Endorsement Ceremony With Retired Military Leaders Remarks by Governor Bill Clinton Warwick Hotel Philadelphia, PA October 12, 1992 Thank you very much, General and Admiral and all the generals and admirals who are here and those who are not. Let me express my profound gratitude for your support. I want to thank especially Admiral Crowe for his counsel and friendship and all of those who have come to this stage today. I'd also like to acknowledge in particular two who are not here -- General John Wickham, the former chief of staff of the Army, and General Calvin A.H. Waller, the deputy Commander-in-Chief of Operation Desert Storm. During the course of this campaign I have benefitted greatly from a dialogue with many retired senior military personnel. Their experience and their counsel has been useful to me as I've attempted to define what I believe our nation's role should be in the aftermath of the Cold War. We face many challenges in the years ahead, both at home and abroad. And in order to meet the challenges--the challenges of nuclear proliferation, the proliferation of biological, chemical weapons, regional conflicts, unfriendly governments and ethnic unrest around the globe--we need to maintain the world's strongest military. But we also clearly must restructure our forces to face the realities of the post-Cold War era. While I have advocated reducing troop levels in Europe, scaling back the space-based portion of SDI, I would make the military more mobile, with more funds for fast sealift, better airlift, the V- 22 and other systems. Another major challenge we face is how to best draw down our forces while maintaining our strong commitment to top quality military personnel, high morale and first rate training, and maintaining our nation's technological superiority. In order to do that, we have to draw on the experience, the judgment and the knowledge of our military experts, both in and out of uniform, to make sure that this restructuring actually strengthens our country in the post-Cold War era. Those gathered here today collectively have hundreds of years of military service. They've served around the world in defense of our country and in promotion of our interests. I look forward to working with them, with the others who signed this statement who are not here, and other military experts in the future, to make sure we have the strongest military we need. I would also remind you that all of these people have signed a statement which recognizes that in this time, our nation cannot be strong abroad unless we are first strong at home. Unless we can revitalize America's economic engine, we will not be able to maintain our position as the leader of the world. I do not want to withdraw from world leadership. There is now only one military superpower. The stirrings of democracy are seen all around the globe. The problems of a more chaotic world, even if it's one less subject to the threat of nuclear war, are going to be very profound. It is all the more urgent that we get about the business of rebuilding our own economy, of bringing growth into this economy, of bringing jobs into this economy, of getting incomes up. It is only in that way that we will be able to control our federal deficit and maintain the kind of defense that we have to have. So first priority must be to make our country strong at home, to have a strong national defense adequate to the needs of the post-Cold War era, and to be faithful to the longings for democracy and freedom we now see all around the world. I have asked these fine Americans who have come here to endorse me not simply to be a part of a campaign that has three hard weeks to go, but to begin real support on the day after the election, as we move to make America the country it ought to be. Thank you very much. Q: (Inaudible) endorsement from the generals and admirals will help offset the president's attack on you for both the patriotism issue and the draft status issue in his campaign commercials? I certainly believe that their endorsement will be helpful in convincing Americans that I can be Commander-in-Chief. And I have also seen in every crowd, including the one we walked today, people coming up to me telling me they were veterans, they were Vietnam veterans, they were supporting our campaign. They want this country to be strong again, including the disabled veteran who was in the wheel chair with the sign in its lap this morning who greeted me at the beginning of the walk. So I think that what America is saying is we want this election to be about the future of the American people. We want it to be about what's going to happen for the 23-year-olds of today and the future. We want it to be about what's going to happen on the day after the next inauguration. And I think that's what the American people are saying and I'm very frankly very moved by the support that these folks have given me. I think I've only met four or five of the people here on all this whole list before in my life, so they have followed this campaign. They have talked to their friends. They have made a completely independent judgment and I'm grateful for it. Q: Governor Clinton, in the wake of last night's debate, a number of surveys have shown that Ross Perot scored very well. A number of surveys show that in fact, he won the debate. If that pattern continues over the next two debates, do you see that as a potential for danger for your own base? GOVERNOR CLINTON: No. Q: Why not? GOVERNOR CLINTON: Because there's no evidence that anything happened to our base last night. Some polls said we won the debate and everybody thought that I did well, so I feel good about it. But the most important thing is this. What those surveys all show is that two-thirds of the American people are dying for a change. And the kind of change that we need is the one that is offered by the Clinton-Gore ticket. I think our ideas are best. I hope, in the future, debates will get a chance to explore them in greater detail. I think the only realistic alternative to four more years of what we've had is the campaign that I'm a part of. So I feel good about that debate last night. I felt good when I got off the stage. I felt good when I woke up this morning. And I certainly felt good after I shook several hundred hands today and got the feedback from the people. Q: (Inaudible) spent quite a bit of time this morning in the black community, but there's been a lot of concern that you may be paying a lot of attention to the blue collar vote in white communities and using African Americans, kind of taking them for granted and how can we be sure that they're not an (Inaudible) GOVERNOR BILL CLINTON: Well, there's really no basis for that. I mean, if you look at how I've spent my time in this campaign, I've been in the African American community not just in Philadelphia, but I was in Chicago and South-Central Los Angeles, in Cleveland -- I spent a whole day there -- and in many, many other cities in this country, in the general election. I also have appeared before the national conventions of two African American churches, the NAACP, the Urban League, the National Bar Association, the National Black Journalists, the National Black Publishers, the National Conference of Negro Women, all in the general election. There is simply no basis for that. It's interesting that because I have campaigned in placed where Democrats normally don't campaign--in the suburbs, in the blue collar commonties, asking the Reagan Democrats and Republicans and independents and former Perot supporters to come to our campaign, some people have concluded that if I were going after those people, I couldn't be staying with the Democratic base and the African American, the Latino commonties. It's simply not true. I think that's one of those false categories that has simply paralyzed our politics--the idea that you can't be president of all the people. And you know, I've campaigned to end racial discrimination and division in this country. I'm tired of the politics of division and I don't want to be a part of it. But my goal is to campaign to all Americans and to say the same thing and that's what I intend to do for the next three weeks. But I regret any impression that was given, but it's certainly not a part of my strategy. I began in the primaries with a strong outreach to the African American community. They played a major role in my nomination, and I never intend to forget it. Not only that, it's a big part of America's future. Q: Admiral Crowe, do you agree with Governor Clinton that homosexuals should be permitted to serve in the military? ADMIRAL WILLIAM CROWE: Well, I have some strong views on that. I don't agree with the governor altogether, but I'm an adviser to the governor and he and I are going to talk about it. And he has told me to talk to him when I disagree with him and he is a very openminded man and I'm confident that I'll get a fair hearing, whatever my view. Q: (Inaudible) before today that you all agree with his position against the war in Vietnam back in the '60s. Should we infer any connection-- ADMIRAL CROWE: Of course not. I said in the time when I endorsed the Governor down in Little Rock that I have put the trauma of Vietnam behind me. I think this is characteristic of many military officers, certainly those who have had to work in positions of high responsibility. I have worked with many people in the U.S. government, several key figures in the Bush administration, who neither served in the service or in Vietnam. I feel it's much more important to look to the future and not let that one incident or our attitudes in that period govern my decisions, particularly on significant things. And I'm simply not going to do that. I expect people to govern my performance on both my successes and failures over my entire life, and I accord that privilege to other people. Q: What do you think of the president's position that Americans should not demonstrate against government policy on foreign soil? ADMIRAL CROWE: Well, I think it's a little misguided, the idea that you can have these opinions at home but you don't have those opinions overseas. What do you do--go celebrate the other side of the question when you're overseas? And when you're protesting a war, that's not protesting the U.S. government. We live in a free country and we're free here and we're free other places, as well. I think we take great pride in those privileges. At least I do. Q: Are you disappointed in the president? I mean, you were his--are you disappointed in the president, from what you've seen and what you've heard, Admiral? ADMIRAL CROWE: Are you talking about recently, or what? Q: From what you've heard from President Bush, are you disappointed about what he is doing, bringing up the issues of Governor Clinton's-- ADMIRAL CROWE: Well, I said last week on television and I meant it very seriously that I deplore the implication--I deeply deplore the implication that a single individual or a single political party has a monopoly on patriotism. It's not true. My experience knows that. People who've served in the military know that very well. And that I do disagree with. Q: Thank you. Q: (Inaudible) Ross Perot (inaudible). GOVERNOR CLINTON: That's the craziest I ever have said (sic). That's not what I said. Y'all are just trying to make a story out of that. Q: (Inaudible.) GOVERNOR CLINTON: I said I thought he benefitted last night from having come into the race, having not been a part of the conflict for the last few months and having basically no expectations and an open mind. And I thought he had a good debate. That's all I said. Don't make a big mountain out of a molehill on that. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. Q: Do you consider yourself a pacifist? GOVERNOR CLINTON: No. Q: Governor, (inaudible)? GOVERNOR CLINTON: No, but I hope I will be a force for peace in the world, but I'm not a pacifist. Thank you.