LENGTH: 4279 words
HEADLINE: Interview With Tabitha Soren of MTV
BODY:
Ms. Soren. Welcome, Mr. President, to our Choose or Lose bus.
The President. Thank you.
Antidrug Efforts
Ms. Soren. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this on your bus tour.
In your speech last night you said that drugs were wrong and deadly. But on MTV a couple of years
ago, someone asked you if you could inhale if you could do it over again, would you inhale, and
you said, "Yeah, I tried the first time."
The President. That was true.
Ms. Soren. Do you wish that you had answered differently? Because Republicans are planning on
using this to attack you.
The President. Oh, they're using it, but all I said was -- I was just trying to make the point that I had
never -- when I answered the question I told the truth. I just told the truth about the question.
Ms. Soren. It was a joke?
The President. Yes.
Ms. Soren. The question was, in context, it was a light-hearted --
The President. It was a light-hearted question, and it wasn't in the context of some sort of
endorsement of drug use, and they know that. If you look at the record I established as Governor,
the record I've established as President, the things I've worked on, and if you look at the terrible
price my own family has paid and my brother's problem which literally nearly killed him, I think that
my position on this is clear.
I'm very concerned about it really because every so often, you know, years go by and we see drug
use going down. We still see drug use going down among adults; that's the interesting thing. In the
last 4 years, drug use among people 18 to 34 has gone down because people have begun to think
more about their own lives, their responsibilities then when they have children, and they began to be
concerned about the risks.
But every few years, apparently, younger people believe it's not dangerous anymore and believe that
the risks, if there are any, can be borne. The risks of, let's say, cocaine, heroin, and hallucinogens
and marijuana are different kinds of risks, but there are real risks associated with all of them. And
I'm very hopeful, now that General McCaffrey has come on and agreed to be our drug czar and we're
focusing now -- I wouldn't say exclusively but clearly primarily on people under 18, that we and
people around the country will be able to do something about this.
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Convention Format and Message
Ms. Soren. I wanted to ask you another question about the convention. I think a lot of people were
confused by what they saw at both conventions; they saw singing Senators and delegates
macarena-ing. Obviously it's a party, you know, but many people didn't hear the message coming
from the conventions.
For instance, obviously Christopher Reeve has done a lot of good for people who suffer from his
disability, but why is his disability an argument to vote for you?
The President. For two reasons. One is, Christopher Reeve made an impassioned plea for research. In
my budget we have consistently invested more in research, both in health care areas like spinal cord
disease, breast cancer, HIV, and AIDS, and also in science and technology. We're now building with
IBM a computer, a supercomputer that will do more calculations in a second than a person with a
hand-held calculator could do in 30,000 years 30,000 years. It's unbelievable. And I believe that
it's very important to vote for a President who believes in the future and who is really committed to
science and technology and research.
The second reason is, as Christopher Reeve so eloquently told me when we were visiting in the Oval
Office, not everyone who gets a serious injury and becomes disabled is wealthy; most people aren't,
and even wealthy people can quickly be bankrupted by the cost of care. The Medicaid program which
the Federal Government has maintained for 30 years contains a guarantee of aid to families with
disabilities who are middle class or below, to enable them to maintain a middle class life, to keep
their jobs and still give their disabled family member some help.
In the budget which I vetoed of the Republican Congress, which Senator Dole and Mr. Gingrich
led through Congress, they would have removed that guarantee, just sent some money to the
States, put a lid on it, and then let the States decide what to do. And I think it's highly likely that the
first people to be sacrificed would have been people with disabilities.
So those are the two reasons that his being there embodied the human connection to the President
and his actions, the Congress, and what happens to people's lives. And every other person that was
there on Monday night, the same thing. The Brady bill, it was obvious because they talked about it.
Mike Robbins, the Chicago police officer, was riddled with bullets by an assault weapon. The young
AmeriCorps girl was important because the Republicans have tried to abolish AmeriCorps twice. The
educator is important because they wanted to cut back on educational aid; I wanted to invest more
money in education. So everybody there the Toledo autoworker was important because we've
opened new markets to Japan and other parts in the world and America is number one in auto
production again.
So we started our convention in a very different way. We had a whole series of citizens speaking to
establish the connection between their vote and their lives.
1996 Election Issues
Ms. Soren. Speaking of Senator Dole and the Republicans, the Republicans are accusing you of theft
of their values agenda, stealing their ideas and making them your own. How do you plead?
The President. Well, the Republicans tried for years to convince the American people that only one
party had values. And unfortunately I believe it was unfortunate they were too often rewarded
for that. But I never believed that only Republicans could stand up for the American family. I never
believed that only Republicans could be tough on crime. I thought those were American issues.
But if we were going to argue that they belonged to one party or another -- I mean, here's a fact:
The first bill I signed was the Family and Medical Leave Act. My predecessor, my Republican
predecessor, vetoed it twice, and Senator Dole led the fight against it. Now, who is the more
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pro-family?
I fought the crime bill through, which put 100,000 police on the street, banned assault weapons, and
had tougher punishment programs and prevention programs for young people. The bitterest, I mean
really, literally, bitterest opponent of the crime bill in the entire Congress was Senator Dole. Now,
who is strong against crime? We've got 4 years of declining crime.
So I didn't steal their values. On welfare reform, long before they ever passed a bill, 3 months into
my Presidency I granted the first waiver to a State to try a welfare-to-work experiment. We now
have 1.8 million fewer people on welfare than we did the day I took office -- before this welfare bill
takes effect.
So I didn't steal their values agenda. I believe they're American values, and I did something about it.
And I think they're angry because they made so many votes for years just by talking about it and
not doing anything about it. So we did something about it, and they're complaining about it.
Ms. Soren. Are you afraid of being seen as sort of -- are you afraid of your politics being perceived as
sort of Republican-like, a less radical approach to their ideas?
The President. No. Let me just take one other example.
Ms. Soren. The only reason I ask is because people are wondering if you're the same person they
elected in '92.
The President. If you look at what we talked about at the convention, if you look at what we've done
over the last 4 years including in the last 2 years the budget that I passed, I put the Democrats
on the side of deficit reduction and balancing the budget, because I believe that. That's what I ran
on. But all the Republicans voted against our budget because it also made the Tax Code fairer; it
lowered taxes on 15 million working people, asked those of us in the highest income groups, the top
one percent of us, to pay a little more.
They opposed me on family and medical leave, most of them did. They opposed my education
reforms, all progressive things. They opposed the crime bill. Then when we finally got some action
out of this last Congress, there was the health care reform proposal was a big part of my health
care reform bill that I signed. The minimum wage bill, the pension relief for small businesses, was
legislation that I always advocated. So I think it sounds good. But what was the biggest thing I did in
the last 2 years? I vetoed their budget.
So I don't see how they can say I'm Republican-like. I just think that they like saying, "We're for a
balanced budget; the Democrats are big spenders. We're tough on crime; the Democrats are weak
on crime. We're for work instead of welfare; the Democrats are for welfare instead of work." And
even some of our own commentators kind of got hung up in that.
If we protect children and we give families the right to and the tools they need to make the most of
their own lives, we should be for a balanced budget, a growing economy, work instead of welfare,
and tough on crime. So I feel very good about it, and I don't think it's inconsistent.
Political Consultant Dick Morris
Ms. Soren. Dick Morris helped you make a political comeback over the last 2 years, and he's been
running, according to just about everyone, a phenomenal campaign. Now he's resigned. Will you still
be talking to him on the phone about politics?
The President. I don't plan to do that, no. But we do have a good team, and we all work together.
Ms. Soren. You're not worried at all with him not being there?
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The President. No, because we have a good team. And everybody had a role to play, and we all
agreed early on on a strategy. And then when we we had a decisionmaking process which I think
is very good, which I'm just going to keep in place. I'm going to keep the team I've got; I'm going to
keep the decisionmaking process in place. And I think we'll do very well.
Ms. Soren. So you won't be communicating with him anymore?
The President. I don't have any plans to do that. I don't say I won't communicate with him. My wife
and I and the Vice President all called him and just had a purely personal conversation.
But this campaign is now the product of a record we have made and the proposals we have out there
and the fact that we -- our administration stood against what Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Dole tried to do in
'95 and early '96. And those will be the salient elements that the American people will have to decide
on, and we'll do the best we can. But I feel good about it.
1996 Election
Ms. Soren. There's talk in Republican circles of renewing character attacks on you because of their
opinion that you surround yourself with questionable people. How are you going to respond?
The President. I'm not. I'm going to keep doing my job. I think the reason that talk is there, though,
is that way they don't have to talk about over 10 million new jobs; they don't have to talk about the
fact that my Democratic administration is the first one to reduce the deficit in all 4 of its years, since
before the Civil War; that our budget would be in surplus today if it weren't for the interest we pay
on the debt run up in the 12 years of the Republican Presidencies before me; that we have made
college loans more available and more affordable, and they tried to cut back on it; that the crime
rate has come down under our strategy, and they opposed it.
They don't have to talk about those things. But I'm going to talk about what is right for the American
people. The American people will make their judgments about and probably already have made
their judgments about that. And I do not intend to respond in kind. I'm going to keep saying what I
said before: I like Senator Dole. I've had a good relationship with him. I honor the 35 years he gave
this country in Congress, and I respect him for the way he fought back from his injury in the war.
And I just don't think that it's good for America, and I'm going to try to make this election about big
things that touch the people we just saw on the side of the road there.
Ms. Soren. Or little things that touch them, too.
The President. And the little things that touch them.
Ms. Soren. You captured the imagination of young people in 1992, along with their votes. I saw
young people at the MTV Inaugural Ball weeping when you arrived. Maybe their expectations were
too high, but even with national service and all your educational programs, a lot of them feel just as
disconnected today as they did 4 years ago. Do you feel like you've let people down? Have you not
gotten your message out as clearly as you could have?
The President. Well, I think the campaign will help. But all I can say is --
Ms. Soren. Were their expectations too high?
The President. I don't know, because I don't know what their expectations were. I want them to be
high. But if you look at what happened on this train trip, that was my first real I don't think polls
can tell you these things. I don't think you can poll this. But when we were out there, and on this
train trip we stopped -- most of our rallies were in very small towns. We only had 2 stops where
there were fewer than 10,000 people there. There were more than 150,000 total people who came to
our rallies in those 3 days on the train. And then there were hundreds and hundreds of people, place
after place after place, just on the side of the road as we were going. We had 30,000 in Cape
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Girardeau, Missouri, today, our first bus stop.
I think people do feel connected. Look, I think they feel like they're part of something bigger than
themselves. I think they think the country is moving again. I do believe in the first 2 years that
one of the things that I've learned over many years is that there is a time lag between when a
President or a Governor or a Congress takes an action and when it can be felt in the lives of the
American people. So that we saw real economic growth coming from 1993 on, but there was no
evidence until really about 8 months ago that the American people were beginning to feel it in their
own lives, when paychecks finally started to go up again, when people saw that there were enough
new jobs to make a difference in the local economy.
It's the same thing with education. Now we're beginning we've got a critical mass of young people
who have been either in national service or even many, many more are getting the new college
loans, the direct loans that they can pay back as a percentage of their income. We've reduced the
welfare rolls by enough now that people are beginning to perceive it. The crime rate has come down
now 4 years in a row so that people are finally beginning to perceive it. Their streets are safer, even
though the crime rate in America is far too high still.
I think that's a part of it. And so I think that my obligation is to go back to the young people of
America and say, here's what I said I'd do 4 years ago; here's what we've done; here's what we're
going to do in the next 4 years. And that's a lot of what we tried to do at our convention.
Campaign Financing
Ms. Soren. Young people are alienated from politics. Young people think politics is rigged by money,
and they're right. Democrats received tens of millions of dollars in corporate contributions. What are
those corporations getting for their money?
The President. Well, I think it's fair to say that most of the corporations that contribute to either
party agree with their policies. But keep in mind, almost all the wealthy individuals and some of the
corporations that contributed to the Democratic Party are doing so even though their tax bills went
up, because only the top 1.2 percent of individuals and corporations with incomes over $ 10 million a
year had an income tax increase under our tax bill. And a lot of them supported us anyway, first of
all because they knew I was right, that to get the deficit down, get interest rates down -- they'd all
do better with a healthier economy. I don't believe that any of them have supported me for some
sort of bad or unseemly reason.
On the other hand, I think it would be better if we had a campaign finance reform system that would
enable people in public life to spend less time raising money and to be less dependent on it. But the
only way you can do it is to give greater access to the airwaves, to candidates or parties, because it
just costs so much to communicate.
Ms. Soren. So it's our fault. [Laughter]
The President. No, no, it's not your fault. No, no, I don't mean it that way.
Ms. Soren. I'm just kidding.
The President. Look, here's a country with a $ 1.5 trillion budget, an annual income of over $ 6
trillion. So you talk about a party raising and spending $ 150 million in a year and a half for an
election, it sounds like a lot of money. Against that, it doesn't sound like so much money. It just
costs a lot of money to communicate. The communications costs not just on television radio,
print, mail, travel, it's very high.
Ms. Soren. Right. Do you think -- so corporations aren't getting access? I read a report that they get
to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom once in a while, CEO's or
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The President. Well, the people who sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom are people I personally invite, who
have been my friends, and a lot of them have supported me. But I don't think any President has
made a habit of inviting his opponents to sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom. I mean, I think you normally
invite your supporters.
Ms. Soren. Sure.
The President. But I can say this: There's never been any attempt to raise any money with the
promise that you can spend the night in the Lincoln Bedroom. I have invited people who have been
helpful to me to spend the night in the Lincoln Bedroom, but it was never a quid pro quo there.
Politics and Personal Attacks
Ms. Soren. No, I'm not trying to imply that.
You're doing really well in the polls, but there's a certain percentage of people who not only don't
support you but they seem to actively dislike you. Why do some people dislike you so much? Nobody
is
The President. Well, I think -- there's a sign on the side of your bus; it's a quote of Bill Cosby's that I
just love. He says, "I don't know the secret of success. But I know the secret of failure is trying to
please everybody." And I have always believed that in public life, when you were given an office, you
should outline the major challenges and go after them and really try to get something done. And you
should enlist the energies of people and try to bring them together and do it.
And I have always had a certain core of people who have opposed me. When I was Governor of my
State, I got elected five times and would regularly get nearly two-thirds of the vote. There would
always be a core of people who were intensely opposed to my policies.
Ms. Soren. But people didn't necessarily like Reagan's policies, either, but it didn't seem to get as
personal. Do you think it has to do with your generation?
The President. Perhaps. And it may be well, I just don't know. I don't know. It may have more to
do with the comparative tactics of the two parties. I have no idea. It may have more to do with the
way people are talked about now.
One of the reasons I have tried so hard especially since the Oklahoma City bombing, which I say
had a profound impact on our country and on me I have really tried hard to bring a sense of
civility and decency back into public discourse. I went back and read some of my own speeches in
'92, and while they're not rough at all by the standards of today, I thought, well, I want to elevate
what I'm saying and how I'm saying it a little more now.
I just think that politics has always been a rough-and-tumble business, and people have always
disagreed. And if you go back to the early 1800's, for example, it's a period of real tumult in our
country, what was said and done and how much people had it pretty rough. I mean, when Thomas
Jefferson was elected President, the John Adams party because Mr. Adams was trying to hold onto
the Presidency said that he would kill religion in America, he would end godliness among the
American people. So we've always had some of this, but I think we need to resist it.
Ms. Soren. I remember a very proud group of your inner circle of friends at the convention 4 years
ago walking around boasting FOB pins. How does it make you feel that bad things have happened to
those who have helped you get where you are today: Jim Guy Tucker, Vince Foster, Webb Hubbell,
even the First Lady?
The President. Well, I feel very badly, obviously, about Vince Foster because he was my longtime
friend, and it's always tragic when someone commits suicide. And I do feel that a lot of people were
targeted just because they were from Arkansas. Governor Tucker, for example, had he was my
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Lieutenant Governor, we had been friends for a long time, but he'd never been part of my political
life. But he was targeted, and I feel badly about that. And the country is going to have to evaluate,
when this whole thing is over and there will be time for a fair accounting, whether they think it was
the right thing to do. And I feel very badly about Hillary and a lot of her staff have been subject to,
because it was just pure naked politics from the get-go.
But that's what I'm talking about. That's sort of the way of the cycle. It's the cost of doing business
in Washington. I mean, the people
Ms. Soren. Was that a surprise to you, that it was as harsh as it was?
The President. Well, it's just gotten worse and worse; it's been deteriorating over time.
Yes, it surprised me that you could be exonerated from one thing after another and it would never be
noticed and then just another set of charges just to keep these going. That bothered me. But you
know, the thing I think is important that I'd ask the American people to look at is that all these folks
in our administration sustained all these hits, and we kept producing for the American people. We
said, we can't control this, we can't do anything about it; all we can do is get up tomorrow and try to
do our job. Why did we come here? We came here to help move the country forward and bring the
country together, and that's what we're going to do. And our convention showed how productive our
administration had been and our country had been in the last 4 years. And I think the fact that we
could do it while having people like Senator D'Amato on us day-in and day-out I think is a tribute to
the character and the public devotion of the people in this administration. I'm proud of them.
Ms. Soren. That's what I wanted to ask you. If you can just -- try to take this in the way that I mean
it, but you've suffered incessant character assassination over the past 4 years; your family has been
maligned. You get up, there's another funeral; you've probably only had a couple hours of sleep that
night. Between the funeral, a scandal, another country maybe going to war, why do you want 4 more
years? I mean, what are you thinking?
The President. Well, first of all, there's been a lot more good than bad.
Ms. Soren. Really?
The President. Oh, yes. It is the most rewarding thing in the world for a citizen of our country, who
loves our country and believes in the promise of its people, to be President. To look back on the last
4 years and to go out here as I did on the train ride or on this bus trip, and you look into the eyes of
people and you go through these crowds, and somebody will say, "I've got a home because of one of
your programs"; "I've gotten a job since you were here"; "I'm on one of your college loans"; "I'm an
AmeriCorps student." when you see how the country is changing for the better, it's immensely
rewarding.
And in this day and time you know, as I said, we've had periods like this in our politics before. In
the early 1800's, Mr. Jefferson faced many of the same things. When you live in a time which is
really rough, with no holds barred, and a lot of people seek personal advantage by what I call the
politics of destruction, you have to be always, always, always defining yourself and the quality of
your life by what is inside. And you can't confuse who you are and the quality of your own life with
whatever is going on in the day-to-day headlines. It's destructive. Otherwise you shrivel and become
little.
The President should always be trying to be bigger than he is and lifting the country up. And you just
have to keep putting that out of your mind; you just have to let it go. I can't do anything about
anything that happened yesterday or even an hour ago; you just have to let that stuff go and keep
trying to lift the country up.
Ms. Soren. Well, thank you very much.
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The President. Thank you.
NOTE: The interview began at 6:12 p.m. aboard the MTV Choose or Lose bus. The President referred
to comedian Bill Cosby; and Jim Guy Tucker, former Arkansas Governor. This item was not received
in time for publication in the appropriate issue. A tape was not available for verification of the
content of this interview.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: October 30, 1996
Source: All Sources : / / : Public Papers of the Presidents
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202 - 456 - 2505
To: Josh GottheimeR
7r : Julian Potter
RE: CReating Change
NGLTF VDO
DT: OCT 31
You curreachme through
Signal or cell 206. 851.4673
Draft 11/01/00 2pm
Josh Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN
HISTORY
[LOCATION TBD]
[DATE TBD]
I am delighted to join you this evening in celebrating the work of the President's
Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History. I want to thank Steve
Trachtenberg and George Washington University for hosting this event - and Ann Lewis and
Beth Newburger for their work in leading this effort. I also want to recognize the efforts of the
entire commission. I look forward to reading your report and reviewing your recommendations.
Two years ago, as part of the First Lady's Millennium Project, we created this
commission to celebrate the achievements of women in American history. That's no simple task.
As you know so well, women have played an integral role in our nation's history - in winning
the rights women now enjoy. Of course, for too long their contributions went unrecognized --
not just by historians, or by our government, but by most Americans. I know I'm preaching to
the choir here, but I don't think America can ever afford to forget that struggle. Your
commission has been instrumental in setting the record straight.
American women began the last Century with little power and few rights. They couldn't
go to the ballot box they couldn't sit on juries they couldn't even own property. But
visionaries like Susan B. Anthony were determined to change all that. A hundred years ago, she
described her vision for America's future. She said: "The woman of the 20th Century will be the
peer of man. In education, in arts and science, in the home
church
everywhere she will be
acknowledged his equal."
In many ways, Susan B. Anthony's dreams have been realized. From securing the right
to vote
the gaining access the boardroom, the factory floor, and the halls of academia, women
have made profound progress as citizens of our nation. Today, they work in professions of their
own choosing - as Justices of the Supreme Court, as members of our Congress, at the highest
levels of our government. They are breaking through the glass ceilings of corporate
management. Most important, women from all walks of life are helping to build an America in
which all citizens are free to live out their dreams.
Alice Paul once said, "The [women's] movement is sort of a mosaic. Each of us puts in
one little stone." By celebrating the courage of Harriet Tubman, the writings of Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, and the wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt, we inspire the next generation of activists to add
their own stones, helping to complete this great and enduring mosaic. Thank you again for all
your work, and God bless you.
Joshua S. Gottheimer
10/31/2000 05:00:38 PM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Jeffrey A. Shesol/WHO/EOP@EOP
CC:
Subject: draft video
Draft 10/31/00 5pm
Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS TO NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE
[LOCATION TBD]
[DATE TBD]
I am delighted to have this opportunity to be a part of the 13th annual conference of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - and to congratulate you on your efforts to "create
change" through organization and education.
Of course,
But that's really nothing new to your organization - or, for that matter, to your
community. For more than a quarter century now, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
has been breaking down barriers and building bridges. Your leadership training has
empowered your members with the skills they need to organize for justice and equality. Your
advocacy at the federal, state, and local level has brought your issues to the political forefront,
and has been responsible for so many important victories.
key
important
Nearly eight years ago, when I first ran for President, I said that I had a vision for
America - and that you were a toward part of it. Since then, with your help, Vice President Gore and
I have made important progress ending discrimination against gays and lesbians, and in
working toward the day that you have the same rights that are guaranteed to every American.
First, we have tried to lead by example. We have created an Administration that is the
most inclusive in history - with more than 150 openly gay and lesbian appointees.
Additionally, I signed an Executive Order that prohibits discrimination in the Federal civilian
workforce based on sexual orientation. And with your help, we are continuing our fight for an
employment nondiscrimination act that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in
the workplace.
But while we have come a long way on our journey toward tolerance, understanding
and mutual respect, we still have a long way to go. Over the last few years, we've seen a
stark increase in the number of hate crimes committed against individuals, solely because of
LOR inisl glatn,
their skin color, faith, or sexual orientation. These crimes tear at the fabric of the American
community and at our common values. That's why it is so important that we keep working
together to pass & strong, fair Hate Crimes Prevention Act
who
do we want to cite specific bill
just
But we all know that we cannot achieve equal rights through legislation alone. Our
gen..'
greatest hope for a just society is to teach our children to respect one another, to see our
diversity as our greatest strength, and to recognize the fundamental values that define us as
One America.
Thank you for your unwavering support these last eight years, and for all you do every
day to advance the cause of justice. Keep up the good fight, and God bless you.
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
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Speechwriting
Josh Gottheimer
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FOLDER TITLE:
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2016-0201-S
rc2148
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)|
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA
b(1) National security classified information |(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office |(a)(2) of the PRA|
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA
an agency |(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
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financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA|
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy |(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRA]
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes |(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions |(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
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2201(3).
concerning wells |(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
Draft 10/31/00 3:30pm
Gottheimer
PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS ON THE CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN AMERICAN
HISTORY
[LOCATION TBD]
[DATE TBD]
I am delighted to join you this evening to celebrate the work of the President's Commission on
the Celebration of Women in American History. I want to thank Steve Trachtenberg and George
Washington University for hosting this event.
to celebrate the roles and accomplishments of women in American history.
Too often, we forget just how hard our grandmothers and mothers had to fight to win these
rights. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I don't think America can ever afford to forget
their struggle. That's why I created the Commission on the Celebration of Women in History
last year.
For more than two years now, you've met with citizens across our country to find new ways for
recognizing the achievements and sacrifices of the women who shaped our history.
listened
to citizens all across the country to find ways we could popularize the achievements of the
women who shaped our nation.
I thank you for all your work, and I look forward to reading your report and acting on its
recommendations.
We must honor how far we've come and imagine both the challenges and opportunities that lie
ahead.
Women began the 20th Century with little power and few rights. They had few public role
models, few images of women participating in their world creating change for other women.
They couldn't go to the ballot box, they couldn't sit on juries, they couldn't own property, they
couldn't obtain credit. Our schoolbooks and our classrooms all but ignored the contributions of
one-half of our population.
We honor the courage, sacrifice, and commitment of those who fought for the vote and equal
pay.
To build a better America, we owe it to our children to tell a full and rich story of our nation's
history - one that celebrates the lives and contributions of all our citizens.
581- 1231
is
501- 1300 Martin
fore
Eleni
Alice Paul, the intrepid feminist, once said of the women's movement, "I always feel the
movement is sort of a mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic
at the end."
In 1900, near the end of the lifetime of fighting for women's rights, Susan B. Anthony described
her bold vision for the future: "The woman of the 20th Century will be the peer of man. In
education, in arts and science, in the home church everywhere she will be acknowledged
his equal. The 20th Century will see man and woman working together make the world better for
their having lived."
In many ways, Susan B. Anthony's dreams have been realized. Today, so many women work in
professions of their own choosing - as elected officials, judges and corporate executives,
professional athletes. today women
From women's struggle to gain the right to vote
to gaining access to the halls of academia
to pursuing the jobs and business opportunities
to competing on the field of sports
we have
seen many breathtaking changes.
Every girl and boy in America deserves to learn about he courage of Harriet Tubman, the
brilliant writings of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt. We inspire the
next generation of activists and organizers by sharing with them the social activism of Jane
Addams, the prodigious political skills of Susan B. Anthony, and the commitment of the
thousands of nameless women who were the foot soldiers for women's suffrage.
We are still in an era of firsts: Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman to travel in space. And you
may have heard that my wife Hillary has just made history on her own.
American women now serve at the highest levels of government, Justices of the Supreme Court
and in creasing numbers in the Cabinet and the United States Congress. Women are cracking the
glass ceilings of corporate management to lead some of our country's most prominent
businesses. As parents and partners, entrepreneurs and artists, politicians and scientists, women
are helping to build an America in which all citizens are free to live out their dreams.
Our nation's cherished values of justice and liberty are symbolized by women: one bearing
scales,
the
other a torch one promising fairness, the other freedom. But these symbols would
be shallow indeed had it not been for the work of women throughout history who poured their
soles into make the promises of fairness and freedom real. Susan B. Anthony, Elisabeth Cady
Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Carrie Chapman Catt were among them; so was Mother Jones, who
fought to end child labor; Sojourner Truth, who fought for social justice. Rosa Parks, who set in
motion the civil rights movement; and ordinary women who worked every day and struggled to
move our nation in the right direction.
Report will summarize many of the advancement we've experienced - concrete steps that
This
women have taken and will continue to take.
FROM :
FAX NO. :
Oct. 30 2000 10:14AM P2
8 Script for video for Pres. commission on the Glebrath of women in
America History
II is a great honor for me to send greetings to you this evening as you celebrate the
work of the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History.
I want to thank Steve Trachtenberg and the George Washington University for hosting
this event. Nearly eight years ago. I took the oath of office committed to appointing illl
Administration that looks like America an Administration dedicated to building a more
inclusive, il more tolerant and a more just nation. The President's Commission on the
Celebration of Women in American History has helped me to fulfill that goal.
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I believe that to build a better America we owe it to our children to will a full and rich
story of our nation's history one that celebrates the lives and contributions of all of our
citizens. For too long our schoolbooks and classrooms all hill ignored the contributions
of one-half of our population.
I did not need to be persuaded when my friend Ann Lewis first approached me to
suggest a commission on women's history. Every girl and boy in America deserves 111
learn about the courage of Harriet Tubman, the brilliant writings of Elizabeth Cady
Stanton. the wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt.
We inspire the next generation of activists and organizers by sharing with them the
social activism of Jane Addams, the prodigious political skills of Susan B. Anthony and
the commitment of the thousands upon thousands of nameless women who were the foot
soldiers of the non-violent revolution for women's suffrage.
Snuci will
We are still in an em of women's firsts: Ellen Ochoa, a member of the President's
Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History. is the first Hispanic
woman to travel in space. And you may have heard that my wile Hillary has just made
history on her own.
We have uncovered il vast women's history archives in recent years thanks to
organizations like the National Women's History Project and historians like Allida Black,
Ann Gordon and Barbara Goldsmith. I congratulate them all for their line work.
the
BeTn. NEWBURGEN oysa.
I want 10 thank Ann Lewis and Beth Newburger for their commitment as Co-Chairs
of the Commission. Although the term of this Commission is drawing to it close, I
encourage all of you to continue to tell the story of women's history.
(Main
William Jefferson Clinton
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