Bill Clinton: “More than two decades ago, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall explained to an elderly woman why she wanted to tape her memories. After…”

“More than two decades ago, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall explained to an elderly woman why she wanted to tape her memories. After listening closely to all of Professor Hall's words, the senior citizen looked up and said, ``I understand. You don't have to be famous for your life to be history.'' That became the motto of the Southern Oral History Program directed by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, and the rest is truly history. The program, centered at the University of North Carolina, rings with the voices of millworkers who have lost their jobs, civil rights leaders marching for freedom, ordinary folks building their communities. And I might add, there is a young person from Arkansas by the name of Clinton whose voice is on one of those tapes who was on the verge of something really big, losing his first election. [Laughter] Anyone who grew up in the South knows that no book can capture the color and the vibrancy that you hear in the everyday conversations on Main Street, in general stores, on the front porches, and the backyards. So all of us, whether we are from the South or not, can say thank you, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, for capturing that unique and wonderful voice, for recording history through the lives of ordinary people, and, in so doing, for making history. Colonel, read the citation. [Lieutenant Colonel Everhart read the citation, and the President presented the medal.]”