Robert Smith: “Today I wish to speak from the heart about a decision we will make as U.S. Senators about one of the most solemn issues…”

“Today I wish to speak from the heart about a decision we will make as U.S. Senators about one of the most solemn issues that we will face, and that is whether or not we will expand NATO to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. I would like to put some personal context into what I am about to say. Like you, Mr. President, I grew up in a time when we could accurately be described as children of the cold war. Unlike you, I did not serve in Vietnam, but grew up under the threat of nuclear annihilation. I remember as an elementary school child going through drills where the teacher would tell us to get under our desks and hope for the best. It was a time when, frankly, we were taught to be afraid. I was too young to remember the Hungarian uprising in 1956, but I was old enough to remember the Prague Spring of 1968. I remember holding my breath as I watched the Solidarity movement develop in Poland and wondering how long it would be until Soviet tanks snuffed out that breath of freedom. And I remember with amazement and with emotion the night when this Nation sat transfixed at the falling of the Berlin wall. I never thought that would happen in my lifetime, and yet it did. I remember how courageous I thought it was of President Ronald Reagan when he went there, like his predecessor, John Kennedy, and spoke about the wall and challenged Mr. Gorbachev to tear it down.”