Remarks and a question-and-answer session with students at St. Petersburg State University in St. Petersburg

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 3, 2002

But it really began in the times of the Revolutionary War in the United States. At that time, the Crown of England appealed to Catherine the Great and asked for support in quelling the rebellion in the United States. And the Russian sovereign turned and said, that's not what we're all about, and declared a military neutrality vis-a-vis the war. And this neutrality played a significant role in the--allowing the United States to gain its independence and gain its foundation.

And today I'm going to present to President George Bush two very interesting documents, two original documents having to do with the earliest days of our diplomatic correspondence between our two countries.

The world was changing over time; our relations were changing over time. Today, for instance, the United States is our number one trading partner for Russia, both in terms of the number of goods that are traded and also in terms of the accumulated investments that we have from the United States in Russia. The United States is a great and powerful power and has an economy that is powerful enough to a great extent to determine world economics.

For decades, we voluntarily, on our own, created walls and barriers around ourselves and decided to live alone within these walls. And in a time when high technology is absolutely mandatory to the beneficial development of any country, this circumstance today is just unforgivable. And today, in the realms of national security, international security, economics, trade, we now are beginning to blend in together with the world economy at large.

You can call our relations today a multi-component kind of a relationship depending on many, many different aspects. But I want to name the one and most important aspect. Over the last year and a half or 2 years, what we've experienced is a huge growth in confidence and trust manifested between our two countries. And it is precisely this distinguishing characteristic which colors our relationship.

If you're sitting next to the First Lady of the United States, I can't say you can't have a question. [Laughter]

Leadership

Q. The lady is from the Management Department, and she addresses her question to both of you gentlemen: To make up a manager, many factors are involved. What were those factors that shaped you as leaders, as managers?

President Bush. I understand a leader can't do everything. And so, therefore, a leader must be willing to surround himself, in my case, with smart, capable, honorable people. A leader must be willing to listen, and then a leader must be decisive enough to make a decision and stick by it.

In politics, in order to lead, you've got to know what you believe. You have to stand on principle. You have to believe in certain values, and you must defend them at all costs. A politician who takes a poll to figure out what to believe is a politician who is constantly going to be trying to lead through--it's like a dog chasing its tail.

And finally, any leader must--in order to lead, must understand, must have a vision about where you're going. You must set clear goals and convince people of those goals and constantly lead toward those goals.