Remarks at the
Presentation Ceremony for the National Medals of Science and Technology
Thank
you very much, and Secretary Verity and Dr. Graham. And thank you all, and
welcome to the White House. Please be seated. The awards we'll be presenting in
just a few moments stand for our nation's scientific and technological
progress.
And
well, would you be surprised if I said that reminded me of a story? [Laughter]
When you get to my age, you discover that quite a few things remind you of
stories. My only fear is that I've told this so often that maybe I've told it
to you already. Don't let me know if I have. [Laughter] It happens to be about
one of my old bosses, Harry Warner, back in the days of silent pictures. A
technician came up to Harry, very excited, and told him that there was a new
breakthrough that had taken place that would make it possible to give
soundtracks to motion pictures, and we'd have talking pictures. Harry Warner
stood there for a moment and then said, ``Who the heck
wants to hear actors talk?'' [Laughter]
But
it's true that I have a special belief in American science and technology,
because I've lived long enough to have witnessed breakthrough after
breakthrough. I've seen the rise of the automobile. Indeed, I can remember my
first ride in an automobile -- before that it was horse and buggy. And the development of the modern media -- radio, movies, and
television -- the advent of space travel -- and now the computer and the
microchip.
Indeed,
I often reflect that it was not too long ago when sand was just the stuff
beaches were made of. In fact, one of the lines in my old speeches said if we
put the government in charge of sand, there'd be a shortage. [Laughter] And now
the mind of man has given the silicon in sand virtually limitless value in the
form of the microchip, a tiny invention that's transforming the world economy
more dramatically than any event since the Industrial Revolution. And I haven't
even mentioned the newest breakthrough: high-temperature superconductivity.
It's
important to remember, too, that it's not just economic productivity that
science and technology have improved, but the whole quality of human life. New
fertilizers have been coupled with new types of grains, providing greater crop
yields here at home and around the world. Medical science has produced advance after
advance, combating disease, improving our overall health and extending the
lifespan. Technology is adding a new dimension to education. Consider, for
example, that it's now possible to put an entire encyclopedia on a disk that
can be used on a home computer. Technology is even having a profound effect on
my former field of entertainment, making available music and movies of all
kinds in home entertainment centers. You are the men and women who are leading
us into this new era of information and technology. You are the builders, the
dreamers, the heroes.
Our
administration has supported basic scientific research from the start. We're
going forward with the funding of a superconducting supercollider. We're moving
ahead on a permanently manned space station and a commercially developed space
facility. We're funding crucial new research as part of our Strategic Defense
Initiative, research that holds out the hope of putting peace on a firmer
footing throughout the world. And our budget requests to Congress have
contained billions of dollars each year for research and development --
although I'm sorry to say that too often Congress has trimmed back those
requests.
But
I'm convinced that perhaps the most important action we've taken has involved
knocking down the barriers to progress that government itself had erected. Our
tax cuts, for example, have revitalized the entrepreneurial economy. Indeed, in
recent years we've seen tens of billions of dollars devoted to venture capital,
and tens of billions more in new public stock offerings. And during this
economic expansion, hundreds of thousands of new businesses have been formed,
many of them linked to specific new technologies. All of this represents the
application of knowledge to human needs on a massive scale -- not by
government, but by committed individuals, acting in freedom.
You
see,
I
can't help but tell you another little item out of my past. More than 20 years
ago when I was Governor of California, and you will remember those, the rioting
days on the campuses and all of that trouble, and one day I received a very
arrogant demand from the student body presidents of the nine State universities
of California demanding a meeting with me.
Well,
I was delighted because if I tried to go to the campus to see them they'd start
a riot. Well, they came in, barefooted, tee shirts, most of the tee shirts torn
-- slouched into their seats in our Cabinet Room there at the State, and then
the spokesman started in and he said, ``Governor, it's impossible for you to
understand your own children.'' He said, ``Your
generation didn't live at a time of instant electronics, of communication, of
space travel, of journeys to the Moon and jets.'' And he went on listing all of
these things. Usually you think of the answer after you're home and the meeting's over. But he talked just long enough that when he
paused for breath I said, ``You're absolutely right,
we didn't have those things when we were growing up. We invented them.''
[Laughter]
Well,
thank you all, God bless you. And now, we'll be presenting the awards.
Note: The President
spoke at