"Most of all," the president said, "we need to maintain the will to lead, to provide the kind of American leadership that for 50 years has brought friends and allies to our sides while moving mountains around the world."
Clinton's remarks, in a speech at Georgetown University, sharpened a foreign policy debate roiled by the Senate's rejection of a landmark nuclear test-ban treaty. The Republican-engineered defeat was a major embarrassment for Clinton and highlighted
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| AP PHOTO President Clinton celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall in a speech at Georgetown University yesterday. |
The president's speech coincided with today's anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the East-West barrier of barbed wire and cinder blocks guarded by machine guns, a floodlit mine field and German shepherd guard dogs. Clinton appeared on stage with Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Slovak Republic Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, who expressed appreciation for the United States' role in freeing Eastern Europe from the grip of communism.
"Thank you, America," Zeman said.
Clinton credited his predecessors - Republicans and Democrats alike - for meeting the challenge and embraced the once controversial verbal attack of former President Ronald Reagan against the Kremlin.
"It took conviction - the conviction of President Reagan, who said so plainly what many people on the other side of the wall had trouble understanding, that the Soviet empire was evil and the wall should be torn down; the conviction of President Carter, who put us on the side of dissidents and kept them alive to fight another day."
Clinton said most Americans share his belief that the United States should continue to use its influence in problems ranging from China to Chechnya, promoting peace and prosperity around the world.
11-09-99
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