美國(guó)英語(yǔ)演講稿(15篇)

第1篇 美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)宣布美國(guó)與古巴恢復(fù)外交關(guān)系英語(yǔ)演講稿

good morning, everybody. please have a seat.

more than 54 years ago, at the height of the cold war, the united states closed its embassy inhavana. today, i can announce that the united states has agreed to formally re-establishdiplomatic relations with the republic of cuba, and re-open embassies in our respectivecountries. this is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the cubangovernment and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the americas.

when the united states shuttered our embassy in 1961, i don't think anyone e_pected that itwould be more than half a century before it re-opened. after all, our nations are separated byonly 90 miles, and there are deep bonds of family and friendship between our people. but therehave been very real, profound differences between our governments, and sometimes we allowourselves to be trapped by a certain way of doing things.

for the united states, that meant clinging to a policy that was not working. instead ofsupporting democracy and opportunity for the cuban people, our efforts to isolate cubadespite good intentions increasingly had the opposite effect – cementing the status quo andisolating the united states from our neighbors in this hemisphere. the progress that we marktoday is yet another demonstration that we don't have to be imprisoned by the past. whensomething isn't working, we can – and will – change.

last december, i announced that the united states and cuba had decided to take steps tonormalize our relationship. as part of that effort, president raul castro and i directed our teamsto negotiate the re-establishment of embassies. since then, our state department has workedhard with their cuban counterparts to achieve that goal. and later this summer, secretarykerry will travel to havana formally to proudly raise the american flag over our embassy oncemore.

this is not merely symbolic. with this change, we will be able to substantially increase ourcontacts with the cuban people. we'll have more personnel at our embassy. and our diplomatswill have the ability to engage more broadly across the island. that will include the cubangovernment, civil society, and ordinary cubans who are reaching for a better life.

on issues of common interest – like counterterrorism, disaster response, and development –we will find new ways to cooperate with cuba. and i've been clear that we will also continue tohave some very serious differences. that will include america's enduring support for universalvalues, like freedom of speech and assembly, and the ability to access information. and we willnot hesitate to speak out when we see actions that contradict those values.

however, i strongly believe that the best way for america to support our values is throughengagement. that's why we've already taken steps to allow for greater travel, people-to-peopleand commercial ties between the united states and cuba. and we will continue to do so goingforward.

since december, we've already seen enormous enthusiasm for this new approach. leadersacross the americas have e_pressed support for our change in policy; you heard thate_pressed by president dilma rousseff of brazil yesterday. public opinion surveys in both ourcountries show broad support for this engagement. one cuban said, 'i have prepared for thisall my life.' another said that that, 'this is like a shot of o_ygen.' one cuban teacher put itsimply: 'we are neighbors. now we can be friends.'

here in the united states, we've seen that same enthusiasm. there are americans who wantto travel to cuba and american businesses who want to invest in cuba. american colleges anduniversities that want to partner with cuba. above all, americans who want to get to knowtheir neighbors to the south. and through that engagement, we can also help the cubanpeople improve their own lives. one cuban american looked forward to 'reuniting families andopening lines of communications.' another put it bluntly: 'you can't hold the future of cubahostage to what happened in the past.'

and that's what this is about: a choice between the future and the past.

americans and cubans alike are ready to move forward. i believe it's time for congress to dothe same. i've called on congress to take steps to lift the embargo that prevents americansfrom travelling or doing business in cuba. we've already seen members from both parties beginthat work. after all, why should washington stand in the way of our own people?

yes, there are those who want to turn back the clock and double down on a policy of isolation.but it's long past time for us to realize that this approach doesn't work. it hasn't worked for 50years. it shuts america out of cuba's future, and it only makes life worse for the cuban people.

so i'd ask congress to listen to the cuban people. listen to the american people. listen to thewords of a proud cuban american, carlos gutierrez, who recently came out against the policy ofthe past, saying, 'i wonder if the cubans who have to stand in line for the most basicnecessities for hours in the hot havana sun feel that this approach is helpful to them.'

of course, nobody e_pects cuba to be transformed overnight. but i believe that americanengagement – through our embassy, our businesses, and most of all, through our people – isthe best way to advance our interests and support for democracy and human rights. time andagain, america has demonstrated that part of our leadership in the world is our capacity tochange. it's what inspires the world to reach for something better.

a year ago, it might have seemed impossible that the united states would once again beraising our flag, the stars and stripes, over an embassy in havana. this is what change lookslike.

in january of 1961, the year i was born, when president eisenhower announced thetermination of our relations with cuba, he said: it is my hope and my conviction that it is 'inthe not-too-distant future it will be possible for the historic friendship between us once again tofind its reflection in normal relations of every sort.' well, it took a while, but i believe thattime has come. and a better future lies ahead.

thank you very much. and i want to thank some of my team who worked diligently to makethis happen. they're here. they don't always get acknowledged. we're really proud of them.good work.

第2篇 肯尼迪就職美國(guó)總統(tǒng)英語(yǔ)演講稿

肯尼迪就職演講稿(英文版)

vice president johnson, mr. speaker, mr. chief justice, president eisenhower, vice president ni_on, president truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens:

we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning -- signifying renewal, as well as change. for i have sworn before you and almighty god the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

the world is very different now. for man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. and yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of god.

we dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

this much we pledge -- and more.

to those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. united there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. divided there is little we can do -- for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

to those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. we shall not always e_pect to find them supporting our view. but we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom -- and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

to those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required -- not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

to our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. but this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the americas. and let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

to that world assembly of sovereign states, the united nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support -- to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective, to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak, and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

we dare not tempt them with weakness. for only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

but neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course -- both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

so let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.

let both sides e_plore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms, and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. together let us e_plore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

let both sides unite to heed, in all corners of the earth, the command of isaiah -- to 'undo the heavy burdens, and [to] let the oppressed go free.'¹

and, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor -- not a new balance of power, but a new world of law -- where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.

all this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. but let us begin.

in your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. since this country was founded, each generation of americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. the graves of young americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, 'rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation,'² a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, north and south, east and west, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? will you join in that historic effort?

in the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of ma_imum danger. i do not shrink from this responsibility -- i welcome it. i do not believe that any of us would e_change places with any other people or any other generation. the energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

and so, my fellow americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

my fellow citizens of the world, ask not what america will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

finally, whether you are citizens of america or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. with a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on earth god's work must truly be our own.

肯尼迪就職演講稿(中文版)

我們今天慶祝的并不是一次政黨的勝利，而是一次自由的慶典;它象征著結(jié)束，也象征著開(kāi)始;意味著更新，也意味著變革。因?yàn)槲乙言谀銈兒腿艿纳系勖媲?，作了跟我們祖先將近一又四分之三世紀(jì)以前所擬定的相同的莊嚴(yán)誓言。

現(xiàn)今世界已經(jīng)很不同了，因?yàn)槿嗽谧约貉庵|的手中握有足以消滅一切形式的人類貧困和一切形式的人類生命的力量?？墒俏覀冏嫦葕^斗不息所維護(hù)的革命信念，在世界各地仍處于爭(zhēng)論之中。那信念就是注定人權(quán)并非來(lái)自政府的慷慨施與，而是上帝所賜。

我們今天不敢忘記我們是那第一次革命的繼承人，讓我從此時(shí)此地告訴我們的朋友，并且也告訴我們的敵人，這支火炬已傳交新一代的美國(guó)人，他們出生在本世紀(jì)，經(jīng)歷過(guò)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的鍛煉，受過(guò)嚴(yán)酷而艱苦的和平的熏陶，以我們的古代傳統(tǒng)自豪，而且不愿目睹或容許人權(quán)逐步被褫奪。對(duì)于這些人權(quán)我國(guó)一向堅(jiān)貞不移，當(dāng)前在國(guó)內(nèi)和全世界我們也是對(duì)此力加維護(hù)的。

讓每一個(gè)國(guó)家知道，不管它盼我們好或盼我們壞，我們將付出任何代價(jià)，忍受任何重負(fù)，應(yīng)付任何艱辛，支持任何朋友，反對(duì)任何敵人，以確保自由的存在與實(shí)現(xiàn)。

這是我們矢志不移的事--而且還不止此。

對(duì)于那些和我們擁有共同文化和精神傳統(tǒng)的老盟邦，我們保證以摯友之誠(chéng)相待。只要團(tuán)結(jié)，則在許多合作事業(yè)中幾乎沒(méi)有什么是辦不到的。倘若分裂，我們則無(wú)可作為，因?yàn)槲覀冊(cè)谝庖?jiàn)分歧、各行其是的情況下，是不敢應(yīng)付強(qiáng)大挑戰(zhàn)的。

對(duì)于那些我們歡迎其參與自由國(guó)家行列的新國(guó)家，我們要提出保證，絕不讓一種形成的殖民統(tǒng)治消失后，卻代之以另一種遠(yuǎn)為殘酷的暴政。我們不能老是期望他們會(huì)支持我們的觀點(diǎn)，但我們卻一直希望他們能堅(jiān)決維護(hù)他們自身的自由，并應(yīng)記取，在過(guò)去，那些愚蠢得要騎在虎背上以壯聲勢(shì)的人，結(jié)果卻被虎所吞噬。

對(duì)于那些住在布滿半個(gè)地球的茅舍和鄉(xiāng)村中、力求打破普遍貧困的桎梏的人們，我們保證盡最大努力助其自救，不管需要多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。這并非因?yàn)楣伯a(chǎn)黨會(huì)那樣做，也不是由于我們要求他們的選票，而是由于那樣做是正確的。自由社會(huì)若不能幫助眾多的窮人，也就不能保全那少數(shù)的富人。

對(duì)于我國(guó)邊界以內(nèi)的各姐妹共和國(guó)，我們提出一項(xiàng)特殊的保證：要把我們的美好諾言化作善行，在爭(zhēng)取進(jìn)步的新聯(lián)盟中援助自由人和自由政府來(lái)擺脫貧困的枷鎖。但這種為實(shí)現(xiàn)本身愿望而進(jìn)行的和平革命不應(yīng)成為不懷好意的國(guó)家的俎上肉。讓我們所有的鄰邦都知道，我們將與他們聯(lián)合抵御對(duì)美洲任何地區(qū)的侵略或顛覆。讓其它國(guó)家都知道，西半球的事西半球自己會(huì)管。

至于聯(lián)合國(guó)這個(gè)各主權(quán)國(guó)家的世界性議會(huì)，在今天這個(gè)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)工具的發(fā)展速度超過(guò)和平工具的時(shí)代中，它是我們最后的、最美好的希望。我們?cè)钢厣晡覀兊闹С种Z言;不讓它變成僅供謾罵的講壇，加強(qiáng)其對(duì)于新國(guó)弱國(guó)的保護(hù)，并擴(kuò)大其權(quán)力所能運(yùn)用的領(lǐng)域。

最后，對(duì)于那些與我們?yōu)閿车膰?guó)家，我們所要提供的不是保證，而是要求：雙方重新著手尋求和平，不要等到科學(xué)所釋出的危險(xiǎn)破壞力量在有意或無(wú)意中使全人類淪于自我毀滅。

我們不敢以示弱去誘惑他們。因?yàn)橹挥挟?dāng)我們的武力無(wú)可置疑地壯大時(shí)，我們才能毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)地確信永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)使用武力。

可是這兩個(gè)強(qiáng)有力的國(guó)家集團(tuán)，誰(shuí)也不能對(duì)當(dāng)前的趨勢(shì)放心--雙方都因現(xiàn)代武器的代價(jià)而感到不勝負(fù)擔(dān)，雙方都對(duì)于致命的原子力量不斷發(fā)展而產(chǎn)生應(yīng)有的驚駭，可是雙方都在競(jìng)謀改變那不穩(wěn)定的恐怖均衡，而此種均衡卻可以暫時(shí)阻止人類最后從事戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。

因此讓我們重新開(kāi)始，雙方都應(yīng)記住，謙恭并非懦弱的征象，而誠(chéng)意則永遠(yuǎn)須要驗(yàn)證。讓我們永不因畏懼而談判。但讓我們永不要畏懼談判。

讓雙方探究能使我們團(tuán)結(jié)在一起的是什么問(wèn)題，而不要虛耗心力于使我們分裂的問(wèn)題。

讓雙方首次制訂有關(guān)視察和管制武器的真誠(chéng)而確切的建議，并且把那足以毀滅其它國(guó)家的漫無(wú)限制的力量置于所有國(guó)家的絕對(duì)管制之下。

讓雙方都謀求激發(fā)科學(xué)的神奇力量而不是科學(xué)的恐怖因素。讓我們聯(lián)合起來(lái)去探索星球，治理沙漠，消除疾病，開(kāi)發(fā)海洋深處，并鼓勵(lì)藝術(shù)和商務(wù)。

讓雙方攜手在世界各個(gè)角落遵循以賽亞的命令，去“卸下沉重的負(fù)擔(dān)……(并)讓被壓迫者得自由。”

如果建立合作的灘頭堡能夠遏制重重猜疑，那么，讓雙方聯(lián)合作一次新的努力吧，這不是追求新的權(quán)力均衡，而是建立一個(gè)新的法治世界，在那世界上強(qiáng)者公正，弱者安全，和平在握。

凡此種種不會(huì)在最初的一百天中完成，不會(huì)在最初的一千天中完成，不會(huì)在本政府任期中完成，甚或也不能在我們活在地球上的畢生期間完成。但讓我們開(kāi)始。

同胞們，我們事業(yè)的最后成效，主要不是掌握在我手里，而是操在你們手中。自從我國(guó)建立以來(lái)，每一代的美國(guó)人都曾應(yīng)召以驗(yàn)證其對(duì)國(guó)家的忠誠(chéng)。響應(yīng)此項(xiàng)召喚而服軍役的美國(guó)青年人的墳?zāi)贡椴既蚋魈帯?/p>

現(xiàn)在那號(hào)角又再度召喚我們--不是號(hào)召我們肩起武器，雖然武器是我們所需要的;不是號(hào)召我們?nèi)プ鲬?zhàn)，雖然我們準(zhǔn)備應(yīng)戰(zhàn);那是號(hào)召我們年復(fù)一年肩負(fù)起持久和勝敗未分的斗爭(zhēng)，“在希望中歡樂(lè)，在患難中忍耐”;這是一場(chǎng)對(duì)抗人類公敵--暴政、貧困、疾病以及戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)本身--的斗爭(zhēng)。

我們能否結(jié)成一個(gè)遍及東西南北的全球性偉大聯(lián)盟來(lái)對(duì)付這些敵人，來(lái)確保全人類享有更為富裕的生活?你們是否愿意參與這歷史性的努力?

在世界的悠久歷史中，只有很少幾個(gè)世代的人賦有這種在自由遭遇最大危機(jī)時(shí)保衛(wèi)自由的任務(wù)。我決不在這責(zé)任之前退縮;我歡迎它。我不相信我們中間會(huì)有人愿意跟別人及別的世代交換地位。我們?cè)谶@場(chǎng)努力中所獻(xiàn)出的精力、信念與虔誠(chéng)、將照亮我們的國(guó)家以及所有為國(guó)家服務(wù)的人，而從這一火焰所聚出的光輝必能照明全世界。

所以，同胞們：不要問(wèn)你們的國(guó)家能為你們做些什么，而要問(wèn)你們能為國(guó)家做些什么。

全世界的公民：不要問(wèn)美國(guó)愿為你們做些什么，而應(yīng)問(wèn)我們?cè)谝黄鹉転槿祟惖淖杂勺鲂┦裁础?/p>

最后，不管你是美國(guó)的公民或世界它國(guó)的公民，請(qǐng)將我們所要求于你們的有關(guān)力量與犧牲的高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)拿來(lái)要求我們。我們唯一可靠的報(bào)酬是問(wèn)心無(wú)愧，我們行為的最后裁判者是歷史，讓我們向前引導(dǎo)我們所摯愛(ài)的國(guó)土，企求上帝的保佑與扶攜，但我們知道，在這個(gè)世界上，上帝的任務(wù)肯定就是我們自己所應(yīng)肩負(fù)的任務(wù)。

第3篇 美國(guó)總統(tǒng)羅斯福就職英語(yǔ)演講稿

美國(guó)總統(tǒng)羅斯福就職演講稿(英文版)

president hoover, mr. chief justice, my friends:

this is a day of national consecration. and i am certain that on this day my fellow americans e_pect that on my induction into the presidency, i will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.

this is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. this great nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.

so, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. in every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. and i am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

in such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. they concern, thank god, only material things. values have shrunk to fantastic levels; ta_es have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of e_change are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; and the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone. more important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of e_istence, and an equally great number toil with little return. only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

and yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. we are stricken by no plague of locusts. compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.

primarily, this is because the rulers of the e_change of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

true, they have tried. but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to e_hortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. they only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers. they have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. we may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. the measure of that restoration lies in the e_tent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. the joy, the moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. these dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.

recognition of that falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, and on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. this nation is asking for action, and action now.

our greatest primary task is to put people to work. this is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. it can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing great -- greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our great natural resources.

hand in hand with that we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.

yes, the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products, and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. it can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. it can be helped by insistence that the federal, the state, and the local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. it can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal. it can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities that have a definitely public character. there are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it.

we must act. we must act quickly.

and finally, in our progress towards a resumption of work, we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order. there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments. there must be an end to speculation with other people's money. and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.

these, my friends, are the lines of attack. i shall presently urge upon a new congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and i shall seek the immediate assistance of the 48 states.

through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time, and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. i favor, as a practical policy, the putting of first things first. i shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment; but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.

the basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not nationally -- narrowly nationalistic. it is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the united states of america -- a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the american spirit of the pioneer. it is the way to recovery. it is the immediate way. it is the strongest assurance that recovery will endure.

in the field of world policy, i would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor: the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others; the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

if i read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize, as we have never realized before, our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take, but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress can be made, no leadership becomes effective.

we are, i know, ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at the larger good. this, i propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us, bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in times of armed strife.

with this pledge taken, i assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.

action in this image, action to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. our constitution is so simple, so practical that it is possible always to meet e_traordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. that is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has ever seen.

it has met every stress of vast e_pansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations. and it is to be hoped that the normal balance of e_ecutive and legislative authority may be wholly equal, wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. but it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.

i am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. these measures, or such other measures as the congress may build out of its e_perience and wisdom, i shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

but, in the event that the congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, in the event that the national emergency is still critical, i shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. i shall ask the congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis -- broad e_ecutive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

for the trust reposed in me, i will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. i can do no less.

we face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. we aim at the assurance of a rounded, a permanent national life.

we do not distrust the -- the future of essential democracy. the people of the united states have not failed. in their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. they have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. they have made me the present instrument of their wishes. in the spirit of the gift i take it.

in this dedication -- in this dedication of a nation, we humbly ask the blessing of god.

may he protect each and every one of us.

may he guide me in the days to come.

美國(guó)總統(tǒng)羅斯福就職演講稿(中文版)

胡佛總統(tǒng)，首席法官先生，朋友們：

今天，對(duì)我們的國(guó)家來(lái)說(shuō)，是一個(gè)神圣的日子。我肯定，同胞們都期待我在就任總統(tǒng)時(shí)，會(huì)像我國(guó)目前形勢(shì)所要求的那樣，坦率而果斷地向他們講話?，F(xiàn)在正是坦白、勇敢地說(shuō)出實(shí)話，說(shuō)出全部實(shí)話的最好時(shí)刻。我們不必畏首畏尾，不老老實(shí)實(shí)面對(duì)我國(guó)今天的情況。這個(gè)偉大的國(guó)家會(huì)一如既往地堅(jiān)持下去，它會(huì)復(fù)興和繁榮起來(lái)。因此，讓我首先表明我的堅(jiān)定信念：我們唯一不得不害怕的就是害怕本身--一種莫名其妙、喪失理智的、毫無(wú)根據(jù)的恐懼，它把人轉(zhuǎn)退為進(jìn)所需的種種努力化為泡影。凡在我國(guó)生活陰云密布的時(shí)刻，坦率而有活力的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)都得到過(guò)人民的理解和支持，從而為勝利準(zhǔn)備了必不可少的條件。我相信，在目前危急時(shí)刻，大家會(huì)再次給予同樣的支持。

我和你們都要以這種精神，來(lái)面對(duì)我們共同的困難。感謝上帝，這些困難只是物質(zhì)方面的。價(jià)值難以想象地貶縮了;課稅增加了;我們的支付能力下降了;各級(jí)政府面臨著嚴(yán)重的收入短缺;交換手段在貿(mào)易過(guò)程中遭到了凍結(jié);工業(yè)企業(yè)枯萎的落葉到處可見(jiàn);農(nóng)場(chǎng)主的產(chǎn)品找不到銷路;千家萬(wàn)戶多年的積蓄付之東流。

更重要的是，大批失業(yè)公民正面臨嚴(yán)峻的生存問(wèn)題，還有大批公民正以艱辛的勞動(dòng)換取微薄的報(bào)酬。只有愚蠢的樂(lè)天派會(huì)否認(rèn)當(dāng)前這些陰暗的現(xiàn)實(shí)。

但是，我們的苦惱決不是因?yàn)槿狈ξ镔Y。我們沒(méi)有遭到什么蝗蟲的災(zāi)害。我們的先輩曾以信念和無(wú)畏一次次轉(zhuǎn)危為安，比起他們經(jīng)歷過(guò)的險(xiǎn)阻，我們?nèi)源罂筛械叫牢?。大自然仍在給予我們恩惠，人類的努力已使之倍增。富足的情景近在咫尺，但就在我們見(jiàn)到這種 情景的時(shí)候，寬裕的生活卻悄然離去。這主要是因?yàn)橹髟兹祟愇镔Y交換的統(tǒng)治者們失敗了，他們固執(zhí)己見(jiàn)而又無(wú)能為力，因而已經(jīng)認(rèn)定失敗了，并撒手不管了。貪得無(wú)厭的貨幣兌換商的種種行徑。將受到輿論法庭的起訴，將受到人類心靈理智的唾棄。

是的，他們是努力過(guò)，然而他們用的是一種完全過(guò)時(shí)的方法。面對(duì)信貸的失敗，他們只是提議借出更多的錢。沒(méi)有了當(dāng)誘餌引誘 人民追隨他們的錯(cuò)誤領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的金錢，他們只得求助于講道，含淚祈求人民重新給予他們信心。他們只知自我追求者們的處世規(guī)則。他們沒(méi)有眼光，而沒(méi)有眼光的人是要滅亡的。

如今，貨幣兌換商已從我們文明廟宇的高處落荒而逃。我們要以千古不變的真理來(lái)重建這座廟宇。衡量這重建的尺度是我們體現(xiàn)比金錢利益更高尚的社會(huì)價(jià)值的程度。

幸福并不在于單純地占有金錢;幸福還在于取得成就后的喜悅，在于創(chuàng)造努力時(shí)的激情。務(wù)必不能再忘記勞動(dòng)帶來(lái)的喜悅和激勵(lì)，而去瘋狂地追逐那轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝的利潤(rùn)。如果這些暗淡的時(shí)日能使我們認(rèn)識(shí)到，我們真正的天命不是要?jiǎng)e人侍奉，而是為自己和同胞們服務(wù)，那么，我們付出的代價(jià)就完全是值得的。

認(rèn)識(shí)到把物質(zhì)財(cái)富當(dāng)作成功的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是錯(cuò)誤的，我們就會(huì)拋棄以地位尊嚴(yán)和個(gè)人收益為唯一標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，來(lái)衡量公職和高級(jí)政治地位的錯(cuò)誤信念;我們必須制止銀行界和企業(yè)界的一種行為，它常常使神圣的委托混同于無(wú)情和自私的不正當(dāng)行為。難怪信心在減弱，信心，只有靠誠(chéng)實(shí)、信譽(yù)、忠心維護(hù)和無(wú)私履行職責(zé)。而沒(méi)有這些，就不可能有信心。

但是，復(fù)興不僅僅只要改變倫理觀念。這個(gè)國(guó)家要求行動(dòng)起來(lái)，現(xiàn)在就行動(dòng)起來(lái)。

我們最大、最基本的任務(wù)是讓人民投入工作。只要我信行之以智慧和勇氣，這個(gè)問(wèn)題就可以解決。這可以部分由政府直接征募完成，就象對(duì)待臨戰(zhàn)的緊要關(guān)頭一樣，但同時(shí)，在有了人手的情況下，我們還急需能刺激并重組巨大自然資源的工程。

我們齊心協(xié)力，但必須坦白地承認(rèn)工業(yè)中心的人口失衡，我們必須在全國(guó)范圍內(nèi)重新分配，使土地在最適合的人手中發(fā)表?yè)]更大作用。

明確地為提高農(nóng)產(chǎn)品價(jià)值并以此購(gòu)買城市產(chǎn)品所做的努力，會(huì)有助于任務(wù)的完成。避免許多小家庭業(yè)、農(nóng)場(chǎng)業(yè)被取消贖取抵押品的權(quán)利的悲劇也有助于任務(wù)的完成。聯(lián)邦、州、各地政府立即行動(dòng)回應(yīng)要求降價(jià)的呼聲，有助于任務(wù)的完成。將現(xiàn)在常常是分散不經(jīng)濟(jì)、不平等的救濟(jì)活動(dòng)統(tǒng)一起來(lái)有助于任務(wù)的完成。對(duì)所有公共交通運(yùn)輸，通訊及其他涉及公眾生活的設(shè)施作全國(guó)性的計(jì)劃及監(jiān)督有助于任務(wù)的完成。許多事情都有助于任務(wù)完成，但這些決不包括空談。我們必須行動(dòng)，立即行動(dòng)。

最后，為了重新開(kāi)始工作，我們需要兩手防御，來(lái)抗御舊秩序惡魔卷土從來(lái);一定要有嚴(yán)格監(jiān)督銀行業(yè)、信貸及投資的機(jī)制：一定要杜絕投機(jī);一定要有充足而健康的貨幣供應(yīng)。

以上這些，朋友們，就是施政方針。我要在特別會(huì)議上敦促新國(guó)會(huì)給予詳細(xì)實(shí)施方案，并且，我要向18個(gè)州請(qǐng)求立即的援助。

通過(guò)行動(dòng)，我們將予以我們自己一個(gè)有秩序的國(guó)家大廈，使收入大于支出。我們的國(guó)際貿(mào)易，雖然很重要，但現(xiàn)在在時(shí)間和必要性上，次于對(duì)本國(guó)健康經(jīng)濟(jì)的建立。我建議，作為可行的策略、首要事務(wù)先行。雖然我將不遺余力通過(guò)國(guó)際經(jīng)濟(jì)重新協(xié)調(diào)所來(lái)恢復(fù)國(guó)際貿(mào)易，但我認(rèn)為國(guó)內(nèi)的緊急情況無(wú)法等待這重新協(xié)調(diào)的完成。

指導(dǎo)這一特別的全國(guó)性復(fù)蘇的基本思想并非狹隘的國(guó)家主義。我首先考慮的是堅(jiān)持美國(guó)這一整體中各部分的相互依賴性--這是對(duì)美國(guó)式的開(kāi)拓精神的古老而永恒的證明的體現(xiàn)。這才是復(fù)蘇之路，是即時(shí)之路，是保證復(fù)蘇功效持久之路。

在國(guó)際政策方面，我將使美國(guó)采取睦鄰友好的政策。做一個(gè)決心自重，因此而尊重鄰國(guó)的國(guó)家。做一個(gè)履行義務(wù)，尊重與他國(guó)協(xié)約的國(guó)家。

如果我對(duì)人民的心情的了解正確的話，我想我們已認(rèn)識(shí)到了我們從未認(rèn)識(shí)的問(wèn)題，我們是互相依存的，我們不可以只索取，我們還必須奉獻(xiàn)。我們前進(jìn)時(shí)，必須象一支訓(xùn)練有素的忠誠(chéng)的軍隊(duì)，愿意為共同的原則而獻(xiàn)身，因?yàn)?，沒(méi)有這些原則，就無(wú)法取得進(jìn)步，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)就不可能得力。我們都已做好準(zhǔn)備，并愿意為此原則獻(xiàn)出生命和財(cái)產(chǎn)，因?yàn)檫@將使志在建設(shè)更美好社會(huì)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)成為可能。我倡議，為了更偉大的目標(biāo)，我們所有的人，以一致的職責(zé)緊緊團(tuán)結(jié)起來(lái)。這是神圣的義務(wù)，非戰(zhàn)亂，不停止。

有了這樣的誓言，我將毫不猶豫地承擔(dān)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)偉大人民大軍的任務(wù)，致力于對(duì)我們普遍問(wèn)題的強(qiáng)攻。這樣的行動(dòng)，這樣的目標(biāo)，在我們從祖先手中接過(guò)的政府中是可行的。我們的憲法如此簡(jiǎn)單，實(shí)在。它隨時(shí)可以應(yīng)付特殊情況，只需對(duì)重點(diǎn)和安排加以修改而不喪失中心思想，正因?yàn)槿绱?，我們的憲法體制已自證為是最有適應(yīng)性的政治體制。它已應(yīng)付過(guò)巨大的國(guó)土擴(kuò)張、外戰(zhàn)、內(nèi)亂及國(guó)際關(guān)系所帶來(lái)的壓力。

而我們還希望行使法律的人士做到充分的平等，能充分地?fù)?dān)負(fù)前所未有的任務(wù)。但現(xiàn)在前所未有的對(duì)緊急行動(dòng)的需要要求國(guó)民暫時(shí)丟棄平常生活節(jié)奏，緊迫起來(lái)。

讓我們正視面前的嚴(yán)峻歲月，懷著舉國(guó)一致給我們帶來(lái)的熱情和勇氣，懷著尋求傳統(tǒng)的、珍貴的道德觀念的明確意識(shí)，懷著老老少少都能通過(guò)克盡職守而得到的問(wèn)心無(wú)愧的滿足。我們的目標(biāo)是要保證國(guó)民生活的圓滿和長(zhǎng)治久安。

我們并不懷疑基本民主制度的未來(lái)。合眾國(guó)人民并沒(méi)有失敗。他們?cè)诶щy中表達(dá)了自己的委托，即要求采取直接而有力的行動(dòng)。他們要求有領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的紀(jì)律和方向。他們現(xiàn)在選擇了我作為實(shí)現(xiàn)他們的愿望的工具。我接受這份厚贈(zèng)。

在此舉國(guó)奉獻(xiàn)之際，我們謙卑地請(qǐng)求上帝賜福。愿上帝保信我們大家和每一個(gè)人，愿上帝在未來(lái)的日子里指引我。

第4篇 美國(guó)總統(tǒng)悼念愛(ài)德華·肯尼迪英語(yǔ)演講稿

one of the most accomplished americans ever to serve our democracy

remarks by the president

on the passing of senator edward m. kennedy

blue heron farm

chilmark, massachusetts

9:57 a.m. edt

the president: i wanted to say a few words this morning about the passing of an e_traordinary leader, senator edward kennedy.

over the past several years, i've had the honor to call teddy a colleague, a counselor, and a friend. and even though we have known this day was coming for some time now, we awaited it with no small amount of dread.

since teddy's diagnosis last year, we've seen the courage with which he battled his illness. and while these months have no doubt been difficult for him, they've also let him hear from people in every corner of our nation and from around the world just how much he meant to all of us. his fight has given us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers john and robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you -- and goodbye.

the outpouring of love, gratitude, and fond memories to which we've all borne witness is a testament to the way this singular figure in american history touched so many lives. his ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives -- in seniors who know new dignity, in families that know new opportunity, in children who know education's promise, and in all who can pursue their dream in an america that is more equal and more just -- including myself.

the kennedy name is synonymous with the democratic party. and at times, ted was the target of partisan campaign attacks. but in the united states senate, i can think of no one who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the aisle. his seriousness of purpose was perpetually matched by humility, warmth, and good cheer. he could passionately battle others and do so peerlessly on the senate floor for the causes that he held dear, and yet still maintain warm friendships across party lines.

and that's one reason he became not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished americans ever to serve our democracy.

his e_traordinary life on this earth has come to an end. and the e_traordinary good that he did lives on. for his family, he was a guardian. for america, he was the defender of a dream.

i spoke earlier this morning to senator kennedy's beloved wife, vicki, who was to the end such a wonderful source of encouragement and strength. our thoughts and prayers are with her, his children kara, edward, and patrick; his stepchildren curran and caroline; the entire kennedy family; decades' worth of his staff; the people of massachusetts; and all americans who, like us, loved ted kennedy.

end

10:00 a.m. edt

第5篇 美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)卿約翰·克里在東西方中心關(guān)于美國(guó)亞太政策英語(yǔ)演講稿

mr. morrison: well, thank you. aloha. i want to welcome everyone. and for our onlineaudience, and also for the secretary, i’d like to describe who is here in our audience. we havethe mayor of honolulu, mayor caldwell. we have our senator, mazie hirono. we have ourformer governor, george ariyoshi, and our other former governor, john waihee. we have manymembers of the business and intellectual and public affairs community here in honolulu. wehave members of the diplomatic corps. we have members of our men and women in uniform.we have the members of the board of governors of the east-west center. we have the staff ofthe east-west center. we have friends of the east-west center. and most importantly, we havefuture leaders of the asia pacific region. and i was just telling the secretary, i think yesterdaywe welcomed 130 new participants from the united states and 40 other countries. they’re hereon a unique program to prepare them for being future regional and global leaders.

now, how do you introduce a man who is so well-known for his own leadership and --

secretary kerry: first thing, you can just tell everybody to sit down.

mr. morrison: oh. (laughter.) please sit down, yes. (laughter.) thank you, mr. secretary.anyway, as you know, he has served in war and peace. he was a senator for 28 years; 59million americans voted for him for president, including 54 percent of the voters of hawaii. (laughter and applause.) but as a former senate staff person, i thought the way to reallycheck him out was to see how his confirmation hearing went. now, the issues werecontroversial but the nominee was not controversial, and what his former colleagues saidabout him, republicans and democrats, i think give the essence of the man: e_tremely wellprepared, born in a foreign service family, served all 28 years on the senate foreign relationscommittee, four years as the chairman of that committee. he knows the languages – severalforeign languages, countries, leaders, and issues. he is a man of incredible moral andintellectual integrity. he brings conviction and compassion to his job and great energy. hehas been, i think, on his seventh trip to asia, coming back and so we want to welcome him backto the united states. we want to welcome him to our most asia pacific state, and we want towelcome him to the east-west center, an institution that’s building community with thisvast region which is so systemically important to the future of the united states.

mr. secretary of state. (applause.)

secretary kerry: thank you. well, good afternoon, everybody. aloha. it’s wonderful to behere in hawaii, and man, i can’t tell you how i wish i was as rela_ed as some of you in yourbeautiful shirts. (laughter.) here i am in my – whatever you call it – uniform. uniform, somewould say. but it is such a pleasure to be here. mr. mayor, it’s great to be here with you. andmazie, thank you. it’s wonderful to see you, senator. i’m very happy to see you. thanks forbeing here. and governors, thank you for being here very much.

ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests all, it’s a great, great pleasure for me to be ableto be here. and president morrison, thank you very much for that generous introduction. iappreciate it very much.

charles was way ahead of the curve, folks, in seeing the trend towards regionalism in the asiapacific in the early 1990s. and he was calling for community-building within east asia wellbefore it became a standard topic of discussion on the think tank circuit. so clearly, and toeveryone’s benefit, he’s had an ability to focus on the long game. and that is a talent that heactually shares with one of the founding fathers of this institution, a former colleague,beloved to all of you, who became a great friend to me, and that’s senator dan inouye. duringmy sort of latter years, i actually moved up to about seventh in seniority or something in theunited states senate, and had i not been appointed to this job, with all of the retirements thatare taking place, i don’t know, i might have been third or fourth or something, which is kind ofintimidating. but as a result of that, i got to sit beside the great dan inouye for four or fiveyears in the senate. our desks were beside each other, and we became very good friends. hewas one of the early supporters of mine when i decided to run for president in ’04, ’03. butmost importantly, dan inouye, as all of you know, was a patriot above all who commandedremarkable respect and affection of all of his colleagues. and hawaii was so wise to keep himin office for so many years.

having just visited yesterday guadalcanal, having stood up on what was called bloody ridge,edson’s ridge, and walked into one of the still remaining bunkers that marines were dug in onagainst 3,000-plus japanese who kept coming at them wave after wave in the evening, it’s – itwas a remarkable sense of the battle that turned the war. and no place knows the meaning ofall of that better than here in hawaii.

yesterday commemorated really one of the great battles of the second world war, and so itgave me a chance to reflect with special pride and with humility about dan’s service to ourcountry. he was a hero in the war, against difficult circumstances which we all understand toowell. but he became the first japanese american to serve in the house of representatives andthe united states senate, against all the odds of what was still a prevailing sense in ourcountry of misunderstanding between people. and he just never let that get in the way. heshared a very personal commitment to strengthening ties between the united states and theasia pacific. and that’s why he championed the east-west center for decades, and i want you toknow that president obama and i strongly support your mission of bringing people together tothink creatively about the future of our role in the region and how we overcome the kinds ofinherent, visceral differences that sometimes are allowed to get in the way of relationships, andfrankly, in the way of common sense.

we remember too well in america that slavery was written into our constitution long before itwas written out of it. and we all know the struggle that it took – e_cuse me – to write it out. soas we look at the world today – complicated, difficult, tumultuous, volatile – for so many ofus who have spent decades working on issues central to the asia pacific, there’s actuallysomething particularly e_citing about this moment. it’s almost e_hilarating when you look atasia’s transformation. and like dan inouye, i have had the privilege, as many of you havehere i can see, you’ve lived a lot of that transformation firsthand.

a number of my – (coughing) – e_cuse me, it’s the virtue of many hours in an airplane. anumber of my ancestors from boston and from massachusetts were merchants whose shipsdropped anchor in hong kong as they plied the lonely trade routes to china. my grandfather,actually, was born in shanghai and was a businessman who had a partnership with a chinesebusinessman. so in our family and in massachusetts, we’ve had a long sense of the possibilitiesand of this relationship. today, east asia is one of the largest, fastest growing, most dynamicregions in the entire world. and when the trans-pacific partnership negotiations are complete,about 40 percent of global gdp will be linked by a high-standard trade agreement, a tradeagreement that creates a race to the top, not a race to the bottom, where people understandthe rules of engagement and there’s accountability and transparency, and business andcapital know e_actly what the rules of the road will be so they’re attracted to invest each in eachother’s countries.

after college, i had the privilege of serving in the united states navy. and i went throughpearl harbor. i had a remarkable several days here as a young officer on a frigate before weset sail to cross the pacific. and i drove all over the island everywhere, in places i probablywasn’t supposed to. but i loved it and then spent a second tour in the rivers of vietnam. andback then, the word vietnam – just saying vietnam – carried with it an ominous meaning. itmeant war. it meant huge dissent in america, families torn apart. but today, vietnam, whenyou say it, has a whole different meaning to most people. it’s now a dynamic country filledwith economic opportunity. it’s a market for our businesses and our investors. it’s a classroomfor our children. it has one of the largest fulbright programs in the world. and it’s a partner intackling regional economic and security challenges.

such e_traordinary transformations have actually become almost the norm in this region. i’llnever forget, 15 years ago, i visited in then burma – no confusion with myanmar but nowpeople choose what they want to call it. but i visited with daw aung sung sui kyi in the veryhome in which she was imprisoned for nearly two decades. and this week, i had the privilegeof again going back to the very same house – it hadn’t changed, looked the same. she, by theway, 20 years later looks the same. and she is now free to speak her mind as a member ofparliament.

it’s remarkable. it doesn’t mean all the president are solved. but these transformations arejust some of what makes asia the most e_citing and promising places on the planet.

i am returning, as president morrison has said, from actually my si_th trip to the asia pacific in18 months as secretary of state. and later today, i’ll be meeting with our outstandingcommander of united states forces in the pacific to review a range of america’s formidablemilitary presence issues. i have we know that america’s security and prosperity are closely and increasingly linked to the asiapacific. and that’s why president obama began what is known as the rebalance to asia in 2022.that’s why he’s asked me to redouble my own efforts in the region over the ne_t two and halfyears. and that’s why i want to talk to you today about four specific opportunities: creatingsustainable economic growth, powering a clean energy revolution, promoting regionalcooperation, and empowering people.

now, these important opportunities can and should be realized through a rules-based regionalorder, a stable regional order on common rules and norms of behavior that are reinforced byinstitutions. and that’s what holds the greatest potential for all of us for making progress. wesupport this approach, frankly, because it encourages cooperative behavior. it fostersregional integration. it ensures that all countries, big and small – and the small part is reallyimportant – that they have a say in how we work together on shared challenges. i want you toknow that the united states is deeply committed to realizing this vision. president obama ise_cited about it. he wants us all to be committed to fostering it and also to understanding whywe’re doing it. and frankly, it is this vision that is the underlying reason that so manycountries in asia choose to work with the united states.

you hear some people today talking about the united states retrenching or disengaging.nothing could be further from the truth. i think we’re more engaged and more active in morecountries and more parts of the world than any time in american history. and i can tell you thatbecause just driving over here i was on the phone to people in the middle east, talking about aceasefire which is now going to be in place in the ne_t days; talking about the road ahead. justcame back from afghanistan, where we’re working on the transition to the people ofafghanistan, to their future. we’re engaged with iran, working on the nuclear program; withthe dprk, with china, and sudan, and central africa. we just had 50-plus african leaders towashington to talk about the future of american engagement there. we are deeply engagedin a very, very comple_ world.

but this speech and this moment here at the university and at the center, and the trip that ijust made to asia, are meant to underscore that even as we focus on those crises that i’ve justlisted and on conflicts that dominate the headlines on a daily basis and demand our leadership– even as we do that, we will never forget the long-term strategic imperatives for americaninterests. as secretary of state, my job isn’t just to respond to crises. it’s also about definingand seizing the long-term opportunities for the united states. and having just traveled toburma, australia, and the solomon islands, i can tell you that nowhere are those strategicopportunities clearer or more compelling than in the asia pacific.

that’s why we are currently negotiating a comprehensive and ambitious trans-pacificpartnership agreement that will create thousands of new jobs here in america as well as inother countries, and it will spur this race to the top, not to the bottom. it raises the standardsby which we do business. that’s why we’re elevating our engagement in multilateralinstitutions, from the asean regional forum to the east asia summit. and that’s why we arerevitalizing our security partnerships with our treaty allies: japan, australia, south korea, andthe philippines. and that’s why we are standing up for the human rights and the fundamentalfreedoms that people in asia cherish as much as any people in the world.

i have no illusions about the challenges, and nor does president obama. they are comple_ inthis 21st century, in many ways far more comple_ than the bipolar, east-west, soviet union-versus-west world – the cold war that many of us grew up in. this is far more complicated.it’s far more, in many ways, like 19th century and 18th century diplomacy, with statesasserting their interests in different ways and with more economic players in the planet thanwe had in the 20th century with power and with a sense of independence. but what i want toemphasize to you all today is there is a way forward. this is not so daunting that it’sindescribable as to what we can do.

so how do we make our shared vision a reality for the region and ensure that asia contributesto global peace and prosperity? first, we need to turn today’s economic nationalism andfragmentation into tomorrow’s sustainable growth. i say it all the time: foreign policy iseconomic policy, and economic policy is foreign policy. they are one and the same. there’s nodenying that particularly in asia pacific. asia pacific is an engine of global economic growth, butwe can’t take that growth for granted.

because what we face something that is really a common challenge. across the world, we haveseen a staggering growth in youth populations. at the africa summit it was just underscored tous there are 700 million people under the age of 30. we’ve seen staggering growth in theseyouth populations. and guess what. in the 21st century, in 2022 when everybody’s runningaround with a mobile device and everybody’s in touch with everybody every day all the time,all of these people are demanding an opportunity. they’re demanding dignity. andju_taposed to their hopes, a cadre of e_tremists, of resisters, of naysayers are waiting to seducemany of those young people into accepting a dead end. and let me tell you, when people don’thave a job, when they can’t get an education, when they can’t aspire to a better future forthemselves and for their families, when their voices are silenced by draconian laws or violenceand oppression, we have all witnessed the instability that follows.

now happily, many, if not most governments, in asia are working to present booming youthpopulations with an alternative, with a quality education, with skills for the modern world,with jobs that allow them to build a life and a confidence in their countries. that is part of thereason why the young people in asia are joining the ranks of the middle class, not the ranks ofviolent e_tremists. and the fact is that too many countries around the world are struggling toprovide those opportunities. there’s a lack of governance, and we ignore the importance of thiscollective challenge to address the question of failed and failing states in other parts of theworld.

in the 21st century, a nation’s interests and the well-being of its people are advanced not justby troops or diplomats, but they’re advanced by entrepreneurs, by chief e_ecutives ofcompanies, by the businesses that are good corporate citizens, by the workers that theyemploy, by the students that they train, and the shared prosperity that they create. that iswhy we are working with partners across the asia pacific to maintain and raise standards as wee_pand trade and investment by pursuing a comprehensive trans-pacific partnershipagreement.

now, the tpp represents really an e_citing new chapter in the long history of america’s mutuallybeneficial trade partnerships with the countries of the asia pacific. it is a state-of-the-art, 21stcentury trade agreement, and it is consistent not just with our shared economic interests, butalso with our shared values. it’s about generating growth for our economies and jobs for ourpeople by unleashing a wave of trade, investment, and entrepreneurship. it’s about standing upfor our workers, or protecting the environment, and promoting innovation. and it’s aboutreaching for high standards to guide the growth of this dynamic regional economy. and all ofthat is just plain good for businesses, it’s good for workers, it’s good for our economies. andthat’s why we must get this done.returned again and again to this region – i can’t tell you howmany times i went, mazie, as a senator to the region. and we are now – we take our enduringinterests there, obviously, very, very seriously.

now, every time i travel to asia, i have the privilege of meeting with young entrepreneurs andbusiness leaders. in fact, at the africa summit the other day we had this wonderful group ofyoung african leaders – all entrepreneurs, all these young kids in their 20s doinge_traordinary things. it’s call the young african leaders initiative, which president obamastarted.

in hanoi last december, i launched the governance for inclusive growth program to supportvietnam’s transition to a market-based economy. i’ve met with entrepreneurs in seoul andmanila to talk about how we can drive innovation. on saturday, i discussed with my aseancounterparts the framework for creating business opportunities and jobs that we calle_panded economic engagement, or e3. and just yesterday, i met with business leaders insydney, australia to e_plore ways to reduce the barriers to trade and investment.

to broaden the base of support for this strategy, we need to focus not only on rapid growth,but we also need to focus on sustainability. and that means making the best use of regionalinstitutions. president obama will join apec economic leaders in beijing this fall to focus onpromoting clean and renewable fuels and supporting small businesses and women’sparticipation in the economy and e_panding educational e_changes. and just a few days ago,i met with ministers from the lower mekong initiative countries to deepen our partnership andhelp them wrestle with the challenges of food and water and energy security on the mekongriver.

ultimately, the true measure of our success will not be just whether our economies continue togrow, but how they continue to grow. and that brings me to our second challenge: we need toturn today’s climate crisis into tomorrow’s clean energy revolution. now, all of this – all of usin this room understand climate change is not a crisis of the future. climate change is herenow. it’s happening, happening all over the world. it’s not a challenge that’s somehow remoteand that people can’t grab onto.

but here’s the key: it’s happening at a rate that should be alarming to all of us becauseeverything the scientists predicted – and i’ll tell you a little addendum. al gore – i had theprivilege of working with al gore and tim worth and a group of senators – jack heinz – backin the 1980s when we held the first hearing on climate change in 1988. that’s when jimhansen from nasa came forward and said it’s happening. it’s happening now in 1988. in 1992we had a forum down in brazil, rio, the earth summit. george herbert walker bushparticipated. we came up with a voluntary framework to deal with climate change, butvoluntary didn’t work. and for 20 years nothing much happened. then we went to kyoto. wewent to all these places to try to do something, and here we are in 2022 with a chance ne_tyear in 2022 to do it.

and what’s happening is the science is screaming at us. ask any kid in school. theyunderstand what a greenhouse is, how it works, why we call it the greenhouse effect. theyget it. and here’s what – if you accept the science, if you accept that the science is causingclimate to change, you have to heed what those same scientists are telling us about how youprevent the inevitable consequences and impacts. you can’t – that’s why president obamahas made climate change a top priority. he’s doing by e_ecutive authority what we’re notable to get the congress to do. and we’re working very hard to implement the climate actionplan and lead by e_ample. we’re doubling the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks on america’sroads. we’ve developed new standards that ensure that e_isting power plants are as clean aspossible and as efficient as possible. and we’re committed to reducing greenhouse gasesand emissions in the range of about 17 percent below 2022 levels by 2022.

so we’re heading in the right direction. but make no mistake about it: our response has tobe all hands on deck. by definition, rescuing the planet’s climate is a global challenge thatrequires a global solution. and nowhere is all of this more evident than in the asia pacific.and no two nations can have a greater impact or influence on this debate or this challengethan china and the united states.

during the strategic and economic dialogue last month, secretary of treasury jack lew and iwere in beijing for two days. and we and china together sent a clear message: the world’s twolargest greenhouse gas emitters, the united states and china, are committed to advancing alow-carbon economic growth pattern and significantly reduce our countries’ greenhouse gases.and we’re working together to launch demonstration projects on carbon capture, utilization,and storage. we’re adopting stronger fuel efficiency standards for heavy- and light-dutyvehicles. we’re advancing a new initiative on climate change and forests, because we knowthat the threat of deforestation and its implications of a changing climate are real and they’regrave and they’re growing. and i’ll just say to you this is not an issue on which you can be halfpregnant. no such issue. if you accept the science, you have to accept that you have to dothese things about it.

now, the united states and china have a special role to play in reducing emissions anddeveloping a clean energy future. but everybody – every nation – has a stake in getting itright. i just came from the solomon islands yesterday, a thousand islands, some of which couldbe wiped out if we don’t make the right choices. the pacific islands across the entire pacific arevulnerable to climate change. and just yesterday, i saw with my own eyes what sea level risewould do to parts of it: it would be devastating – entire habitats destroyed, entire populationsdisplaced from their homes, in some cases entire cultures wiped out. they just had flashflooding in guadalcanal – unprecedented amounts of rainfall. and that’s what’s happened withclimate change – unprecedented storms, unprecedented typhoons, unprecedentedhurricanes, unprecedented droughts, unprecedented fires, major damage, billions andbillions of dollars of damage being done that we’re paying for instead of investing those billionsof dollars in avoiding this in the first place.

that’s why we are deepening our partnerships with the pacific island nations and others to meetimmediate threats and long-term development challenges. and we’re working through usaidand other multilateral institutions to increase the resilience of communities. and we’reelevating our engagement through the pacific islands forum. and we’ve signed maritimeboundaries, new maritime boundaries with kiribati and the federated states of micronesia inorder to promote good governance of the pacific ocean and peaceful relations among islandnations. and we’re also working on a pacific pathway of marine protected areas that includespresident obama’s commitment to e_plore a protected area of more than a million squaremiles in size in the u.s. remote pacific.

we just held a conference on the oceans in washington the other day with nations all over theworld came to it – unbelievably productive. we produced $1.8 billion of commitments to helpwith fisheries enforcement, anti-pollution, dealing with acidification, and to protect theseareas as marine sanctuaries.

the good news is in the end – and this really – it really is good news. sometimes you have anissue – mr. mayor, i know you know this. governors, you know this. you’re looking at an issueand, man, you scratch your head and you’re not quite sure what the solution is, right? andyou work through it. well, the good news is the biggest challenge of all that we face right now,which is climate change in terms of international global effect, is an opportunity. it’s actuallyan e_traordinary opportunity because it’s not a problem without a solution. the solutionto climate change is simple. it’s called energy policy. energy policy. make the right choicesabout how you produce your energy – without emissions, without coal-fired power plants thatdon’t have carbon capture and storage or aren’t burning clean – then you can begin toproduce clean energy.

and the new energy market that we’re looking at is the biggest market the world has ever seen.think about that for a moment. the wealth that was generated in the 1990s – i don’t know ifyou know this, but most people think that america got the richest during the 1920s when youhad the so-called, even in the late 1800s, robber baron years, and then you had the greatnames of wealth – carnegie, mellon, frick, rockefeller, and so forth. and no income ta_ – wow,gonna make a lot of money.

guess what. america made more wealth and more money for more people in the 1990s than atany other time in our history. and what it came from, the wealth that was generated then, wasthe high-tech computer revolution of the 1990s, and guess what. it came from a $1 trillionmarket with 1 billion users, 1 for 1. the energy market that we’re looking at in the world todayis si_ times bigger, by far more important. it’s a $6 trillion market today with 4 to 5 billionusers today, and it will go up to 7 to 9 billion users in the ne_t 30 years. the fastest segmentby far of growth in that market is clean energy.

we need to build a grid in america. we need to – we could use solar thermal to produce heatin massachusetts, in minnesota, take wind power from our states, sell it somewhere else. wecan’t even do that because we don’t have that grid in place.

so i want to emphasize to all of you: we’re not going to find a sustainable energy mi_ in the19th century or 20th century solutions. those are the problems. we need a formula for 21stcentury that will sustainably power us into the 22nd century. and i believe that, workingtogether, the united states and countries across the asia pacific can make this leap. that’s ane_citing opportunity and that’s what we’re working on with china today.

the bottom line is we don’t have time to waste. if we’re going to power a clean energyrevolution, we have to work together to dampen security competition and rivalry in theasia pacific and focus on these other constructive efforts. and so our third challenge is clear:we need to turn maritime conflicts into regional cooperation.

all of us in this room understand that these disputes in the south china sea and elsewhere,they’re really about more than claims to islands and reefs and rocks and the economic intereststhat flow from them. they’re about whether might makes right or whether global rules andnorms and rule of law and international law will prevail. i want to be absolutely clear: theunited states of america takes no position on questions of sovereignty in the south and eastchina sea, but we do care about how those questions are resolved. we care about behavior. wefirmly oppose the use of intimidation and coercion or force to assert a territorial claim byanyone in the region. and we firmly oppose any suggestion that freedom of navigation andoverflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are privileges granted by a big state toa small one. all claimants must work together to solve the claims through peaceful means, bigor small. and these principles bind all nations equally, and all nations have a responsibility touphold them.

now, i just participated in the asean regional forum, and we were encouraged there to – weencouraged the claimants there to defuse these tensions and to create the political space forresolution. we urged the claimants to voluntarily freeze steps that threatened to escalatethe disputes and to cause instability. and frankly, i think that’s common sense and i suspectyou share that. i’m pleased to say that asean agreed that the time has come to seekconsensus on what some of those actions to be avoided might be, based on the commitmentsthat they’ve already made in the 2022 declaration on conduct.

now, we cannot impose solutions on the claimants in the region, and we’re not seeking to dothat. but the recent settlement between indonesia and the philippines is an e_ample of howthese disputes could be resolved through good-faith negotiations. japan and taiwan, likewise,showed last year that it’s possible to promote regional stability despite conflicting claims. andwe support the philippines’ taking steps to resolve its maritime dispute with china peacefully,including through the right to pursue arbitration under the un convention on the law of thesea. and while we already live by its principles, the united states needs to finish the job andpass that treaty once and for all.

now, one thing that i know will contribute to maintaining regional peace and stability is aconstructive relationship between the united states and china. president obama has made itclear that the united states welcomes the rise of a peaceful, prosperous, and stable china –one that plays a responsible role in asia and the world and supports rules and norms oneconomic and security issues. the president has been clear, as have i, that we are committedto avoiding the trap of strategic rivalry and intent on forging a relationship in which we canbroaden our cooperation on common interests and constructively manage our differences anddisagreements.

but make no mistake: this constructive relationship, this “new model” relationship of greatpowers, is not going to happen simply by talking about it. it’s not going to happen byengaging in a slogan or pursuing a sphere of influence. it will be defined by more and bettercooperation on shared challenges. and it will be defined by a mutual embrace of the rules,the norms, and institutions that have served both of our nations and the region so well. i amvery pleased that china and the united states are cooperating effectively on the iran nucleartalks and we’ve increased our dialogue on the dprk. we’re also cooperating significantly onclimate change possibilities, counter-piracy operations, and south sudan.

so we are busy trying to define a great power relationship by the places where we can findmutual agreement and cooperation. we’ve seen the benefits of partnerships based oncommon values and common approaches to regional and global security. secretary of defensechuck hagel and i met with our australian counterparts in sydney earlier this week and wereviewed the u.s.-australian alliance from all sides. and though we live in very differenthemispheres, obviously, and at opposite ends of the globe, the united states and australia aretoday as close as nations can get. our time-honored alliance has helped both of our countries toachieve important goals: standing with the people of ukraine, supporting long-term progress inafghanistan, promoting shared prosperity in the asia pacific, and collaborating on the unitednations security council. and we also agreed to e_pand our trilateral cooperation with japan,and that will allow us to further modernize the u.s.-japan alliance as we address a broaderarray of security challenges. similarly, with our ally south korea, our partnership on agrowing range of regional and global challenges has brought much greater security to asiaand beyond.

history shows us that countries whose policies respect and reflect universal human rights andfundamental freedoms are likely to be peaceful and prosperous, far more effective attapping the talents of their people, and far better partners in the long term.

that is why our fourth and final challenge is so important: we need to turn human rightsproblems into opportunities for human empowerment. across the region, there are bright spots.but we also see backsliding, such as the setback to democracy in thailand.

we all know that some countries in the region hold different views on democratic governanceand the protection of human rights. but though we may sometimes disagree on these issueswith the governments, i don’t think we have any fundamental disagreement with theirpeople.

given a choice, i don’t think too many young people in china would choose to have less accessto uncensored information, rather than more. i don’t think too many people in vietnam wouldsay: “i’d rather not be allowed to organize and speak out for better working conditions or ahealthy environment.” and i can’t imagine that anyone in asia would watch more than a 130million people go to the polls in indonesia to choose a president after a healthy, vigorous, andpeaceful debate and then say: “i don’t want that right for myself.” i also think most peoplewould agree that freedom of speech and the press is essential to checking corruption, and itis essential that rule of law is needed to protect innovation and to enable businesses tothrive. that’s why support for these values is both universal and pragmatic.

i visited indonesia in february, and i saw the promise of a democratic future. the world’sthird largest democracy sets a terrific e_ample for the world. and the united states is deeplycommitted to our comprehensive partnership. indonesia is not just an e_pression of differentcultures and languages and faiths. by deepening its democracy, and preserving its traditionsof tolerance, it can be a model for how asian values and democratic principles inform andstrengthen one another.

in thailand, a close friend and ally, we’re very disturbed by the setback to democracy andwe hope it is a temporary bump in the road. we call on the thai authorities to lift restrictionson political activity and speech, to return – to restore civilian rule, and return quickly todemocracy through free and fair elections.

in burma last week, i saw firsthand the initial progress the people and the government havemade. and i’m proud of the role – and you should be too – that the united states has playedfor a quarter of a century in encouraging that progress.

but burma still has a long way to go, and those leading its democratic transformation areonly now addressing the deepest challenges: defining a new role for the military; reformingthe constitution and supporting free and fair elections; ending a decades-long civil war; andguaranteeing in law the human rights that burma’s people have been promised in name. all ofthis while trying to attract more investment, combating corruption, protecting the country’sforests and other resources. these are the great tests of burma’s transition. and we intend totry to help, but in the end the leadership will have to make the critical choices.

the united states is going to do everything we can to help the reformers in burma, especiallyby supporting nationwide elections ne_t year. and we will keep urging the government – as idid last week – to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in rakhine state, and push backagainst hate speech and religious violence, implement constitutional reform, and protectfreedom of assembly and e_pression. the government owes it to the people of those – of thatmovement to do those things.

and so, my friends, in the great tradition of our country, we will continue to promote humanrights and democracy in asia, without arrogance but also without apology.

elsewhere in asia, north korea’s proliferation activities pose a very serious threat to the unitedstates, the region, and the world. and we are taking steps to deter and defend against northkorea’s pursuit of a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capability. but make no mistake: we arealso speaking out about the horrific human rights situation. we strongly supported thee_traordinary united nations investigation this year that revealed the utter, grotesquecruelty of north korea’s system of labor camps and e_ecutions. such deprivation of humandignity just has no place in the 21st century. north korea’s gulags should be shut down – nottomorrow, not ne_t week, but now. and we will continue to speak out on this topic.

so you’ve heard me for longer than you might have wanted to – (laughter) – describing apretty ambitious agenda. and you’re right; it’s a big deal. we are super engaged. we areambitious for this process: completing the tpp negotiations, creating sustainable growth,powering a clean energy revolution, managing regional rivalries by promoting cooperation,and empowering people from all walks of life – that’s how we’re going to realize the promise ofthe asia pacific. and this is a region whose countries can and should come together, becausethere is much more that unites us than divides us. this is a region that can and should meetdanger and difficulty with courage and collaboration. and we are determined to deliver onthe strategic and historic opportunities that we can create together.

that’s why, together with our asian partners, we’re developing modern rules for a changingworld – rules that help economies grow strong and fair and just, with protections for theenvironment, safeguards for the people who have both too often been left behind.

that’s why we’re building a region where asia’s major cities are no longer clouded with smogand smoke, and where people can depend on safe food and water, and clean oceans, clean air,and shared resources from its rivers and its oceans, and with a sense of responsibility onegeneration passes on to the ne_t to preserve all of that for the future.

that’s why we’re building a region where countries peacefully resolve their differences overislands, reefs, rocks by finding the common ground on the basis of international law.

and that’s why we’re building a region that protects the universal human rights andfundamental freedoms that make all nations stronger.

there is still a long road ahead. but nothing gives me more hope in the ne_t miles of thejourney than the courage of those who have reached a different and more hopeful kind offuture. and that is the story that i want to leave you with today.

when i became a senator, getting increasingly more and more involved in the region as ayoung member of the committee and then later as chairman of the subcommittee on asian andpacific affairs, the first trip i took in 1986 was to the philippines. strongman ferdinand marcoshad called a sham “snap” election to fake everybody to prove how in charge he was, topreserve his grasp on power. president reagan asked senator richard lugar and me to be partof a delegation to observe those elections.

and i will never forget arriving in manila and seeing this unbelievable flood of people in thestreets all decked out in their canary yellow shirts and banners of pro-democracy protest.some of us knew at that time there were allegations of fraud. i was sent down initially tomindanao to observe the morning votes and then came back to manila, and was sitting in thehotel there when a woman came up to me crying and said, “senator, you must come with me tothe cathedral. there are women there who fear for their lives.”

and i left my dinner and i ran down to the cathedral. i came in to the sacristi of thecathedral and talked with these 13 women who were crying and huddled together, intimidatedfor their lives. and i listened to their story about how they were counting the raw tally of thevotes that was coming in from all across the nation, but the raw tally of votes they werecounting was not showing up on the computer tote board recording the votes. they blew thewhistle on a dictator. we held an international press conference right there in the cathedralright in front of the alter, and they spoke out, and that was the signal to marcos it was over.their courage and the courage of the filipino people lit a spark that traveled throughout theworld, inspiring not just a freshman senator from massachusetts, but popular movementsfrom eastern europe to burma.

now, i think about that moment even today, about the power of people to make their voicesfelt. i think about how cory aquino rose to the presidency atop a wave of people power whenfew believed that she could. i think about how her husband fought for democracy, even at thecost of his own life. and i think about how, decades later, their son would rise to the presidencyin democratic elections. in his inaugural address, president benigno aquino said: “myparents sought nothing less, died for nothing less, than democracy and peace. i am blessed bythis legacy. i shall carry the torch forward.”

my friends, today we must all summon up some of that courage, we must all carry that torchforward. the cause of democracy and peace, and the prosperity that they bring, can bringour legacy in the asian pacific, it can define it. our commitment to that future, believe me itis strong. our principles are just. and we are in this for the long haul – clear-eyed about thechallenges ahead.

thank you. (applause.)

第6篇 希拉里·克林頓在2022年美國(guó)市長(zhǎng)會(huì)議英語(yǔ)演講稿

thank you! thank you all so much.

it's great to be here with all of you. i'm looking out at the audience and seeing so many familiarfaces, as well as those here up on the dais.

i want to thank kevin for his introduction and his leadership of this organization.

mayor lee, thanks for having us in your beautiful city.

it is for me a great treat to come back to address a group that, as you just heard, i spent a lotof time as senator working with?–?in great measure because of the need for buttressinghomeland security, as well as other challenges within our cities during the eight years i servedin the senate.

and it was always refreshing to come here because despite whatever was going on in congressor washington with respect to partisanship, a conference of mayors was truly like an oasis inthe desert. i could come here and be reminded of what mayor laguardia said, 'there's norepublican or democratic way to pick up the garbage. you pick it up, or you don't pick it up.'and i loved being with people who understood that.

i've learned over the years how important it is to work with city hall, to try to make sure we areconnected up as partners and to get whatever the priorities of your people happen to beaccomplished.

so it pays. it pays to work with you, and i am grateful to have this opportunity to come backand see you.

when i was senator from new york, i not only worked with the mayor of new york city, ofcourse, i worked with creative and committed mayors from buffalo to rochester to syracuseto albany and so many other places.

and i was particularly happy to do so because they were always full of ideas and eager to worktogether to attract more high-paying jobs, to revitalize downtowns, to support our firstresponders, to try to close that skills gap.

and i want you to be sure of this, whether you are a democrat, a republican or anindependent: if i am president, america's mayors will always have a friend in the white house.

now, as i was preparing to come here, i couldn't help but think of some of those who aren'twith us today.

tom menino was a dear friend to me, and to many in this room, and i certainly feel his loss.

today, our thoughts are also with our friend joe riley and the people of charleston. joe's a goodman and a great mayor, and his leadership has been a bright light during such a dark time.

you know, the passing of days has not dulled the pain or the shock of this crime. indeed, as wehave gotten to know the faces and names and stories of the victims, the pain has onlydeepened.

nine faithful women and men, with families and passions and so much left to do.

as a mother, a grandmother, a fellow human being, my heart is bursting for them. for thesevictims and their families. for a wounded community and a wounded church. for our countrystruggling once again to make sense of violence that is fundamentally senseless, and historywe desperately want to leave behind.

yesterday was juneteenth, a day of liberation and deliverance. one-hundred and fifty years ago,as news of president lincoln's emancipation proclamation spread from town to town across thesouth, free men and women lifted their voices in song and prayer.

congregations long forced to worship underground, like the first christians, joyfullyresurrected their churches.

in charleston, the african methodist episcopal church took a new name: emanuel. 'god is withus.'

faith has always seen this community through, and i know it will again.

just as earlier generations threw off the chains of slavery and then segregation and jim crow,this generation will not be shackled by fear and hate.

on friday, one by one, grieving parents and siblings stood up in court and looked at that youngman, who had taken so much from them, and said: 'i forgive you.'

in its way, their act of mercy was more stunning than his act of cruelty.

it reminded me of watching nelson mandela embrace his former jailers because, he said, hedidn't want to be imprisoned twice, once by steel and concrete, once by anger and bitterness.

in these moments of tragedy, many of us struggle with how to process the rush of emotions.

i'd been in charleston that day. i'd gone to a technical school, trident tech. i had seen thejoy, the confidence and optimism of young people who were now serving apprenticeships withlocal businesses, black, white, hispanic, asian, every background. i listened to their stories, ishook their hands, i saw the hope and the pride.

and then by the time i got to las vegas, i read the news.

like many of you, i was so overcome: how to turn grief, confusion into purpose and action?but that's what we have to do.

for me and many others, one immediate response was to ask how it could be possible that weas a nation still allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate.

you can't watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that, as presidentobama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction.

now, i lived in arkansas and i represented upstate new york. i know that gun ownership ispart of the fabric of a lot of law-abiding communities.

but i also know that we can have commonsense gun reforms that keep weapons out of thehands of criminals and the violently unstable, while respecting responsible gun owners.

what i hope with all of my heart is that we work together to make this debate less polarized,less inflamed by ideology, more informed by evidence, so we can sit down across the table,across the aisle from one another, and find ways to keep our communities safe while protectingconstitutional rights.

it makes no sense that bipartisan legislation to require universal background checks wouldfail in congress, despite overwhelming public support.

it makes no sense that we wouldn't come together to keep guns out of the hands of domesticabusers, or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list. thatdoesn't make sense, and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about.

the president is right: the politics on this issue have been poisoned. but we can't give up. thestakes are too high. the costs are too dear.

and i am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for commonsense reforms, and along withyou, achieve those on behalf of all who have been lost because of this senseless gun violencein our country.

but today, i stand before you because i know and you know there is a deeper challenge weface.

i had the great privilege of representing america around the world. i was so proud to shareour e_ample, our diversity, our openness, our devotion to human rights and freedom. thesequalities have drawn generations of immigrants to our shores, and they inspire people still. ihave seen it with my own eyes.

and yet, bodies are once again being carried out of a black church.

once again, racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence.

now, it's tempting, it is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, tobelieve that in today's america, bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism nolonger e_ists.

but despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, america's long struggle with race is far fromfinished.

i know this is a difficult topic to talk about. i know that so many of us hoped by electing ourfirst black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history.

i know there are truths we don't like to say out loud or discuss with our children. but we haveto. that's the only way we can possibly move forward together.

race remains a deep fault line in america. millions of people of color still e_perience racism intheir everyday lives.

here are some facts.

in america today, blacks are nearly three times as likely as whites to be denied a mortgage.

in 2022, the median wealth of black families was around $11,000. for white families, it wasmore than $134,000.

nearly half of all black families have lived in poor neighborhoods for at least two generations,compared to just 7 percent of white families.

african american men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged withcrimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men, 10 percent longer for the samecrimes in the federal system.

in america today, our schools are more segregated than they were in the 1960s.

how can any of that be true? how can it be true that black children are 500 percent more likelyto die from asthma than white kids? five hundred percent!

more than a half century after dr. king marched and rosa parks sat and john lewis bled, afterthe civil rights act and the voting rights act and so much else, how can any of these things betrue? but they are.

and our problem is not all kooks and klansman. it's also in the cruel joke that goesunchallenged. it's in the off-hand comments about not wanting 'those people' in theneighborhood.

let's be honest: for a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a youngblack man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear. and news reports about poverty and crimeand discrimination evoke sympathy, even empathy, but too rarely do they spur us to actionor prompt us to question our own assumptions and privilege.

we can't hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in america. we have toname them and own them and then change them.

you may have heard about a woman in north carolina named debbie dills. she's the one whospotted dylann roof's car on the highway. she could have gone on about her business. shecould have looked to her own safety. but that's not what she did. she called the police and thenshe followed that car for more than 30 miles.

as congressman jim clyburn said the other day, 'there may be a lot of dylann roofs in theworld, but there are a lot of debbie dills too. she didn't remain silent.'

well, neither can we. we all have a role to play in building a more tolerant, inclusive society,what i once called 'a village,' where there is a place for everyone.

you know, we americans may differ and bicker and stumble and fall, but we are at our bestwhen we pick each other up, when we have each other's back.

like any family, our american family is strongest when we cherish what we have in common,and fight back against those who would drive us apart.

mayors are on the front lines in so many ways. we look to you for leadership in time of crisis.we look to you every day to bring people together to build stronger communities.

many mayors are part of the u.s. coalition of cities against racism and discrimination,launched by this conference in 2022. i know you're making reforms in your own communities,promoting tolerance in schools, smoothing the integration of immigrants, creating economicopportunities.

mayors across the country also are doing all they can to prevent gun violence and keep ourstreets and neighborhoods safe.

and that's not all. across our country, there is so much that is working. it's easy to forget thatwhen you watch or read the news. in cities and towns from coast to coast, we are seeingincredible innovation. mayors are delivering results with what franklin roosevelt called boldand persistent e_perimentation.

here in san francisco, mayor lee is e_panding a workforce training program for residents ofpublic housing, helping people find jobs who might have spent time in prison or lost theirdriver's license or fallen behind in child support payments.

south of here in los angeles and north in seattle, city governments are raising the minimumwage so more people who work hard can get ahead and support their families.

in philadelphia, mayor nutter is pioneering a new approach to community policing to rebuildtrust and respect between law enforcement and communities of color.

in houston, louisville and chicago, the mayors are finding new ways to help workers train andcompete for jobs in advanced industries.

cities like cleveland and le_ington are linking up their universities and their factories to spur arevival of manufacturing.

in denver and detroit, city leaders are getting creative about how they raise funds forbuilding and repairing mass transit.

providence is helping parents learn how to become their children's first teachers, and spendmore time reading, talking, and singing to their babies at critical stages of early braindevelopment.

kevin johnson, who has led both sacramento and this conference so ably, calls thisrenaissance of urban innovation 'cities 3.0,' and talks about 'open-source leadership' andmayors as pragmatic problem-solvers.

that's what we need more of in america.

and kevin is right, we need to reimagine the relationship between the federal government andour metropolitan areas. top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions rarely work.

we need what i'll call a new fle_ible federalism that empowers and connects communities,leverages their unique advantages, adapts to changing circumstances. and i look forward toworking with all of you to turn this vision into a reality.

i've put four fights at the center of my campaign:

first, to build an economy for tomorrow not yesterday;

second, to strengthen america's families, the foundation of everything we are;

third, to harness all of our power, our smarts, and our values to continue to lead the world;

and fourth, to revitalize our democracy back here at home.

mayors are vital for all four of these efforts. you know what it takes to make governmentactually work, and you know it can make a real difference in people's lives.

but you also know that government alone does not have the answers we seek. if we are going tore-stitch the fraying fabric of our communities, all americans are going to have to step up.there are laws we should pass and programs we should fund and fights we should wage andwin.

but so much of the real work is going to come around kitchen tables and over bedtime stories,around office watercoolers and in factory break rooms, at quiet moments in school and at work,in honest conversations between parents and children, between friends and neighbors.

because fundamentally, this is about the habits of our hearts, how we treat each other, how welearn to see the humanity in those around us, no matter what they look like, how theyworship, or who they love. most of all, it's about how we teach our children to see thathumanity too.

andy young is here, and i want to tell a story about him because i think it's as timely today asit was all those years ago.

you know, at the end of the 1950s the south was beginning to find its way into the moderneconomy. it wasn't easy. there were determined leaders in both government and businessthat wanted to raise the standard of living and recruit businesses, make life better.

when the closing of central high school in little rock happened, and president eisenhower hadto send in federal troops to keep peace, that sent a message of urgency but also opportunity.

i remember andy coming to little rock some years later, and saying that in atlanta when folkssaw what was going on in little rock and saw some of the continuing resistance to enforcingcivil rights laws, opening up closed doors, creating the chance for blacks and whites to studytogether, to work together, to live together, atlanta made a different decision.

the leadership of atlanta came together, looked out across the south and said, 'some place inthe south is really going to make it big. we need to be that place.' and they adopted a slogan, 'the city too busy to hate.'

well, we need to be cities, states and a country too busy to hate. we need to get about thework of tearing down the barriers and the obstacles, roll up our sleeves together, look at what'sworking across our country, and then share it and scale it.

as all of us reeled from the news in charleston this past week, a friend of mine shared thisobservation with a number of us. think about the hearts and values of those men and womenof mother emanuel, he said.

'a dozen people gathered to pray. they're in their most intimate of communities and astranger who doesn't look or dress like them joins in. they don't judge. they don't question.they don't reject. they just welcome. if he's there, he must need something: prayer, love,community, something. during their last hour, nine people of faith welcomed a stranger inprayer and fellowship.'

for those of us who are christians, we remember the words of the scripture: 'i was hungry andyou gave me food. i was thirsty and you gave me drink. i was a stranger and you welcomedme.'

that's humanity at its best. that's also america at its best. and that's the spirit we need tonurture our lives and our families and our communities.

i know it's not usual for somebody running for president to say what we need more of in thiscountry is love and kindness. but that's e_actly what we need more of.

we need to be not only too busy to hate but too caring, too loving to ignore, to walk away, togive up.

part of the reason i'm running for president is i love this country. i am so grateful for each andevery blessing and opportunity i've been given.

i did not pick my parents. i did not decide before i arrived that i would live in a middle classfamily in the middle of america, be given the opportunity to go to good public schools withdedicated teachers and a community that supported me and all of the other kids.

i came of age at a time when barriers were falling for women, another benefit.

i came of age as the civil rights movement was beginning to not only change laws but changehearts.

i've seen the e_pansion of not just rights but opportunities to so many of our fellow men andwomen who had been left out and left behind.

but we have unfinished business. and i am absolutely confident and optimistic we can getthat done.

i stand here ready to work with each and every one of you to support your efforts, to stand withyou, to put the task of moving beyond the past at the head of our national agenda. i'm e_citedabout what we can accomplish together.

i thank you for what you've already done and i look forward to all that you will be doing in thefuture.

thank you. god bless you, and god bless america.

第7篇 美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)卿克里在美國(guó)-東盟部長(zhǎng)級(jí)會(huì)議英語(yǔ)演講稿

well, everybody, my apologies for being delayed, and i thank everybodyfor their patience and look forward to a very interesting and comprehensive discussion thisevening. i want to begin by thanking foreign minister lwin and the government of myanmar,which has done a very solid job of leading asean as chair this year. and i also want torecognize our new ambassador to asean nina hachigian, who was confirmed just in time tobe here today. (laughter and applause.) we’re delighted to have nina on board, and i know allof you will really enjoy working with her.

the united states remains deeply committed to engaging the asia pacific region. i thinkyou’ve heard us talking about our rebalanced asia and the deep involvement that we havethere, working for the trade agreement, working with respect to security issues and globalclimate change – particularly important. i had occasion to be in the philippines and see theimpact directly of typhoon haiyan. and so we have a lot of work to do, and we are deeplycommitted. president obama has reinforced again and again his intention to keep the unitedstates front and center in the region. i’ve already traveled there – i think it’s five or si_ timesin a year and a half. the president’s been there several times. we’re looking forward to beingback there shortly for the meetings in october, november, and there’s obviously a lot tocontinue to work on.

asean and its centrality is essential to upholding the rules-based system throughout the asiapacific, and it is the best way to ensure that all countries big and small have a voice as we worktogether to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities. that’s why theunited states continues to invest so much in the relationship. it’s why we’re deepening our tiesamong our people-to-people programs, like president obama’s young southeast asian leadersinitiative and the u.s.-asean fulbright program. and it’s why we fully support the formationof the asean economic community in 2022.

president obama and i are very much looking forward to being at the east asia summit, but inthe meantime we’re happy to discuss a few of the challenges that we’ve partnered on, includingour maritime security and the global threat of climate change. i hope we can discuss thisevening how best to work on some of the other global issues that we also face today – fore_ample, the growing numbers of foreign fighters from all over the world who have chosen to goto isil and join in their activities and present a danger and risk to all of us. we also obviouslyface the challenge of ebola in west africa, and we need everybody to be involved in the effortto contain it.

so i thank you all for carving out time in what has been an e_traordinarily busy week here innew york. we’ve got some very important conversations to have, but before we turn to that, iwant to recognize foreign minister lwin for his opening comments.

foreign minister lwin: thank you very much, mr. secretary. e_cellencies, at the outset letme e_press my sincere thanks to secretary kerry and the government of the united states ofamerica for hosting this important meeting, taking the opportunity of all our aseancolleagues’ presence here in new york as we are attending the 69th general assembly of theunited nations.

i am delighted to see the progress in asean-u.s. dialogue relations that encompasses all threepillars of the asean community. we appreciate u.s. role in maintaining peace and securityin the region, as well as providing technical assistance for socio-economic and socio-culturaldevelopment in asean member-states.

we are confident that asean and the u.s. can further strengthen cooperation through theeffective implementation of the plan of action to implement the joint vision statement ofasean-u.s. enhanced partnership.

asean-u.s. economic ministers meeting was held on 28 august overseeing the progress ofasean-u.s. economic cooperation and finding ways to move forward on the outstandingaspects of e3 initiative, particularly on nonbinding shared principles of asean-u.s. investment.i hope we could be able to see progress on those matters during the upcoming second asean-u.s. summit in november.

the asean-u.s. business summit was successfully convened in naypyidaw on 28 august,providing opportunities for our business people to interact and build networks. i look forward toseeing increased business activities between asean and the united states. socio-culture andpeople-to-people ties are also the areas that we should focus to promote better understandingbetween the peoples of asean and u.s.

the u.s. supports on the citylinks pilot partnership, which provide capacity building andtechnical (inaudible) programs on climate change adaptation among cities, is timely andeffective as we urgently need to tackle the negative effects of climate change. in this respect,we’ll work with the u.s. for the asean-u.s. joint climate change statement to be issued atthe second asean-u.s. summit.

i look forward to have a fruitful discussion today to further address asean-u.s. engagementin a more comprehensive way. thank you, mr. secretary.

第8篇 國(guó)務(wù)卿克里對(duì)美國(guó)硅谷demo fall 2022大會(huì)英語(yǔ)演講稿

i’d like to say hello to everyoneparticipating in demo fall in silicon valley! it’s really aprivilege for me to share some thoughts with so manytalented young leaders.

demo showcases the best of thebest when it comes to innovation around the world. andthat’s why demo has brought togetherentrepreneurs and innovators from sub-saharan africaand southeast asia, frombrazil, china, and beyond.

during my travels as secretary ofstate, i’ve seen firsthand the amazing transformationtaking place in many ofyour countries. and what’s driving thattransformation is really whatmakes it so e_citing – it’s young entrepreneursand innovators, all with a bold new idea and thedrive to take that idea andmake it a reality.

i am especially pleased that demois promoting entrepreneurs from sub-saharan africa andsoutheast asia, where irecently spent a couple of weeks. thestate department is very proud tobe a partner in these efforts, because weknow that the best ideas are simply never bound byborders.

that’s why we’re working hand inhand with the private sector, ngos, universities, andgovernments. and that’s why our office of global partnershipshas launched “lions africa”and “tigers at mekong,” two e_citing public-privatepartnerships that strengthenentrepreneurship in africa and the lower mekongsub-region in southeast asia.

as you know, the work you’redoing isn’t just about making money – it’s about makingpeople’s livesbetter. and when you succeed, you fueltechnological innovation and createeconomic opportunity and jobs not just foryour own people, but for people around the globe.

i’m confident that in this roomis the ne_t big idea, the ne_t start-up of tomorrow – it’s inyour labs, it’sin your imaginations. so take advantageof this opportunity to network, makegreat connections, and find novel ideas tostand behind and support. you’ll have my support andthe support of the statedepartment in that effort, i promise you.

all of you are risk-takers anddreamers. you’re not just the leaders of tomorrow – you’reactually leadingtoday. and that makes all thedifference. you’re changing the world evenas wespeak. and when i think of yourtalent and drive – your passion and creativity – i reallycouldn’t be moreoptimistic about the future that we can build together. so thank you for allthat you do, and i hopeyou enjoy the rest of your visit.

第9篇 美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)卿約翰·克里在弗吉尼亞大學(xué)英語(yǔ)演講稿

thank you. thank you very, verymuch. thank you. good morning. thank you for ane_traordinarily warm welcome,charlottesville. i am really honored to be here.

senator tim kaine, thank youvery, very much for your generous words of introduction.tim, as he mentioned,has only been on the foreign relations committee, i guess now for atotal of afew weeks, but i can, based on his testimony a moment ago, positively commendhimon his voting record. (laughter and applause.) he’s really – he’s foundhimself new jobsecurity too, because here in virginia you have a single-termgovernor for four years, so he hastraded one single four-year term for asi_-year term with potential e_tension. (laughter.) sogiven the fact that itraded the several e_tensions for a four-year term and then i’m finished,maybehe knows something and i ought to be listening to him. (laughter.) i could learna thingor two from him.

we didn’t overlap for long, but iwant to tell everybody here that we know each other prettywell from service asa lieutenant governor and when he was governor of the state. i waslieutenantgovernor of my state, so we have that in common before being senators.

i’ll tell you a quick story. andi don’t know what you do in virginia as lieutenant governor,but inmassachusetts, once upon a time calvin coolidge was lieutenant governor. and hewas ata dinner party, and his dinner partner turned to him and said, “what doyou do?” and he said, “well, i’m calvin coolidge. i’m lieutenant governor ofmassachusetts.” and she said, “oh wow,that must be really interesting. tell meall about the job.” and he said, “i just did.” (laughter.)so i trust, becausethey embraced you and me, we made something more out of it.

but i have huge admiration forthe path that tim kaine has followed. i know his sense ofwhat america means tothe world was forged in the early days that congressman hurt referredto abouthis missionary work, the catholic missionary working in honduras, just helpingotherpeople to live healthier lives. and i know, because two weeks after theelection, tim called meand he asked if he could serve on the foreign relationscommittee. well, in the senate, i willtell you, you don’t always get thosecalls. people who step forward and volunteer in that way ona committee thatdoesn’t have the opportunity to bring bacon back home and perhaps deliverit aseasy a reelection. so i know that in tim kaine, virginia has a senator who’sgoing to makehis mark on that committee, and he’s going to make the mark foryour commonwealth and ourcountry, and we’re grateful for your service, tim.thank you very, very much. (applause.)

i also am particularly gratefulfor congressman robert hurt being here today. i have leftpartisan politics andit’s wonderful for me to be able to welcome people in the complete spiritofnonpartisanship, not just bipartisan, but nonpartisanship. and i’m particularlygrateful to himfor his service in the state legislature, in both houses, nowin the house, and i’m confidentfrom the words you e_pressed and theconversation we had, you’re going to make yourcontribution too. and i thankyou for your presence here today. (applause.)

president sullivan, thank you somuch for welcoming me here to this historic, remarkablecampus. i just feastedon the view as i walked across the lawn with president sullivan, and ihave tosay you all are very lucky to go to school here. (laughter.) it is an honor tojoin you hereon grounds – (laughter and applause) – this very, very beautifulmonument to the potential ofthe human mind. and i have to tell you, to standhere beneath the gaze of the sages of athens,those thinkers who gave us theidea of democracy, which we obviously still continue to perfect,not only inour own nation but around the world, we are grateful for that.

i will tell you also, i was herea long time ago as an undergraduate. i played lacrosse downon that field overthere against you guys, and my first act of diplomacy is literally to forgetwhowon. i have no idea. i don’t know. (laughter.)

i want to thank the folks inuniform. i want to thank the rotc and all those of you who haveserved and willcontinue to serve in some way for our nation. there is no greater declarationofcitizenship than that, and i happen to believe the word “citizen” is one ofthe most important inthe american le_icon.

some might ask why i’m standinghere at the university of virginia, why am i starting here?a secretary ofstate making his first speech in the united states? you might ask, “doesn’tdiplomacy happen over there, overseas, far beyond the boundaries of ourownbackyards?”

so why is it that i am at thefoot of the blue ridge instead of on the shores of the blacksea? why am i inold cabell hall and not kabul, afghanistan? (laughter.)

the reason is very simple. i camehere purposefully to underscore that in today’s globalworld, there is nolonger anything foreign about foreign policy. more than ever before,thedecisions that we make from the safety of our shores don’t just ripple outward;they alsocreate a current right here in america. how we conduct our foreignpolicy matters more thanever before to our everyday lives, to theopportunities of all those students i met standingoutside, whatever year theyare here, thinking about the future. it’s important not just in termsof thethreats that we face, but the products that we buy, the goods that we sell, andtheopportunity that we provide for economic growth and vitality. it’s not justabout whether we’llbe compelled to send our troops to another battle, butwhether we’ll be able to send ourgraduates into a thriving workforce. that’swhy i’m here today.

i’m here because our lives asamericans are more intertwined than ever before with the livesof people inparts of the world that we may have never visited. in the global challengesofdiplomacy, development, economic security, environmental security, you willfeel our successor failure just as strongly as those people in those othercountries that you’ll never meet. for allthat we have gained in the 21stcentury, we have lost the lu_ury of just looking inward.instead, we look outand we see a new field of competitors. i think it gives us much reason tohope.but it also gives us many more rivals determined to create jobs andopportunities fortheir own people, a voracious marketplace that sometimesforgets morality and values.

i know that some of you and manyacross the country wish that globalization would just goaway, or you wistfullyremember easier times. but, my friends, no politician, no matter howpowerful,can put this genie back in the bottle. so our challenge is to tame the worstimpulsesof globalization even as we harness its ability to spread informationand possibility, to offereven the most remote place on earth the same choicesthat have made us strong and free.

so before i leave this weekend tolisten to our allies and partners ne_t week throughouteurope and the middleeast, and in the coming months across asia, africa, and the americas, iwantedto first talk with you about the challenge that we face here at home, becauseourengagement with the rest of the world begins by making some important choicestogether, andparticularly about our nation’s budget. our sense of sharedresponsibility, that we care aboutsomething bigger than ourselves, isabsolutely central to the spirit of this school. it’s also centralto thespirit of our nation.

as you well know, and dr.sullivan reminded you a moment ago, our first secretary of statefounded thisgreat university. students of his day, when he did, could basically only studylaw ormedicine or religion. that was about it. but thomas jefferson had avision, and he believed thatthe american people needed a public place to learna diversity of disciplines – studies of scienceand space, of flora, fauna, andphilosophy. he built this university in the image of what he called“theillimitable freedom of the human mind.”

today, those of you who studyhere and who teach here, along with the ta_payers,contributors, and parentswho believe in your potential, you are all investing in mr. jefferson’svision.now think for a moment about what that means. why do you spend the many daysandthe borrowed dollars it takes to earn an education here, or anywhere? whydid jefferson wantthis institution to remain public and accessible, not justto virginians but as a destinationfrom everywhere? i know that he wasn’t thinkingjust about your getting a degree and a job. itwas about something more.jefferson believed we couldn’t be a strong country without investingin thekind of education that empowers us to be good citizens. that’s why foundingthisuniversity is among the few accomplishments that jefferson listed on hisepitaph that he wrotefor himself. to him, this place and its goal was a biggerpart of his legacy than serving assecretary of state or even as president,neither of which made the cut.

just as jefferson understood thatwe need to invest in education in order to produce goodcitizens, i joinpresident obama today in asserting with urgency that our citizenry deservesastrong foreign policy to protect our interests in the world. a wise investmentin foreign policycan yield for a nation the same return that education doesfor a student. and no investmentthat we make that is as small as thisinvestment puts forward such a sizeable benefit forourselves and for ourfellow citizens of the world. that’s why i wanted to have thisconversationwith you today, which i hope is a conversation that e_tends well beyondtheborders of charlottesville, well beyond this university, to all americans.

when i talk about a smallinvestment in foreign policy in the united states, i mean it. notso long ago,someone polled the american people and asked, “how big is our internationalaffairsbudget?” most pegged it at 25 percent of our national budget, and theythought it ought to bepared way back to ten percent of our national budget.let me tell you, would that that weretrue. i’d take ten percent in aheartbeat, folks – (laughter) – because ten percent is e_actly tentimesgreater than what we do invest in our efforts to protect america around theworld.

in fact, our whole foreign policybudget is just over one percent of our national budget.think about it a littlebit. over one percent, a little bit more, funds all of our civilian andforeignaffairs efforts – every embassy, every program that saves a child from dirtydrinkingwater, or from aids, or reaches out to build a village, and bringamerica’s values, every person.we’re not talking about pennies on the dollar;we’re talking about one penny plus a bit, on asingle dollar.

so where you think this ideacomes from, that we spend 25 percent of our budget? well, i’lltell you. it’spretty simple. as a recovering politician – (laughter) – i can tell you thatnothinggets a crowd clapping faster in a lot of places than saying, “i’m goingto washington to get themto stop spending all that money over there.” andsometimes they get a lot more specific.

if you’re looking for an applauseline, that’s about as guaranteed an applause line as youcan get. but guesswhat? it does nothing to guarantee our security. it doesn’t guaranteeastronger country. it doesn’t guarantee a sounder economy or a more stable jobmarket. itdoesn’t guarantee that the best interests of our nation are beingserved. it doesn’t guaranteethat another young american man or woman won’t goand lose their life because we weren’twilling to make the right investmentshere in the first place.

we need to say no to the politicsof the lowest common denominator and of simplisticslogans, and start makingreal choices that protect the interests of our country. that’simperative.(applause.)

unfrtunately, the statedepartment doesn’t have our own grover norquist pushing a pledgeto protect it.we don’t have millions of aarp seniors who send in their dues and rally toprotectamerica’s investments overseas. the kids whose lives we’re helping savefrom aids, the womenwe’re helping to free from the horrors of se_ trafficking,the students who, for the first time, canchoose to walk into a school insteadof into a short life of terrorism – their strongest lobbyists arethe rare,committed americans who stand up for them and for the resources that we needtohelp them. and i hope that includes all of you here and many listening.

you understand why. every timethat a tough fiscal choice looms, the easiest place topoint fingers – foreignaid. as ronald reagan said, foreign aid suffers from a lack ofdomesticconstituency, and that’s part of the reason that everyone thinks it costs a lotmore thanit really does. so we need to change that. i reject the e_cuse thatamericans just aren’tinterested in what’s happening outside of their immediatefield of vision. i don’t believe thatabout any one of you sitting here, and idon’t believe that about americans.

in fact, the real domesticconstituency for what we do, if people can see the dots connectedandunderstand what we’re doing in its full measure, is really large. it’s the 314millionamericans whose lives are better every day because of what we do, andwho, deep down, whenthey have time to stop and think about it, know that ourinvestment abroad actually makesthem and our nation safer.

now, my friends, in this age,when a shrinking world clashes with calls for shrinking budgets– and we’re notalone – it’s our job to connect those dots, to connect them for theamericanpeople between what we do over there and the size of the difference that itmakes overhere at home, why the price of abandoning our global efforts wouldbe e_orbitant, and whythe vacuum we would leave by retreating within ourselveswill quickly be filled by those whoseinterests differ dramatically from ours.

we learned that lesson in thedeserts of mali recently, in the mountains of afghanistan in2022, and in thetribal areas of pakistan even today. just think: today’s first-years here atuvawere starting the second grade when a small cabal of terrorists halfwayaround the worldshattered our sense of security and our stability, ourskylines. so i know that you certainlyhave always understood that bad thingshappening over there threaten us right here.

knowing that, the question isthis: how do we, together, make clear that the opposite is justas true; thatif we do the right things, the good things, the smart things over there, itwillstrengthen us here at home?

let me tell you my answer: ibelieve we do this in two ways. first, it’s about telling the storyof how westand up for american jobs and businesses – pretty practical, prettystraightforward,and pretty real on a day-to-day basis. and second, it’s abouthow we stand up for our americanvalues, something that has alwaysdistinguished america.

i agree with president obama thatthere is nothing in this current budget fight thatrequires us to make baddecisions, that forces us to retrench or to retreat. this is a time tocontinueto engage for the sake of the safety and the economic health of our country.this is notoptional. it is a necessity. the american people understand this, ibelieve. our businessesunderstand this. it’s simple. the more they sellabroad, the more they’re going to hire here athome. and since 95 percent ofthe world’s customers live outside of our country, we can’thamstring our ownability to compete in those increasingly growing markets.

virginia understands this as wellas any state in the union. senator kaine, i know, when agovernor, took thosetrips to try to make this happen. international trade supports more thanamillion jobs right here in virginia – more than one in five jobs in virginia,which actually todayis the story of america.

you have a company up near dullescalled orbital sciences corporation. with the help of thepersistent advocatesof our embassy in bangkok, it beat out french and russian competitors tobuildthailand’s newest broadcast satellite. virginia’s orbital is now teaming upwith a californiacompany called space e_ploration technologies that makessatellite equipment. the deal thatour embassy helped secure, valued at $160million, goes right back into american communitiesfrom coast to coast. that’sthe difference that our embassies abroad actually can make back hereat home.

and these success stories happenin partnership with countries all over the world because ofthe resources thatwe’ve deployed to bring business and jobs back to america. theseinvestments,my friends, are paying for themselves. we create more than 5,000 jobs foreverybillion dollars of goods and services that we e_port. so the last thing that weshould do issurrender this kind of leverage.

these successes are happening incanada, where state department officers there got a localautomotive firm toinvest tens of millions of dollars in michigan, where the americanautoindustry is now making a remarkable comeback.

in indonesia where, thanks toembassy jakarta, that nation’s largest privately run airlinejust placed anorder for commercial aircraft, the largest order boeing has ever been askedtofill. meanwhile, the indonesian state railroad is buying its locomotives fromgeneral electric.

in south africa, where more than600 u.s. companies are doing business, and where opic,the overseas privateinvestment corporation, and the e_port-import bank, and the tradeanddevelopment agency just opened an office to help close more investment dealsbetweenamerican companies and africa’s booming energy and transportationsectors, it’s also a two-waystreet. a major south african energy company isplanning to build a multibillion-dollar plant inlouisiana that will put moreamericans to work.

let me tell you, this ishappening, in cameroon and bosnia and other surprising places. inthe shadowsof world war ii, if you told someone that japan and germany would today beourfourth- and fifth-largest trading partners, someone would have thought you werecrazy.before ni_on’s bold opening with china, no one could have imagined thattoday it would be oursecond-largest trading partner, but that’s e_actly what’shappened.

eleven of our top 15 tradingpartners used to be the beneficiaries of u.s. foreignassistance. that’sbecause our goal isn’t to keep a nation dependent on us forever. it’spreciselyto create these markets, to open these opportunities, to establish rule of law.our goalis to use assistance and development to help nations realize their ownpotential, develop theirown ability to govern and become our economic partners.

one of america’s most incrediblerealities continues to be that we are a country without anypermanent enemies.now, take vietnam. i will never forget standing ne_t to john mccain in theeastroom of the white house, each of us on either side of president clinton as heannounced theonce unthinkable normalization of our relations with vietnam, aneffort that john mccain andi worked on for about ten years, try to bringabout.

in the last decade, thanks inlarge part to the work of usaid, our e_ports to vietnamincreased by more than700 percent. every one of those percentage points are jobs here inamerica. andin the last two decades, a thousand vietnamese students and scholars havestudiedand taught in america through the fulbright program, including theforeign minister ofvietnam, who i just talked to the other day and who,believe me, has feelings about americabecause of that engagement.

the list goes on. as the emergingmiddle class in india, the world’s largest democracy,buys our products, thatmeans jobs and income for our own middle class. as our traditionalassistanceto brazil decreases, trade there is increasing. brazil is one of the new tigersgrowing ata double-digit pace, and it supports additional jobs here at home,many in the u.s. travel andtourism industry.

when jefferson e_panded ourconsular posts precisely to promote trade, he never couldhave imagined theimportance today. nor could he have predicted the number of americansabroadthat we help with their passports, with visas, with other problems that arise.or that wehelp offer, to those who want to grow their families throughadoption, or who find themselves inlegal trouble or distress far from home. orthe role our diplomats play, screening potentialsecurity threats and takingthem off the radar screen before they ever reach yourconsciousness,potentially in the worst ways. or that we create a new american job forevery65 visitors that we help to bring to our shores.

so, my friends, we have to keepgoing. we can’t afford the kind of delay and disruption thatstands on thehorizon in washington. the e_citing new trade negotiation that presidentobamaannounced last week between the united states and the european union willcreate theworld’s biggest bilateral deal when it comes to fruition, atransatlantic partnership that willmatch the scope and ambition of ourtrans-pacific partnership talks.

but our work is far from over.seven of the ten fastest growing countries are on the africancontinent. andchina, understanding that, is already investing more than we do there. fourofthe five biggest oil and natural gas discoveries happened off the coast ofmozambique last yearalone. developing economies are the epicenters of growth,and they are open for business, andthe united states needs to be at thattable.

if we want a new list ofassistance graduates, countries that used to take our aid but nowbuy oure_ports, we can’t afford to pull back. and if we’re going to seize this budgetcrisis as thegreat opportunity that it can be, we can’t shy away from tellingthis story to the americanpeople, to your members of congress, and to theworld.

but let me emphasize: jobs andtrade are not the whole story, and nor should they be. thegood work of thestate department, of usaid, is measured not only in the value of thedollar,but it’s also measured in our deepest values. we value security and stabilityin otherparts of the world, knowing that failed states are among our greatestsecurity threats, and newpartners are our greatest assets.

the investments that we makesupport our efforts to counter terrorism and violente_tremism wherever itflourishes. and we will continue to help countries provide their ownsecurity,use diplomacy where possible, and support those allies who take the fighttoterrorists.

and remember – boy, i can’temphasize this enough; i’m looking at a soldier here in front ofme with aribbon on his chest – deploying diplomats today is much cheaper thandeployingtroops tomorrow. we need to remember that. (applause.) as senator lindseygrahamsaid, “it’s national security insurance that we’re buying.”

now,it sounds e_pensive, myfriends, but simple bottom line, it’s not. the statedepartment’s conflictstabilization budget is about $60 million a year now. that’s how much themovie“the avengers” took in on a single sunday last may. (laughter.) the differenceis the folksthat we have on the ground doing this job are actually realsuperheroes.

we value human rights, and weneed to tell the story of america’s good work there, too. weknow that the mosteffective way to promote the universal rights of all people, rightsandreligious freedom, is not from the podium, not from either end of pennsylvaniaavenue. it’sfrom the front lines – wherever freedom and basic human dignityare denied. and that’s whattim kaine understood when he went to honduras.

the brave employees of state andusaid – and the diplomatic security personnel whoprotect the civilians servingus overseas – work in some of the most dangerous places on earth,and they doit fully cognizant that we share stronger partnerships with countries thatshare ourcommitment to democratic values and human rights. they fightcorruption in nigeria. theysupport the rule of law in burma. they support democraticinstitutions in kyrgyzstan andgeorgia, mindful from our own e_perience that ittakes a long time to get democracy right, andthat it rarely happens rightaway.

in the end, all of those efforts,all of that danger and risk that they take, makes us moresecure. and we dovalue democracy, just as you’ve demonstrated here at uva throughthepresidential precinct program that’s training leaders in emerging democracies.

thanks to a decade of intensivediplomatic efforts alongside our partners, a conflict thattook more than 2million lives – and people think about the holocaust, 6 million over thecourseof world war ii, we lost 2 million people in the longest war in africa in ourtime in the lastyears. and of that south sudan was born a free nation. securingits future and peace for all ofits citizens is going to take continueddiplomatic efforts alongside partners like the african union.and the more wecan develop the capacity of the african union, the less the united stateswillhave to worry.

i’ve stood in south sudan. i’veseen those challenges firsthand, and they still face theworld’s newest countryand its government. those challenges threaten to reverse hard-wonprogress andstability. and that’s why we’re working closely with that nation to help itprovide itsown citizens with essential services like water, health, andeducation and agriculture practices.

we value health and nutrition,and the principle of helping people gain strength to helpthemselves. throughcornerstone initiatives like feed the future, we help countries not onlyplantand harvest better food, but we also help them break the cycle of poverty, ofpoornutrition, and of hunger.

we seek to reduce maternalmortality, eradicate polio, and protect people from malaria,tuberculosis, andpandemic influenza. and i will tell you proudly that through the globalhealthinitiative and programs that i was proud to have a hand in helping to create,like pepfar,we have saved the lives of 5 million people in africa through theefforts of americans. today… (applause.) and today – today astonishingly – weare standing on the edge of the potential ofan aids-free generation, becausewe know these diseases don’t discriminate by nationality,and we believe thatrelieving preventable suffering doesn’t need a justification. and ithinkthat’s part of our values.

we value gender equality, knowingthat countries are, in fact, more peaceful andprosperous when women and girlsare afforded full rights and equal opportunity. (applause.) inthe last decade,the proportion of african_ women enrolled in higher education went fromnearlyzero to 20 percent. in 2022, there were fewer than a million boys in afghanschools andbarely any girls. now, with america’s help, more than a third ofthe almost 8 million studentsgoing to school in afghanistan are girls. andmore than a quarter of their representatives inparliament are women. we shouldbe proud of that, and that helps to make a difference for thelong haul.

we value education, promotingprograms like the fulbright e_changes managed by thedepartment of state. theyenable the most talented citizens to share their devotion todiplomacy andpeace, their hopes, their friendships, and the belief that all of the earth’ssonsand daughters ought to have the opportunity to lift themselves up. todaythese e_changesbring hundreds of thousands of students to america from othercountries, and vice versa. in thelast year alone, more than 10,000 citizens offoreign countries participated in the statedepartment’s academic, youth,professional and cultural e_change programs right here invirginia. virginiansalso studied abroad through state department programs. senator fulbright,atwhose hearings i had the privilege of testifying as a young veteran returning fromvietnam,he knew that the value of sharing our proudest values bore fruit inthe long run, in the future.he said, “having people who understand yourthought,” he said, “is much greater securitythan another submarine.”

let me be very clear. foreign assistanceis not a giveaway. it’s not charity. it is aninvestment in a strong americaand in a free world. foreign assistance lifts other people up andthenreinforces their willingness to link arms with us in common endeavors. and whenwe helpothers crack down on corruption, that makes it easier for our owncompliance againstcorruption, and it makes it easier for our companies to dobusiness as well.

when we join with other nationsto reduce the nuclear threat, we build partnerships thatmean we don’t have tofight those battles alone. this includes working with our partners aroundtheworld in making sure that iran never obtains a weapon that would endanger ourallies andour interests. when we help others create the space that they needto build stability in theirown communities, we’re actually helping bravepeople build a better, more democratic future,and making sure that we don’tpay more later in american blood and treasure.

the stories that we need to tell,of standing up for american jobs and businesses andstanding up for ouramerican values, intersect powerfully in the opportunity that we have nowinthis moment of urgency to lead on the climate concerns that we share with ourglobalneighbors. we as a nation must have the foresight and the courage tomake the investmentsnecessary to safeguard the most sacred trust we keep forour children and our grandchildren,and that is an environment not ravaged byrising seas, deadly superstorms, devastatingdroughts, and the other hallmarksof a dramatically changing climate. president obama iscommitted to movingforward on that, and so am i, and so must you be ready to join us inthateffort. (applause.)

can we all say thank you to oursigners who are here? (applause.)

so think about all these things thati’ve listed. think about the world as you see it today.let’s face it: we areall in this one together. no nation can stand alone. we share nothingsocompletely as our planet. when we work with others, large and small, to developand deploythe clean technologies that will power a new world – and they’rethere waiting for us, $6 trillionmarket, huge amount of jobs – when we dothat, we know we’re helping create the new marketsand new opportunities foramerica’s second-to-none innovators and entrepreneurs so that wecan succeed inthe ne_t great revolution in our marketplace. we need to commit ourselvestodoing the smart thing and the right thing and to truly take on this challenge,because if wedon’t rise to meet it, then rising temperatures and rising sealevels will surely lead to rising costsdown the road. ask any insurancecompany in america. if we waste this opportunity, it may bethe only thing ourgeneration – generations – are remembered for. we need to find the couragetoleave a far different legacy.

we cannot talk about theunprecedented changes happening on our planet, moreover,without also talkingabout the unprecedented changes in its population, another greatopportunity atour fingertips. in countries across north africa and the middle east, themajorityof people are younger than 30 years old – 60 percent under 30, 50percent under 21, 40 percentunder 18, about half of the total under 20. andyou know what? they seek the sameopportunities and the same things that youdo: opportunity. we have an interest in helpingthese young people to developthe skills that they need to defeat the mass unemploymentthat is overwhelmingtheir societies so that they can in fact start contributing totheircommunities and rebuild their broken economies rather than engaging in someotherterrorist or other kind of e_tremist activity. for the first time inhuman history, young peoplearound the world act as a global cohort, includingmany of the people in this room. they’remore open-minded. they’re moreproficient with the technology that keeps them connected in away that nogeneration in history has ever been before. we need to help all of them, andus, touse this remarkable network in a positive way.

now, some may say not now, notwhile we have our budget; it’s too e_pensive. well, believeme, my friends,these challenges will not get easier with time. there is no pause button onthefuture. we cannot choose when we would like to stop and restart our globalresponsibility orsimply wait until the calendar says it’s more convenient.it’s not easy, but responding is theamerican thing to do. and i’ll tell you,it’s worth it.

our relatively small investmentin these programs – programs which advance peace,security, and stabilityaround the world, which help american companies compete abroad,which createjobs here at home by opening new markets to american goods, whichsupportamerican citizens abroad, help them when they need it the most, which fosterstablesocieties and save lives by fighting disease and hunger, which defendthe universal rights of allpeople and advance freedom and dignity anddevelopment around the world, which bringpeople together and nations together,and forge partnerships to address problems thattranscend the separation of oceansand borders on land, which protect our planet for ourchildren and theirchildren, and which give hope to a new generation of interconnectedworldcitizens – our investment in all of those things cost us, as i just mentioned,about onepenny of every dollar we invest. america, you will not find a betterdeal anywhere.

now, i’m particularly aware thatin many ways, the greatest challenge to america’s foreignpolicy today is inthe hands not of diplomats, but of policymakers in congress. it is oftensaidthat we cannot be strong at home if we’re not strong in the world, but in thesedays of alooming budget sequester that everyone actually wants to avoid – ormost – we can’t bestrong in the world unless we are strong at home. mycredibility as a diplomat working to helpother countries create order isstrongest when america, at last, puts its own fiscal house inorder, and thathas to be now. (applause.)

think about it. it’s hard to tellthe leadership of any number of countries that they have toresolve theireconomic issues if we don’t resolve our own. let’s reach a responsibleagreementthat prevents these senseless cuts. let’s not lose this opportunitybecause of politics.

as i’ve said many times before,america is not e_ceptional simply because we say we are.we are e_ceptionalbecause we do e_ceptional things, both where there are problems as wellaswhere there is promise, both where there is danger as well as where there isdemocracy. i amoptimistic that we will continue to do these e_ceptionalthings. i know we have the capacity. iknow that’s who we are, and it’s whowe’ve always been.

as we ask where our ne_t stepsshould fall on this path, we would do well to learn a lessonfrom our ownhistory. in the aftermath of world war ii and its great toll, america had thechoice,just like we do today, to turn inward. instead, secretary of stategeorge marshall saw in bothdefeated and allied nations the threat ofbankruptcy, homes and railways destroyed, people whowere starving, economiesdecimated.

he had the foresight to know thatthere could be no political stability and no peacewithout renewed economicstrength. he knew we had an obligation to partner with europe,help it rebuild,modernize it, and give it the push that it needed to become the powerfulandpeaceful trading partner it is today. after the war, my friends, we didn’tspike the football;we created a more level playing field, and we are strongerfor it today.

when i was 12 years old, i hadthe privilege of living in berlin, germany, where my father,a foreign serviceofficer, was called to duty. and one day, i visited the eastern side of berlin,thepart that hadn’t received any of the help from the united states and itscourageous marshallplan.

the difference was undeniable,even to my 12-year-old eyes. there were few people on thestreets, few smileson the faces of those who were there. i saw the difference between hopeanddespair, freedom and oppression, people who were given a chance to do somethingandpeople who weren’t. if the recovering western half of urope was regainingits vibrant color, theplace that i visited was still in black and white.

when i went back to west berlin,two things happened. first, i was summarily groundedfor having venturedwithout permission to the other side of the city. (laughter.) and second,istarted to pay special attention to the plaques on the buildings thatrecognized the unitedstates of america for lending a hand in the rebuilding.and i was proud.

the marshall plan, the imf, theworld bank, and other postwar organizations led by theunited states areevidence of our ability to make the right decisions at the right time,takingrisks today in the interest of tomorrow.

now we face a similar crossroads.we can be complacent, or we can be competitive. asnew markets bloom in everycorner of the globe – and they will, with or without us – we can bethere tohelp plant the seeds, or we can cede that power to others.

given the chance to lead a secondgreat american century, let’s not just look to the globallandscape around ustoday; let’s look to the one ahead of us, look over the horizon, look tothedays to come 15 and 50 years from now, and marshal the courage that defined themarshallplan so that we might secure a new future of freedom.

let’s remember that theprinciples of jefferson’s time, in a nation that was just getting usedto itsindependence, still echo in our own time, in a world that’s still getting usedto ourinterdependence. america’s national interest in leading strongly stillendures in this world.

so let me leave you with athought. when tragedy and terror visit our neighbors around theglobe, whetherby the hand of man or by the hand of god, many nations give of themselvestohelp. but only one is e_pected to.

with the leadership of presidentobama and the cooperation i will work hard to securefrom the congress, we willcontinue to lead as the indispensable nation, not because we seekthis role,but because the world needs us to fill it. not as a choice, but as a charge.not becausewe view it as a burden, but because we know it to be a privilege.

that is what is special about theunited states of america. that is what is special aboutbeing an american. thate_ceptional quality that we share is what i will bring with me on mytravels onyour behalf. but our sense of responsibility cannot be reserved for responsestoemergencies alone. it has to be e_ercised in the pursuit of preventingdisaster, of strengtheningalliances, of building markets, of promotinguniversal rights, and standing up for our values.

over the ne_t four years, i askyou to stand with our president and our country to continueto conductourselves with the understanding that what happens over there matters righthere,and it matters that we get this right.

thank you. (applause.)

第10篇 克里國(guó)務(wù)卿就美國(guó)與古巴恢復(fù)外交關(guān)系英語(yǔ)演講稿

secretary kerry: good afternoon, everybody. thank you for your patience. inwashington a few moments ago, president obama announced that we had reached anagreement to formally re-establish diplomatic relations with the republic of cuba and that wewill reopen embassies in our respective countries.

later this summer, as the president announced, i will travel to cuba to personally take part inthe formal reopening of our united states embassy in havana. this will mark the resumption ofembassy operations after a period of 54 years. it will also be the first visit by a secretary ofstate to cuba since 1945. the reopening of our embassy, i will tell you, is an important step onthe road to restoring fully normal relations between the united states and cuba. coming aquarter of a century after the end of the cold war, it recognizes the reality of the changedcircumstances, and it will serve to meet a number of practical needs.

the united states and cuba continue to have sharp differences over democracy, human rights,and related issues, but we also have identified areas for cooperation that include lawenforcement, safe transportation, emergency response, environmental protection,telecommunications, and migration. the resumption of full embassy activities will help usengage the cuban government more often and at a higher level, and it will also allow ourdiplomats to interact more frequently, and frankly more broadly and effectively, with thecuban people. in addition, we will better be able to assist americans who travel to the islandnation in order to visit family members or for other purposes.

this transition, this moment in history, is taking place because president obama made apersonal, fundamental decision to change a policy that didn't work and that had been inplace not working for far too long. i believe that's leadership, and i appreciate that leadership.and president castro felt similarly that it was time for a change. both leaders agree thatconcentrating on the issues and possibilities of the future is far more productive thanremaining mired in the past. and i would say as we look at the world today with conflicts thatwe see and even these negotiations taking place here in vienna, it is important for people tounderstand that things can change, that leadership can be effective and can make adifference.

this step has been long overdue, and the response of the international community hasreflected the relief and the welcoming that people all over the world feel for this step. this stepwill advance the president's vision – president obama's vision – of an americas whereresponsibilities are widely shared and where countries combine their strengths to advancecommon interests and values. and we, frankly, also believe that this opening will help to changerelationships in the region as a whole.

i want to thank assistant secretary of state roberta jacobson and her team, our team at thestate department, together with those at the white house who have worked to lead thesediscussions with their cuban counterparts in order to enable the normalization of ourdiplomatic relations and the reopening of our embassies. i also want to thank the governmentof switzerland for the essential role that they have played in serving as the united statesprotecting power in cuba for more than 50 years.

and finally, i want to acknowledge the efforts of many in the united states congress, thecuban american community, civil society, faith-based organizations, the private sector, andothers throughout our country and beyond who have supported the start of a new chapter ofrelations between the united states and cuba. i look forward to meeting again with my cubancounterpart, bruno rodriguez, who i saw most recently in panama, and i also look forward togreeting our embassy personnel and the cuban people in havana later this summer. i lookforward to taking part in the reopening of our united states embassy and in the raising of thestars and stripes over that embassy, and the beginning of a new era of a new relationship withthe people of cuba. thank you all very much.

question: mr. secretary, will american diplomats have free access to talk to people –

secretary kerry: we'll talk about all those details later. i'm not going to take questionsright now, folks, but i appreciate very much your patience and interest.

question: just a few words about the negotiations here today, please.

secretary kerry: well, i've got to take these away for that. (laughter.) we are workingvery, very hard. we have some very difficult issues, but we believe we're making progress andwe're going to continue to work because of that. thank you all.

question: foreign minister zarif said there's no deadline. is there?

secretary kerry: thank you very much.

question: is there a deadline, sir?

secretary kerry: we have our own sense of deadline.

第11篇 奧巴馬在菲尼克斯市發(fā)表關(guān)于美國(guó)住房融資體系改革英語(yǔ)演講稿

the president: hey! hello, phoeni_! (applause.) hello, arizona! (applause.) it is --

audience member: we love you, obama!

the president: i love you back. it is good to be here. (applause.)

i want to say thank you to the thunder for hosting us here today. (applause.) well, we are soglad to be here. i want you to give it up for somebody who's been fighting for homeowners andworking families every single day, who's with me today -- secretary shaun donovan, secretaryof hud. there he is right there. give him a big round of applause. (applause.) we've gotcongressman ed pastor who's here as well. (applause.) we've got your mayor, greg stanton,here. (applause.) doing an outstanding job. and to all the mayors and state legislators andtribal leaders who are here today, thank you. (applause.)

give jorge a big round of applause for his introduction. (applause.) to your superintendent,dr. kenneth baca. (applause.) your principal, dr. anna battle. (applause.) and i appreciateeverybody at desert vista for having me here today. (applause.) it is good to see the studentsare pretty enthusiastic about being back in school. (laughter.) i'm not sure i would have beenthat enthusiastic starting on the 6th. (laughter.)

and i know this isn't your typical school -- second day of school. so i want to give a specialshout-out to the new seniors, class of 2022. (applause.) you are aware that you're not finishedyet. (laughter.) senior year, that's sometimes tempting. i want you all to stay focused.

over the past couple weeks, i have been --

audience member: happy birthday, mr. president!

the president: thank you very much. thank you. (applause.) it was my birthday two daysago. (laughter.) got some singers here.

audience: happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, mr. president. (applause.)

the president: thank you. thank you. thank you. (applause.) i am now 52, and michellesays that i don't look a day over 51. (laughter.)

so over the last few weeks, i've been visiting towns all across the country, talking about whatwe need to do to secure a better bargain for the middle class -- a national strategy to makesure that everybody who works hard has a chance to succeed in the 21st century economy.

and i think people in arizona especially understand the challenges that are out there, becausefor the past four and a half years, together, we fought our way back from a devastatingrecession that cost millions of jobs for americans. a lot of folks lost their homes; a lot of folkslost their savings. and what the recession showed was the long erosion of middle-classsecurity that had been taking place for decades.

but we fought back. we took on a broken health care system. we took on a housing market thatwas in free fall. we invested in new technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil. wechanged a ta_ code that had become tilted a little bit too much in favor of the wealthiestamericans at the e_pense of working families. (applause.) we saved the auto industry. we'venow got gm that plans to hire a thousand new workers right ne_t door in chandler to make surewe're building some of the best cars in the world right here in the united states of america. (applause.)

our businesses have created 7.3 million new jobs over the past 41 months. we now sell moreproducts made in america to the rest of the world than ever before. our e_ports are way up. weproduce more renewable energy than ever before, more natural gas than anybody else. healthcare costs have been growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. and our deficits are coming downat the fastest rate in 60 years. so we're making progress. (applause.)

so thanks to the efforts of a lot of people like you, we've cleared away the rubble of the financialcrisis. we're starting to lay the foundation for more stable, more durable economic growth.but as any middle-class family will tell you, we're not yet where we need to be. because evenbefore the crisis hit, we had lived through a decade where a few at the top were doing betterand better, but most families were working harder and harder just to get by.

and reversing this trend should be -- must be -- washington's highest priority. it's myhighest priority. (applause.) i want to make sure that in america, it doesn't matter what youlook like, where you come from, who you love -- you should be able to make it when you try.you should be able to make it. (applause.)

now, unfortunately, for the last year or so, we've had an endless parade of distractions andpolitical posturing and phony scandals that shift focus away from what do we need to do toshore up middle-class families and create ladders of opportunity for folks to get into themiddle class. and as washington heads towards another budget debate, the stakes could notbe higher.

and that's why i'm traveling around, laying out my ideas for how we have to build thecornerstones of what it means to be middle class: a good job with good wages; a home to callyour own; a good education; affordable health care that's there for you when you get sick; asecure retirement even if you're not rich; the opportunity -- the ladders of opportunity forpeople to earn their way into the middle class, to work their way out of poverty. those are theelements that i think all of us believe in, but right now we're not delivering as much as weshould on those promises.

now, last tuesday, i went to tennessee to talk about the first cornerstone, which is how do wemake sure that we're creating good middle-class jobs here in the united states of america.today i've come to phoeni_ to talk about the second component, which is the most tangiblecornerstone that lies at the heart of the american dream, at the heart of middle-class life -- andthat's the chance to own your own home. (applause.) the chance to own your own home.

we've got a lot of young people here who are thinking about college, they're going to get ahigher education, they're going to find a job, they're going to find somebody they love, they'regoing to want to own a home. and the reason they will is because a home is the ultimateevidence that here in america, hard work pays off, that responsibility is rewarded.

i think about my grandparents' generation. when my grandfather served in world war ii, hefought in patton's army -- when he got back, this country gave him a chance to go to college onthe g.i. bill, but it also gave him the chance to buy his first home with a loan from the fha. tohim, and to generations of americans before and since, a home was more than just a house. itwas a source of pride and a source of security. it was a place to raise kids, to put downroots; a place where you could build up savings for college, or to start a business, or to retirewith some security.

and buying a home required responsibility on everybody's part. you had to save up to buy ahome. and then banks were supposed to give you a fair deal, with terms you couldunderstand, and buyers were supposed to live within their means and make sure that theycould make their payments. so in that earlier generation, houses weren't for flipping around,they weren't for speculation -- houses were to live in, and to build a life with.

and unfortunately, over time, responsibility too often gave way to recklessness. you hadreckless lenders who sold loans to people they knew couldn't afford them. and let's face it, wealso had some reckless buyers who knew they couldn't afford them and still took out loans.and all this created a housing bubble. and especially in some places like arizona, it wasdevastating when that bubble finally burst -- triggered a recession. millions of americans whohad done everything right were hurt badly by the actions of other people. housing pricesplummeted.

by the time i took office, home values had fallen almost 20 percent from the year before. newhousing starts had fallen nearly 80 percent from their peak. hundreds of thousands ofconstruction workers had lost their jobs. a record number of people were behind on theirmortgage payments. and a lot of people here in phoeni_, they saw that devastation. this waspart of ground zero for the housing bubble bursting.

so less than a month after i took office, i came here to arizona and i laid out steps to stabilizethe housing market and help responsible homeowners get back on their feet. and the truth isit's been a long, slow process. the housing market is so big that it was going to take some timeto heal when it got hurt that badly. it's taken longer than any of us would like. but during thattime, we helped millions of americans save an average of $3,000 each year by refinancing atlower rates. we helped millions of responsible homeowners stay in their homes, which was goodfor their neighbors because you don't want a bunch of foreclosure signs in your neighborhood.

where congress wouldn't act, we went ahead and acted, so over the past few years, we had thedepartment of justice stand up for buyers who had been discriminated against or conned bypredatory lending. and we won a settlement that gave more money to victims ofdiscrimination in one year than in the previous 23 years combined. (applause.)

we worked with states to force big banks to repay more than $50 billion to more than 1.5million families -- largest lending settlement in history. (applause.) we e_tended the time thatfolks who had lost their jobs could delay their payment on their mortgages while they keptlooking for work. we cracked down on the bad practices that led to the crisis in the first place. imean, you had some loans back there in the bubble that were called “liar's loan.” now,something that's called a liar's loan is probably a bad idea. (laughter.)

so because of all these actions we've been taking, our housing market is beginning to heal.home prices are rising at the fastest pace in seven years. sales are up nearly 50 percent.construction is up nearly 75 percent. new foreclosures are down by nearly two-thirds. millions offamilies have been able to come up for air -- they're no longer underwater on their mortgages. (applause.)

and just like the crisis hit phoeni_ very hard, thanks to some great leadership here locally,phoeni_ has also led one of the biggest comebacks in the country. (applause.) so you should beproud of what you've done here. home prices in phoeni_ have risen by nearly 20 percent overthe last year. new home sales are up by more than 25 percent.

this morning, right before i came here, i visited erickson construction -- (applause.) we'vegot some erickson folks here. and they were e_plaining how right when the bubble hit,erickson shrank to less than a hundred workers. today they're employing 580 people -- andthey're hiring even more people -- (applause) -- because the housing market is bouncing back.

so that's one of the things about housing. it's not just important for the person who owns thehouse; our economy is so impacted by everything that happens in housing. consumers feelbetter when their home values are in a better place, so they're more willing to spend. a lot ofpeople who want to start a business, their savings may be locked up in their house.construction workers, contractors, suppliers, carpet makers, all these folks are impacted by thehousing industry.

so we've made progress, and that's helped to move the economy forward. but we've got tobuild on this progress. we're not where we need to be yet. we've got to give more hardworkingamericans the chance to buy their first home. (applause.) we have to help more responsiblehomeowners refinance their mortgages, because a lot of them still have a spread between therates they're paying right now on their mortgage and what they could be getting if they wereable to refinance.

and we've got to turn the page on this kind of bubble-and-bust mentality that helped tocreate this mess in the first place. (applause.) we got to build a housing system that isdurable and fair and rewards responsibility for generations to come. that's what we've got todo. (applause.)

so i've already put forward a bunch of ideas that will help accomplish that. and, look, the factof the matter is congress hasn't enacted all of them, so i'd like you to encourage members ofcongress to take some of these actions. (applause.)

but like the other actions that we've taken, these will not help the neighbors down the streetwho bought a house that they couldn't afford, and then walked away from it and left aforeclosed home behind. we don't want to help speculators who bought multiple homes just tomake a quick buck.

what we want to do is put forward ideas that will help millions of responsible, middle-classhomeowners who still need relief. and we want to help hardworking americans who dream ofowning their own home fair and square, have a down payment, are willing to make thosepayments, understand that owning a home requires responsibility. and there are someimmediate actions we could take right now that would help on that front, that would make adifference. so let me just list a couple of them.

number one: congress should pass a good, bipartisan idea to allow every homeowner thechance to save thousands of dollars a year by refinancing their mortgage at today's rates. (applause.) we need to get that done. we've been talking about it for a year and a half, twoyears, three years. there's no reason not to do it. (applause.)

step number two: now that we've made it harder for reckless buyers to buy homes that theycan't afford, let's make it a little bit easier for qualified buyers to buy the homes that they canafford. (applause.) so shaun donovan has been working with the finance industry to make surewe're simplifying overlapping regulations; we're cutting red tape for responsible families whowant to get a mortgage but keep getting rejected by the banks. we need to give well-qualified americans who lost their jobs during the crisis a fair chance to get a loan if they'veworked hard to repair their credit.

and step three is something that you don't always hear about when it comes to the housingmarket, and that is fi_ing our broken immigration system. it would actually help our housingmarket. (applause.)

it's pretty simple: when more people buy homes and play by the rules, home values go up foreverybody. and according to one recent study, the average homeowner has already seen thevalue of their home boosted by thousands of dollars just because of immigration. and the goodnews is, with the help of your senators, john mccain and jeff flake, the senate has alreadypassed a bipartisan immigration bill. it's got the support of ceos and labor and lawenforcement. (applause.) this could help homeownership here.

so i want you to encourage republicans in the house of representatives to stop draggingtheir feet. let's go ahead and get this done.

step number four: we should address the uneven recovery by rebuilding the communities hitthe hardest by the housing crisis, including many right here in arizona. let's put constructionback -- construction workers back to work repairing rundown homes, tearing down vacantproperties so that the value of homes in those surrounding areas start picking up. we can putpeople to work right now and improve the remaining housing stock that's out there. (applause.) places that are facing a longer road back from the crisis should have their country'shelp to get back on their feet.

step five: we should make sure families that don't want to buy a home or can't yet afford tobuy one still have a decent place to rent. (applause.) it's important for us to encouragehomeownership, but a lot of people rent and there's nothing wrong with renting. and we got tomake sure that we are creating affordable opportunities when it comes to rental properties.

in the run-up to the crisis, banks and governments too often made everybody feel like they hadto own a home, even if they weren't ready and didn't have the payments. that's a mistake weshould not repeat. instead, let's invest in affordable rental housing. let's bring together citiesand states to address local barriers that drive up rents for working families. (applause.)

so if we help more americans refinance their homes, if we help qualified families get amortgage, we reform our immigration system, we rebuild the hardest-hit communities, wemake sure that folks have a decent place to rent if they're not yet able to buy -- all these stepswill give more middle-class families the chance to either buy their own home now or eventuallybuy their own home. it's going to give more relief to responsible homeowners. it gives moreoptions to families who aren't yet ready to buy. all that is going to improve the housing marketand will improve the economy.

but -- and this is the last key point i want to make -- as home prices rise, we can't just re-inflate another housing bubble. i hope everybody here in arizona learned some hard lessonsfrom what happened. housing prices generally don't just keep on going up forever at the kindof pace it was going up. it was crazy. so what we want to do is something stable and steady.and that's why i want to lay a rock-solid foundation to make sure the kind of crisis we wentthrough never happens again. we've got to make sure it doesn't happen again. (applause.)

and one of the key things to make sure it doesn't happen again is to wind down thesecompanies that are not really government, but not really private sector -- they're known asfreddie mac and fannie mae. for too long, these companies were allowed to make huge profitsbuying mortgages, knowing that if their bets went bad, ta_payers would be left holding thebag. it was “heads we win, tails you lose.” and it was wrong. and along with what happened onwall street, it helped to inflate this bubble in a way that ultimately killed main street.

so the good news is, right now there's a bipartisan group of senators working to end fannie andfreddie as we know them. and i support these kinds of reform efforts. and they're followingfour core principles for what i believe this reform should look like.

first, private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage market. i know that soundsconfusing to folks who call me a socialist -- i think i saw some posters there on the way in. (laughter.) but i actually believe in the free market. and just like the health care law that weput in place, obamacare -- (applause) -- which, by the way, if you don't have healthinsurance or you're buying it at e_orbitant rates on the individual market, starting on october1st, you can join a marketplace and be part of a pool that gives you much lower premiums,saves you a lot of money. (applause.)

but in the same way that what we did with health care was to set up clear rules for insurancecompanies to protect consumers, make it more affordable, but still built on the privatemarketplace, i believe that our housing system should operate where there's a limitedgovernment role and private lending should be the backbone of the housing market. and thatincludes, by the way, community-based lenders who view their borrowers not as a number, butas a neighbor. so that's one principle.

a second principle is we can't leave ta_payers on the hook for irresponsibility or baddecisions by some of these lenders or fannie mae or freddie mac. (applause.) we've got toencourage the pursuit of profit, but the era of e_pecting a bailout after you pursue your profitand you don't manage your risk well -- well, that puts the whole country at risk. and we'reending those days. we're not going to do that anymore. (applause.)

the third principle is we should preserve access to safe and simple mortgage products likethe 30-year, fi_ed-rate mortgage. that's something families should be able to rely on whenthey're making the most important purchase of their lives. (applause.)

number four, we've got to keep housing affordable for first-time homebuyers -- like all theseyoung people. when they're ready to buy a house, we've got to make sure it's affordable.families who are working to climb their way into the middle class, we've got to do what we canto make housing affordable. and that means we've got to strengthen the fha so it givestoday's families the same kind of chance it gave my grandparents to buy a home, and itpreserves those rungs on the ladder of opportunity.

and we've got to support, as i said, affordable rental housing. and, by the way, we've also gotto keep up our fight against homelessness. (applause.) the mayor of phoeni_ has been doing agreat job here in phoeni_ on that front. we've got to continue to improve it. (applause.)

since i took office, we helped bring one in four homeless veterans off the streets. (applause.)we should be proud of that. here in phoeni_, thanks to the hard work of everyone from mayorstanton to the local united way to us airways, you're on track to end chronic homelessnessfor veterans, period, by 2022. (applause.)

but we've got to keep going, because nobody in america, and certainly no veteran, should beleft to live on the streets. (applause.)

so here's the bottom line: put all these principles together, that's going to protect our entireeconomy and it will improve the housing market not just here in phoeni_, but throughout thestate and throughout the country.

we're also going to need to make sure, though, that we're protecting individual homeowners.we've got to give them the tools that they can protect themselves. so we've got a consumerfinance protection bureau that we created. (applause.) and it's laying down new rules of theroad that everybody can count on when they're shopping for a mortgage. they're designing anew, simple mortgage form that will be in plain english, so you can actually read it without alawyer -- (applause) -- although, you may still want a lawyer obviously. i'm not saying youdon't. i'm just saying you'll be able to read it. (laughter.) there won't be a lot of fine print.that way you know before you owe. (laughter and applause.)

and the senate finally confirmed richard cordray as the head of this -- head watchdog for thecfpb. (applause.) so he's out there aggressively protecting consumers and homeowners.

when it comes to some of the other leaders we need to look out for the american people, thesenate still has a job to do. months ago, i nominated a man named mel watt to be our nation'stop housing regulator. he is an outstanding member of congress. and during that time, hewas on the housing committee -- worked with banks, worked with borrowers to protectconsumers, to help responsible lenders provide credit. he is the right person for the job.congress and the senate should give his nomination an up or down vote without any moreobstruction or delay. we don't have time for those kinds of games. (applause.)

so i want to be honest with you. no program or policy is going to solve all the problems in amulti-trillion dollar housing market. the housing bubble went up so high, the heights itreached before it burst were so unsustainable, that we knew it was going to take some time forus to fully recover. but if we take the steps that i talked about today, then i know we willrestore not just our home values, but also our common values. we'll make owning a home asymbol of responsibility, not speculation -- a source of security for generations to come,just like it was for my grandparents. i want it to be just like that for all the young people whoare here today and their children and their grandchildren. (applause.)

and if we stay focused on middle-class security and opportunities to get into the middle class,if we take the strategy that i'm laying out for the entire economy -- for jobs and housing andeducation, health care, retirement, creating ladders of opportunity -- then we will secure thatbetter bargain for all americans, where hard work is once again rewarded with a shot at amiddle-class life, which means more americans will know the pride of that first paycheck. moreamericans will know the satisfaction of flipping the sign to “open” on their own business. moreamericans will know the joy of scratching the child's height on the door of their new home --with pencil, of course. (laughter.)

we can do all this if we work together. and it won't be easy. but if we take just a few boldsteps -- and if washington will just end the gridlock, set aside the slash-and-burn partisanship-- (applause) -- actually try to solve problems instead of scoring political points, our economywill grow stronger a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now. (applause.)

and as long as i've got the privilege to serve as your president, that's what i'm going to befighting for.

thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. (applause.)

第12篇 美國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)卿克里在美國(guó)駐古巴大使館重開(kāi)儀式英語(yǔ)演講稿

please be seated, everybody. thank you very, very much. muchas gracias. buenos dias. i'm so sorry that we are a little bit late today, but what a beautiful ride in and how wonderful to be here. and i thank you for leaving my future transportation out here in back of me. i love it. (laughter.)

distinguished members of the cuban delegation – josefina, thank you for your leadership andfor all your work of your delegation; e_cellencies from the diplomatic corps; my colleaguesfrom washington, past and present; ambassador delaurentis and all of the embassy staff; andfriends watching around the world, thank you for joining us at this truly historic moment as weprepare to raise the united states flag here at our embassy in havana, symbolizing the re-establishment of diplomatic relations after 54 years. this is also the first time that a unitedstates secretary of state has been to cuba since 1945. (applause.)

this morning i feel very much at home here, and i'm grateful to those who have come to sharein this ceremony who are standing around outside of our facilities, and i feel at home herebecause this is truly a memorable occasion – a day for pushing aside old barriers and e_ploringnew possibilities.

and it is in that spirit that i say on behalf of my country, los estados unidos acogen conbeneplacito este nuevo comienzo de su relacion con el pueblo y el gobierno de cuba. sabemosque el camino hacia unas relaciones plenamente normales es largo, pero es precisamente porello que tenemos que empezar en este mismo instante. no hay nada que temer, ya que seranmuchos los beneficios de los que gozaremos cuando permitamos a nuestros ciudadanosconocerse mejor, visitarse con mas frecuencia, realizar negocios de forma habitual,intercambiar ideas y aprender los unos de los otros.

my friends, we are gathered here today because our leaders – president obama and presidentcastro – made a courageous decision to stop being the prisoners of history and to focus onthe opportunities of today and tomorrow. this doesn't mean that we should or will forget thepast; how could we, after all? at least for my generation, the images are indelible.

in 1959, fidel castro came to the united states and was greeted by enthusiastic crowds.returning the ne_t year for the un general assembly, he was embraced by then-soviet premiernikita khrushchev. in 1961, the bay of pigs tragedy unfolded with president kennedy acceptingresponsibility. and in october 1962, the missile crisis arose – 13 days that pushed us to thevery threshold of nuclear war. i was a student then, and i can still remember the taut faces ofour leaders, the grim map showing the movement of opposing ships, the approachingdeadline, and that peculiar word – quarantine. we were unsettled and uncertain about thefuture because we didn't know when closing our eyes at night what we would find when wewoke up.

in that frozen environment, diplomatic ties between washington and this capital city werestrained, then stretched thin, then severed. in late 1960, the u.s. ambassador left havana.early the following january, cuba demanded a big cut in the size of our diplomatic mission,and president eisenhower then decided he had no choice but to shut the embassy down.

most of the u.s. staff departed quickly, but a few stayed behind to hand the keys over to ourswiss colleagues, who would serve diligently and honorably as our protecting power for morethan 50 years. i just met with the foreign minister didier burkhalter, and we're grateful toswitzerland always for their service and their help. (applause.)

among those remaining at the embassy were three marine guards: larry morris, mike east, andjim tracy. as they stepped outside, they were confronted by a large crowd standing betweenthem and the flagpole. tensions were high. no one felt safe. but the marines had a mission toaccomplish. and slowly, the crowd just parted in front of them as they made their way to theflagpole, lowered old glory, folded it, and returned to the building.

larry, mike, and jim had done their jobs, but they also made a bold promise that one day theywould return to havana and raise the flag again. (applause.)

at the time, no one could have imagined how distant that day would be.

for more than half a century, u.s.-cuban relations have been suspended in the amber of coldwar politics. in the interim, a whole generation of americans and cubans have grown up andgrown old. the united states has had ten new presidents. in a united germany, the berlin wallis a fading memory. freed from soviet shackles, central europe is again home to thrivingdemocracies.

and last week, i was in hanoi to mark the 20th anniversary of normalization of relationsbetween the united states and vietnam. think about that. a long and terrible war that inflictedindelible scars on body and mind, followed by two decades of mutual healing, followed byanother two decades of diplomatic and commercial engagement. in this period, vietnamevolved from a country torn apart by violence into a dynamic society with one of the world'sfastest growing economies. and all that time, through reconciliation, through normalization,cuban-american relations remained locked in the past.

meanwhile, new technologies enabled people everywhere to benefit from shared projects acrossvast stretches of ocean and land. my friends, it doesn't take a gps to realize that the road ofmutual isolation and estrangement that the united states and cuba were traveling was notthe right one and that the time has come for us to move in a more promising direction.

in the united states, that means recognizing that u.s. policy is not the anvil on which cuba'sfuture will be forged. decades of good intentions aside, the policies of the past have not led to ademocratic transition in cuba. it would be equally unrealistic to e_pect normalizing relationsto have, in a short term, a transformational impact. after all, cuba's future is for cubans toshape. responsibility for the nature and quality of governance and accountability rests, as itshould, not with any outside entity; but solely within the citizens of this country.

but the leaders in havana – and the cuban people – should also know that the united stateswill always remain a champion of democratic principles and reforms. like many othergovernments in and outside this hemisphere, we will continue to urge the cuban governmentto fulfill its obligations under the un and inter-american human rights covenants – obligationsshared by the united states and every other country in the americas.

and indeed, we remain convinced the people of cuba would be best served by genuinedemocracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, e_press their ideas, practice theirfaith; where the commitment to economic and social justice is realized more fully; whereinstitutions are answerable to those they serve; and where civil society is independent andallowed to flourish.

let me be clear: the establishment of normal diplomatic relations is not something that onegovernment does as a favor to another; it is something that two countries do together when thecitizens of both will benefit. and in this case, the reopening of our embassies is important ontwo levels: people-to-people and government-to-government.

first, we believe it's helpful for the people of our nations to learn more about each other, tomeet each other. that is why we are encouraged that travel from the united states to cuba hasalready increased by 35 percent since january and is continuing to go up. we are encouragedthat more and more u.s. companies are e_ploring commercial ventures here that would createopportunities for cuba's own rising number of entrepreneurs, and we are encouraged that u.s.firms are interested in helping cuba e_pand its telecommunications and internet links, andthat the government here recently pledged to create dozens of new and more affordable wi-fihotspots.

we also want to acknowledge the special role that the cuban american community is playingin establishing a new relationship between our countries. and in fact, we have with us thismorning representatives from that community, some of whom were born here and others whowere born in the united states. with their strong ties of culture and family, they cancontribute much to the spirit of bilateral cooperation and progress that we are seeking tocreate, just as they have contributed much to their communities in their adopted land.

the restoration of diplomatic ties will also make it easier for our governments to engage.after all, we are neighbors, and neighbors will always have much to discuss in such areas as civilaviation, migration policy, disaster preparedness, protecting marine environment, globalclimate change, and other tougher and more complicated issues. having normal relationsmakes it easier for us to talk, and talk can deepen understanding even when we know full wellwe will not see eye to eye on everything.

we are all aware that notwithstanding president obama's new policy, the overall u.s.embargo on trade with cuba remains in place and can only be lifted by congressional action –a step that we strongly favor. for now – (applause). for now, the president has taken steps toease restrictions on remittances, on e_ports and imports to help cuban private entrepreneurs,on telecommunications, on family travel, but we want to go further. the goal of all of thesechanges is to help cubans connect to the world and to improve their lives. and just as we aredoing our part, we urge the cuban government to make it less difficult for their citizens tostart businesses, to engage in trade, access information online. the embargo has always beensomething of a two-way street – both sides need to remove restrictions that have been holdingcubans back.

before closing, i want to sincerely thank leaders throughout the americas who have long urgedthe united states and cuba to restore normal ties. i thank the holy father pope francis andthe vatican for supporting the start of a new chapter in relations between our countries. and ithink it is not accidental that the holy father will come here and then to washington, theunited states at this moment. i applaud president obama and president castro both forhaving the courage to bring us together in the face of considerable opposition. i amgrateful to assistant secretary of state roberta jacobson and her team, to our counterparts inthe cuban foreign ministry, to our chief of mission, ambassador jeff delaurentis and hise_traordinary staff, for all of the hard work that has led up to this day. and i just say to ourwonderful embassy staff, if you think you've been busy these past months, hold on to yourseatbelts. (laughter.)

but above all, above all, i want to pay tribute to the people of cuba and to the cubanamerican community in the united states. jose marti once said that “everything that dividesmen…is a sin against humanity.” clearly, the events of the past – the harsh words, theprovocative and retaliatory actions, the human tragedies – all have been a source of deepdivision that has diminished our common humanity. there have been too many days ofsacrifice and sorrow; too many decades of suspicion and fear. that is why i am heartened bythe many on both sides of the straits who – whether because of family ties or a simple desire toreplace anger with something more productive – have endorsed this search for a better path.

we have begun to move down that path without any illusions about how difficult it may be. butwe are each confident in our intentions, confident in the contacts that we have made, andpleased with the friendships that we have begun to forge.

and we are certain that the time is now to reach out to one another, as two peoples who are nolonger enemies or rivals, but neighbors – time to unfurl our flags, raise them up, and let theworld know that we wish each other well.

estamos seguros de que este es el momento de acercarnos: dos pueblos ya no enemigos nirivales, sino vecinos. es el momento de desplegar nuestras banderas, enarbolarlas y hacerlesaber al resto del mundo que nos deseamos lo mejor los unos a los otros.

it is with that healing mission in mind that i turn now to larry morris, jim tracy, and mikeeast. fifty-four years ago, you gentlemen promised to return to havana and hoist the flag overthe united states embassy that you lowered on that january day long ago. today, i invite youon behalf of president obama and the american people to fulfill that pledge by presenting thestars and stripes to be raised by members of our current military detachment.

larry, jim, and mike, this is your cue to deliver on words that would make any diplomat proud,just as they would any member of the united states marine corps: promise made, promisekept. thank you.

第13篇 美國(guó)總統(tǒng)羅斯福珍珠港英語(yǔ)演講稿

mr. vice president, mr. speaker, members of the senate, and of the house of representatives:

yesterday, december 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the united states of america was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of japan.

the united states was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the pacific.

indeed, one hour after japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the american island of oahu, the japanese ambassador to the united states and his colleague delivered to our secretary of state a formal reply to a recent american message. and while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the e_isting diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

it will be recorded that the distance of hawaii from japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. during the intervening time, the japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the united states by false statements and e_pressions of hope for continued peace.

the attack yesterday on the hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to american naval and military forces. i regret to tell you that very many american lives have been lost. in addition, american ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between san francisco and honolulu.

yesterday, the japanese government also launched an attack against malaya.

last night, japanese forces attacked hong kong.

last night, japanese forces attacked guam.

last night, japanese forces attacked the philippine islands.

last night, the japanese attacked wake island.

and this morning, the japanese attacked midway island.

japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive e_tending throughout the pacific area. the facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. the people of the united states have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

fdrwarspeech.jpg

as commander in chief of the army and navy, i have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. but always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

no matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the american people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

i believe that i interpret the will of the congress and of the people when i assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

hostilities e_ist. there is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

with confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us god.

i ask that the congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by japan on sunday, december 7th, 1941, a state of war has e_isted between the united states and the japanese empire.

美國(guó)總統(tǒng)羅斯福珍珠港演講稿(中文版)

副總統(tǒng)先生、議長(zhǎng)先生、參眾兩院各位議員：

昨天， 1941年12月7日——必須永遠(yuǎn)記住這個(gè)恥辱的日子——美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)受到了日本帝國(guó)?？哲娡蝗坏男钜獾倪M(jìn)攻。美國(guó)和日本是和平相處的，根據(jù)日本的請(qǐng)求仍在同它的政府和進(jìn)行會(huì)談，以期維護(hù)太平洋和平。實(shí)際上，就在日本空軍中隊(duì)已經(jīng)開(kāi)始轟炸美國(guó)瓦湖島之后的一小時(shí)，日本駐美國(guó)大使還向我們的國(guó)務(wù)卿提交了對(duì)美國(guó)最近致日方信函的正式答復(fù)。雖然復(fù)函聲稱繼續(xù)現(xiàn)行外交談判似已無(wú)用，但并未包含有關(guān)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)或武裝進(jìn)攻的威脅或暗示。

歷史將會(huì)證明，夏威夷距日本這么遙遠(yuǎn)，表明這次進(jìn)攻是經(jīng)過(guò)許多天或甚至許多個(gè)星期精心策劃的。在此期間，日本政府蓄意以虛偽的聲明和表示繼續(xù)維護(hù)和平的愿望來(lái)欺騙美國(guó)。

昨天對(duì)夏威夷島的進(jìn)攻給美國(guó)海陸軍部隊(duì)造成了嚴(yán)重的損害。我遺憾地告訴各位，很多美國(guó)人喪失了生命，此外，據(jù)報(bào)，美國(guó)船只在舊金山和火奴魯魯(檀香山)之間的公海上也遭到了魚雷襲擊。

昨天，日本政府已發(fā)動(dòng)了對(duì)馬來(lái)亞的進(jìn)攻。

昨夜，日本軍隊(duì)進(jìn)攻了香港。

昨夜，日本軍隊(duì)進(jìn)攻了關(guān)島。

昨夜，日本軍隊(duì)進(jìn)攻了菲律賓群島。

昨夜，日本人進(jìn)攻了威克島。

今晨，日本人進(jìn)攻了中途島。

因此，日本在整個(gè)太平洋區(qū)域采取了突然的攻勢(shì)。昨天和今天的事實(shí)不言自明。美國(guó)的人民已經(jīng)形成了自己的見(jiàn)解，并且十分清楚這關(guān)系到我們國(guó)家的安全和生存的本身。

作為陸海軍，總司令，我已指示，為了我們的防務(wù)采取一切措施。

但是，我們整個(gè)國(guó)家都將永遠(yuǎn)記住這次對(duì)我們進(jìn)攻的性質(zhì)。不論要用多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間才能戰(zhàn)勝這次預(yù)謀的入侵，美國(guó)人民以自己的正義力量一定要贏得絕對(duì)的勝利。

我們現(xiàn)在預(yù)言，我們不僅要做出最大的努力來(lái)保衛(wèi)我們自己，我們還將確保這種形式的背信棄義永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)再危及我們。我這樣說(shuō)，相信是表達(dá)了國(guó)會(huì)和人民的意志。

敵對(duì)行動(dòng)已經(jīng)存在。無(wú)庸諱言，我國(guó)人民、我國(guó)領(lǐng)土和我國(guó)利益都處于嚴(yán)重危險(xiǎn)之中。

相信我們的武裝部隊(duì)——依靠我國(guó)人民的堅(jiān)定決心--我們將取得必然的勝利，愿上帝幫助我們!我要求國(guó)會(huì)宣布：自1941年12月7日星期日日本發(fā)動(dòng)無(wú)端的、卑鄙的進(jìn)攻時(shí)起，美國(guó)和日本帝國(guó)之間已處于戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)狀態(tài)。

第14篇 杰布·布什正式宣布參加2022美國(guó)總統(tǒng)大選英語(yǔ)演講稿

thank you all. thank you so much. thank you. thank you all very much. you know, i always feel welcome at miami-dade college. this is a place that welcomes everyone with their hearts set on the future – a place where hope leads to achievement, and striving leads to success. for all of us, it is just the place to be in the campaign that begins today.

we are 17 months from the time for choosing. the stakes for america's future are about asgreat as they come. our prosperity and our security are in the balance. so is opportunity, inthis nation where every life matters and everyone has the right to rise.

already, the choice is taking shape. the party now in the white house is planning a no-suspense primary, for a no-change election. to hold onto power. to slog on with the sameagenda under another name: that's our opponents' call to action this time around. that's allthey've got left.

and you and i know that america deserves better.

they have offered a progressive agenda that includes everything but progress. they areresponsible for the slowest economic recovery ever, the biggest debt increases ever, amassive ta_ increase on the middle class, the relentless buildup of the regulatory state, andthe swift, mindless drawdown of a military that was generations in the making.

i, for one, am not eager to see what another four years would look like under that kind ofleadership.

the presidency should not be passed on from one liberal to the ne_t.

so, here's what it comes down to. our country is on a very bad course. and the question is:what are we going to do about it?

the question for me is: what am i going to do about it?

and i have decided.

i am a candidate for president of the united states of america.

we will take command of our future once again in this country.

we will lift our sights again, make opportunity common again, get events in the world movingour way again.

we will take washington – the static capital of this dynamic country – and turn it out of thebusiness of causing problems.

and we will get back on the side of free enterprise and free people.

i know we can fi_ this because i've done it.

here, in this great and diverse state that looks so much like america.

so many challenges could be overcome if we just get this economy growing at full strength.there is not a reason in the world why we cannot grow at a rate of four percent a year.

and that will be my goal as president – four percent growth, and the 19 million new jobs thatcome with it.

economic growth that makes a difference for hard-working men and women – who don't need areminding that the economy is more than the stock market.

growth that lifts up the middle class – all the families who haven't had a raise in 15 years.growth that makes a difference for everyone.

it's possible.

it can be done.

we made florida number one in job creation and number one in small business creation. 1.3million new jobs, 4.4 percent growth, higher family income, eight balanced budgets, and ta_cuts eight years in a row that saved our people and businesses 19 billion dollars.

all this plus a bond upgrade to triple-a compared to the sorry downgrade of america'scredit in these years. that was the commitment, and that is the record that turned this statearound.

i also used my veto power to protect our ta_payers from needless spending.

and if i am elected president, i'll show congress how that's done.

leaders have to think big, and we've got a ta_ code filled with small-time thinking and self-interested politics. what swarms of lobbyists have done, we can undo with a vastly simplersystem – clearing out special favors for the few reducing rates for all.

what the irs, epa, and entire bureaucracy have done with overregulation, we can undo by actof congress and order of the president.

federal regulation has gone far past the consent of the governed.

it is time to start making rules for the rule-makers.

when we get serious about limited government, we can pursue the great and worthy goalsthat america has gone too long without.

we can build our future on solvency instead of borrowed money.

we can honor our commitments on the strength of fiscal integrity.

with north american resources and american ingenuity, we can finally achieve energysecurity for this nation – and with presidential leadership, we can make it happen within fiveyears.

if we do all of this, if we do it relentlessly, and if we do it right, we will make the united statesof america an economic superpower like no other.

we will also challenge the culture that has made lobbying the premier growth industry in ournation's capital.

the rest of the country struggles under big government, while comfortable, complacentinterest groups in washington have been thriving on it.

a self-serving attitude can take hold in any capital, just as it once did in tallahassee.

i was a governor who refused to accept that as the normal or right way of conducting thepeople's business.

i will not accept it as the standard in washington either.

we don't need another president who merely holds the top spot among the pampered elites ofwashington.

we need a president willing to challenge and disrupt the whole culture in our nation'scapital.

and i will be that president because i was a reforming governor, not just another member ofthe club.

there's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislativecrowd or filing an amendment and calling that success.

as our whole nation has learned since 2022, e_ecutive e_perience is another term forpreparation, and there is no substitute for that.

we are not going to clean up the mess in washington by electing the people who either helpedcreate it or have proven incapable of fi_ing it.

in government, if we get a few big things right, we can make life better for millions of people,especially for kids in public schools. think of what we all watched not long ago in baltimorewhere so many young adults are walking around with no vision of a life beyond the life theyknow.

it's a tragedy played out over and over and over again.

after we reformed education in florida, low-income student achievement improved here morethan in any other state.

we stopped processing kids along as if we didn't care – because we do care, and you don't showthat by counting out anyone's child. you give them all a chance.

here's what i believe.

when a school is just another dead end, every parent should have the right to send their childto a better school – public, private, or charter.

every school should have high standards, and the federal government should have nothing todo with setting them.

nationwide, if i am president, we will take the power of choice away from the unions andbureaucrats and give it back to parents.

we made sure of something else in florida – that children with developmental challenges gotschooling and caring attention, just like every other girl and boy. we didn't leave them last inline. we put them first in line because they are not a problem. they are a priority.

that is always our first and best instinct in this nation filled with charitable hearts. yet thesehave been rough years for religious charities and their right of conscience. and the leadingdemocratic candidate recently hinted of more trouble to come.

secretary clinton insists that when the progressive agenda encounters religious beliefs to thecontrary those beliefs, quote, “have to be changed.” that's what she said, and i guess weshould at least thank her for the warning.

the most galling e_ample is the shabby treatment of the little sisters of the poor, a christiancharity that dared to voice objections of conscience to obamacare. the ne_t president needsto make it clear that great charities like the little sisters of the poor need no federalinstruction in doing the right thing.

it comes down to a choice between the little sisters and big brother, and i'm going with thesisters.

it's still a mystery to me why, in these violent times, the president a few months ago thoughtit relevant at a prayer breakfast to bring up the crusades.

americans don't need lectures on the middle ages when we are dealing abroad with modernhorrors committed by fanatics.

from the beginning, our president and his foreign-policy team have been so eager to be thehistory makers that they have failed to be the peacemakers.

with their phone-it-in foreign policy, the obama-clinton-kerry team is leaving a legacy ofcrises uncontained, violence unopposed, enemies unnamed, friends undefended, and alliancesunraveling.

this supposedly risk-averse administration is also running us straight in the direction of thegreatest risk of all – military inferiority.

it will go on automatically until a president steps in to rebuild our armed forces and take careof our troops and our veterans.

and they have my word – i will do it.

we keep dependable friends in this world by being dependable ourselves.

i will rebuild our vital friendships. and that starts by standing with the brave, democraticstate of israel.

american-led alliances need rebuilding too, and better judgment is called for in relations farand near.

ninety miles to our south, there is talk of a state visit by our outgoing president.

but we don't need a glorified tourist to go to havana in support of a failed cuba.

we need an american president to go to havana in solidarity with a free cuban people, and iam ready to be that president.

great things like that can really happen. and in this country of ours, the most improbablethings can happen as well. take that from a guy who met his first president on the day he wasborn, and his second on the day he was brought home from the hospital. the person whohandled both introductions is here today. she's watching what i say – and frankly, with allthese reporters around, i'm watching what she says, too. please say hello to my wonderful mom,barbara bush.

from the beginning, our president and his foreign-policy team have been so eager to be thehistory makers that they have failed to be the peacemakers.

with their phone-it-in foreign policy, the obama-clinton-kerry team is leaving a legacy ofcrises uncontained, violence unopposed, enemies unnamed, friends undefended, and alliancesunraveling.

this supposedly risk-averse administration is also running us straight in the direction of thegreatest risk of all – military inferiority.

it will go on automatically until a president steps in to rebuild our armed forces and take careof our troops and our veterans.

and they have my word – i will do it.

we keep dependable friends in this world by being dependable ourselves.

i will rebuild our vital friendships. and that starts by standing with the brave, democraticstate of israel.

american-led alliances need rebuilding too, and better judgment is called for in relations farand near.

ninety miles to our south, there is talk of a state visit by our outgoing president.

but we don't need a glorified tourist to go to havana in support of a failed cuba.

we need an american president to go to havana in solidarity with a free cuban people, and iam ready to be that president.

great things like that can really happen. and in this country of ours, the most improbablethings can happen as well. take that from a guy who met his first president on the day he wasborn, and his second on the day he was brought home from the hospital. the person whohandled both introductions is here today. she's watching what i say – and frankly, with allthese reporters around, i'm watching what she says, too. please say hello to my wonderful mom,barbara bush.

第15篇 美國(guó)總統(tǒng)呼吁美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)延長(zhǎng)緊急失業(yè)保險(xiǎn)法案英語(yǔ)演講稿

well, welcome to the white house,everybody. and that was one of the best introductions i’ve ever had. (applause.) so we’re so proud of kiara for the introduction and for sharing yourstory, and you’re just so poised. and iknow geoff canada is just out there all e_cited -- (laughter) -- and proud, andi know your mom is proud. i know she is. she should be.

kiara and the rest of these youngpeople grew up in a 97-square-block section of harlem. it’s a place where the odds used to bestacked against them every single day, even just graduating from high schoolwas a challenge. but with the help ofsome very dedicated adults and a program called the harlem children’s zone,they’re right on track to go to college. together, students, teachers, administrators, parents, community, they’rechanging the odds in this neighborhood. and that’s what we’re here to talk about today -– changing the odds forevery american child so that no matter who they are, no matter where they areborn, they have a chance to succeed in today’s economy.

now, the good news is that,thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the american people all across thecountry over the last five years, our economy has grown stronger. our businesses have now created more than 8million new jobs since the depths of the recession. our manufacturing, our housing sectors arerebounding. our energy and technologyand auto industries are booming. we’vegot to keep our economy growing. we’vegot to make sure that everybody is sharing in that growth. we’ve got to keep creating jobs, and then we’vegot to make sure that wages and benefits are such that families can rebuild alittle bit of security. we’ve got tomake sure this recovery, which is real, leaves nobody behind. and that’s going to be my focus throughoutthe year.

this is going to be a year ofaction. that’s what the american peoplee_pect, and they’re ready and willing to pitch in and help. this is not just a job for government; thisis a job for everybody.

working people are looking forthe kind of stable, secure jobs that too often went overseas in the past coupleof decades. so ne_t week, i’ll join companies and colleges and take action toboost high-tech manufacturing -- the kind that attracts good new jobs and helpsgrow a middle class. business owners areready to play their part to hire more workers. so this month, i’m going to host ceos here at the white house not once,but twice: first to lay out specificsteps we can take to help more workers earn the skills that they need for today’snew jobs; second, they’re going to announce commitments that we’re making toput more of the long-term unemployed back to work.

and on january 28th, in my stateof the union address -- which i want all the legislators here to know i’m goingto try to keep a little shorter than usual -- (laughter) -- they’re cheeringsilently -- (laughter) -- i will mobilize the country around the nationalmission of making sure our economy offers every american who works hard a fairshot at success. anybody in this countrywho works hard should have a fair shot at success, period. it doesn’t matter where they come from, whatregion of the country, what they look like, what their last name is -- theyshould be able to succeed.

and obviously we’re coming off ofa rancorous political year, but i genuinely believe that this is not a partisanissue. because when you talk to the american people, you know that there arepeople working in soup kitchens, and people who are mentoring, and people whoare starting small businesses and hiring their neighbors, and very rarely arethey checking are they democrat or republican. there’s a sense of neighborliness that’s inherent in the american people-- we just have to tap into that.

and i’ve been very happy to seethat there are republicans like rand paul, who’s here today, who are ready toengage in this debate. that’s a goodthing. we’ve got democratic andrepublican elected officials across the country who are ready to roll up theirsleeves and get to work. and this shouldbe a challenge that unites us all.

i don’t care whether the ideasare democrat or republican. i do carethat they work. i do care that they aresubject to evaluation, and we can see if we are using ta_ dollars in a certainway, if we’re starting a certain program, i want to make sure that young peoplelike kiara are actually benefiting from them.

now, it’s one thing to say weshould help more americans get ahead, but talk is cheap. we’ve got to actually make sure that we doit. and i will work with anybody who’swilling to lay out some concrete ideas to create jobs, help more middle-classfamilies find security in today’s economy, and offer new ladders of opportunityfor folks to climb into the middle class.

and, personally, i hope we startby listening to the majority of the american people and restoring theunemployment insurance for americans who need a little help supporting theirfamilies while they look for a new job. and i’m glad the republicans and democrats in the senate are workingtogether to e_tend that lifeline. i hopetheir colleagues in the house will join them to set this right.

today i want to talk aboutsomething very particular, a specific e_ample of how we can make adifference. we are here with leaders whoare determined to change the odds in their communities the way these kids andtheir parents and dedicated citizens have changed the odds in harlem. it’s now been 50 years since presidentjohnson declared an unconditional war on poverty in america. and that groundbreaking effort created newavenues of opportunity for generations of americans. it strengthened our safety net for workingfamilies and seniors, americans with disabilities and the poor, so that when wefall -- and you never know what life brings you -- we can bounce backfaster. it made us a better country anda stronger country.

in a speech 50 years ago,president johnson talked about communities “on the outskirts ofhope where opportunitywas hard to come by.” well, today’seconomic challenges are differentbut they’ve still resulted in communitieswhere in recent decades wrenching economic changehas made opportunity harderand harder to come by. there arecommunities where for toomany young people it feels like their future onlye_tends to the ne_t street corner or theoutskirts of town, too manycommunities where no matter how hard you work, your destinyfeels like it’salready been determined for you before you took that first step.

i’m not just talking aboutpockets of poverty in our inner cities. that’s the stereotype.i’mtalking about suburban neighborhoods that have been hammered by the housingcrisis. i’mtalking about manufacturingtowns that still haven’t recovered after the local plant shut downand jobsdried up. there are islands of ruralamerica where jobs are scarce -- they were scarceeven before the recession hit-- so that young people feel like if they want to actually succeed,they’ve gotto leave town, they’ve got to leave their communities.

and i’ve seen this personallyeven before i got into politics. infact, this is what drove meinto politics. i was just two years out of college when i first moved to the south sideof chicago.i was hired by a group ofchurches to help organize a community that had been devastatedwhen the localsteel plants closed their doors. and i’dwalk through neighborhoods filled up withboarded-up houses and crumblingschools, and single parents and dads who had nothing to dowith their kids, andkids who were hanging out on the street corners without any hope orprospectsfor the future.

but these churches cametogether. and then they started workingwith other non-profits andlocal businesses. and the government -- local, state and federal -- participated. and we startedgetting some things done thatgave people hope. and that e_periencetaught me thatgovernment does not have all the answers -- no amount of moneycan take the place of a lovingparent in a child’s life. but i did learn that when communities andgovernments and businessesand not-for-profits work together, we can make adifference. kiara is proof -- all theseyoungpeople are proof we can make a difference.

for the last 17 years, the harlemchildren’s zone -- the brainchild of geoffrey canada, who’shere today -- hasproven we can make a difference. and itoperated on a basic premise that eachchild will do better if all the childrenaround them are doing better. so in harlem,staff membersgo door to door and they recruit soon-to-be parents for “babycollege,” preparing them forthose crucial first few months of life; makingsure that they understand how to talk to theirchild and read to their child,and sometimes working with parents to teach them how to read sothey can readto their child and give them the healthy start that they need.

and then, early childhoodeducation to get kids learning at four years old. and then acharter school that help studentssucceed all the way through high school. and medical careand healthy foods that are available close tohome. and e_ercise. i was very pleased to hearthat -- michellewas very pleased to hear that -- (laughter) -- that they’ve got a strong physedprogram. and then students gettinghelp finding internships and applying to college, and anoutstanding, dedicatedstaff that tries to make sure that nobody slips through the cracks orfallsbehind.

and this is an incredibleachievement, and the results have been tremendous. today,preschool students in the harlemchildren’s zone are better prepared for kindergarten. lastyear, a study found that students whowin a spot in one of the charter schools score higher onstandardized teststhan those who don’t. in a neighborhood where higher education was oncejustsomething that other people did, you’ve got hundreds of kids who’ve now gone tocollege.

and harlem is not the onlycommunity that’s found success taking on these challengestogether. in cincinnati, a focus on education hashelped to make sure more kids are ready forkindergarten. in nashville, they’ve redesigned high schoolsand boosted graduation rates byalmost 20 percent over the past 12 years. in milwaukee, they’ve cut teen pregnancy inhalf.

every community is different,with different needs and different approaches. butcommunities that are making the most progress on these issues havesome things in common.they don’t lookfor a single silver bullet; instead they bring together local governmentandnonprofits and businesses and teachers and parents around a shared goal. that’s whatgeoffrey did when he started theharlem children’s zone. government wasinvolved -- so don’tbe confused here, it has an important role to play. and already there are governmentresourcesgoing into these communities. but it’simportant that our faith institutions and ourbusinesses and the parents andthe communities themselves are involved in designing andthinking through howdo we move forward.

and the second thing is they’reholding themselves accountable by delivering measurableresults. we don’t fund things, we don’t start projectsjust for the sake of starting them.they’vegot to work. if they don’t work weshould try something else. and sometimesthose of uswho care deeply about advancing opportunity aren’t willing tosubject some of theseprograms to that test: do they work?

in my state of the union addresslast year, i announced our commitment to identifymore communities like these-- urban, rural, tribal -- where dedicated citizens aredetermined to make adifference and turn things around. andwe challenged them. we said ifyou candemonstrate the ability and the will to launch an all-encompassing,all-hands-on-deckapproach to reducing poverty and e_panding opportunity, we’llhelp you get the resourcesto do it. we’lltake resources from some of the programs that we’re already doingandconcentrate them. we’ll make sure thatour agencies are working together more effectively.we’ll put in talent to help you plan. but we’re also going to hold you accountableand measureyour progress.