Remarks at the Pennsylvania State University Graduate School Commencement in State College, Pennsylvania

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, May 20, 1996

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for that very warm welcome. Thank you, President Spanier. Thank you, Mr. Arnelle, Dr. Brighton, Dr. Erickson, Mr. Hollander. I thank the University Brass for playing so well for me. It made me want to take them back to the White House.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to be here for many very personal reasons, many of which are obvious. I'm very honored to receive the University Scholars Medal and to be the first non-Penn State alumnus to receive it.

As it was said earlier, my family has a long history with this State and with this great university. Hillary's family is from Scranton and both my father-in-law and brother-in-law attended Penn State and both played football here. Back in the thirties, according to my father-in-law, he had to play offense and defense. [Laughter] That's sort of what I do, so I understand that. [Laughter]

I have had some other good personal associations with this university, and for all those I am very grateful. I am grateful for the establishment of a scholarship at the college of education in my late father-in-law's name. It means a great deal to my wife and to me and to our daughter. And I am grateful to be here because of what Penn State represents.

This school was made a land-grant school in the darkest hours of our Nation's history, because President Lincoln and his contemporaries knew even then that our Nation's future depended upon the widest possible dispersion of knowledge. Though faced with the possibility of the very union of our States breaking up, our leaders were still thinking about the future. And to all the graduates here with advanced degrees, I say, a great nation must always be thinking about tomorrow. Therefore, even as you relish this day, I ask you to join me just for a few moments in thinking about tomorrow, for you will live a great deal of your lives in the 21st century, the most remarkable age of possibility in human history.

I have been told that today every student at Penn State is given an E-mail account and that more than one million E-mail messages are sent every day. That is just a taste of the world to come, a dazzling, new global economy, giving more and more people a chance to work with their minds instead of their backs throughout a career, many of you in jobs that you have not even invented yet. You will have incredible choices in where you live and how you work. You will be able to raise your children in greater peace and freedom and in the most diverse and vibrant democracy history has ever known. At least that's what I want our country to be like as we move into the 21st century.

Almost 5 years ago at my alma mater, Georgetown, I gave three speeches about my vision of America's future in the 21st century and a strategy for how I thought we ought to achieve that future. I said then and I'd like to repeat now that my vision is pretty simple and straightforward: I want an America in which all Americans, without regard to their race or their gender or their station in life, who are willing to work hard have a chance to live out their dreams. I want an America that remains the world's strongest force for peace and freedom and prosperity. And I want an America that is no longer being driven apart by our differences but instead is coming together around our shared values and respect for our diversity.

As my wife says in her book, I really believe it takes a village of all of our people working together to make the most of our lives. To build that kind of America, we have to be able to honestly meet our challenges and protect our values. We have to find ways to create these opportunities for all Americans, We have to find ways to build strong communities. And we have got to find ways to get more personal responsibility from all of our citizens. Opportunity, responsibility, community: these are values that have made our country strong, that have built great institutions like Penn State, that guide my actions as President. I believe they must guide our Nation as we prepare for the tomorrows of the 21st century.

What I want to do here and in the other commencement addresses I will be making is to talk about what has occurred in the last 4 years and, even more importantly, what must still occur if we are going to realize this vision, to give opportunities to everybody willing to work for them, to keep our country the strongest force for peace and freedom, and to rebuild our sense of unity and community around a shared ethic of responsibility.

Compared to 4 years ago, there is clearly more opportunity, a much lower deficit, increased access to education, a renewed commitment to a clean environment and safer streets, 8 1/2 million new jobs, low inflation, record numbers of new exports in businesses. But we all know there are also a lot of problems in this new economy, a lot of uncertainty, and much more to do to give all our people a chance to succeed.

Compared to 4 years ago the world is more peaceful and safer. The nuclear threat has diminished. Peace and freedom are taking hold from Haiti to South Africa to Northern Ireland to Bosnia to the Middle East. But there is a lot more to do to make the American people safe from the 21st century threats of terrorism, organized crime and drug-running, weapons proliferation and global environmental threats.