Political Quotes

“today, Senator Bond and I are joining together in submitting a resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of the International Visitors Program next year. The International Visitors Program is the State Department's public diplomacy initiative that brings distinguished foreign leaders to the United States for short-term professional programs under the authority of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961. The International Visitor Program has been wonderfully successful in meeting its public diplomacy mission. Thousands of rising leaders from other countries in government, business, labor, academia, and the arts have come to this country and met with their counterparts and with everyday Americans from all walks of life. They have learned about our democratic values and institutions, our entrepreneurial skills, and our culture. Future foreign leaders have learned much about this country that has helped them shape their own, or that simply helped them understand this country's point of view. I wonder how many people in this country know the story of F.W. de Klerk's visit to the United States under the International Visitor Program, and how influential that visit was in his realization that apartheid in South Africa had to end.”