Remarks at the Christening Ceremony for the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan in Newport News, Virginia

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 12, 2001

March 4, 2001

Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. Mr. Secretary, thank you for those kind words. I picked the right man to be the Secretary of Defense at this time in history.

Mrs. Reagan, it is an honor to be with you. Reagan family members, friends of the great President, Laura and I are honored to be here.

We join with the Governor and Senator of this State in asking for God's blessings on those who lost their lives yesterday and for their families.

Bill, thank you very much for your hospitality. Secretary Powell and Secretary Abraham, Leader Lott, Chairman Warner--I can't tell if you're trying to retire me early--[laughter]--or influence my behavior.

Senator Allen, Governor Gilmore, Representative Scott, and Members of Congress, Justice Kennedy, Admiral Clark, welcome. But most of all, I want to welcome the men and women of the United States Navy, including the officers and crew who will soon be on the Ronald Reagan.

Looking at the bow of this great ship, we think of those who will sail it and of those who built it, and to this ship, 6 years in the making, we have put the finest of American workmanship. On board this ship we'll put the finest sailors in the world, and upon this ship we have put the finest of American names.

Forty-nine years ago, another outstanding American took that name herself. Mrs. Reagan, I know today is your 49th anniversary, wedding anniversary. Since your wedding day, you've seen the name Reagan written large in many places, from theater marquees to the archways of great buildings, but there is something especially fitting in the place it holds today, on the newest ship in the greatest Navy in the world. When we send her off to sea, it is certain that the Ronald Reagan will meet with rough waters as well as smooth and headwinds as well as fair. But she will sail tall and strong, like the man we have known.

A man cannot be strong forever, but if he is very fortunate, life will send him a partner to be strong when he is not. In a life of honors, Ronald Reagan has always valued one honor above all, the love of Nancy. It is a love that believes all, hopes all, and endures all. Mrs. Reagan, anyone who has seen you together knows how much you mean to him. I want you to know how much your care and love for him means to America.

It was said of a great architect centuries ago, "If you want to seek his monument, look around you." That is true of Ronald Reagan. We live in a world shaped in so many ways by his will and heart. As President, Ronald Reagan believed without question that tyranny is temporary, and the hope of freedom is universal and permanent; that our Nation has a unique goodness and must remain uniquely strong; that God takes the side of justice, because all our rights are His own gifts. The strength of these beliefs gave strength to our allies and hope to political prisoners and courage to average citizens in oppressed nations and leadership to our military and to our country.

Some achievements fade with the years. Ronald Reagan's achievements grow larger with the passing of time. He had a profound vision of America's role in the world as one of peace through strength. And because of Ronald Reagan, the world saw America as a strong and peaceful nation.

Today's world is different from the one he faced and changed. We are no longer divided into armed camps, locked in a careful balance of terror. Yet, freedom still has enemies. Our present dangers are less concentrated and more varied. They come from rogue nations, from terrorism, from missiles that threaten our forces, our friends, our allies, and our homeland. Our times call for new thinking. But the values Ronald Reagan brought to America's conduct in the world will not change.

So as we dedicate this ship, I want to rededicate American policy to Ronald Reagan's vision of optimism, modesty, and resolve. Ronald Reagan's optimism defined his character, and it defined his Presidency. More than a habit of mind, this optimism sprang from deep confidence in the power and future of American ideals. Great democracies, he believed, are built on the strong foundation of consent and human dignity; any Government built on oppression is built on sand. The future, he proclaimed, belongs to the free.

That belief has lost none of its power to inspire hope and change. Around the world today, the expectation of freedom is fed by free markets and expanded by free trade and carried across borders by the Internet. And nations that try to restrict these freedoms are in a losing battle with liberty.

America, by nature, stands for freedom. And we must always remember, we benefit when it expands. So we will stand by those nations moving towards freedom. We'll stand up to those nations who deny freedom and threaten our neighbors or our vital interests, and we will assert emphatically that the future will belong to the free.

At the same time President Reagan understood that this confidence should never be arrogance. No one was better at using the bully pulpit of the Presidency, but under his leadership America was never a bully.