My assigned task today is a little bit daunting, because it seems that just about everything that could be said about President Clinton has been said.  But no one could be more famous.  And yet, it is not among the famous that the most compelling testimony to his accomplishments may be found.  For that, we should turn to the children of Sarajevo who have grown up in safety because this man put a halt to ethnic cleansing; or to the factory workers in Tanzania and Malawi whose families have food on the table because President Clinton fought for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act; or to the people of Northern Ireland, Catholic and Protestant alike, who are more secure because this President helped to heal centuries of bitterness with the medicine of tolerance and a formula for peace; or to the young men and women of Kosovo who owe their lives to the leadership of the President and to NATO; or to the AIDS victims in Africa who have access to anti-viral medicine because former President Clinton, far from retiring after eight years in office, followed by a heart operation, remains as dynamic and caring as ever. 

To take the measure of this man, we should listen as well to the storm victims in Asia who are rebuilding their lives with the help of President Clinton and his distinguished partner, the senior President Bush.

Perhaps it’s because he grew up in a segregated Southern town, but this champion of improved race relations in America became, while in office, a champion of tolerance and a foe of suffering across the globe.  Perhaps it’s because of his contact with Senator Fulbright, also an idealistic realist or a realistic idealist.  Historians will render their own judgment on the record of the two Clinton terms.  And when they do, I hope they will incorporate the full measure of the man.

To those of us who saw him up close, every day, under sometimes unbelievable strain, he was not just a leader of endless creativity, with an encyclopedic mind.  He was and still is more than that, tirelessly taking on new struggles with the Global Initiative.  He is the embodiment of many of the qualities that reflect America at its best:  resilience, optimism, a willingness to work with others, a passion for doing what is right, and a conviction that so long as we are true to our values no obstacle can block us nor any enemy defeat us.

It is usually a mistake to try to sum up a nation’s foreign policy with the kind of slogan that fits on a bumper sticker.  But as President, Bill Clinton believed in one principle that made sense both at home and overseas.  And that principle was putting people first.  A principle that matches perfectly with the demands of our time, the needs of the world, the values of America, the spirit of the Fulbright Prize, and the courage, conscience, and commitment of William Jefferson Clinton.  Thank you all very much.