This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
REMARKS BY : TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: To the American-Swiss Foundation, annual dinner, New York City, N.Y. DATE: November 13, 2001
Good evening, and thank you all for that warm reception.
Mr. Leader .. John Faso . thank for your kind introduction, and for all your public service on behalf of the people of your district and the state of New York.
John is the Republican leader of the New York assembly.
I held that same job myself in the great state of Wisconsin for a while, and I loved it. But a statewide race came calling, and I ran for and won the governorship.
John, I understand you're running for statewide office yourself, that of Comptroller. Let me give you one of my most valuable campaign tips:
You can never go wrong praising bratwurst, beer and cheese.
Well, it works in Wisconsin.
But I know you will do well, and I wish you all the best.
Madame Ambassador, thank you so much for your invitation to address the America-Swiss foundation, which I do with pleasure.
And congratulations on your work to encourage youth leadership as we strengthen the ties between our two nations.
May I also salute Dr. Anton Schrafl of HOLCIM for your company's sponsorship of the Young Leaders Conference last year.
Knowledge and relationships gained in people's youth often stay with them throughout their lives.
And I can think of no better way of cementing America's friendship with the Swiss than by helping our young people get to know one another.
I was intrigued to find out that the next governor of New Jersey is an alumnus of the program.
Now, I come from a different political party than Mr. McGreevey, but his success shows you that young leaders often grow up to become not-quite-so-young leaders. And, of course, I wish him all the best as governor.
To all of you who support the youth leadership initiative, thank you.
This gathering comes at a time when our international partnerships are being forged anew in the fires of global conflict, becoming stronger and more secure.
Terrorism has reached out its evil to strike the people of both our nations, but we will not give way. We will stand firm.
Shortly after the attacks of September 11, President Bush addressed the nation.
The President told Americans: "This will be a different kind of conflict against a different kind of enemy. This is a conflict without battlefields or beachheads, a conflict with opponents who believe they are invisible. Yet they are mistaken. They will be exposed, and they will discover what others in the past have learned: those who make war against the United States have chosen their own destruction."
And in this conflict, each country has its own, invaluable role to play. Some send troops and equipment, others provide intelligence or, like the Swiss, support the effort through their financial expertise.
I note with appreciation that Switzerland's Federal Council has taken a strong, clear stand in this fight, demanding "a resolute and targeted response in order to prevent any further major terrorist attacks."
Ambassador Blickenstorfer, Americans are deeply grateful for Switzerland's contribution to the international coalition.
These partnerships do not emerge from a vacuum. They grow from years of shared principles and bonds of culture and commerce.
Ladies and gentlemen, in any relationship between two countries will come times of stress and strain.
But I can assure you, our bonds will never break. The United States and Switzerland will always - always - be friends.
U.S.-Switzerland trade and business ties are among the most important in the world. We are major trading partners, each doing about ten billion dollars a year in direct exports and imports with one another.
And we know that more than 600 Swiss companies maintain a presence in the United States.
Some of those companies are joining us in the most exciting scientific research and development going on today - biotechnology. It's a subject I'm so passionate about.
The University of Wisconsin is a world leader in this exciting science; it was in Madison that Dr. Jaime Thomson pioneered stem-cell research. Wisconsin is ranked as in the top 10 states for business growth in the life-sciences field.
And I see that Novartis venture fund recently invested in Madison-based Eragen Biosciences, and Serono has partnered with Powderjet Vaccines, another pharmaceutical firm in Wisconsin.
There are untold possibilities of partnerships that will lead to marvelous medical breakthroughs for the entire world. Ambassador Defago, I am pleased and honored you came from Wisconsin to join us here tonight.
As many of you probably know, Ambassador Defago became a visiting professor of international relations at the university of Wisconsin-Madison - my alma mater - when he ended his tour of duty this year as Switzerland's ambassador to the United States.
And again, Ambassador Blickenstorfer, I am very honored by your presence here in New York this evening, and pleased to meet you and your wife, Susanne.
You are representing your government and the Swiss people with dignity and dedication in Washington.
On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your leadership and friendship.
Allow me to express my personal condolences and those of the American people on the loss of two Swiss citizens in the September 11 terrorist attacks. And we are greatly saddened by other recent events that have led to so much suffering .the killer's rampage in Zug that took the lives of 14 people.and the devastating fire in the Gotthard Tunnel.
The world has grieved much in recent months, but we have also gained much. We have developed a new and stronger appreciation of our friends around the world, and how much we can accomplish if we work together.
It was truly heartening to read the reports of the Swiss freezing 24 accounts worth $12 million francs, keeping the money away from aiding potential acts of terror.
And then, last week, the Swiss cooperated again in detaining two Middle Eastern financiers with possible links to the Al Quaeda network. Police also seized thousands of pages of documents.
These actions represent the many steps that the Swiss authorities have taken to get at the financing of international terrorism, an effort that your banks have joined. My friend, Alberto Togni from UBS is here tonight, and I want to acknowledge you and your bank for your contributions to this battle.
Alberto hosted a Wisconsin trade delegation I headed a year when we visited u-b-s, and we enjoyed a warm and productive meeting.
The actions by Swiss banks reaffirm a clear message: bank secrecy laws in no way protect criminal acts, terrorism and money laundering.
A crime is a crime, and will not be accepted in Switzerland.
In so many ways, Switzerland is a leader in its support of global partnerships - in this case the partnership against terrorist financing, but also as a host to international organizations that serve the people of all nations.
To those of us at the Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization is a key partner.
In May, I led a delegation to Geneva for the WHO's General Assembly, where we had a productive discussion about global health issues, especially the fight against HIV and AIDS.
And, just last week, at a minister's conference in Ottawa, I spoke with representatives of the WHO on a measure to improve our international coordination in public health and security, finding better and more efficient ways of preventing and responding to attacks of terrorism.
Switzerland's central role in these efforts lies within a long tradition of international involvement.and international compassion.
It was a Swiss businessman and humanitarian, Henri Dunant, who once made the observation: "In an age when we hear so much of progress and civilization, is it not a matter of urgency - since unhappily we cannot always avoid wars - to press forward in a human and truly civilized spirit the attempt to prevent, or at least to alleviate, the horrors of war?"
Dunant was moved and horrified in 1859 by the carnage he witnessed at Solferino in Italy, one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century.
He cared for the wounded and dying, and upon returning to Switzerland, wrote a book proposing a system of voluntary medical care and relief for soldiers who fell in military conflict.
He translated his thoughts into action, helping to found the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded in 1863. It later became the International Committee of the Red Cross, a movement that has spread worldwide, offering comfort in the face of war and disasters - including the terrorist attacks on September 11.
And Dunant provided the inspiration for the Geneva Convention, a system that has offered protection and care for many soldiers throughout the years.
One hundred years ago this month, Dunant received the news that he was the co-recipient of the very first Nobel Peace Prize.
I am glad to pay tribute this centennial to all that this great man of Switzerland did to make life better for untold millions of people.
Thankfully, Switzerland has shared others of its visionaries and dedicated citizens, whose emigration helped make the United States the wonderful land it is.
If you wish to see their monuments, just look around you. A famous Swiss-born American, the civil engineer, Othmar Ammann designed or constructed six famous suspension bridges in the New York area, including the George Washington, the Triborough and the Verrazano Narrows bridges.
Ammann and his consulting firm also helped design the Milwaukee highway system back in Wisconsin, one of many, many contributions Swiss-Americans have made to my home state.
Milwaukee and the entire state were shaped spiritually, too, by a remarkable Swiss immigrant, Martin Henni, the first Catholic archbishop in the diocese. He served as bishop and archbishop from 1843 to 1881, the years that helped mold the Wisconsin identity out of many different groups of people.
And we can always laugh about Swiss cheese, but in all seriousness, the cheese and dairy industry provides thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of income to the people of Wisconsin.
It is important to us and our state's image, and Swiss immigrants and their descendents deserve our thanks for helping bring the industry to Wisconsin.
There may be holes in the cheese, but there are no holes in the lasting friendship between Switzerland and the United States.
We value the cultural links, the strength we draw from Swiss-American contributions and heritage, and we want to preserve, strengthen and expand those ties between Wisconsin, the United States, and Switzerland.
As some of you may know, my last budget as governor of Wisconsin provided $2 million in matching money to develop a Swiss center of North America in New Glarus, a town settled by a mass emigration from Glarus, Switzerland in the 1850s.
The town lies in Green County, the heart of Wisconsin's "little Switzerland" region.
And I can report that the project is making excellent headway. Fundraising was affected by the events of September 11, but organizers tell me they have secured the first $1 million of state money and are on their way to matching the rest.
A beautiful site has been found in the rolling hills outside of town, and plans are on schedule to open it by 2003.
Congress provided seed money, and corporate donors have been very generous. Ambassador Blickenstorfer, we look forward to a good partnership with the Swiss in seeing this project to completion.
The center will let visitors know about the modern Switzerland.
For example, you will be able to learn about the booming Swiss biotech industry, your financial industry, and your humanitarian efforts worldwide.
This center will also tell the story of the Swiss in America, and the relationships the United States maintains with Switzerland today: ties of culture..trade.business.and a shared commitment to human freedom and representative self-government.
It is so important to impress upon young people - all people - those great principles and traditions of democracy. As the world's oldest republic - 710 years old! - Switzerland serves as a shining beacon of political liberty.
The Swiss Center in North America can reflect that light of liberty upon its visitors, and remind us all that the United States - as the second oldest republic - and Switzerland are true partners in freedom.
And in those freedoms, we find unity - in America, just as in Switzerland. In the wake of September 11, the United States has come together in ways we haven't seen since the Second World War. Our people are united, finding in our principles and history- built through waves of immigration - the strength to grieve together..and to fight together against terrorism's evil.
We will continue to have our political battles, but they will not dominate our lives. No, our good sense will see us through. Our unity will see us through.
President Theodore Roosevelt had some wise observations about conflict and unity I would like to share with you.
Roosevelt is a great hero of mine, and he grew up in a brownstone not far from here. Like Henri Dunant, he too received the Nobel Peace Prize.
One of his writings collected in his famous book, "the strenuous life," explored the topic of how Americans became a people.
In it, he drew insights from the experience of the Swiss, one of the few countries where he found political freedom taken to the highest level.
He wrote, and I quote: "Switzerland has flourished because the divisions upon which her political issues have been fought have not been primarily those of mere caste or social class .. And America will flourish . because in the long run, in this country, any party which strives to found itself upon sectional or class jealousy and hostility must go down before the good sense of the people."
Ladies and gentlemen, Switzerland and the United States have flourished, and we will continue to flourish, because we do not let jealousy and hostility divide us. The good sense of the people defeats them at every turn.
And from the good sense of the people comes good and abiding friendships between the Americans and the Swiss.
Thank you so you much for your friendship, and may God bless our two wonderful countries.