pd11se95 Remarks at a Breakfast With Religious Leaders...

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    Thank you very much, General Wilson, for your outstanding remarks, 
and even more for your service to our country. Reverend Perkins, Rabbi 
Goldfarb, Reverend Fujitani, Secretary Brown, General Shalikashvili, 
Secretary Perry, Members of Congress, Governor, Mayor, representatives 
of the Allied Nations who are here, and most of all, to the honored 
veterans of World War II: Today we commemorate this day 50 years ago, 
when the most destructive conflict in all human history came to an end. 
On this island, where America's peace was first shattered and then 
restored, we commemorate the triumph of freedom over tyranny. We 
remember the extraordinary sacrifice that victory required. We honor the 
extraordinary generation of Americans who came together to meet the 
challenge of war and then, as General Wilson has said, worked together 
to seize the promise of peace.
    World War II lasted 2,194 days. It stretched from Pearl Harbor to 
St. Petersburg, from the beaches of Normandy to the shores of Iwo Jima. 
It destroyed whole cities. It ravaged countrysides. It cost in total the 
lives of 55 million people: Soldiers killed in battle, civilians and 
prisoners felled by disease and starvation, children buried in the 
rubble of bombed buildings, millions wiped out in the gas chambers. It 
cost the lives of all kinds of people.
    And victory was won by the courage and character of citizen 
soldiers, citizens we remember for their bravery from Britain to Russia, 
from all the islands in the Pacific, island by island, and the battles 
that were won.
    We remember all these Medal of Honor winners who are here among us 
today and humbly express to them our profound gratitude. We know that 
the heroism of millions of other men and women in uniform was never 
adequately recognized. We know that things happened here in the Pacific 
which bred a certain spirit and character and deter- 

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mination which infused the lives of those who served us when they came 
back home.
    The war in the Pacific enjoyed the service, among others, of five 
men who became President of the United States, from the extraordinary 
heroism of President Kennedy and the legendary PT-109 to President Bush 
who was shot down and rescued over the Pacific 51 years ago this very 
day.
    We must never forget both the tragedy and the triumph of that time 
because it holds lessons for all time. We learned in World War II the 
forces of darkness give no quarter; they must be confronted and 
defeated. We learned that the blessings of freedom are never easy or 
free, they must always be defended.
    We learned, too, something remarkable about America. This century, 
marked by so much progress and too much bloodshed, witnessed humanity's 
capacity for the best and the worst in life, is now known as the 
American Century.
    For America, World War II was the pivot point of that century, the 
moment when we understood more than at any other time the core of the 
American spirit, the ties that bind us together, and the duty we owe to 
one another. Americans found in World War II unity in a shared mission, 
strength in a common purpose. More than ever, in World War II, our 
United States were truly united.
    On December 7, 1941, James Daniels, the young Navy pilot born and 
raised on a farm in Missouri, was stationed aboard the U.S.S. 
Enterprise. As the ship steamed back toward Pearl Harbor, a general 
alarm sounded. He ran to his plane. He took to the skies to fly what 
would be the very first American combat mission of the war, because of 
what had happened at Pearl Harbor. On that first mission, he searched in 
vain for the enemy fleet. He said, ``I had no briefing, no map. I didn't 
know what the heck was going on.'' At nightfall, all he saw were the 
remains of our sinking fleet.
    At that time, things looked pretty bleak for the United States and a 
lot of people doubted that our democracy was up to the job. We had a 
standing Army of less than 200,000 men. Seventeen countries had larger 
armies than the United States on December 7, 1941. Our soldiers, believe 
it or not, trained with wooden rifles.
    But our enemies sold short the strength and will of the American 
people, the grocery clerks and farmers, the students and salesmen, the 
short-order cooks and the factory workers, the whites, the blacks, the 
Hispanics, the Asian-Americans who served, including Japanese-Americans, 
the Native Americans, including the famous Navajo code-talkers. Most of 
them didn't know a lot about each other and even less of the world 
beyond our borders. But they had a core of shared traits bred in the 
American bone, determination, optimism, an unshakable dedication to 
freedom, and a faith that right would prevail. They merged their 
disparate voices into a harmonious chorus of defiance. President 
Roosevelt called them the incalculable force of American democracy, a 
free people united by a common purpose.
    At home, they built democracy's arsenal, hundreds of thousands of 
planes, ships, tanks, and trucks. They planted the victory gardens. They 
collected scrap metal. They bought the war bonds. They rationed the gas. 
They learned to do with less in every part of their lives so those in 
uniform could conduct the war. And abroad, in the rain-drenched jungles 
and on rocky ridges, under the seas, over the waves, in the clouds, 
Americans fought on the frontlines of fear.
    We know, and others have said today, that tens of thousands lost 
their lives, leaving their loved ones with only memories: parents who 
would never again see the pride of their lives; wives who would never 
again embrace their husbands; children whose fathers would never again 
take them swimming or see them graduate or know the adults they would 
become.
    Here, in the peace of these sacred grounds where thousands of these 
brave Americans lie at rest, let us now join briefly in a moment of 
silence for those who gave their dreams for our freedom.

[At this point, a moment of silence was observed.]

    Amen.
    Fifty years ago today, on the deck of the aircraft carrier Missouri 
in Tokyo Bay, freedom finally prevailed. On this anniversary of

[[Page 1476]]

V-J Day, we celebrate the end of the war but also the beginning of a new 
American era of peace and progress. At the end of the war, there were 12 
million Americans in uniform, and 7 million were still overseas. We 
brought them home where they applied the lessons learned in war to the 
promise of peace. In peace, as in war, they understood that developing 
and uniting the energy and genius of every American is the best way to 
fulfill our country's potential.
    Before the war, in the darkness of the Great Depression, millions of 
you veterans who are here today and your family members could only have 
dreamed of going on to college, could only have dreamed of building a 
better life than your parents had and of passing an even better one on 
to your children. But after the war, you seized the opportunities a 
grateful nation offered. You took advantage of the GI bill of rights. 
You became graduates. You bought your first home. And we know by the 
lives you've lived and the hopes you've passed on you took 
responsibility to make real your American dreams.
    From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, 16 million American women worked 
assembly lines; 300,000 more wore uniforms, drove trucks in combat 
zones, trained troops, nursed them back to health. After the war, 
America would begin to integrate this extraordinary force into the 
economy and into our Nation's military and change the face of America 
forever.
    From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, thousands of African-Americans 
distinguished themselves in military service, as Tuskegee airmen and 
Triple Nickel paratroopers, Sherman tank drivers, and Navy Seabees. And 
slowly, after the war, America would begin to act on a truth so long 
denied, that if people of different races could serve as brothers abroad 
in uniform, they could surely live as neighbors at home.
    In peace, the World War II generation gave America the security, the 
prosperity, and the progress the rest of us have known and cherished for 
half a century. You understood that you could, together, make the world 
a better place and that you could not permit America again to withdraw 
from the world, from former enemies and allies who were in ruins, from 
the looming threat of the cold war.
    You gave us the Marshall plan. You chose reconciliation over revenge 
and helped to turn former enemies into close allies today. When the 
terrible new tyranny of communism arose, you held it in check until the 
power of democracy, the failure of repression, and the heroic 
determination of people to be free won the cold war. The seeds of 
democracy you planted and nurtured flower today in every corner of the 
globe.
    From the cliffs of Normandy to the beautiful waters of Hawaii, we 
have celebrated over the last year and a half the extraordinary 
achievements of the generation that brought us victory in World War II. 
It is only fitting that here, in the middle of the ocean whose name 
means peace, the place where World War II began and ended for America, 
that we mark the war's end and honor the men and women who saved our 
world.
    We owe it to the World War II generation to remember, but we owe 
them more. For just as freedom has its price, it also has its purpose, 
to enable all people to live up to their God-given potential and to 
continue the march of human progress. We, who are the heirs of their 
legacy, must always be the guardian of their dreams.
    It falls now to us to stand against those who sow the seeds of war 
and to stand with those who take the risks of peace; to create a new 
prosperity for ourselves and for others; to help our people to prepare 
for the challenges of a new century; to strengthen our families, our 
faith, our communities; to give all Americans the opportunity to make 
the most of their lives.
    In order to succeed, we must remain true to the spirit of that 
brilliant time. A time when our people cared for each other and 
sacrificed for others, when our Nation stood united in purpose and 
mighty in spirit as never before, a time when Americans forged the 
strength of their diversity into a community for victory and progress.
    I told you earlier about Jim Daniels, who flew that first flight 
after Pearl Harbor. After Pearl Harbor, Jim took command of a 37-plane 
squadron. He logged 55 combat missions in the Pacific. The pilots under 
his wing came from as many different backgrounds as there are States in 
the Union, country boys who'd never seen a paved road, city dwellers

[[Page 1477]]

who couldn't swim, well-to-do's and ne'er-do-well's. The only thing they 
had in common was that when they started flight school they all didn't 
know how to fly. Jim Daniels remembers that, and I quote, ``It didn't 
matter. We had a job to do, and we had to do it together.''
    On August the 15th, 1945, the very last day of World War II, Jim 
Daniels was in the air again. It was a picture-perfect South Pacific 
morning. Then the word crackled over the radio: The enemy had 
surrendered; come on down. And so Jim Daniels, the American who flew on 
the first day and on the last day of our Nation's war, turned toward 
home.
    Today, Jim Daniels and his wife of 55 years, Helen, are here with us 
today. I'd like to ask them to stand. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels. [Applause] 
Bless you.
    And I would like to ask all the veterans of World War II who are 
here today to stand and be recognized or to wave and be recognized. 
Please stand up. [Applause]
    On August the 15th, 1945, when Jim Daniels brought his plane down he 
descended through the clouds, along with all the other Americans in 
uniform, not toward a dark night of uncertainty but toward a bright 
future of hope, blessed by peace, graced by prosperity, a future in 
which more Americans than ever before would have the opportunity to live 
the lives God meant for them to have. It was a future won by a 
remarkable generation who found unity in war and built us a half century 
of progress in peace.
    Now, my fellow Americans, we stand at the dawn of a new century and 
their challenge has become ours. Their spirit must be ours as well. We 
pledge to carry on their work. And we vow to remember Jim Daniels' 
words, ``We have a job to do, and we have to do it together.'' For us, 
as for them, the future depends upon it.
    May God bless the Americans who brought us to this day, and may God 
bless America. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:21 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
Gen. Lewis H. Wilson, USMC (Ret.), former Commandant of the U.S. Marine 
Corps; Rev. Kenneth D. Perkins, Rabbi Morris Goldfarb, and Rev. Yoshiaki 
Fujitani, who gave the invocations; Gov. Benjamin J. Cayetano of Hawaii; 
and Mayor Jeremy Harris of Honolulu.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
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[Page 1477-1478]
 
Monday, September 11, 1995
 
Volume 31--Number 36
Pages 1469-1530
 
Week Ending Friday, September 8, 1995
 
The President's Radio Address

September 2, 1995

    Good morning. On this Labor Day weekend, I am paying tribute to some 
of the most important labor ever performed on behalf of the American 
people. Hillary and I are in Hawaii, where we have gathered with 
veterans of World War II to honor the bravery and sacrifice of an 
extraordinary generation of Americans.
    Fifty years ago today, freedom triumphed over tyranny because those 
brave men and women, along with their colleagues from the allied 
nations, won a victory for freedom in the great struggle of World War 
II. America and the entire world will forever be in their debt.
    So when the veterans of World War II came home, America was ready to 
pay its debt to our soldiers. Even before the war ended, President 
Roosevelt had already signed the GI bill into law. The GI bill opened 
the doors to college for veterans and helped them to get a start on life 
with a new home. And because our Nation provided that kind of 
opportunity for the World War II veterans, the opportunity to build good 
lives for themselves and their families, they in turn were able to play 
an enormous part in making our Nation the strongest and most prosperous 
on Earth.
    Today, our challenge is to build on the foundation they laid, to 
keep our Nation strong and to give all Americans the opportunity to make 
the most of their own lives as we move into the 21st century.
    A central part of that challenge is our effort to balance the 
Federal budget, to relieve future generations of Americans of the 
crushing debt burden imposed almost entirely in the 12 years before I 
took office. During that 12-year period, our national debt quadrupled. 
In 1993, in our administration's economic program, we passed the bill 
that cut the deficit from $290 billion a year all the way down to $160 
billion in just 3 years. In fact, our budget would be balanced today but 
for the debt run up in the 12 years before I became President.
    Well, now we all have to go the rest of the way to balance that 
budget. But how we do it will say a lot about the values we have

[[Page 1478]]

as a people and how we understand what's in our interest as we move to 
the next century. I have a good plan to balance the budget. But it will 
also give every American the opportunity to build a good life for 
himself or herself and to build better futures for their families.
    Our plan will give our children the best possible education. It will 
keep our streets safer. It will take care of our elderly. It will 
maintain the purity and clarity of our environment. And it will maintain 
the strength of our Armed Forces.
    Our plan also will keep faith with the men and women who have put 
their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we now hold dear. 
For over 50 years, all Americans who joined our military have known that 
they are making a bargain with America and that in return for their 
service to our country our country will stand by them. The young men and 
women who serve today in our military give us some of the best years of 
their lives. And one of the things we tell them is that the longer they 
serve our country, the more our country will owe them when their service 
is done.
    Amazingly, there are those today who believe that in order to 
balance the budget it's all right to break our commitment to a group of 
more than 800,000 men and women who've already served for at least 15 
years. Now when these people joined the armed services, they were told 
that their retirement pay would be based on whatever salary they were 
earning the day they retired. But now in the name of balancing the 
budget, some propose that we scale back their retirement pay in a way 
that will mean cuts for retired military personnel of as much as $200 a 
month.
    But I disagree. I believe that after asking so much of these men and 
women our country should keep its commitment to them and find a better 
path to balance the budget. I have a plan to balance the budget that 
doesn't break our commitment to those who serve us in uniform. I think 
that kind of broken commitment is unconscionable. And as long as I'm 

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