Speaker Nancy Pelosi

June 19, 2007

MR. PETER KOVLER: Tim, thank you very much. I want to speak in my role as chairman, and I think I represent the entire board by saying how incredibly lucky our organization is to have Tim as our president, and I hope you give a round of applause for Tim.

(Applause.)

It is with great pride that I have the opportunity to introduce Speaker Pelosi, and I hope you’ll bear with me because I know how very anxious you are to hear from her.

In the entire history of the United States, I believe there have been just three powerful speakers of the House during moments of war. There was Henry Clay in the 19th Century, Sam Rayburn during World War II, and now Nancy Pelosi during our simultaneous wars on terror and the war in Iraq. But I would like to point out one very stark difference, as I see it, between Speaker Pelosi and Speakers Clay and Rayburn, and that is that she has an opposing view to the contemporaneous president of the United States on how these wars should be run. And her courage and her steadfastness in these views arguably make her the single most significant speaker in our nation’s history.

(Applause.)

How did Nancy Pelosi get to this point, and how this nation is so fortunate to have her, and how an award named for Ed Muskie is so appropriate are a few of the points I’d like very quickly to address.

In my view, Nancy Pelosi has come to be our most important foreign policy speaker, in part because of how she served in the House before her rise to this position. As a 10-year member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, she is its longest continuous serving member. The experience and knowledge gained there has made her able to deal with these issues in a very sophisticated way, rather than just guessing or speculating at what might be important.

No wonder she had the knowledge and the skepticism that comes with knowledge to oppose initially the Iraq invasion and occupation, even when that kind of vote was so difficult in those political and cultural circumstances. And no wonder that most important for the agenda here at the CNP, where we care so much about 9/11 issues and are trying to help Congress and the executive branch get to that second half that Tim described – no wonder she knew so much about terrorism issues, that she would have the confidence to make implementation of 9/11 Commission recommendations her very first – HR1 – her very first piece of legislation in her tenure.

(Applause.)

How fortunate are we to have her as the speaker of the House is one way to pose a question, but a second way is to ask what would it be like if we had a speaker who had no background in foreign policy analysis or in intelligence analysis, and not even any curiosity about the subject. I think the answer is obvious that we would have a House of Representatives that was at best disinterested, but most likely passive in the face of the executive branch and passive in the face of an American public that is crying out for better alternatives.

Finally, I would like to address why the Muskie Award is especially appropriate for Speaker Pelosi. For those of us in this room of a certain age, we know that Ed Muskie’s public life was inextricably linked to the Vietnam War. He wrestled with that as the vice presidential candidate in 1968. He was vilified for his views. That happened again in his life in seeking the presidential nomination in 1972, and though not getting wide public notice, he wrestled with this issue again – he was courageous with this issue again in the 1980s, when as chairman of this organization he ran numerous meetings on Vietnam policy, led a delegation to Hanoi, and – though still controversial – advocated a new policy towards Vietnam that included what we have today, recognition of Vietnam.

I point out – some might say dredge up, but I’ll still go for bring up – this because the Vietnam War has played such an enormous part in our thinking on the Iraq War. For better or worse, it is the single most significant historical parallel we use in trying to come to grips with this current situation. And I believe – having worked with Ed, I believe I could say with enormous confidence that Ed, first a believer in the Vietnam mission and later a skeptic about the choices we made – I believe that Ed would have been unbelievably proud to have Speaker Pelosi as the recipient tonight of an award named after him.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you this year’s winner of the Center for National Policy Edmund Muskie Award, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

(Applause.)

SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: Thank you so much, Peter, for your very, very generous remarks – a pretty good evaluation for five months in the speakership. I’m sure that Speaker Rayburn and Speaker Clay would say, let’s give it a little more time and then we’ll see how this pans out. (Laughter.)

What a wonderful honor to receive this Edmund S. Muskie Award this evening. It’s a wonderful award for me because I’m receiving it from an organization that I have the highest regard for – the highest regard for. Peter and Judy have been champions for public service, for commitment to dialogue, to values-based decision making. Whether you know it know, the Kovlers were very instrumental in building the Franklin Roosevelt monument that we have here. You may know that Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial here in Washington simply would not have happened without them, and I mention it because inscribed on one of the walls of that beautiful place is a quote from Franklin Roosevelt. You know it well. He says: “The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have little.” This has been the lifework of Peter and Judy, and for that we are all truly grateful.

(Applause.)

It’s an honor to receive the award from my dear friend Peter. It’s an honor to receive it from this great Center, which is presided over by truly one of the finest public servants that I know, Tim Roemer.

(Applause.)

I served with many giants in the Congress of the United States, and I’ve known many others in my public service – I see Anna Eshoo shaking her head – but it would be hard to name anyone who could surpass him with his vision, with his intellect, with his passion, with his effectiveness through, again, his values-based approach.

This young man, when he came to Congress could have had anything. He could have been on the Ways and Means Committee, in this committee or that committee. He was truly a star from day one, but he said, I’m here for the children. I’m here for the children. And he went on to the Education and Labor Committee and he stayed there despite all of these attempts to move him up or over into something else where he could raise more money, have more visibility, and made a tremendous difference in the education and the wellbeing of America’s children. And he knew central to that was their security and their safety, and so he spent a good deal of time on the Intelligence Committee, where he focused on the national security of our country.

And it was from that place that he made all the difference in the world. As the author of the 9/11 Commission – well, I authored at first and failed – (laughter) – and failed. I wasn’t the appropriate author. And then Tim introduced it, and with all of the dignity and all of the heft and knowledge of the issues and respect on both sides of the aisle that he had, and working with the families – because it would never have happened without the families – he was able to get the legislation passed and signed by the president of the United States.

And I say the families – they were acknowledged and they were so beautifully acknowledged, but we are so all in their debt because they turned their sorrow, their grief, their unimaginable sorrow into more safety for the American people. They channeled that grief in a way, again, that makes us all in their debt. Anyone who cares about the safety of the American people, the security of our country, owes you all a great debt of gratitude. Thank you so much.

(Applause.)

Lucky for us at the Center, but not so lucky in the Congress, that Tim decided that in the formative years of his children that he wanted to be more available to them, so we also owe a debt of gratitude to Grace and Sarah and Matthew and Patrick for sharing their dad with us in his leadership role here at the Center, and Sally as well – a magnificent family, a magnificent leader. Thank you, Tim Roemer, and thank you to the Roemer family.

(Applause.)

Let’s see, it’s because of the Center, it’s because it’s Ed Muskie, it’s because it is Tim Roemer, it’s because it’s the Kovlers, and I’m also honored to receive this award because I’m receiving an award on the same evening in the same program as Senator Susan Collins – a Mainer. Is that what we said when they’re from Maine? Is that a Mainer? (Laughter.) Senator Muskie would be very, very, very proud. Who would have thought two women from the same state in the United States Senate? But thank you Susan for your great leadership. I know that in your leadership role the 9/11 Commission recommendations will pass the Senate and will go to the president’s desk. Thank you for your tremendous leadership. It’s an honor to share this award with you.

(Applause.)

It was the first bill we introduced when we took over the majority in the Congress: HR1. What would be the first thing we would do? The first, most important item on our agenda: to provide for the security of the American people. We talked about the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Again, without Tim Roemer there wouldn’t have been a commission, there wouldn’t have been the recommendations, we wouldn’t have had the change of policy that is making the American people safer. And again, none of that would have happened without the outside mobilization, advocacy, relentlessness, dissatisfaction, persistence of the families. But this is very important, and we will go to conference maybe this week, I hope no later than next week, to send the bill to the president’s desk.

It takes me to one of the missions of the Center for National Policy: national security aligned with international cooperation. My friend, Anna Eshoo, the congresswoman from California, has heard me say this so many times, as has John Friedenrich and Bernard Schwartz, but I’ll say it again in the (unintelligible) of course. One of my inspirations in politics, of course, was President Kennedy. Those of us of a certain age – (laughter) – there are hardly any more in the room except the few of us, and there are many guests from other parts – members of the diplomatic corps here and I want you to hear this because when President Kennedy made his inaugural address, and I was there as a student on was a freezing cold day on the steps of the Capitol.

It was such an historic occasion. Everybody knows that in his speech President Kennedy said, “ask not what your country can” – you know that line. Everybody it begins “Citizens of America ask not.” But do you know that the very next sentence in the president’s speech, he said: “To the citizens of the world, ask not what America can do for you, but what we can do working together for the freedom of mankind.” Imagine the sense of cooperation, respect, collaboration, not condescension and disregard for the beliefs or the values of other countries. And that was a clarion call for many of us in terms of international relations, for although America is the superpower – well, at the time there were two superpowers – is the superpower, it’s not about thrusting our views on others, but working together, again, for the freedom of mankind.

As I have traveled – you’ve probably read about my travels, maybe? (Laughter.) In the first few months of my speakership, I have met with presidents and kings and prime ministers and leaders of many country, most of them in the Middle East. But what has impressed me most are the conversations I’d had with young people in all of the countries to which I have visited – probably a dozen by now. They are really (unintelligible) the young are. They don’t understand the notion of not having dialogue with people, because they’re in constant conversation on the internet and, well, emails are practically obsolete, they’re on to the next and the next and the next means of communication.

So young people are talking to each other around the world and they want to know if their leaders have the political courage to make the difficult decisions to stop war, to end the war, whether it’s in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Darfur, all throughout Africa, all of these violent activities. They want to know are their leaders are willing to step up to the plate and show that if the war ends that they do know how to make the future better for these young people.

They want a higher standard of living. They don’t want to be cheated of their future, and they’re making that very clear. They want to play their role in the world. They want to stop global warming. By the way, Ed Muskie was in the lead on these issues as the sponsor of Clean Air and Clean Water Acts way back when, and that’s a national security issue as well.

So with these young people and the impatience of youth, which gives me great hope – my daughter Christine is here, she gives me great hope – I know firsthand with my five children, the impatience of youth. With that, I have so much hope that pretty soon – pretty soon – a change will come, that we will resolve our differences through discussion, dialogue in a non-violent way. In order to do that, though, we have to have a military second to none – technology can take us there – so that we can have robust alliances, diplomatic alliances to alleviate poverty, stop the spread of disease, stop global warming, reverse global warming, keep the peace; and have this planet, which is home to all of us, be a place where, again, we receive the call of President Kennedy, and “to citizens of the world, ask not what America can do for you, but what we can do working together for the freedom of mankind.”

It was referenced that Senator Muskie was involved in the Vietnam debate and at that time on voting to end another war, when Senator Muskie went to the floor of the Senate he said, there is no easy way to end this war; it will involve political costs and political courage, but it is the issue – that this issue is one that transcends purely political considerations. Senator Muskie knew that the decisions in favor of the future – ending war, giving our children a peaceful world, an opportunity to thrive, and a healthy planet – required courage. This is his legacy, he and Cy Vance, Secretary Cyrus Vance, founded this institution. It is part of the great legacy.

I’m honored to receive the award from the Center for National Policy tonight because the work of the Center – that is the work of the Center. And I thank all of you who support the Center. Its work is very important, an intellectual resource to us, nonpartisan, not political, just about making the future better for Grace and Sarah and Matthew and Patrick and my grandchildren, who are waiting for me right now. (Laughter.)

We have our charge to go forward, and thank you all for supporting the Center. Thank you for this magnificent award, which I will display with great pride in my office as a challenge to make the future better, as a constant reminder of the work that you do here, and as an inspiration of all who visit the speaker’s office, where I will proudly display it. Thank you all very much.

(Applause.)

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