SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all – thank you very, very much for joining us for this wonderful
occasion.
And I am particularly grateful for you being here to hold my hand on the cusp of my becoming
one of the most visible unemployed people in America.
(Laughter.)
I join everybody in being delighted to open this new – or to recognize the finishing
of the Diplomacy Center Pavilion, and it’s really a pleasure – a special pleasure – to
welcome Madeleine and Colin and Hillary back here.
And I know each and every one of you have already demonstrated your affection and your
gratitude for their service and for what they have done to help make this possible.
I couldn’t help but think that just a little while ago we had a goodbye ceremony for Tony
Blinken, who has been an absolutely superb deputy and done an extraordinary job, and
he graciously praised me by saying that I never quit.
And I wondered immediately whether or not I could apply that to January 20th or not.
(Laughter.)
But I don’t think I would be so lucky.
I also, as I listened to Colin talk about an AK-47 filled with vodka, I said, “Man,
I’m going to tell if Rex Tillerson gets approved and that happens, I’m going to
suggest that he make certain that every AK-47 in the world be filled with vodka.”
That would be a better world, folks.
(Laughter.)
We’ve got to work on that.
(Applause.)
As folks have mentioned, it’s been just two years since the former secretaries and
all of us joined out in front here to break ground on this remarkable facility, and it’s
really hard to believe that so much has been accomplished so quickly.
There are a lot of people to thank for that, and one of them has already been singled out,
but I want to single her out again.
Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley is indefatigable.
She has excelled at the hard and thankless task of fundraising like nobody else before.
And I want to give you all a little bit of advice – urge all of you who have been avoiding
eye contact with her – (laughter) – surrender.
(Laughter.)
Resistance is useless.
(Laughter.)
She is – she – the force is with her, folks.
And Elizabeth, we owe you just an enormous debt of gratitude.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
And the same goes for the generous donors who are here with us.
We are so grateful to you for stepping up and being part of this.
And I ask you just to look around you at this magnificent building.
This is going to be a winner.
It’s going to be an extraordinary addition to the mosaic of our incredible museums here
in this city, the nation’s capital – visually impressive, educational, enduring, patriotic,
and long overdue.
And make no mistake, we could not have gotten anywhere, much less this far, without your
willingness to take a flyer and believe in this enterprise.
So thank you, but in any marathon, the last few miles are the most challenging, and I
am duty-bound to say to you we’ve got a couple of miles still to go.
The finish line is still up ahead and I ask everyone and anyone who has the ability to
help recruit others to help us finish this off.
Let us bridge the gap between what we have and what we need.
Now, also, I really want to thank my predecessors.
The idea of a facility such as this has been around for quite a while.
And under the leadership of Kathy Johnson, the U.S. Diplomacy Center has an ongoing program
of education and outreach, and it already has gathered more than 7,000 historic artifacts.
That is a number that will be augmented and classed up by the very generous contribution
of Secretary Albright’s famously expressive pins or broaches.
I might add I think, given the value of some of them, she’s probably raised the insurance
rate on the building too in doing so.
(Laughter.)
We have, amazingly, long lacked a appropriate venue where we could create a visitor-friendly
and interactive set of exhibits that would bring diplomacy to life.
And it was during Secretary Albright’s tenure that the project really kicked off, and her
initiative has been obviously strongly supported by secretaries from Secretary Kissinger all
the way through Secretary Clinton.
I hope all of you will join me because they are the force that really got this going.
I got to come in here when the plans were done and we were well along the way, but I
think all of us should join them in saying a special thank you for what they have created
for our nation and for (inaudible).
(Applause.)
I want to thank Ambassador Bill Harrop and the Diplomacy Center Foundation.
They deserve enormous credit for their leadership and for gathering support from the founding
ambassadors.
Now, this all leads to a question which has been spoken to to some degree by each of my
colleagues, and that is: Why is it important that we share the story of American diplomacy?
Well, the answer, I think, begins with one of my favorite poems, by Robert Frost, in
which a tree falls across the road in the middle of the woods and the obstacle forces
a traveler to halt in his tracks and, quote, “get down in a foot of snow debating what
to do without an ax.”
That strikes me as a pretty fair description of what diplomacy is all about: solving the
trees in the road, the unexpected problems, without an ax.
And there’s no magic formula for success.
It requires the right combination of knowledge, leverage, advocacy, reason, and timing.
And especially when differences are narrow, it can benefit from strong personal relationships
such as those forged by each of the secretaries sitting here at the dais.
And I know from my own experience that although countries are always guided by their own interests,
face-to-face discussions can still influence how those interests are judged, how they are
met, and sometimes turning a no to a perhaps or, even better, maybe to yes.
I think every secretary here has seen that happen.
As the exhibits in this pavilion will one day show, the accomplishments of American
diplomacy are inseparable from the birth, youth, and growth of our country.
And that was hinted at from the very beginning when Mr. Benjamin Franklin, who is reputed
to be our first diplomat, introduced himself to the court of King Louis XVI.
Imagine a minister who could outtalk his counterparts, outmaneuver his rivals, out-flirt the French
– (laughter) – and outwork anyone in pursuit of freedom and independence for our infant
country.
In subsequent years, American diplomats were indispensable in ending foreign conflicts,
expanding our nation’s boundaries, and laying the foundation for international cooperation
through development and through the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions, NATO,
the OAS, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
During the Cold War, our diplomacy remained in high gear – it made all the difference
– successfully containing the communist threat and eluding the perils of an era in
which countries were compelled to rely for survival on the concept of mutually assured
destruction.
In more recent years, we’ve moved to enlarge the Euro-Atlantic community, halt ethnic cleansing
in the Balkans, dismantle the most dangerous aspects of Iran’s nuclear program, forge
a global coalition against Daesh terrorists, restore relations with Cuba, and take unprecedented
steps to curb the dangers posed by climate change.
Obviously, that’s just scratching the surface.
George Kennan compared diplomacy to overseeing his Pennsylvanian farm where the woods were
constantly growing, and fences were falling down, and paint peeling, and insects burrowing,
and roofs leaking, and harsh weather arriving in defiance of all predictions.
The sole certainty was the need for vigilance because nothing ever stood still – and this
place will be a monument to that maxim.
By keeping pace and by ensuring that American leadership is not only still needed in the
world but broadly welcomed, our diplomats have written a truly extraordinary tale that
will bear telling over and over again for generations.
And we will soon have the ideal place in which to relate that story.
So once again, I thank our donors and the former secretaries who have contributed so
much.
I also congratulate Pat Kennedy and his team on the superb job that they have done; our
superb architectural firm, Beyer Blinder Belle; and the men and the women of the Gilbane construction
company which I know well from Massachusetts and New England; and the Heery International
and everyone else who has played a constructive role in this effort.
I want to emphasize that, picking up a little bit on what Hillary said, this – this could
not be happening at a better time.
There are many voices in the world who have essentially given up on diplomacy.
They see, and some openly encourage, the breakdown of cooperation, the building of economic and
political walls, and the growth of mistrust and division along racial, ethnic, national,
and religious lines.
The story of American diplomacy reflects a far different and far more uplifting vision,
one of optimism about the ability of people from vastly different backgrounds to work
together productively and in peace.
We know that that can happen abroad.
Why?
Because we’ve done it here at home.
And no country has melted more people of different backgrounds and varied aspirations and hopes
than we have in the United States of America.
That’s the great thing that separates us from every other country in the world.
We’re not defined by ethnicity.
We’re not defined by lineage.
We’re not defined by names.
We’re not defined by where we come from.
We are defined by an idea.
Unlike most other nations, the idea is that all people are created equal and that you
can pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
So I welcome all of you optimists, difference-makers, and history-lovers to this pavilion, and I
thank each and every one of you for your enthusiasm and your support, and may this new year be
filled with the good fortunes and the blessings that you and we in the United States of America
deserve.
Thank you.