Presidential Documents - GPO€¦ · WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS Published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Reg-ister, National Archives and …

Weekly Compilation of

PresidentialDocuments

Monday, November 29, 1999Volume 35—Number 47Pages 2411–2451

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF

PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

Published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Reg-ister, National Archives and Records Administration, Washing-ton, DC 20408, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Docu-ments contains statements, messages, and other Presidentialmaterials released by the White House during the precedingweek.

The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is pub-lished pursuant to the authority contained in the Federal Reg-ister Act (49 Stat. 500, as amended; 44 U.S.C. Ch. 15), under

regulations prescribed by the Administrative Committee of theFederal Register, approved by the President (37 FR 23607;1 CFR Part 10).

Distribution is made only by the Superintendent of Docu-ments, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents will befurnished by mail to domestic subscribers for $80.00 per year($137.00 for mailing first class) and to foreign subscribers for$93.75 per year, payable to the Superintendent of Documents,Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Thecharge for a single copy is $3.00 ($3.75 for foreign mailing).

There are no restrictions on the republication of materialappearing in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Docu-ments.

Contents

Address and Remarks

See also Meetings With Foreign LeadersBulgaria

People in Sofia—2438State dinner hosted by President Stoyanov

in Sofia—2440Greece, business and community leaders in

Athens—2417Italy, Conference on Progressive Governance

for the 21st Century in Florence—2424,2429, 2431, 2433, 2434

KosovoAmerican troops at Camp Bondsteel—2443,

2445Ganimet Terbeshi Elementary School in

Ferizaj—2441Radio address—2411Thanksgiving turkey presentation ceremony—

2446

Bill Signings

Federal Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act, statement—2423

Interviews With the New Media

Exchanges with reportersBulgaria, Sofia—2436, 2437Rose Garden—2446

News conference with Prime MinisterKonstandinos Simitis of Greece, November20 (No. 184)—2412

Meetings With Foreign Leaders

BulgariaPresident Stoyanov—2436, 2440Prime Minister Kostov—2437

GreecePresident Stephanopoulos—2417Prime Minister Simitis—2412, 2417

Italy, Prime Minister D’Alema—2424, 2429,2434

Proclamations

Thanksgiving Day—2424

Statements by the President

See also Bill SigningsCongressional action on the ‘‘Foster Care

Independence Act of 1999’’—2422National Board for Professional Teaching

Standards, new certified teachersannouncement—2440

Texas A&M University bonfire towertragedy—2411

Uniform crime report, 1999—2436

Supplementary Materials

Acts approved by the President—2450Checklist of White House press releases—

2450Digest of other White House

announcements—2449Nominations submitted to the Senate—2450

Editor’s Note: The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is also available on the Inter-net on the GPO Access service at http://www.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html.

2411

Week Ending Friday, November 26, 1999

Statement on the Texas A&MUniversity Bonfire Tower TragedyNovember 19, 1999

Today I spoke with Dr. Ray Bowen, presi-dent of Texas A&M University, to extend mydeepest sympathies on the tragedy that oc-curred at the campus. This is a heartbreakingloss. America stands with the College Stationcommunity as it joins together during thisdifficult time. Hillary and I offer ourthoughts and prayers to the families andfriends of those who were injured or killedin this devastating incident.

NOTE: This item was not received in time for pub-lication in the appropriate issue.

The President’s Radio AddressNovember 20, 1999

Good morning. I’m speaking to you fromIstanbul, Turkey, where we just wrapped upa successful summit meeting of the Organiza-tion of Security and Cooperation in Europe,one that focused on the global challenges ofthe new century. At the same time, our ad-ministration has also wrapped up our workwith Congress on the first budget of the newcentury.

Today I want to talk to you about whatwe achieved and highlight a little-known ac-complishment that will make a big differenceto people with disabilities who want to bepart of our Nation’s growing economy.

This week’s budget agreement is truly avictory for the American people, a victory forchildren because it invests in world-classeducation that keeps us on the path to hiring100,000 quality teachers to reduce class size.It doubles funds for after-school and summerschool programs, and it provides help forcommunities to turn around failing schoolsor shut them down. It’s a victory for familiesand neighborhoods, because it commits the

resources necessary to begin hiring another50,000 community police officers to keep ourcrime rate, already at a 25-year low, comingdown. It’s a victory for future generations,because it protects the environment and pre-serves more natural areas, and it’s a victoryfor American leadership in the world, be-cause finally, it pays our U.N. dues and main-tains our commitments around the globe topeace in the Middle East, to reducing thenuclear threat and chemical weapons threats,to helping relieve the debt of the world’spoorest nations.

In short, we have delivered a 21st centurybudget that prepares for the future and livesup to our values. It also continues to paydown our national debt, because we walkedaway from that big $792 billion tax cut thatthe Congress passed and I vetoed. So we gotthe best of all worlds.

Perhaps nothing better symbolizes justwhat we were fighting for than the historicprogress made in the budget to open newdoors of opportunity for Americans with dis-abilities.

Now, we’re enjoying one of the strongesteconomies in generations. Yet even today 75percent of Americans with severe disabilitieswho are ready, willing, and able to workaren’t working. One of the biggest reasonsis they fear they’ll lose their health insurancewhen they get a job. And there’s a good rea-son for this fear.

Under current law, many people with dis-abilities are eligible for Medicaid or Medi-care coverage. But they can’t go to work andkeep that coverage. Yet when they do go towork, they can’t get private insurance be-cause of their disability. So there is a tremen-dous disincentive to work. Let me just giveyou one example.

I met a man in New Hampshire not longago who is paralyzed as a result of an acci-dent. He wanted to take a job that paid$28,000 a year, but he would have lost hisMedicaid health coverage, which would have

2412 Nov. 20 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999

led to medical expenses of $40,000 a year.Now, the taxpayers would actually be betteroff. We’re going to pay the medical expensesone way or the other, but if he went to work,he’d become a taxpaying citizen. And, moreimportant, he would have the dignity of work.No citizen should have to choose betweengoing to work and paying medical bills.

I’m very proud this week that Congress,on a bipartisan basis, finally agreed on thehistoric ‘‘Work Incentives ImprovementAct.’’ It’s bipartisan legislation to allow peo-ple with disabilities to keep their health careon the job. They can earn a salary, pay taxes,and be role models by proving what peoplecan do if given a chance to live up to theirGod-given potential.

This will make a real difference, also, forpeople with potentially severe disabilities—those who are facing the early onset ofdiseases like AIDS, muscular dystrophy,Parkinson’s, or diabetes. Right now they maybe able to work, but their conditions aren’tdeemed severe enough to qualify for Med-icaid. Yet because they have them, they stillcan’t get private health insurance. In otherwords, they can’t get any health care untilthey’re too sick to work.

In the final hours of negotiations, we wereable to further strengthen this legislation bygetting $250 million for a demonstration pro-gram to allow these Americans to buy intoMedicaid, stay on the job, and stay healthierlonger. I encourage all the States to take ad-vantage of these new health care options.

Taken together, this initiative is the mostsignificant advancement for people with dis-abilities since the passage of the Americanswith Disabilities Act almost a decade ago. Itis part of our administration’s 7-year commit-ment to tearing down barriers to work andrewarding responsibility. Along with reform-ing welfare, increasing the minimum wage,increasing child care assistance, and doublingthe earned-income tax credit, the ‘‘Work In-centives Improvement Act’’ is another mile-stone on the path to opening work and re-warding responsibility for Americans.

Now, I hope we’ll stay on that course andtake on America’s still-unfinished agenda:commonsense gun safety legislation, a realPatients’ Bill of Rights, meaningful hatecrimes legislation, saving Social Security, re-

forming Medicare, adding prescription drugcoverage, raising the minimum wage.

To Congress I say, we’ve done a good jobfor the American people by working to-gether. Let’s keep working together, build onour progress, and get the right things donefor the American people.

Thanks for listening.

NOTE: The address was recorded at 12:41 p.m.on November 19 in the Perge Room at the ConradHotel in Istanbul, Turkey, for broadcast at 10:06a.m. on November 20. The transcript was madeavailable by the Office of the Press Secretary onNovember 19 but was embargoed for release untilthe broadcast.

The President’s News ConferenceWith Prime Minister KonstandinosSimitis of Greece in AthensNovember 20, 1999

Prime Minister Simitis. Ladies and gen-tlemen, with very special pleasure, the GreekGovernment and the Greek people and I,personally, are welcoming President Clintonand the American delegation. This visit isconfirming the historic friendship relationsbetween the two countries and between ourtwo people, a relationship that has been keptalive by the Greeks who have lived and arestill living creatively in the United States, bythe common struggles in other times, by ourclose relationship and partnership within theNorth Atlantic Alliance, political solidarity,and cooperation, our cooperation for ourcommon goals.

With President Clinton, we had a veryfriendly, open, and free discussion. Duringour talks we covered all issues, those whichunder the present situation have a certain im-portance from our country, for going fromGreek-American relations to developmentsin the Balkans, Greek-Turkish relations, andthe Cyprus issue. We agreed, as regardsGreek-American relations, that there is stillconsiderable margin for the improvement ofthe cooperation between the two countries.

Greece, thanks to its economic renewalthese last few years, provides new major op-portunities for investments, trade relations,relations in the field of technology, and otherareas. For the Balkans, our conviction is that

2413Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999 / Nov. 20

the present situation entails certain risks. Sta-bility is necessary in the region, respect ofexisting borders, and the strengthening of ini-tiatives for the reconstruction of the region,and above all, the implementation of the Sta-bility Pact.

As regards relations with neighboring Tur-key, we have emphasized the need of deserv-ing international law and international trea-ties and conventions. Rapprochement, stepstowards rapprochement have been made re-cently. We believe that the most substantialanswer is required on the part of Turkey tothe initiatives of the Greek side.

We have agreed that Turkey’s Europeanperspective will help establish closer linksbased on peaceful development and coopera-tion. However, its candidature could not beaccepted unless certain conditions are metfor the settlement of existing problems. Asregards the Cyprus issue, we have agreedthat talks that have just started should be sub-stantive in order to lead to the settlementof this issue.

The talks with the United States politicalleadership are, of course, self-understood.We have had a very interesting exchange ofviews, as I said, on all important issues forus. And we have also ascertained the friendlyrelations between the American and theGreek people, the close ties, not only at apolitical and economic levels but also at thelevels of styles and culture where we believeour relations and cooperation should be ex-tended. The friendship between our two peo-ples is confirmed by the substantial presenceand role of a Greek community in the UnitedStates; successfully, it is making full use ofall its rights as an American citizen.

Greece is a pole of democracy, politicalstability, social and political cohesion in thewider region. Its potential is much greatercompared to the size of the country and itspopulation. We have established that it is inthe interest of both countries for our co-operation to safeguard and promote peacedevelopment and a network of relations inthe region that would minimize tension, andthis is why we will pursue and strengthenour cooperation with the United States.

This visit does not just confirm the pastbut also constitutes a guarantee for the futurewhere, together, we can respond to the new

challenges, the new challenges of a new era,of a new reality that is taking shape at theend of this century based on mutual under-standing, equal cooperation, common re-solve, and determination to face problems to-gether, provide new answers, build on thevalues of democracy, freedom shared by ourpeople, which are defended by our people,the values that we want to promote.

President Clinton. First of all, PrimeMinister, let me thank you and the membersof your government for the very good meet-ing that we had today. I think the Prime Min-ister has summarized the results of our meet-ing quite well. I would like to add just a fewwords.

First, the Greek relationship is profoundlyimportant to me and to the United Statesbecause of the values and history we share;because of the large role Greek-Americansplay in our national life, as the Prime Min-ister said. But also because of two historictransformations that have occurred in the lastdecade.

The first is the transformation of southeastEurope from a battleground between Eastand West to a proving ground for democracyand tolerance in the post-cold-war world.The second is the remarkable transformationof Greece itself into a regional leader witha booming economy, a vibrant democracy,with the ability to help to pull its neighborstogether and push them forward into 21stcentury Europe.

We spoke a lot today about the role Greeceis playing in the Balkans, with its troops inBosnia and Kosovo, with its support for eco-nomic development and reconstruction, withits private sector investment. Greece is car-rying a heavier burden in this region thanalmost any other country, but the potentialpayoff is very large: an undivided, democraticEurope, in which wars like those we’ve seenin the former Yugoslavia no longer happen.And I want to pay a tribute to the PrimeMinister and the people of Greece for allthey are doing in the Balkans and pledge mysupport for the Stability Pact and the eco-nomic growth necessary for this to work.

Of course, we also spoke about the roadto reconciliation and lasting peace betweenGreece and Turkey and the issues in the Ae-gean and, of course, Cyprus. I told the Prime


Minister how pleased I am that the partiesin Cyprus have agreed to start these prox-imity talks on December 3d in New York,and how determined I am that they be seri-ous talks. The goal is to lay the foundationfor meaningful negotiations toward a com-prehensive settlement. We should have noillusions; there’s a tough road ahead. But wewill work closely with Secretary-GeneralAnnan to ensure that the talks are produc-tive.

We talked about our growing trade andinvestment, about how we can strengthen oureconomic relationship further. Greece’s eco-nomic renewal has made it one of the mostattractive places in Europe in which to dobusiness. I am very pleased that its progressin improving protection for intellectual prop-erty rights makes it possible to move rapidlytoward settling our copyright case in theWTO.

Finally, let me just express the great sym-pathy and support of the American peopleto all those who lost their loved ones in thetragic earthquake last August. We will notforget the heroism of the Greek emergencyteams who pulled survivors from the rubble,not only here in Athens but also across theAegean in Turkey. I am very glad that ourown Federal Emergency Management Agen-cy has agreed with its Greek counterparts towork together to strengthen their prepared-ness for future disasters.

Let me say in closing, I am satisfied withthe work we advanced today. We look to, asI said last night, we look to ancient Greecefor inspiration but to modern Greece forleadership and for partnership. After thisvisit, I believe we have strengthened thatpartnership.

Thank you very much.

Turkey’s Candidacy for European UnionMembership

Q. From what we know, you did ask whileyou were in Turkey for some specific moveby Ankara that would match the movesGreece has done in order, also, to make hercandidacy for the European Union easier. Doyou have anything concrete on that?

President Clinton. Well, I didn’t thinkthat was my role. Let me tell you what I diddo. I spoke both at every opportunity, pub-

licly and privately, before the Turkish Assem-bly, before the business group, before thegroup of earthquake survivors, and in all myprivate meetings about the importance of re-solving outstanding issues between Greeceand Turkey, including Cyprus.

I specifically asked that the Halki seminarybe reopened. I have pushed a lot of issues.And I came away believing that in the nextfew months, as all these issues are bubblingup—the start of the proximity talks, the de-bate over whether Turkey should be givencandidacy status in the EU at Helsinki, andthe continuing bilateral talks betweenGreece and Turkey—which I applaud thePrime Minister’s government for his leader-ship in—that there will be an opportunity toresolve a large number of these issues.

I hope that my trip there was constructivein that regard. I believe it was. But I wouldnot expect the Turkish leaders to let me bethe conduit of their ultimate resolution ofthis. I think that I helped to improve the cli-mate, and I dealt with a lot of the specificissues, and I feel good about that.

Prime Minister Simitis. Let me add twowords for my part. During the meeting aheadwith Mr. Ecevit and during Mr.Papandreou’s meeting with Mr. Cem, weemphasized the need of certain movementsand initiatives on the part of Turkey. AndI believe that President Clinton’s visit wasimportant because he referred to that ques-tion, and it has helped, as well as the talkswe had with the Turkish side on increasingawareness on the part of Turkey that thingsare not that easy. We cannot just expect forsomething to happen without doing or con-tributing anything for our part. You helpyourself, and God will help you, as we say.We have to do something for our part, aswell.

Greek Protests of President’s VisitQ. Sir, the demonstrations last night in-

cluded extensive arson and damage. I wantto know if you’re concerned by the protests,and what you say to the Greeks who opposeyour visit here?

President Clinton. What was the last partof your question?

Q. What’s your message to the Greeks whoare protesting, who oppose your visit here?


President Clinton. Well, first of all, Ithink that we have to—especially inGreece—reaffirm the right of people to pro-test in a democracy. Secondly, I strongly be-lieve the protests should be peaceful, andtherefore, I deeply regret the Greeks whohad their property injured and who sufferedlosses through these demonstrations.

But I think that the important thing is thatwe reaffirm the value of the relationship be-tween our two countries. I think that—Iknow most Americans deeply value the rela-tionship with Greece, notwithstanding thefact that almost all of the people of Greecedisagree with our policy in Kosovo and, be-fore that, in Bosnia. I believe I did the rightthing, and I think most Americans believethat we did the right thing to stand againstethnic cleansing.

But that doesn’t affect our affection forand our support for the people of Greeceand the Government of Greece. And I wouldhope that most Greek citizens would, like theGreek Government, believe that there isvalue in our relationship and our partnership;and that even if we have a disagreement, wecan’t allow that to undermine our relation-ship or our partnership.

I would just say, looking toward the future,I, personally, admire very much and supportvery strongly the leadership that Greece isexercising in the U.N. operations in Bosniaand in Kosovo and generally in the Balkansand throughout southeastern Europe. And Ibelieve that if we can, the rest of us, do ourpart to help the economy grow there and pro-vide a magnet that enables these nations topull together, that Greece will lead them intoa very different future in the new century.

Prime Minister Simitis. May I alsopoint—Greece is a country, a democraticcountry where everyone can freely expresshis views and opinions. But as we had empha-sized before President Clinton’s arrival, ourConstitution provides that these expressionsof opinions and views should be made in apeaceful way and within the context of legal-ity. And I’m sorry for the fact that certainpeople did not observe and respect this fun-damental principle of law, the fundamentalprinciple that allows our states to operate andfunction.

The friendship, however, between the twopeople and the partnership, our partnershipwith the United States, will not be deter-mined by these protests, but by our commongoals, our common objectives and pursuits,our efforts to handle and face problems to-gether. And the meeting today has shownthat we share common goals and commonpursuits, and we’re trying together. This isthe foundation of a friendship.

Turkey’s Candidacy for European UnionMembership

Q. Mr. President, I followed your trip inAnkara, and you seemed to be mostly thestrongest supporter of Turkey’s candidacy inthe European Union. So do you think thatthe permanent conditionality of Turkey’scandidacy should be, first, the solution of theCyprus problem and, second, the acceptanceof the jurisdiction of Turkey, as far as theCourt of Hague is concerned?

President Clinton. I’m sorry, I’m not sureI understood the question. Could you repeatboth questions again?

Q. Yes, one question actually. You seemto be the strongest supporter of Turkey’s ac-cession in the European Union. So the ques-tion is, do you believe or think that the per-manent conditionality for Turkey’s candidacyin the European Union should be, first, thesolution of the Cyprus problem and, second,the acceptance of the jurisdiction of a HagueCourt from Turkey?

President Clinton. Well, first of all, I be-lieve—I have said this already—I believe thatthe disputes in the Aegean between Greeceand Turkey should be referred to the Inter-national Court of Justice in The Hague orto some other mutually agreed on and gen-erally recognized international dispute reso-lution mechanism. It seems to me that thatis the only way that either side can have aresolution of this without appearing to cavein rather than just to let a neutral party, re-spected, decide it.

Secondly, I strongly support a resolutionof the Cyprus issue. You’re right. I am prob-ably the strongest supporter in the West ofTurkey’s membership in the EU. I think I’vealso been the most vocal consistent supporterfor 7 years of a resolution of Cyprus. I have


worked as hard as I could on it and will con-tinue to do so.

Now, when the parties meet in Helsinki,the members of the European Union—theUnited States is not a member—they will de-cide the conditions of Turkish candidacy if,in fact, they decide to grant Turkey can-didacy.

But let me say, on the larger issue, myfeeling is that the more Turkey is integratedinto Europe and has the kind of dialog thatwe’ve seen recently with Greece, the morethe climate improves, the more you can re-solve these issues, the brighter the future forboth countries will be. And as I told theTurks—I’m not saying anything to you Ididn’t say there—I do not think that brightfuture is achievable until there is a resolutionof the Cyprus issue. These two countriesneed to go hand-in-hand into the future. Andthe festering disputes have to be resolved inorder for that to happen.

Prime Minister Simitis. As I have indi-cated already, the Greek Government and I,personally, had a series of contacts. I havemet and talked with all the Prime Ministersof the European Union member states onthat issue. I have talked with them in orderto determine what would be the best waythat would allow us to overcome problemsin the future. It would be counterproductive,I believe, if today, whilst these talks are ongo-ing, we were to focus on one or the otherpoint or issue. This would not facilitate thediscussion.

I believe that in the future the time willcome for us to determine all these aspects.But at present, restriction to one or two orthree issues is not helpful. We must have aglobal approach and look at the final aim ofthis overall effort.

Thank you.

U.S. Trade Policy and Gov. George W.Bush of Texas

Q. Mr. President, yesterday George W.Bush laid out his foreign policy priorities.Specifically on China and Russia, he said theyshould be viewed as competitors of theUnited States rather than as strategic part-ners. I’m wondering what your view is onthat, and also, do you feel reassured that he

has a view of the world that would make himan effective President?

President Clinton. You know, you guyskeep trying to get me into this election. Iam not a candidate. I’m not always happyabout that, but I’m not.

Let me say this. I think we did the rightthing to negotiate the WTO agreement withChina, and apparently, Governor Bushagrees with that. I think that, as with all greatcountries, we are both competitors and part-ners. I think there is a problem with charac-terizing a country as a competitor if thatmeans we know for sure that for the next20 years there will be an adversary relation-ship.

We will have certain interests in commonwith China; we will have certain things wedisagree with. We will support a lot of theirdomestic developments. We still have greattrouble when people—free speech or reli-gious rights are restrained.

With regard to Russia, we have a dif-ference, as you know, and the OSCE con-ference made clear over the present policyin Chechnya, but we have a common interestin working together where we can. We haveserved side by side with Russian soldiers inthe Balkans; we have seen the Russians with-draw their troops from the Baltics; we haveseen a dramatic reduction in the nuclear ca-pacity, the nuclear threat there. The Con-gress just gave us the funds to continue toreduce the nuclear threat with Russia. Andwe have worked with them on economic re-form.

So I would say that in both cases therewill be instances of competition, instances ofpartnership. But what we should be lookingfor is a world in which nations, including verylarge nations, define their greatness by theachievements of their people and by theirability to profit in their relations with othernations by bringing out the best in them, in-stead of by the traditional 19th and 20th cen-tury great power politics terms of definingtheir greatness in terms of their ability todominate their neighbors or coerce certainpeople into certain kinds of behavior.

So I think we have to imagine—I have awhole different view of this—we shouldimagine what would we like the world to looklike 50 year from now; what major countries


will have an impact on that; how will we com-pete with them; how will we cooperate withthem; what can we do that will most likelycreate the world we want for our grand-children? That’s the way I look at this. SoI don’t have an either/or view of Russia orChina. I have a both view, I suppose.

Prime Minister Simitis. May I make aphilosophical comment on this? We shouldnot be afraid of competitors. We should beafraid of ourselves when we are afraid of oth-ers.

NOTE: The President’s 184th news conferencebegan at 1:20 p.m. in the Foyer at MegaronMaximou. In his remarks, the President referredto United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.Prime Minister Simitis referred to Prime MinisterBulent Ecevit and Minister of Foreign AffairsIsmail Cem of Turkey; and Minister of ForeignAffairs Yeoryios Papandreou of Greece. PrimeMinister Simitis spoke in Greek, and his remarkswere translated by an interpreter.

Remarks to Business and CommunityLeaders in AthensNovember 20, 1999

President Stephanopoulos; Prime MinisterSimitis, thank you for that fine speech. Mrs.Simitis, Mr. Mayor, ministers of the govern-ment, members of the opposition, to all theleaders of the church who are here, the deanof the diplomatic corps, distinguished citi-zens of Greece, it is a great honor for allof us to be here—my wife and daughter, theSecretary of State, members of the WhiteHouse, two Members of the United StatesCongress, Representatives Kingston andMaloney.

And I should say that, as I did last nightat the state dinner, I have in my entouragehere, ample evidence of the ties between ourtwo countries. Not only the vast array ofGreek-American business people who havemade this trip either to hold my hand ormake sure I made no critical error—[laugh-ter]—but also a group of people who haveserved me so well in the White House, begin-ning with my Chief of Staff, John Podesta,my speechwriter, Paul Glastris, who helpedto prepare these remarks today; ElaineShocas, and Lisa Kountoupes—those are justfour of the many Greek-Americans who have

worked for me in the White House, and asI have often said, the Greek-American com-munity has been overrepresented in theClinton administration, and America is betterfor it.

Early this morning, in the wind and therain, I had the privilege of visiting the Acrop-olis. I was filled with a unique sense of awebut also familiarity, perhaps because the set-ting has been described to me so often andso glowingly by my Greek-American friends;perhaps because I studied the history of Ath-ens and read Plato and Aristotle as a youngman; perhaps because America has been soinspired and influenced by the ancientGreeks in everything from politics and phi-losophy to architecture.

For whatever reason, standing there in therain on the Acropolis this morning, I waseven more grateful for the deep ties of his-tory, kinship, and values that bind Americaand other freedom-loving nations to Greece,ties that prove the truth of Shelley’s famousline, Eimaste olee Ellines, ‘‘We are allGreeks.’’ We are all Greeks, not because ofmonuments and memories but because whatbegan here 21⁄2 thousand years ago has atlast, after all the bloody struggles of the 20thcentury, been embraced all around theworld.

Today, for the first time in human history,more than half the world’s people live undergovernments of their own choosing. Yet, de-mocracy still remains a truly revolutionaryidea; people still fight and die for it, fromAfrica to Asia to Europe. Its advance is stillthe key to building a better global societyin this most modern of ages.

Another great civic virtue has its roots herein Athens—openness to the cultural dif-ferences among us that make life more inter-esting. In Thucydides’ account of his famousfuneral oration, Pericles declares, ‘‘We layAthens open to all and at no time evict orkeep the stranger away.’’ Two and a halfthousand years later Greece is still open tothe world, and we pray that everywhere inthe world someday everyone will say, ‘‘Wedo not keep the stranger away.’’

Meanwhile, as all of you know, Greekshave made their way into every corner of theworld, and wherever they go, they adapt tolocal culture yet retain immense pride in


their traditions, their religion, their Hellenicidentity. No nation has been more blessedby this phenomenon than the United States,with its vital and successful Greek-Americancommunity. This is true in ways large andsmall. Last night at the state dinner I hadthe opportunity to acknowledge the contribu-tions of some of the most famous Greek-Americans, those who achieved wealth andfame and power and influence.

But what I want to say today is that I ameven more grateful that Greek-Americanshave enriched every single part and every sin-gle person in America. As a boy growing upin a small town in Arkansas, my very favoriteplace to eat with my father was the PappasBrothers Cafe; and very best friend for 45years was a man named David Leopouloswho, after 45 years, still every single weeksends me an E-mail about Greece and Greekissues to make sure I don’t stray too far fromthe fold.

The Prime Minister talked about the mod-ern world in which we are living. I think itquite ironic that in this era of global marketsand modern wonders, when more than halfthe world’s people live in democracies for thefirst time in history, the world is still bedev-iled by the oldest of human evils—the fearof the other, those who are different fromus.

The clearest manifestation in moderntimes is the ethnic and religious hatred wesee rampant, from Northern Ireland to theMiddle East to the tribal wars in Africa tothe Balkans. How much of our history hasbeen shaped by the struggle between thosewho accept with self-confidence the inter-esting differences among people becausethey are strong enough to affirm the commonhumanity, which is more important, andthose who live their lives in constant fear orloathing of those who are different?

My wife had, a few weeks ago, to theWhite House two brilliant men for a con-versation. One of them was one of the found-ers of the Internet, the other is one of themost distinguished American scholars of thestudy of the human genome, the gene struc-ture. The biologist said nothing could havebeen discovered about the structure of thegene without the computer revolution; butthat all this high technology had revealed an

interesting fact, that all of us, all humanbeings, genetically are 99.9 percent the same,and furthermore, that if you take differentgroups of people—let’s take the three mostprominently here discussed, the Greeks, theTurks, the Irish—me. [Laughter] And if youput 100 Greeks, 100 Turks, and 100 Irishin 3 different groups, the genetic differencesamong the individuals within each groupwould be greater than the genetic profile be-tween the Greeks or the Turks or the Irish.

Isn’t it interesting how many bodies havebeen piled up over human history becauseof that one-tenth of one percent difference,when we should have been embracing allalong the 99.9 percent. Whether we takemaximum advantage of the unparalleledpromise of the new millennium depends inno small measure on whether we can finda way to get beyond that one-tenth of 1 per-cent difference to the common humanity thatunites us all.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what unitesGreeks and Americans. In 1821, when theGreeks rose to reassert their liberty, theycaptured the imagination of Americans.Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Greek patriotand scholar Adamandios Korais these words:‘‘No people sympathize more freely than ourswith the sufferings of your countrymen.None offer more sincere and ardent prayersto heaven for their success.’’

Of course, we were still a young countrythen, preoccupied with our own experimentin democracy, reluctant to involve ourselvesin distant, dangerous struggles. But thou-sands of ordinary Americans way back in1821 sent money and supplies to Greece. Afew actually sailed here and joined the free-dom fighters, men like the brave Boston doc-tor Samuel Gridley Howe and a black formerslave from Baltimore, Maryland, namedJames Williams. Over a century later, whenfascism seemed ready to crush the last em-bers of freedom in Europe, it was Greecewhich said no and handed the Axis powerstheir very first major defeat in battle. Amer-ica joined with Greece and the Allies andtogether, we won a mighty victory.

Twice since World War II, battles betweendemocracy and despotism have again beenplayed out on Greek soil; each time—thankGod—democracy emerged victorious. I have


been thinking about that history today againin both its painful as well as its proud aspects.When the junta took over in 1967 here, theUnited States allowed its interests in pros-ecuting the cold war to prevail over its inter-ests—I should say, its obligation to supportdemocracy, which was, after all, the causefor which we fought the cold war. It is impor-tant that we acknowledge that.

When we think about the history ofGreece and the history of the United States,all the troubled ups and downs just of thelast 50 years, it is easy to understand whysome of those people who have dem-onstrated in the last few days have done soand easy to understand the source of theirpassion. I can be glad as an American andas a free human being that they have thefundamental right to say their piece. If thepeople of every country, in the Balkans forexample, had the institutions and habits ofdemocracy, if they, too, could proudly ex-press and settle their differences peacefullyand proudly and democratically, if the funda-mental human rights of all those people wererespected, there might not have been a warover Bosnia or Kosovo.

I’ve been thinking about all this because,of all the people in the world, surely theGreeks know best that history matters. Wecannot understand the present unless weknow history. On the other hand, we cannotmove into the future if we are paralyzed byhistory.

In this era of historic sweeping change, wecannot afford paralysis. That was implicit inthe Prime Minister’s remarks. Surely, theGreeks demonstrate this every day as youbuild a bustling modern economy with abooming stock market and one of the fastestgrowth rates in Europe, on the verge of join-ing the EMU. If there were Olympic goldmedals for economic revival, Greece wouldsurely get the very first one.

American companies and investors are tak-ing notice that Greece clearly is on the righteconomic path. I believe we can do better,and so in the presence of all these businessleaders today, I would like to make threemodest proposals. First, I think we shoulddouble trade between our two countries inthe next 5 years. Second, I ask Greek andAmerican business leaders to match the

money our Government is putting into theFulbright exchange program. And third, I askthat one of these grants honor YannosKranidiotis, the gifted diplomat and formerFulbright scholar. He was a great citizen, agreat friend of the United States, who diedwith his son in a tragic accident while pro-moting peace in the Balkans. His life andwork exemplify the positive, new role Greecehas begun to play in this vital region of Eu-rope.

The whole world is beginning to seeGreece in a new light, no longer as one ofEurope’s poorest nations but as southeastEurope’s wealthiest nation—its beacon ofdemocracy, a regional leader for stability,prosperity, and freedom, helping to completethe democratic revolution that ancientGreece began, our long-held dream of a Eu-rope undivided, free, and at peace for thefirst time in history.

And the remaining challenges to that long-held dream are all at play here in this regionof Europe: the challenge of bringing stability,prosperity, and full democracy to the Bal-kans; the challenge of creating a lasting peacein the Aegean and genuine reconciliation be-tween Greece and Turkey; the challenge ofintegrating a democratic Russia into Europe;the challenge of building bridges betweenand among the world’s three great faithswhich come together in southeastern Eu-rope—Islam and the Eastern and Westernbranches of Christianity.

To finally create that Europe undivided,free, and at peace, we must help this regionmeet five main challenges. The first—and Iwould argue most urgent—is to stabilizeKosovo and the Balkans and build the demo-cratic institutions necessary so that all thepeople of Kosovo can live in safety and free-dom, including the Serbs of Kosovo.

I know there is still much anger and an-guish in Greece about the course of actionNATO took and about the leadership roleof the United States in that action. I do notexpect to change what many here believe.But I must say what I believe. I believe wemade the right decision, because at the endof this tumultuous century, in which so muchblood has been shed, at a moment whenpeace and democracy have triumphed almosteverywhere else in Europe and increasingly


throughout the world, I do not believe wecould have allowed an entire people to beexiled from their homes or extinguished fromthe Earth simply because of their ethnic her-itage or how they worship God. I believe wehad a moral and a strategic obligation to act,and that in acting, we saved thousands oflives and enabled almost a million people togo home.

In Bosnia, where the world showed morereluctance and took 4 years to act, Mr.Milosevic and his allies killed a quarter ofa million people, created 2.5 million refu-gees, and many of them still have not gonehome.

In spite of our differences, I want to thankthe Greek Government for staying with itsNATO Allies during a crisis which was farharder on you than on any other country inour Alliance. I want to thank you for gettingaid to the civilians in Kosovo regardless oftheir ethnic backgrounds while the fightingraged. I want to thank you for committingresources to the reconstruction of Kosovo,just as you have contributed to the rebuildingof Bosnia and Albania.

Our work there is far from over. Togetherwith the U.N., we must continue to buildthe democratic institutions that can providesafety and freedom to all the people ofKosovo. As we do, we can take pride in ourtroops from both countries serving togetherin the same sector to keep the peace holding.

Our second challenge is equally great. Wehave to strengthen the forces of democracyin Serbia and pave the way for Serbia’s even-tual integration into southeastern Europeand the European community as a whole.Greece can lead the revitalization of theeconomy and the political and civic life ofsoutheastern Europe, but the work will neverbe complete until Serbia is a part of the proc-ess.

There is no reason this can not happen.The people of Serbia have a rich and noblehistory, a deep love of freedom, and a rightfulplace in the table of European unity. It isa tragedy they are not sitting at that tablenow, a tragedy that they have suffered andstill suffer from fear and privation, an evengreater tragedy that it might have all beenso very different if not for the choices madeby Mr. Milosevic. We may disagree about the

best way to have responded to the action ofthis now indicted war criminal, but surely wecan agree that the people of Serbia deservebetter than to be suffering under the last liv-ing relic of Europe’s dictatorial past.

That is why the international communitymust maintain pressure on Mr. Milosevic’sregime, while also aiding the democratic as-pirations of the Serbian people; why Americahas invested nearly $12 million since July topromote a free press, independent laborunions, a pro-democracy network of non-governmental organizations in Serbia, on topof the $25 million we have devoted to hu-manitarian aid there. It is why we supportthe Serbian democratic opposition’s call forearly, fair, and free elections, and why wesupport lifting entirely the fuel oil embargoand flight ban on Serbia as soon as those freeand fair elections are held.

The third challenge we face together increating a stable, prosperous, and free south-east Europe is to help every nation in theregion build the institutions that make mod-ern democracy thrive. As the only memberboth of NATO and the EU in southeasternEurope, Greece is helping to guide this trulyhistoric transformation. The Greek militaryis laying the foundations for peace throughits role in southeastern Europe’s multi-national peacekeeping force and throughNATO’s Partnership For Peace. Greek com-panies are investing in the Balkans, creatingjobs and higher living standards, and the restof us must follow your lead.

The Greek Government is leading thetransformation of the region’s economy,committing $320 million for reconstructionof southeastern Europe, and the rest of usmust follow your lead if the Stability Pactis to have true meaning.

You are breaking down barriers to tradeand transportation through the SoutheasternEurope Cooperation Initiative and providingcrucial seed capital through the Black SeaTrade and Development Bank. Thessalonikiis a city long known for its beauty and history.Now is it becoming known as the commercialhub of the Balkans. I am pleased that nextmonth our Government will open inThessaloniki our office for Balkan recon-struction. I have also asked the U.S.-Greece


Business Council to undertake an investmentmission to the Balkans.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that ourtwo Governments will fulfill a dream ofPrime Minister Simitis by giving Greek andAmerican companies a chance to jointlyapply their technical knowledge to the re-gion’s challenges, from cleaning up pollutionon the Danube to wiring Balkan villages forthe Internet.

Our fourth challenge is to build a genuinereconciliation between Greece and Turkey.I know how much history lies behind thattroubled relationship, but people in both na-tions are beginning to see the possibilities offorging a new and better future. The worldwill never forget the humanity Greeks andTurks displayed toward one another whenthe tragic earthquake struck you both in Au-gust and then in Turkey again last week.

But this is more than just seismic diplo-macy. For several months, Foreign MinistersPapandreou and Cem have been holding adialog on trade, tourism, and the environ-ment. Prime Ministers Simitis and Ecevithad an important meeting just 2 days ago.Greek and Turkish troops in NATO havejoined together in a southeast Europe peace-keeping brigade. You are serving togethernow in Kosovo. Greece has taken bold steps.In many ways, these steps have been harderfor Greece than for Turkey, but both sidesare now showing the vision necessary tomove forward.

I believe it is very much in your interestto see Turkey become a candidate for mem-bership in the European Union, for that willreinforce Turkey’s secular, democratic, mod-ernizing path, showing Turkey how much ithas to gain by making progress on issues likeCyprus and the Aegean matters. It will proveto Turkey that there is a place in Europefor a predominantly Muslim country as longas it respects the rights of its people—all itspeople—and advances the cause of peace.For many of these same reasons, we in theUnited States have also strongly supportedthe EU’s decision to start accession talks withCyprus.

Now, I know that many Greeks are anxiousthat if Turkey becomes a candidate for mem-bership, the momentum in improving its re-lationship with Greece and actually solving

these problems will slow. Having just spokenwith President Demirel and Prime MinisterEcevit, I do not believe that will happen. ButI can tell you this, I will do everything inmy power to encourage both countries tocontinue building on the progress you havemade.

I am going to keep working hard to pro-mote a just and lasting settlement in Cyprus.I am very pleased that last Sunday the partiesin Cyprus accepted Secretary-GeneralAnnan’s invitation to start proximity talks, toprepare the ground for meaningful negotia-tions that will lead to a comprehensive settle-ment of the Cyprus problem. I hope thesetalks will bring us a step closer to lastingpeace. I will keep pressing for a settlementthat meets the fundamental interests of theparties, including real security for all Cyp-riots and an end to the island’s division.

The status quo is unacceptable. I will sayhere only what I said in Turkey at everyturn—before the Turkish National Assembly,before the business group, before earthquakesurvivors, and in every private meeting—Ithink it is very good for the future of theworld for Turkey to be integrated into Eu-rope. But Turkey cannot be fully integratedsuccessfully into Europe without solving itsdifficulties with Greece. We must put thesebehind us.

Our fifth and final challenge is to renewthe old and profoundly important partner-ship between our two countries and our twopeoples. We should promote more tourism,more cultural exchanges. We should con-tinue in the United States to supply ourNATO Ally, Greece, with advanced weap-onry. We should be working together to fightglobal threats that know no borders, includ-ing the scourge of terrorism. Terrorists havestruck within the borders of the UnitedStates; they have struck here claiming Amer-ican and Greek lives. The American peopleand the Greek people deserve justice and thestrongest possible efforts by our Govern-ments to end this menace. I am grateful thatwe are working more closely to do just that.

Let me say to you that as I have traveledthis region, first in Turkey and now here inGreece, it is impossible for me, as it wouldbe for anyone, not to feel the weight of his-tory on the decisions all of you face today.


We are human. We can never wholly forgetthe injustices done to us, nor can we everescape reminders of the mistakes we, our-selves, have made. But it is possible to beshaped by history without being a prisonerto it. That, too, is a Greek idea. It was wiseDemosthenes who said, ‘‘It is necessary tothink of the future to enable us to set ourways straight.’’

Earlier this week in Istanbul, Hillary,Chelsea, and I had the honor of visiting theEcumenical Patriarch. My heart is stillmoved by that experience and by the beau-tiful gift that His All-Holiness PatriarchBartholomew presented to me, a magnificentpiece of parchment on which is written, inByzantine Greek lettering, one of my favoriteBible passages, the first verse of the 11thchapter of Hebrew: ‘‘Faith is the substanceof things hoped for, the evidence of thingsunseen.’’

Elsewhere in the Bible is the marvelousverse: ‘‘Where there is no vision, the peopleperish.’’ Vision is to have faith and to imaginethe things you hope for, and that faith is areal thing, unseen but real and tangible,more important than all the accumulatedanxieties and wounds and worries and hurts,for it allows us to be human by going forwardevery day and looking toward a new tomor-row. With faith and sober realism, we canimagine a wonderful future for Greece, forsoutheastern Europe, for this whole part ofthe world, one in which Greek and Turkishbusiness people work together, from the Bal-kans to central Asia; one in which Bosnianswork across ethnic lines for a common eco-nomic and political future; one in which newdemocracies, from Slovenia to Romania toBulgaria and, yes, to Serbia, meet the stand-ards for entry into NATO and the EuropeanUnion; one in which there is a Europe whereeveryone understands that being open andgenerous to those who are different does notdiminish one’s own identity but enhances it;a Europe where everyone practices an an-cient Greek trait still alive in Greece today,filoxenia; one in which children can be raisedto be proud of their heritage and proud oftheir faith without fearing or hatred, hatingthose who are different.

Soon, the world will have an opportunityto look at Greece and many to come to

Greece to participate in filoxenia, when theysee Athens throw open the gates of the cityto the Olympics in 2004. By then, I wantall the world to see what we know today.Greece is a force for freedom, democracy,stability, growth, the dignity of the indi-vidual—assuming yet again the ancient roleof the Greeks—to inspire a more humaneworld.

Two thousand four isn’t that far away, andwe have a lot of work to do. But I have faiththat we can do it.


NOTE: The President spoke at 3:15 p.m. in theballroom at the Intercontinental Hotel. In his re-marks, he referred to President KonstandinosStephanopoulos, Prime Minister KonstandinosSimitis, and Minister of Foreign Affairs YeoryiosPapandreou of Greece; Prime Minister Simitis’wife, Daphne; Mayor Dimitrios Avramopoulos ofAthens; Peruvian Ambassador to Greece MartinYrigoyen, dean of the diplomatic corps in Greece;Minister of Foreign Affairs Ismail Cem, PrimeMinister Bulent Ecevit, and President SuleymanDemirel of Turkey; United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan; President SlobodanMilosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia(Serbia and Montenegro); Vinton G. Cerf, seniorvice president for Internet architecture and tech-nology, MCI WorldCom; Eric Lander, director,Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Re-search; and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney.The President also referred to the EMU, the Eu-ropean Monetary Union. The transcript releasedby the Office of the Press Secretary also includedthe remarks of the Prime Minister Simitis.

Statement on Congressional Actionon the ‘‘Foster Care IndependenceAct of 1999’’November 20, 1999

Hillary and I are very pleased that theCongress today approved H.R. 3443, ‘‘FosterCare Independence Act of 1999.’’ This legis-lation helps ensure that young people in fos-ter care get the tools they need to make themost of their lives. It builds on proposals inmy budget to empower those leaving fostercare by providing them access to health care,better educational opportunities, training,housing assistance, counseling, and othersupport and services. We cannot let theseyoung people walk their tough road alone.


Each year approximately 20,000 18-year-olds leave our Nation’s foster care systemwithout an adoptive family or other perma-nent family relationship. Without the emo-tional, social, and financial support that fami-lies provide, many of these young people arenot adequately prepared for life after fostercare. Unfortunately, Federal financial sup-port ends just as they are making the criticaltransition to independence. This bill address-es that problem and will help these youthin their effort to become successful, inde-pendent adults.

I am also pleased that the Act providesadditional funds for the adoption incentivepayments, which are bonuses to the Statesfor increasing the number of children adopt-ed from public foster care. This additionalfunding will enable States to receive the fullamount of the bonuses they have earnedthrough outstanding performance.

Today’s legislation is a fitting tribute to thelate Senator John Chafee, who was a chiefsponsor of the Act. A fierce champion of chil-dren, Senator Chafee paid particular atten-tion to our Nation’s most vulnerable youngpeople. I am pleased that the bill renamesthe Independent Living Program in hishonor.

I would also like to thank the House andSenate leadership, as well as RepresentativesNancy Johnson and Ben Cardin, ChairmanWilliam Roth, Jr., and Senators JayRockefeller, Daniel Patrick Moynihan,Charles Grassley, John Breaux, James Jef-fords, Jack Reed, and Susan Collins for theirhard work and dedication to this issue. I lookforward to signing this bill into law.

Statement on Signing the FederalFinancial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 1999November 20, 1999

Today I have signed into law S. 468, the‘‘Federal Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 1999.’’ I strongly sup-

port the objective of this legislation—to makeit easier for State, local, and tribal govern-ments and nonprofit organizations to applyfor and report on financial assistance. Whiledifferent types of grant programs can andshould have different applications, there isample room for consolidation and stream-lining of similar programs.

Nonetheless, I have strong reservationsabout some of the specific provisions in theAct. In particular, as my Administration hasindicated to the Congress on several occa-sions, the Act does not provide resources for,nor allow sufficient time to accomplish evenpartially, the very ambitious overhaul of grantprograms that it requires. In addition, the Actanticipates a common application and report-ing system for Federal grant programs, butdoes not amend the many program statutesthat establish different application and re-porting requirements for different grant pro-grams. Furthermore, the deadlines in the Actare inconsistent with other legislation andunlikely to be achievable in practice. For ex-ample, the Act requires agencies to createa common system for electronic processingof all grant programs, but on a schedule thatis inconsistent with related requirements ofthe Government Paperwork Elimination Actof 1998. For these reasons, even an extensiveeffort may yield only minimal improvementsin the simplification of the grants process andthe administration of Federal resources.

I remain concerned that S. 468 may createexpectations that will not be fulfilled, and tar-nish the success of the efforts we have al-ready begun. My Administration will, ofcourse, continue its long-standing efforts tostreamline, simplify, and consolidate applica-tion and reporting requirements.

William J. Clinton

The White House,November 20, 1999.

NOTE: S. 468, approved November 20, was as-signed Public Law No. 106–107.


Proclamation 7255—ThanksgivingDay, 1999November 20, 1999

By the President of the United Statesof America

A ProclamationWell over three and a half centuries ago,

strengthened by faith and bound by a com-mon desire for liberty, a small band of Pil-grims sought out a place in the New Worldwhere they could worship according to theirown beliefs. Surviving their first harsh winterin Massachusetts and grateful to a mercifulGod for a sustaining harvest, the men andwomen of Plymouth Colony set aside threedays as a time to give thanks for the bountyof their fields, the fruits of their labor, thechance to live in peace with their NativeAmerican neighbors, and the blessing of aland where they could live and worshipfreely.

We have come far on our American jour-ney since that early Thanksgiving. In the in-tervening years, we have lived through timesof war and peace, years of poverty and plenty,and seasons of social and political upheavalthat have shaped and forever changed ournational character and experience. As wegather around our Thanksgiving tables againthis year, it is a fitting time to reflect on howthe events of our rich history have affectedthose we care about and those who came be-fore us. As we acknowledge the past, we doso knowing that the individual blessings forwhich we give thanks may have changed, butour gratitude to God and our commitmentto our fellow Americans remain constant.

Today we count among out national bless-ings a time of unprecedented prosperity, withan expanding economy, record low rates ofpoverty and unemployment among our peo-ple, and the limitless opportunities to im-prove the quality of life that new tech-nologies present to us. We can give thankstoday that for the first time in history, morethan half the world’s people live under gov-ernments of their own choosing. And we re-main grateful for the peace and freedomAmerica continues to enjoy thanks to thecourage and patriotism of our men andwomen in uniform.

But the spirit of Thanksgiving requiresmore than just an acknowledgment of ourblessings; it calls upon us to reach out andshare those blessings with others. We muststrive to fulfill the promise of the extraor-dinary era in which we live and enter thenew century with a commitment to widenthe circle of opportunity, break down theprejudices that alienate us from one another,and build an America of understanding andinclusion, strong in our diversity, responsiblein our freedom, and generous in sharing ourbounty with those in need.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton,President of the United States of America,by virtue of the authority vested in me bythe Constitution and laws of the UnitedStates, do hereby proclaim Thursday, No-vember 25, 1999, as a National Day ofThanksgiving. I encourage all the people ofthe United States to assemble in their homes,places of worship, or community centers toshare the spirit of fellowship and prayer andto reinforce the ties of family and commu-nity; to express heartfelt thanks to God forthe many blessings He has bestowed uponus; and to reach out in true gratitude andfriendship to our brothers and sisters in thelarger family of humankind.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto setmy hand this twentieth day of November, inthe year of our Lord nineteen hundred andninety-nine, and of the Independence of theUnited States of America the two hundredand twenty-fourth.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register,11:43 a.m., November 22, 1999]

NOTE: This proclamation was published in theFederal Register on November 23.

Remarks at a Dinner for theConference on ProgressiveGovernance for the 21st Centuryin Florence, ItalyNovember 20, 1999

Thank you very much. Professor Dorsen,Dean Sexton, President Oliva, to my fellowleaders, and especially to our hosts, PrimeMinister and Mrs. D’Alema. Let me say a


special word of appreciation to my goodfriend Romano Prodi for the very good out-line he has given us of the challenges facingnot only the nations of Europe but theUnited States and all other economies moreor less positioned as we are.

The hour is late, and what I think I wouldlike to do is to briefly comment on why we’rehere and what exactly are the elements ofprogressive governance in the 21st century—what do we have consensus on, and what arethe outstanding challenges facing us?—with-out going into any detail, in the hopes thatthat’s what will be discussed tomorrow.

First of all, I think it’s worth noting thatit’s entirely fitting that we’re meeting hereat this beautiful villa in this great city wherethe Italian Renaissance saw its greatest flow-ering, because we know instinctively that wenow have a chance at the turn of the millen-nium to shape another extraordinary periodof human progress and creativity.

There are many parallels to the Renais-sance era in this time. For at the dawn ofthe Renaissance, Italy was a place of greateconomic ferment and change, rapidly ex-panding trade, new forms of banking and fi-nance, new technologies and new wealth,more education, vibrant culture, broader ho-rizons. Today, we have the Internet, the glob-al economy, exploding diversity within andacross national lines, the simultaneous emer-gence of global cultural movements, breath-taking scientific advances in everything fromthe human genome to discoveries aboutblack holes in the universe.

We have, in addition, a much greater op-portunity to spread the benefits of this ren-aissance more broadly than it could havebeen spread 500 years ago. But there are alsoprofound problems among and within na-tions. Making the most of our possibilities,giving all people a chance to seize them,minimizing the dangers to our dreams, re-quires us to go beyond the competing modelsof industrial age politics. That’s why we’rehere. We think ideas matter. We think it’sa great challenge to marry our conceptionsof social justice and equal opportunity withour commitment to globalization. We thinkwe will have to find what has often beencalled a Third Way—a way that requires gov-ernments to empower people with tools and

conditions necessary for individuals, families,communities, and nations to make the mostof their human potential.

In the United States, we have proceededfor the last 7 years under a rubric of oppor-tunity for all, responsibility from all, and acommunity of all Americans. We have alsorecognized something that I think is implicitin the whole concept of the European Union,which is that it is no longer possible, easily,to divide domestic from global political con-cerns. There is no longer a clear dividing linebetween foreign and domestic policy. And,therefore, it is important that every nationand that all like-minded people have a visionof the kind of world we’re trying to buildin the 21st century and what it will take tobuild that world.

I think there is an emerging consensuswhich you heard in Romano Prodi’s remarksabout what works and what challenges re-main. There is also a clearer consensus thatno one has all the answers.

So let me briefly give you an outline ofwhat I hope we will discuss tomorrow andin the months and years ahead. First, I thinkthere is an economic consensus that marketeconomics, fiscal discipline, expanded trade,and investment in people and emerging tech-nologies is good economics. In the UnitedStates, it has given us an unparalleled eco-nomic expansion, the lowest unemploymentrate in 30 years, the lowest inflation rate in30 years, the lowest welfare rolls in 30 years,the lowest unemployment among our womenin the work force in 46 years, the lowest pov-erty rates in 20 years, and the first back-to-back surpluses in our budget in over 40 years.But there are problems. I will get to them.

On social questions, I think there is anemerging consensus that we should favorequal opportunity, inclusion of all citizens inour community, and an insistence upon per-sonal responsibility. In addition to low wel-fare rolls through welfare reform in theUnited States, it has given us the lowestcrime rate in 25 years and unprecedentedopportunities for women, racial minorities,and gays to serve in public life and to bea part of public discourse.

We have also worked particularly hard toreconcile the competing religious concernsof our increasing diverse communities of


faith in the United States. The challenges tothis economic and social policy are, it seemsto me, as follows—and this is where we haveto close the gap.

Number one—what Mr. Prodi talkedabout quite a lot—the aging of all of our soci-eties. In the next 30 years, the number ofpeople over 65 in our county will double. Ihope to be one of them. [Laughter] Now thisis a high-class problem. In all the advancedeconomies, anyone who lives to be 65 todayhas a life expectancy of 82. Within a decade,the discoveries in the human genome projectwill lead every young mother—includingMrs. Blair—[laughter]—within a matter ofyears, young mothers will go home from thehospital with their babies with a littlegenomic map. And it will tell these mothersand the fathers of the children what kindsof things they can do to maximize the health,the welfare, and the life expectancy of theirchildren. Many of our best experts believethat within a decade, children born in ad-vanced societies will have a life expectancyof 100 years. Now, this is a terrific thing; butin the short run, it means that within 30years, more or less, all of our societies willhave only two people working for every oneperson retired—challenge number one.

Challenge number two, in spite of unprec-edented economic prosperity in many places,there are still people and places that havebeen left behind. I’ll give you the most starkexample.

In America, we have the lowest unemploy-ment rate in 30 years, 4.1 percent. On thePine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Da-kota, the home of the Lakota Sioux, the un-employment rate is 73 percent. And in manyof our inner cities, in many of our rural areas,this recovery simply has not reached becauseof the lack of educational level of the peopleor because of the digital divide or becauseof the absence of a conducive investment en-vironment. But every advanced society thatseeks social justice and equal opportunitycannot simply rest on economic success inthe absence of giving all people the chanceto succeed.

Number three, there has, by and large, inall of our societies with heavy reliance on themarket, been an increase in income inequal-ity. I’m happy to say it is moderating in the

United States. In countries that have chosento make sure that did not happen, very oftenthere have been quite high levels of unem-ployment, which people also find unaccept-able and which is another form of social in-equality.

The next problem, with more and morepeople in the work force, both women andmen, and more and more children beingraised in homes that are either single-parenthomes or two-parent homes where both theparents work, it is absolutely imperative thatwe strike the right balance between work andfamily. In this case, I think virtually everyEuropean country has done a better job thanthe United States in providing adequate fam-ily leave policies, adequate child care poli-cies, adequate supports.

But let me just put it in this way. If mostparents are going to work, either becausethey have to or they want to, then every soci-ety must strive for the proper balance, be-cause if you have to choose between suc-ceeding at home and succeeding at work,then you are defeated before you begin. Themost important job of any society is raisingchildren; it dwarfs in significance any otherwork. On the other hand—[applause]—yes,you may clap for that, I appreciate that. Itdoes.

So if people at work are worried about thechildren at home or in child care, they’re notgoing to be so productive at work. Thatmeans that either the economy or the socialfabric will suffer. It is a profoundly importantissue that will only grow more significant inthe years ahead.

The next big issue, I believe, is the bal-ancing of economic growth and environ-mental protection. And because of the prob-lem of global warming, we will have to provenot only that we can maintain the quality ofthe environment, but that we can actually im-prove it while we grow the economy. I wantto say a little more about that later, but it’sa very important issue.

Finally, I would like to put another issueon the table. There is a political problem withachieving this vision, and I’ll give you justthree examples involving all of us here. Inorder to pursue this economic and social vi-sion, if you start from a position of economicdifficulty and you believe that fiscal discipline


is a part of your proposal that is necessary,then you’re going to have upfront pain forlong-term gain. And the question is, will webe able to develop a progressive governancethat will be able to sustain enough supportfrom the people to get to the gaining part?Because everybody likes to talk about sac-rifice but no one likes to experience it. Every-one likes to talk about change, but we alwayswant someone else to go first. And I haveseen it. In our country, I was elected in 1992,and in 1993 I implemented my economicprogram, and in 1994 the public had not feltthe benefits of it, and that’s one of the bigreasons we got a Congress of the other party.

Chancellor Schroeder is facing the samesort of challenges. President Cardoso is fac-ing the same sort of challenges. So it’s allvery well for us to come here when—as inmy case—that things are rocking along wellin our country and the public is supportingus. But I think it’s important that we ac-knowledge, if we believe in these ideas theywill often have to be pursued when they arecontroversial in the knowledge that these dif-ficult changes have to be made in order tohave results over the long term.

And so one of the things I hope we’ll beable to frankly discuss is how we can developand sustain political support for like-mindedpeople in all countries who are determinedto pursue this approach that we all knowworks and has to be pursued in order to cre-ate the kind of future we want for our chil-dren and grandchildren.

Now let me just say a word about globalpolitics. I believe there’s an emerging con-sensus that it’s good for the world to promotepeace and prosperity and freedom and secu-rity through expanded trade; through debtrelief for the poorest nations; through poli-cies that advance human rights and democ-racies; through policies in the developingcountries that expand the rights and opportu-nities of women and their daughters; throughpolicies that stand against terrorism, againstthe proliferation of weapons of mass destruc-tion; and against the spread of ethnic, racial,and religious hatred.

What are the specific challenges to thisconsensus? I’ll just mention a few. How doyou place a human face on the global econ-omy? We’re going to have a WTO ministerial

in Washington State in a few days. There willbe 10 times as many people demonstratingoutside the hall as there will be inside. AndI understand more than half of them maynot even be from the United States.

I personally think this is a good thing.Why? Because the truth is that ordinary peo-ple all over the world are not so sure aboutthe globalization of the economy. They’re notso sure they’re going to benefit from trade.They want to see if there can be a humanface on the global economy, if we can raiselabor standards for ordinary people, if we cancontinue to improve the quality of life, in-cluding the quality of the environment. Andif we believe—we, who say we believe in so-cial justice and the market economy, reallywant to push it, we have to prove that theglobalization of the economy can really workfor real people. And it’s a huge challenge.

Number two, we have to deal with the factthat about half the world still lives on lessthan $2 a day, so for most of them, mostof this discussion tonight is entirely aca-demic, which is why debt relief is so impor-tant. We have to deal with the fact that whilewe talk about having smaller, more entrepre-neurial government, the truth is that in a lotof poor countries, they don’t have any gov-ernment at all with any real, fundamental ca-pacity to do the things that have to be done.Even in a lot of more developed countries,they have found themselves blindsided bythe financial crisis that struck in 1997.

So we have to acknowledge while we, whosay we are developing a Third Way—and inour case, we’ve been able to do it with thesmallest Federal Government in 37 years—we have to acknowledge the fact that somecountries need more government. They needcapacity. They need the ability to battle dis-ease and run financial systems and solveproblems, and that it is fanciful to talk abouta lot of this until you can basically deal withmalaria, deal with AIDS.

You look at Africa, for example, AIDS con-suming many African countries. But Ugandahas had the biggest drop in the AIDS ratesof any country in the world because of thecapacity of the Government to deal with theproblem. And I think we have to forthrightlydeal with that.


Let me just mention a couple of otherissues a little closer to home. We’re goingto have to deal with the conflict betweenscience and economics and social values. Ex-ample: the conflict between the UnitedStates and Europe over genetically modifiedseeds and the growing and selling of food;the conflict between Britain and France overthe sale of beef.

Listen, this is hot stuff now, but you cansee that there’s going to be a lot more ofthis. And we have to find a way to managethis if we’re going to be in a global societywith a global economy, where there are hon-est differences and real fears. We have tofind a way to manage this that has integrityand that generates trust among ordinary peo-ple.

Another problem that I think is quite im-portant is, all of us will have to decide howwe’re going to cooperate and when we sepa-rate in an interdependent world. I think, forexample, our Congress did a very good thingto finally pay our U.N. dues and to enablethe United States to participate in the globaldebt relief movement. And I think they madea mistake to defeat the ComprehensiveNuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. But every one ofus will have to deal with these kinds of ques-tions, because there will always be domesticpressures operating against responsible inter-dependence and cooperation.

And finally, I’ll mention two other things.I believe that the biggest problems to oursecurity in the 21st century and to this wholemodern form of governance will probablycome not from rogue states or from peoplewith competing views of the world in govern-ments, but from the enemies of the nation-state, from terrorists and drug runners andorganized criminals who, I predict, will in-creasingly work together and increasingly usethe same things that are fueling our pros-perity: open borders, the Internet, the minia-turization of all sophisticated technology,which will manifest itself in smaller and morepowerful and more dangerous weapons. Andwe have to find ways to cooperate to dealwith the enemies of the nations-state if weexpect progressive governments to succeed.

The last and most important point of all,I believe, is this. I think the supreme ironyof our time, as we talk about a new renais-

sance—by the way, that would make NewYork University the successor of de’Medici—[laughter]—I think—consider this—the su-preme irony of this time is that we are sittingaround talking about finding out the secretsof the black holes in the universe, unlockingthe mysteries of the human gene, having un-precedented growth, and dealing with whatI consider to be very high-class problems—finding the right balance between unemploy-ment and social justice, dealing with theaging of society—isn’t it interesting to youthat in this most modern of ages, the biggestproblem of human societies is the mostprimitive of all social difficulties: the fear ofpeople who are different from us. That, afterall, is what is at the root of what Prime Min-ister Blair has struggled with in Northern Ire-land, at the root of all the problems in theBalkans, at the root of the tribal wars in Afri-ca, at the root of the still unresolved, thoughhopefully progressing problems in the Mid-dle East.

A few weeks ago, Hillary invited two mento the White House for a conversation aboutthe new millennium. One was one of thefounders of the Internet, the other was oneof our principal scientists unlocking the mys-teries of the human genome, and they talkedtogether—it was fabulous, because theseguys said, number one, we would not knowanything about the gene if it were not forthe computer revolution because we couldn’thave done the complex sequencing. And thenthe scientist said, now that they had doneall this complex sequencing, the most stun-ning conclusion they had drawn is that allhuman beings were 99.9 percent the samegenetically, and that the differences of indi-viduals in any given ethnic group, genetically,were greater than the genetic differences ofone ethnic group to another.

So if you had 100 West Africans and 100Italians and 100 Mexicans and 100 Nor-wegians, the differences of the individualswithin the groups would be greater than thecomposite genetic profile differences of onegroup to another.

Now, this is in an age where 800,000 peo-ple were slaughtered by machetes in 90 daysin Rwanda a few years ago, when a quarterof a million Bosnians lost their lives and 21⁄2million more were made refugees.


So that’s the last point I would like tomake. We need a little humility here. Whatwe really need to be struggling for is not allthe answers, but a unifying vision that makesthe most of all these wonders and relishesall this diversity which makes life more inter-esting, but proceeds on the fundamental factthat the most important thing is what it hasalways been: our common humanity, whichimposes on us certain responsibilities abouthow we live, how we treat others who areless fortunate, how we empower everyone tohave a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.

If you ask me one thing we could do, itwould not be all the modern ideas. If I hadto leave tonight and never have another thingto say about public life, I would say if wecould find a way to enshrine a reverence forour common humanity, the rest would workout just fine.


NOTE: The President spoke at 10:43 p.m. in anoutdoor tent at the Villa La Pietra. In his remarks,he referred to Oliva L. Jay, president, New YorkUniversity; Norman Dorsen, professor, and JohnSexton, dean, New York University School of Law;Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema of Italy and hiswife, Linda; Romano Prodi, President, EuropeanUnion; Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Ger-many; President Fernando Cardoso of Brazil;Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdomand his wife, Cherie; Vinton G. Cerf, senior vicepresident for Internet architecture and tech-nology, MCI WorldCom; and Eric Lander, direc-tor, Whitehead, Institute/MIT Center for Ge-nome Research.

Remarks at Morning Session One ofthe Conference on ProgressiveGovernance for the 21st Century inFlorenceNovember 21, 1999

Well, first of all, let me say that I think,Prime Minister D’Alema, the morning ses-sion is well-named. We are concerned aboutequality and opportunity in the new econ-omy.

Let us begin with the proposition that thenew economy is powered by a revolution intechnology, especially in information andtelecommunications, and exponentially en-

hanced by the growing global trade. The neweconomy does best in a highly entrepre-neurial environment where people with newideas have access to capital and low barriersto establishing a growing business. More thanin any previous time of economic expansion,job growth is disproportionately higher in theprivate, as opposed to the public, sector.

Now the good news is that there is an ex-traordinary potential for the growth of jobs,businesses, and wealth. We have in theUnited States been blessed, for example,with a stock market that has more than tri-pled in the last 7 years. But this is not freeof challenges, both within and among na-tions.

Even though, for example, in our countrywe have the lowest poverty rate in 20 years,and the lowest poverty rate among house-holds headed by single parents, principallywomen, in over 40 years, we know that thereare the following problems with the neweconomy if you just have a laissez-faire pol-icy.

Number one, the skill gap among peoplewith high levels of education and low levelswill lead to even more dramatic income in-equality.

Number two, in a highly volatile environ-ment where lots of jobs are being createdand lots of jobs are being lost, it requiresa special attention to the transition assistanceneeded to give people the skills and othersupport they need to move from one job toanother.

Number three, there will be people andplaces that are completely left behind; I men-tioned this in my remarks last night. TheUnited States has the lowest unemploymentrate we’ve had in 30 years, but if you lookat some of our inner-city neighborhoods, theremote mountain places in Appalachia, forexample, the Mississippi Delta, the NativeAmerica, the American Indian reservations,you find unemployment rates anywhere from3 to 12 times the national average.

So if you wish to promote equality and op-portunity, there must be a strategy, first, toclose the skills gap, which means that there’sa role for Government here. We have tospend more money, not less, than ever beforeon education. It needs to start sooner; itneeds to last for a lifetime. And it needs to


be focused much more rigorously on results,so that it’s not just a question of spendingmoney, but you’re actually getting a higherreturn for the money that’s being spent.Number two, there needs to be a system oflifetime learning for people in transition. Youhave people at the age of 50 changing jobsnow. They can still do quite well, but theyhave to have help and support. Numberthree, there needs to be a system for gettingcapital to those people and places that areleft behind.

Let me just give you an example. One ofthe big debates we’re having in America nowis how long we can keep this economic ex-pansion going. It is already the longest peace-time expansion in our history. In February,it will be the longest economic expansion inAmerican history, including World War II.I believe that this is happening—I’d like totell you it’s because of my policies—I believeit’s happening because we have underesti-mated the productivity gains of technologyand underestimated the power of open bor-ders and open trade to restrain inflation,which permits these economic expansions togo on if you have good policies.

Now how can we continue to grow theeconomy? You can bring investment to theplaces that are left behind. So I have beforethe United States Congress, now, a proposalessentially to set up the equivalent in Amer-ica of our Export-Import Bank and our Over-seas Private Investment Corporation to giveAmerican investors the same incentives to in-vest in the poorest areas in America we givethem to invest in the poorest areas of LatinAmerica or Africa, not to take away the for-eign incentives but to mirror them in the verypoor areas of our country. I think this issomething that all advanced countries shouldlook at.

Finally, let me say there is a big problemwith the so-called digital divide. The peoplewho have access to the Internet and tech-nology have enormous advantages, and it hasto be closed. We are now hooking up all ofour classrooms to the Internet, and weshould finish next year. But I think we shouldshoot for a goal in the developing countries,the developed countries, of having Internetaccess as complete as telephone access with-

in a fixed number of years. It will do as muchas anything else to reduce income inequality.

Last point I want to make: There are notjust problems in this economy dealing withequality and opportunity; there are opportu-nities, too, and let me just mention two.

Number one, technology has permitted usto say, for the first time since the industrialrevolution, it is no longer necessary to growan economy to burn more greenhouse gasesto burn up the atmosphere. It is now possibleto grow an economy and actually use lessgreenhouse gases and put less strain on theeconomy. That opens up the opportunity notonly to save the environment but to createliterally millions of new jobs around theworld.

Number two, the Internet itself offers op-portunities for people who don’t have accessto traditional jobs to make money. There isan American company that perhaps some ofyou have used, called eBay, and it’s basicallya place on the Internet where you can buyanything. It’s like a great international marketon the Internet. There are now over 20,000people, including a lot of people who are onwelfare, who are making a living on eBay—making a living on eBay.

So there are opportunities as well as prob-lems in this economy. We should not be de-pressed about it. We should just realize thatgovernance requires new policies.

Mr. Prime Minister, you asked us to talkabout the domestic issues first, and there area whole lot of global issues I’d like to dealwith, but this is what I would like to say aboutthe domestic issues. We have to deal withmore investment in education, more invest-ment in transition aid, a strategy to get capitalto people in places left behind, a strategy toclose the digital divide. And we have to makethe most of the new technologies, especiallyin the environmental areas, and the new op-portunities for isolated people and places tomake money because of the Internet, not inspite of it.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 10:45 a.m. in theRoom of Five Hundred at the Palazzo Vecchio.In his remarks, he referred to Prime MinisterMassimo D’Alema of Italy. A tape was not avail-able for verification of the content of these re-marks.


Remarks at Afternoon Session Oneof the Conference on ProgressiveGovernance for the 21st Century inFlorenceNovember 21, 1999

So many wise things have been said, I feelill equipped to compete with lunch. But Iwould like to very briefly, and in summaryfashion, address two subjects which we havediscussed: first, how we are dealing with thisnew economy among ourselves. I agree withwhat Lionel Jospin said. We are here becausewe affirm the importance of the nation-stateas necessary to provide the conditions ofcommunity and humanity in this very dif-ferent world. The question is what Tony Blairalways says—we have to do to what works.We have to do something that enables us tofulfill our traditional mission in a very dif-ferent world.

Now, let me just make a couple of veryspecific suggestions for where our workmight go. I don’t think we have studiedenough what each other has done and howit might relate to our own experience. Forexample, in the countries here represented,taking Brazil to the side a moment—just let’stake the EU and the U.S. and Canada. Weall take somewhere between 30 percent and45 percent of national income for govern-ment purposes. But we spend this money invery different ways.

Now, we know that if you look at Franceand Germany, you can achieve quite a highlevel of growth with GP expenditures in thepublic sector above 40 percent. You can stillhave high growth. But we haven’t lookedenough—the right will say, ‘‘Well, the moreyou spend, the worse it is.’’ What we shoulddo is analyze how this money is spent. Iwould like to know, for example, more thanI know about how the unemployment sup-port system in Germany differs from the un-employment support system in France orBritain. I think these things would help usa lot.

We’re sitting here in this wonderful me-dieval building, built in the late 13th, early14th century. I would like to know whynorthern Italy has the highest per capita in-come in Europe and whether it has anythingto do with the combination of creativity and

cooperation in business that is rooted in themedieval guilds that flourished in Florencehundreds of years ago and that are replicatednow in many of the business practices here.

We don’t know enough about what is actu-ally going on in our own countries and howit compares with other countries to make thebest decisions about what the way forwardis. And I think we ought to make sure thatwhen we leave here, we have a strategy offinding that out.

Now, let’s go to the global issues and theissues represented here by Brazil. And Iwould like to talk very briefly about, one,international institutions; two, what theemerging economies, themselves, have to do;and three, what the rich countries ought tobe doing.

First, on the international institutions, Icompletely agree that the IMF, the WorldBank, the multilateral development bankswere inadequate to the financial crisis of the1990’s, and particularly the Asian financialcrisis—which collapsed Russia as well—andwhich have terrible effects on totally inno-cent bystanders, especially in Latin Americaand particularly Brazil.

Now, what caused this? Number one, asTony Blair pointed out, you can’t run a mod-ern economy without a global financial sys-tem that moves money around—a lot ofmoney in a hurry. The volume of currencytrades every day is roughly 15 times the vol-ume of trade and goods and services—over$1 trillion every day. We have to do that.The system won’t work without it.

Now, what caused the problem? A lot ofloans were made which should not have beenmade because there was not an honest sys-tem of risk assessment. And then, when thoseloans went bad, two things happened. One,market panic—so it’s like the old phe-nomenon of, once a cat gets burned sittingon a hot stove, it won’t sit on a cold stove,either. So if we lost money in a developingeconomy in Russia, or in Asia, then we bettertake our money out of central Europe andLatin America.

The second thing that happened, whichhas been less analyzed, is that a lot of theseloans were highly leveraged, through deriva-tives and other mechanisms, so that peoplewho lost their money in Russia, let’s say, had


to cover their losses, when they had only putup 10 percent of their losses. So they werevery often liquidating their investments inLatin America through no fault of LatinAmerica, but because they had to have cashto pay off their debts.

Now, in the last 2 years the truth is thatall of our nations have worked very hard todeal with this. The IMF and the World Bank,we have made some substantial changes inpolicy—not everything we need to do, butI think that a lot of reforms have been made.

Now, the question is, can domestic econo-mies—can Henrique do things that wouldhelp this? Chile had a capital control systemthat worked pretty well, to try to regulateradical movements of money in and out ofthe country. But the only reason it workedwell is, Chile had a system that was recog-nized as having integrity and effectiveness,so that people still wanted to put their moneythere even if there was some control on howrapidly it could move in and out. The samewith Malaysia in the Asian financial crisis—people thought you could make money inMalaysia, so they would put up with the cap-ital controls. On the other hand, if when theRussians tried to control money—even theRussians were sending money out of Russia,in record amounts, because they didn’t be-lieve at the moment that the system wouldwork.

So should we continue to reform the IMFand the World Bank and the multilateral de-velopment banks? Absolutely. But we shouldnot minimize the fact that you’ve got to movea lot of money around every day.

Second thing: domestic systems matter.Governments have to have good, honest fi-nancial systems, because you can’t make peo-ple put their money in a place they don’twant to spend it, and you can’t make peoplekeep their money in a place they no longerhave confidence in. And governments haveto have greater capacity; this is somethingthe old—the so-called old left and the newleft ought to agree on. The truth is, in mostdeveloping countries, governments are tooweak, not too strong.

Why is Uganda the only country in Africathat can drive the AIDS rate down? Howcan—why shouldn’t we be out there pro-moting a system where once a country in a

developing area of the world solves a prob-lem we more speedily make sure that is doneeverywhere else, and we help people do that.This is crazy. I mean, just—AIDS is just oneexample, but, I mean, it’s convulsing Africancountries—but here’s Uganda proving thatyou can get the rate down, and, oh, by theway, they have economic growth at 5 percentor 6 percent a year. So national policies mat-ter.

The third thing is, what are we going todo to help? Very quickly. One, we ought tosupport everybody, from the Pope to Bono,who’s recommending debt relief for thepoorest countries in the world. It’s insane tokeep these poor countries spending all theirmoney making interest payments—they can’teven pay off the principal. They’ll never beable to grow, and they have no money to buyour products. So the G–8 initiative on debtrelief is right. We should do that. Two, weought to vigorously support economic em-powerment initiatives that work in devel-oping nations. I have been in Sao Paulo andRio, two of the largest cities in the world,two of the most wonderful places on Earth.But there are millions of children there thatwill have no future unless their families canmake a decent living.

Now, the United States, this year, funded2 million microenterprise loans, mostly topoor urban and rural village women. Weknow what works in poor developing econo-mies. I wish we were funding 20 millionloans. I think the rich countries should befunding literally 2 or 3 hundred millionmicroenterprise loans a year. If you wantedto do something useful at an average of $50or $100 apiece in Europe—I mean, in thepoor countries of Latin America and Asia andAfrica, and even the poorest countries of Eu-rope, that would make a huge difference.

Three, we ought to do everything we canto get more cell phones and computer hook-ups out there. The people in Africa are nodifferent from the people in America. If yougive people access to technology, a lot ofsmart people will figure out how to make alot of money. And the more you can makedense the availability of cell phones and com-puters in poor countries, the bigger dif-ference it would make.


Four, we ought to all ratify the ChildLabor Convention and do more to protectthe interest of women and young girls. Getthe girls in school, end child labor, putwomen in the work force. Example: in Paki-stan—we worked with Pakistan to put thou-sands of their children back in school whowere making soccer balls. And they discov-ered that, when they got the kids back inschool, they made thousands of jobs for poorvillage women who were dying to go to work,and began to sustain their families. The richcountries of the world ought to ratify theChild Labor Convention and do more to helpwomen and to get little girls in school.

And finally, I think the WTO coming upought to lead to more open markets. Weought to buy products from these countries.If we—you know, it’s politically sensitive, butif you want to help these poor countries, theyhave to make a living. We’ve got to buy moreof their stuff.

And—last point before we go to lunch.Gerhard Schroeder said something that Iwant to reemphasize. The liberal left partiesin the rich countries should be the partiesof fiscal discipline. It is a liberal, progressivething to balance the budget and run sur-pluses if you’re in a rich country today. Why?Unless you have total deflation like Japan,you should always be running a balancedbudget.

Why? Because it keeps interest rates downfor your own people, which creates jobs andlowers costs. The average American hassaved $2,000 in home mortgages, $200 in carpayments, and $200 in college loan paymentssince we cut the deficit.

Two—this is the most important point forHenrique—if all the rich countries in theworld were running a surplus in times ofgrowth—just when we’re growing—then wenot only would lower the cost of capital forour own business communities, we wouldmake it so much cheaper for Henrique toget money in Brazil. It’s the number onething we could do to get money to poor coun-tries at affordable rates is to start runningsurpluses.

I am trying to convince both parties in mycountry, before I leave office, to make a com-mon commitment to pay off the public debtof America over the next 15 years for the

first time since 1835. This is now a liberalthing to do—it helps poor people, it helpsworking families, it helps the poor countriesof the world. If we could embrace that goal,I think it would be a very good thing to do.


NOTE: The President spoke at 12:23 p.m. in theRoom of Five Hundred at the Palazzo Vecchio.In his remarks, he referred to Prime MinisterMassimo D’Alema of Italy; Prime Minister LionelJospin of France; Prime Minister Tony Blair ofthe United Kingdom; President FernandoHenrique Cardoso of Brazil; Pope John Paul II;Irish musician and peace activist Bono; and Chan-cellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany. A tape wasnot available for verification of the content ofthese remarks.

Remarks at Session Two of theConference on ProgressiveGovernance for the 21st Centuryin FlorenceNovember 21, 1999

Well, first let me—excuse me. I would liketo compliment Professor Meny on his paper,which was presented to this conference, andon his remarks.

I think I should begin by noting that hequoted that wonderful section fromMachiavelli, where he says something to theeffect that there is nothing so difficult in allof human affairs than to change the estab-lished order of things. The next part of thequote is also very important, where Machia-velli goes on to say that is so because thepeople who will gain from the change areuncertain of their benefit, but the peoplewho will lose are absolutely sure of the con-sequences and will go to any lengths to avoidthem. So that calls for a little humility herein our enterprise.

But let me say the points that Yves Menymade were the following: Democracy is anunfinished business, still to be perfected—I agree with that; democracies will be dif-ferent, depending on the circumstances theyface and their cultural and historical dif-ference—I agree with that; we needtransnational civil society institutions to bringmutuality and interdependence and respon-sibility to the fore—I certainly agree with


that; and we will have to have through allthese differences a reaffirmation of funda-mental rights—and I agree with that.

Let me say what I think we know aboutall this. First of all, I think it is not an acci-dent that we have the flourishing of a neweconomy that is based on knowledge and in-dividual entrepreneurialism and creativity atthe very time when, for the first time in his-tory, more than half the world’s people liveunder governments of their own choosing.I think there is a connection between theprimacy of the citizen and the equality of in-dividuals, and the way this economy worksso well in successful democracies.

Secondly, I think the fact that we now havedemocracies makes it even more importantthat we be committed to universal educationand not just technical education, but the kindof education that makes for good citizen-ship—the liberal arts, education in logic andreasoning and judgment, understanding dif-ferent cultures, and making reasoned argu-ments. If you’re going to have democraciesmake good decisions in difficult times—notjust when everything is going well—the im-portance of universal education, and not nar-rowly defined education, is greater than atany time in all of human history.

Thirdly, I very much agree with the pointwhich was made about the need fortransnational institutions. I say all the timein the United States that we are very fortu-nate that at this moment in history we havea lot of prosperity, and we have a lot of influ-ence. But we should make no mistake, noth-ing lasts forever. We should be humble; weshould be responsible; and we should recog-nize that we live in an increasingly inter-dependent world, where it is important thatwe both assume and receive obligations andcooperation.

The last point I would like to make is thatwhen we talk about the perfection of democ-racy and when we talk about the differentcultures, one of the things that I think wehave to reaffirm is that, in the world in whichwe live, democracy is far more than majorityrule; it is also majority rule within given re-straints of power which recognize minorityrights and individual rights, whether they arereligious rights, whether they are the rightsof women as well as men or given ethnic

groups or homosexuals or any other discretegroup in society.

It seems to me that if you look at all thetroubles in the world we’re having over racialand ethnic and religious and travel turmoil,the most effective democracies that will dobest with the modern economy are those thatnot only have majority rule but very clear,unambiguous, and passionate commitmentsto the protection of the rights and the inter-ests of minorities.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 2:45 p.m. in theRoom of Five Hundred at the Palazzo Vecchio.In his remarks, he referred to Yves Meny, direc-tor, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Stud-ies, European University Institute in Florence. Atape was not available for verification of the con-tent of these remarks.

Remarks at the Closing Session ofthe Conference on ProgressiveGovernance for the 21st Centuryin FlorenceNovember 21, 1999

First of all, Prime Minister, I want to thankyou and the Government and the people ofItaly for hosting us here in the city of Flor-ence and all the people who have done somuch to make this a wonderful stay.

I don’t know that I can add anything towhat I have said and what the others havesaid. I would like to begin by saying I feeldeeply privileged to have been here. I re-spect and admire the other leaders who arehere on this panel and those who are in theaudience who have participated. And I thinkwe are all fortunate to serve at this momentin history when, really for the only time inmy lifetime we have the chance in the ab-sence of external threat and dramatic internalturmoil, to forge the future of our dreamsfor our children and to give people in lessfortunate parts of the world the chance tolive out their God-given capacities. So I thinkwe should come here with gratitude and hu-mility.

Now, let me also say that for—at a certainlevel, this is about politics. What we wantto do is to find a way to, first, explain theworld in which we live in a way that makes


sense to the people we represent and thepeople we would like to reach; and then topropose a course of action that will draw peo-ple together, move people forward and touchtheir hearts, so that elections will be one anddecisions can be implemented; and so thatwe can work together to actually change thethings that we’re concerned about and maxi-mize the opportunities that are manifestlythere.

Now, we have called this the Third Wayor, in Lionel Jospin’s wonderful characteriza-tion, we’ll say yes to the market economy,but no to the market society. Or, in the short-hand usage in America, we say we’re for op-portunity, responsibility, and community.But at bottom, what we’re striving for is toreplace a divided way of looking at politicsand talking about our common lives with aunifying theory.

For up to the present moment, mostly youwere for the economy or for protecting theenvironment; you were for business or youwere for labor; you were for promoting workor for promoting family life; you were forpreventing crime or for punishing criminals;you were for cultural diversity or for uni-versal identity; you were for the market soci-ety or for social values. We come and say,‘‘Well, we’re for fiscal responsibility and fullemployment; we’re for personal responsi-bility and social justice; we’re for individualand group identity and national community.’’

Now, let me just say that I don’t thinkthese are just words. I think life is more satis-fying when people are animated by personaland civic philosophies that are unifying, thatgive us a chance to strive for true integrity,putting our minds and our bodies and ourspirits in the same place, and treating otherpeople in the way we would like to be treat-ed, and giving other people those opportuni-ties and shouldering those responsibilities.

So if I might, let me just comment brieflyon three things that were mentioned earlier.First, the representative of the Green move-ment and then the question you posed toTony Blair. I have been very convinced foryears that it is no longer necessary to choosebetween growing the economy and pre-serving, and even improving, the environ-ment. But it is quite necessary to abandonthe industrial age energy use patterns.

The reason I am for the broadest possibleuse of energy emission-trading permits is notso the United States—the world’s worst emit-ter of greenhouse gases—can get out of cut-ting our own emissions, but because I wantto spare the Indians and the Chinese andothers of the burden of growing rich in theway we did, because global warming meanswe can’t afford for people to do what we havedone, which is, you pollute and you getrich—Japan, the United States, Europe—and then you turn around when you’re richand you get richer by cleaning up your pollu-tion. That would work, except with globalwarming you keep making the greenhousegas factor worse.

So I urge you to all read a book—I’ll hawka book here—‘‘Natural Capitalism,’’ by PaulHawken and Amory and Hunter Lovins. Itbasically proves beyond any argument thatthere are presently available technologies,and those just on horizon, which will permitus to get richer by cleaning, not by spoiling,the environment. So we can have a unifyingvision here.

The second issue you raised, about the ge-netically modified organisms and food pro-duction and all these food fights we see—food fights between Britain and France, foodfights between America and the EuropeanUnion—I think there what we have to dois to try to give people the choice of pursuingtheir prejudices even if they’re blind by hav-ing absolute honest and full labeling. Andthen we have to have complete—no oneshould have an interest in keeping anyoneignorant of the source of food or how it wasgrown.

And then whether it comes to whether thefood should be admitted to the market inthe first place, I think it’s important that theEuropeans—and Tony mentioned this—de-velop sort of the equivalent of the AmericanFood and Drug Administration on a Euro-pean-wide basis, so that you actually haveconfidence when someone says to you, thisfood is safe; you don’t think that the peoplewho did the analysis and voiced the opinionwere either incompetent or in the back pock-et of the economic interest who benefit fromthe decision. And I think that’s very impor-tant, so that you can have safe food and opentrade.


The third thing I would like to mentionis the lady who talked about cultural diver-sity. I think we think about culture in twodifferent ways. One is popular culture—youknow, not just art and theater, but moviesand music. My view is that countries shouldpreserve their popular culture but not shutout other countries’ culture. But in the deep-er sense that you mentioned, it seems to methat we’re not seeing the abolition of culture,but what we are in danger of is either peoplelosing their culture or protecting it in an ex-clusive way that leads them into hostility withothers—that’s what you see in Kosovo orBosnia.

And what I think we have to find a wayto do is to actually preserve in multiethnic,multiracial settings the language, the culture,the history, the uniqueness of people in away that is unifying, not divisive. I said thislast night—I will close with this: People cravecoherence in life. We want to believe thatwe can work hard and provide in a materialsense for our families and still be animatedby higher impulses. We want to believe wecan be proud of being Irish or Brazilian orFrench or whatever and still know it’s moreimportant that we’re members of the humanrace.

And I think the answer is not to get ridof cultural diversity but to extol it, to protectit, to preserve it, to celebrate it as a particularmanifestation of our common humanity. Istill think—and I will end with this—that’sour most important responsibility.

We haven’t talked much about that, butit seems to me that the real essence of whatwe’re saying is if you want a unifying ap-proach to politics, then every person who ad-vocates that has a far higher level of personalresponsibility for citizenship than we on theleft of the political equation have traditionallyacknowledged. And the good news is thatwe’ll have more fulfilling lives if we can pullit off.


NOTE: The President spoke at 4:05 p.m. in theRoom of Five Hundred at the Palazzo Vecchio.In his remarks, he referred to Prime MinisterMassimo D’Alema of Italy; Prime Minister LionelJospin of France; and Prime Minister Tony Blairof the United Kingdom. A tape was not availablefor verification of the content of these remarks.

Statement on the 1999 UniformCrime ReportNovember 21, 1999

The preliminary 1999 Uniform Crime Re-port released by the FBI today shows thatwe are making enormous progress in our na-tional strategy to fight crime. America con-tinues to experience the longest continuousdecline in crime on record. Overall crime fellanother 10 percent in the first 6 months ofthis year as compared to the first half of1998—twice as much as any other 6-monthperiod over the last decade. We have the low-est crime rate in 25 years. We have the lowesthomicide rate in over 31 years. In every re-gion of our Nation, neighborhoods are safernow, and American families are more securethan they have been in a generation.

But to keep crime rates down we must re-main vigilant. Since I took office, my admin-istration has focused on a simple but effectivecrime-fighting strategy: 100,000 more policeofficers and fewer guns in the hands of crimi-nals. Today’s report shows that our strategyis making a difference. That is why I ampleased that the budget agreement reachedlast week will extend our successful COPSinitiative into the 21st century—helping putup to 50,000 more police officers on ourstreets, creating new community prosecutors,and providing more resources for crimefighting technologies. Congress must now doits part to reduce gun violence and crime,by making the passage of commonsense gunlaws the first order of business when it recon-venes.

NOTE: This statement was made available by theOffice of the Press Secretary on November 19but was embargoed for release until 6 p.m., No-vember 21.

Exchange With Reporters Prior toDiscussions With President PetarStoyanov of Bulgaria in SofiaNovember 22, 1999

President Clinton. Good morning.Q. How are you, Mr. President?President Clinton. I’m fine. I’m de-

lighted to be here, very pleased.


Situation in ChechnyaQ. Mr. President, the events in Chechnya

in the last 2 days, has that raised doubts aboutthe Russian commitment to a political dia-log?

President Clinton. Well, I think theymade clear that they were going to try tocontinue their military offensive. What we’vedone at the OSCE is, it got them to agreethat the internal affairs of Russia or any othercountry is a proper subject of world discus-sion and world opinion. We got them toagree to take the OSCE mission there. Ithink it’s very important to do that. And Ihope that we’ve gotten an increased amountof concern for civilian casualties. So we’llhave to see, but I think it’s very importantwe follow up on the commitments made ear-lier at the OSCE meeting in Istanbul.

Q. Mr. President, Bulgarian national tele-vision. Are you going to discuss with ourPresident different ways for compensatingBulgaria for our losses during the embargoagainst Yugoslavia and Iraq, about $10 bil-lion?

President Clinton. Well, first of all, letme say I’m very grateful for the support wereceived, the Allies received during the con-flict in Kosovo, and for the direction takenby Bulgaria under this President and thisGovernment. And we are committed to sup-porting Bulgaria over the long run—eco-nomically, politically, militarily. And I thinkwe will be doing it for many years, and I’mlooking forward to that.

Situation in KosovoQ. Mr. President, in Kosovo tomorrow,

will you urge ethnic Albanians to stop theirreprisal attacks against Serbs?

President Clinton. In Kosovo tomorrowI will make a very strong statement aboutthe importance of everybody getting over thisethnic hatred and going beyond it. And wehave all made a big commitment to Kosovoas an economic and political reconstruction.But I think it’s very important that Kosovo,in effect, not become the mirror image ofSerbia. It’s hard not to, but it’s important notto. And we’ll keep working on it.

But I wouldn’t overreact to the stories, youknow, and the facts—a lot of good thingshave happened there since the end of the

war. And it hasn’t been very long, and thereis a long, long history in Kosovo and through-out Serbia, throughout the Balkans, thatwe’re trying to get beyond.

Again, I’d say Bulgaria is a very good exam-ple of the direction we ought to take, andI hope we can have a positive impact inKosovo. I think we can.

President Stoyanov. It’s important thatwe, through the American people, throughthe eyes of the American President, theAmerican people will realize that the Bul-garian people have embarked upon a newroad and chosen a new policy, that of democ-racy, of respect for human rights and that,also, through its wonderful relations with allits neighbors and its excellent ethnic—theabsence of ethnic problems whatsoever, Bul-garia will be an example of stability on thiscontinent and will continue to be so.

NATO Bases in BulgariaQ. Will you inform us if you discuss the

issue of NATO bases in this country?President Stoyanov. We’ll inform you

about anything with pleasure, with the great-est of pleasure.

President Clinton. Thank you.

NOTE: The exchange began at 11 a.m. in the Ante-room at the Presidency. A tape was not availablefor verification of the content of this exchange.

Remarks Following Discussions WithPrime Minister Ivan Kostov ofBulgaria and an Exchange WithReporters in SofiaNovember 22, 1999

Prime Minister Kostov. I have just askedthe President to say a few words before hegoes out of the Council of Ministers. He waskind to respond, and I thank him for that.

President Clinton. Well, first, I want tosay again how pleased and honored I am tobe in Bulgaria and how strongly I supportand admire the political, economic, and mili-tary reforms that the Government has under-taken and how grateful I am for the supportthat Europe and the United States receivedduring the recent difficulties in Kosovo.

I think it is very important for the UnitedStates to support Bulgaria’s aspirations for


political, economic, and military integrationinto the West and to support the StabilityPact and the economic and political revital-ization of all of southeastern Europe.

I would like to make one other point,which is that I am especially grateful for Bul-garia’s policy and history of tolerance and co-operation among different groups of peoplewithin this country. If that had been the pol-icy of Serbia in these last 10 years, we wouldbe living in a very different and better time.

Thank you very much. Thank you.Q. [Inaudible]President Clinton. No, that did not come

up. But we talked generally about the impor-tance of doing things that would be economi-cally beneficial to Bulgaria. I would remindyou, my Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Daley,was here just a few weeks ago for an eco-nomic conference. And we are moving aheadwith a whole set of plans, which I hope willbe highly beneficial to Bulgaria economically.But we did not discuss the specific questionyou asked.

Thank you.

NOTE: The exchange began at 12:50 p.m. at theCouncil of Ministers Building. A tape was notavailable for verification of the content of this ex-change.

Remarks to the People of Bulgariain SofiaNovember 22, 1999

Dober den.President Stoyanov, Prime Minister

Kostov, Mayor Sofianski, the people of Bul-garia, I thank you for this wonderful, wonder-ful welcome. I also want to thank this youngstudent, who must have been so nervous,Boryana Savova. If she is a representative ofthe young people of Bulgaria, your future isin very good hands.

I am honored tonight to be here with mydaughter, three Members of the UnitedStates Congress, and a distinguished groupof Americans. We thank you for this wel-come. We thank all the musicians who per-formed, all the people who worked so hardto put this wonderful crowd together.

And I would like to say a special word ofthanks to the young woman who sang so mag-

nificently both the national anthems of Bul-garia and the United States.

I am very proud to be the first AmericanPresident to visit Bulgaria—a free Bulgaria.I am proud to stand in this place wherevoices were silenced for too long. Here arethese tens of thousands of people, exercisingyour freedom with dignity and pride.

We are here tonight because of what youdid 10 years ago this month, when changeswept through Nevsky Square. Students,never before allowed to express their opin-ions, demanded free elections now. Writers,imprisoned just a few weeks before, ledchants of demokratsiya. Grandparents, neverallowed to worship with their children, saidprayers in public, in the shadow of this greatcathedral. What a wonderful moment thatwas. What a wonderful thing it said to therest of the world about the heart of Bulgaria.

Even before 1989, communist rulers triedto keep you down with violence, but youstruggled peacefully. They fed you lies, yetyou sought the truth. They tried to smotheryour spirit, yet you were able to come to-gether here and demand to be citizens, withrights and responsibilities of your own.

When the cold war ended, it took muchlonger for the ground here to thaw. You en-dured one false spring after another. Nowthat democracy is beginning to truly takeroot, some here must feel left behind, whileothers race ahead. I ask you to rememberwhat you left behind: a police state, with noroom for disappointment, because there wasno hope for improvement; when nobody feltleft behind because no one was allowed toget ahead; when there were no dreams andsome Bulgarians were even robbed of theirvery identities, forced to change their names.The struggle for your constitutional democ-racy was waged not for paradise but for possi-bility, not for a perfect world but for thechance to build a better world.

In my own country, we have struggled nowfor more than 200 years to build what ourFounders called ‘‘a more perfect Union,’’never completely perfect but always advanc-ing the cause of freedom and responsibility,of individual opportunity and a stronger na-tional community. In those 223 years, wehave had to overcome slavery and civil war,depressions and World Wars, discrimination


against women and ethnic and religious mi-norities. We have overcome these thingsthrough the free choices of free people. Icame here to say to you, the people of Bul-garia, that through freedom you, too, shallovercome, and you will not have to wait 200years to do it.

In just the last 10 years, from Poland toHungary to the Baltics, those who have cho-sen open societies and open markets startedout with sacrifice but ended up with success.The only difference between them and Bul-garia is that they had a head start. Now you,too, are on your way.

Today America and Bulgaria have reachedagreements that will encourage more Amer-ican companies to do business here, to createjobs for both our countries. We are takingsteps to help you crack down on corruptiononce and for all. And let me say to peoplein the United States, Europe, and all overthe world who will see this tonight on tele-vision: This is a wonderful country. Comehere and help Bulgaria help build the future.

And let me add this: The cold war wasfought and won by free people who did notaccept that there could be two Europes inthe 20th century. Now we must not—we willnot accept that there could be two Europes,separate and unequal, in the 21st century.If you stay the course, Bulgaria will be a placewhere young people can make their dreamscome true, and Americans and Bulgarians to-gether will help to build a Europe that isundivided, democratic, and at peace for thefirst time in all human history.

When that vision of the future was threat-ened by President Milosevic’s brutal cam-paign in Kosovo, you stood with NATO. Iknow it was very hard for you to do. ButI ask you to think about what would havehappened if we had not stood up. This entireregion would have been overwhelmed by ref-ugees. And a message would have been sentto the rest of the world: Stay away fromsoutheastern Europe, for here dictators stillhold power by exploiting human differencesand destroying human lives. I thank you forstanding your ground with us against that eviland sending a very different message to therest of the world.

And I also want to thank you for settinga very different example here in Bulgaria.

You have preserved a multiethnic society. AsPresident Stoyanov has said, you chose tostand with and for civilization 2 years ago.But you also made that choice 50 years agowhen you helped Bulgaria’s Jewish commu-nity to survive World War II and the Holo-caust. On behalf of American Jews and Jew-ish people everywhere, I thank you for that.All of you know the famous line from themonk Paissii Hilendarski: ‘‘You, Bulgarians,do not hesitate to be proud.’’ When yousaved Bulgaria’s Jews, it was one of theproudest moments in your history. And to-night, as you stand for freedom, it is one ofthe proudest moments in your history.

But now we have work to do. We musthelp all of southeastern Europe choose free-dom and tolerance and community. We mustgive all the people in this region a unifyingmagnet that is stronger than the pull of oldhatreds that has threatened to tear themapart over and over again. Your neighbor Ser-bia should be part of that bright and differentfuture.

I am told that during the recent war youcould actually hear some of the bombs fallingin Serbia from this square. Tonight I hopethe people of Serbia can hear our voiceswhen we say, ‘‘If you choose as Bulgaria haschosen, you will regain the rightful place inEurope Mr. Milosevic has stolen from you,and America will support you, too.’’

Already, we are aiding the forces of de-mocracy in Serbia. And for all the people ofthis region, we strongly support the StabilityPact for southeast Europe. We encourage theexpansion of the European Union to this re-gion. And we must and will keep NATO’sdoor open to those democratic nations herewho are able to meet their obligations.

During the conflict in Kosovo, we learnedsomething very important about Bulgaria andits democratic neighbors: Because you knowhow it feels to be insecure, you know whatit means to sacrifice for common security;because you know how it feels to lose yourfreedom, you know what it takes to defendfreedom. And so, even though you paid agreat price and you are not yet in the heartof Europe, you have Europe and its valuesin your heart.

Earlier today, I had the opportunity tomeet some of Borana’s classmates at the


American University in Bulgaria. They werefrom Bulgaria and from other countriesthroughout this region. And they were pro-foundly impressive to me in their intel-ligence, in their compassion, in their deter-mination to build a brighter future.

So I would like to close my remarks tonightwith a word to the young people here. InAmerica, Thomas Jefferson was only 32 yearsold when he wrote the Declaration of Inde-pendence, and Martin Luther King was only26 years old when he led our crusade forcivil rights for African-Americans. As I lookout among you, I see a generation of Bul-garians who have come of age knowing notthe unchanging conformity of communismbut the constantly changing challenges of ademocratic society.

I know that it may seem hard now. Butsome day you will look back on this time andsay, ‘‘When we were young, we brought Bul-garia back to freedom. We brought Bulgariaforward to prosperity, security, and unity inEurope.’’ And I am determined that you willalso be able to say, ‘‘When we marched intothe new millennium, America stood with us,and we changed the world.’’

Thank you, and God bless you.

NOTE: The President spoke at approximately 5:50p.m. in Nevsky Square. In his remarks he referredto President Petar Stoyanov and Prime MinisterIvan Kostov of Bulgaria; Mayor Stefan Sofianskiof Sofia; and President Slobodan Milosevic of theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Mon-tenegro). The transcript released by the Office ofthe Press Secretary also included the remarks ofPresident Stoyanov.

Statement on the National Board forProfessional Teaching StandardsAnnouncement of New Board-Certified TeachersNovember 22, 1999

Today the National Board for ProfessionalTeaching Standards announced that 2,965more teachers met the teaching profession’shighest standards and achieved NationalBoard certification. I want to congratulatethem and commend all who applied for cer-tification, for their personal commitment tohigh-quality education. These teachers rep-

resent all regions of the country; public andprivate schools; rural, urban, and suburbandistricts; and every grade from kindergartenthrough high school. Teachers who pursuethese standards set a sterling example—fortheir students and for our country.

We all know that one of the most impor-tant factors behind a child’s educational suc-cess is having a caring, competent, and com-mitted teacher. That’s why my administrationhas strongly supported the work of the Na-tional Board for Professional TeachingStandards, which has now certified nearly5,000 of our most talented teachers. With to-day’s announcement, we are on the way tomeeting the challenge I have set: makingsure we have a Board-certified teacher inevery school in the Nation by 2006.

Remarks at a State Dinner Hostedby President Stoyanov in SofiaNovember 22, 1999

President Stoyanov, Mrs. Stoyanov; PrimeMinister and Mrs. Kostov; distinguished gov-ernment leaders; citizens of Bulgaria; ourAmerican friends. Mr. President, let mebegin by thanking you for your warm wel-come. This is a day that I will remember forthe rest of my life. You gave my wife a memo-rable day here not so long ago, and ourdaughter and I had a wonderful time todayin so many ways, a few of which I wouldlike to mention.

But first let me begin with the time Presi-dent Stoyanov came to the White House.Hillary and I welcomed him there a coupleof years ago, and I was very interested inthis young President of Bulgaria, so I readup on him.

He was only a little younger than me. Helooks much younger, but he’s only a little.[Laughter] He studied the law. His wife stud-ied law. He’s a father who likes to jog. Helikes to read. He grew up listening to rockand roll, just like me. [Laughter] The onlydifference I could find from our biographiesis that he liked John Lennon, and I likedElvis. [Laughter]

Earlier today on Nevsky Square I had theopportunity to speak to a vast and immenselyimpressive throng of Bulgarians about the


new partnership we are forging for democ-racy, peace, and prosperity.

Mr. President, as you pointed out in yourremarks, the relationships between our twocountries and our mutual admiration goesback quite a long while. Perhaps the bestsymbol of this is the American college here,which I learned, as I prepared to come, wasactually first opened in the year AbrahamLincoln was elected President of the UnitedStates, 1860.

During the dark days after World War II,the college was closed. The war first broughtits closure and then afterward, in the com-munist era, its grounds were turned over tothe secret police. But Americans and Bul-garians never lost faith that it would openagain one day, because we never lost faiththat Bulgaria would be free again one day.

A few years after the school reopened, ourAmbassador at the time, AmbassadorBohlen, took a trip to the famous Rila Mon-astery, and right before she left, the abbotcame up to her and said, ‘‘I have a secretto show you.’’ They walked to a basement,and there in a hidden place was the entirelibrary of the American college, preserved for50 years by the same monastery that helpedto preserve Bulgarian language and culturefor 500 years.

Just as those books were hidden deep inthe heart of Bulgaria for half a century, therewas an energy and creativity hidden deep inthe heart of Bulgarians through all thosesame years. More than 100 years before theRenaissance began, Bulgarian thinkers andartists were already shaping the world.

Now the energies and creativities of theBulgarian people have been liberated again,and from now on, you will always be mastersof your destiny, neither vassals nor victimsto anyone. Now you’re on a road that is oftenhard but with a very happy destination. I be-lieve it will lead you to prosperity, to peace,to security, to being part of a Europe thatis whole and free.

Tonight I come here again to reaffirm thefriendship and the partnership of the UnitedStates, our gratitude to you for being a sym-bol of freedom and determination. I cometo offer a toast of respect and thanks.

I toast Bulgaria, its President, and its lead-ers for casting your lot with freedom in spite

of the pain of transition, for standing stronglywith humanity in reversing ethnic cleansing,in spite of the sacrifices imposed, and havingthe courage to follow your dreams and thevision to achieve them. May Americans andBulgarians always be friends and partners.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 9:10 p.m. in theBallroom at the Kempinski Hotel. In his remarks,he referred to President Stoyanov’s wife,Antonina; Prime Minister Ivan Kostov and hiswife, Helena; and former U.S. Ambassador to Bul-garia Avis T. Bohlen. The transcript released bythe Office of the Press Secretary also includedthe remarks of President Stoyanov.

Remarks at Ganimet TerbeshiElementary School in Ferizaj,KosovoNovember 23, 1999

The President. Thank you. I want tobegin by thanking you for your wonderfulwelcome. I thank Ramadan for his introduc-tion. I think maybe some day he will be anelected official if he speaks so well from nowon. I thank Luljeta for her equally fine intro-duction of Secretary Albright. And I thankyour principal, Shafije Hajdari, for wel-coming us here. We are honored to be herewith all of you today, especially with theschoolchildren.

When I was introduced, Ramadan said—he thanked me for making it possible for youto come home. There are some other peoplewho were largely responsible, and I wouldlike to introduce them, as well. We have fourMembers of the United States Congress:Representative Peter Deutsch of Florida;Representative Eliot Engel of New York;Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia;Representative Carolyn Maloney of NewYork. They voted for the funds that enabledour military to come here and end this ter-rible ethnic cleansing. I’d like to ask themto stand up. Please stand. Thank you.

In addition to Secretary Albright, whomI know you know because you gave her sucha wonderful reception, was the strongest ad-vocate of the stand we took in Kosovo; I wantto thank Sandy Berger, my National SecurityAdviser, and Larry Rossin, who is the Chief


of Mission for the United States Governmentin Pristina, and ask them to stand. Thank you.

And finally, I want to thank all the mem-bers of our Armed Forces and our Allies whoare serving here with the U.N. and those whowere here previously in the NATO campaign.And I would like to introduce the Com-mander of all of our NATO forces, GeneralWes Clark, and thank him for what he hasdone. Thank you.

I know with all these people here and allthe children here, it is difficult to listen toa long speech, but I hope you can listen toa short speech.

Mr. Milosevic wanted to keep control ofKosovo by getting rid of all of you, and wesaid, no.

Audience members. Clin-ton! Clin-ton!The President. Now he has lost his grip

on Kosovo, and you have returned. No moredays hiding in cellars, no more nights freez-ing in mountains and forests.

I know that for those who have lost theirhomes, perhaps homes where your parentsand grandparents were born, this is still adifficult time. I know it is hard for childrento feel a sense of security and happinesswhen they have seen too much killing andhatred. But I know this, too: The United Na-tions troops and international organizationswho have come here to help will stand withyou every step of the way, and the comingwinter in Kosovo is going to be a lot betterthan the last winter was.

There is still a lot of work to do, but itis important that the world know what hasalready been done since you came home afew short months ago.

Audience members. Clin-ton! Clin-ton!The President. Thank you.We are preparing houses for the winter,

fixing schools, bringing in police officers;KLA fighters are returning to civilian life;radio stations and newspapers are operating;the U.N. is doing a good job under toughconditions. And last week, the internationalcommunity pledged another one billionAmerican dollars to help Kosovo, to fullyfund the U.N. operation next year.

With all the problems that remain, weshould remember, Kosovar children aregoing back to school, learning in their lan-guage in communities that answer to their

parents. That is in some ways better than itwas before. And we can do better still.

I want to make one last point, more impor-tant than anything else I have to say to thechildren and to the parents. You can neverforget the injustice that was done to you. Noone can force you to forgive what was doneto you, but you must try. And let me tellyou why.

First of all, all the schoolchildren will soonbe learning in their biology classes that allthe people in the world—all the people inthe world, in terms of their genetic makeup,scientifically, are 99.9 percent the same—theSerbs, the Albanians, the Irish, the Africans,the Latins, the Asians. Children are not bornhating those who are different from them,and no religion teaches them to do so. Theyhave to be taught to hate by people who arealready grown. But all over the world—notjust here in Kosovo, all over the world—itis children who bear the burden of their par-ents’ blind hatred.

I have been in Africa with a young manwho lost his arm to someone of a differentethnic group, who cut it off with a machetesimply because of his family heritage. I havebeen in Israel with schoolchildren staring atthe pictures of their classmates who wereblown up in buses simply because they wereJewish. I have been in Ireland with a beau-tiful, beautiful 16-year-old girl playing andsinging to me, but her eyesight was gone be-cause she was blown up in a bomb just be-cause of the religious differences in Ireland.We owe the children in Kosovo a better fu-ture than that.

Audience members. Clin-ton! Clin-ton!The President. Now you cheered for us

when we came in because when you werebeing oppressed, we stood by you, and weexercised military power to defeat the aggres-sion of Mr. Milosevic. We won the war. Butlisten: Only you can win the peace.

The time for fighting has passed. Kosovois for you to shape now. The internationalcommunity will stand by you. But you musttake the lead. What will you think about? Willyou be focused on hatred and past wrongsand getting even? Or will you be thinkingabout good schools for your children, newhomes for them, new businesses, the effort


to create genuine self-government to eradi-cate corruption and violence and give yourchildren the joys of a normal life?

I beg you who are parents to teach yourchildren that life is more than the terriblethings that are done. It is how you react tothem. Do not let the children’s spirits be bro-ken. Do not let their hearts harden. The fu-ture we fought to save for you is the futurewe see here today, smiling, cheering, happychildren. Give them the tomorrow they de-serve. The American people have been hon-ored to stand with you, and we will standwith you every step of the way.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

NOTE: The President spoke at 11:15 a.m. in theSports Pavilion. In his remarks, he referred to stu-dents Ramadan Ilazi and Luljeta Haliti; Gen.Wesley K. Clark, USA, Supreme Allied Com-mander Europe; and President SlobodanMilosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia(Serbia and Montenegro). The President also re-ferred to the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Remarks to American Troops atCamp Bondsteel, KosovoNovember 23, 1999

The President. Thank you. Hello.Audience members. Hello!The President. From the reception you

gave my daughter, I thought he was goingto say I was Chelsea’s father, too. [Laughter]Thank you.

I want to thank all of you for making usfeel so welcome. I want to introduce the peo-ple who came with me: our Secretary ofState, Madeleine Albright; our NATO Com-mander, General Wes Clark; my Chief ofStaff, John Podesta; National Security Ad-viser Sandy Berger; and four Members of theUnited States Congress, Representative JackKingston from Georgia, Representative PeterDeutsch from Florida, RepresentativeCarolyn Maloney from New York City, andRepresentative Eliot Engel from New YorkCity; and Chelsea.

Let me say that we are honored to be withyou. We thank you for your service. We’relooking forward to eating a big, early Thanks-giving dinner with the men and women ofTask Force Falcon.

I want to salute some of the troops forwhat they have done at Camp Bondsteel andCamp Monteith. And also I want to thankthose from other nations in our multinationalBrigade East. I want to visit you now, at thisseason of Thanksgiving, not only becauseyou’re doing a hard job a long way from homebut because here we’ve got a lot to be thank-ful for.

Thanks to you, we have reversed ethniccleansing. We have a successful military mis-sion which was brilliantly executed, with nocombat casualties. And now, we have achance, not a guarantee but a chance, to workwith these folks to build a lasting peace inthe Balkans. Now that Operation AlliedForce is over, there is a new struggle under-way, and Camp Bondsteel is on thefrontlines. Operation Joint Guardian will pro-tect and deepen the peace we are workingso hard to make permanent.

You certainly haven’t wasted any time. Thestory of Bondsteel reads like something outof the settling of the Old West. Not long ago,this was a hayfield. Soon after NATO cameinto Kosovo, it became a beehive of activity.Between the Army Engineers and the NavySeabees——

[At this point, audience members interruptedthe President with cheers and laughter.]

The President. Yeah. Well, anyway, some-where—[laughter]—somewhere betweenthe Army Engineers and the Navy Seabees,you move over a half a million cubic yardsof earth. You brought enough gravel to laya two-lane road all across the State of Mis-souri. In less than 5 months, you built 160sea huts, a chapel, a gym, a hospital, messhalls, a PX, a barber shop, and an aviationarea.

I want to salute a few of the responsibleunits—don’t be shy: the Headhunters of theEngineer Brigade 1st Infantry Division; theBlue Devils of the 3504 Parachute—I justwant to note for the press that the Blue Dev-ils of the 3504 Parachute Infantry Regimentare also known as ‘‘devils in baggy pants’’;the Steel Tigers of the 177 Armor Battalion;the Bone Crushers of the 2d Platoon BravoCompany; the Blue Spaders of the 126 Infan-try Regiment; the Hellcats of the 299th For-ward Support Battalion; the Eagles of Task


Force 21 Aviation Regiment; the Spartans ofthe 793d Military Police Battalion; the Dag-ger Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division; theNavy Seabees of Battalion 3.

[Unit members cheered as they were men-tioned.]

The President. You did pretty well.Let me say to all of you, I know that a

lot of your assignments are still dangerous.I appreciate the hard work you have doneto protect all the people of Kosovo, includingthe Serbs. I appreciate your pursuit of localthugs, like the mad mortar-man. I appreciateyour constant mediation between people whohave a long way to go toward reconciliation.

I’m told that children routinely say, ‘‘Welove you, United States.’’ Well, they love theUnited States because they love you, becausewe gave them their freedom back; we gavethem a chance to go home; we’re giving thechildren a chance to have a different life thantheir parents have lived.

But let me just say this—I say this everytime I speak to a group of American servicemen and women overseas—the biggest prob-lem in the world today, with all the moderntechnology, all your fancy computers, every-body getting on the Internet, all the new dis-coveries in science, the biggest problem inthe world today is the oldest problem ofhuman society. People tend to be afraid ofpeople who don’t look like them and don’tworship God the way they do and come froma different place. And when you’re afraid ofsomebody, it’s just a short step to dislikingthem. If you dislike them, it’s a short stepto hating them. If you hate them, it’s a shortstep to dehumanizing them. And once youdo that, you don’t feel bad about killing them.Now that’s what this whole deal is about.

And you see this problem in our inabilityto solve the peace in the Middle East, al-though we’re getting there. But it’s been along time coming. We may be about to havea final breakthrough in the Irish civil war—been 30 years coming. Almost 800,000 peo-ple were killed in 100 days in Rwanda bypeople of 2 different tribes, one hacking theothers to death with machetes; they hardlyhad any guns at all.

And if you strip it all away, the numberone problem in this old world today is the

problem of Bosnia, the problem of Kosovo:It’s racial and ethnic and religious hatred anddehumanization.

All you’ve got to do is look around theroom today, and you see that our militaryis a stunning rebuke to that. This is the Amer-ican idea in flesh and blood, all of you. Youcome from all different backgrounds, all dif-ferent races, all different religious faiths, alldifferent walks of life. And you’re here work-ing together as a team. You can appreciateyour differences. You can even make fun ofthem. You can even make jokes about thembecause you know that your common human-ity and your shared values are even more im-portant than your differences.

Now, the most important thing you cando, besides keeping these people alive andhaving security, is to teach that to the chil-dren and to their parents by the power ofyour example and your own testimony. Be-cause I am telling you, what they’re goingthrough here today is an example, but by nomeans the only example, of the worst prob-lem the world faces on the eve of the newmillennium. And it violates everything we inAmerica stand for. And the power of ourweapons could win the military battle inKosovo, but the peace can only be won bythe human heart.

And every day they see you, every daythese little old kids see you working to-gether—even if they don’t speak our lan-guage, even if they never met any African-Americans or Hispanics before, even if theydon’t know any Asians before—they can see;they have eyes; they’ll get it. You just showup, and you be yourself, and you do whatyou’re supposed to do, and you treat themright. The power of your example will showthem that they do not have to be trappedin the pattern which led to the slaughter ofa quarter of a million people in Bosnia, 21⁄2million refugees there, almost a million refu-gees here, though we acted quicker, and be-cause we acted quicker, they all came home.

But now that they came home, they’ve gotto learn how to win the peace. And I saythat to the other nations who are here rep-resented. I want people to see Americansworking with you. I want these children toknow that the world is a better place when


people are proud of their own race and eth-nicity and religion, but respectful of others;when they are secure enough in who theyare that they don’t have to put anybody elsedown, hurt anybody else, torch anybodyelse’s church or mosque just to feel that theymatter. This is the most important issue inthe whole world today.

And just by getting up every day, goingto work, keeping the kind of morale that youmanifested today with your cheers and yourpride, you are a rebuke to the biggest prob-lem in the world, and the power of your ex-ample can do more than anything else to helpus to win the peace.

Thank you, God bless you, and HappyThanksgiving.

[At this point, a gift was presented to thePresident.]

The President. You all know I have animportant job, because I’m your Commanderin Chief, right? [Cheers] Well, tomorrow, be-cause I’m also the President and I have broadexecutive authority—I get home at 10 o’clocktonight, we’re all dog-tired, but I’ve got toget up and go to work tomorrow because Ihave to do something that every Presidenthas been doing since the 1920’s: I have topardon the Thanksgiving turkey. And theybring me a big turkey, and we let one goso we can eat all the others. [Laughter] Andthey put this turkey in a petting zoo for chil-dren to see in the Washington area. Anyway,it’s always a great deal. I’m just saying, whenI go into the office tomorrow to pardon theturkey, I’m going to take the falcon and putit on my desk so all of America can see, whenmy desk is on television, what you’re doing.

Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:13 p.m. in thebase theater/festival tent. In his remarks, he re-ferred to Brig. Gen. Craig Peterson, USA, Com-mander, Task Force Falcon, who introduced thePresident; and Gen. Wesley K. Clark, USA, Su-preme Allied Commander Europe.

Remarks to American TroopsFollowing Thanksgiving Dinnerat Camp Bondsteel

November 23, 1999

Thank you. Well, the people at my tablesaid that the speech I gave to the other troopswas piped in here, which means it either wasor it wasn’t. And if it was, you heard it, andif it wasn’t, you get relieved of hearing it.[Laughter]

Let me say to all of you how very gratefulI am for your service here and for the powerof your example here. As I said to the othertroops, NATO won the military victory, butnow the people of Kosovo have to win thepeace, and you have to help them win it, notonly by doing your jobs but by setting a goodexample.

This was a war caused by a man’s deter-mination to drive a whole people out of acountry because of their ethnic and religiousbackground. It’s the opposite of everythingwe believe in, everything we live by, and ev-erything the United States military stands for.

And you just look around this room today.We just celebrated Thanksgiving, with, I betyou, conservatively, 25 different ethnicgroups represented among the Americanmilitary forces here in this room—maybe 50,maybe it’s more. We are interested andproud in and proud of our background, andwe should be, but we know that our commonhumanity and our shared values are more im-portant. That’s the message that the childrenneed to get here in Kosovo. And the moreyou work with people and the more you letchildren see you working together, having agood time, being proud of what you’re doing,doing your job, living the American creed,you will also be fulfilling your mission bydoing that.

Kids are not brought up hating each otherbecause they’re different; they have to betaught to do that. They’ve taught generationsof people on this land, good people in bothcommunities, to do that. And now they’vegot to stop, and you’ve got to help them. And


I can’t think of a better Thanksgiving presentthat you could give to them.

Let me also say that I was very honored—I’ve got four Members of the Congress herewho voted for this, but I was very honoredto sign the legislation which raised the payand improved the retirement of members ofthe military. But let me also say that we arewell aware that in this good economy, withthe training you’ve gotten in the military, thatyou’re not serving for the money, but wethink you ought to be properly compensatedand have a good retirement, and it ought tobe an incentive for you to stay if you’re soinclined.

But we honor your service; we need you.And on Thanksgiving, those of us who camehere will be home, and you will be a longway from home. But you will be in our hearts,and I hope you know that what you’re doingis a great, great gift to your country.


NOTE: The President spoke at 3:30 p.m. in a din-ing tent. In his remarks, he referred to the Na-tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year2000, Public Law 106–65, approved October 5.

Remarks at the Thanksgiving TurkeyPresentation Ceremony and anExchange With ReportersNovember 24, 1999

The President. Please sit down, everyone.Welcome to this annual day-before-Thanks-giving ritual here at the White House. I wantto welcome particularly the Boys and GirlsClubs from Greater Washington, Horton’sKids, the people from the National TurkeyFederation, and especially Chairman JimRieth and the president, Stuart Proctor.

I also want to say a special word of wel-come to Representative Peter Deutsch fromFlorida and his family, who are here. Thisis a triumph of human stamina, becausePeter just made the trip with me to Bulgariaand Kosovo. We got back very late last night,so he promised to come so there would betwo jet-lagged people standing here together,and we’re glad to see them.

I want to thank, as always, the NationalTurkey Federation for donating this year’stom turkey. It traveled here all the way from

Minnesota. Minnesota may be the secondbiggest turkey-producing State in our coun-try. Sometimes I wonder if it’s really a matchfor Washington, DC. [Laughter]

Tomorrow we celebrate the last Thanks-giving of this century. A hundred years ago,on these very grounds, President WilliamMcKinley reflected on the last turn of thecentury. He said, ‘‘Seldom has this Nationhad greater cause for profound thanks-giving.’’ Those words ring even more truetoday.

Today we count among our national bless-ing a time of unprecedented prosperity, withexpanding economy, low rates of poverty andunemployment among our people, limitlessopportunities for our children and the future.We are also very grateful for the peace andfreedom America continues to enjoy, thanksto our men and women in uniform—manyof whom I saw yesterday—a very long wayfrom home at Thanksgiving.

As we gather around our dinner tables to-morrow with family and friends, let us givethanks for all these things that hold us to-gether as a people—the duty we owe to ourparents and our children; the nurturing andeducation of our families, especially our chil-dren, and for many, our grandchildren; thebounty of our earth; and the strong spirit ofcommunity we enjoy here in the UnitedStates.

We also know as we celebrate our blessingsthat there are still too many people who arehungry at this holiday season, both beyondour borders and around the world and, sadly,even here in the United States. That’s whyit’s so important that we not only give thanksbut also give back to our communities.

Before coming out here, I asked some ofour staff members what they were thankfulfor this holiday season. One of my staff mem-bers said, ‘‘Today I’m thankful that I’m nota turkey.’’ [Laughter] I know that one turkeydoesn’t have to worry about that—this fine-looking bird from the State of Minnesota. Atover 50 pounds, he is the namesake of HarryS. Truman, the President who began the tra-dition of keeping at least one turkey off theThanksgiving dinner table. Harry, the turkey,will get his pardon today.

So before I feast on one of the 45 millionturkeys who will make the ultimate sacrifice,


let me give this one a permanent reprieve,and tell you all that he will soon be on hisway to the wonderful petting zoo at FairfaxCounty, Virginia, where he can enjoy hisgolden years.

I want to say a special word of appreciationfor the people who run this petting zoo andwho give, therefore, a lot of children the op-portunity to see animals and to touch themin a way that they never would.

Just before we came out here—or beforewe started the ceremony, Stuart remindedme that this turkey is a little more calm thanthe one we had last year. One of the mostinteresting things I’ve discovered in the 7years we’ve done this is that turkeys reallydo have personalities, very different ones.And most all of them have been quite wel-coming to the President and to the childrenwho want to pet them. On occasion, they’reas independent as the rest of Americans.[Laughter]

So, Harry, you’ve got your pardon. Ladiesand gentlemen, Happy Thanksgiving.

Vieques IslandQ. Mr. President, on Vieques, how are you

going with reaching a compromise with Gov-ernor Rossello with regard to Vieques?

The President. Well, we’re working veryhard on it, and the Defense Department andthe Government of Puerto Rico have beenworking together. And here’s a case whereI believe there are two legitimate issues here.There’s the legitimate concerns of the peopleof Puerto Rico, which I think are quite real,particularly the people on the island. Andthen there’s the absolutely legitimate con-cern of sending all of our units out combat-ready. So we’re working hard through that.

I have spent a lot of time on it myself,and I hope that in the next few days, we’llhave something to say about it. We’re gettingthere.

Hillary Clinton’s Senate CampaignQ. What did you think of your wife’s em-

phatic statement, Mrs. Clinton’s emphaticstatement yesterday regarding the Senaterace? And did you advise her to do that?

The President. Well, I think—first of all,I thought it was a good statement. I thoughtshe did well yesterday. And what told—what

she said in public is what she’s been tellingme for weeks and weeks, and I think shejust thought that, even though, for a lot ofgood reasons, she thought she should waituntil next year to make a formal announce-ment, I thought it was a wise thing for herto do, to decide that—to make it clear thatshe had no doubt that she was going to doit.

Q. Are you, in a sense, prepared to nothave a First Lady here? Are you preparedto do many of the things, in a sense, thatshe might do?

The President. Well, I want her to do thisif she wants to do it—and she does—and ifa lot of people in New York want her to doit—and they do. And I think that we’ll haveto make accommodations. She’ll be here anddo some things, and some things that shemight otherwise do she won’t. But I’m ex-cited for her, and if I can help her in anyway, I will. I think it’s wonderful.

Q. Did she sense that many people in NewYork were concerned, many Democrats es-pecially in New York were concerned abouther veracity—that’s the only word——

The President. You mean about whethershe was serious about running?

Q. Whether she was serious.The President. Well, I think that there

are a lot of people who kept saying that, andapparently there was some concern, so Ithought it was a good thing to clear it up.I always think if there’s any doubt and youcan resolve it, you ought to do it. So I thinkshe did that, and I’m proud of her.

Vieques IslandQ. Mr. President, how soon will you hear

from Secretary Cohen on Vieques? Today orFriday?

Q. What kind of a race do you think she’llhave? Do you think it’s going to be tough?

The President. I don’t know. We’veworked hard on this. I think largely the tim-ing will be determined by the facts—that isall the issues that are out there that we’restill working through. Because I feel verystrongly that the people of Puerto Rico havesome legitimate concerns, not only just onthe facts here but on the whole relationshipsince 1983 with the military. I think that Sec-retary Cohen and Secretary Danzig were


very concerned about it. They’ve been ex-tremely responsive, and I think everyone hasworked hard in good faith here.

I must say, I’ve been very impressed bythe work of—and the approach that Gov-ernor Rossello and Congressman Romero-Barcelo have had, and also the people at De-fense. We’ve really worked hard on this ina good spirit. And like I said, I’ve spent anawful lot of time on it myself. And I hopewe can get it worked out. I’m not sure—Ican’t say for sure we will, but we’re makingreal headway, and we’re working hard.

Hillary Clinton’s Senate CampaignQ. What will be your role in your wife’s

campaign?The President. Well, I don’t have any idea

yet. I think—I’ll try to do for her what she’salways done for me. I’ll try to give her goodadvice. But I’ve got a job here, and I’m goingto do it. And I also think that in the beginningof the campaign the people want to see her.They want to know what she’s going to doand how she’s going to do it and what shecan do if the New York citizens decide toput her to work for them. But if there’s someway I can help, I’ll be happy to.

I think she’s got a lot to offer and Ithink——

Q. Have your established your residencyin terms of where you’re going to——

The President. Well, I suppose that is,strictly speaking, a legal question. But wehave a home there, and we’re working ongetting it furnished. Then she’ll have a placeto be when she’s up there campaigning andnot here in the White House. So I thinkwe’re on our way to doing that. But I’m ex-cited about the house; it’s a pretty house.

Drug Enforcement Agency Practices inMexico

Q. Mr. President, with Mexico—the DEAagents in Mexico were intercepted bynarcotraffickers, and they found guns in theircar. That is an illegal matter in Mexico, DEAagents carrying guns in Mexico. Are you con-cerned with the security of those agentsworking in Mexico, and what are you doingto resolve these kinds of violations of inter-national problems with Mexico?

The President. You know, I just got backfrom a 10-day trip. I haven’t been briefed,and I don’t think I can comment now. I’msorry.

President’s Possible Visit to IndiaQ. Mr. President, are you ready to travel

to India now, after traveling the whole world?And the Ambassador of India here in Wash-ington said that now it’s overdue for Presi-dent Clinton to travel to India.

The President. I’ve always planned to gothere, and I hope I can.

Q. The First Lady, when she visited there,said that ‘‘I’ll bring my husband.’’

The President. Yes. Well, I certainly in-tend to go, and I hope we can work it out.

Colombia and NarcotraffickingQ. For the first time in over 9 years is

a citizen of Colombia and nationality to theUnited States—President Pastrana—do youfeel this is a good step? Will this helpyou——

The President. It’s a very, very good step,and a courageous step on his part, and realevidence that we’re committed to working to-gether to fight the narcotics trade. I thinkyou will see early next year, on a completelybipartisan basis, an effort by the UnitedStates to do more to assist Colombia acrossa whole broad range of issues. Colombia isalready the third largest recipient of Amer-ican assistance, but it’s a very large countrywith a very old tradition and a lot of profoundchallenges. And I think you will see next yearthat we’ll be out there together—Repub-licans and Democrats alike—trying to begood partners with the people in Colombiathat are trying to build a safe, decent, harmo-nious society.

Q. Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. President.The President. Happy Thanksgiving.

Seattle RoundQ. Going to Seattle, sir, are you dis-

appointed that other leaders aren’t going?The President. Originally, it was just sup-

posed to be a ministerial, and I thought—just almost at the last minute, I thought, well,since I’m going to be out there a day anda half or a day, that if anybody wants to come,other people who are interested in this, I

2449Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999

ought to give them a chance to come. ButI think we decided to do it so late, it wasjust more of a logistical problem than any-thing else. So, no.

Q. Did you try to talk——The President. No. No, we just explored

whether they wanted to come because I wasgoing to be there. But it was just somethingdone, literally, at the last minute. It was origi-nally supposed to be a ministerial, and Ithought, well, gosh, I don’t want them tothink that I’m out there, and they’re not wel-come. That’s all.

President’s Visit to Turkey andSoutheastern Europe

Q. Are you dead tired? Are you dead tired?The President. No, I had a nice—good

night’s sleep last night. It was a wonderfultrip for America. You know, what we did—I think we made some real progress withGreece and Turkey. I think that the pipelinethat we signed is a great insurance policy fordemocracies everywhere, including theUnited States. I think the fact that we gotan agreement for a new charter for theOSCE, where the Russians acknowledgedthe legitimacy of all nations being concernedabout internal affairs within countries I thinkis good. I think the fact that we got an agree-ment on military forces in Europe which willget the Russian forces out of Georgia andMoldova, and also give them the security ofknowing there are certain limits on howmany foreign forces can be established inother countries, I think all those things arequite good.

So this was a big trip for the United States;long term, our security was substantially ad-vanced. And I hope and pray and believe thatwe really made some progress on helpingGreece and Turkey to work out their dif-ferences and moving Turkey toward mem-bership in the European Union. That’s whatI hope.

Q. The Russians out of Chechnya—do youthink the Russians——

DEA Practices in MexicoQ. [Inaudible]—an agreement to allow the

agents to carry weapons?The President. I just told this gentleman,

I just got back last night, and I got back very

late, and I haven’t been briefed on a lot ofthis. So I think, before I comment on that,I should have a chance to talk.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:50 p.m. in theRose Garden at the White House. In his remarks,he referred to Jim Rieth, chairman, and StuartProctor, Jr., president, National Turkey Federa-tion; and Gov. Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico. ThePresident also referred to Kidwell Farm at FryingPan Park in Fairfax County, VA, future home ofthe turkey. A portion of these remarks could notbe verified because the tape was incomplete.

Digest of OtherWhite House Announcements

The following list includes the President’s publicschedule and other items of general interest an-nounced by the Office of the Press Secretary andnot included elsewhere in this issue.

November 20In the afternoon, the President and Hillary

Clinton traveled from Athens, Greece, toFlorence, Italy.

November 21In the evening, the President traveled to

Sofia, Bulgaria.

November 22In the morning, the President participated

in a wreath-laying ceremony at the BulgarianTomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In the afternoon, the President partici-pated in a discussion with students from theAmerican University of Bulgaria at the Downthe Alley, Behind the Cupboard Restaurant.

The President announced his intention toappoint David J. Hickton as a member ofthe President’s Advisory Committee on theArts of the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts.

November 23In the morning, the President traveled to

Pristina, Kosovo, where he attended twomeetings at the Pristina Airport. First, hemet with U.N. Special RepresentativeBernard Kouchner and the German Com-mander of KFOR, Gen. Klaus Reinhardt,

2450 Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999

* These Public Laws were not received in timefor inclusion in the appropriate issue.

and then he met with the Kosovo Transi-tional Council. Later, the President traveledto Ferizaj, Kosovo.

In the afternoon, the President returnedto Washington, DC.

The President announced the following or-ganizations as winners of the 1999 MalcolmBaldrige National Quality Award:STMicroelectronics, Inc.—Region Americas(Carrollton, TX; manufacturing); BI (Min-neapolis, MN; service); the Ritz-CarltonHotel Company, L.L.C. (Atlanta, GA; serv-ice); and Sunny Fresh Foods (Monticello,MN; small business/manufacturing).

The President declared a major disaster inthe U.S. Virgin Islands and ordered Federalaid to supplement territory and local recov-ery efforts in the area struck by HurricaneLenny on November 17 and continuing.

November 24In the afternoon, the President and Hillary

Clinton went to Camp David, MD.The President announced his intention to

appoint Rhonda Walters as a member of theCommission on Presidential Scholars.

NominationsSubmitted to the Senate

NOTE: No nominations were submitted to theSenate during the period covered by this issue.

Checklistof the White House Press Releases

The following list contains releases of the Officeof the Press Secretary that are neither printed asitems nor covered by entries in the Digest ofOther White House Announcements.

Released November 20

Fact sheet: Measures To Strengthen U.S.-Greek Relations


Transcript of a press briefing by National Se-curity Adviser Samuel Berger and NSC Di-rector for Southeastern Europe Chris Hill onthe President’s discussions with the Presidentand Prime Minister of Bulgaria

Fact sheet: U.S. Initiatives To Assist Bul-garia/Southeast Europe


Transcript of a press briefing by National Se-curity Adviser Samuel Berger and UnitedNations Mission in Kosovo Principal DeputySpecial Representative of the Secretary-Gen-eral Jock Covey on Kosovo

Fact sheet: Winning the Peace in Kosovo:A Progress Report

Fact sheet: U.S. Winterization Efforts inKosovo

Transcript of remarks by Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright to the people of Ferizaj,Kosovo


Transcript of a press briefing by NationalEconomic Council Director Gene Sperlingand U.S. Trade Representative CharleneBarshefsky on the Seattle Round of theWorld Trade Organization

Acts Approvedby the President

Approved November 18*

H.J. Res. 80 / Public Law 106–105Making further continuing appropriations forthe fiscal year 2000, and for other purposes

Approved November 19*

H.J. Res. 83 / Public Law 106–106Making further continuing appropriations forthe fiscal year 2000, and for other purposes

2451Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999

Approved November 20

S. 468 / Public Law 106–107Federal Financial Assistance ManagementImprovement Act of 1999

Approved November 24

H.R. 2454 / Public Law 106–108Arctic Tundra Habitat Emergency Conserva-tion Act

H.R. 2724 / Public Law 106–109To make technical corrections to the WaterResources Development Act of 1999

S. 1235 / Public Law 106–110To amend part G of title I of the OmnibusCrime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968to allow railroad police officers to attend theFederal Bureau of Investigation NationalAcademy for law enforcement training