Bill Clinton: “President and Mrs. Walesa, ladies and gentlemen, it is a tremendous honor for me and for our party of Americans and for…”

“President and Mrs. Walesa, ladies and gentlemen, it is a tremendous honor for me and for our party of Americans and for my family to be here with you in Poland. In this short time, we have felt already your hospitality and friendship. And we see that, just as you rebuilt this wonderful city after World War II, you are now rebuilding this magnificent country after communism. You have enshrined freedom and democracy, and after a difficult beginning, you have achieved a high rate of economic growth. These are tributes to both your people and your leaders. Mr. President, your personal struggle ever since the events in Gdansk more than a decade ago have inspired people everywhere in the world. In a very real sense, Poland is the birthplace of the new Europe. And in so many ways, you are the father of that wonderful child. You and many other of your countrymen and women have proved that individual acts of courage can change the world. And in a time when ordinary people all over the world feel helpless in the face of forces shaping and changing their lives, you have proved that ordinary working people can transform their own lives. Poland has the moral support of all the American people but of two groups especially: first, the millions of Polish-Americans who share your heritage and the love of your soil and your history, and second, the members of the American labor movement who have supported your struggle from the beginning.…”