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Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Remarks at Opening of the Traveling Version of the Exhibit, "The Marshall Plan: The Vision of a Family of Nations" Secretary Colin L. Powell
Thank you very much, General Meyer, for the presentation and I thank the artist for sharing her creativity with us and it's a great pleasure to welcome all of you here. For the ambassadors who are here, many of you were here just the other evening with me as we celebrated the Fourth of July in this beautiful room and out on the balcony to watch the fireworks. And you might not believe it, but this room was set up in the form of a typical American picnic. We had picnic tables, we had picnic umbrellas, beach umbrellas inside this magnificent room. (Laughter.) It was quite something. And we save this room for very special occasions such as that, and this evening is certainly a very special occasion. It is a great honor to see these distinguished ladies and gentlemen in front of me who had so much to do with the General Marshall back in the old days and have so much to do with the Marshall Foundation now. I'd like to thank my good friend, Jean-David, who I have come to know and respect over the years due to his diplomatic work at the UN and other places, and now working with him as he serves his country here in Washington. General Meyer used to be in charge of me many years ago when he was Chief of Staff of the Army and I was a baby general. (Laughter.) And he would remind me frequently that he was in charge of me. (Laughter.) But there's another story that I must tell, and that one of the most distinguished men ever to serve in the United States Army is General Andy Goodpaster, who is sitting here. Andy is really a remarkable individual and I keep waiting for him to slow down or spin down or something, but to show you how far back General Goodpaster and I go, 40 years ago or more, close to it, almost 40 years, I think I should say, General Goodpaster was a four-star general already and I was a major, and he was one of our commanders in Vietnam and I was a young major up in the 23rd Infantry Division. And I was told to go down and see General Goodpaster and interview to be his aide, and so I flew down to Saigon, went into this very impressive man's office and interviewed to be his aide. I did not make it. (Laughter.) I was not heartbroken because I really wanted to be "up country," as they say. Now, I've told this story many, many times. And General Goodpaster, showing you what a soldier and diplomat he is, would always respond when he hears me tell the story: "I knew that Powell had more potential than to be my aide." (Laughter.) Rather than saying he busted the interview, you know. (Laughter.) But nevertheless, it's a great delight to have General Goodpaster here, and, sir, my admiration for you is deeper and more profound with each passing year. Thank you. We are grateful to have this portrait and I think we will display it where everyone can see it, and that will be in the George C. Marshall Wing of the Department of State Main Building here when our construction on this wing of the building is complete. There will be a Visitors Center and a Museum of American Diplomacy in the new wing where students, teachers and visitors from all over the world will learn about diplomacy and about Secretary Marshall's life and legacy. I have another portrait of Marshall that sits in my outer office, where I receive visitors, and from my inner office, looking through a door into the outer office, every time I look up, George C. is looking back as a source of inspiration, as he has been to so many Americans for so many years. So we'll be proud to display this in the wing of the building dedicated to him. He has so much to teach us these many years after his death and there is so much to learn from him, which is why I am delighted to inaugurate as well this Traveling Exhibit of the Marshall Plan as well so that the lessons of Marshall can continue to be shared with people around the country, around the world. The Traveling Exhibit that you see here in the room this evening is based on the original that is in the Marshall Center at the Hotel de Talleyrand, a building that, as you have heard, symbolizes America's historic relationship with France and that has been part of the Embassy complex in Paris since 1950. I visited the building just a few weeks ago when I was in Paris, and my French colleague, Foreign Minister Barnier, was with me and he also pointed out that Foreign Minister Talleyrand had used that building in his office. He said, "Come here, Colin. If you look out the window, right across the street there, at about a half mile distance, is where the Foreign Ministry is located now." "Yes?" And he kept looking around the building as if he was measuring for drapes -- (laughter) -- and I said to him, "Michel, forget it. You lost Louisiana and you lost this building, and you're not getting either one of them back." (Laughter.) But nevertheless, this building is a marvelous symbol of the relationship that has existed between our two nations and our two peoples for so many years. Three lessons stand out from the experience of the Marshall Plan that we are also celebrating this evening, and these three lessons come through clearly in this excellent exhibit. The first is that the character of the solution to any problem has to fit the problem. If you've got a big problem, you need a big solution. If you've got a novel problem, you need a creative solution. George Marshall recognized that the Western democracies were in uncharted waters after World War II, with both dangers and opportunities ahead. He had a vision that was built to scale for the challenges of that moment in history. He wasn't afraid to think boldly. He was afraid of what would happen if we didn't think boldly. The second lesson we can learn from the experience of General Marshall and the Marshall Plan is the need for patience and for a sense of proportion. Many people today assume that the Marshall Plan was an obvious and popular solution to a well-defined problem and that it worked quickly and efficiently and effectively. But that's not how it was. It took nine months to persuade a suspicious and reluctant Congress to act and it took nearly four years before the program had been fully implemented in Europe. And it took still more time for the many positive political spin-offs of the Marshall Plan to become apparent, to develop, which included not only NATO and the OECD but also the foundation of the European Union. The Marshall Plan required European nations in 1947, as Jean-David said, to work up a common aid request and plan; it forced them to work together. And that cooperative experience, which was so rare in European relations for so many hundreds of years, that cooperative experience led to the development of Jean Monet's European Coal and Steel Community, and we know how the rest of the story goes, at least so far: the creation of a European Union of 25 countries that works hand in hand with NATO to forge a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. That's a story now more than half a century in the making and it's a story that will grow in the future, and the United States has been proud to play a major supportive role from the start. And George C. Marshall was the story's first and brightest star. The third lesson to be learned from the experience of the Marshall Plan is that partnerships are critical, especially the partnership between America and Europe. If we work together, we can do anything, no matter how daunting the task and no matter how long it takes. The Marshall Plan was not just the work of one man or of any one nation; it was an act of intense collaboration at many levels. We still need to collaborate intensively and at many levels. The common good of our peoples depends on it. It doesn't mean that we won't disagree from time to time. It doesn't mean that we won't have sharp differences of opinion. We have had sharp differences of opinion with our French friends in recent times. But as I tell audiences all over the United States and throughout the world, the values that pull France and the United States together are far more powerful than any problems that come along and will be surmounted. As an old general friend of mine once said, the best thing about being mad about something is you get over it and you move on and you progress. And France and the United States, despite any disagreements we've had in the past, will never forget the values and that which pulls us together, and we will continue to move on. As this Traveling Exhibit makes its way to U.S. colleges and universities, it will teach these three lessons that I just touched on and it will teach more besides. And as we meet new challenges to peace and security, this exhibit will remind us of the creative and cooperative solutions that had their origins in this program and of the people who made the program work. We are trying to live up to these lessons, certainly not least the third lesson about partnerships. For example, we are cooperating intensively with our French friends in restoring the Hotel de Talleyrand itself. The fa?ade of the building is now finished and three of the 11 interior rooms of the Marshall Center are complete, thanks largely to the generous private donations of Americans and Frenchmen alike. I visited there, as I told you, last month and I encourage all of you to get to Paris and make sure you go there. It is a spectacular place that we in the State Department cherish. I have to take note of one other individual who had a lot to do with that, and that's General Chuck Williams, who heads our Overseas Building Office and has done a great job in restoring Hotel de Talleyrand. Thank you, Chuck, and all of the members of your staff for what you have done. (Applause.) We are also at work not only in hotels but on the transatlantic partnership itself. We've spent a lot of quality time together lately: last month in France for the 60th anniversary of the celebration of D-Day; at the G-8 Summit in Sea Island, Georgia; at the U.S.-EU Summit in Ireland and at the NATO Summit in Istanbul. We've been busy and productive with old business and new business, busy consolidating our successes and busy adjusting to a changed international environment. In Afghanistan, in Iraq, in the broader Middle East, in the Balkans and through the NATO-Russia Council and the Partnership for Peace, a rejuvenated NATO is fulfilling its 21st century promise. Together with the European Union, NATO has provided shelter for the advance of liberty and democracy even further eastward in Europe and beyond. That work goes on and the transatlantic partnership is determined on its continuing success to make sure that success occurs. And speaking of those who work and who succeed and who are doing so much for this partnership, I'd like to thank Assistant Secretary Pat Harrison, who has undertaken, at my request, all the work necessary to make sure that our public diplomacy case and our public diplomacy work moves forward as our Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy. And I want to thank her colleagues in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs for hosting this event and for bringing you all together here this evening. This is perhaps one of the most important bureaus that we have in the Department. It manages the Fulbright Fellowship Program, our flagship cultural exchange program. It also works our International Visitors Program and several other cultural exchange programs, all of which represent partnerships between the United States and the countries around the world, the nations around the world. I love to say that we are a nation of nations, we are touched by every nation and we, in turn, touch every nation. And it's important for all of our friends around the world to know that we want you to come here, we want you to visit, we want you to come to our schools and universities, we want you to go to our cultural centers, we want you to go to Disneyworld -- (laughter), we want you to go to our hospitals, we want you to experience everything that makes America America. A good part of my afternoon has been spent with Secretary Ridge and Attorney General Ashcroft and many other senior leaders of the Department working on our visa programs and making sure that we improve our programs so that we protect our homeland but, at the same time, make sure that we are always that welcoming place that we're all so proud of. I want to acknowledge as well not only General Williams and all of the colleagues in his department and in his office who make these kinds of exhibits and all of our facilities around the world such marvelous places, and so I thank all of you for being here this evening. I thank you for the support of the Department, for the support of the Marshall Foundation and all of its work, and all of you who thought enough to come and help us pay tribute to a person who, in my judgment, has to be in the top five of all Americans who have ever lived, and that's my great personal hero, somebody I see every day and who looks back at me every day, General George C. Marshall. Thank you. (Applause.) Released on July 14, 2004
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