 of the United States. Present to this audience the president of the United States Ronald Reagan. Thank you. Well, thank you all very much Mark Cohen and Sue Roode Reverend clergy, Mr. Mayor Members of the Council here the World Affairs Council. It's great to be here in Springfield to get out of Washington To find out what people are really thinking Nobody writes me anymore since they raised the postal rates Actually though coming here today violates one of Washington's most important rules Nobody in government likes to appear in public this soon after April 15th But I do know all about Springfield the fact basketball was invented here and that tremendous Hall of Fame you have In fact, Tip O'Neill always tried to get me to come to Springfield Believe me, Mr. President. He used to say you love Springfield They have a Hall of Fame there for people who only work a few hours a day But I'm delighted to be here with you and especially in the state where America's own struggle for freedom began I'm well aware John Adams wrote in 1776 of the toil toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us To support and defend these states yet through all the gloom. I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory Historians have wondered ever since what it was that made men like Adams and and that outnumbered band of colonists Believe they could overthrow the power of the mightiest empire on earth How appropriate it seemed five years later when the British band played at Yorktown The world turned upside down Truly the predictions of the wiser heads in Europe had been proven wrong The boldness the vision and yes the gift for dreaming of a few farmers merchants and lawyers here on these shores had started a revolution that today reaches into every corner of the world a Revolution that still fires men's souls with the ravishing light and glory of human freedom as As members of the world affairs council as active students of global politics all of you here today Contestify to how unlikely the prospects for freedom seemed at the start of this decade You can recall Democracy on the defensive in country after country an unparalleled buildup of nuclear arms hostages in Iran the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan predictions of economic contraction and global chaos ranging from food and fuel shortages to environmental disaster All of these were the unrelenting themes of so much of what we read and heard in the media with the economic recovery of the United States and the democracies however much of this talk abated and this economic recovery anticipated in Massachusetts in 1981 and 82 with reduced state and local tax rates was itself rooted in the insight That was at the heart of the revolution begun here two centuries ago Trust the people let government get out of the way and leave on harness the energy and dynamism of free men and women But I've come here today to suggest that this notion of trusting the power of human freedom and Letting the people do the rest was not just a good basis for our economic policy It proved a solid foundation for our foreign policy as well That's what we've given to the people why we have repeated what they instinctively knew But what the experts had shied away from saying in public? We spoke plainly and bluntly We rejected what gene Kirkpatrick calls moral equivalency We said freedom was better than totalitarianism. We said communism was bad We said a future of nuclear terror was unacceptable We said we stood for peace, but we also stood for freedom We said we held fast to the dream of our founding fathers The dream that someday every man woman and child would live in dignity and in freedom And because of this we said containment was no longer enough That the expansion of human freedom was our goal We spoke for democracy and we said that we would work for the day when the people of every nation Enjoyed the blessing of liberty well Well at first the experts said this kind of candor was dangerous That it would lead to a worsening of Soviet-American relations But far to the contrary this candor made clear to the Soviets the resilience and strength of the West It made them understand the lack of illusions on our part about them or their system By reasserting values and defining once again what we as a people in a nation stood for We were of course making a moral and spiritual point and in doing this We offered hope for the future for democracy and we showed we had retained that gift for dreaming That marked this continent and our nation at its birth But in all this we were also doing something practical We had learned long ago that the Soviets get down to serious negotiations Only after they are convinced that their counterparts are determined to stand firm We knew the least indication of weakened resolve on our part would lead the Soviets to stop the serious bargaining stall diplomatic progress and attempt to exploit this perceived weakness So we were candid We acknowledged the depth of our disagreements and their fundamental moral import In this way, we acknowledged that the differences Separated us and the Soviets were deeper and wider than just missile counts and a number of warheads As I've said before we do not mistrust each other because we're armed We're armed because we mistrust each other And I spoke those words to General Secretary Gorbachev at our very first meeting in Geneva and that was why We resolved to address the full range of the real causes of that mistrust and Raised the crucial moral and political issues directly with the Soviets Now in the past the full weight of the Soviet-American relationship all too often seemed to rest on one issue Arms control a plank not sturdy enough to bear up the whole platform of Soviet-American relations So we adopted not just a one-part agenda of arms control, but a broader four-part agenda We talked about regional conflicts, especially in areas like Afghanistan and Gola and Central America Where Soviet expansionism was leading to sharp confrontation? We insisted on putting human rights on our bilateral agenda and the issue of Soviet non-compliance with the Helsinki Accords we also Emphasized people-to-people exchanges and we challenged the Soviets to tear down the artificial barriers that isolate their citizens from the rest of the world As for the final item on the agenda arms control even that we revised We said we wanted to go beyond merely establishing new limits that would permit even greater build-ups in nuclear arms We insisted on cutting down Reducing not just controlling the number of weapons arms reductions not just arms control Now this approach to the Soviets public candor about their system and ours a full agenda that put the Real differences between us on the table has borne fruit Just as we look at leading indicators to see how the economy was doing We know the global momentum of freedom is the best leading indicator of how the United States is doing in the world When we see a freely elected government in the Republic of Korea Battlefield victories for the Angolan freedom fighters China opening and liberalizing its economy Democracy ascending in Latin America the Philippines and on every other continent Where these and other indicators are strong so too is America and so too are our hopes for the future And yet even while freedom is on the March Soviet-American relations have taken a dramatic turn Into a period of realistic engagement in a month I will meet mr. Gorbachev in Moscow for our fourth summit since 1985 Negotiations are underway between our two governments on an unparalleled number of issues The INF Treaty is reality and now the Senate should give its consent to ratification The stark treaty is working alone, and I know that on everyone's mind today is this single startling fact The Soviets have pledged that next month They will begin withdrawing from Afghanistan And if anyone had predicted just a few years ago that by the end of this decade a treaty would be signed Eliminating a whole class of nuclear weapons that discussions would be moving along toward a 50% reduction in all strategic nuclear arms And that the Soviets had set a date certain for pulling out of Afghanistan That individual would have faced more than a little skepticism But that on the eve of the fourth summit is exactly where we are So let me now summarize for you some of the issues that need crucial Definition as we approach this summit Let's begin with Afghanistan History records few struggles so heroic as that of the Afghan people against the Soviet invasion In eight years more than a million Afghans have been killed More than five million have been driven into exile and yet despite all this suffering the Afghan people have fought on a Determined patriotic resistance force against one of the world's most powerful and sophisticated armies Yes, their land has been occupied But they have not been conquered Now the Soviets have said they've had enough The will for freedom has defeated the will for power as it always has and I believe always will But let me say here that the next few months will be no time for complacency No time to sit back and congratulate ourselves The Soviets have rarely before and not at all in more than three decades Left a country once occupied they have often promised to leave But rarely in their history and then only under pressure from the West have they actually done it Afghanistan was a critical strategic prize for the Soviets the development of air bases near Afghanistan's border with Iran And Pakistan would have dramatically increased the Soviet capability to project their power To the Strait of Hormuz and to threaten our ability to keep open that critical passage We believe that they still hope to prop up their discredited doomed puppet regime and they still seek to pose a threat to neighboring Pakistan to whom we have a long-standing defense commitment So we ask have the Soviets really given up these ambitions Well, we don't know we can't know until the drama is fully played We must make clear that any spreading of violence on the part of the Soviets or their puppets Could undo the good that the Geneva Accords promised for East-West relations The Soviets are now pledged to withdraw their forces totally from Afghanistan by next February 15th at the latest In the meantime, they know that as long as they're aiding their friends in Kabul We will continue to supply the Mujahideen by whatever means necessary Let me repeat we will continue to support the Mujahideen for as long as the Soviets Support the Kabul regime the Soviets understand that this is our position and that we wouldn't have entered into this agreement without it And is more than a position. This is a hard and fast commitment on my part backed up by a unanimous resolution of the United States Senate From the start our policy in Afghanistan has of course been directed at restoring that country to an independent Non-aligned status in which the Afghan people could decide their own future and to which their Refugees could return safely and with honor the same goals as those stated in successive United Nations General Assembly resolutions over the years But these aren't the only goals of our policy there in a broader sense Our policy is intended to nurture what you might call more normal relations between East and West You see just as a Soviet Union that oppresses its own people that Violates the Helsinki Accords on human rights to which it is a party That continues to suppress free expression and religious worship and the right to travel Just as such a Soviet Union can never have truly normal relations with the United States and the rest of the free world Neither can a Soviet Union that is always trying to push its way into other countries ever have a normal relationship with us And that's what has happened in countries like Angola Nicaragua and Ethiopia The Soviet Union has helped install or maintain client regimes against the will of the people None of these regimes has brought peace or a better life to their people Each has brought misery and hardship Each is an outrage to the conscience of mankind and none more so than Ethiopia Two years ago a pitying world believed that it lasts the hopes of all compassionate people had been realized And that the famine in Africa had come to an end Humanity prayed that it would never again see pictures of children with bloated stomachs or hear stories of families dying One by one as they walked dozens of miles to reach feeding stations But now in one country the famine has returned Ethiopia suffers from drought. Yes, and even more it suffers from inadequate agricultural policies But now to drought and failed policy has been added a third even more deadly element war The Ethiopian army has recently suffered major defeats in its long war with the Eritrean Secessionist forces the combination of drought and the dislocations of war is the immediate cause of famine in that part of the country But the Ethiopian regime recently ordered all foreign famine relief workers to leave the afflicted northern region That leads us to the horrible conclusion that starvation and scorched earth Are being considered as weapons to defeat the rebellion The subject of Ethiopia has long been in the US Soviet agenda But now it is more urgent because of this tremendous human catastrophe in the making Is the world to know another holocaust is it to see another political famine? The Soviets are the principal arms supplier and primary backer to the regime and Addis Ababa They are also supplying 250,000 tons of food this year. They can stop this disaster before it happens And I appeal to them to persuade the Ethiopian regime as only they can To change its decision and to allow the famine relief efforts to continue And let me add I hope as well that the Soviet Union will join us and other concerned governments in Working toward a peaceful negotiated solution to the civil war You know if Ethiopia of course For that matter in every country in which the Soviets have imposed a regime the issues of human rights and regional conflicts merge into one greater issue That of Soviet intentions designs and behavior both at home and across the earth Several years ago the French political thinker and writer John Francois Ravel Reported on a conversation that a member of the French cabinet had with a high Soviet official The Soviet official in reviewing the history of the 70s the 1970s said as Ravel writes We took Angola and you did not protest We noted the fact and included it in our analyses The Soviet official continued then we took Mozambique forget it. You don't even know where it is Then we took Ethiopia a key move no reply and he went on Then we took a den and set up a powerful Soviet base there a den on the Arabian peninsula in the heart of your supply center No response and the Soviet official concluded by saying So we noted we can take a den The years of Western passivity in the face of Soviet aggression ended of course seven years ago But the issue here is that the mentality that produced such analyses as the Soviet official called them has not ended Until it does the world cannot know true peace That's a lesson. We should apply closer to home in Nicaragua a Few months before the Soviets launched their invasion of Afghanistan the Soviets also helped Sandinista communists in Nicaragua To steal a democratic revolution The communists promised democracy in human rights But they instead imposed a cruel dictatorship massively militarized and began a secret war of subversion against Nicaragua's peaceful neighbors the People of Nicaragua took up arms against the communists and they fought a valiant struggle But our Congress instead of giving the Nicaraguan resistance the same steady support the Afghans have received has Repeatedly turned aid on and off Even now while the Soviet bloc pours half a billion dollars of arms a year in the Nicaragua Congress has denied the freedom fighters the support they need to force the Sandinistas to fulfill their democratic promises. I Think it's about time that Congress learned the lessons of Afghanistan America by supporting freedom fighters against brutal dictatorships is helping to advance the values we hold most dear peace freedom human rights and yes democracy At the same time we're helping to secure our own freedom By raising the cost of Soviet aggression and by extending the battle for freedom to the far frontier Some say the Soviet Union is reappraising its foreign policy these days to concentrate on internal reform Well, clearly there are signs of change But if there is change It's because the costs of aggression and the real moral difference between our systems were brought home to it If we hope to see a more fundamental change, we must remain strong and firm If we fulfill our responsibility to set the limits as well as offering constructive cooperation Then this could indeed turn out to be a turning point in the history of East-West relations By starting now to show real respect for human rights and Abandoning the quest for military solutions to these regional conflicts The Soviet Union would also be working to build trust and improve relations between our two countries Regional conflicts and human rights are closely intertwined They are issues of moral conscience. They are issues of international security Because when a government abuses the rights of its own people It is a grim indication of its willingness to commit violence against others two of the most basic rights that we've called on the Soviets to comply with under the Helsinki Accords are The right to emigrate and the right to travel How can we help but doubt a government that mistrust its own people and holds them against their will and What better way would there be to improve understanding between the United States and the Soviet Union? Than to permit free and direct contact between our two peoples In the new spirit of openness, why doesn't the Soviet government issue passports to its citizens? I think this would dramatically improve US-Soviet relations of course The world-account affairs council here is a major sponsor of USIA's international visitors program So I don't have to tell you the importance of people to people exchanges And I want to personally to thank all of you who have provided assistance and hospitality to foreign visitors. I Have often I just left a meeting in the Oval Office To come up here and that meeting brought about by director Wicca of USIA Was a meeting with an assemblage of media and publishing people from the Soviet Union That I think is a first in our relationship. I Have often reflected in public on how if our planet was ever threatened by forces from another world All nations and all people would quickly come together in unity and brotherhood You hear today at the world affairs council understand better than most This lesson about how much all of us have in common as members of the human race It is governments after all not people who put obstacles up and cause misunderstandings When I spoke at the United Nations several years ago, I mentioned some words of Gandhi Spoken shortly after he visited Britain in his quest for independence for India I Am not conscious of a single experience throughout my three months in England in Europe He said that made me feel that after all east is east and west is west on the contrary I have been convinced more than ever that human nature is much the same No matter under what climb it flourishes and that if you approach people with trust and affection You would have tenfold trust and thousandfold affection Return to you. Well you in the world affairs council have done much praiseworthy work in this area And I'm hopeful that American foreign policy Based it as it has been on strength and candor is opening a way to a world where trust and affection among peoples is an everyday reality This is my hope as I prepare to leave for Moscow I'm grateful for your prayers and for your support. I Thank you God bless you. Thank you, mr. President. We understand that you have time to answer a few questions from our audience today We have selected six questioners at random from the many names that were submitted at the beginning of our lunch Three questioners are now from Collier Caracoli. I'm a law student at Western New England College school of law here in Springfield, Massachusetts My question to you sir is What will be the central theme of your message that you will carry to the people of the Soviet Union next month? And how will the Senate's ratification of the INF Treaty or in the alternative the Senate's failure to ratify the treaty? affect that message now The did you the last part? I missed a thing. Are you speaking of the INF Treaty and the failure of ratification? Yes Well, let me answer that part first and then get to the other. I think it would be very Well upsetting and It would put a strain on the summit if the Senate has not ratified the treaty by the time we go there and We're hoping and praying they will and yet they're scheduling of it for discussion and debate is such that I'm very concerned that possibly we may have to go without it having been ratified Now as to the message to the Soviet people, I don't know how much contact we'll be able to have with them We're going to try we have been providing lists by name of individuals in the Soviet Union to the general secretary and his people and so far I have to say there has been quite a response in They're allowing these refused nicks. We've named To emigrate Most of them to the United States, but many to Israel and to other countries We've provided some more lists before this meeting and we'll be talking about that but to the people I Have a feeling that the people of the Soviet Union As well as what Gandhi said about the people everywhere That if we had a chance and they had a chance for more contact We would find That they were very much like us. They have a great sense of humor and I Think they're a they tend to be very friendly I'm not going to burden you with it now, but I have a new hobby. I'm collecting jokes That I can find are told by the Russian people among themselves that reveal that sense of humor as well as a little cynicism about their own system But I'm looking forward to meeting and meeting with some of the refused nicks And they are very nice people Mr. President my name is Richard E. Barstam I'm from Springfield and I'd just like to ask you one question about the trade deficit and foreign trade policy here in America What do you think that the United States people should look for in the next election for a candidate? That would have a policy that would Help this country tackle the trade deficit and compete at a more stronger rate would say Japan and West Germany on a manufacturing base Well, if you forgive me, you've got an administration now We have continuously Reduced the trade deficit. We have not brought it to where there is no trade deficit as yet And this last one even though they said oh why the deficit went up a little bit They didn't say a little bit. They made it sound horrendous something about around 13 Billion-plus in this trade deficit, but what they didn't announce was that our exports Were at their highest level that they've been so far And it so happened that also there was because of the a little lowering in the price of the dollar There was a little increase in in imports at the same time so that there was still a deficit But we have continued in the years. We've been here every year to have an increase in our exports I'll tell you there's something I don't feel the way about the trade deficit that I do about deficit spending here within our own country in the 70 years back when our country was growing from It's colonial beginnings into the great industrial power that it is today Every one of those 70 years we had a trade imbalance There were things that we couldn't hadn't learned to produce yet in our own country and so forth and yet That was our great period of growth now with all of this trade imbalance these last 65 Months have been the longest period of economic expansion in the history of the United States so Now I've said repeatedly the trade bill that is now Before the conference comes to me as it is I will veto it not because I'm against a trade bill But because they have loaded on so many items and one item in particular That would be very restrictive on business and industry in America, and I have served notice that is that item is in there I can't sign it, but if I do have to veto it. I will immediately Call on the Congress to adopt a trade bill that is similar to this one without Those things that have been added on because we've been working in the economic summit as hard as we can to bring about the changes in the GATT treaty that's the general you know tariff and trade agreement of the industrial nations of the West and Japan and We all we've been asking for is not protectionism, but asking for a free and fair Area so that we're all playing on a level field if they've got restrictions on our exports coming into their country Then we're going to respond we want and we've made we've gotten some great changes made So I'm very optimistic and not concerned as much about that trade imbalance to be fine to change it, but the imbalance I want to get is a Congress that will join truly in Eliminating the reckless spending that has has us Overspending and then I would look for all your support in having a change in the Constitution that says hereafter It'll be against the Constitution to have a trade or not a trade in but to have a deficit spending situation in our country My name is Jeffrey Burke sophomore English major of Springfield College My question to you this afternoon Are you considering any military intervention when it comes to stifling drug trafficking into the United States if so We'll be on an live lateral or bilateral basis into what scale Are you talking about just military using the military in helping against the drug menace and as far as increasing? Well We have been for the first time we have been utilizing the military There are some laws that limit what you could ask the military to do, but last year alone. There were 16,000 flying hours of surveillance by our military aircraft in helping us Interdict the drugs coming into the America and there were 2,500 full sailing days of the Navy out there patrolling and helping us interdict this this drug entry I have to tell you though we We have done a remarkable job Incidentally, we've increased our spending with regard to drugs and the fighting of the drug abuse We have increased that tripled it since we've been here but That is not going to to do the job as much as we have to keep on intercepting those drugs last year alone Last year we confiscated $500 million of assets of the drug dealers and still the problems with us. I think Nancy Set out on the course that we must all do more to bring about You can't totally ever with the boundaries. We have shut off the influx of drugs The deal is take the customer away from the drugs turn the customer away I'm sure you've heard about the just say no idea in drugs Would you be interested in knowing how easily things can get started Nancy was talking to a group of school children in Oakland, California and a little girl asked what do we do if somebody offers his drugs and Nancy said just say no That's where it started. There are now over 12,000 just say no clubs in the schools of the United States I think you have a follow-up No, thanks. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, thank you How do you solve all the questions in America, Mr. President? Have we solved all the questions in America I Know I'd be the first to say no as a matter of fact. We probably haven't heard some of them yet But we're working on it when we came here. We found a situation came to office found a situation In which our country was in the economic doldrums. We had double-digit inflation. We had great unemployment and We had some pretty high taxes and we set out on an economic recovery program that was aimed at Changing that and also I had always felt before I came here that there was a growing Spiritual hunger in the United States to once again believe and believe not only in the Almighty But in this country of ours Well So we answered some of those questions We found out that by cutting the tax rates The government got more revenue than it did at the higher rates Because when there's an incentive and you can keep more of the money that you're earning people earn more money 1% of our highest taxpayers When we came here was actually paying 18% of the total tax revenue from the income tax when we reduced their rates That 1% is now paying 26 and a half percent of the total revenue And yet we still have some people saying we must tax the rich we must go after them and Those taxes started as I think helped start us very much on the road of economic recovery we have now in these last Five or six years We have now created on 16 million new jobs and The family income average is higher than it has ever been before Inflation is under control is no longer double-digit and One of the things I will always be very proud to see is That Americans are proud once again to be Americans Mr. President you have for years tried to bring peace to the Middle East Can we rely on your administration to continue to move Israel to settle a Palestinian question on a more even-handed basis? We're going to keep on trying as hard as we can. We feel that the coming together in negotiations Sitting down at a table with the other countries, you know Most of us have forgotten that technically the state of war still exists between the Arab nations and Israel but We're not we're not going to cure it until we come together and find out how we can arrive at a fair settlement of the differences between those people's I Can't resist telling you a little joke. It's kind of cynical very cynical in a matter of fact About the Middle East it has to do with a scorpion that came to a creek and wanted to cross and said to the frog there Would you carry me across scorpions can't swim and the frog said? You'd sting me and I'd die and the scorpion said that it'd be silly because if I stung you and you died I'd drown Well that made sense to the frog so he said get on Started ferrying across and in midstream the scorpion stung him and the frog in his dying said that the scorpion as they were both dying Said why did you do that now? We're both going to die and the scorpion said this is the Middle East Does that mean mr. President that the United States is going to move closer to address the Palestinians directly? Yes, there are some among them that we have refused on principle to address Such as Arafat because Arafat has refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a nation And I don't think that there's any negotiation between someone who just says you're not even a nation I won't talk to you Israel is a nation recognized as such by almost all of the civilized world and So this is what we're what we're seeking our Palestinian leaders who are agreeable to coming together And with the other Arab states we have worked very hard also to make the other Arab states aware that even in in addition to our Agreement and the security we agree of Israel that we want to and can be fair and Friends with them and so we have established a relationship that I think is growing very much about that we have the trust of a great many of the Arab states and a number of those Are willing to join in this kind of negotiation that we want to achieve Thank You mr. President. It's very refreshing to hear you say you are going to open up negotiations Yes Well mr. President my name is Brian Kane I'd just like to tell you what an honor and totally unexpected privilege it is for me to ask you a question here My question has to do with the article that was in the Wall Street Journal today about the stealth bomber the artists sketch of it and After all these years of secrecy why it was unveiled now perhaps it has something to do with your foreign trip and How the stealth program is going to be incorporated with the Star Wars defense system well This is of course a form of conventional weapon an airplane at a bomber and I think the timing was probably somewhat accidental about the revealing this photo What has happened is we are we have just reached the testing point So very shortly that plane will be in the air and visible to all so it didn't seem to be any More reason to keep it secret and I don't think it'll hurt at the summit I hope it helps. Well, I hope so, too I know this is the final question, but I would just like to say to you that I Because there is some misunderstanding about that and about treaties like the stark treaty that we're trying to get We don't know it doesn't look likely that that treaty is so much more complicated than the INF treaty That there's a great question as to whether it could be ready for signature at the summit But we've never set a deadline on when it can be worked out. We don't want a fast treaty. We want a good one and There are some lack of understanding in the part of some people I've read some columns that think that our emphasis on reducing nuclear weapons means that we're going to allow the Soviet Union to wind up with that Great superiority they have in conventional weapons and won't that be to our disadvantage? I think you all should know that as we continue any further development of Eliminating nuclear weapons will now have to follow Negotiations in conventional weapons to reduce to parity so that no one is left with An advantage over the other as we go on eliminating nuclear weapons if we can So that is definite and I have informed the good the general secretary that that That that must take place and he has he has expressed a willingness to talk on on Reducing our conventional weapons Well, I know that you were the Sixth and that was all can I do something terrible here and the press knows I do this I mentioned that hobby of mine So as long as I can't answer any more questions, can I conclude in just telling you? One of those jokes which illustrates this sense of humor and this is one that I told to Gorbachev Seems that they recently issued an order that anyone that's caught speeding Must get a ticket and you know that the most of the driving there is done by the Pollock Bureau by the the Well the bureaucracy they're the ones with cars and drivers and so forth So it seems that one morning Gorbachev himself came out of his country home knew he was late getting to the Kremlin Told his driver to get in the back seat and he'd drive and down the road He went past two motorcycle policemen one of them took out after him a few minutes He's back with his buddy and the buddy said did you give him a ticket? He said no Well, he said why not we were told that everyone Anyone caught speeding was to get a ticket. He says no no this one was too important Well, he said who was it? He says I don't know I couldn't recognize him, but his driver was Gorbachev I again thank you mr. President for your address and your response to our questions as a symbol of our appreciation for your being here with us today and In recognition of the emphasis in your address to the importance of freedom around the world We would like to present to you at this time a rendering of one of the 18 banners Which are displayed continuously in the center of Springfield to remind us of our daily celebration of freedom in America The banners were prepared for the bicentennial anniversary of the federal Constitution and Represent 18 different ethnic groups living in Springfield By bearing the words meaning celebrate freedom in 18 different languages and By displaying the images of fireworks, which are a traditional symbol of our celebration of freedom in the city of Springfield