Paul Nitze's legacy: for a new world - Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz - Transcript

US Department of Defense Speeches, April 15, 2004

Winning will require all those qualities that Paul Nitze embodies--boldness, vision, balance and persistence. As President Bush has said, victory "will take time and require sacrifice, yet we will do what is necessary. We will spend what is necessary to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror to promote freedom and to make our own nation more secure."

And our greatest strength is what we stand for. Our own experience teaches us that when we support those who advocate the values of human dignity, equal justice, respect for women and religious tolerance--all the things that this country stands for--things can change and they do change.

And I will quote one last time from NSC-68. With remarkable prescience it said, 54 years ago: "The idea of freedom is the most contagious idea in history." We will win this war, like the previous great challenges this country has faced, as long as we remain committed, like Paul Nitze, to "defending freedom where it seeks to flourish."

In 1985 when Paul was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this is how the citation read: "Peace and equilibrium are terms we associate with international affairs and yet they also describe Paul Nitze, the man who seeks them. He is consistently shrewd, but never cynical; impressively erudite, but never pedantic; immensely dignified, but never stuffy; always hopeful, and yet ever realistic. We're happy, then, to honor him for what he has done and, even more," it said, "for what he is."

What Paul Nitze is. Paul Nitze is a wise man who helped guide us through some of our most difficult and dangerous challenges.

As another generation takes up his torch, let them keep in mind that appeal to balance, including the balance between the opposites of pride and humility. As Paul put it, "both are essential"--I think this was to his son's prep school commencement class--"both are essential, humility before God, before nature, before mankind; pride in one's faith, in one's country and in one's association with one's fellow man. Only with humility," he said, "can men gain wisdom and a true sense of relationship with God and with mankind, but only with a due sense of pride in oneself, in one's background and in one's country can one act with courage and effectiveness."

When Paul was still a mere youngster of about 80, George Shultz reflected on his courage and his effectiveness and said, "Wise men come and wise men go, but one wise man goes on and on."

So let me conclude with a personal message for my friend, Paul. Through your own work, and in the many graduates of SAIS who've assumed leadership roles in international affairs for some six decades now, Paul, we may certainly say that America and the world have been and will be safer, thanks to you. For any American hero, there is no higher praise, no greater legacy and no better way in which your inspiration can continue to go on and on and on. Thank you. [Applause.]

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