Governor Dean's Remarks

Corps of Cadets Review - Sept. 14, 2001

(as transcribed by Norwich Guidon staff)

General, that's an extraordinarily difficult speech to follow, and I thank you. Our first job here is to remember those who have lost their lives, the victims, and their families. I believe that the loss of life is so great, that almost every American will be touched by it. I read in the paper this morning of a good friend of my father's who was trapped on the 105th floor and has been missing, and I doubt very much that he will be recovered or that many will be recovered.

So this will touch all of our lives, and this day President Bush has set aside for remembering the families, and remembering the victims… and the extraordinary heroism of those victims. I think particularly of the rescue personnel who, knowing the building was collapsing, stayed in that building, so that others might get out. I think particularly of those extraordinarily courageous heroes on Flight 93, who prevented the hijackers from crashing that plane into yet another target and taking even more life. And today is that day that we pay them tribute, and I hope there will be many other days like it.

But today is also a day where we set forth our determination to make whatever we can good out of this awful, awful act. This is a day that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. As you look back over history, my father's generation experienced a day like this during Pearl Harbor, and the country was mobilized, and this country preserved what is good, not just about America, but what is good about the world. And that is the fight that is now ahead of us. This is not a battle simply to save America, this is a battle to save what we believe are the humanitarian values that we believe America embodies and that we have spread all over the world and for which we should take enormous, enormous pride.

After World War II in Europe, many of the countries there were totally devastated, on both sides of the war. Many things happened; one of the things that happened was that Europe became divided, and half of Europe became a totalitarian regime where humanitarian values were not practiced. And where the United States stepped in, and the American people generously gave millions and millions of dollars so that the western part of Europe could be reconstructed, and embrace again humanitarian values. A lot of the things that have happened in the 1990s were positive things. Countries that were totalitarian became democratic countries, and our values began to spread.

This attack on the United States was not simply an attack on America, but it was an attack on our values, and our values of humanitarianism, of belief in human rights, of belief in standing up for what we think is the right thing to do, and not running because someone is pointing a weapon on us and threatening us. --That is what the oncoming war will be about.

President Bush has said this was an act of war. We are in a state of war… there will be a prolonged effort by our government to make sure that these attacks cannot continue. You, as students of Norwich University, will take part in some of these actions, as my father's generation took part in the actions of WWII, and my generation took part in Vietnam.

I thank you for being here, I thank all the civilians for being here, and I say that the best thing that we can do to alleviate the terrible suffering of the families these victims have left behind, these victims of terror have left, is to show them that something good can come out of this. And what the good is that can come out of this from our country is a reaffirmation of our values, of our freedom, of our belief in individual liberties, our reaching out to others who are less fortunate to make sure that they can afford to embrace our values. And that is what the upcoming years will be about. Our life has changed forever.

Our life will now require us to make sacrifices for our country, something that hasn't happened for quite some time for the large population of our country. We are not only brought together, as General Schneider has said, we are also the leaders; we must continue to be the leaders; and we must continue to be very tough-minded as well as very generous. That is the legacy of our nation. We are now called upon to make sacrifices, both economic and personal, in order to make sure that the values that we have fought for for over 200 years will continue, because the alternative is unthinkable.

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