Remarks at a ceremony honoring the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson - Pres. Bill Clinton - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, April 19, 1993

April 13, 1993

Thank you very much, Colonel McCarty, General Streeter, my fellow Americans. I want to begin by offering my compliments to the United States Marine Band and the Virginia Glee Club, who have entertained us so well today. I think we should give them another hand. |Applause~

Today we observe the birthday of perhaps the most brilliant of our Founding Fathers in a setting Thomas Jefferson would have very much approved: one that joins the beauty of human architecture with the rapturous side of nature, with the cherry blossoms bursting all around us in a wreath.

Mr. Jefferson used to say with some pride that the Sun never found him in bed, that he always rose early, and he was very proud of the fact that well into his seventies, he could ride a horse several miles a day without tiring. Well, in honor of his birthday, I rose early this morning and finding no horses around the White House, I ran over here and jogged around this magnificent Tidal Basin, seeing many of my fellow citizens who were here even before me, at the dawn, to see this magnificent sight.

Today we have come to lay our wreaths in honor of Thomas Jefferson, as his likeness towers behind us. And yet, no amount of bronze can capture the measure of the man who helped to cut a path for our Nation, who personally forged the principles that continue to guide us as Americans and as lovers of freedom.

As has already been said, this monument was dedicated a half a century ago, on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday by President Franklin Roosevelt, a worthy heir to the spirit of Jefferson. Were Jefferson here today, I think he would not want very much to talk about the America of his time; instead, he would be talking about the America of our time. He would certainly not be at a loss for ideas about what we ought to be doing, for he was a man blessed with an eye for invention, an ear for music, the hands of a farmer, the mind of a philosopher, the voice of a statesman, and the soul of a searcher for truth.

The genius of Thomas Jefferson was his ability to get the most out of today while never taking his eye off tomorrow, to think big while enjoying the little things of daily life. Perhaps most important, he understood that in order for us to preserve our timeless values, people have to change. And free people need to devise means by which they can change profoundly and still peacefully. If you go back to this monument after the ceremony, you will see on the wall in part the following quotation: "Laws and institutions must go hand-in-hand with the progress of the human mind as that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made and new truths discovered, and manners and opinions change. With the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times."

A very modern statement from our third President. In his own time, the pace of change was enormous. Just think back, during Jefferson's Presidency the steamboat made its debut, revolutionizing travel. The importing of slaves was banned, paving the way toward emancipation and the realignment of society. And he acquired the Louisiana Purchase for the then massive sum of $15 million. Turns out it was an awfully sound investment. It doubled the size of our Nation, it opened up a new frontier, and it enabled me to be born in the United States of America, and many of you as well, I suspect.

But believe it or not, every step along the way, Thomas Jefferson was opposed. There were people who opposed the Louisiana Purchase, people who opposed his then radical conception of human liberty, and both the power of individuals and the limitations of the Government. He fought, and he prevailed.

I wonder what he would say about our time, in which the pace of change is even greater. I think he would take great pride in the fact that we have now found ways to literally double the volume of knowledge every few years. But I think he would be terribly disappointed that our understanding in this country of the science and mathematics that he loved so much is still so limited and so inadequate when compared to that of many other nations.

I think he would be delighted that the principles of freedom for which he stood all his life, finally resulted in the end of the cold war and the demise of communism. But I think he would be deeply disappointed that ethnic and racial and other hatreds had kept this world such a dangerous and unstable place, in ways that are blatantly unreasonable, as he defined reason.

I think he would be proud of the technological and economic advances of this time, of the increasing interconnection of peoples across national borders in a global economy. But I think he would be profoundly disturbed that even the richest countries are now having enormous difficulty in finding enough jobs for their people, including his own beloved United States, and that so much technological advance seems to bring the destruction of much of the environment, about which he cared so deeply.