Remarks in Bowling Green, Ohio

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 2, 1996

The President. Thank you so much. Thank you for that absolutely wonderful welcome, You know, Hillary left us yesterday to go on to Chicago, her hometown, to get things ready for us, and we always call - Chelsea and I do - at night and give a report. I can tell you what our report tonight will be: You should have seen the crowd in Bowling Green. [Applause] Thank you. Wow!

I want to thank all of you for being here. I want to say a special word of thanks to Representative Marcy Kaptur. There is not a more aggressive advocate for the people she represents in the entire United States Congress in either party than Marcy Kaptur. She does a great job for you.

I want to thank John Glenn for his many years of service to our country and the Marine Corps and the space program and the United States Senate. I want to thank him for the work he's done on the economy, on foreign policy, on defense. I want to thank him for worrying about our children being able to grow up in a safe world. And I want to just cite two things.

It is true, as Senator Glenn said, that while some of our friends in the other party would criticize Government, they did much to downsize it. We have the smallest Federal Government since John Kennedy was President. It's very efficient, and we didn't have to throw a lot of people in the street to do it. And we saved billions of dollars of your tax money, thanks in no small measure because of the leadership of John Glenn.

I will also tell you when you hear a word like nuclear proliferation, it may not sound like a big old word, and you can't imagine what it means. It means, among other things, that tonight and in the last 2 years for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, there is not a single nuclear weapon pointed at the children of the United States, thanks in no small measure to John Glenn.

I've got a few folks I'd like to recognize. I brought a slew of Ohioans over here on my right, your left, but one of them in particular I want to recognize, your former State treasurer and now our national Treasurer, Mary Ellen Withrow. She's doing a great job. Thank you, Mary Ellen, for coming with us.

Thank you, Mayor Hoffman, for welcoming me here and for your gift, sir. And thank you, city council president Joyce Kepke, for presenting the gift and making me feel so welcome here. Thank you, county chairman Al Baldwin, for your work in getting this magnificent crowd up.

I want to thank some candidates who are here beginning with Annie Saunders. Thank you for running for Congress. Thank you, Chris Redfern, for running for the State senate. Thank you, Alvin Perkins, Wood County commissioner candidate. Thank you John Garand, for running for prosecuting attorney here.

And now I want all of you to recognize these young people who are here because they won the poster contest. They just came up to see me, and they're your kids, and they're terrific. Let's give them a big hand. [Applause] Thank you.

I want to say I love all these posters. I like all the posters that I see. I thank you for the Hillary poster. And I thank you for the poster back there that says, "The President cares for kids." Thank you. I like that Bill of Rights poster. But now that I'm 50 years old, it may not be truth in advertising anymore. [Laughter]

Yesterday, Chelsea and I started out with Hillary in West Virginia. We went into Kentucky; then we came into Ohio. We've had a wonderful day on this train. I wanted to take this train through the heartland to Chicago because I wanted to see people like you, the people I've been working for for the last 4 years, on the way to accept for the second time the nomination of my party for President.

I also - I also very much wanted you to see us on this train because it's not only on the right track to Chicago, this train is on the right track to the 21st century, and I want you to keep us on it.

Folks, 4 years ago I came before the American people - and it is true what Senator Glenn said - Ohio put me over the top in the nomination and put me over the top in the general election. And I hope you will do it again. But when I came before you I had never before served in office in Washington. I spent most of my time in places like Bowling Green. I identified with schools like Bowling Green State - and I thank you for the music and the cap. And Dr. Ribeau, and anyone else who's here from the university, i thank you for the music, the cap, the jogging outfit.

But I thank you most of all for the military aide who's here with me tonight. You may know, the President gets a distinguished military aide from each branch of the service. My Coast Guard military aide, Lieutenant Commander June Ryan, is here with me tonight, a graduate of Bowling Green State. She's over there somewhere. Where is she? Come here, June. You did a good job, didn't you? Give her a hand. [Applause] Thank you. She's an Iowa farm girl. There aren't many oceans bordering Iowa, but somehow she made it into the Coast Guard, and I know you all gave here a good start here.