Posted on 12/06/2001 12:46:47 AM PST by HAL9000
With a gold shovel in hand, a beaming Bill Clinton turned over some dirt and turned a momentous page Wednesday, launching the construction of his presidential library and laying out the vision for his post-presidency.Savoring the moment, Clinton smiled as the dirt fell from his spade onto the once-blighted land in downtown Little Rock that will be transformed into an urban park. Construction of the $104 million complex will begin in earnest next spring.
The spirit of the project will encourage people to pursue public service and "help them understand what kind of country we're becoming," Clinton said.
"The vision of this library and [its] foundation indeed will be largely devoted to the future."
Twelve other people active in the project also dug into the ground behind Clinton, while the applause rose from some 2,000 invited guests.
The ceremony solidified Clinton's commitment to build his presidential library in Little Rock, the base for a large part of his post-presidential work. In many ways, Clinton has come full circle -- just 10 blocks away, 10 years ago, Clinton first told the state and nation that he would run for president.
The Clinton center will be a multifaceted facility on a 28-acre city park, featuring a museum, an archive to preserve Clinton's papers and artifacts, and a small graduate school, the Clinton School of Public Service. The William J. Clinton Foundation is raising $200 million to build and endow the facility.
"We're going to try to build it in less time than it took to build the medieval cathedrals and the Egyptian pyramids," Clinton said jokingly. "But if I can't rein in my team here, it may cost as much."
In his 20-minute speech, Clinton portrayed the library as a place for history and a place for the future.
"The library will house the documents that will tell the story of the last years of the 20th century and the dawn of the new millennium," the former president said.
Though it will hold almost 100 million papers from his presidency, Clinton said, he wanted the center to be more about the years ahead.
"As you know, we won't stop thinking about tomorrow," he added, referring to the Fleetwood Mac song used during his first presidential campaign.
Clinton's wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was listed on the program to speak but couldn't make the trip because of pressing congressional votes. "She's heartsick to miss this event," Clinton said.
For many of the faithful in attendance, the event was like many of Clinton's past campaigns: a labor of love.
Craig Smith, onetime gubernatorial staff member and Clinton's first presidential campaign staff member, was on hand. But he had little time to reflect because his consulting firm was in charge of coordinating the groundbreaking.
"It's good to see all the people from New Hampshire, California, Ohio," said Smith, a one-time political director for the White House and the Democratic National Committee. "They're all here today, and it's good. It's good to be home."
Other familiar faces were working, too. Sheila Bronfman, a Little Rock lobbyist who helped coordinate a caravan of Arkansas campaign volunteers in the snow of New Hampshire a decade ago, again worked behind the scenes. So did Ann Henderson, another veteran campaigner.
Although the groundbreaking was an invitation-only event, many people showed up to see the former president kick off his library's construction.
Tim Beaver, 39, employed at the Wal-Mart store in Mountain Home, drove down from Viola. Beaver is a longtime fan of the former president but had never seen Clinton in person.
"I was impressed," Beaver said. "He was forceful and charismatic. I was a little disappointed not to see Hillary, though it was understandable. She has a lot on her plate in Washington."
Then there was Dorothy Sims of South Pasadena, Fla., a Tampa suburb. She attend the event on behalf of the Greater Pinellas Democratic Club, billed as the largest Democratic club in west Florida.
"I wanted to be a part of history and see him in person," Sims said while waiting for the president to autograph a Greater Pinella Democratic Club flier. "It's different than seeing him on television."
Many of the former campaign aides and administration officials said they attended to recapture the spirit and energy of their past work and to share the day with their former boss.
"I came down here today because I've been a part of it from '92 on," said Susan McNay of Jamestown, Mo., who joined the Clinton team as a volunteer in 1992 and served in several administration posts. "I believed in him, and what we did as a team was tremendous for this country."
Local politicians expressed that same support in bringing Clinton's library to Little Rock.
After Clinton chose the warehouse site in 1997, Little Rock fought and won two court battles over the library's funding and seizure of the land.
Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey told Clinton that he and the city's Board of Directors never wavered in their decision to acquire the land for Clinton. The project already has attracted new business to downtown, and developers say more growth should follow.
"I have felt like this day, for all of us, was symbolically important to this community," Dailey said. "People are mesmerized by the presidential library. I don't think we fully realize what this means. It's huge."
Still, not all were merry. About a dozen members of a local crafts union gathered with signs to protest what they say is a reluctance by the Clinton foundation to require union membership among those who build the library.
Noting that the library project already had "significant" union participation, foundation executive Skip Rutherford said the issue of whether unionized painters, drywallers and glaziers will be required "hasn't been resolved."
Throughout the event, Clinton spoke of bringing people together. He expressed hope that the "unique and fleeting moment" of his presidency could be studied to help "spread the benefits and reduce the risks of the 21st century."
He also made references to the war on terrorism. America makes an inviting target as the greatest country in the world, Clinton said, and now that terrorism has arrived on U.S. soil, "we have to keep making it stronger and better."
And while no terrorist campaign has ever succeeded, Clinton said, efforts must be made to right the economic injustices around the world that breed terrorism.
"Remember this when you go to bed at night," Clinton said. "Half the people in the world get by on $2 a day."
The former president also expressed hope that the future home of the Clinton School of Public Service would encourage a new generation to pursue careers in public service and politics.
Noting Robert F. Kennedy's maxim that people are judged by their contributions to society, Clinton reiterated his belief that public service is a noble calling, despite those who criticize career politicians and others on the government payroll.
"I've had a good run, and what I know now is that every child needs to be taught that life's blessings and gifts need to be shared," Clinton said.
The occasion had the elements of a campaign, Clinton-style. After he had dispensed with the speech and turned over the dirt, the former president made his way to the rope line, where he enthusiastically returned the throng's adulation.
Clinton made his way slowly from one end of the line to the other. He shook hands. He exchanged hugs. He made small talk. He turned over items to an aide to autograph and return later. He stopped for photographs. He was at it more than an hour.
Then Clinton took a break inside the former Choctaw passenger station to lunch on Jennings Osborne's barbecue and all the fixings. He briefly surveyed what is to be the home of the Clinton School of Public Service before making his way over to the Osborne picnic, where a good part of the crowd had retired.
Clinton briefly donned an apron as he posed for more photographs, bantered with volunteers distributing the food and autographed Osborne aprons and caps.
After noticing how his presence had attracted photographers and shut down the procession for food, Clinton restarted the food line with a good-natured call: "Come on, feed these people. Let's go."
He then made his way to an adjoining tent where people tried to make a dent in the large helpings of food.
And while Clinton spent much of the day looking ahead, he noted one particular letter, written by a woman more than 50 years ago, that will be stored at his library. He received it one month before he left office.
The woman's husband had been killed in an automobile accident.
"It seemed almost unbearable at the time, but I'm six months pregnant and the thought of our baby keeps me going," the woman wrote.
That woman, Virginia Kelley, Clinton's mother, wrote the letter three weeks after his father died -- three months before the future president was born. A friend of Kelley's found the letter in her attic about two years ago.
Speaking of his mother, Clinton said simply, "I hope I never let her down."
Copyright © , Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
The liebrary should also house the semen-stained dress.
Lest America ever forget why The Nameless One, W(B)-97, and all their enablers need to be hectored, hounded, and harried into silence, until "clintonese is only spoken in Hell," look here:
The Holiday *Best* of Bill Clinton & his Friends!
-clintonism in one easy lesson--
-"until clintonese is spoken only in Hell!"--
Hillary! and Arafat's wife-
I pray to God that one day before I die, I will get within spitting distance of the bastard boy.
Being a smoker, I can gather a full hock on command.
My aim is incredible. Www...thooo! A loogie flies in a slow spiral, hitting X-42 on the forehead.
The force of the discharge staggers the born bastard and he drops to his knees.
Crying for his mommy, Clinton grovels on the sidewalk, biting his upper lip.
As I relieve my bladder upon his $1000.00 suit, I tell him to put some ice on it... it'll keep the stink down.
Socialist Manifesto !! (get the kids, and get 'em early !)
twyn1
Poor little Socks, such a fate, to be used by the clintons for photo ops, and forced to live in the basement at the WH, and then sent off with Betty Currie. Hope Socks is happier now, and that Betty takes good care of him.
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