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Remarks by the President at Gold Medal Ceremony for Fr. Hesburgh (7/13/00)

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The Briefing Room
                              THE WHITE HOUSE

                       Office of the Press Secretary

                                                                  For
Immediate Release                             July 13, 2000


                         REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                   AT CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL CEREMONY
                   FOR FATHER THEODORE M. HESBURGH, CSC

                                  Rotunda
                                The Capitol


2:40 P.M. EDT


     THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker; Senator
Daschle, Senator Thurmond, Senator Bayh, Senator Lugar, Congressman Roemer.
Thank you all for your efforts today.  Chaplain Coughlin and distinguished
members of the Congress and, of course, Chaplain Ogilvie.  I'd like to say
a special word of welcome to the Notre Dame Glee Club, who sang the
National Anthem without benefit of musical background.  Most of us need the
music to cover up the mistakes we make, and they were wonderful.

     Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking you for your gracious
leadership on this and many other occasions like this, and especially
today.  I want to also thank you for your work for democracy and freedom
and helping to save it in the oldest republic in Latin America, Colombia.
I just signed the legislation that you passed in a bipartisan way, and I
thank you for that.

     I want to say, I have heard many speeches today about a man I admire
very much -- a servant and child of God, a genuine American patriot and a
citizen of the world.  And a person that Hillary and I were fortunate to
get to know several years before we moved here to Washington.  Father, she
told me this morning to tell you hello and congratulations.  We hope that
now that you've got one more award you'll still be nice to all your
ordinary friends who admire you so much.  (Laughter.)

     In 1987, when Father Hesburgh retired after 35 years as President of
Notre Dame, the New York Times wrote this:  "The Hesburgh era is ended and
the Hesburgh legend begins."  Well, today, we have seen the legend growing.
We've heard a lot about the recognition of his accomplishments, beginning
with President Johnson's bestowal of the Medal of Freedom and going through
these degrees.  You know, this is getting to be like a fish story, there
will be 200 degrees before we finish this ceremony today.  (Laughter.)

     But I will say again, I think that all of your friends, the people who
have known you over the years admired everything you've done for civil
rights and world peace and for Notre Dame.  I'd say that the most important
thing about you, and the greatest honor you will ever wear around your
neck, is the collar you have worn for 57 years.  From the age of six, you
wanted to be a priest; in his words, a mediator between God and humankind.
A priest belongs to no one, he said, so he can belong to everyone.

     Father's first job at Notre Dame was Chaplain of the Married Veterans
who enrolled on the GI Bill.  He said he loved the job -- he had two or
three baptisms every Sunday, and he bargained with the local obstetricians
to get volume discounts for Notre Dame babies.  (Laughter.)

     One of his charges rushed into delivery only six months pregnant; the
baby was taken by caesarean with a heartbeat but no breath.  The medical
team could not bring breath.  But the instant Father Hesburgh baptized the
baby with cold baptismal water, the baby began to cry loudly.  That
premature baby is now a six-foot, two-inch graduate of the University of
Notre Dame.

     Father Hesburgh never let one value be an excuse for not achieving
another.  You heard Senator Daschle say that he gave Notre Dame a great
university with a great football team.  Once he was criticized by some
clergy for his emphasis on academic improvement, and he said this:  "Piety
is no substitute for competent scholarship."

     The legendary Robert Maynard Hutchins of the University of Chicago
once said that Father Hesburgh's improvements at Notre Dame constituted,
and I quote, "one of the most spectacular developments in higher education
in the last 25 years."

     But the thing that was most important is that he saw himself as a
child and servant of God.  The thing that I have always been most impressed
by is that even as President of Notre Dame, he never stopped being a
priest.  The light from his third-floor office under the golden dome was
often glowing late at night.  Students seeking counseling or conversation
could climb the fire escape, tap on the window, and get a post-midnight
visit.  He called it his "open window policy."  I'm thinking of adopting it
now.

     Once at Notre Dame, a young Jewish student from Boston left campus two
weeks into the semester because two freshmen hurt him deeply with their
anti-Semitic slurs.  The freshmen were sent to Father Hesburgh.  Here is
what he did:  pack your bags, he said, and go to Boston; you either
convince that young man to come back to Notre Dame, or you don't come back
to Notre Dame.  They all came back and they all graduated.  Now, that is
leadership.

     I say again, Father, we value everything you have done and all your
public service.  We know it is built on the bedrock of faith.  For, faith,
in your words, enables us to rise above ourselves with the help of God.

     For all of us who have been privileged to know you in any way, in any
of your many capacities, the thing that we know is that your greatness,
which led to all this achievement, was rooted in your peculiar
understanding of our common humanity and our common tie as children of God.
You have done your church, your country, your family and your friends very
proud, and we thank you.  (Applause.)

                          END                    2:45 P.M. EDT


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