REMARKS BY PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON AT THE BOHEMIAN GROVE July 18, 1992 After traveling around the world many times, it is good to be back in Bohemia. I have never made a speech where more of the audience was behind me! Twenty five years have passed since I last stood in this place. No one could have predicted the profound changes which have taken place in the world since that time. Twenty five years ago, we were suffering 300 casualties a week in Vietnam with no end in sight. The Soviet Union had moved from inferiority to superiority in land based nuclear weapons. An ugly wall divided Western Europe from Eastern Europe. We had no relations with China, the world’s most populous nation Japan's economy was only one eighth as big as ours Today, we live in a new world. No Americans are being killed in any war in the world today. The Berlin Wall has been torn down. Eastern Europe has been liberated. Communism collapsed in the Soviet Union. Socialism is in retreat from Sweden to India. We have diplomatic relations with China. Japan's economy is now one half as big as ours and growing. What is America’s role in this new world? We have been on a roller coaster ride in foreign policy. After the CommunistPage 2 victory in Vietnam, the conventional wisdom was the we could do nothing. After our victory in the Gulf War, the conventional wisdom was that we could do anything. After the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, the conventional wisdom has been that there is nothing left to do. Let us examine the conventional wisdom Those who believe that we have witnessed the end of history and that there is now a new world order should heed the words of Paul Johnson: "No civilization can be taken for granted. Its permanency can never be assumed. There is a dark age waiting for you around the corner if you play your cards badly and make sufficient mistakes." Those who say America’s leadership is no longer needed and that it is time for others to assume that burden should ask themselves the question: If not us, who? The Japanese? The Chinese? The Russians? The Germans? They are the only nations with the potential power to do so. A united Europe? Economic unity in Europe is possible. Political unity in Europe is not possible. Harold McMillan once said, "Alliances are held together by fear not love." With the fear in the West gone, the incentive for political unity in the West is gone. The United Nations? The United Nations can implement policy; it cannot initiate it. If George Bush had relied on the United Nations to take the leadership in resisting Iraq’s aggression, Saddam Hussein would be ruling Kuwait today and would have a choke hold on the industrial world’s oil jugularPage 3 We hear the Cold War is over and that the West has won it. This is only half true. The Communists have lost the Cold War but the West has not yet won it. The Cold War was not a traditional conflict between great powers over territory. It was a war of ideas: The ideas of freedom against what Ronald Reagan accurately called the evil ideas of communism We see that most clearly in Russia -- the major battleground of that war. It was there that the seeds of communism were first planted. The Russian people reaped the bitter harvest. Seventy-four years ago, an American newspaper reporter, Lincoln Steffens, came back from Russia and proclaimed: "I have been over into the future and it works." The Russian people have seen that future. They know it doesn’t work. They repudiated communism because it failed to produce on its promise of a better life for the masses. Now freedom is on trial. If it fails to produce a better life for the Russian people, they will not turn back to the discredited ideas of Communism. They will turn to a new despotism, trading their freedom for security and the uncertainties of a free economy for the certainties of a command economy. This new despotism, a nuclear superpower, shorn of the baggage of the failed ideas of communism, but infected with the deadly virus of Russian imperialism will be a greater threat to peace and freedom than the old Soviet totalitarian Consider the profound significance of what is happening in the world today, One hundred and twenty-five years ago, Karl Marx published Das Capital, one of the most influential books inworld history. It was not an attack on democracy. It was an attack on capitalism. While most Marxists endorsed Soviet communism which rejected democracy, many Marxists endorsed Western Socialism which accepted democracy, In the past few months, we have witnessed not just the defeat of dictatorial communism in the Soviet Union, but the decline of democratic socialism in non-communist nations. We had known that communism was evil. Now we have learned that democratic socialism is a fashionable fraud. Marx told the world: God is dead. Now the world is replying: Marxism is dying. We have found that democracy alone does not produce progress. For example, during the decade of the ‘80s, twelve nations in Latin America with authoritarian governments became democracies. Yet the per capita income of those nations declined because democratically elected leaders did not adopt free market economic policies. Now Mexico and Argentina are leading the way in combining economic freedom with political freedom. The bottom line is that political’ freedom without economic freedom will not work. The other side of the coin is that economic freedom without political freedom will not last. In Korea, Taiwan, and Chile we have seen that economic freedom leads to political freedom. That is why those who in the cause of political freedom and human rights would cut off trade with China disserve their cause Many years ago Winston Churchill observed: "Russia fears our friendship more than our enmity." That applies to the hard line communist leaders in China today. Over one half of China'sPage 5 G.N.P. is produced by the growing private sector. While he doesn't intend for this to happen, Deng’s economic freedom will inevitably lead to political freedom in China. Freedom is contagious. The way to bring political freedom to China is to expand economic freedom. What are the chances for democracy and freedom to survive in Russia? It is a very close call. On the minus side, there is rampant corruption, there is escalating ethnic violence, there is painful economic hardships because of inflation and unemployment in the transition from a command to a free economy, The major problem is that seventy-four years of communism have destroyed the market management class in Russia. Communist bureaucrats do not know how to run a free market economy. On the plus side: We are not talking about a third world country, a nuclear armed Bangladesh. Russia is a very rich country -- rich in natural and human resources. Ninety-five percent of the Russian people are literate. Ninety percent of the Russians work force have a high school education or better. Russia's scientists and engineers are among the best in the world. We sometimes forget that the first man in space was a Russian. Most important, Russia has a strong leader. Boris Yeltsin is a world class heavyweight who can hold his own with any leader in the world today. He surprised both his friends and his critics by his political shield as he wowed audiences in Washington, Canada and Kansas. At the same time, he has maintained a sixty percent approval rating while the Russian people are suffering immense economic hardships.Page 6 He has the courage to take great risks -- physically and politically. As a result, he will inevitably make mistakes as he tries to achieve something unprecedented in history, the transition in a major country of dictatorship to democracy and of a command to a free market economy. As we point out his mistakes, we should bear in mind a fundamental fact of lif Nothing great has ever been accomplished without great risks Above all, Yeltsin shares our values. He is the first elected leader in Russia in over 1000 years. Unlike Gorbachev he has renounced Socialism as well as Communism. He has totally cut off all aid to Cuba and other anti-U.S. regimes, which in Gorbachev's last budget was $15 billion a year. He has agreed to massive cuts in Russian nuclear arsenal, and is completely eliminating the thousands of SS18s and 24s aimed at the U.S. He is the most pro-Western Russian leader in history. He needs our aid. We should provide it. But how can aid to Russia be justified particularly in an election year? You will hear frightened Congressional candidates whining that charity begins at home. What they don’t understand is that aid to Russia is not charity. By helping democracy and freedom succeed in Russia, we will be helping ourselves Consider the stakes. If democracy and freedom fail in Russia, the peace dividend will go down the tube. The Bush- Yeltsin nuclear arms reduction agreement won’t be worth the paper it is written on, Thousands of nuclear weapons will again be aimed at the United States. Instead of reducing our defense budget, we will have to increase it by billions of dollarsPage 7 If democracy and freedom succeed in Russia, this will be a powerful example for others to follow -- in China, the remaining communist states, and non-communist dictatorships around the world. Think how different the world will be. For seventy-four years communist Russia has been trying to export the ideas of communism to the rest of the world. Now democratic Russia will be exporting the ideas and goods of freedom to the rest of the world. This means billions of dollars in trade and thousands of jobs for American workers. Most important, democratic Russia will free our children and grandchildren from the paralyzing fear of nuclear war because democracies do not start wars. To put it simply, aid to Russia is an investment in peace and prosperity for America. What kind of aid does Russia need? Some government to government aid is urgently needed to stabilize the ruble and build a solid fiscal base for the economy, But long term Russia’s major need is not government aid, but massive investment from the private sector in the West in the emerging private sector in Russia. Government aid is limited by budgets. Private investment is limited only by opportunity. More important, as Hank Greenberg has observed, private investment brings with it the expertise and knowledge for operating a free market economy Government bureaucrats cannot train a new management class to work in a private enterprise economy. Only entrepreneurs from the private sector can do that. Private investment from the West will dwarf the $24 billion in government aid presently planned from the West. If Yeltsin'sPage 8 reforms are implemented to provide the same legal protection and incentives for private investment as in the West, Dwayne Andreas has estimated that within 18 months after reforms are in place $100 billion in private investment will be committed. In the next 18 months, $200 billion more, In the next 18 months, $400 billion more. Most important, the development of private enterprise in Russia will unleash the creative energies of 135 million of some of the world’s ablest people. When I first went to the Soviet Union 33 years ago, I saw huge billboards on the highways and signs in the factories which had only one message: "Work for the victory of Communism." Now for the first time in seventy-four years, the Russian people will be working for the victory of freedom. Rather than working for a communist government, they will be working for themselves. One hundred and four years ago, Marx’s colleague, Engels, wrote: "It is necessary to change the world." For over a century, those words inspired millions of dedicated communist revolutionaries. Communism collapsed in Russia last December because communist change did not produce a better life for the Russian people. Now freedom is trying to produce the change the communists promised but could not produce. Our challenge is to help democracy and freedom work in Russia and the other former communist states. If we meet that challenge, we can change the world, But what about the argument that because of our problems at home, we should change America before we try to change the world?Page 9 It is not a question of one or the other. As Herb Stein has pointed out, “America is a very rich country; not rich enough to do everything, but rich enough to do everything important.” We have the means to meet that challenges. Do we have the will? We are just beginning to come out of a recession. The recession in goods has been bad enough. The recession in spirit is worse. Forty-two years ago, speaking at the Lakeside, General Dwight Eisenhower called for the support of the Marshall Plan and NATO. Our aid to the forces of democracy and freedom in Western Europe decided the fate of Europe for the rest of the 20th century. Today our aid to the forces of democracy and freedom in Russia and the other former communist states could decide the fate of the world in the 2ist century. We responded magnificently to the threat of war then, can we not respond to the promise of peace now? War brings out the best and worst in men. Peace will bring out only the best. We have been around the world. Let us return to Bohemia. first visited this enchanted land forty-two years ago. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. Sitting around the campfire in Caveman, listening to the Chief share his wisdom with us. You who are here for the first time will find that Bohemia is a land of beauty, a land of poetry, a land of laughter, a land of music. You will see staid CEOs playing the piano, the violin even the saxophone. Bohemia is an old land. Some of these great trees were here 2,000 years ago. It is a young land. A land where old men think young. Some even drink young. Bohemia has no nuclear weaponsPage 10 It has no deficit because it has no enemies. Yet it is a land of awesome power. There is more economic, political and ideological power in this audience today than in any similar audience in the world. By your leadership, you have the power to change America and by changing America, to change the world Charles de Gaulle once said, "France is never her true self unless she is engaged in a great enterprise." This is true of nations. This is true of individuals. It is true of every one of you in this audience today. Only when you are engaged in a great enterprise can you be true to yourself. The 20th century will be remembered as a century of war and dictatorship. You can help make the 21st century a century of peace and freedom. This is a great enterprise; worthy of a great people.