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Arts
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
ARTS-POTUS ARTS-POTUS-STATEMENT -STATEMENTS
746
Apr. 27 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996
verse we are because we share the same val-
Remarks at the 25th Anniversary
ues, then we have to keep in mind two things.
Reception for the John F. Kennedy
First of all, we have to give every American
Center for the Performing Arts
the capacity to make good choices and be
rewarded for work; everybody's got to have
April 27. 1996
the ability to do it. There's a lot of talk about
That's the most attractive introduction I've
empowerment in Washington. It's a
buzzword today. I love that word. But it
ever had. [Laughter]
means more than choice. It means the ability
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome
to the White House and welcome here for
to seize the choice you want to make. And
the second thing we've got to do is to do
this occasion. We're delighted to join in the
it together.
25th anniversary celebration, and I want to
We are moving into a new age. The old
say a special word of welcome to the mem-
bers of the Kennedy family and to thank
categories in which we divided ourselves do
them for remaining tireless in their efforts
not give us easy answers to these new chal-
to preserve, promote, and honor our Nation's
lenges. As I said before, there's not a country
culture.
in the world that solved the problem of eco-
nomic growth that gives everybody a chance
The Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts prospers today as our national cultural
to participate in it, that deals with the
institution, thanks to so many people who are
downsizing, the areas that don't get invest-
committed to that ideal, the ideal that art
ment, the stagnation of wages. among people
and culture are not so much a pastime as
that don't have a lot of education. We're try-
a definer, a clarifier, a representation of
ing to come to grips with that.
America.
But. we cannot do it in the old, highly in-
Recently, the First Lady and I returned
tensely partisan way. That is doomed to fail-
from a trip to the Far East and to Russia,
ure. Because we are moving into a new era,
and, as in other visits, we saw how prized
we have to break new ground. We have to.
'an export our culture is. It's not just coinci-
be willing to give up on some of the things
dence that it is embraced and adapted by
that we used to hold on to and grab on to
a world increasingly sharing our democratic
each other and work together and solve these
ideals. Visit almost any part of the world and
problems. And we have to be animated by
there can be no doubt, our art, our music,
the vision we have of what we want America
our dance and theater are among our greatest
to look like. Homeownership has to be a part
ambassadors.
of it. A growing economy has to be a part
Here in America the Kennedy Center is
of it. A more unified sense of our ability to
the Nation's stage. It's hard to believe that
work together through our diversity has to
just a quarter century ago it was only a goal.
be a part of it. But it begins by saying we
President and Mrs. Kennedy realized the sig-
have to put the public interest ahead of short-
nificance of a national cultural center. They
term politics. I ask for your support as Ameri-
even held a telethon to raise funds for the
cans for that goal.
center. Of course, President Kennedy could
Thank you, and God bless you all.
not have known that he would be the center's
greatest inspiration and its namesake. But
NOTE: The President spoke at 3:45 p.m. in the
there could not be a more fitting living me-
ballroom at the Sheraton Washington Hotel. In
morial, for at the Kennedy Center each night
his remarks, he referred to Art Codi, president,
we enjoy great performances, each year we
Michael Graeper, chair, and Robert Galiano, vice
honor great performing artists. Every day we
chair, Public Policy Forum, and Russ Booth, 1996
work to commission and create new works
president-elect. National Association of Realtors.
and to reach and educate a new generation.
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
I am pleased to present to you the 1995 Annual Report of
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). For 30 years,
this Federal agency has given Americans great opportunities to
explore and share with each other our country's vibrant and
diverse cultural heritage. Its work supports an impressive
array of humanities projects.
These projects have mined every corner of our tradition,
unearthing all the distinct and different voices, emotions,
and ideas that together make up what is a uniquely American
culture. In 1995, they ranged from an award-winning television
documentary on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the radio
production Wade in the Water, to preservation projects that will
rescue 750,000 important books from obscurity and archive small
community newspapers from every State in the Union. Pandora's
Box, a traveling museum exhibit of women and myth in classical
Greece, drew thousands of people.
The humanities have long helped Americans bridge
differences, learn to appreciate one another, shore up the
foundations of our democracy, and build strong and vital
institutions across our country. At a time when our society
faces new and profound challenges, when 80 many Americans feel
insecure in the face of change, the presence and accessibility
of the humanities in all our lives can be a powerful source
of our renewal and our unity as we move forward into the
21st century.
William G. Chinton
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 17, 1996.
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
It is my special pleasure to transmit herewith the Annual
Report of the National Endowment for the Arts for the fiscal
year 1994.
Over the course of its history, the National Endowment for
the Arts has awarded grants for arts projects that reach into
every community in the Nation. The agency's mission is public
service through the arts, and it fulfills this mandate through
support of artistic excellence, our cultural heritage and
traditions, individual creativity, education, and public and
private partnerships for the arts. Perhaps most importantly,
the Arts Endowment encourages arts organizations to reach out
to the American people, to bring in new audiences for the
performing, literary, and visual arts.
The results over the past 30 years can be measured by the
increased presence of the arts in the lives of our fellow
citizens. More children have contact with working artists in
the classroom, at children's museums and festivals, and in the
curricula. More older Americans now have access to museums,
concert halls, and other venues. The arts reach into the
smallest and most isolated communities, and in our inner cities,
arts programs are often a haven for the most disadvantaged, a
place where our youth can rediscover the power of imagination,
creativity, and hope.
We can measure this progress as well in our re-designed
communities, in the buildings and sculpture that grace our
cities and towns, and in the vitality of the local economy
whenever the arts arrive. The National Endowment for the Arts
works the way a Government agency should work -- in partnership
with the private sector, in cooperation with State and local
2
government, and in service to all Americans. We enjoy a rich
and diverse culture in the United States, open to every citizen,
and supported by the Federal Government for our common good and
benefit.
William T. Chinton
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 28, 1996.
P
2198
Dec. 18 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995
su
they should open the Government, and I will
Ecosystem Management Project. It would do
work with them to get this done.
this by prohibiting publication of a final Envi-
W.
ronmental Impact Statement or Record of
Speaker of the House Gingrich
Decision and requiring the exclusion of infor-
OI
Q. How do you feel about fellow Time
mation on fisheries and watersheds. The re-
Pt
magazine man of the year?
sult: a potential return to legal gridlock on
The President. I think he's had a big im-
timber harvesting, grazing, mining, and other
pact on events. That's the standard. That's
economically important activities.
it.
And in the California desert, the bill un-
Q. Thank you.
dermines our designation of the Mojave Na-
The President. Thank you very much.
Q. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Where
tional Preserve by cutting funding for the
did you get that tie?
Preserve and shifting responsibility for its
The President. Someone gave it to me.
management from the National Park Service
It's one of my Christmas ties. You know, I
to the Bureau of Land Management. The
try to wear one every day for the last 12 days
Mojave is our newest national park and part
of the 1994 California Desert Protection
before Christmas.
Act-the largest addition to our park system
NOTE: The President spoke at 11:40 a.m. in the
in the lower 48 States. It deserves our sup-
Oval Office at the White House.
port.
Moreover, the bill would impose a mis-
Message to the House of
guided moratorium on future listings and
Representatives Returning Without
critical habitat designations under the En-
Approval the Department of the
dangered Species Act. And in the case of one
endangered species, the marbled murrelet,
Interior and Related Agencies
it would eliminate the normal flexibility for
Appropriations Act, 1996
both the Departments of the Interior and Ag-
December 18, 1995
riculture to use new scientific information in
To the House of Representatives:
managing our forests.
I am returning herewith without my ap-
Second, the bill slashes funding for the
proval H.R. 1977, the "Department of the
Department of Energy's energy conservation
Interior and Related Agencies Appropria-
programs. This is short-sighted and unwise.
tions Act, 1996."
Investment in the technology of energy con-
This bill is unacceptable because it would
servation is important for our Nation's long-
unduly restrict our ability to protect Ameri-
term economic strength and environmental
ca's natural resources and cultural heritage,
health. We should be doing all we can to
promote the technology we need for long-
maintain and sharpen our competitive edge,
term energy conservation and economic
not back off.
growth, and provide adequate health, edu-
Third, this bill fails to honor our historic
cational, and other services to Native Ameri-
obligations toward Native Americans. It pro-
cans.
vides inadequate funding for the Indian
First, the bill makes wrong-headed choices
Health Service and our Indian Education
with regard to the management and preser-
programs. And the cuts targeted at key pro-
vation of some of our most precious assets.
grams in the Bureau of Indian Affairs are
In the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, it
crippling-including programs that support
would allow harmful clear-cutting, require
child welfare; adult vocational training; law
the sale of timber at unsustainable levels, and
enforcement and detention services; commu-
dictate the use of an outdated forest plan for
nity fire protection; and general assistance to
the next 2 fiscal years.
low-income Indian individuals and families.
In the Columbia River basin in the Pacific
Moreover, the bill would unfairly single out
Northwest, the bill would impede implemen-
certain self-governance tribes in Washington
tation of our comprehensive plan for manag-
State for punitive treatment. Specifically, it
ing public lands-the Columbia River Basin
would penalize these tribes financially for
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995 / Dec. 18
2199
using legal remedies in disputes with non-
training. I will not sign any version of this
tribal owners of land within reservations.
appropriations bill that does not restore
Finally, the bill represents a dramatic de-
funds for this vital program.
parture from our commitment to support for
This bill includes a 22 percent cut in re-
the arts and the humanities. It cuts funding
quested funding for the Environmental Pro-
of the National Endowments for the Arts and
tection Agency (EPA), including a 25 percent
Humanities so deeply as to jeopardize their
cut in enforcement that would cripple EPA
capacity to keep providing the cultural, edu-
efforts to enforce laws against polluters. Par-
cational, and artistic programs that enrich
ticularly objectionable are the bill's 25 per-
America's communities large and small.
cent cut in Superfund, which would continue
For these reasons and others my Adminis-
to expose hundreds of thousands of citizens
tration has conveyed to the Congress in ear-
to dangerous chemicals and cuts, which
lier communications, I cannot accept this bill.
would hamper efforts to train workers in haz-
It does not reflect my priorities or the values
ardous waste cleanup.
of the American people. I urge the Congress
In addition to severe funding cuts for EPA,
to send me a bill that truly serves the inter-
the bill also includes legislative riders that
ests of our Nation and our citizens.
were tacked onto the bill without any hear-
William J. Clinton
ings or adequate public input, including one
that would prevent EPA from exercising its
The White House,
authority under the Clean Water Act to pre-
December 18, 1995.
vent wetlands losses.
I am concerned about the bill's $762 mil-
lion reduction to my request for funds that
Message to the House of
would go directly to States and needy cities
Representatives Returning Without
for clean water and drinking water needs,
Approval the Department of
such as assistance to clean up Boston Harbor.
Veterans Affairs and Housing and
I also object to cuts the Congress has made
Urban Development, and
in environmental technology, the climate
Independent Agencies
change action plan, and other environmental
Appropriations Act, 1996
programs.
December 18, 1995
The bill would reduce funding for the
Council for Environmental Quality by more
To the House of Representatives:
than half. Such a reduction would severely
I am returning herewith without my ap-
hamper the Council's ability to provide me
proval H.R. 2099, the "Departments of Vet-
with advice on environmental policy and
erans Affairs and Housing and Urban Devel-
carry out its responsibilities under the Na-
opment, and Independent Agencies Appro-
tional Environmental Policy Act.
priations Act, 1996."
The bill provides no new funding for the
H.R. 2099 would threaten public health
Community Development Financial Institu-
and the environment, end programs that are
tions program, an important initiative for
helping communities help themselves, close
bringing credit and growth to communities
the door on college for thousands of young
long left behind.
people, and leave veterans seeking medical
While the bill provides spending authority
care with fewer treatment options.
for several important initiatives of the De-
The bill includes no funds for the highly
partment of Housing and Urban Develop-
successful National Service program. If such
ment (HUD), including Community Devel-
funding were eliminated, the bill would cost
opment Block Grants, homeless assistance
nearly 50,000 young Americans the oppor-
and the sale of HUD-owned properties, it
tunity to help their community, through
lacks funding for others. For example, the
AmeriCorps, to address vital local needs such
bill provides no funds to support economic
as health care, crime prevention, and edu-
development initiatives; it has insufficient
cation while earning a monetary award to
funds for incremental rental vouchers; and
help them pursue additional education or
it cuts nearly in half my request for tearing
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995 / Dec. 3
2123
President referred to President Slobodan
has made ballet strong as well as beautiful.
Milosevic of Serbia and Sir Leon Brittan, Vice
Through his performances in "Carousel,"
President of the European Commission.
"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," and
"Stars and Stripes," a distinctively American
Remarks at the Kennedy Center
ballet created especially for him. He danced
Honors Reception
until he was 50, which may be young in some
December 3, 1995
careers, but not in ballet; I'm not so sure
it's young in others, as well. [Laughter]
I am delighted to see you here. I am de-
Today we thank you for sharing your talents
lighted to see you here on this, what is really
by teaching dance to a whole new generation
the first day of our Christmas season. It is
of performers. We thank you for your work
true that Hillary saw these decorations a cou-
as a performer and choreographer, and for
ple of hours ago, but I went up and crashed.
giving new dimension to the world of ballet.
You saw them all before I did. [Laughter]
Marilyn Horne made her professional
This is a happy time at the White House,
debut at the age of four when she sang at
and this is an appropriate way to begin. As
a fundraiser for President Roosevelt-that's
all of you know, we've just come home from
Franklin Roosevelt-[laughter]-and it was
Europe, from a trip to London, Belfast, Dub-
very late in his term of service. [Laughter]
lin, to see our forces in Germany, and to Ma-
Showing good judgment in art and politics,
drid.
she still had a glitch or two in the road. Her
I was especially moved again, as I think
career didn't exactly take off in a straight line.
every person who goes to Ireland is, by the
In fact, she was rejected from her grade
incredible power of the art of Ireland. The
school glee club because her voice was too
Irish playwright John Millington Synge wrote
powerful. By age 17, however, she was back
of artists that they know the stars, the flowers
on track giving a solo recital in the Hollywood
and the birds, and converse with the moun-
Bowl and dubbing the music for the title role
tains, moors, and ferns. Today we honor five
in the film "Carmen Jones." She went on to
such artists, and I am delighted to see so
form a legendary partnership with Joan Suth-
many more in the audience tonight joining
erland, to record remarkable Christmas car-
us. I think all of us know that our Nation
ols and, most of all, to light up the opera
and our world are in a period of profound
houses of the world with a spirit as magnifi-
change, perhaps the most sweeping period
cent as her songs. And today as she continues
of change in the way we work and live and
to perform, she is passing on her sheer love
relate to one another in a hundred years. We
of music and her generous spirit.
know that there is an enormous amount of
In addition, Marilyn, to thanking you on
possibility in this period and still a great deal
behalf of the American people, let me thank
to trouble the soul.
you again for your several years of friendship
At such a time we have to do everything
to me and to Hillary and for gracing our inau-
we can to imagine. the right kind of future
guration with your beautiful voice.
and to remember what is best and constant
Thank you.
about human nature throughout all ages. And
Riley B. King was known during his days
so at this time we need our artists in a special
on Memphis's Beale Street as "the blues
way, in a profound way. And so, especially
boy." Eventually he became known to all
at this Christmas season, I welcome all of
America simply as B.B. King. For genera-
you to the White House.
tions of Americans the music and the man
Joseph Jacques d'Amboise was a natural
are synonymous. Like nearly everyone else
athlete and a tough street kid in New York
my age, I grew up listening to 'Three
City. He discovered his true gift one day
O'Clock Blues." B.B. King was a troubadour
when he took his sister to ballet class and
on the American road. He spent decades
discovered the new sport of dance. Ever
touring, perfecting, and inventing. The
since that day he has taken ballet into the
sounds he created became the soul of a new
neighborhoods and consciousness of America
music, with Jerry Garcia, Eric Clapton, and
in a way that no other performer has. He
the Rolling Stones all modeling their music
2124
Dec. 3 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995
after his. He has traveled the world to rep-
Today we meet at the summit of five lives
resent our country, and set hands clapping
of artistic grace and greatness. Jacques
from London to Lagos. He still averages-
d'Amboise, Marilyn Home, B.B. King, Sid-
listen to this-275 performances a year.
ney Poitier and Neil Simon, we are pleased
Music is his life, and yes, the blues is B.B.
to honor all of you for your work. But more
King.
importantly, we honor you for your spirit and
When Sidney Poitier left Cat Island in the
your heart.
Bahamas for Miami at the age of 15, he was
Thank you, and congratulations.
stunned at the signs of segregation, signs that
read "colored" and "white." More than any
NOTE: The President spoke at 6:03 p.m. in the
East Room at the White House.
other person, he would remove those signs
from the world of film. He broke these bar-
riers by sheer force of his powerful presence
Remarks on Signing the Human
on screen. From the start he was a leading
Rights Proclamation
man, and his performances have become
December 5, 1995
landmarks in America's consciousness of it-
self. When he filmed "Cry, The Beloved
Thank you very much. Thank you for being
Country," he had to enter South Africa as
here. And most important of all, thank you
an indentured servant to the director. But
for your commitment to the people of
we are all grateful to him and in his service
Bosnia, for your care and your courage.
for the way he has graced the screen with
Many of you in this room have worked
films like "To Sir, With Love," "Guess Who's
throughout the war to stop the human rights
Coming To Dinner," "A Raisin In The Sun,"
abuses that horrified the world and to ease
and many, many others. He has captivated
the suffering of the people of Bosnia. Now
us with his performances and reminded us
the Balkan leaders have ended the war and
that excellence comes in all colors.
have made a commitment to peace, so that
Thank you for entertaining and educating
now I can say to you, we need your help
America with dignity, strength, and grace,
more than ever to make sure the peace takes
Sidney Poitier.
hold and endures.
Marvin Neil Simon's humor distills the es-
I have just had a remarkable meeting in
sence of his life and our lives, sometimes
the Oval Office with a group of Bosnians who
whether we like it or not. [Laughter] He has
just came in and took their seats. They were
written the lines behind the laughs of Phil
forced to flee their country, and they have
Silvers, Victor Borge, Buddy Hackett, and
resettled in ours: the Capin family, the
Jackie Gleason. He collaborated with Sid
Ibisevic family, and Dr. Oljaca. They are all
Caesar on what many people hailed as "the
here with me. They bear witness to loved
best show ever on television." He has written
ones lost, homes destroyed, careers shat-
a string of magnificent hit plays unprece-
tered. families separated. They can tell us
dented in the history of the American thea-
what it's like to leave the land they love,
ter.
where they were born and went to school,
Audiences found them so funny that at
where they married and raised families,
first, that few people noticed the gentle,
where they should have been able to enjoy
deep. and sometimes sharp truths behind the
the basic human right to build a good future
comedy. Felix and Oscar became American
in peace.
archetypes. We saw what it was to grow up
These people and so many more like them
in "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and to grow
are the human faces of the war in Bosnia.
older in The Sunshine Boys." We saw flaws
They are the story behind the unbelievable
and foibles and faults. but always, through
numbers of a quarter of a million dead, 2
them all, the indomitability of the human
million people displaced, more than half the
spirit. Neil Simon takes his work seriously,
population of pre-war Bosnia.
but he challenges us and himself never to
Many of you have actually witnessed and
take ourselves too seriously.
documented the war's atrocities firsthand,
Thank you for the wit and the wisdom.
the executions, the ethnic cleansing, the rape
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
October 5, 1995
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS CEREMONY
The South Lawn
1:15 P.K. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. It's an eery
feeling being introduced by your wife. (Laughter.) You never know
what's going to be said. (Laughter.) You're steeling yourself for
the discipline not to show any adverse reaction. (Laughter.) We're
having a good time today, Hillary and I are. We love this day; we
look forward to it. And we thank all of you for coming. We thank
especially Senator Pell and Senator Simpson. Thank you for coming.
We're glad to see you. (Applause.)
We thank the members of the administration who are here.
I see Secretary Riley, and Deputy Secretary Kunin of Education; and
Roger Johnson, the Director of the General Services Administration.
There may be others here. I thank all of you for being here. I want
to say a special word of thanks for the service of Jane Alexander and
Sheldon Hackney for the great job that they have done. (Applause.)
I thank my good friend, John Brademas, the Chairman of
the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities; and Diane
Frankel, the Director of the Institute for Museum Services. And I
thank all the members of the Arts and Humanities Council who are here
for their willingness to serve.
It's a great honor for me to be able to present today
the National Medal of Arts and the Charles Frankel Prize in the
Humanities to a distinguished group of Americans who have lived their
lives as builders -- bringing people enlightenment, bringing people
enjoyment, advancing the cause of human knowledge and human
understanding and the joy in life. Before I do that, I think I ought
to say, we've had a couple of pieces of Food news this morning at the
White House, which at least are not inconsistent with what so many of
these people have given their lives to.
The President of Mexico called me this morning and told
me that, after all the difficulties this country had faced in recent
months, that he was making an early repayment of $700 million of the
money they borrowed from the United States to keep their economy
going. And I think that's a good thing. (Applause.)
You know, when you loan monay, you never know whether
it's a good thing or not until it's too late to do anything about it
(Laughter.) Some of you have been in that position. But they're our
friends, they're our allies, they're our partners for the future.
They're fighting for their democracy ano they're fighting for the
quality of their country's economy. They hit a rough spot in the
road, and they borrowed less money than we authorized them to, and
they're paying it back more quickly. And we're going to have a
brighter future as a result of it, and & safer, more secure future,
and a better partnership. And that's a good thing.
And perhaps even more importantly, I learned early this
morning that in five days from now, if we can just get a couple of
things done, the parties in Bosnia have agreed to a complete cease-
MORE
- 2 -
fire of all military hostilities. (Applause.) They have,
furthermore, agreed to come for what are called "proximity peace
talks" I'll tell you about that in a minute; that's a government
language word -- to the United States to actually talk about
hammering out a final peace agreement in later October. So this is a
good day for the cause of peace and prosperity in the world and in
the United States.
Proximity peace talks means that they'll all come to the
same country, to the same town, to the same place, but they'll let us
talk to them, and they won't talk to each other until -- (Laughter)
-- but that's better than it's been. (Laughter.) And sooner or
later, we'll all find out we have more in common than we do dividing
us. And that's the lesson that we hope the American people keep in
mind as we go through the next months and years as well. (Applause.)
I think it's fair to say that no President has ever
enjoyed these award ceremonies more than I have because every year I
get a chance to recognize the lifetime achievements of people who
have been heroes to me in various ways -- men and women who,
unbeknownst to them, have been my teachers, my role models, my
inspiration, because, as President, I am no different than any other
American who enjoys literature or music or art and architecture. And
I have benefitted, as so many of you have, for the work of the people
we recognize today.
These awards call attention to the lives of 17
individuals and one organization who have worked to enrich the lives
of millions and millions of Americans, zillions of people around the
world, and have made this country a stronger, better, richer place.
They are genuine examples of the American ideal and their work as a
whole is a national treasure.
The arts and humanities have energized the American
Dream in so many ways. The soul of our country has literally been
shaped by the vision of our artists and the creativity of those whom
we honor here today. And many others in the past have helped America
to become and to remain the freest, most democratic nation in the
world. Through the arts and humanities, we assert both our oneness
and our diversity. And in celebrating this ideal, we move forward
together.
Human creativity is clearly the most powerful force on
Earth. And these awardees have exercised that power to the fullest.
They have woven for us a wonderful mosaic of music and dance, art and
literature to comfort and inspire a troubled world.
The importance of this work is more important now,
perhaps, than ever before as our country and our world go through a
period of unprecedented change -- changes that are both bringing us
together and ripping up the bonds that have united us in the past.
In a nation as diverse as ours, our arts and our humanities are
bridges to help us reach out to one another and understand one
another better. Projects like the NEH's national conversation are
truly helping us to accomplish this.
In the face of those who would divide us, we must remain
steadfast in supporting the arts and humanities as a way of coming
together while we celebrate our diversity. Our support for them is
not the preservation of some extravagant cultural elite, it's the
preservation of our cultural tradition for all Americans and
especially for those who, unlike me and so many of us, are not part
of anybody's elite, and they need their country to make sure they
have access to the great heritage of America as well. (Applause.)
For the last 30 years, the National Endowment for the
Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities have made the arts
and humanities accessible to millions of our fellow citizens from
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schoolchildren to people in our inner cities to citizens in our most
isolated rural communities many o'! whom would never have
experienced these gifts had they not been offered so freely by our
nation's artists and scholars and by their nation's government.
For & very small contribution, both the NEA and the NEH
have made vital contributions to the life of this nation. Each of
the awardees we recognize here today has been a pioneer. Sometimes
they've made us laugh; sometimes they've helped us cry. Sometimes
they've challenged us to see the error of our ways. Sometimes
they've helped us to celebrate the strength of our goodness. But
always they have lifted us to higher ground.
I am honored to confer upon this wonderful group of
Americans the National Medal of the Arts and the Charles Frankel
Prize. First, the Medal of the Arts winners. Licia Albanese -- the
beginning of her career came as something of a surprise. When the
lead soprano in the Milan production of Madame Butterfly fell ill
during the performance, this young singer was called upon to finish
the opera. Her performance that evening brought the house down. And
a career that spanned more than 30 years was launched.
She went on to leading roles in operas all around the
world, always creating characters memoraole not only for the arias
they sang, but for their intense vitality. She had the rare ability
to combine her great talent as a singer with equal talent as an
actress. It was once said that Licia Aloanese had the two qualities
which all great artists have -- simplicity and sincerity. Most
recently, she and her late husband founded the Puccini Foundation,
and she has worked tirelessly for the benefit of opera and its
survival as an art form.
Please welcome our first honoree, Licia Albanese.
(Applause.)
Gwendolyn Brooks began writing poetry when she was only
11. And at the age of 13, her first poem was published. More than
75 others followed, while she was still a teenager. For four
decades, Gwendolyn Brooks has drawn on the black experience to create
poetry that speaks to all of us in a frank and familiar way. She
served as the poetry consultant to the Library of Congress, and today
is the Poet Laureate of Illinois. In 1949, she was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for poetry. She has kept alive the culture of her
roots through the cultivation of her words.
Gwendolyn Brooks. (Applause.)
Each painter, performer or thinker here today has in one
way or another served to create a legacy in the halls of American
art. Their contributions shall be forever remembered in their fields
and beyond. But their work might never have seen the light of day
were it not for generous, committed, and visionary citizens like two
of those whom we honor Iris and Bernie Cantor.
They have helped literally countless young artists to
succeed. They've introduced countless young people to the joys of
art. The grants and gifts bestowed by the Cantor family have built
and filled the galleries and museums across our nation. From the
Rodin sculptures given to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, to
the grants for exhibitions at institutions such as our own Arkansas
Art Center, to the sculpture exhibit here at the White House, the
Cantor's love for art has known no bouncs.
They've done much to keep the arts alive in America, and
we owe them our thanks. Bernie could not be with us here today. But
Hillary and I are delighted that our good friend, Iris Cantor, is
here to accept the award on behalf of both of them. Iris and Bernie
Cantor. (Applause.)
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It's a special honor for me today to honor another
husband and wife team that has shown that a commitment to the issues
facing the world around us can be just as important a part of their
lives and our lives as a commitment to the art one creates. Ossie
Davis and Ruby Dee met in 1946, performing in a Broadway version of
Jeb Turner. I want to say that again. They met in 1946, while
performing in a Broadway version of Jeb Turner -- (laughter) -- a
play in which she was violating the child labor laws at the time.
(Laughter and applause.) They were married a year later. And they
have performed individually and together now for almost 50 years.
While the stage and screen have kept them busy with such
projects as "A Raisin in the Sun," "The Jackie Robinson story," and
"Do The Right Thing," they have continued to fight for others'
struggle for equality.
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee have helped groups such as the
NAACP, the Urban League, the AIDS projects, like Housing Works. In
1986 they produced a PBS tribute entitled, "Martin Luther King: The
Dream and the Drum." Their vision and their talent shine as brightly
today as they did on that first day wher they met on Broadway so long
ago, and our country is very much a better place because of their
life and their work. (Applause.)
Having written no fewer than 100 pieces of music by the
time he graduated from high school, David Diamond was well on his way
to becoming one of America's most accomplished and disciplined
composers very early in his youth. His dedicated and commitment
throughout his distinguished career has made him a `master at the
craft of creating music.
He's a proud adherent to the classical tradition, and
has made outstanding contributions to the field for more than 60
years now. An inspiration both to those within his field as well as
those who simply enjoy the music he creates, David Diamond truly
exemplifies the spirit of American creativity. Mr. Diamond.
(Applause.)
Born in Germany, James Ingo Freed came to the United
States as a nine-year-old refugee in 1939. After earning his
architectural degree in 1953, he joined the offices of I.M. Pei and
Partners. Widely published and respected within the world of
architecture, he has been the recipient of many major awards, and
most recently, he has been justifiably celebrated for his creation o:
the magnificent, for most of us, overwhelming United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum -- an extraordinary structure that houses many
painful memories, but ultimately inspires its visitors to strive for
a better future.
We're honoring him today for that monumental
achievement, but also for his lifelong dedication to his craft which
continues in this city at this moment as the Federal Triangle
Building comes up and moves toward completion. Let's give him a warm
welcome. James Ingo Freed. (Applause.)
Our next awardee obviously needs no introduction. He
was cited by the Guiness Book of Records as the most honored
entertainer in the world. (Laughter.) Maybe we ought not to do
this. (Laughter.) Bob Hope has more than 1,000 awards and citations
for his humanitarian and professional success. He's been honored
more than -- I think, five times by the Motion Picture Academy,
including receiving an honorary Oscar and the Jean Hersholt
Humanitarian Award. But I know something that some of you probably
don't know. He would far rather go down. in history as a great
golfer. (Laughter.) This morning when I saw him I said -- Bob said,
well, how's your golf game? I said, it's pretty good; but it's too
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rainy today, we can't play. He said, that's too bad, I'll miss
taking your money. (Laughter.)
Unfortunately, that's not as funny as you think it is.
(Laughter.) Known the world over for his wonderful wit and sense of
humor, Bob Hope has brought laughter and pleasure and a happier
outlook on life to generations of American citizens, and especially
to our troops in uniform all around the world.
He began entertaining American servicemen and women even
before World War II, and he's done it in every conflict since. In
1971, Bob Hope took his commitment to the people of America one step
further by applying for a visa to Laos to help negotiate the release
of our prisoners there. When he wasn't performing across oceans, Bob
Hope was making films and making people laugh here in America. I can
honestly say that those films are still making all the members of my
family laugh every time they're shown on the television here.
But even with his busy career, Bob Hope never lost sight
of the truly important things in life -- helping people in need.
He's helped raise more than $1 billion for hospitals, for the
disabled, the Boy Scouts, and numerous other health and human service
causes. His annual golf tournament ever year, which he still plays
in, directs and manages, is an example cf a man whose commitment to
doing this kind of work truly is a lifetime endeavor.
He is perhaps the finest example of a successful
American entertainer whose greatest performance is in what he does
off stage every day. I am so delighted that Bob Hope and his
wonderful wife, Delores, are both here today. And I'd like to ask
Bob now to come up and receive his award. Mr. Bob Hope. (Applause.)
MR. HOPE: I just want to say a couple of words.
(Laughter.) But last year during our golf tournament, I called the
President and I said, do you think you could get out here and play
with us during our tournament. And he said, I don't know. And I got
a hold of Mr. Bush, George Bush: and I got a hold of President Ford.
And the four of us played, and.we raised $1,400,000 for the hospital
out there. (Applause.)
And I just wanted to thank him right now in person.
That's it, that's it. (Laughter and applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: American art is not limited to portraits
or landscapes or still lifes. The broad range of subjects reflects
the diversity of American experience. Roy Lichtenstein is one of the
pioneers who challenged convention and cpened our eyes to new styles
of expression. In the early '60s, he waz one of just a small group
to experiment with popular icons as subject material. I hope that
doesn't make a comeback. (Laughter.)
His works are well known, and have appeared in numerous
exhibitions all around this country. In addition, Roy was one of
several artists commissioned to work on the New York State Pavilion
for the 1964 World Fair. I hope that the pioneering spirit
exemplified by Roy Lichtenstein will always, always live in the
artists of America. It's been a real honor for Hillary and for me to
get to know Roy and his wife and his work. And we're very grateful
for it, and glad to honor him here today. Roy Lichtenstein.
(Applause.)
For nearly four decades, Arthur Mitchell has been a
pivotal figure of American dance. The protege of the great George
Balanchine, he was the first African-American dancer to become a
principal artist in the New York City Ballet. After leaving the
company in 1966, he went on to a career on Broadway and as an
artistic director. But always, always, there was the call of his
home, Harlem.
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Following the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968,
the next year Arthur Mitchell realized a dream by returning to Harlem
as the founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem. It is now recognized
as one of the world's premiere dance troupes. His dedication to
young people and to dance are truly legendary. We are honored by his
presence here today, and by the lifetime of creativity, achievement
he has demonstrated, and most of all, that he found a way to go back
to his roots and lift people up with their God-given talents. Mr.
Arthur Mitchell. (Applause.)
Speaking of roots, this next awardee is one from mine.
Bill Monroe is heralded as the Father of Bluegrass Music, a title
that is a fitting tribute to his truly innovative and inventive
style. Bluegrass is known for its free improvisation, and, in its
way, it embodies the essence of the American spirit. Bill's own
roots stem from rural Kentucky.
When he was just 10 years old, he began to play the
guitar and the mandolin. Along with his two older brothers, Charlie
and Birch, he made music on the front porch of their family home.
Later, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys established themselves as
more than just a string band by blending different vocal harmonies
with instrumental solos. And over the years, the band continued to
gain recognition for its novel combination of instruments.
Bill Monroe was inducted into the Country Music Hall of
Fame in 1970 and joined the International Bluegrass Music
Association's Hall of Honor in 1991. For people who follow and love
that music, Bill Monroe is truly an American legend. He's added so
much through is lifetime career to the rich heritage of this great
nation's music. Mr. Bill Monroe. (Applause.)
He said, "I'm younger than Bob Hope, but I'd still like
to say a thing or two." (Laughter.)
MR. MONROE: Bob Hope is a great man. I'm glad that
he's here. But what I wanted to tell you folks, I have played for
the last four Presidents of the United States -- President Carter,
President Reagan, President Bush, President Clinton here. And they
all tell me that the music I originated belongs to America. And I'm
really proud of that. It's a great honor. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. God bless you.
Now, it is a great honor fcr me to present the award we
give every year to an arts organization. As the largest and most
comprehensive arts and education program in the entire nation, Urban
Gateways has been cited as a model by the National Endowment for the
Arts. In 1994 alone, Urban Gateways reached over 1 million people
and over 11,000 programs established in Chicago area schools.
Armed with the belief that exposure to the arts is
crucial to personal development, the program helps bridge the gap
between Chicago's vast cultural wealth and the huge number of
children from disadvantaged communities. At a time when so many of
our children are being lost to the horrors of drugs and violence,
Urban Gateways has assumed responsibility for our young people's
youth. The organization gives them guidance and an important outlet
for their creative energies.
Here today to accept the award is Urban Gateways'
Executive Director Sandra Furey. She has led Urban Gateways to the
front lines in the campaign to keep the arts alive and the minds of
our children, and in so doing, to keep cur children alive and well
and strong for the future of this great nation. Let's give her a big
hand. (Applause.)
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And now it is my honor to introduce the winners of the
1995 Charles Frankel prize. The first winner, Bill Ferris, leads the
sort of life I'd like to lead if I had another one to live. I mean,
he lives in the deep South. He writes funny, wonderful books. And
he's still trying to find out if Elvis is alive. (Applause.) He's
probably done more than anyone else to bring national recognition and
understanding to the field of Southern studies. As many of you know,
he seriously was one of the organizers of the recent, highly-
successful "Elvis" conference at the University of Mississippi at
Oxford.
Since 1979, he has directed the Center for the Study of
Southern Culture at Old Miss, where he's built southern studies
curriculum into the most extensive in the nation. He was a
consultant to the movie "The Color Purple," and for nearly a decade
until 1994, as the blues doctor, he hosted "Highway 61," a weekly
blues music program that airs on Mississippi public radio. His
scholarship covers the fields of folklore, American literature, music
and photography.
I want to thank him for bringing the culture and music
of my homeland to all Americans. A remarkable person, Mr. Bill
Ferris. (Applause.)
Too often, television overlooks the lives and poignant
stories of ordinary Americans who may. not show up on the evening
news, but whose extraordinary lives keep our country going. Charles
Kuralt recognized this problem nearly 30 years ago. In 1967, he
asked his boss to let him wander around the country for three months,
and the critically-acclaimed show, "On the Road," was born.
Through his travels, Charles Kuralt brought hundreds of
courageous Americans into the living rooms of our country. And in so
doing, he helped raise issues of social concern, such as funding for
education, the problems of poverty, the plight of small businesses.
But understanding the needs of others comes naturally to Charles
Kuralt. His father, Wallace, was a North Carolina social worker, who
worked all his life on programs that prcvided day care, substance
abuse counseling, and planned parenthood services. That spirit is
alive and well in his son today.
The numerous awards and 13 Emmys Charles Kuralt holds
are but a small reward for what he has given to all the rest of us.
It's unfortunate that he was unable to attend today. We send him our
wishes for a very speedy recovery from surgery that he had earlier
this week, and we're glad that here to receive his award is his
daughter, Lisa Kuralt White. (Applause.)
David Macaulay has written several books detailing the
insides of complicated machines. He can even explain "the way things
work." (Laughter.) We could use him around here in the next couple
of weeks. (Laughter.) He has devoted his professional life to the
investigation of architecture and mechar.ics. His books have helped
children and adults alike to understand the world's rich history of
construction and architecture.
Using detailed illustrations, his books help to unfold
the mysteries of both man and machine. David Macaulay's works serve
as a bridge between humankind's earliest attempts at building and the
most modern techniques of today. His painstaking efforts have made
knowledge and investigation more accessible to the rest of us who
could never have understood them on our own but who's lives were
richer and more enlightened and who's citizenship more informed as a
result of his work.
Mr. David Macaulay. (Applause.)
All of us know that history well-written and well-
learned can be a great teacher. It can demonstrate what we are
capable of at our best and what we may do wrong at our worst. In his
- 8 -
remarkable body of work, David McCullough has shown us the true
character of many of our country's most heroic figures and many of
its most important events and eras.
From his wonderfully successful and enlightening
biography on President Truman, to his look at the building of the
Brooklyn Bridge, to his work as the voice of the highly regarded PBS
series, "The American Experience," David McCullough has given us a
window into the lives of outstanding Americans and important events.
His work emphasizes the value of history and our place in it. Along
with his research, he spends many hours working for the preservation
of historic sites, of public libraries and of other institutions
across America which enable us to preserve and learn about our roots.
We should never forget what David McCullough has asked us to
remember. And we should never forget his incredible contribution in
helping us to preserve that memory.
Mr. David McCullough. (Applause.)
Bernice Johnson Reagon is perhaps best known as guiding
spirit and resonant alto voice of Sweet Honey in the Rock, the famous
a capella quintet she founded in 1973. Singing an eclectic blend of
gospel, jazz, folk and rhythm and blues, the group has carried its
message of world peace, women's rights and racial harmony on tour
throughout our nation and throughout the world. If that were all she
had done, Professor Reagon would be worthy of this award. But her
creative energy is truly unlimited.
For nearly 35 years, she's helped to preserve, celebrate
and illuminate the rich heritage of African American music as a civil
right activist, as a singer-composer, an author, an historian, a
museum curator. Since 1993, she's been Distinguished Professor of
History at American University here in Washington. Her latest
contribution to public understanding of African American music is the
26-part radio document, "Wade in the Water: African American Sacred
Music Traditions, which aired beginning in 1994 on National Public
Radio stations nationwide. She is a messenger of peace, and I am
deeply honored that she is with us today.
Sweet Honey in the Rock, for those of you who haven't
heard it, is a truly inspiring experience, but the work of her life
is even more inspiring. (Applause.)
Let me thank again all the honorees and congratulate
them. Thank all of you for coming. Let me thank all the
distinguished saxophonists who came here to be with us today -- for
their work. (Applause.) Thank you all for your contributions and
your devotion to the American way of life.
God bless you all. Thank you. (Applause.)
END
1:52 P.M. EDT
1774
Oct. 5 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995
(1) the compensation plan, procedures, and
(Filed with the Office of the Federal Register.
structure of such corporation;
11:34 a.m., October, 6, 1995]
(2) base salary levels, annual bonuses, and
NOTE: This Executive order was published in the
other compensation; and
Federal Register on October 10.
(3) information supporting the senior exec-
utive compensation plan and levels.
(c) The Director of OMB shall issue in-
Remarks at the Arts and Humanities
structions to the corporations subject to this
Awards Dinner
section specifying when information is to be
October 5, 1995
submitted, and the content and form of such
information.
The President. Ladies and gentlemen, I
Sec. 4. Review. (a) OMB, in consultation
want to welcome all of you here, and say,
with the Department of Labor, will review
again, to our honorees today how very much
the information submitted pursuant to sec-
Hillary and I enjoyed having all of you here
tion 3, taking into consideration:
and having the great honor of presenting
(1) consistency with statutory require-
your awards to you.
ments;
Helen Hayes once said that, "We rely
(2) consistency with corporate mission;
upon the poets, the philosophers, and the
(3) standards of Federal management and
playwrights to articulate what most of us can
efficiency; and
only feel in joy and in sorrow. They illu-
(4) equivalent private sector compensation
minate the thoughts for which we only grope.
practices.
They give us the strength and bond we can-
Sec. 5. Public Dissemination Requirement.
not find in ourselves, the wisdom of accept-
Government corporations subject to this
ance, the will and resilience to move on."
order shall make available through public dis-
Those words have special meaning today
semination the information submitted pursu-
as America and, indeed, our entire world
ant to section 3 of this order.
work to find their way into a new era, an
Sec. 6. Coverage. This order will apply to
era in which people are dramatically chang-
all mixed-ownership and wholly owned cor-
ing the way they work and live and relate
porations listed in section 9101 (2) and (3)
to one another.
of title 31, United States Code. Section 2
We must dare, as artists and poets do, to
shall apply only to wholly owned corporations
break free of the past to create a better future
except such corporations that have specific
rooted in the values that never change. That
authority to approve bonuses in excess of
is a great lesson our artists, our thinkers, our
those authorized under sections 4501
scholars, our supporters and advocates of the
through 4507 of title 5, United States Code.
arts and humanities teach us. We thank you
Sec. 7. Administration. All corporations
for your lives, your dedication. We honor all
subject to this order shall provide any infor-,
of you.
mation in the manner and form, and at the
In every period of change and upheaval,
time, requested pursuant to this order by the
there is always great new opportunity, and
Director of OMB.
there is always a struggle between those who
Sec. 8. This order is intended only to im-
are best positioned to receive that oppor-
prove the internal management of the execu-
tunity and those who work but aren't so well-
tive branch and is not intended to create any
positioned. I want to thank tonight, espe-
right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
cially, the National Endowment of the Arts
enforceable at law by a party against the
and the National Endowment of the Human-
United States, its agencies, its officers, or any
ities because, in a world where some fear
other person.
we're moving to a winner-take-all society,
you work so that all people can win in their
William J. Clinton
access to the arts and humanities. And that
is a goal worth pursuing and worth achieving.
The White House,
I thank you all for your work, and again,
October 5, 1995.
I say on behalf of the First Lady and the
ton, 1995
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995 / Oct. 6
1775
I Reg
Vice President and Mrs. Gore, we're honored
Remarks at a Freedom House
to have our honorees here in the White
Breakfast
h
the
House tonight, and deeply grateful for your
October 6, 1995
many contributions to America.
I'd like to propose a toast to the winners
Thank you very much. I'm honored to be
of the awards today.
introduced by someone who writes so power-
anities
[At this point, the musical entertainment con-
fully about the past and is working so effec-
tinued, and then the President resumed
tively to shape the future. The Secretary of
speaking.]
State and I have tried to encourage both
those activities by keeping Win Lord busy
tlemen, I
The President. Thank you so very much.
at the State Department.
and say,
You were both wonderful. You know, one of
I'm honored to be here with all of you and
ery much
our awardees is over there in the cowboy hat
to be here at Freedom House. For more than
you here
there, Mr. Monroe, sort of the founder of
50 years, Freedom House has been a voice
resenting
bluegrass music. And I could tell by looking
for tolerance for human dignity. People all
at him that I am authorized on his behalf
over the world are better off because of your
We rely
to offer you a place in his next bluegrass
work. And I'm very grateful that Freedom
and the
band. [Laughter]
House has rallied this diverse and dynamic
of us can
We need somebody here who can play
group. It's not every day that the Carnegie
hey illu-
"Blue Moon of Kentucky" in A-is there a
Endowment, the Progressive Policy Institute,
nly grope.
volunteer? [Loughter] Great, Bill, make sure
the Heritage Foundation, and the American
I we can-
he does it right.
Foreign Policy Council share the same mast-
of accept-
[Bill Monroe sang "Blue Moon of Kentucky,"
head. I feel that I should try out a whole
love on."
and dinner participants sang "God Bless
list of issues and try to get check-off here-
ng today
America"]
[laughter]-before the meeting goes any fur-
are world
ther.
v era, an
The President. Can I ask you all to give
It does prove that there is a strong, dy-
ly chang.
Mr. Zuckerman, and our wonderful pianist
namic center in our country that supports
ad "nte
a big hand? Weren't they terrific? Thank you.
America's continued leadership in the world.
You were wonderful. [Applouse] Let's give
We have all worked for that. And I want to
ets do, to
them a wonderful hand. They were terrific.
publicly thank the Secretary of State and
er
are
Please come back. Come on up. Now, there
Tony Lake; the others in our foreign policy
age. that
is only one way we can end this magnificent
team, my Counselor, Mr. McLarty, up here
kers, our
evening. Come on up. You were wonderful.
who's been especially active on our behalf
es of the
Thank you for being here. Thank you, Tues-
in Latin America. And I want to thank all
ank you
day, for being here.
of you who have supported that continued
Юрог all
I think we should end—I think Bob Hope
endeavor.
should sing "Thanks For The Memories." It's
You know, in 1991 I sought the Presidency
pheaval
the only way you can end.
because I believed it was essential to restore
lity, and
[Bob Hope sang Thanks For The Memo-
the American dream for all Americans and
lose who
ries.")
to reassert America's leadership in the post-
oppor-
cold-war world. As we move from the indus-
so well-
The President We want you all to join
trial to the information age, from the cold
us out there for dancing and more music,
t, espe-
war world to the global village, we have an
he Arts
and maybe you can get the rest of them to
extraordinary opportunity to advance our val-
Human-
sing. if we're lucky. [Laughter] Come on.
ues at home and around the world. But we
ne fear
Let's go out-everybody. Thanks, again, to
face some stiff challenges in doing so as well.
society,
everyone, and especially to our wonderful
We know that at home we have the re-
in their
musicians.
sponsibility to create opportunity for all of
.nd that
Thank you, and good night.
our citizens to make the most of their own
hieving.
lives, to strengthen their families and their
d again,
NOTE: The President spoke at 8:31 p.m. in the
communities. We know that abroad we have
and the
State Dining Room at the White House.
the responsibility to advance freedom and
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINOTON
NATIONAL ARTS AND HUMANITIES MONTH
October 1995
The month of October is the time we traditionally set aside
to contemplate the place of the arts and humanities in our national
experience. They are our map and our compass; they tell us who we
are and where we come from -- and, most important, they show us who
we can become.
Too often we define our nation in terms of technological
genius and our prodigious capacities for production and marketing.
We forget that America was born of the human mind and spirit. The
individuals who founded our nation were students of history and
philosophy, thinkers as well as doers. The Constitution they
devised for us, the blueprint for a form of government the world
had never known, was fashioned from their knowledge of the past
and their vision for the future.
The arts, too, have an invaluable place in our lives. In a
nation as diverse as ours, the arts remind us of the common values
that bind us together as one people. They challenge us with new
ideas and summon us to become more than we are. Through song,
painting, sculpture, prose, poetry, and every other artistic
endeavor, Americans rejoice in our rich cultural heritage and
share the beauty and complexity of the world around us.
America has flourished for over 200 years because of our
willingness to cultivate the human spirit. In these challenging
times, when some are questioning the value of public support for
the arts and humanities, we must remember that these pursuits are
not a luxury that we can live without -- they are a vital part of
our national character, the motivating force that makes us who we
are.
As we observe National Arts and Humanities Month this year,
let us reflect on what the arts and humanities have meant to us as
a people, and let us rededicate ourselves to preserving and nurturing
them for the generations yet to come.
Bin Chirton
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 26, 1995
REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
AT PBS PANEL DISCUSSION
THE WHITE HOUSE
MRS. CLINTON: Good morning. And welcome, everyone, to
the White House for this very important meeting. I am delighted that
you could all be with us, and I want particularly to recognize a few
people who were able to join us this morning. We have Representative
Jim Moran from across the river in Virginia, and Representative
Eleanor Holmes Norton from here in the District of Columbia.
We are also delighted that Richard Carlson, the
President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Ervin
Duggan, the President of the Public Broadcasting Service; Delano
Lewis, the President of National Public Radio; and Larry Irving, the
Secretary for Communications in the Department of Commerce are also
all here with us.
This is a meeting about a very important subject. It is
about the role that television plays in the lives of our children
and, particularly, the role of public broadcasting. I think that it
is very important in our country today to acknowledge and admit that
television is a pervasive influence in our lives and has a
particularly significant impact on the development of our children.
There are some who have engaged in a long discussion --
even an argument -- over the last decades about what television means
in our lives, what the role of violence, for example, in television
is. But I would like to focus today on an issue that we are now
finding more about, and that I hope will influence the debate about
the role of public broadcasting and its contribution to children's
development as we struggle with and argue over the proper role of
government.
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- 2 -
Public broadcasting is for many, many children the only
channel available that has consistently effective educational
programming. Probably about 40 percent of our families in America do
not have access to cable television. And because of the demographics
and incomes of those 40 percent of our families, we know that they
have a disproportionate number of our children. More than 40 percent
of our children reside in those 40 percent of our families.
If you were to look, as I have done, at the daily
television schedule of our three major networks and our public
broadcasting channel, you would see what is available for those
children in those homes. Now, certainly, there are other options on
cable, but they are often far outnumbered by channels that provide
information and programming that is not always suitable for our
children.
But looking only at the four available channels that
those 40 percent of our families have access to, it is clear that
what is available to children with respect to their educational and
developmental needs is not usually found on commercial television.
It is found during the day on public broadcasting.
And there are those who think that the educational
programming of public broadcasting is a luxury. But to them I would
ask: What is the necessity that can be substituted for that luxury?
Where are the outlets for the kind of helpful, productive, learning
opportunities that children have access to on public broadcasting day
in and day out?
But you don't have to take my word for it. You don't
have to take anybody's word for it. We actually have research. We
have evidence about the impact of television and the impact, in
particular, of public broadcasting.
One of my great hopes from a meeting such as this is
that our decision makers will not just engage in ideological
discussions, but will make decisions based on the evidence that we
have available to us. If one disagrees with the evidence -- fine.
Provide counterevidence. But it is difficult to engage in a
conversation about what is in the best interests of our children if
the people engaging in it are merely taking ideological positions.
And so, today, I have asked some people who have a great
deal of experience and knowledge about the impact of television and,
particularly, the impact of public broadcasting on children, and
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- 3 -
especially on low-income children who often do not have the
educational opportunities, the intellectual stimulation, the academic
preparation that many of us try to provide for our own children.
I am sure anyone who has followed our national
discussion about television knows of the woman I am about to
introduce. She is someone who, for many years, has been, in effect,
sounding the alarm about the impact of television. I wish that alarm
were heard in every family more loudly than it sometimes is, as well
as in the board rooms and legislative chambers of our country because
she has pointed out, time and time again, that children are shaped by
what they see, by what they hear, by what they are taught.
And the constant, pervasive presence of television in
most of our homes is a challenge for parents who will have to learn
and be willing to accept responsibility for monitoring more closely
the television-watching of their children. But it is also a
challenge for the larger society.
And so it gives me great pleasure to introduce Peggy
Charren. She is the founder of Action for Children's Television and
is currently serving as a visiting scholar at Harvard, continuing to
examine and accumulate and analyze evidence about the impact of
television on our children's lives.
*****
MS. CHARREN: There's time for a few questions, and I
though that, given that we have the First Lady with us, we would let
the First Lady ask the questions today instead of the audience.
MRS. CLINTON: Well, the one thought that kept running
through my mind after what we've heard is, can you imagine any child
rushing home from the first day of school and trying to tell the
Power Rangers that she'd gone to school? (Laughter and applause.)
You know, there's just sort of a disconnect there.
Well, I really find everything that each of you has said
to be born out in our common experience. Really, it is common sense.
But let's see if we can maybe take it one step further for people who
are still saying to themselves, well, if this is so important,
commercial television will pick up the slack; if this is so
significant in the lives of our children, there will be a market for
it, so all of what you are saying can be understood and accepted, but
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- 4 -
doesn't necessarily lead to the conclusion that you have to have a
public television presence with designated programming for children
in order to make the point that each of you has supported.
So let me ask both Peggy and John and then everyone else
to comment. Why isn't it likely that if the worst were to happen,
and the programming that we've already talked about and the
significance of it that the research has demonstrated were to
disappear, that that vacuum wouldn't be filled by the existing
marketplace?
MS. CHARREN: I think that if there's anything that my
27 years of activism on behalf of choices for children on television
has proved, it is that even with a lot of conferences, even with
articles in the paper, even with the people who make that kind of
television having children, they will not provide the kind of
programming that children need that really enhances education. They
are more comfortable with the other kind of programming.
And the problem is that when you talk to 2- to 15-year-
olds in a voice that you want to tell them something important, you
speak in a different language to preschoolers, to elementary-age kids
and to older kids. And if you want to get the most eyeballs watching
the commercials, you tend to say things that all children will listen
to. And maybe all children do read comic books at one point. But
when you talk to them about how wonderful literature is, you do it
the way the book business does. And Public Broadcasting handles that
screen the way the book business handles children's books.
MR. WRIGHT: I think the most important thing to think
about with respect to the private sector is not that it's unwise, not
that it's entirely vicious, not that it's a handicapping condition to
the entertainment and education of children, but that they are
focused entirely on the bottom line. They exploit children. They
gather eyeballs glued to TV sets which they then sell to ad agencies
and advertisers who then re-exploit the children to sell them
products they don't need, food that's not good for them, and toys
that enhance their fantasy and their willingness to attend the
programs which gather their eyeballs for sale. I think I'll stop on
that line. (Laughter.)
But the research that they do -- I spoke to the
executive producer of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and I asked her,
what kind of research do you do? How do you know what messages you
are getting across to children? And she said to me -- and this is a
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- 5 -
quote -- "After every rap we sit around and we ask each other, what
questions have we answered; what ideas would children take away from
this episode that we have just made?" And in the research community
-- this was at a Children Now conference and some of you were there
-- in fact, you were there by television -- everybody said, you asked
who? They said, we asked ourselves.
Until we start asking the children, until we start doing
the research, something other than market research, until we leave a
program like "My So-Called Life," -- one of the few decent programs
for young people that the commercial ever made that was cancelled.
Not enough eyeballs to sell. Not a wide enough range of children
watching it. And every network has done that. I can remember "Hot
Hero Sandwich" on NBC -- a wonderful, wonderful program. What
happened to "Big Blue Marble" on ABC? And many, many, many more.
It is incompatible. The system is incompatible. You've
got to do it because air waves belong to the people, the children
belong to the people. And you've got to have something for kids that
is theirs.
MS. MANZANO: Well, I'd just like to say, the private
sector won't pick up the slack because I'm always amazed that "Sesame
Street" hasn't been imitated in the private sector. We've been on
the air so long, and everybody agrees that we're great. But nobody
cares to sort of -- to imitate us. And like you said, there were all
these wonderful shows for children that got cancelled right away.
I was asked once to write for a children's show on
commercial television. And I asked, what age group is this show
aimed at? And they said, oh, you know, kids. (Laughter.) Well, how
could -- you don't write for a three-year-old the same way you write
for a five-year-old, and certainly not a seven-year-old. So I knew
immediately that they hadn't even examined themselves and they didn't
even know what they were going to say to these children. It was
bottom line. And they started out with the result of what they
wanted their show to do which was sell a certain product -- not what
the show was about.
MS. CHARREN: And one of the worst problems that
happened in the last few years is that the show itself has become a
product too often on children's television on commercial
broadcasting. And that's unfortunate because it -- that line between
editorial and commercial speech so you don't know who's talking to
you.
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- 6 -
And it means that we're telling our children, one in
four of whom lives below the poverty line, what they should spend
money on to feel good, to have friends. And that's really very sad.
They can do what they do as long as we have the part of that
broadcasting service that is saved for public broadcasting which
cares first about the public and first about our children. And I'm
not sure they care about anything else at all.
MRS. CLINTON: Joan, do you want to add anything?
MS. DYKSTRA: No. I think everyone has stated it very
clearly. I think the bottom line is that we want quality programming
for children. They have an opportunity. They can give us quality
programming. I fail to see where it is. I do know that PBS brings
me quality programming for children.
MRS. CLINTON: You know, I think it's an important point
that the economy that we all rely on is driven by a need to create
aspirations and expectations and, really, unfilled wants. I mean,
that's how people continue to buy goods and services. So that's
really the reason -- for a market economy in a way that is going to
continue to grow and provide more prosperity for people, it has to be
rooted, in a funny kind of way, in people's insecurity. I mean, if
all of us today said to ourselves, we have more than enough stuff, we
are not buying anything else, and we really meant it, you know, that
would not be good for the economy. (Laughter.)
So there is a need on the part of the economy, and
particularly one like ours, to continue to try to create in our minds
the desire for more and different things. And there's absolutely
nothing wrong with that. That is the way the system works.
But I do think there is a dark side that we don't pay
attention to. And it's something that was just alluded to -- that
when we turn our children and think of our children as miniature
adults, and really see them primarily as consumers, as little
shoppers who we want to turn into grown-up buyers of as many goods
and services as we possibly can sell them, that has a very different
perspective than if we see them as individuals with certain
potentials who it is our responsibility as parents, as citizens to
nurture.
And so there is an inherent conflict as the Professor
pointed out. And it is very difficult, I think, to be fair to
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- 7 -
commercial television, for them to fulfill a nurturing developmental
responsibility when that is not, as they clearly understand, their
bottom line.
So part of what we have to do as a society is to assign
different roles and responsibilities to different sectors of our
society. And commercial television has a different role and
responsibility, particularly as it pertains to children, than public
broadcasting.
And I think without that kind of choice, it is very
difficult for parents, even those trying hard to be conscientious
ones, Joan, to do what they believe they should do. I mean, teaching
values to children in between commercials on Saturday morning
cartoons is a lot harder, believe me, than watching "Sesame Street"
or "Mr. Rogers" or "Barney" or something like that with your child.
So it's not an either/or. And that's what I think we
have to keep trying to emphasize. It is not an either/or where it's
only commercial television or it's only public broadcasting. It is
both. And we have to see the responsibilities, particularly for
child rearing, in a much broader way so that each sector of our
society, starting with parents, but expanding far beyond just the
nuclear family, understands they have a role in determining how well
our children turn out.
And that's really what your research has shown is that
we know children are going to watch television. What we have to do
is provide the best possible choices. But if we don't have the
choice, then we've already made the decision, haven't we? And that's
what we're trying to avoid in this discussion about what happens with
the future of public television.
MR. WRIGHT: I'd like to add a parenting anecdote
because I think you did bring in parents and you did bring in
teachers, and they are going to be critical in the future of kids'
understanding and use of media.
And I'd just like to tell a very quick story. I have
four grandchildren, two more on the way. And these four kids love to
watch television. They watch lots of television. But none of them,
as yet, know that there is such a thing as commercial broadcast
entertainment television. I'm not even sure about PBS. And the
reason is that television for them is something that you take off the
shelf in a little box and put it in a machine and play it. And on
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- 8 -
that shelf are videocassettes and books. And the videocassettes were
taped off the air; they were bought; they were rented. I blush to
admit, some of them were taped from rented copies. (Laughter.)
But they got there because some parent cared enough to
put them there and to let the children watch over and over again, as
they do with their favorite books, the stories that are dear and near
to them.
MS. CHARREN: And to follow up on that, a lot of the
choices that are available from the new technology, which I mentioned
earlier, are not available to kids who need them the most. They are
expensive. Cable is expensive. Some of the pay channels are money
on top of money, and they provide a number of the choices that cable
does provide for children, and that if we don't really take care of
the public sector of broadcasting, we are going to have a situation
in this country that will make what's going on now look nice by
comparison when we don't reach one, whole, big portion of kids
growing up in America. So I want to take very good care of PBS.
MRS. CLINTON: And I just want to add to that comment,
Peggy, that we haven't talked this morning about the evidence that I
think is now conclusive about the impact of watching violence on
television and on children's behavior. We have argued about this
issue ever since the Surgeon General's report back in 1972 talking
about the impact of television viewing on children's behavior. There
have been many studies since.
And it is like the old problem we have -- every time
there is another irrefutable piece of evidence about the linkage
between smoking and lung cancer, there will be somebody, well-paid,
who will stand up and say, well, that's not definitive. And we face
the same problem when we talk about the effects of violence and
children's behavior.
But Peggy is right. I mean, this is not just a do-
gooder, altruistic, nice thing that people like Peggy and I and the
rest of us here think should be done because we like children's
television. Certainly, I do. And I believe strongly in it. And
that's what my daughter watched, and we read the books that went
along with it.
But I am equally concerned about the other side of the
equation that the Professor talked about. And that is, those
children who are not watching the 25 minutes a day of public
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- 9 -
broadcasting but are, instead, watching the 25 minutes of commercial
television without much parental supervision or mediation as to what
they are seeing.
It is absolutely true that not every child who watches
hundreds of hours of violent television becomes violent. But most of
the reason for that rests in the home and the neighborhood that are
structured and coherent enough that the child's experience of
watching television is mediated. But in the absence of that
mediation, and in the absence of the other factors that help a child
separate reality from fantasy, that help a child learn empathy and
sensitivity, it is absolutely clear that the television-watching
habits of vulnerable children will affect both their own violent
behavior and their response to violence that they see around them.
It has a desensitizing impact.
So this is an issue that we think goes far beyond the
narrow concerns of the group of us who are arguing strongly to
preserve public television and, particularly, educational and
children's programming. It is also a plea to all programmers of
television, including commercial television, to think about the
impact of your decisions.
The bottom line can be described in many ways. Only one
of those descriptions concerns profitability and the dollars that
come in. There's a bottom line to society as well. And we think
that bottom line is better served by having better television
programming for our children
Thank you all very much for being with us. (Applause.)
###
MORE
1000
June 8 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995
this fight. It is truly the fight for America's
You are authorized and directed to trans-
future.
mit this determination and certification to
Thank you, and God bless you all.
the Congress, together with the Memoran-
dum of Explanation, and to publish it in the
NOTE: The President spoke at 12:07 p.m. on the
Federal Register.
South Lawn at the White House. In his remarks,
he referred to Mayor Edward Rendell of Philadel-
William J. Clinton
phia, PA.
Remarks to the Friends of Art and
Statement on House Action on
Preservation in Embassies
Foreign Affairs Legislation
June 8, 1995
June 8, 1995
One of these days we're going to have an
This bill (H.R. 1561) would take us in an
event where I have to be introduced by the
isolationist direction at a time when America
First Lady when we've had one of those other
is ready to lead in the world. I am gratified
days. [Laughter] Lord only knows what will
that argument was persuasive to enough
happen-{laughter}-but it will be another
Members of the House to sustain a possible
adventure.
veto.
I am delighted to see all of you here. I'm
We are particularly concerned about the
glad to be here with our friend Lee
vote to lift unilaterally the arms embargo in
Annenberg and with Ann Gund and with all
Bosnia. As we have said, we believe this is
of you who support this important work.
counterproductive to our efforts to bring
Let me say that this has been an interest-
about a negotiated settlement.
ing day at the White House. We swore in
263 police officers earlier today. We've had
all kinds of people in here from all over
Memorandum on the International
America. But mostly we have been celebrat-
Fund for Ireland
ing the liberation of that fine young Air Force
June 8, 1995
Captain from Bosnia.
Sometimes I read even in the American
Presidential Determination No. 95-26
press from time to time that we don't seem
to be doing anything in Bosnia, and we don't
Memorandum for the Secretary of State
seem to have exerted ourselves. You should
know that we have over 1,000 American
Subject: Certification to Permit U.S.
Contributions to the International Fund for
troops on the border of Bosnia in the Former
Ireland for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to make
sure that conflict doesn't spread. We have
Pursuant to section 5(c) of the Anglo-Irish
200 Americans in the hospital unit in Croatia.
Agreement Support Act of 1986 (Public Law
And we have flown the longest humanitarian
99-415), I hereby certify that I am satisfied
airlift and the largest one in history, larger
that: (1) the Board of the International Fund
than the Berlin airlift, to guarantee food and
for Ireland as established pursuant to the
medicine to people in the besieged areas of
Anglo-Irish Agreement of November 15,
Bosnia. And perhaps most importantly of all,
1985, is, as a whole, broadly representative
people like that fine young Captain have
of the interests of the communities in Ireland
been flying for a couple of years now to keep
and Northern Ireland; and (2) disbursements
the war out of the air. And for all of our
from the International Fund (a) will be dis-
frustrations and feelings of anxiety and anger,
tributed in accordance with the principle of
in 1992 there were about 130,000 civilians
equality of opportunity and nondiscrimina-
killed, a staggering number, in that troubled
tion in employment, without regard to reli-
land. Last year there were under 3,000.
gious affiliation, and (b) will address the
So I ask you to remember as we celebrate
needs of both communities in Northern Ire-
this liberation that a lot of people stick their
land.
neck out everyday and the results have been
1995
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1995 / June s
1001
"as
important. If you look at Northern Ireland but everyone takes for granted when they
n to
or South Africa or the Middle East, the les-
benefit from it.
ran-
son of this time is that it's very difficult to
We're having such a raging debate in this
- the
enforce peace on people that want to keep
country today about whether public is bad
fighting with one another, but what you try
and private is good, whether all of our efforts
on
to do is to keep it within some bounds of
should be directed at correcting personal
humanity, keep working on diplomacy until
conduct or at changing economic or political
d
they spend their destructive energies and
direction. I think these debates make for very
start trying to build again.
interesting print and maybe news coverage
And once in a while the risk becomes ap-
at night, but they don't conform to the real-
parent, as it was in the case of this brave
world experience of most people.
pilot. And for 6 days he held out against a
Most of us, I think, all of our lives, have
ve an
y the
lot of attempts to find him and to shoot him
felt that when people get together in some
and capture him. And he represented the
sort of constructive partnership, that's what
other
it will
best in our country. He told me today when
works best. And I think one of the most frus-
we visited on the phone-I talked to his par-
trating things to me about going to work
other
ents last night at 1:30 a.m., and they asked
every day, in this otherwise exhilarating envi-
e. I'm
me if I was going to call him. I said, "No,
ronment, is knowing that what comes across
you call him. I'm going to bed. I just want-
to the American people are these polarized
Lee
choices and conflicts and rhetorical battles
ith all
ed-[laughter]-1 wanted you to know he
was home safe."
which don't reflect the way any sensible per-
son would run his or her family or business
terest-
But he told me today that he was on the
or charitable organization or hospital or
ore in
ground between three and five minutes be-
church or you name it.
e had
fore armed people made it to his parachute.
You have done what I think is best about
I over
He had three to five minutes to find a place
America. You have taken the world as you
le' 't-
to hide and begin this incredible odyssey that
find it, worked together in a real spirit of
e
I'm sure some day will be a very great movie
partnership, recognized that there is a per-
that all of us will think is suitable for every-
sonal responsibility and opportunity and also
enhan
one to see. [Laughter]
a public responsibility in this area. I wish we
t seem
Let me say on behalf of all of our adminis-
had more of and I'm glad we've got you.
e don't
tration, and especially the people who work
Thank you very much.
should
in America's diplomatic efforts, we are pro-
I have a lot to be grateful to Lee
nerican
foundly grateful for what you do. By putting
Annenberg and her fine husband, Walter,
Former
American art in our embassies around the
for, but not so long ago we were here to an-
, make
world, you are part of our public diplomacy,
nounce that the Annenbergs had decided to
e have
you expose an important part of the essence
donate a staggering sum for the purpose of
Croatia.
of America to people all around the world.
trying to improve public education in this
nitarian
And it couldn't happen without you.
country. I think there is no more noble cause.
larger
I also want to thank you because you have
And because of what they have done, all
od and
put, I think DOW, over 2,200 works of Amer-
across America people are doing things dif-
areas of
ican art in more than 170 countries, raised
ferently, striving for global standards of ex-
y of all,
over $7 million to fund projects at Embassy
cellence in grassroots community schools.
in have
residencies in Beijing and Cairo and Rome
And for that and for this and for so much
to keep
and London, Singapore, Tokyo, and Warsaw.
else, the country owes a great debt of grati-
I of our
And I've been to a lot of those places, so
tude to Lee Annenberg, and I am very
d anger,
I am one of the chief beneficiaries of your
pleased to introduce her now.
civilians
efforts. And I thank you for that.
Thank you.
troubled
You couldn't do it alone. The State De-
x.
partment couldn't do it alone. This rep-
NOTE: The President spoke at 6:17 p.m. in the
elebrate
East Room at the White House. In his remarks,
resents one of those remarkable partnerships
ick their
he referred to Leonore Annenberg, chairperson,
between the public and the private sector in
and Ann Gund, vice chairperson, Friends of Art
ave been
America that almost nobody knows about,
and Preservation in Embassies.
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
It is my special pleasure to transmit herewith the
Annual Report of the National Endowment for the Arts for
the fiscal year 1993.
The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded over
100,000 grants since 1965 for arts projects that touch every
community in the Nation. Through its grants to individual
artists, the agency has helped to launch and sustain the
voice and grace of a generation -- such as the brilliance of
Rita Dove, now the U.S. Poet Laureate, or the daring of dancer
Arthur Mitchell. Through its grants to art organizations, it
has helped invigorate community arts centers and museums,
preserve our folk heritage, and advance the performing,
literary, and visual arts.
Since its inception, the Arts Endowment has believed that
all children should have an education in the arts. Over the
past few years, the agency has worked hard to include the arts
in our national education reform movement. Today, the arts are
helping to lead the way in renewing American schools.
I have seen first-hand the success story of this small
agency. In my home State of Arkansas, the National Endowment
for the Arts worked in partnership with the State arts agency
and the private sector to bring artists into our schools, to
help cities revive downtown centers, and to support opera and
jazz, literature and music. All across the United States, the
Endowment invests in our cultural institutions and artists.
People in communities small and large in every State have
greater opportunities to participate and enjoy the arts. We all
benefit from this increased arts presence, and yet the cost is
just 65 cents per American. The payback in economic terms has
always been several-fold. The payback in human benefit is
incalculable.
William G. cuiton
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 6, 1995.
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
I am pleased to present to you the Twenty-ninth Annual
Report of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the
Federal agency charged with fostering scholarship and imparting
knowledge in the humanities. Its work supports an impressive
range of humanities projects.
These projects can reach an audience as general as
the 28 million who watched the documentary Baseball, or as
specialized as the 50 scholars who this past fall examined
current research on Dante. Small local historical societies
have received NEH support, as have some of the Nation's largest
cultural institutions. Students from kindergarten through
graduate school, professors and teachers, and the general public
in all parts of the Nation have been touched by the Endowment's
activities.
As we approach the 21st century, the world is growing
smaller and its problems seemingly bigger. Societies are
becoming more complex and fractious. The knowledge and wisdom,
the insight and perspective, imparted by history, philosophy,
literature, and other humanities disciplines enable us to meet
the challenges of contemporary life.
William S. cuiton
THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 9, 1995.
2026
Oct. 14 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994
pation Act of 1945, as amended (22 U.S.C.
President Bush exercised his statutory au-
287c), and section 301 cc title 3, United
thority to issue Executive Order No. 12775,
States Code, and taking too consideration
declaring a national emergency and blocking
United Nations Security Council Resolution
Haitian government property. To further
944 of September 29. 1994.
tighten the sanctions against Haiti, President
I, William J. Clinton. President of the
Bush exercised his statutory authority to issue
United States of America. ind that the res-
Executive Order No. 12779, and I acted pur-
toration of a democraticalh elected govern-
suant to the same authorities as well as the
ment in Haiti has ended the unusual and ex-
United Nations Participation Act of 1945, as
traordinary threat to the national security,
amended (22 U.S.C. 287c), to issue Execu-
foreign policy, and economy of the United
tive Order Nos. 12853, 12872, 12914, 12917,
States previously posed by the policies and
12920, and 12922.
actions of the de facto regime in Haiti and
In view of the restoration of a democrat-
the need to continue the national emergency
ically elected government in Haiti, and taking
declared in Executive Order No. 12775 of
into consideration United Nations Security
October 4, 1991, to deal with that threat.
Council Resolution 944 of September 29,
I hereby revoke Executive Order Nos.
1994, I have determined that the unusual and
12775, 12779, 12853, 12872, 12914, 12917,
extraordinary threat to the national security,
12920, and 12922 and terminate the national
foreign policy, and economy of the United
emergency declared in Executive Order No.
States previously posed by the policies and
12775 with respect to Haiti.
actions of the de facto regime in Haiti has
Pursuant to section 202 of the NEA (50
terminated. Today, pursuant to the above au-
U.S.C. 1622), termination of the national
thorities, I have exercised my statutory au-
emergency with respect to Haiti shall not af-
thority to issue an Executive order to termi-
fect any action taken or proceeding pending
nate the national emergency declared in Ex-
not finally concluded or determined as of the
ecutive Order No. 12775 and revoke the Ex-
effective date of this order, or any action or
ecutive orders referenced above imposing
proceeding based on any act committed prior
additional sanctions with respect to Haiti.
to the effective date of this order, or any
I have determined to issue the new Execu-
rights or duties that matured or penalties that,
tive order terminating all remaining sanctions
were incurred prior to the effective date of
against Haiti in view of the return of Haiti's
this order.
legitimately elected President, Jean-Bertrand
This order shall take effect at 12:01 a.m.
Aristide, and the adoption of United Nations
eastern daylight time on October 16, 1994.
Security Council Resolution 944, which re-
William J. Clinton
scinds mandatory sanctions against Haiti pre-
viously adopted by the Security Council with
The White House,
our support.
October 14, 1994.
Sincerely,
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register,
William J. Clinton
3:06 p.m., October 14, 1994]
NOTE: Identical letters were sent to Thomas S.
NOTE: This Executive order will be published in
Foley, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
the Federal Register on October 18.
and Albert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate.
Letter to Congressional Leaders on
Remarks on Presenting Arts and
Haiti
Humanities Awards
October 14, 1994
October 14, 1994
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentle-
On October 4. 1991, pursuant to the Inter-
men, Hillary and I are delighted to have all
national Emergency Economic Powers Act
of you here today. This is the second year
(50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and the National
I've had the pleasure of honoring the winners
Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.),
of the National Medal of the Arts and the
mJ. Clinton, 1994
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 / Oct. 14
2027
statutory au-
Charles Frankel Prize. And it's really one of
our common unity as we move forward into
Ord No. 12775,
the great pleasures of my job.
the 21st century.
enc) Lnd blocking
I may or may not be the first President
We need only look at our own history to
erty. To further
who's actually reviewed the recommenda-
know that every step we have taken forward
it Haiti, President
tions of the committee when they send them
authority to issue
as a democracy has coincided with a period
to me for who should receive the prize, but
. and I acted pur-
of great artistic and intellectual ferment. By
it enables me to sort of relive large chunks
ies as well as the
fueling our own imaginations, by enlarging
of my life as I see the artists who have been
n Act of 1945, as
our understanding of human experience, the
recommended for this esteemed honor.
to issue Execu-
arts and humanities have always given us
Today we celebrate the human imagina-
greater confidence to confront whatever un-
72, 12914, 12917,
tion and its power to move us forward as a
certainties loom before us. We need that
civilization. In honoring our finest artists and
now, greater confidence in the face of uncer-
n of a democrat-
humanists, we honor the great American cul-
tainty, because I believe more than I can con-
Haiti, and taking
tural traditions of pluralism, free expression,
vey in words that the 21st century can be
Nations Security
and tolerance. We honor the quality of our
our greatest time if we learn to relish and
f September 29,
civic life, which for more than two centuries
t the unusual and
cherish and celebrate our diversity and to
has offered hope and opportunities to Ameri-
face our challenges with genuine confidence.
national security,
cans from all walks of life, even in the midst
y of the United
[Applause] You know, I'm glad you clapped
of momentous social and political change.
for that because it wasn't in the notes; it's
the policies and
The arts and humanities are our bridge as
ime in Haiti has
just what I wanted to say. [Laughter] The
t to the above au-
a people, our bridge to one another. What-
president of my alma mater, Georgetown is
ever divisions exist among us, the arts and
over there. He's very glad I'm well educated
my statutory au-
humanities draw us together. They enable us
3 order to termi-
enough to think of one coherent sentence
to celebrate our own individuals identities,
, declared in Ex-
that wasn't written for me. [Laughter]
d revoke the Ex-
while also teaching us about the things we
Given that this is national arts and human-
above imposing
share as Americans. They give us a window
ities month, it's an appropriate time also to
t to Haiti.
on the human condition that prevents us
remember that public support for the arts
e new Execu-
from becoming too complacent or too numb
and humanities, while always a minor portion
or too fearful of the challenges and complex-
naining sanctions
of overall financial backing, remains essential
im of Haiti's
ities of the world of today and tomorrow.
today. And it will be so, as far as we can
it, Jean-Bertrand
Too often we think of art and scholarship,
foresee. Therefore, I want to thank especially
f United Nations
of creative expression, and the world of ideas,
all those people who were individually intro-
I 944, which re-
as the provinces as a cultural elite. Indeed,
duced by the First Lady just a few moments
too often these very arguments have been
gainst Haiti pre-
ago. They are a powerful voice for arts and
rity Council with
made by those who would seek to divide us
humanities within this administration, and I
one from another, to divide those who write
am very proud of each and every one of them
our songs and paint our pictures and act in
and the service they render to the United
our dramas from what they would call normal
States.
am J. Clinton
Americans. But the truth is that the arts and
Now, I have the honor of conferring the
ent to Thomas S.
humanities don't discriminate or prejudge,
National Medal of the Arts and the Charles
f Representatives,
they honor all of us equally. And when we
Frankel Prize on a wonderful group of
of the Senate.
listen and look and feel, they bind us together
awardees.
instead of giving in to those who would divide
First, to a man whose music I love and
us.
who I found to be one of the funniest people
Arts and
Song, dance, painting, drama, books, ideas,
I ever saw perform in person, who later lived
and scholarship have never been the prov-
long enough to be able to encourage and on
of one ethnic group, one religion, one
occasion rebuke me as President, Harry
tical faction in this country. They are part
Belafonte. Harry Belafonte once brought
dies and gentle-
of our common heritage. They convey all the
tears to my eyes of laughter at one of his
;hted to have all
distinct and different voices, emotions, and
concerts and later brought tears to my eyes
the second year
images that together make up what is a
with his passion for an event which is unfold-
ring the winners
uniquely American culture. That's why they
ing today, the return of President Aristide
be Arts and the
can be a powerful source of our renewal and
to Haiti. He once said, "The role of art isn't
2028
Oct. 14 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994
just to show life as it is but to show life as
though, before she began electrifying audi-
it should be." Well, Harry Belafonte has not
ences on a larger scale. She's sung with Latin
only brought joy to his audiences, but he's
musical greats like La Sonora Matancera,
inspired people throughout the world with
Tito Puente, and Johnny Pacheco. Celia Cruz
his dedication to freedom movements and
has used her powerful voice and style to
humanitarian causes.
transplant Afro-Cuban music to every corner
Singer, actor, producer, Harry Belafonte
of the globe. Please congratulate Celia Cruz.
has set industry standards with many suc-
cesses. His third album, "Calypso," was the
[The President congratulated Ms. Cruz, and
first ever to sell over a million copies. We're
Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
familiar with his work on U.S.A. for Africa,
Since beginning her career as a violin
which produced a Grammy award-winning
teacher at the Juilliard School in 1948, Doro-
album and video, "We Are The World.'
thy DeLay has inspired and instructed doz-
Today he continues to bring art and activism
ens of virtuosos and concert masters from
together to inspire all of us to live our lives
all over the world. Instead of teaching a par-
with passion and with concern for others.
ticular technique or a tone, her greatest
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in
achievement has been to draw out the indi-
congratulating Harry Belafonte.
vidual talents and passions of her students.
[At this point, the President congratulated
Through her guidance and encouragement,
Mr. Belafonte, and Hillary Clinton presented
artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Sarah Chang,
the medal.)
Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg, Cho-Liang Lin,
and Nigel Kennedy have become inter-
The next awardee is the first person on
nationally renowned violinists. Itzhak Perl-
this list whose work ever touched me person-
man said this: "Miss DeLay's contributions
ally. I'll never forget the first time when, as
to the excellence of the arts in this country
a high school musician, I discovered that I
are vast, and her place in the history of classi-
could actually play the saxophone lead in
cal music is secure." No one could say it bet-
"Take Five." And Mr. Brubeck, I can still
ter.
almost do it. [Laughter]
A pianist, composer, and bandleader, Dave
[The President congratulated Ms. DeLay,
Brubeck is truly an American jazz legend.
and Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
Reaching international stardom in the 1950's,
Anyone who has ever seen our next award-
the Dave Brubeck Quartet performed with
ee perform knows what great acting is all
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz,
about. Julie Harris is a 5-time Tony Award
and others. The "Time Out" album was the
winner, one of our Nation's most talented
first modern jazz album to go gold. A classi-
and versatile actresses. Her credits include
cally trained musician, Dave Brubeck is also
"I Am a Camera," "The Lark," "Forty Car-
recognized worldwide for his compositions
ats," "The Last of Mrs. Lincoln," and "The
that include ballet scores, piano concertos,
Belle of Amherst," in which she had the star-
oratorios, cantatas, and a mass. Merging both
ring role as Emily Dickinson. That 1976 pro-
of his interests, he was a pioneer in combin-
duction broke box office records here at the
ing jazz and symphony sounds.
Kennedy Center as well as in Philadelphia
I can also tell you that he is still playing
and Boston. Her stage successes won her the
all the time and very well. It is my great per-
New York Drama Critics Circle Award and
sonal honor to present the next award to
the Donaldson Award. She has also, as all
Dave Brubeck.
of you know, lent her considerable talents
[The President congratulated Mr. Brubeck,
to television, radio, and film. Miss Julie Har
and Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
ris.
Contralto Celia Cruz is known internation-
[The President congratulated Ms. Harris, and
ally as the Queen of Salsa. Born in Havana,
Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
she began her vocal career singing her
Our next honoree is truly a pioneer in his
younger siblings to sleep. It wasn't long,
field. Erick Hawkins was the first American
1994
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 / Oct. 14
2029
audi-
in George Balanchine's School of American
who is 50 years of age or younger and maybe
Latin
Ballet and the first male dancer in Martha
who's 75 or 80 or younger. Pete Seeger is
atancera,
Graham's company. In 1951, he opened his
an American legend. Influenced by his fa-
Cruz
own dance school and founded a dance com-
ther, Charles Seeger, a famous American
style
to
pany, both of which continue to add vitality
musicologist, he achieved international fame
corner
and originality to the dance world today. As
as a folk singer, songwriter, and political ac-
Cruz.
a choreographer, dancer, and teacher, Erick
tivist in the fifties and sixties. Among his
Hawkins' unique talent has been to place
many credits are performing with Woodie
Cruz,
and
dance in a larger cultural and philosophical
Guthrie's band and composing "If I Had a
context. For his boldness and talent, Erick
Hammer," "Where Have all the Flowers
a
violin
Hawkins commands a legendary place in
Gone," and many other songs that all of us
Doro-
American modern dance heritage. Erick
know by heart. He has also lent his music
doz-
Hawkins.
to support the civil right movement, the pro-
from
tection of our environment, and the labor
[The President congratulated Mr. Hawkins,
a
par-
and Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
movement. Occasionally, he still picks up his
greatest
banjo, and anyone who is fortunate enough
the
indi-
Our next honoree is Gene Kelly. Perhaps
to listen will attest still to his place as one
students.
the most versatilely talented and widely ad-
of our most enduring and endearing and im-
agement,
mired American dancer, singer, and actor of
portant folk musicians. Mr. Peter Seeger.
Chang,
this generation. He wanted very much to be
here today and had planned to come, but
[The President congratulated Mr. Seeger, and
Lin,
at the last moment was literally forbidden by
Hillary Clinton presented the medal.)
inter-
Perl-
his doctors to do so. So his wife has come
Catherine Filene Shouse has been a life-
tributions
to receive the award for him.
long patron of the arts. Her leadership has
country
All of you know that he is an award-win-
supported the Washington Ballet, the Wash-
of
classi-
ning director, choreographer, and producer,
ington Opera, the Kennedy Center, the New
it
bet-
a household name who has inspired even the
York City, and Miami City Ballets. For a half
most uncoordinated among us to imitate his
century, she worked on behalf of the Na-
memorable scenes, as I must confess, I tried
tional Symphony Orchestra. In 1966, she do-
DeLay,
to do for my daughter not very long ago when
nated 100 acres of her Virginia farm as well
he was singing in the rain on television. Every
as funds for an amphitheater to the United
award-
one of you has probably done the same thing
States Government. The Wolf Trap Farm
is
all
if you would be perfectly honest about it.
Park for the Performing Arts is America's
Award
[Laughter]
first and only national park dedicated to the
talented
Having performed in such timeless classics
performing arts and related educational pro-
include
as "For Me and My Gal," "Anchors Aweigh,"
grams. It is a truly national treasure that I
orty
Car-
"On the Town," and "An American in Paris,"
think we should all be grateful for. I wish
and
"The
its's no wonder that he received a Kennedy
we had more national parks that were for
the
star-
Center Award in 1982 for his lifetime con-
people to work in and learn in and live in.
1976
pro-
tribution to the arts. Whether on stage or
We owe her a lot, and today we recognize
at
the
screen, Gene Kelly is an American treasure
her for her signal gifts.
iladelphia
whose musicals entertain people of all gen-
her
erations. Even though he is unable to join
[The President congratulated Ms. Filene
the
us today, we know he's here with us in spirit.
Shouse, and Hillary Clinton presented the
and
as
all
We're glad that Patricia is here to accept this
medal.)
talents
award on his behalf. Mr. Gene Kelly.
Professor Wayne Thiebaud is not your av-
Har-
President congratulated Mrs. Kelly, and
erage college art teacher. A professor at the
millary Clinton presented the medal.]
University of California at Davis, he's also
an internationally renowned artist whose
and
The next awardee is the second person on
painting are on display at the Metropolitan
this list who had a personal impact on my
Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art,
in
his
life, and I would daresay, the lives of every
and the Whitney Museum of Art in New
American
American citizen, at least every American
York, the Chicago Art Institute, Harvard's
2030
Oct. 14 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994
Fogg Art Museum, and the San Francisco
people all across our country. That is a ter-
Museum of Art.
rific achievement, and I am honored to
While his works hang on the walls of the
present the medal to one of our most out-
most famous American museums, his teach-
standing young musicians, Yo Yo Ma.
ing allows serious art students to learn and
develop from his own artistic genius. I don't
[The President congratulated Mr. Ma, and
know about you, but one of the things that
Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
I'd like to say is we probably ought to recog-
I now present the winners of the 1994
nize more teachers in this world. And when
Charles Frankel Prize for their work in the
a teacher has this kind of gift and decides
humanities. And I begin quite proudly with
on his own initiative to keep on teaching, that
a man who has been a longtime personal
in itself is a contribution worthy of this
friend of the First Lady and of mine, whose
medal. Thank you.
work in education will influence educators
[The President congratulated Mr. Thiebaud,
and therefore help students well into the next
and Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
century. Emest Boyer is a distinguished
scholar, educator, and administrator who has
Richard Wilbur has been a poet, translator,
demonstrated in his life an unparalleled com-
teacher, Broadway lyricist, among others,
mitment to educational excellence.
for-1 have to plug one of my favorites-
As President of the Carnegie Foundation
for the work he did with Lillian Hellman and
for the Advancement of Teaching at Prince-
Leonard Bernstein on "Candide." A critic
ton, he's helped lead the national education
and editor, an author of children's books,
debate for more than 10 years now. He has
foremost among his literary achievements
consistently cited as one of our Nation's fore-
have been his poetry and his translations. He
most advocates of educational reform. And
has won two Pulitizer Prizes, the National
I can tell you that, having worked with him
Book Award, was our second poet laureate.
myself for the better part of a decade, deep
For his translation of French plays, he's
in his heart he does believe that all children
won the Bolligen and PEN translation prizes.
can learn and that we can find a way to teach
His translations from "Moliere" and
them. Mr. Emest Boyer.
"Racine" are the most celebrated American
translations from the French theater. I think
President congratulated Mr. Boyer, and
that all of us know that Richard Wilbur is
Hillary Clinton presented the prize.]
among all other things one of the greatest
A professor of English at the University
poets of the 20th century, and we honor him
of Montana and an accomplished writer, Wil-
today.
liam Kittredge is considered the leading
[The President congratulated Mr. Wilbur,
scholar of the American West. His essays,
and Hillary Clinton presented the medal.]
memoirs, short stories, and film screen plays
about the West have reached a national audi-
We're giving an award to an organization
ence. Helping to establish Western regional
now that is terribly important. In a time when
studies as an academic field, he has taken
many schools are having to scale back or
Americans beyond the sentimentalized view
eliminate their music, theater, or dance pro-
of the Old West, providing us with a more
grams, Young Audiences Incorporated is
complex and worthy history of the American
helping to make the performing arts an es-
West. Mr. William Kittredge.
sential part of young people's education. Last
year Young Audiences' professional artists
[The President congratulated Mr. Kittredge,
presented nearly 50,000 performances,
and Hillary Clinton presented the prize.]
reaching more than 6 million public school
For the past 20 years, Peggy Whitman
students. Coordinating with schools and
Prenshaw has been a champion of the hu-
communities to establish partnerships on be-
manities. A distinguished scholar of Southern
half of arts education, Young Audiences has
literature at Louisiana State University, she
been instrumental in bringing the enrich-
has organized, conducted, or participated in
ment of performing arts to millions of young
dozens of public humanities forums in Mis-
Ilam 1. Clinton, 1994
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 1 Oct. 14
2031
untry. That is a ter-
sissippi and Louisiana. She has been a tireless
Afro-American Research at Harvard Univer-
I
honored to
advocate of the humanities in American civic
sity. She also is still in her heart a librarian.
ie c. Jur most out-
life and has served on the Mississippi Hu-
The first thing she asked me when I saw her
i, Yo Yo Ma.
manities Council, the Federation of State
today was whether I was using the White
Humanities Councils, and the Louisiana En-
House Library. [Laughter] The second thing
lated Mr. Ma, and
dowment for the Humanities. She is my
I did was get a reprimand for having four
the mexlal.)
neighbor, and I know of her work and how
overdue books. [Laughter] Please welcome
inners of the 1994
much it has meant to so many of those ordi-
her here today.
or their work in the
nary citizens who might never have seen
[The President congratulated Ms. Porter
quite proudly with
some of the things they saw but for her ef-
Wesley, and Hillary Clinton presented the
longtime personal
forts. Thank you very much.
prize.]
and of mine, whose
[The President congratulated Ms. Whitman
influence educators
The final presentation is of a Presidential
Prenshaw, and Hillary Clinton presented the
its well into the next
Citizens Medal to an invaluable ally of the
prize.)
is a distinguished
arts and humanities in Congress, the distin-
ministrator who has
It is a great personal honor for me to have
guished Chairman of the Senate Foreign Re-
1 unparalleled com-
the opportunity to present the next award
lations Committee, Claiborne Pell, of Rhode
cellence.
to our good friend Sharon Percy Rockefeller,
Island. Senator Pell is one of the founding
megie Foundation
the president and chief executive officer of
fathers of the National Endowment for the
Teaching at Prince-
WETA from 1989 to 1994. She has led TV
Arts and the National Endowment for the
national education
26 in becoming the third largest producer
Humanities. He has tirelessly served this
years now. He has
of national programs for the Public Broad-
country through legislative leadership and
f our Nation's fore-
casting Service. During her tenure, the week-
unwavering advocacy of the arts and human-
tional reform. And
ly viewership of WETA TV 26 grew to an
ities. As Chairman of the Senate Subcommit-
3 worked with him
unprecedented one million viewers and
tee on Education, Arts and Humanities, he's
of a decade, deep
WETA became a forerunner in the produc-
been instrumental in providing opportunities
ve that all children
tion of outstanding programming in the arts
for artists in funding arts programs and pres-
a way to teach
and humanities. Most notable among the
ervation projects and in bringing the experi-
long list of excellent programs is WETA's co-
ence and the appreciation of the arts to com-
production of Ken Burns' magnificent 1990
munities all across this country.
1
Ar. Boyer, and
documentary, "The Civil War," the highest
Let us give him a warm round of applause.
the price.]
rated program in the history of public tele-
Senator Pell, congratulations. [Applause]
I at the University
vision.
(The President congratulated Senator Pell,
plished writer, Wil-
[The President congratulated Ms. Percy
and Hillary Clinton presented the medal.)
lered the leading
Ruckefeller, and Hillary Clinton presented
West. His essays,
Now, let's end this program with a thanks
the prize.)
d film screen plays
to the good Lord for keeping the rain away
ed a national audi-
You know what she said when I gave it
and a good round of applause to all of our
I Western regional
to her? She said, "Don't forget 'Baseball'."
honorees. [Applause]
eld, he has taken
And it was the only baseball we had this year.
Thank you very much.
timentalized view
[Laughter]
Today, Dorothy Porter Wesley is recog-
NOTE: The President spoke at 2:52 p.m. on the
18 us with a more
South Lawn at the White House.
y of the American
nized for her role as a preeminent archivist
ge.
of African-Americana. During her 43-year
tenure as the principal compiler of the black
Message on the Observance of
ted Mr. Kittredge,
studies collection housed at Howard Univer-
National Arts and Humanities Month
ted the prize.]
sir,
foorland-Spingarn Research Center,
October 14, 1994
Peggy Whitmal
it national standards for collecting,
mpion of the hu-
mg. and making accessible thousands
The arts have long been an integral part
cholar of Southern
of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, portraits,
of America's cultural heritage, encouraging
ite University, she
and artifacts relating to blacks in America
us to gain a deeper understanding of our-
or participated in
and in Africa. She was the visiting senior
selves and of our society. In a world too often
es forums in Mis-
scholar at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for
beset by hatred and incivility, the arts and
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
National Arts and Humanities Month
October 1994
The arts have long been an integral part of America's cultural
heritage, encouraging us to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves
and of our society. In a world too often beset by hatred and inci-
vility, the arts and humanities empower us to celebrate our individual
identities, while reminding us of the values and commitments that unite
us as a country.
Although the rich diversity of our nation would seem to preclude
an official American culture, we have a powerful tradition of artistic
expression and intellectual inquiry that honors every one of us equally.
Through art, music, literature, history, and philosophy, we preserve and
pass along, from generation to generation, our most cherished images,
ideas, and beliefs.
For more than two centuries, the arts and humanities have helped
Americans transcend political, religious, racial, and ethnic divisions
by engaging us in the common task of interpreting and expressing the
meaning of human experience. When we read each other's stories, discuss
each other's ideas, and feel each other's emotions through dance,
painting, and song, we come to understand the complexity and texture
of each other's lives. In so doing, we gain'à greater appreciation and
understanding of the breadth of human thought and emotion. And we gain
a more profound sense of our common purpose as Americans.
But if the arts and humanities are essential to appreciating
and preserving our culture, they are also essential to our growth and
renewal as a people. For it is only by deepening our understanding,
unleashing our imaginations, and enlarging our capacities to see and
to feel that we can envision a better future for ourselves, our
communities, and our nation.
In the new and complicated century that awaits us, we will depend
even more on our artists and humanists to help us discover the roots
of our deepest beliefs and gain a vision of our most promising
possibilities.
The month of October has been designated National Arts and
Humanities Month, and I urge all Americans to celebrate the artistic
and intellectual freedoms we enjoy and to reflect on the crucial role
they play in reinvigorating and renewing our great nation every day.
Bin Clinton
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 / Sept. 21
1815
Illinois, so I used to hear it about every 3
It is the genius which has taken the theory
days when I was about to do something my
of the Constitution and made it real in the
wife thought was nonsensical. But after I got
life of this country. And it's why we're still
to know Bob Michel, I understood the gen-
around here after more than 200 years, be-
esis of the saying, because in a very real sense
cause of people like Bob Michel.
he represents in my view the heart of Amer-
Thank you very much.
ica, the values of America, and the sense of
fairness of America.
NOTE: The President spoke at 8:13 p.m. at the
I enjoyed working with him when we
Grand Hyatt Hotel. In his remarks, he referred
fought against enormous odds with most of
to John Brazil, president, Bradley University, and
you here to pass the NAFTA agreement. I
sponsor of the dinner; and Corinne Michel, wife
enjoyed it when we were on opposite sides
of Representative Michel.
and he thought I was absolutely wrong but
was still fair and decent. I even enjoyed it
Remarks to the President's
when we were on opposite sides when he
Committee on the Arts and the
was sympathetic with what I was trying to
Humanities
do but couldn't quite get there. Those are
September 21, 1994
three things that often happen in the course
of people's relationships in this town. And
Thank you very much, the First Lady and
I can tell all of you who come from his home-
my old friend John Brademas and to all of
town and his home district that he is just
you who have agreed to serve and your
as highly thought of here as he is there. And
friends and supporters who are here. I thank
we will miss him.
you for coming.
We had a joint leadership meeting this
Before I make the remarks that I want to
morning, and we talked about obviously the
make to you, I believe, in view of the events
issue of Haiti and then what we would do
of the last few days and particularly the
between now and the end of the Congress.
events of the last 24 hours, I should make
By the time the meeting was over, I can tell
a short statement about the situation in Haiti.
you this: I wasn't sure where everybody in
The deployment of our forces there is now
the room was on every outstanding issue, but
going quite well. As a result of the agreement
I knew where he was on the issues that really
we have reached last weekend, we now have
counted. And I think we'll always know
8,500 United States troops who have entered
where he is, trying to do what's right for this
Haiti peacefully without any resistance. The
country in a way that is right for this country.
multinational force, which was enhanced
And let me just close with that. This is
today by the decision of Australia to join, will
a time in which the negative often outweighs
soon be in a position to carry out its over-
the positive, in which people are so over-
riding mission, to ensure the transfer of
whelmed with things that are discouraging,
power from the de facto military leaders to
from the news to the political campaigns, that
the democratically elected government of
very often all half-full glasses are seen as half-
Haiti by October 15th.
empty. I think in the end, the thing that en-
I must also tell you how strongly we con-
abled Bob Michel to succeed as the leader
demned yesterday's police violence there.
of his party in Congress, to keep his good
Such conduct cannot and will not be toler-
humor, to keep his character, to keep his in-
ated. General Shelton, our commander on
tegrity, and to earn the respect of those who
the ground, has met with the Haitian military
are in different camps on different issues and
and police officials today and made clear our
even in different parties was the fact that he
policy to them.
believed that America was a place where the
During this transition period, the Haitian
glass should always be half-full and where
military will carry out basic police functions.
we could do the right thing, move forward
Our Armed Forces cannot and will not be-
to a brighter tomorrow, and fulfill our obliga-
come Haiti's police force. But we can work
tions in an atmosphere of mutual respect
to see that the Haitian military and police
even when we differ.
operate in a responsible and professional
1816
Sept. 21 1 Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994
manner. Today we are deploying on schedule
his distinguished career in the United States
1,000 United States military police who will
Congress and through his brilliant presidency
monitor the Haitian police and by their own
of New York University. I think he is one
presence help to deter violence. In the days
of our Nation's most outstanding citizens and
ahead we will reintroduce into Haiti human
will certainly be one of the most eloquent
rights monitors who were expelled several
advocates imaginable for the cause you are
weeks ago and bring in police monitors as
here to further. He also happens to have
part of the multinational force.
been an original cosponsor of the bill that
Today is only the second day of this mis-
created the National Endowment for the Arts
sion. The situation in Haiti will not change
and Humanities, and he wrote the bill that
immediately. But today is better than yester-
established the Institute of Museum Serv-
day, and yesterday was better than the day
ices. He also promised to give me free con-
before. We will keep going. We will make
gressional lobbying advice on the side in re-
steady progress. We will restore democracy.
turn for this appointment. [Laughter]
As we move toward the 15th of October,
I have charged the President's Committee
we will also work to moderate the conduct
with advancing public understanding of the
of Haitian security forces without assuming
arts and humanities, which is so important
the responsibilities. Then after the demo-
to our democracy, and to establish new part-
cratic government returns to power, the coa-
nerships between the Federal agencies and
lition will help it to devise a long-term plan
the private sector. As a sign of our commit-
of police and military reform, including re-
ment to the arts and humanities today, we
training people so that they can perform to
have here with us members of the Cabinet
their fullest capabilities in an appropriate
and the administration, including Secretary
manner for a democratic society.
Riley, Sheldon Hackney, Jane Alexander, Joe
We went into Haiti to help stop the sense-
Duffy, and a number of other Government
less, tragic terror that has plagued the nation
officials.
since the democratically elected government
I appointed, as all of you can see, an ex-
was forced from power. The habits of vio-
traordinary group of Americans to this Com-
lence will not be shed overnight. But during
mittee-artists, scholars, writers, thinkers,
the coming weeks, we will work to help stop
leaders in the corporate world and the phil-
the violence and to begin the process of rec-
anthropic community, committed citizens,
onciliation.
activists recognized in their communities-
I thank the American people for their un-
people who represent outstanding achieve-
derstanding and increasing support for this
ment and a commitment to the cultural life
endeavor. And again, let me say my special
of our Nation, a commitment to keep it alive
word of appreciation to our troops there and
and to make it more accessible.
to their families and all those who have sup-
By this time next year, I want you to de-
ported them. [Applause] Thank you.,
liver to me a report on the progress we're
Now let me thank you all again, all of you
making in furthering America's cultural life.
who've agreed to serve on the President's
For 200 years the arts and humanities have
Committee on the Arts and Humanities, to
helped to bridge American differences,
underscore the vital partnership that must
learned to appreciate differences-they
exist between your Government and the pri-
helped Americans to learn to appreciate dif-
vate citizens who do the work of the arts and
ferences, one from another, and to build
humanities in our Nation. I want to thank
strong and vibrant institutions across our
the First Lady for agreeing to be the Honor-
country. You must help us explore ways to
ary Chair, although this is a job she wanted,
do this better.
unlike some of those I've asked her to take
The most disturbing thing to me about
on. [Laughter] You couldn't have a much
American life today is not the problems we
more appreciative or informed friend.
have, although we have problems aplenty; it
I am also very, very pleased that John
is the lack of unity among Americans and
Brademas has agreed to serve as the Chair-
the lack of optimism we feel in dealing with
man. I have known him for many years since
those problems.
'lar Clinton, 1994
Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 / Sept. 21
1817
the United States
Just a couple of weeks ago, a distinguished
Iliant presidency
they pretty well get along. And people from
international panel of economists said that
I think he is one
all different kinds of backgrounds wind up
the United States was the most productive
tanding citizens and
pursuing their chosen path in life and living
country in the world. They said that for the
the most eloquent
up to their God-given potential. And they're
first time in almost a decade because of the
the cause you are
adaptable; they work their way through the
remarkable resurgence of our economy, be-
changes that time and circumstance are im-
o happens to have
cause of the number of jobs we're creating,
sor of the bill that
posing on them." That's what others think
because we accounted for almost all the job
about us.
owment for the Arts
wrote the bill that
growth and three-quarters of the economic
We somehow have to begin to think that
growth in the seven great industrial nations
of Museum Serv-
about ourselves again. And I cannot help but
of the world in the last year and a half, and
believe that the arts and humanities must
, give me free con-
because we are taking on a lot of our biggest
e on the side in re-
play a central role in that task. How we imag-
challenges-bringing our Government defi-
ine our own lives and our own future and
[Laughter]
cit down 3 years in a row for the first time
sident's Committee
how we imagine ourselves as a country will
since Mr. Truman was President, the only
derstanding of the
have as big an impact on what it is we ulti-
country of all the advanced economies to do
mately become as anything in the world.
ich is so important
that. And yet, so many Americans still feel
establish new part-
I said the other day, I will just say again,
that we're kind of adrift and falling apart
a lot of you have been involved in various
ederal agencies and
from one another.
ign of our commit-
enterprises, great business enterprises, great
Maybe even more important as you look
manities today, we
art enterprises, great entertainment enter-
toward the 21st century, isn't it interesting
ers of the Cabinet
prises. Just imagine how you would function
that in the last year and a half the South Afri-
if every day in all the important years of your
including Secretary
cans wanted us to spend $35 million and send
life you showed up for work and two-thirds
Jane Alexander, Joe
our best people to South Africa to work on
other Government
of the people you were working with thought
making that election a success? The Irish and
that your outfit was going in the wrong direc-
the English have been fighting for eight cen-
tion and nothing good could happen. [Laugh-
can see, an ex-
turies now; they wanted the United States
ns to this Com-
ter] Imagine what would happen if the Na-
to be involved in the process of reconciliation
writers, thinkers,
tional Gallery of Art were given the most
that is now taking hold in Northern Ireland.
3 and the phil-
priceless collection of Impressionist paintings
After decades of brutal struggle, the Israelis
ommitted citizens,
uncovered after having been thought de-
and the Arabs working together to make
stroyed for 50 years, and two-thirds of the
eir communities-
peace in the Middle East want the Americans
utstanding achieve-
people said, "I don't believe they're Impres-
to be centrally involved. Even in the moment
to the cultural life
sionist paintings. I know Monet; he was a
of our greatest tension a few days ago in
friend of mine. That's not him. Don't bother
ent to keep it alive
Haiti, one of the military leaders said, "Well,
sible.
me with the facts." [Laughter] You're laugh-
if the President is determined to do this and
I want you to de-
ing because you know that it's true, don't
the world community is absolutely deter-
you? There is a grain of truth in this.
the progress we're
erica's cultural life.
mined to go ahead, we want the Americans
Somehow we have to not sweep our prob-
here."
d humanities have
lems under the rug and not sweep our dif-
Why is that? We have Haitian-Americans,
erican differences,
ferences under the rug, for that is also what
Jewish-Americans, Arab-Americans, Irish-
differences-they
makes America great. But we only find en-
Americans, English-Americans. You think of
n to appreciate dif-
ergy for dealing with our problems and the
it: This diversity we have which cuts across
ther, and to build
heart and the hearing to deal with our dif-
racial and religious and philosophical and re-
tutions across our
ferences when at least we have a realistic ap-
gional and income lines, it is the source of
us explore ways to
preciation of where we are, what we're doing,
our great strength today in a world that is
and where we're going. And I feel so good
ever more interdependent.
about the work we've done to move America
thing to me about
And people look at us and say, "You know,
forward in the last 20 months, but we'd all
x the problems we
with all their problems-yes, their crime
problems aplenty; it
have to admit we've still got a lot of work
rate's too high; and yes, they're too violent;
ing Americans and
to do in bringing America together, in giving
feel in dealing with
yes, too many of their kids drop out of school;
our people a realistic feeling about where we
and yes, there's too much income inequality,
are in the world and where we're going. You
especially for working people. But you know,
can do that. You can make a huge difference.
1818
Sept. 21 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994
The arts and humanities have always helped
We've faced a lot of challenges as a coun-
to do that work.
try, but I'm actually pretty optimistic about
So I urge you to continue in this work.
it, based on the objective evidence. What re-
I urge you to make your progress report to
mains is whether we can develop a vision that
me. I urge you to remember what we are
will sustain us as a people as we move
trying to do in our schools in helping to im-
through a period of change, without a known
prove our children's education with the arts
big enemy, into an uncertain future. It re-
and humanities. I urge you to work to expand
quires courage, but courage comes from hav-
private philanthropy. We all know that the
ing something inside that you can connect
Government in this country provides a cru-
with what you see outside.
cial measure but only a tiny measure of the
You can help us as we work our way
support that the arts and humanities need.
through this in this remarkable time in our
I urge you to promote international cul-
country's history. I hope you enjoy it. I thank
tural exchange and understanding, not only
you for serving. And I thank you for being
because we need desperately to know more
here today.
about others throughout the world but be-
Thank you.
cause I believe that we'll learn a lot more
NOTE: The President spoke at approximately 5
about ourselves if we just come in contact
p.m. in the East Room at the White House.
with people from other walks of life and
other paths of the world.
Thanks to phones, faxes, Internet, E-mail,
Remarks at a Democratic Senate
CNN, we can see the power of our cultural
Campaign Committee Dinner
traditions as they are exported around the
September 21, 1994
world. And sometimes they come back to us.
We're the first White House to communicate
Thank you so much, Senator Graham, Sen-
with huge numbers of people from all over
ator Mitchell, Secretary and Mrs. Bentsen,
by E-mail. And I'm trying to do a sociological
Members of the Congress, my fellow Demo-
crats and my fellow Americans.
analysis now of whether there's a difference
between the E-mail communication and the
I couldn't help thinking, as I listened to
mail communication-or the female commu-
George Mitchell talk, that he is always so
cool, calm, collected, and still intense and el-
nication. [Loughter]
oquent. He always seems to have such a great
I am very hopeful that you will make a
sense of balance. He did make one huge mis-
remarkable contribution to this country. I
take this year: People wanted to see a re-
went over this list of people with great care.
sumption of baseball and a cessation of the
I tried to get a very different group of people.
Senate, and he got it in reverse. [Laughter]
I tried to imagine all the different things that
I want to thank Senator Graham first for
I hope that this Committee could deal with
his leadership of the DSCC and his long
and all the different challenges I hope you
friendship to me, his long personal friendship
could assume. If I haven't done a good job,
to me. We used to sit near each other in
it's not your fault. It's mine in picking you,
the Governors' Association, and both of us
but I think you're pretty special.
sometimes think that's the best job we ever
Let me say in closing that I hope that in
had. And I have loved working with him. I
addition to the schools, you can think about
admire him immensely. I have a lot to be
how we can increase access to the arts and
grateful to him for on a very personal basis,
humanities all across America to people who
but especially I thank him tonight for his sup-
might otherwise be isolated from them, peo-
port, steadfast and longstanding, for our at-
ple who are homebound, people who live in
tempts to end the human rights violations
very isolated areas, people who now don't
and restore democracy in Haiti. I thank you,
even know how to speak the language that
Senator Graham, for that.
would be necessary to ask for something that
I'd like to say a few words about Haiti to-
might change their lives forever. I ask you
night, and then go back to my remarks. I
also to think of that.
think just as Americans, you ought to know
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 16, 1994
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT THE 1994 PRAEMIUM IMPERIALE ARTS AWARD CEREMONY
The East ROOM
4:00 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you very
much, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Sejima, thank you for your fine
words and for giving us the history of the Japan Art Association and
its relationship to Prerident Grant in his visit to Japan.
I had a sense of the great tradition of the Imperial
Family when the Emperor and Empress were here a couple of nights ago
with the First Lady and I, and the Emperor was taken upstairs to my
office. And we were talking about American history, and I said,
"This desk I use in my office was President Grant's Cabinet table."
He said, "Yes, I know. My great-grandfather welcomed him to Japan."
I had a desk, he had a family experience. (Laughter and applause.)
There are many very distinguished Americans here,
including our great former Ambassador to Japan, Senator Mike
Mansfield and Maestro Rostropovich, who was just here to play for the
Emperor and Empress. I thank you all for coming. I welcome the
members of the diplomatic community and other distinguished citizens
of the world. I would like to, in particular, recognize the
representatives here of the panel. of international advisors of the
Japan Art Association, a group of truly distinguished citizens of the
world. The Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, who hosted us recently.
Welcome, sir. The former Prime Minister of Italy, Amintore Fanfani;
the former Prime Minister of Japan, Yasuhiro Nakasone. And the
former Prime Minister of Great Britian, Sir Edward Heath. Welcome to
you all. (Applause.) And Mr. David Rockefeller, our representative.
David, thank you. (Applause.)
We have all Seen enriched by the work of the Japan Art
Association, but especially by creating this award for artists who
would not otherwise be recognized internationally for their
outstanding work. Katherine Anne Porter, once wrote that, "Art
outlives governments, creeds, societies, even civilizations."
"Art," she wrote, "is what we find again when the ruins are cleared
away."
Indeed, in this very room we have an example of art that
survived even the burning of the White House. This wonderful Gilbert
Stuart portrait of George Washington, which was rescued by the then-
First Lady, Dolley Madison when the White House was burned during the
War of 1812. So it endured, and it's just like it was then; but all
the walls here are new, just as all the people here are. If we
cultivate art, nurture it and preserve it, then not only art endures,
but a part of all of us endures as well.
The Praemium Imperiale Prizos were established to mark
the second century of work of the Japan Art Association, recognizing
international excellence in painting, sculpture, architecture, music,
theatre and film. All the winners are artists of unique
accomplishment. The recommendations for the prize recipients are
made for the Japan Art Association by the Distinguished Committee of
International Advisors, whom I have just recognized. I thank those
MORE
- 2 -
who are here and those who are not able to come, including the former
Hest German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt.
Yesterday, the names of the five award winners were
announced. In October, they will be honored in ceremonies in Tokyo,
but we wanted to salute them here. And four of the five honorees are
with us today.
For painting, this year's winner is the French artist,
Zao Wou-Ki.
Where is he? Please stand up. (Applause.)
Born in Clina, educated there and in France, his style
brings together East and West in a synthesis of drawing, calligraphy
and traditional Chinese painting that is nothing less than lyrical.
For sculpture, the winner is an American: Richard
Serra. (Applause.) A Californian who literally broke the mold and
shattered ideas about what sculpture is, his work radiates emotional
power on a grand scale and has been an inspiration to an entire new
generation of artists.
The winner for architecture is Charles Correa of India
-- (applause) -- who has done work of truly historic significance,
showing sensitivity and planning communities in poor countries, for
genuinely civilized living. His pioneering work has sought to
improve the quality of housing for the urban poor, as well as
providing a more humane way to live.
For music, the winner is the French composer, Henri
Dutilleux. (Applause.) His distinctive compositions put into
beautiful music the notion of diversity within unity, producing from
novel arrays of instruments what the composer himself has so aptly
called "the joy of sound."
Finally, in the category of theatre and film, the winner
goes to someone who cou d not be'with us today -- the wonderful
British actor and director, sir John Gielgud. His career so far has
spanned a mere eight decades, reaching new heights in roles as
different as Hamlet on the stage and the butler in service to a tipsy
millionaire in the movie, "Arthur." He sends his regrets that he
could not be with us today, and he has our best wishes.
we give our congratulations to all these winners for
many more decades of creative energy. We thank them for stirring our
imaginations and our souls. The world is better for their efforts.
For all of that, we say thank you.
END
4:05 P.M. EDT
Administration of William J. Clinion, 1994 1 May 18
Shudity and Expansion. Its groundbreating re.
families. We must value every child and help
put untury Head Start and laid the foundation
ut forth a blueprine for creating a 21st for
every purent succeed Head Start creates the
senso of community that all of us need In our
she Luidinark legislation that we celebrate today.
lives. The dedication of thousands of volunteers,
This kypislation seeks to re-energize the Head
staff. and perents helps create the special rela-
SPUT program for generations to come. Through
tionship that defines the Head Start program
the limislation. strong new efforts will be made
Head Start is indeed a celebration of human
to impane the quality of Head Start programs,
diversity and creativity.
MM] dil important new initiative will be launched
tublen under age three. Services will be tal.
No prinkle Head Start services to fumilies with
WILLIAM 1. CLINTON
The White House,
hind 111 neet the needs of today's families, and
credine partnerships will be forged with other
May 18. 1994.
be programs at the State and local level.
Hird Start reminds us that our country can-
NOTE: S. 2000, approved May 18, was assigned
not Mord to waste its young or Ignore their
Public Law No. 103-252.
Message to the Congress Transmitting the Report of the
(:orporation for Public Broadcasting
May 18. 1994
Tuthe Congress of the United States:
uted to Public Telecommunications Entities by
In revrdance with the Communications Act
Federal Departments and Agencies: Fiscal Year
.. 14H. as amended (47 U.S.C. 396(i)), 1 trans-
1993.
mil herewith the Annual Report of the Corpora-
WILLIAM 1. CLINTON
luni his Public Broadcasting for Fiscal Year 1993
and the Inventory of the Federal Funds Distrib-
The White House,
May 18, 1994.
Message to the Congress Transmitting the Report of the
National Endowment for the Humanities
May 18, 1994
T11 the Congress of the United Stotes:
the problems that face our increasingly complex
It IS my pleasure to present to you the twenty-
society.
reglith unnual report of National Endowment
In addition to direct federal support of the
low the Humanities (NEH). In terms of breadth
humanities, NEH programs have stimulated pri-
NNJ number of projects funded, this agency is
vate contributions, to date almost 81.3 billion
i/w largest grant-making entity for the human-
in matching gift funds. The Endowment also
1141 in the country. The Endowment supports
requires grantees in most programs to commit
teachers. and students in thets research
their own funds for part of the project costs.
wid Mudies, and provides funds for projects such
The NEH support of a project is highly re.
n documentary films and museum exhibitions
spected and often attracts additional funding
that reah a Lurge general audience. These hu-
from other sources.
countres activities strengthen the cultural re-
The country can be proud of the role the
wines of the nation and provide insight into
Endowment has played as a catalyst for the sup-
port of excellent humanities scholarship and
947
May 18 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994
education In the United States over the past The White House,
twenty-eight years.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
May 18, 1994.
Statement by the Press Secretary on Draft Registration and the
Selective Service System
May 18, 1994
The President has announced that he has ap-
to our potential enemies who are watching for
proved a National Security Council rec-
signs of U.S. resolve."
ommendation to maintain peacetime draft reg.
And
finally,
as fewer and fewer mem-
istration and the Selective Service System (SSS).
bers of our society have direct military experi-
In letters to the House and Senate, the Presi-
ence, it is Increasingly Important to maintain
dent stated that
it is essential to our na-
the link between the All Volunteer Force and
tional security to continue draft registration and
our society at large. The Armed Forces must
the Selective Service System. While tangible
also know that the general population stands
military requirements alone do not currently
behind them, committed to serve. should the
make a mass call-up of American young men
preservation of our national security so require."
likely, there are three reasons I believe we
The NSC review leading to the President's
should maintain both the SSS and the draft reg-
decision has been conducted since January and
istration requirement."
consisted of representatives from the Office of
First. the President stated that the SSS and
the Secretary of Defense. the DOD Inspector
registration provide
a
hedge against un-
General, the Joint Staff, the Corporation for Na-
foreseen threats and a relatively low cost 'Insur-
tional and Community Service, the Office of
ance policy' against our underestimating the
Management and Budget, and the Selective
maximum level of threat we expect our Armed
Service System.
Forces to face."
The President urged Congress to support the
Next,
terminating the SSS and draft
administration fiscal year 1995 request for $23
registration now could send the wrong signal
million for the Selective Service System.
Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With Military Leaders
May 19, 1994
Representative Don Rartenkowski
I think until they are resolved one way or the
Q. On Rostenkowski, sir, should the public
other, I shouldn't say more about them.
be concerned at all that you and he have the
Q. It's being reported that you have made
same Lawyer?
a decision to go ahead and renew MFN.
The President. No.
The President. We are still in discussions with
the Chinese. 1 don't know that I should call
China
them negotiations: that's not an accurate charac.
Q. Mr. President. did you send Michael
terization. We are having discussions with them
Amacost to China to negotiate some kind of
about our differences and about the importance
deal?
of our relationship. And I will have a decision
The President. Well, we've had a number of
on the matter in a timely fashion No decision
Americans In China and speaking with the Chi-
has been reached yet; we're still talking with
nese, and those conversations are ongoing. And
them.
948
President William Jefferson Clinton
Video Remarks to Art-21 Conference
April 14, 1994
Welcome to "Art-21: Art Reaches Into the 21st Century."
I'm sorry I can't join you in Chicago for what is truly an
historic event - the first ever national conference on the arts.
Let me start by thanking Jane Alexander, who organized this
conference, for her extraordinary energy and vision as Chairman
of the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more than six months, Jane has been traveling virtually
non-stop across our country - from North to South, from East to
West, from big cities to rural hamlets to highlight how the arts
are incorporated into our everyday lives and into our
communities. She has an artist's eye, an artist's sensibilities,
and an engaging spirit that has already made her a strong and
clear voice for the arts in our Administration.
Under Jane's leadership - and I assure you she has left a
very positive mark on Capital Hill, as well as with the state
legislators and mayors she has met across this country - the NEA
is once again being viewed as a vibrant force for the arts.
You are gathered at this conference because you know the
power of the arts in our lives. You know that the moral fabric
of our nation depends on the arts to enrich our cultural
awareness and to further our appreciation for the diversity of
experiences that unite us Americans.
The work you do in the next few days is extremely important.
Your deliberations will begin an ongoing dialogue about the role
of the arts in the 21st century.
As you know only too well, budgetary pressures at the
federal, state and local levels in recent years have denied our
cultural institutions the public support the richly deserve. I
wish I could tell you today that our deficit was so low, so
small, that funding throughout the government was going to
increase dramatically this year. Unfortunately, the reality is
that, although we are making great progress and our economy is
clearly on the upswing, we must still work hard to reduce the
deficit even more. And nearly every federal agency is feeling
the pinch.
The good news is that, even with the budget constraints we
face, constraints which have forced the elimination of over 100
government programs, we made a commitment to maintain the NEA's
funding in the current budget cycle.
What we can do now is renew our committment to strengthening
the arts as a vital force in American life.
To that end, are re-invigorating the President's Committee
on the Arts and Humanities. We are confident through its new
leadership, which comes from the public, corporate and non-profit
sectors, it will further enhance the financial support for
cultural life.
I don't view the arts as an isolated cause. The arts are
fundamental to our history and our culture. And in this
Administration, support of the arts is part of a broader social
agenda that speaks to our very essence as Americans.
As we become increasingly diverse in our society - and an
increasingly complex society - the arts can help us understand
each other, honor our differences, to appreciate the experience
and beliefs we share as Americans.
Each of us is born into a society that passes along its
values through its culture. And that's why the National
Endowment foe the Arts was established three decades ago. To
enliven creative expression, and in so doing, to foster a
collective sense of our common community and to make the arts
more accessible to Americans of all walks of life.
Since 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded
over 100,000 grants for arts projects that touch every community
in our nation. Through its grants, the agency has helped
communicate the creative expressions of an entire generation to a
broader public. The Arts Endowment also has helped to energize
community arts center, preserve our folk heritage, and advance
the arts od design, literature, theater, opera, music and the
visual and media arts.
Still, it's not enough. We want to do more to ensure that
American has the opportunity to fully develop his or her creative
spirit - and to make sure that every American is enlivened by the
emotions, expressions, and attitudes that the arts convey.
That's why exposure to the arts must be apart of every
child's schooling. Whether a youngster grows up in a ghetto, on a
farm, in a city or a suburb, the arts are a vehicle for self-
expression and for building self-esteem. The arts enable
children from all backgrounds to develop their individuality and
to contribute positively to the larger mosaic of American
culture.
As a part of our GOALS 2000 legislation, the arts will
become a core subject in the school curriculum, along with
English, math, science, history, civic, geography and foreign
language.
And just last month, Education Secretary Richard Riley
accepted guidelines for school districts to set new standards for
high school graduation that would require student to have a
working knowledge of dance, music, theater, and the visual arts,
and to develop some proficiency in at least one art form.
If we plan wisely today, our children will enjoy a life-long
connection to the arts, to our collective spirit, and to the
never-ending process of learning.
Throughout our history, the arts have mattered. And our
dedication to the arts today will shape our civilization
tomorrow.
With our continued efforts, and with enhanced public and
private partnerships, we can maintain our great artistic
institutions - our museums, theaters, opera companies, dance
companies, and performing arts centers - and we can also
encourage emerging artists and organizations who bring energy and
fresh ideas to our artistic traditions
I assure you of the ongoing commitment and support of this
administration.
Your participation in the ART-21 conference is an historic
first step in making sure that the arts continue to blossom and
flourish freely across our great nation.
Thank you so much for giving your time and energy to such an
important cause - and one that holds so much promise for our
citizens and our nation.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
National Arts and Humanities Month
October 1993
The moral strength of our great nation is rooted in our rich
cultural traditions and in a profound appreciation for the diversity
of the people, values, and beliefs that make us Americans. For more
than 200 years, the quality of our civic life has flowed not only from
our industrial, agricultural, and technological ingenuity, but also
from the creative vision of our artists and the wisdom of our
humanists.
Through the arts and humanities we gain a deeper understanding
of ourselves as individuals and as a society. The arts and humanities
remind us that whatever our differences, we share a common heritage
that binds us together as a nation.
Music, painting, sculpture, architecture, dance, theater, film,
and the folk arts all awaken our minds and our senses. They allow us
to express our emotions, impressions, and attitudes about the human
condition and the human experience.
History, literature, and philosophy allow us to explore and
understand ourselves and others through collective reflection and
learning.
The arts and humanities enable Americans from every walk of life
to respond to both their individuality and their shared experiences
in ways that make the human spirit soar.
We are a nation called to artistic and intellectual responsibility
at a critical time in the history of the world. Our major authors are
read in every language, our films are shown in every capital, and our
music never lacks listeners. Our traditions of free inquiry and
expression help to shape political attitudes and cultural values
around the globe.
As we become an increasingly diverse society, the arts and
humanities will help us deepen our understanding of one another,
honor our differences, and celebrate our shared experiences and
values as Americans.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
October 7, 1
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN WHITE HOUSE PRESIDENTIAL ARTS MEDAL CEREMONY
The South Lawn
2:26 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. To our
distinguished honorees and all of you in the audience. I want to S
a special word of thanks to Jane Alexander and to Dr. Sheldon Hackn
for their leadership of our administration's efforts in the arts an
humanities. (Applause.)
As a person who at various times in his life has been
frustrated writer and a frustrated musician, this is an extremely
humbling event for me today. (Laughter.) But I've been getting a
lot of training in humility lately. (Laughter.) I have a Vice
President who humbles me all the time by all the things he teaches
about things great and insignificant -- (laughter) -- and who unlik
me actually got to go on David Letterman to prove how funny he was.
(Laughter.)
And I have a wife who swept the television ratings la
week talking about the arcana of health care with a passion and ar.
eloquence -- (applause). As if that weren't bad enough, USA Today
had the bad grace to go out and poll the American people, and 40
percent of them said she was smarter than I am. (Laughter.) To
which I reply, of course, what kind of dummy do you think I am.
(Laughter.) How else would I have gotten elected President.
And just to drive this humility home -- this is the
actual true part of this wonderful story -- I went to southern
California last week, or the first of this week, and I was lookin
forward to staying in the Beverly Hilton -- it seemed like an exot
sort of place. And I showed up, and Merv Griffin, who owns it, s}
hands with me, and took me up to the floor where I was staying --
there is only one person who is a permanent resident of the floor
where I stayed in the Beverly Hilton -- Rodney Dangerfield --
(laughter) -- who said they had put me there because we seem to
belong together. (Laughter.) And gave me 12 roses with a little
respect on a gift card. (Laughter.)
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-2-
I am delighted to be here to honor this year's winner
of the National Medal of the Arts and the Charles Frankel Prize --
men and women whose achievements represent the enduring power of t
arts and humanities and, in a larger sense, of the creative spirit
all of our lives.
Throughout history, the arts and humanities have been
the cultural signature of this great nation They have enabled
Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life to gain a deeper
appreciation of who they are as individuals and who we all are as a
society, stirring our minds and our senses, stimulating learning an
collective discourse, the arts and humanities teach us in ways that
nothing else can about the vastness and the depth of human
experience. They are our great equalizers. We inherit them, and h
can all participate in them.
Whether or not one plays an instrument, reads poetry,
learns to pirouette, or spends hours alone in a local art gallery,
all have the capacity to be moved by a song, a poem, a story, a
dance, a painting. We can feel our spirit soar when we see an
intriguing film, or the sudden illumination of a new idea, or an 01
idea put in a new way.
At a time when our society faces new and profound
challenges, at a time when we are losing so many of our children, a
a time when so many of our people feel insecure in the face of
change, the arts and humanities must remain a vital part of our liv
-- as individuals and as a nation.
For 200 years, the freedom of our artistic and
intellectual imagination has contributed to the quality of our civ
life. It has helped to shape American ideas of democracy, of
pluralism, of tolerance. Three decades ago, President Kennedy sai
this: "There's a connection, hard to explain logically but easy t
feel, between achievement and public life, and progress in the art
The Jeffersonian era gave birth not only to the Declaration of
Independence, but also to beautiful Monticello. The age of Lincol
produced the Emancipation Proclamation, along with the Hudson Rive
School of Painting and the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
David Thoreau and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The first half of this century gave us universal
suffrage and the empowerment of American workers, as well as Char
Chaplin, Frank Lloyd Wright, William Faulkner, Marian Anderson an
Duke Ellington.
The same unbridled energy and potent imagination tha
took Americans to the moon inspired rock and roll, Motown, modern
dance and a new emphasis on civil and human rights.
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-3-
Those of you gathered with us today are reminders that
the human imagination is still the most powerful tool we have in
moving forward as a civilization. You provoke our minds, you enliv
our senses, endow our souls, help us to give our lives meaning.
That's why public support for the arts and humanities remains
essential today and for generations to come. (Applause.)
Today, we are indeed fortunate to have inspiring new
leaders working in government to expand our artistic and humanistic
endeavors, to carry on our heritage to future generations. I'm very
proud of the work and the life that Sheldon Hackney and that Jane
Alexander have lived before they came to this work. I thank them fo
their work here. And I tell you that we welcome all of you to give
us your ideas, your suggestions and your energy as we try to move
forward together.
Now it is a privilege to call forward the following
recipients of the National Medal of Arts.
First, the contributions of Walter and Leonore Annenber
to American culture can literally not be overstated. The Annenbergs
have enriched our appreciation of the arts through public service,
publishing, and as board members of major arts institutions. They
have given generously of their time and their money. And they
provided among other things the magnificent portrait of Benjamin
Franklin, which hangs in the Green Room at the White House -- one of
the most prized possessions of this, your American home. (Applause.
(Medal is presented.)
The legendary vocalist and bandleader Cab Calloway has
had indeed a remarkable career -- one of the originators of Americar
jazz. An enduring figure in popular music, Cab Calloway added "Hi-
dee-ho" and the "scat" sound to our musical vocabulary.
And for those of us who have lived a while, we can enjo
seeing the brightness of his smile in our memories going back for
decades. He is an American original, and I am deeply honored that
he's here with us today. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
MR. CALLOWAY: Hi-dee-ho! (Applause.) Thank you very
very much. This comes on a very, very beautiful day for me. This
my 49th wedding anniversary. (Applause.) My wife is here --,
(Applause.)
Literally for decades, Ray Charles has been one of
America's favorite singers. From his roots in Georgia, he became O
of the first great truly American singers, one of the first to
combine the dynamic energy of gospel music with rhythm and blues.
His songs are indelibly etched in the hearts of millions of
Americans.
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-4-
I can tell you that it's a particular honor for me to
give him this award today, because I suppose no singer ever had a
bigger impact on my musical life than Ray Charles. I still remember
over there in Constitution Hall a concert I attended on June the
24th, 1967. I was notable for being one of a few members of my race
in the audience. And Ray Charles electrified that crowd so much tha
that night, I literally could not go to sleep until 5 a.m. in the
morning -- I went out and ran three miles to get the energy out. Ал
I still remember to this day the date of the concert. That is
testament to the enduring impact of this phenomenal American
original. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Our next honoree, I believe, is part of the only
brother-sister team ever to receive this great award. Bess Lomax
Hawes has played a major role in the American folk movement since th
1940s as a singer, a teacher, a composer, an author of articles and
books that help bring the folk arts into the lives of countless
Americans. At a time when our native folk arts are largely lost to
millions of our younger people, she has performed an invaluable
service to our nation in helping us to remember who we are and how W
got here. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
You know what she said? She said, I wish all the
beautiful artists I've recorded and seen across the years in this
country were here to receive this award for me. They were the
inspiration for what I did. Thank you. (Applause.)
Poet and educator, Stanley Kunitz has spent a life
opening America's eyes and ears to poetry. He makes the ordinary
become extraordinary, the everyday become timeless and significant.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1959, and his works
grace us still.
Welcome, Stanley Kunitz. (Applause.)
Robert Merrill has been acclaimed by critics as one of
the great natural baritones of the century. He's appeared in 787
performances at the Metropolitan Opera over a 31-year operatic
career. He's also sung on Broadway and many solo recitals and on
television. And all of us who have ever heard him sing wish, as I
tried to persuade him to do today, that this would be the 787th
performance. (Laughter.) He turned me down, but I still think we
should give him the medal.
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-5-
Mr. Robert Merrill. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Arthur Miller has given our nation some of the finest
plays of this century. His character, Willy Loman in "Death of a
Salesman," caught the public's imagination by conveying the tension
and drama of a common man's life. In "The Crucible," he focused on
issues of conscience by probing the Salem witch trials of the late
17th century. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949. The
thing that has always impressed me about him was the continuing
energy he has brought to his work over such a long period of time,
seeming forever young with something always new to say. Please
welcome Arthur Miller. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Robert Rauschenberg is one of America's most innovative
artists whose remarkable works have been displayed in museums and
galleries around the world, and who has really helped to transform
our notions of contemporary art. Modern art is often inaccessible t
a lot of people who don't go to art galleries and often don't
understand it. I have personally been impressed by how many people
know who don't count themselves as connoisseurs, who have seen and
been moved by the works of our next honoree, Robert Rauschenberg.
(Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
He's also a pretty good comic. I said it's great to SE
you here today. He said, oh, I'll show up for this anytime.
(Laughter.)
Lloyd Richards has devoted his career to promoting
theater in America. As Dean of the Yale School of Drama and Artist.
Director of the Yale Repertory Theater, he has trained some our
nation's finest young talents, many of whom have turned into our
finest, not so young talents, helping to make for him a remarkable
legacy for which we are all grateful, Lloyd Richards. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Well, I got another little lesson in humility back
there. He said, you both have said some nice things today; and the
he looked at me and he said, and you did something for stand-up
comedy also. (Laughter.) And then he said, well, at least you
didn't set it back. (Laughter.)
William Styron's haunting works, including "Lie Down
Darkness," "The Confessions of Nat Turner," and "Sophie's Choice"
capture our history and character with a passion and insight few
others have ever achieved. His compelling prose as a fiction writ
and essayist has won him readers around the world -- those of us W.
anxiously await each new word.
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-6-
I can tell you that as a young southerner, the impact o
"The Confessions of Nat Turner" on me was truly stunning. And I can
say that for a whole generation of us who had never quite found word
to give expression to many of the things we had imagined until we
read the works of William Styron. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Paul Taylor has been one of our nation's preeminent
dancers and choreographers for more than three decades. And I might
say, he looks as if he could outdance most of us in this country
still today. His more than 80 works explore the richness, the
complexity of the American character, and graphically demonstrate. the
deep undercurrents of human relations in a way few other
choreographers have ever been able to do. Please join me in
welcoming Paul Taylor. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Since coming to this country in the 1930s, Billy Wilder
has helped to transform the American motion picture industry. As a
writer, director and producer, his name attached to many classics of
American film. He's won six Academy Awards and millions of fans.
And, perhaps most important, he's given us a lot of moving movie
moments. If you've never laughed at a funny Billy Wilder picture,
you have never laughed. (Laughter.) Mr. Billy Wilder. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Now, it is my great honor to introduce the winners of
the Charles Frankel Prize. Ricardo E. Alegria is an historian and
anthropologist who has dedicated his career to the study and public
appreciation of Caribbean culture. I'm glad to see so many of his
supporters from his native Puerto Rico today, and I thank him for
coming this long way to be with us. Mr. Alegria. (Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
In a 50-year career as a writer and a teacher, historian
John Hope Franklin has been a leading scholar of African-American
studies and an active voice in the social transformation of America.
He's won nearly 100 honorary degrees. He's served on the National
Council of Humanities. His writings have illuminated his subject for
a whole generation after generation of young readers. I was once one
of them -- a reader, and young -- reading John Hope Franklin.
And I'd like to say that one of the great moments of our
1992 campaign was when John Hope Franklin came on one of our bus
trips with us; and Al Gore and Tipper and Hillary and I sat and had a
chance to visit with him, and really learn something from a man who
has mastered the mystery of America. John Hope Franklin.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
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-7-
Hanna Holborn Gray has had a truly remarkable career.
She served for 15 years as President of the University of Chicago,
where she became a highly visible and widely acclaimed advocate for
higher education. She has been honored for her scholarship, her
words and her work in many ways, especially in receiving the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, our country's highest civilian award
She deserves greatly the award she receives today. Hanna Gray.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
After a distinguished career as Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Time Incorporated, Andrew Heiskell was appointe
founding chairman of the President's Committee on Arts and Humanitie
in 1982. As a leader in promoting the Arts and Humanities, he
energetically, and I echo energetically, persuaded cultural leaders
and business executives to support cultural activities and
institutions. He filled a void in American life at a time when we
need him. And today we thank him for that. Andrew Heiskell.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
There are a iot of funny people. He said, all this and
dinner, too? (Laughter.)
Historian Laurel T. Ulrich has introduced both scholarl
and public audiences to the lives of ordinary people in New England'
past. Her recent book "A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha
Ballard, Based on Her Diary," won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for
History, among other honors.
Now that I have become President, perhaps I can say th:
with greater authority than would otherwise be the case -- we often
times tend to see our history too much through the lives and works
the famous and not enough through the remarkable lives of the peopl
who are not famous. She has made a truly significant contribution
our understanding of our roots. And for that we thank her.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
And now I have one last special honor, and that is to
present to Congressman Sidney Yates the Presidential Citizens Medal
for his exemplary deeds of service in the area of arts and
humanities. The last time Congressman Yates was here for an occasi
at the White House, it happened to be on the day he and his wife we
celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary. And today, we honor hi
for that many years, and more, of dedication to our common cause.
Congressman Yates, please come forward. (Applause.)
(Medal is awarded.)
Again, let me thank the honorees for being here today
thank all of you in the audience who have come to support them and
support the arts.
MORE
Oct. 7 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1993
Let me express my thanks and my gratitude
mission from this day forward is to increase
and my profound sympathy to the families of
our strength, do our job, bring our soldiers out,
the young Americans who were killed in Soma-
and bring them home.
lia. My message to you is, your country is grate-
Thank you, and God bless America.
ful, and so is the rest of the world, and so
are the vast majority of the Somali people. Our
NOTE: The President spoke at 5:02 p.m. from the
Oval Office at the White House.
Remarks at a White House Dinner Honoring Arts and Humanities Award
Recipients
October 7, 1993
Ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you
night who didn't join us this afternoon, we are
all to the White House and thank you for com-
all very much in your debt. You have, each
ing and for each of your contributions to the
in your own way, enriched our lives and helped
rich cultural life of our great Nation. I want
us to learn more and feel more deeply and
to say a special word of appreciation again to
to become more of the people Cod meant for
the honorees from this afternoon. I had a won-
us to be. We applaud your work. We honor
derful time with all of you this afternoon. So
your contributions, and I ask you now that all
many of you have forgiven my ad-lib jokes, I
of us together raise our glasses in toast to the
might ask you back again next week. [Laughter]
artists, the writers, the humanitarians who have
I may have you tell my daughter I'm funny
made America the place it is today.
after all.
I want you to know, that to all of you who
NOTE: The President spoke at approximately 8:30
have been honored and to all of the distin-
p.m. in the State Dining Room at the White
guished artists who are here as our guests to-
House.
Message to the Congress on Naval Petroleum Reserves
October 7, 1993
To the Congress of the United States:
by section 201(3)(c)(2)(B) of the Naval Petro-
In accordance with section 201(3) of the
leum Reserves Production Act of 1976 is at-
Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of
tached. Based on the report's findings, I hereby
1976 (10 U.S.C. 7422(c)(2)). I am informing you
certify that continued production from the naval
of my decision to extend the period of maximum
petroleum reserves is in the national interest.
efficient rate production of the naval petroleum
reserves for 3 years from April 5, 1994, the
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
expiration date of the currently authorized pro-
The White House,
duction period.
October 7, 1993.
The report investigating the necessity of con-
tinued production of the reserves as required
1706
Aug. 7 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1993
District of Arkansas.
named. this outstanding group of jurists will
'There are few things that I will do that will
change the face of the Federal courts and help
have more lasting effect than the appointment
move our country forward."
of Federal judges." said the President. "Along
with Ruth Bader Cinsburg on the Supreme
NOTE: Biographies of the nominees were made
Court and the many other judges yet to be
available by the Office of the Press Secretary.
Nomination for Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts
August 7, 1993
The President today announced his nomina-
dowment into a new eΓa of excellence. Just as
tion of award-winning actress. producer, and au-
she has brought the power of performance to
thor Jane Alexander as Chair of the National
regional theaters throughout the country, she
Endowment for the Arts. National Foundation
will be a tireless and articulate spokesperson
on the Arts and the Humanities.
for the value of bringing art into the lives of
'The arts play an essential role in educating
all Americans.
and enriching the lives of all Americans, and
"More than 30 years ago, President John F.
the National Endowment is integral to helping
Kennedy said, 'I see little of more importance
arts thrive throughout the country. The NEA
to the future of our country and our civilization
helps enhance our children's learning, serves as
than full recognition of the place of the artist.'
an economic catalyst for local communities. and
With those words as her challenge, I am con-
makes the arts a more accessible and vital part
fident Jane Alexander will work tirelessly and
of people's everyday lives." said the President.
courageously to make the arts a full and produc-
The Endowment's mission of fostering and
tive partner in our Nation's future," the Presi-
presenving our Nation's cultural heritage is too
dent said.
important to remain mired in the problems of
the past. It is time to move forward, and Jane
NOTE: A biography of the nominee was made
Alexander is superbly qualified to lead the En-
available by the Office of the Press Secretary.
Remarks to the Community in Charleston, West Virginia
August 9, 1993
Thank you very much, and hello, West Vir-
last few days of the debate in the Congress
ginia It's good to be back again.
when we really had to make tough decisions,
I want to thank my longtime friend, Senator
when people who talked tough and they talked
Jay Rockefeller, for that wonderful introduction.
about talking tough, and they talked about talk.
And I want to thank Jay and Sharon for the
ing about talking tough, finally had to act tough.
work they have done for the people of West
West Virginia was there. And there was no wig.
Virginia and the people of our country. I thank
gle or wobble or walle or wonder. They were
my friend Governor Caperton for being here
just there. They said, This is good for America.
and Mavor Hall and Congressman Rahall and
I know it's tough. I know we'll be criticized.
Congressman Wise. I'd like to thank Congress-
I know there are people who will find fault,
man Mollohan and your fine Senator Robert
but we're going to do what is right for the
Byrd in their absence for their support of our
people of ll'est Virginia, right for the people
program.
of America. Sign us up. We're moving toward
I learned something about West Virginia that
the future." And I appreciate that.
I already knew, but I saw it writ large in the
I want to thank all the people who made
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 15,1994
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS BY THE FIRST LADY
AT DUKE ELLINGTON SCHOOL FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I don't know about all of you,
but I think we can just quit right now. I feel like I've had
one of the best evenings in a very long time.
I want to thank Eli and Naisha (phonetic) for the
best introduction done ensemble that I have ever had and ever
will have. I am grateful for you for that. I want to thank
Mrs. Cafritz and her (inaudible), Mr. Malone (phonetic), for
realizing their dream and yours through this marvelous school
and all that it represents.
Principal Wilson and representatives of the school
board and board members and all of you who are gathered for
this special evening, I know that you join me in a feeling of
pride and even of teary eyes as I watched all of the graduates
coming in, and I was privileged to get here early enough to
see your performance, and I could not help but be moved by all
of it, but particularly the finale. This indeed is your
night. Tonight is yours, and I hope every other night from
now into the future gives you the same joy that you gave all
of us.
On behalf of the President, I want to extend my
congratulations on 20 remarkable years, and I hope that
today's editorial in the Washington Post will galvanize this
community so that this school continues to be a symbol of
excellence of public schools and will flourish and thrive for
many years to come. All of us who have seen the results of
Ellington's work should join with the supporters of Ellington
to make sure that work not only continues but grows in
strength.
As you probably know, I live with a President who
has an abiding interest and love of the arts. It was given to
him as a young child by teachers such as the ones that you
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have enjoyed here at this school. He loves music. We love
together painting and museums. We love theater. We know that
in a very deep way the arts represents the very soul of our
nation.
And what Ellington has done is to represent young
people who are fulfilling their dreams as artists and
performers, and I was particularly proud that you had a role
to play in the festivities honoring the Emperor and Empress of
Japan, and they personally spoke to me about how impressed
they were by your choir, and, after hearing you tonight, I
certainly can understand that.
By now, most of you have discovered the power of
human hope and imagination. Where there is imagination, there
is always hope. Where there is potential for creative
expression, there is always the possibility for human
progress. I believe, as I know you do, that all forms of art
-- music, dance, literature, painting, sculpture, poetry
-- all of it has an enormous capacity to affect not only your
individual lives but the lives of your larger community.
Art is not beyond. It moves people. It encourages
people. It puzzles people. It provokes people. You have at
your fingertips, because of your talent and your dedication
and your hard work, the opportunity to not only explore your
own potential but to influence people far beyond.
I was very moved to receiving the painting. It will
come with me back to the White House, where it will hang in a
place of honor. And I was very touched to receive the
sculpture. Those two pieces of artistic work, standing on
their own, carry meaning. You know, because of what you have
given your lives to, that you've had to have a lot of
discipline to get where you are. You've made a lot of risks
and sacrifices and taken on a lot of responsibilities.
Now the question is, what will you do with all that
you have been given and all that you have taken? As you look
to the future, I hope you will remember there are many things
that distinguish artists and performers from the rest of us,
but there are at least three I would like to mention.
First, artists are willing to make sacrifices.
That's something you already know because many of you have
already done that. Peggy mentioned the VPIs award and
Children's Defense Fund. I know from my own experience that
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many of you have already overcome great odds and have been
willing to make sacrifices for your education and your art.
Second, artists are willing to take risks. They are
willing to expose their ideas, their visions, their emotions
to outside scrutiny in ways that other people are not. It
takes courage and it takes guts to be an artist. And I hope
that you will always celebrate your willingness to take risks
on behalf of your art.
Robin Smith (phonetic), the president of the student
body, talked recently about the hard lessons she had learned
here. She said, "I have learned to accept criticism, and if
you don't learn that you shouldn't go on with your career. " I
might add that being open to criticism means being open to
learning and growing. As someone who gets more than, I think,
my fair share of criticism, I have to echo Ms. Smith's words.
You have to learn to accept criticism. But I would add to
what she said, learn to accept it seriously but not
personally. Do not let anyone else's opinion of you or your
work (inaudible).
The third point of distinction I would like to share
with you is that perhaps because the work of artists and
performers reflects, in the words of the painter Romer Beardon
(phonetic), "the soul of the people," you do have an added
responsibility to make a positive difference in society. This
is always the subject of commencement speeches, but in your
case it is more dramatic and perhaps even more immediate than
it is for the usual graduates.
For your generation, the future holds great promise
and great peril, great peril because we only have to look
around us to see that the world still has too much poverty,
too much racism, too much violence, too much indifference, too
many of the things we have struggled with since the very
beginning of time.
But there are great promises embodied in the lives
of every one of us, and particularly in your lives. You have
what I hope you will always hold onto, what someone once
called "a hard-earned optimism." I know that many of you sit
here often thinking in the past four years that you might not
be able to stay the course. I know that there were times when
it didn't seem worth it, when you didn't feel you had the
support that you needed or thought you deserved from family
and friends. But it was your optimism, your willingness to
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keep going that really at the root is what will make your
promise ripple out into a great promise for the larger
society.
That means you must have a vision of life that does
not ignore the tough realities but is based on those tough
realities but is infused with hope. You know, an attitude
about one's ability to take responsibility and contribute to
society can be yours no matter what your personal
circumstances might be. And I would only say to you what I
believe with all my heart, what I see my husband doing every
day, and that is, never, never give up, no matter how many
obstacles are thrown in your way.
Giving up, especially when you have the talent that
you all have, is an indulgence. And you only have to look at
the events of the last month to realize why it is never
appropriate to give up. Think for a minute about the
inauguration of Nelson Mandela.
If there were ever a man who had reason to give up,
it certainly was he. Twenty-seven years, longer than you have
been alive, he spent in prison. I had the extraordinary
privilege of attending his inauguration. I hope you saw much
of the television coverage of that historic event. But I want
to tell you what personally made the single biggest impression
on me.
Yes, I was overwhelmed by the inaugural ceremonies,
by the sight of Nelson Mandela mounting the stairs, surrounded
by the military leaders of South Africa who were now part of a
new constitutional government. But what really moved me and
what said more to me about his greatness than anything else
was what he said at a function after the inaugural, when he
stood before a very large crowd of visiting dignitaries and
other people from around the world and told us that he had
invited to his inaugural three of his former jailers.
Stop and think about that for a minute. I felt a
rush of emotion like I have never experienced. I sat there
thinking, this man is great because he has learned the basic
lessons of what it is to be a human being filled with hope,
who continues to forgive, never to forget, but always to
forgive, because a hopeful heart has no room for bitterness,
has no room for vengeance, has no room for (inaudible).
And I thought to myself, if this man in this
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extraordinary act of humanity could overcome bitterness and
invite his three jailers to his inaugural, certainly every one
of us could change our own hearts and our own minds and begin
to live with that same level of hopefulness.
And then, last week, the President and I were in
Europe to celebrate the lives and sacrifices of many of your
grandparents and uncles and others who lived and fought and
maybe even died during World War Two. We saw many there who
had survived that particular conflict, but I want to tell you
about one particular gentleman.
He's not a famous person, but he is a very important
man. His name is Woodrow Profitt (phonetic). He was a member
of a very significant group called the Tuskegee Airmen, young
African American men who believed they were as good as anybody
else. Who believed in the promise of democracy and freedom
and decided they wanted to make their contribution, and they
formed themselves into the Tuskegee Airmen.
And if you followed any of the TV coverage of the
invasion of Europe, you may have heard that in the two months
before D-Day, 2,000 planes, 12,000 men were shot down over
Europe by the Germans. The Tuskegee Airmen, who flew fighter
planes that were to protect bombers making those bombing runs,
never lost a single bomber. And I asked Mr. Profitt, how, in
the face of the extraordinary attacks that were going on, did
the Tuskeegee Airmen never lose a single bomber? And he said,
"That's because we knew our job, we stayed in formation, and
we took care of each other.' Pretty good words to live by
(inaudible).
And those words echoed for me when I heard these
words from someone who not only plays beautiful music, but has
a lot to tell us, namely, Wynton Marsalis. Wynton Marsalis
says, "Life is like playing the blues.' So, in ending, let me
pass on his advice. And it is as follows: "Always bring your
horn. Know the tune. Learn to listen with empathy.
Understand your role in the ensemble. And, most of all, enjoy
playing."
Think about your own lives in that light, and go
forth from this celebration with optimism and hope, courage
and confidence to chart your own courses. Many people have
invested in you, and I think it's an investment that has been
very well made. God bless you, and good luck, everyone.
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(End of speech.)
* * * * *
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definition of who we are as a people.
They offer us a vision of ourselves as Americans
and our richness as a democratic people who are strengthened
by the multitude of people with (inaudible) and have brought
their own traditions to America.
The President wasn't able to join us this morning,
but he has written each of the awardees a letter expressing
his congratulations for their achievements, but also adds
this paragraph:
"One of the greatest strengths of our nation is its
rich and diverse cultural heritage. As a (inaudible)
traditional artists, you have met (inaudible) standards of
excellence in your craft. Your extraordinary skills are
helping to ensure that the splendid legacies of our past are
preserved and carried forward for generations of Americans to
come."
The President and I are grateful for each of the
contributions that our honorees have made and will continue
to make, and I'm hopeful that their contributions will be not
only honored (inaudible) today, not only recognized in this
wonderful booklet that's been put together by NEA, but will
really be appreciated for what they represent -- a way of
demonstrating the diversity in art and culture but, even
beyond that, the diversity of human experience, human
aspiration, that is really at the core of the American
experience.
We are grateful and appreciative and thankful that
they have brought these gifts to all of us. Thank you
(inaudible). (Applause.)
(End of tape.)
*****
Diversified Reporting Services, Inc.
918 16TH STREET, N.W. SUITE 803
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006
(202) 296-2929
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Resease
March 9, 1995
REMARKS BY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
AT THE NATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very
much. I am grateful to Roger Johnson for this opportunity to be
with all of you and also with his wife Janice. I am delighted
that I had the opportunity to share this platform with Jane
Alexander, who is doing a superb job of pointing out the
relationship between the arts and the quality of our society.
And I am particularly honored that I had the chance to share this
platform with Senator Hatfield, and I think, by the reception you
gave him this afternoon, you too were honored by his presence.
It is a particular pleasure to be with those of you who work
day in and day out with the GSA and those of you who were
involved in helping to choose amongst the many designs that were
presented to you as members of the jury, and particularly to all
of the honorees.
I am especially glad that we are holding this honorary
ceremony here, in this building, which is one of my personal
favorites in Washington, but I am usually inside of this building
at night, at some event or another, so to be here during the day,
especially with the sun shining, is a particular pleasure.
The work that we are honoring today, certainly goes far
beyond any recognition that we can give you this afternoon.
Because each day, what those of you who are being honored do,
affects tens of thousands and even millions of Americans, who
over the course of the lifetime of the buildings-- they too feel
what you have attempted to impart to them in the way of your
vision, your idea of what a public building should look like.
Too often public buildings do not represent the best in any
society. They do not reflect the work that goes on in them or do
they in any way represent anyone's vision. They are strictly
utilitarian and oftentimes not even effectively that.
But today we honor work that will stand the test of time.
Sometimes that is not immediately apparent to the people of a
building's or a design's time. You heard Senator Hatfield talk
somewhat of the history of our Captiol. Well, both the Capitol
and the White House were the results of a competition sponsored
by President Washington. Many, many people complained about the
results for both designs. Often the President's House, as the
White House was called then, was referred to as undistinguished,
disproportionate. And yet today it is, as is our Capitol, a
signal and a symbol of our democracy and what we as a nation
stand for that is immediately recognized and appreciated around
the world. Each of your designs are making a mark in the cities
in which you worked. From the energy efficient border station in
International Falls to the new technology which will strengthen
the structure of the US Court of Appeals in San Francisco to
resist future earthquakes, to a program which asked New York
school children to interpret through art the significance of an
African burial ground discovered during construction of the
Federal Office Building.
All of these awards that are being honored today span a wide
range of designs. And the fact that we are all affected means
that each of us has a stake in the work that is done. Each of us
has to in some way recognize that those buildings are us. They
represent who we are, who we intend to become. The GSA, in
partnership with the NEA, deserves great credit for encouraging
creative design in our nation's infrastructure. Together they
have encouraged preeminent national designers to participate in
this process. These kinds of public/private partnerships are
essential to bringing out the best, not only in government, but
also in the private sector. As the world's leading purchaser of
design services, the federal government should be the leader in
fostering design excellence. Good design can affect our lives by
beautifying our surroundings, improving our productivity and
helping to affect positive social change. Too often we take our
surroundings for granted. Too often we forget that the spaces we
work in influence the way we live and do our jobs, the way we
interact with each other, how we enjoy our days. I am lucky
enough to be spending my days in very beautiful federal
buildings-- The Old Executive Office Building, The West Wing, The
White House. They say to me every day as I walk through the
doors, this is a very special country, because the people who
came before cared enough to think about the designs of the
buildings they lived and worked in. And they wanted their
vision, whether it was the Oval Office President Franklin
Roosevelt put in, or the Truman Balcony, to say something about
the kind of nation we were.
Federal buildings tell us a lot about our history, our
culture and how we see ourselves as a people. The designs that
are commissioned should reflect not only the best execution, but,
as Senator Hatfield pointed out, the wise use of taxpayer's
money. This year's 14 winners reflect both criteria, and it is a
great pleasure for me to be part of saying thank you and
congratulations.
End
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
May 15, 1995
Remarks by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
at Sculpture Garden Opening
MRS. CLINTON: Good morning. Good morning. Oh please be
seated. We're so pleased to have you on this glorious day here
at the White House. It is always a pleasure to have guests and
particularly those who have come from other parts of the country
to be in Washington. And today it is especially a pleasure to
have so many friends and lovers of art as we celebrate the second
exhibition of contemporary American sculpture in the First Lady's
Garden.
At a time of great debate about the role of art in society,
I am particularly pleased that we can showcase American Art and
artists at the White House. The president and I have always
believed that art is not a marginal part of our culture nor a
luxury that should only be accessible to those who can afford it.
Art evokes our emotions and provokes our ideas. It enlarges our
understanding of the world around us. It tells us who we are and
what we can be and it ought to be experienced and shared by all
Americans.
The twelve pieces assembled for this exhibition represent
American sculpture since 1965. Like the sculptures in the first
exhibit which some of you saw while they were on display in the
fall, these sculptures embody the rich diversity of American
artistic tradition and reflect the power of creative expression
in our culture. I hope that you and the tens of thousands of
visitors and guests who pass through here over the next few
months will feel the same sensations of joy, excitement,
inspiration, and intrigue, and challenge as I do looking at these
particular sculptures.
I often come here at twilight after I try to do my daily
exercise and sit and look at these sculptures as I did at the
first ones that were here and find myself constantly being
motivated and enjoying greatly the gifts that all of you have
helped make possible. I hope that in seeing this exhibit all
Americans will be reminded of the vital role that art plays in
strengthening the democratic ideals upon which our nation is
founded.
As some of you know, the idea for this exhibition was
inspired in part by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. My
all too brief friendship with her left a lasting impression on me
as it did on so many others. It is a fitting tribute to her and
the extraordinary contribution she made to the White House to
keep alive her appreciation of the arts through this ongoing
exhibition of contemporary American sculpture.
Many people have helped us realize this dream. And I am so
pleased that today we are able to again thank some of you who
have worked hard over the last years to take an idea and
translate it into reality. Once again, I want to thank the Iris
and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation for their extraordinary support
of this exhibition and for sculpture in general. Thank you.
Iris, stand up. I also want to thank the Committee for the
Preservation of the White House and the White House Historical
Association some of whose members I see in the audience and I'd
like to ask all the members of these important organizations to
please stand and be recognized.
I owe a special debt of thanks to J. Carter Brown who has
helped to shepherd this idea and to Rex Scouten, curator of the
White House, both of whom have been extraordinarily helpful. I
am so personally pleased to welcome back George Newburt, the
director of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden
at the University of Nebraska who curated the first exhibit and
got us off to such a great start when we began with sculptures
from the midwest.
Today it is a special honor and pleasure for me to thank the
curator of this exhibit, someone whom I have known for a long
time, admired and appreciated, and had nothing to do with his
selection. The Association of Art Museum Directors, in its
wisdom, chose Townsend Wolfe, the director and chief curator of
the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, to be the curator of
this exhibit and we are very excited about that, Townsend. Thank
you so much.
I would also like to thank Betsy Braun, the director of the
National Museum of American Art, and Larry Rieger for their
efforts to save and preserve our nation's outdoor sculptures
through the Save Outdoor Sculpture Program which they have helped
to implement.
The twelve sculptures behind me are from the southeast and
they focus on American Sculpture from 1965. I am very grateful
to the institutions which have lent their sculptures to this
exhibit. It is not an easy decision to make.
I know that there are many of you here in this audience who
are devoted benefactors and enjoy greatly the works in the
institutions who are participating and we are so pleased that you
would be willing to do this.
I'm also delighted that we have some of the artists with us
who created these sculptures and, in fact, I think we have eight
2
of the eleven living artists with us and we thank them for adding
beauty to our daily surroundings, for preventing us from becoming
complacent about the lives we lead and the world we live in, and
I would like all the artists who are with us to please stand for
a moment.
This is a very exciting time for us in our country as we
confront very challenging decisions about the kind of people we
are, the kind of society we wish to have, the country that we
will live in as we move into the 21st century and I am grateful
that so many of you here for this ceremony are people who have
supported the arts in your local communities and throughout the
country. It is a major contribution that you make, not only to
the arts but to the quality of our life together. And I would
like now to invite you to again walk through the garden and then
join me in the Blue Room upstairs for a reception, then in the
State Dining Room. Thank you all very much. (Applause)
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 6, 1995
Remarks by
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
at the 125th Anniversary Celebration of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, New York
MRS. CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, very much.
It is such a great honor and pleasure for me to join you this
evening. I am someone who is a great fan of this Museum and a
great fan of the Cantors.
And to have an occasion such as this where we celebrate both
is special. I want to add my word of thanks to this Museum and
to all of you who have supported it, nurtured it, loved it,
brought it to where it is today. I have just had an opportunity
to view the proposed new galleries, for the exhibition of the
collection of Greek and Roman art, as I was told, the finest
collection in the Western hemisphere.
And it is very exciting to see the plans for this and to
know what a contribution it will make to the continuing greatness
of the Museum. None of this would be possible without all of you
who have been patrons and supporters of this Museum. And
tonight, we honor two people who have been especially important.
Iris and Bernie have over the years stood behind so many
important causes in health care and education. And tonight, we
celebrate their contribution to the arts. What they have done by
their generosity has not only meant that literally millions of
people have been enhanced by their eye, their passion, their
commitment. But it has also, I believe, served to spur others to
be similarly generous with their own love of art.
For all we celebrate tonight, I must say, though, it is
something of a bittersweet moment, for those of us who care
deeply about the arts in our country. Because, there is, as you
know well, a movement underway to undermine the cultural
traditions that all of you in this room are upholding by your
presence tonight.
1
It is sad, that there are those among us who do not
appreciate what this Museum represents - what it stands for. And
who more than that, do not understand that our democracy depends
upon culture. We are witnessing a full-scale assault on public
support of the arts which in many ways is misguided and
misinformed. One of the great accomplishments of the arts in
America, is that it truly has become part of the public domain.
Accessible to all, firing the imaginations of all. I was
told that Bernie saw his first Rodin here in 1945 and look where
it has led. There is a proud tradition in our country of both
private and public support - a unique partnership unlike what
exists in many other countries not only in modern times but going
back through history. Where art was either the domain of the
public or of the private. But instead, in America there has been
this marriage.
And that is thanks, in large part, to far-sighted people,
like yourselves in both the public and the private sector. The
NEA has helped to bring art to millions of Americans who would
not have otherwise enjoyed it.
It has supported artists and teachers, students, men, women
and children, whose daily lives have been transformed by their
exposure to great art. And I would like to thank Bill Lures and
the trustees, and the members of the business committee and all
of you who have raised your voices in the last months on behalf
of public support for the arts. I hope you will continue to do
so because we cannot afford to retreat from that commitment.
I would argue strongly, that, contrary to what some say,
"Public support for the arts is a luxury we can no longer
afford," that it is, instead, a necessity for the continuing
strength and vitality of our community of culture in this
country.
It is particularly ironic that those who bemoan the loss of
civility and character and the loss of values in America are the
first to recommend obliterating the federal agencies, in many
ways cutting back on state and local support, responsible for
promoting our cultural traditions.
For example, the Greek and Roman exhibition that is being
worked on now, for those who at one hand, claim they support our
Western traditions and Western civilization but who on the other
hand would not support the kind of exhibition that would bring to
life those very traditions and roots; are living, in my view, a
very ironic way of demanding we do what they say, without
recognizing how important it is to give other people the chance
to have the same experience that they have had.
2
They fail to appreciate what every generation of Americans
have intuitively known, that our artistic imagination is critical
to our civilization and our democracy. So I hope that, as we
think about this Museum tonight and the contribution of the
Cantors, we will think about ways that each of us can try to
continue the traditions represented. And we will think, too,
about all of the children, two hundred to three hundred thousand
a year, who come to this Museum. The potential artists and
teachers and lovers and patrons of the arts of the future.
To make sure that their potential for appreciating what we
have today, thanks to the partnership between public and private
lovers of the art; will always be there. Yes, we have hard
decisions to make in America; yes, they are challenging. But let
us remember what really lies at the root of greatness as a people
-investing in our future, caring about the best of our
traditions. And let's not turn our back on that kind of legacy.
With your help, your generosity, your energy and your
commitment, I don't think we will, but I know this is a
challenging time. I personally wanted to be here this evening to
thank the Cantors, to thank the Museum and to thank all of you
for standing up on behalf of the arts in America. Thank you all.
(Applause)
###
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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Internal Use Only
June 12, 1995
Remarks by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
At a Reception for the Washington Performing Arts Society
The white House
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I want to welcome all of you here
to the White House. I am particularly pleased that we could host
this reception. And I know that we have an outgoing President,
Glendonia McKinney, and an incoming President, Lenney Knat, and I
love being able to welcome Presidents to the White House.
I also want to thank Muriel Alper. Not only for her work
with the Women's Committee over the past twenty years, but also
for the work she has done as a volunteer in my office for more
than two years. I have to tell you that Muriel is something of a
legend in what is called, both to my face and behind my back,
"Hillaryland." There is not a person on my staff who doesn't
know her, doesn't love her, doesn't do whatever Muriel tells her
to do. So I want to thank you, Muriel. I want to thank you for
sharing so much energy, enthusiasm, dedication and humor with me
and my staff, and for making our days brighter, livelier, easier
and, most of all, happier. Thank you so much.
I also want to acknowledge that the White House Social
Secretary, Ann Stock, is a former member of the Washington
Performing Arts Society. Ann, however, has been working so hard
the past two and a half years -- we've had more events and more
people in the White House than in any comparable time. In fact,
we exceeded most four year terms about six months ago, and that
is because Ann is indefatigable. But the down side is that she
has done so much in such a short period of time, that when
several of you reminded her that she had worked on some of the
events of the Society, she was desperately trying to remember
that far back. It's sort of a sad commentary on life in a
constant activity circle, as we seem to be. And I think Ann, as
she said to me, missed being part of this. She did it when she
used to have a life, is what she said.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for
your strong support of the arts in this community, and
particularly for the work you do on behalf of children and our
1
particularly for the work you do on behalf of children and our
schools through the arts programs and the cultural exchange
programs. Your efforts are critical to the people, particularly
the children, that you touch. Many of them would not otherwise
have any really positive exposure to our common culture, or to
the cultures of people from around the world. You know, I was at
one of the events celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the
Metropolitan Museum in New York last week, and I thanked the
people there for their commitment to that institution, as I thank
you for your commitment to this.
And it really is unique in the history of the world that
the arts would be supported by a public-private partnership.
Some countries, in fact, most, that have had any significant
support for the arts have done so publicly over the years. A few
have done so largely privately, through patronage and other ways.
But America is unique because here we have, thankfully, a public-
private commitment to the arts. This partnership has been
critical to sustaining the arts throughout our history. And I
believe that it is short-sighted for some among us to try to
eliminate or severely cut the public commitment to the arts,
which really must go hand in hand with the kind of private
efforts that you are involved in.
I know many of you have already spoken out on behalf of
the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment
for the Humanities and I urge you to continue to make sure your
voices are heard. Others of you have been active in speaking out
on behalf of public broadcasting, which in may parts of our
country is the only vehicle, the only channel that brings great
art and artistic performance to the lives of literally millions
of people.
You know, 40% of the homes in our country do not have
cable television, and those 40% have the majority of children
residing in them. So, without public broadcasting they will not
hear what we are able to hear, perhaps by going to the Kennedy
Center or by going to a performance that you have helped to
arrange.
So I thank you for what you have done in this community,
I thank you for speaking out on behalf of the relatively meager
commitment of public funds we do make to the arts in our country.
But it's more than just the funds, it is a statement. It is a
real statement of commitment to excellence and to what has stood
the test of time. The commercial marketplace for music or for
art is always new, always looking for something on the cutting
edge, fads come and go. Yet we know that great art often is not
even recognized in its own time, and we often are paying our debt
to those who came years, if not centuries before. And if we do
not support what now has been recognized and accepted as great
art over the centuries, the marketplace will not. That is not
2
what it can do. It is not one of its better contributions.
So I urge you to speak out against these efforts to cut
public support and to continue your private support of the arts.
We are all the richer for it and we are grateful to you for what
you have done and will continue to do. And I wanted personally
to say thank you very much.
We're going to have a receiving line in the Blue Room,
which is through the Green Room and on the other side of the Red
Room. And here is Muriel to give me some more orders.
MRS. ALPER:
I just wanted to say that last week a
call came in to your office and it was a South American Embassy.
The voice was very heavily accented and the person said she
wanted to speak to the "Prima Dona." So I thought it was another
nut call, because we sometimes get them.
MRS. CLINTON: Just a few, right.
MRS. ALPER:
And then I realized that it wasn't meant
in the pejorative sense at all. It was really said in the
greatest respect for you, because "La Prima Dona" means "The
First Lady.' And that's how you're called. And I thought to
myself how very fortunate we are that we have a First Lady that
is first in compassion, in empathy and in caring, because you do
care. And only look around at the people who work in her office,
and everybody loves her, and they're the ones who know her best.
So please accept our little gift it looks big, but it's really
small. It's an American craft by a woman in Kentucky and it's a
candle holder. It's red, white and blue. And we thought that it
would be good for you.
MRS. CLINTON: It's beautiful. Thank you so much.
Thank you all. Muriel knows that I really love crafts, and
particularly American crafts. We have this exhibit at the Museum
of American Arts, so that is especially meaningful to me. And
"La Prima Dona" is one of the nicer things I've been called, so
I'll take it, whatever it means. And I look forward to greeting
each of you individually.
###
3
FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
VIDEOTAPE REMARKS FOR
THE 1995 SCHOLASTIC ART AND WRITING AWARDS CEREMONY
JUNE 17, 1995
To all of the recipients of 1995 Scholastic Art and Writing
Awards, their families and their teachers, congratulations and
welcome to our nation's capital. I am sorry not to be with you
today, but I share the excitement and pride you must feel on this
special occasion.
I am delighted that America's most promising young artists
and writers are being hosted at two of our nation's most
important cultural institutions - The Library of Congress and the
Corcoran Gallery of Art. I am also pleased to join in
congratulating the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers -- its
Board of Directors and national sponsors, for their important
efforts to reward and promote a remarkable group of artists and
authors, who will no doubt contribute much to this country's
cultural heritage.
Through their original works, the 1000 awardees have
distinguished themselves and their schools in their aspirations
and their achievements. The level of talent and technical
facility represented among these young men and women would be
difficult -- if not impossible -- to duplicate anywhere else in
the world. You are a microcosm of America's diverse creative and
cultural heritage.
Sadly, we live in a time when arts and humanities education
are being devalued. School budgets are being cut and the arts
and humanities are especially vulnerable. While we respect the
need for fiscal responsibility, we need to recognize that art
instruction and writing ability are central to a comprehensive
education. Moreover, arts education is transforming when used to
enliven and illuminate other academic disciplines.
What these young people are doing in their creative pursuits
is vital to the direction of our country. Through discipline and
verve, they have created new standards of excellence that will
help America maintain preeeminence in the arts and in culture
internationally.
This country has always valued imagination and creativity --
in fact, they are part of the legacy of the pioneers and
immigrants who founded our nation. Human imagination -- your
imagination -- is the fuel that will lead us into the next
millennium. That imagination and your creative spirits must be
allowed to guide us on our journey.
Thank you and congratulations to you all.
THE
NEW
YORK
TIMES
Arts for Our Sake
form whole communities by bringing
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
the arts and artists to millions who
otherwise might never have had the
his is an ominous time
opportunity to explore first-hand our
T
for those of us who
shared artistic heritage.
The President has shown that we
care deeply about the
can balance the budget over the next
arts in America. A
10 years without undermining our
misguided, misin-
commitment to the arts. The N.E.A.
formed effort to elimi-
budget accounts for less than 0.02
nate public support for the arts not
percent of the Federal budget. Elimi-
only threatens Irrevocable damage
nating this small but vital agency
;w our cultural institutions but also to
would have grave consequences for
our sense of ourselves and what we
local economies. Federal support for
stand for as a people.
the arts helps attract tourists, stimu-
= One of the great successes of the
late business, expand the tax base
arts in America is that they are not
and improve the quality of life a
The preserve of any "cultural elite."
huge return on a small investment.
Through museums, libraries,
Despite a 30-year bipartisan com-
schools, dance companies and con-
mitment to the arts, there are those
certs, the arts are truly part of the
who argue that public support is a
luxury we can no longer afford. They
mistakenly suggest that the arts are
enjoyed only by a small, wealthy
Cutting support
minority. But if public support for
the arts disappears, those most af-
for the N.E.A.
fected will not be the richest Ameri-
cans but the millions of citizens who
will hurt children.
rely on the N.E.A. to bring the arts to
their local schools and communities.
I find it ironic that those who talk
the loudest about America's loss of
civility, character and values (par-
juink domain, accessible to all and
ticularly those arising from Western
ble of encouraging every per-
civilization) are often the first to
son's artistic expression and sensi-
recommend obliterating the agen-
bility.
cles responsible for promoting and
Cathy Rull
The National Endowment for the
arts programs that make Sophocles,
Arts, in partnership with individuals,
Shakespeare, Mozart and O'Keefe
mathematics and philosophy. My
stand better the complexities of life
corporations, foundations and other
available to our children
sons ought to study mathematics and
and gives us a bridge to the world
patrons of the arts, has helped trars
They fail to appreciate what every
philosophy
in order to give their
preceding and surrounding us. Most
generation of Americans has intu-
children a right to study painting,
important, exposure to our cultural
Hillary Rodham Clinton is honorary
itively known - that the artistic
poetry, music."
traditions enriches the lives of our
chairwoman of the President's Com-
Imagination is critical to our civiliza-
The power of the arts is not simply
children.
mittee on the Arts and Humanities.
tion and our democracy They forget
to provide pleasant esthetics but to
Too often, we see children who,
This article is based on her remarks
the prescient words of John Adams:
help move us forward as a democra-
instead of discovering the joys of
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
"I must study politics and war that
cy. Human expression, as conveyed
painting. music, sculpting or writing.
'earlier this month.
my sons may have liberty to study
through the arts, enables us to under-
express themselves through acts of
frustration and even violence. The
arts offer an alternative to the more
disturbing elements of our popular
culture, and a safe haven that allows
children to explore their creative po-
tential, transporting them beyond
the bounds w their difficult circum-
stances. Their exposure to the roots
and diverse : : chness of human civili-
zation will enhance their understand-
ing of their own heritage and the
world in which they live.
Clearly our nation faces difficult
choices. But as the rhetoric heats up
over the role of government in our
society, I hope we will remember
that public support for the arts is a
down payment on our future. It is as
Investment in the values we claim L
honor and in the cultural traditions to
which democracy has flourished to
218 years. Now is no time to turn ou
backs on that legacy or its promisel
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 5, 1996
REMARKS BY FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
AT THE SCULPTURE GARDEN RECEPTION
THE WHITE HOUSE
MRS. CLINTON: Please be seated and welcome to the White
House. I wish the weather were just a little warmer so we could
be out in the garden, but we are so pleased to have you here in
the East Room. And I am very sorry that because of the prior
government shutdown in November, we were forced to postpone the
original opening, and I deeply regret any inconvenience that this
necessary but regrettable postponement caused any of you. We are,
as you know, in the middle of another partial government
shutdown, but thankfully we were able to hold this ceremony
because the White House Appropriations Bill was one of those that
was passed and the President signed.
But I am happy to report that the exhibit did open in
October in glorious weather, and in time for the Arts and
Humanities Celebration here at the White House. A thousand or
more people saw the exhibit that first day, and thousands and
thousands more have been enjoying it during October, November and
into December. This is the third in a series of exhibitions of
20th century American sculpture that have been installed at the
Jacqueline Kennedy Garden here at the White House. As some of you
know this exhibit was inspired in part by Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
My much too brief friendship with her left an indelible
impression on me, and the garden is a lasting, living tribute to
the extraordinary artistic and cultural contributions she made to
the White House. It became possible because others shared my hope
that the White House could be an exhibition place for modern
American art as well as the extraordinary White House collection
of art that you see around you here in this room with the Gilbert
Stewart and in other rooms throughout the house.
I must say that every time I come into the East Room, and
particularly on an occasion like this, I am always grateful to
another of my predecessors, Dolly Madison. Because it was Dolly
Madison during the War of 1812, when James Madsion, who was the
last of our presidents actually to be Commander in Chief in the
field, was out with the troops in 1814, who was here preparing a
dinner for her husband and all of the officers who had returned
when word came that the British were advancing, had broken
through, were on their way to the house. So she, I think in one
of the great heroic moments in American history, began to gather
1
up many of the treasures here in the house and took down the
Gilbert Stewart portrait of George Washington, rolled it up and
escaped right before the British.
I have said this in both Canada, where the commanding
general of the British forces was based, and recently in the
United Kingdom, that we don't forget -- although we are great
friends. And some of you may notice on the front part of the
White House we've actually left some of the stone exposed where
the burn marks show. And the thing that I do find hard to forgive
is that, at least I have been told, the British came into the
house, ate the dinner Dolly Madison had prepared and then burned
it.
Well, we are still here, and we have survived much over our
history. And that is also part of what I had hoped with these
exhibits, because they represent the diverse and rich talents of
this extraordinary country of ours. I am thrilled that some of
the artists whose works are exhibited could be with us today. And
i think one only needs to look, and I hope all of you get a
chance to look, at the intriguing sculptures in this particular
exhibit. They embody the transformations of both 20th century and
society. Among them is an abstract sculpture by Georgia O'Keefe,
who many of us casual art lovers knew only as a painter. In a
house full of wonderful, 200-year-old antiques, it is also a
blessing to live amongst objects that represent the era in which
we live.
Well, the president and I believe strongly that art should
be accessible to everyone, because it has the power to evoke in
each of us a deeper understanding of our lives and of the world
around us. This is a particularly difficult and challenging time
in Washington and in our country, but art can make our spirits
soar and remind us of life's possibilities and of our human
powers to imagine and to create. And is gives me great
satisfaction that amongst the more than one and a half million
American and foreign visitors who walk through this house, the
only residence of a head of state open to tourists, that they
will be able to share in this artistic exhibition. They walk down
through the colonnade, and on a day like this even when it's cold
outside where the sun is shining, they can look out and as their
standing in line, begin to think about what it means, what their
own lives mean. And for me that is a great gift that you have
made possible.
This exhibition celebrates the sculptors themselves. Ann
Tucker once said, "All art requires is courage." You could amend
that and say, "All life requires is courage.' But sometimes it is
art that displays and embodies that courage for us. So I would
like, on behalf of the President and myself, to thank the artists
who are featured in this exhibit.
2
I also want to thank and recognize the people who have made
this exhibit and our prior ones possible. It took enormous
generosity, dedication, wisdom, planning and just plain hard work
to make this happen. Special thanks to Peter Marzio, the director
of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and Alison Delema Green,
the curator of the Museum of Fine arts in Houston. I also want to
say a special word of gratitude to the Iris and B. Gerald Canter
Foundation and to my friend Iris Canter who is here. I don't know
of any other two Americans who have done more to support and
promote the arts and particularly sculpture. The White House is
such a richer, more beautiful place because of their generosity.
I want also to thank J. Carter Brown, who sheparded this idea
that was inchoate, to say the best about it, to fruition. I also
want to thank the lending institutions that are acknowledged in
the program, the White House Preservation Committee and the White
House Historical Association, which are such great partners in
promoting and maintaining this house. A special word of thanks to
the curator of the White House, Rex Scouton, and his very able
and dedicated assistants, the Association of Art Museum Director
and its president, Sylvia Williams. All of them deserve
certainly, my thanks, but far beyond my thanks, you deserve the
thanks of every American whether they see the exhibit or not --
because of what you are doing to keep inspiring us, keep giving
us a sense of human possibility.
You know, in this time of great global change and as we
approach not only a new century, but a new millennium, with the
pace of technological change occurring at a rate far beyond the
capacity for human beings to comprehend, let alone understand or
adjust to -- art becomes more and more important. It is the very
first way one goes back to the cave drawing and the tiny figures
of women carved from bone, that people knew they were something
in addition to just foragers for food and survivors against the
elements. We are a long way in time from those days, but we have
the same needs to understand ourselves and to appreciate what
stays human despite the changes around us.
And so in this time of change and very difficult adjustments
for people, we need art more than ever. So thank you for making
that possible for all of us. And now I look forward to greeting
you individually in the Blue Room and on to the reception in the
State Dining Room. Thank you all very much.
3
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
October 7, 1993
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN WHITE HOUSE PRESIDENTIAL ARTS MEDAL CEREMONY
The South Lawn
2:26 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. To our
distinguished honorees and all of you in the audience. I want to say
a special word of thanks to Jane Alexander and to Dr. Sheldon Hackney
for their leadership of our administration's efforts in the arts and
humanities. (Applause.)
As a person who at various times in his life has been a
frustrated writer and a frustrated musician, this is an extremely
humbling event for me today. (Laughter.) But I've been getting a
lot of training in humility lately. (Laughter.) I have a Vice
President who humbles me all the time by all the things he teaches me
about things great and insignificant -- (laughter) -- and who unlike
me actually got to go on David Letterman to prove how funny he was.
(Laughter.)
And I have a wife who swept the television ratings last
week talking about the arcana of health care with a passion and an
eloquence -- (applause). As if that weren't bad enough, USA Today
had the bad grace to go out and poll the American people, and 40
percent of them said she was smarter than I am. (Laughter.) To
which I reply, of course, what kind of dummy do you think I am.
(Laughter.) How else would I have gotten elected President.
And just to drive this humility home -- this is the
actual true part of this wonderful story -- I went to southern
California last week, or the first of this week, and I was looking
forward to staying in the Beverly Hilton -- it seemed like an exotic
sort of place. And I showed up, and Merv Griffin, who owns it, shook
hands with me, and took me up to the floor where I was staying --
there is only one person who is a permanent resident of the floor
where I stayed in the Beverly Hilton -- Rodney Dangerfield --
(laughter) -- who said they had put me there because we seem to
belong together. (Laughter.) And gave me 12 roses with a little
respect on a gift card. (Laughter.)
MORE
-2-
I am delighted to be here to honor this year's winners
of the National Medal of the Arts and the Charles Frankel Prize --
men and women whose achievements represent the enduring power of the
arts and humanities and, in a larger sense, of the creative spirit in
all of our lives.
Throughout history, the arts and humanities have been
the cultural signature of this great nation They have enabled
Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life to gain a deeper
appreciation of who they are as individuals and who we all are as a
society, stirring our minds and our senses, stimulating learning and
collective discourse, the arts and humanities teach us in ways that
nothing else can about the vastness and the depth of human
experience. They are our great equalizers. We inherit them, and we
can all participate in them.
Whether or not one plays an instrument, reads poetry,
learns to pirouette, or spends hours alone in a local art gallery, we
all have the capacity to be moved by a song, a poem, a story, a
dance, a painting. We can feel our spirit soar when we see an
intriguing film, or the sudden illumination of a new idea, or an old
idea put in a new way.
At a time when our society faces new and profound
challenges, at a time when we are losing so many of our children, at
a time when so many of our people feel insecure in the face of
change, the arts and humanities must remain a vital part of our lives
-- as individuals and as a nation.
For 200 years, the freedom of our artistic and
intellectual imagination has contributed to the quality of our civic
life. It has helped to shape American ideas of democracy, of
pluralism, of tolerance. Three decades ago, President Kennedy said
this: "There's a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to
feel, between achievement and public life, and progress in the arts."
The Jeffersonian era gave birth not only to the Declaration of
Independence, but also to beautiful Monticello. The age of Lincoln
produced the Emancipation Proclamation, along with the Hudson River
School of Painting and the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry
David Thoreau and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The first half of this century gave us universal
suffrage and the empowerment of American workers, as well as Charlie
Chaplin, Frank Lloyd Wright, William Faulkner, Marian Anderson and
Duke Ellington.
The same unbridled energy and potent imagination that
took Americans to the moon inspired rock and roll, Motown, modern
dance and a new emphasis on civil and human rights.
MORE
-3-
+
Those of you gathered with us today are reminders that
the human imagination is still the most powerful tool we have in
moving forward as a civilization. You provoke our minds, you enliven
our senses, endow our souls, help us to give our lives meaning.
That's why public support for the arts and humanities remains
essential today and for generations to come. (Applause.)
Today, we are indeed fortunate to have inspiring new
leaders working in government to expand our artistic and humanistic
endeavors, to carry on our heritage to future generations. I'm very
proud of the work and the life that Sheldon Hackney and that Jane
Alexander have lived before they came to this work. I thank them for
their work here. And I tell you that we welcome all of you to give
us your ideas, your suggestions and your energy as we try to move
forward together.
Now it is a privilege to call forward the following
recipients of the National Medal of Arts.
First, the contributions of Walter and Leonore Annenberg
to American culture can literally not be overstated. The Annenbergs
have enriched our appreciation of the arts through public service,
publishing, and as board members of major arts institutions. They
have given generously of their time and their money. And they
provided among other things the magnificent portrait of Benjamin
Franklin, which hangs in the Green Room at the White House -- one of
the most prized possessions of this, your American home. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
The legendary vocalist and bandleader Cab Calloway has
had indeed a remarkable career -- one of the originators of American
jazz. An enduring figure in popular music, Cab Calloway added "Hi-
dee-ho" and the "scat" sound to our musical vocabulary.
And for those of us who have lived a while, we can enjoy
seeing the brightness of his smile in our memories going back for
decades. He is an American original, and I am deeply honored that
he's here with us today. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
MR. CALLOWAY: Hi-dee-ho! (Applause.) Thank you very,
very much. This comes on a very, very beautiful day for me. This is
my 49th wedding anniversary. (Applause.) My wife is here --.
(Applause.)
Literally for decades, Ray Charles has been one of
America's favorite singers. From his roots in Georgia, he became one
of the first great truly American singers, one of the first to
combine the dynamic energy of gospel music with rhythm and blues.
His songs are indelibly etched in the hearts of millions of
Americans.
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I can tell you that it's a particular honor for me to
give him this award today, because I suppose no singer ever had a
bigger impact on my musical life than Ray Charles. I still remember
over there in Constitution Hall a concert I attended on June the
24th, 1967. I was notable for being one of a few members of my race
in the audience. And Ray Charles electrified that crowd so much that
that night, I literally could not go to sleep until 5 a.m. in the
morning -- I went out and ran three miles to get the energy out. And
I still remember to this day the date of the concert. That is
testament to the enduring impact of this phenomenal American
original. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Our next honoree, I believe, is part of the only
brother-sister team ever to receive this great award. Bess Lomax
Hawes has played a major role in the American folk movement since the
1940s as a singer, a teacher, a composer, an author of articles and
books that help bring the folk arts into the lives of countless
Americans. At a time when our native folk arts are largely lost to
millions of our younger people, she has performed an invaluable
service to our nation in helping us to remember who we are and how we
got here. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
You know what she said? She said, I wish all the
beautiful artists I've recorded and seen across the years in this
country were here to receive this award for me. They were the
inspiration for what I did. Thank you. (Applause.)
Poet and educator, Stanley Kunitz has spent a life
opening America's eyes and ears to poetry. He makes the ordinary
become extraordinary, the everyday become timeless and significant.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1959, and his works
grace us still.
Welcome, Stanley Kunitz. (Applause.)
Robert Merrill has been acclaimed by critics as one of
the great natural baritones of the century. He's appeared in 787
performances at the Metropolitan Opera over a 31-year operatic
career. He's also sung on Broadway and many solo recitals and on
television. And all of us who have ever heard him sing wish, as I
tried to persuade him to do today, that this would be the 787th
performance. (Laughter.) He turned me down, but I still think we
should give him the medal.
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Mr. Robert Merrill. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Arthur Miller has given our nation some of the finest
plays of this century. His character, Willy Loman in "Death of a
Salesman," caught the public's imagination by conveying the tension
and drama of a common man's life. In "The Crucible," he focused on
issues of conscience by probing the Salem witch trials of the late
17th century. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949. The
thing that has always impressed me about him was the continuing
energy he has brought to his work over such a long period of time,
seeming forever young with something always new to say. Please
welcome Arthur Miller. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Robert Rauschenberg is one of America's most innovative
artists whose remarkable works have been displayed in museums and
galleries around the world, and who has really helped to transform
our notions of contemporary art. Modern art is often inaccessible to
a lot of people who don't go to art galleries and often don't
understand it. I have personally been impressed by how many people I
know who don't count themselves as connoisseurs, who have seen and
been moved by the works of our next honoree, Robert Rauschenberg.
(Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
He's also a pretty good comic. I said it's great to see
you here today. He said, oh, I'll show up for this anytime.
(Laughter.)
Lloyd Richards has devoted his career to promoting
theater in America. As Dean of the Yale School of Drama and Artistic
Director of the Yale Repertory Theater, he has trained some our
nation's finest young talents, many of whom have turned into our
finest, not so young talents, helping to make for him a remarkable
legacy for which we are all grateful, Lloyd Richards. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Well, I got another little lesson in humility back
there. He said, you both have said some nice things today; and then
he looked at me and he said, and you did something for stand-up
comedy also. (Laughter.) And then he said, well, at least you
didn't set it back. (Laughter.)
William Styron's haunting works, including "Lie Down in
Darkness," "The Confessions of Nat Turner," and "Sophie's Choice"
capture our history and character with a passion and insight few
others have ever achieved. His compelling prose as a fiction writer
and essayist has won him readers around the world -- those of us who
anxiously await each new word.
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I can tell you that as a young southerner, the impact of
"The Confessions of Nat Turner" on me was truly stunning. And I can
say that for a whole generation of us who had never quite found words
to give expression to many of the things we had imagined until we
read the works of William Styron. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Paul Taylor has been one of our nation's preeminent
dancers and choreographers for more than three decades. And I might
say, he looks as if he could outdance most of us in this country
still today. His more than 80 works explore the richness, the
complexity of the American character, and graphically demonstrate. the
deep undercurrents of human relations in a way few other
choreographers have ever been able to do. Please join me in
welcoming Paul Taylor. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Since coming to this country in the 1930s, Billy Wilder
has helped to transform the American motion picture industry. As a
writer, director and producer, his name attached to many classics of
American film. He's won six Academy Awards and millions of fans.
And, perhaps most important, he's given us a lot of moving movie
moments. If you've never laughed at a funny Billy Wilder picture,
you have never laughed. (Laughter.) Mr. Billy Wilder. (Applause.)
(Medal is presented.)
Now, it is my great honor to introduce the winners of
the Charles Frankel Prize. Ricardo E. Alegria is an historian and
anthropologist who has dedicated his career to the study and public
appreciation of Caribbean culture. I'm glad to see so many of his
supporters from his native Puerto Rico today, and I thank him for
coming this long way to be with us. Mr. Alegria. (Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
In a 50-year career as a writer and a teacher, historian
John Hope Franklin has been a leading scholar of African-American
studies and an active voice in the social transformation of America.
He's won nearly 100 honorary degrees. He's served on the National
Council of Humanities. His writings have illuminated his subject for
a whole generation after generation of young readers. I was once one
of them -- a reader, and young -- reading John Hope Franklin.
And I'd like to say that one of the great moments of our
1992 campaign was when John Hope Franklin came on one of our bus
trips with us; and Al Gore and Tipper and Hillary and I sat and had a
chance to visit with him, and really learn something from a man who
has mastered the mystery of America. John Hope Franklin.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
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Hanna Holborn Gray has had a truly remarkable career.
She served for 15 years as President of the University of Chicago,
where she became a highly visible and widely acclaimed advocate for
higher education. She has been honored for her scholarship, her
words and her work in many ways, especially in receiving the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, our country's highest civilian award.
She deserves greatly the award she receives today. Hanna Gray.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
After a distinguished career as Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Time Incorporated, Andrew Heiskell was appointed
founding chairman of the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities
in 1982. As a leader in promoting the Arts and Humanities, he
energetically, and I echo energetically, persuaded cultural leaders
and business executives to support cultural activities and
institutions. He filled a void in American life at a time when we
need him. And today we thank him for that. Andrew Heiskell.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
There are a lot of funny people. He said, all this and
dinner, too? (Laughter.)
Historian Laurel T. Ulrich has introduced both scholarly
and public audiences to the lives of ordinary people in New England's
past. Her recent book "A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha
Ballard, Based on Her Diary," won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for
History, among other honors.
Now that I have become President, perhaps I can say this
with greater authority than would otherwise be the case -- we often
times tend to see our history too much through the lives and works of
the famous and not enough through the remarkable lives of the people
who are not famous. She has made a truly significant contribution to
our understanding of our roots. And for that we thank her.
(Applause.)
(Award is presented.)
And now I have one last special honor, and that is to
present to Congressman Sidney Yates the Presidential Citizens Medal
for his exemplary deeds of service in the area of arts and
humanities. The last time Congressman Yates was here for an occasion
at the White House, it happened to be on the day he and his wife were
celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary. And today, we honor him
for that many years, and more, of dedication to our common cause.
Congressman Yates, please come forward. (Applause.)
(Medal is awarded.)
Again, let me thank the honorees for being here today,
thank all of you in the audience who have come to support them and to
support the arts.
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