{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/speeches/senator-jack-reeds-remarks-reagan-national-defense-forum", "Senator Jack Reed's Remarks: Reagan National Defense Forum", "2017-12-02", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Jack Reed", "R000122", "www.reed.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12/02/2017\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Thank you to the Reagan National Defense Forum for honoring me this evening with the Peace Through Strength Award.\u00a0 I have had the privilege of attending nearly every event since 2013, and have always found the discussions to be marked by thoughtfulness and insight, and not partisanship.\u00a0 Previous award recipients include two of the most dedicated Senators I\u2019ve had the privilege to work with on the Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin and the current Chairman, Senator John McCain.\u00a0 So I am humbled to be here tonight.\u00a0 Or, as Senator McCain would point out: how could someone without a college education receive such an award?\u00a0 \u00a0\r\nIt is also an immense honor to be alongside Secretary George Shultz, who played a monumental role in guiding U.S. foreign policy at the height of the Cold War.\u00a0 Starting as a United States Marine, later as the head of the Office of Management and Budget and Secretary of Treasury under the Nixon Administration, and then as President Reagan\u2019s Secretary of State for nearly 7 years, he has been an inspiration to all who seek to serve.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\r\nThe profound sense of duty, dignity, and decency that both President Reagan and Secretary Shultz brought to their service contributed to their success.\u00a0 They invested their offices with respect and, in turn, they received the respect and admiration of their countrymen and the world.\u00a0 Their example is more important today than at any time in our history.\u00a0\r\nThis year marks the 30th anniversary of President Reagan\u2019s famous speech in Berlin in which he challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall dividing East and West.\u00a0 What lessons can be drawn from that historic address in 1987?\u00a0\r\nFirst, President Reagan clearly understood the importance of principled U.S. leadership in the global competition between free societies and the forces of domination and destruction.\u00a0 In this struggle, the United States served as the guardian of a rules-based international order that kept the peace since the end of World War II.\r\nIn Berlin, President Reagan stressed that our values as a free society are a source of American strength.\u00a0 He was well aware that his audience was on both sides of the Wall, and he appealed to the universal desire for freedom.\u00a0 He said, \u201cWe believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nPresident Reagan also understood that the United States is stronger standing with our allies and partners.\u00a0 He remarked that by standing firm together, the Western nations had forced the Soviets back to the negotiating table after they had walked away years earlier.\u00a0 President Reagan spoke of a \u201ccommunity of freedom,\u201d and warned that the Soviet Union could either join or end up becoming obsolete.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nFinally, President Reagan understood the importance of balancing a strong defense with our commitment to promoting peace.\u00a0 In Berlin, President Reagan said \u201cwe must maintain defenses of unassailable strength.\u00a0 Yet we seek peace; so we must reduce arms on both sides.\u201d \u00a0This reflects the same wise advice given by Secretary Shultz to the Senate Armed Services Committee a few years ago, when he advised that we needed to be realistic and strong, and then \u201cdon\u2019t be afraid to engage with your adversaries, but do it on your [own] agenda and from your strengths.\u201d\u00a0\r\nPresident Reagan was not afraid to pursue diplomatic efforts to promote peace and lessen the nuclear threat.\u00a0 As a result of this vision, President Reagan cultivated a relationship with Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev across four summits in Geneva, Reykjavik, Washington and Moscow.\u00a0 The Reagan-Gorbachev diplomacy laid the groundwork for unprecedented arms control agreements.\u00a0\r\nThe wisdom of President Reagan\u2019s words are as compelling today as they were 30 years ago.\u00a0\r\nToday, we confront a security challenge in Europe that many hoped had disappeared forever with the fall of the Berlin Wall. \u00a0The Kremlin is seeking to re-write the end of the Cold War.\u00a0 Its seizure of Crimea is the first re-drawing of international boundaries in Europe by military force since the end of World War II. \u00a0A revanchist Russia is modernizing its military and using hybrid warfare, propaganda, and subterfuge to undermine Western institutions, divide the alliance, and coerce its neighbors.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nThe Kremlin has targeted democracy in the United States and across Europe.\u00a0 While recognizing that Russia cannot defeat the United States and its allies militarily, Putin has weaponized information, using cyber hacking, bots, trolls, and disinformation, to launch attacks against the key institutions of our free societies, including our elections.\u00a0 Today, unlike during President Reagan\u2019s day, American institutions have let down their guard against foreign, state-produced propaganda and fake-news.\u00a0 And we have not yet seen leadership emerge from this Administration to push back against these Russian malign influence activities.\u00a0\r\nRussia is just one of a number of actors seeking to fracture the existing international order and exploit these rifts for their own gains.\u00a0 North Korea threatens stability in the Pacific with its nuclear saber-rattling; China inhibits freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and coerces its neighbors economically; Iran has worked to destabilize the Middle East and supports the murderous Assad regime in Syria; and non-state actors like Al Qaeda and ISIS commit horrific violence in the name of a distorted ideology across the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere.\u00a0 \u00a0\r\nIn light of these unprecedented and complex challenges, how do we ensure the cause of peace going forward?\u00a0\r\nFirst, we need to remain resolute in support of our fundamental American values.\u00a0 No one was more resolute than Ronald Reagan.\u00a0 We must be equally firm in advocating the principles of respect for human dignity, democracy, and the freedom of sovereign nations to choose their own paths.\u00a0 We must reject foreign propaganda that asserts a moral equivalency between Western democracies and autocratic states.\u00a0 Our military men and women pledge to defend America and its values with their lives.\u00a0 We need to speak clearly in support of those values.\u00a0\r\nSecond, ensuring the cause of peace requires that our military remain strong, as President Reagan so often reminded us.\u00a0 A credible, capable military is necessary to convince our adversaries that they are better off choosing peaceful engagement over confrontation.\u00a0 However, this will not be achieved on the cheap and should not be put on a credit card.\u00a0 The mindless budget cuts of the last several years under the Budget Control Act and sequestration have harmed our military readiness, prevented needed investments, and delayed needed adjustments to our force structure.\u00a0 The results have been costly and, in some cases, tragic.\u00a0 We must recognize our duty to fully support our military personnel, both during their service and for the decades after they return to civilian life.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nThird, we must stand with our allies and partners in opposing foreign efforts to undermine the international order.\u00a0 We must assure the world that we will uphold our alliance pledges, including under Article 5 of the NATO treaty and our commitments to Japan and South Korea.\u00a0\r\nFourth, ensuring peace requires that our military strength is matched by diplomatic capabilities, a lesson both President Reagan and Secretary Shultz demonstrated in words and deeds.\u00a0 Unfortunately, within the past year, we\u2019ve seen the decimation of the leadership ranks at the Department of State, and this must stop.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0If we are going to ask our men and women in uniform to take military action, and our allies to stand with us in conflict, we must first be able to assure them that we have exhausted every diplomatic avenue for peace.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nFinally, we are stronger as a nation when we come together in a bipartisan way to tackle our major foreign policy and national security challenges.\u00a0 Despite the ever-growing partisanship, we must continue to work to restore civility and respect to our public discourse.\u00a0 Under Senator McCain\u2019s leadership, Congress last month passed for the 56th year in a row the National Defense Authorization Act. \u00a0This unparalleled record of success reflects a longstanding bipartisan commitment to support our military and offers an example for Congress to work together on other issues.\u00a0\r\nThe American public needs to recognize that our national security and the integrity of our democracy depend on building our resilience against those who seek to exploit our differences to weaken our nation.\u00a0 This is not a Republican or Democratic issue; it is an issue of national security. \u00a0Ultimately, our strength lies in our ability to engage with each other respectfully and honestly and work for the common good.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nAlthough President Reagan and I could never be mistaken for one another\u2014I, for one, am a man of normal height, and he was unusually tall\u2014we are both Irish.\u00a0 And, I believe President Reagan would share my appreciation for the words of another Irishman, the renowned poet Seamus Heaney, who wrote:\u00a0\r\nHistory says, don't hope   On this side of the grave.   But then, once in a lifetime   The longed-for tidal wave   Of justice can rise up,   And hope and history rhyme.\r\nThree decades ago, hope and history rhymed.\u00a0 If we remain true to our principles and ideals, hope and history will rhyme once again in our lifetimes.\u00a0\u00a0\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/speeches/senator-jack-reeds-remarks-reagan-national-defense-forum"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4046570286154747, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}