Former President Bill Clinton '73 J.D. was greeted at his alma mater with hearty applause as he offered words of comfort and hope about the future of the nation in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.
Since that tragedy, he said, he has been asked over and over again by fearful U.S. citizens, "Is it going to be all right?"
Looking out upon the approximately 8,000 members of the Yale community who filled Cross Campus Oct. 6 to hear him speak during Yale's final Tercentennial Weekend, Clinton said with assurance, "It's going to be all right, I can tell you that."
Noting that terrorism is "as old as organized combat" but "not expected to succeed militarily," he told his audience that the goal of the terrorists who launched the attacks on U.S. soil was "first of all, to make us afraid of each other, and secondly to make us afraid of our future -- afraid to plan, afraid to invest, afraid to trust. Therefore, terrorism cannot prevail unless we cooperate. ... We have to give the people who attacked us the permission to win. I don't believe we are about to grant them that permission."
Clinton's address in late-afternoon sunshine on a day that began with pouring rain was one highlight of a weekend full of events celebrating Yale's 300th year since its founding in 1701 (see related story, page 1A). His talk concluded a two-day symposium on "Democratic Vistas, Global Perspectives," featuring presentations by members of the faculty and a keynote address presented by another noted alumnus, former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo '81 Ph.D. (See story below.)
Before an audience that President Richard C. Levin described as the largest ever to gather on Cross Campus, Clinton urged all Americans to continue "to stay united" and to trust President George W. Bush and other American leaders as they respond to the national tragedy.
"The president, his national security team and our allies have some tough decisions to make," Clinton stated. "I think we ought to stick with them, give them room to make decisions. So far, they are making good decisions."
He praised the unity American citizens have exhibited in the wake of the tragedy and their generous outpouring of support, noting that they have donated more than $600 million to help the families of those killed or harmed in the attacks. In the days following the tragedy, when he visited Manhattan fire and police stations and crisis centers, Clinton said he encountered one heroic person after another, including a man who helped bring a disabled woman to safety from the 84th floor of the World Trade Center and another whose wife was killed in the Okahoma City bombing, who took time off from work just to lend support to those who had lost loved ones in New York City.
The former president reminded his audience that America and the world survived the 20th century -- which, he noted, was "the bloodiest ever in all of human history" with massive loss of life during its two world wars and wars in Korea, Vietnam and other areas of conflict.
"In every conflict throughout U.S. history, our defense lags behind our offense a little bit, and we got caught not being caught up," he said of the terrorist attacks. "But the human race is still around, and because of our self-preservation and decency we do catch up."
Clinton acknowledged, however, that the United States "is up against a formidable adversary" in international terrorism.
"I believe we are engaged in the first great struggle for the soul of the 21st century," he stated. "We must under-stand terrorism in the context of the modern world. And we must ask ourselves what we have to do, not only to prevent terrorism and protect ourselves, but to undermine the conditions and attitudes which make terrorist foot soldiers and sympathizers."
The attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. are the result of a "global force with a fundamentally different view of truth, the value of life [and] the character of human innocence," Clinton said. Alleged terrorist ringleader Osama bin Laden and his followers "think we are fundamentally a weak, greedy, selfish, materialistic people," he added. "They think we are weakened by our lack of a national religion and its imposed social order. But they are wrong."
Clinton noted that ever-increasing global interdependence was a dominant trait of the 20th century, an era which witnessed such positive changes as a reduction in poverty across the globe, a revolution in the sciences and in information technology, and "an explosion of democracy around the world and diversity at home."
However, environmental crises such as global warming; health crises around the world including the AIDS epidemic; the polarization of "half the world's people" who have not experienced the benefits of the global economy; and the twin threats of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction also characterized the last century and are "recipes for revolution," Clinton said.
The attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., the former president contended, represent "the dark side of globalization" and its accompanying interdependence between nations "for good or for ill."
To defend itself against terrorism, Clinton said, the United States must make "an assault on the conditions of negative [global] interdependence." He urged the country to continue working to help reduce poverty around the globe by bringing the benefits of globalization "to those countries that haven't felt it"; to make major contributions to the fight against the spread of AIDS; and to prepare for climate change through conservation and the development of alternative sources of energy.
Likewise, America should continue to promote democracy around the world and a respect for diversity, said Clinton, noting that Yale, in its aspiration to become a global university in the fourth century, is doing just that. A lack of respect for such diversity, he said, is a defining characteristic of terrorists.
"Mr. bin Laden and the Taliban believe they have the truth, and anybody who agrees with them is good and anybody that doesn't is evil," Clinton commented. "This great University is dedicated to the proposition that nobody has the absolute truth. ... We believe that, fundamentally, life is a journey where we move closer to truth, but because we are finite, living human beings, we never fully achieve it. Therefore, we do not have the right to impose our iron wills on others. Instead, we try to work with others, and the more the merrier in the thought that we might find the truth.
"[This] leads people to a different view of the value of human life," he continued. "Because we believe that we are all valid on this journey together, we come to put more and more value on life. Everybody counts, everybody deserves a chance."
In repressive regimes like Afghanistan's, where the rights of freedom of speech and religion and the right to freedom of assembly do not exist, "there is no chance to express dissent or even assent in a normal political way," said Clinton. This, he said, "keeps the populace in a state of permanent infancy where you never have to take responsibility for your own lives and making them better." Being "permanently disempowered," he added, makes it "easy" for those who live under such regimes to "hear the siren song of radical Islamic fundamentalism," which places the blame for problems on America.
"It's hard to get people beyond the notion that they are defined by their differences and not by their common humanity," he stated. "But you can do it by recognizing that it is time to take America's internal mission to the world -- the mission to widen the circle of opportunity, to deepen the meaning of freedom, to strengthen the bonds of community. We can no longer deny to others what we claim for ourselves."
Clinton concluded his address by urging the members of his audience to hold on to their democratic convictions and offering encouragement about the future. "We are going to get through this crisis," he said. "Our leaders are going to make good decisions, but in the end, we not only have to stop bad things from happening, we have to build for you the best, most prosperous, most peaceful society the world has ever known. We can do it if we remember who we are and what we believe."
YALE 300:
MARKINGAMILESTONE
Community Celebrates Yale's 300th Year
'For God, For Country, For Yale ... Forever' --
University Celebrates History of Service on the Eve of Its Fourth Century
Convocation celebrates 'the greatness that is Yale'
Clinton assures Yale and U.S.: 'It's going to be all right'
Former President of Mexico calls for reform of 'international financial architecture'
Faculty give their perspectives on Yale in 2001 and 2101
Yale, Yale, the gang's all here . . . having fun at the festival
Scenes from Yale's Tercentennial Gala
T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Community Celebrates Yale's 300th Year
Sept. 11 attacks have put ordinary citizens on 'front line' . . .
Economist Yellen describes 'The Art and Science of Central Banking' . . .
NIH grant supports new center for biomedical computing
Brain expert to explain 'How Matter Becomes Imagination'
Governor of Washington to be Chubb Fellow
President of The New York Times to address Sept. 11
'From Biology to Ethics' is theme of Terry Lectures
'Do what's good for society at large,' urges alumnus neurosurgeon
Renowned child psychiatrist Dr. Donald J. Cohen dies
Higher education, African development are talks' focus
Challenges of ensuring quality care to be explored in forum on reproductive health
A home of their own
Yale Parents' Weekend
Famed Westminster Cathedral Choir to make an appearance in Woolsey Hall
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