Statement on Appointment of Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff December 7, 1993

Administration of William J. Clinton, 1993 / Dec. 8 Statement on Appointment of Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff December 7, 1993 I've known Phil for a long time and believe NOTE: This statement was included in a White that his integrity, personal qualities, and record House announcement naming Office of Manage- of management success will be a genuine asset ment and Budget Deputy Director for Manage- to the White House. ment Philip Lader as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff. Appointment for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts December 7, 1993 The President announced today that he in- truly remarkable,'' said the President. ``Just as tends to appoint Lew R. Wasserman to the impressive is his commitment to public service. Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Cen- The Kennedy Center, one of our country's ter for the Performing Arts, Smithsonian Institu- greatest artistic institutions, will benefit from his tion. The Kennedy Center's 30-member Board trusteeship.'' of Trustees is responsible for the Center's main- tenance and administration, including oversight of its $75 million annual budget. ``Lew Wasserman's long and distinguished ca- NOTE: A biography of the appointee was made reer in the entertainment industry has been available by the Office of the Press Secretary. Remarks on Signing the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act December 8, 1993 Thank you very much. I'm delighted to see when we decided to come out for NAFTA, he all of you here. I thank Speaker Foley and the was a strong supporter of that position in our Republican leader, Bob Michel, for joining us personal meetings, long before we knew wheth- today. There are so many people to thank, and er we would even be here or not. the Vice President did a marvelous job. I do I also would be remiss if I did not personally want to mention, if I might, just three others: thank both Mickey Kantor and Mack McLarty Laura Tyson, the Chair of the Council of Eco- for the work they did, especially in the closing nomic Advisers; Bob Rubin, head of my national days with the Mexican trade representatives and economic team; and one Republican Member the Mexican Government. I'd also like to wel- of the House that wasn't mentioned, Congress- come here the representatives from Mexico and man David Dreier, who went with me on a Canada and tell them they are, in fact, welcome rainy day to Louisiana to campaign for NAFTA. here. They are our partners in the future that There are many others that I might mention, we are trying to make together. but I thank all of you for what you have done. I want to say a special word of thanks to I also can't help but note that in spite of the Cabinet because we have tried to do some- all the rest of our efforts, there was that magic thing that I have not always seen in the past. moment on Larry King, which made a lot of And we try to get all of our Departments and difference. And I thank the Vice President for all of our Cabinet leaders to work together on that and for so much else. In the campaign, 2139 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 08:07 Oct 23, 2000 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00843 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\93PAP2\PAP_TEXT txed01 PsN: txed01 Dec. 8 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1993 all the things that we all care about. And a of the terms of NAFTA, which basically is a lot of them, therefore, had to take a lot of trade agreement between the United States, personal time and business time away from their Mexico, and Canada, but because it became a very busy schedules to do this. I thank the symbolic struggle for the spirit of our country former leaders of our Government that were and for how we would approach this very dif- mentioned and our military. I can't help but ficult and rapidly changing world dealing with noting, since General Powell is here, that every our own considerable challenges here at home. senior military officer with whom I spoke about I believe we have made a decision now that NAFTA was perhapsÐthey were as a group per- will permit us to create an economic order in haps the most intensely supportive of any group the world that will promote more growth, more I spoke with. And I think it is because they equality, better preservation of the environment, have in their bones the experience of the world and a greater possibility of world peace. We of the last several decades. And they knew we are on the verge of a global economic expansion could not afford to turn away from our leader- that is sparked by the fact that the United States ship responsibilities and our constructive in- at this critical moment decided that we would volvement in the world. And many of them, compete, not retreat. of course, still in uniform, were not permitted In a few moments, I will sign the North to say that in public and should not have been. American free trade act into law. NAFTA will But I think I can say that today I was profoundly tear down trade barriers between our three na- personally moved by the remarks that they tions. It will create the world's largest trade made. zone and create 200,000 jobs in this country I do want to say, also, a special word of thanks by 1995 alone. The environmental and labor side to all the citizens who helped us, the business agreements negotiated by our administration will leaders, the labor folks, the environmental peo- make this agreement a force for social progress ple who came out and worked through thisÐ as well as economic growth. Already the con- many of them at great criticism, particularly in fidence we've displayed by ratifying NAFTA has the environmental movementÐand some of the begun to bear fruit. We are now making real working people who helped it. And a group progress toward a worldwide trade agreement that was quite pivotal to our success that I want so significant that it could make the material to acknowledge specifically are the small busi- gains of NAFTA for our country look small by ness people, many of whom got themselves orga- comparison. nized and came forward and tried to help us. Today we have the chance to do what our They made a real difference. parents did before us. We have the opportunity And they've been mentioned, but I couldn't to remake the world. For this new era, our let this moment go by without thanking my good national security we now know will be deter- friend Bill Daley and Congressman Bill Frenzel mined as much by our ability to pull down for- for their work in helping to mobilize this effort. eign trade barriers as by our ability to breach Congressman Frenzel wrote me a great letter distant ramparts. Once again, we are leading. the other day and sent me one of his famous And in so doing, we are rediscovering a funda- doodles that he doodled around the NAFTA mental truth about ourselves: When we lead, legislation, which I am now having framed. But we build security, we build prosperity for our they sort of represented the bipartisan spirit that own people. encaptured the Congress, encaptured the coun- We've learned this lesson the hard way. Twice try in the cause to change. I hope that we before in this century, we have been forced can have more than that in the days and months to define our role in the world. After World and years ahead. It was a very fine thing. War I we turned inward, building walls of pro- This whole issue turned out to be a defining tectionism around our Nation. The result was moment for our Nation. I spoke with one of a Great Depression and ultimately another hor- the folks who was in the reception just a few rible World War. After the Second World War, moments ago who told me that he was in China we took a different course: We reached outward. watching the vote on international television Gifted leaders of both political parties built a when it was taken. And he said you would have new order based on collective security and ex- had to be there to understand how important panded trade. They created a foundation of sta- this was to the rest of the world, not because bility and created in the process the conditions 2140 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 08:07 Oct 23, 2000 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00844 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\93PAP2\PAP_TEXT txed01 PsN: txed01 Administration of William J. Clinton, 1993 / Dec. 8 which led to the explosion of the great American nomic policies that permit productivity to find middle class, one of the true economic miracles expression not simply in higher incomes for our in the whole history of civilization. Their businesses but in more jobs and higher incomes statecraft stands to this day: the IMF and the for our people. That means more customers. World Bank, GATT, and NATO. There is no other way, not for the United States In this very auditorium in 1949, President or for Europe or for Japan or for any other Harry Truman signed one of the charter docu- wealthy nation in the world.

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