Speech delivered at the Lydia Patterson Institute
El Paso, Texas
October 23, 2003

Thank you for that very generous introduction.

I am delighted to be visiting El Paso and, especially, to be here at the Lydia Patterson Institute. I'd like to thank the Institute's President Socorro De Anda and all of the teachers and students who have taken the time to join us today. It's great to see friends from UT El Paso, El Paso Community College, and the community of El Paso.

En nombre del gobierno del presidente Bush, les doy la bienvenida y lesagradezco su presencia en este día.

That is, on behalf of the Bush administration… welcome and thank you for being here today.

I'd like to express special gratitude to Adair Margo.

Adair's energetic leadership as Chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities has been nothing short of remarkable. She is a tireless champion of ideas, letters, arts, and culture - and the power they have to change lives for the better.

On a more personal level, Adair has been a wonderful guide to the unique cultural and historical texture of this special part of the country.

One of the great pleasures of my job has been to meet people like Adair and learn from them about their hometowns. Thank you, Adair, for making this visit happen and for all your work on behalf of the President's Committee, the people of El Paso, and our nation.

Today, I'd like to talk to you about our work at the National Endowment for the Humanities, and how it is connected to El Paso's past, present, and future.

For nearly 40 years, the NEH has served as the United States' principal supporter and advocate for the humanities.

What are the humanities?

The humanities are the study of what makes us human: the legacy of our past; the ideas and principles that motivate us; and the eternal questions we ponder.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is charged with helping people learn more about these timeless ideas so that they can make them part of their own lives.

We help scholars research books. We help filmmakers produce documentaries. We help librarians preserve books and newspapers. We help teachers learn more about the subjects they teach.

And we work with organizations like the Texas Council for the Humanities to make sure every state and territory can benefit from the humanities. Here in Texas you are blessed with a particularly capable group of state humanities advocates… Maceo Dailey is the Chairman of the TCH and a professor here at UT El Paso. You also have a dynamic new Executive Director at the TCH's helm… Michael Gillette.

I am very proud of NEH's strong support of scholarship and public programs that explore the history and culture of this region. We are very interested in exploring the interwoven destinies of Mexico, the United States, and their borderlands.

Over the last 10 years, the NEH has disbursed more than 19 million dollars in grants for projects that examine this exchange of cultures, ideas, and people.

Let me give you just a few examples.

Next summer, the NEH will send teachers to the beautiful Baroque city of Oaxaca-a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

These elementary and middle school teachers will spend five weeks studying the history, culture, literature, and arts that constitute "The Magical Reality of Oaxaca."

They will return to share their experience with generations of students.

The NEH is also supporting the preservation microfilming of rare 19th-Century Mexican newspapers and helping to create a database from the census records of Guadalajara dating from 1791 to 1843. Such projects open up a rich new vein of data for future researchers to mine.

NEH has provided major funding to help the Pojoaque [pronouncd Poe-wah-kay] Pueblo establish its Tewa tribal heritage facility, the Poeh Center and Museum.

At the Museum of International Folk Art, a major NEH grant helped create the current exhibition entitled "Ceramica y Cultura: The Story of Spanish and Mexican Majolica."

And here in El Paso, the NEH has helped a number of important projects. We have supported El Paso Community College Professor George Torok's effort to research and prepare markers for local historic sites. We also provided a grant to bring scholars and planners together to help the founders of the Paso al Norte Immigration History Museum.

Though, as you can tell, NEH has a long-standing commitment to studying this area's culture and history, this visit has revealed new glimpses into this area's fascinating past, present, and promising future.

Borderlands are fertile places for new ideas to take root and grow. Throughout history, people have come together and formed new relationships at places where cultures meet and mix. This audience is a good example of that variety. We come from many places. We represent many different ways of living and looking at the world.

Yet despite differences of language or location, there are certain things that bind us together; the ideas and ideals that transcend time and place and cultures.

Ideals like…

Freedom - to pursue our dreams and dare to do great things.

Dignity-the dignity of all people -- as President Bush said, everyone deserves a chance and that no insignificant person was ever born.

We believe in the power of close families and caring communities - places like this Institute - that reach out when others need a hand.

And we believe that faith gives us answers in uncertain times, and a hope in the future.

The story of America begins at her borders. It began with the first Native Americans who crossed the Bering Strait and continued with the courageous explorers and settlers who left behind the confines of Europe.

Later millions more passed through Ellis Island or crossed the Pacific Ocean.

And, it is fitting that we recognize the importance of this place.

From the epic migration along El Camino Real to today's students at the Lydia Patterson Institute, people have traveled these streets and walked these roads in search of a new beginning, a greater hope.

You, who live here or cross the border from Juarez each morning, are part of a grand narrative spanning centuries. You are a vital, central, and important part of a magnificent tale.

That is because "America" is not just a place; it is an idea - an idea that beckons the world to its shores and borders.

We are not bound together by race, creed, blood or birth; we are united by ideas and ideals.

The rule of law, individual rights and responsibilities, freedom of speech and commerce, a government of the people … these ideas unite us and reach across cultures to offer hope for all people.

A short walk from here is another great democracy. Mexico's history and ideals are closely linked to the United States'. You can see that close relationship in border towns like El Paso.

This is a special place-a fertile crossroads of nations, ideas, and history.

I'd like to share with you the story of one man who has studied this land, its past, and its people.

One of the high points of my work at the National Endowment for the Humanities is helping to award one of the United States' highest honors: the National Humanities Medal.

Each year, the President of the United States chooses a handful of distinguished individuals for this great honor. It is a special recognition of those who have helped us learn about our history, culture, and heritage.

Last year, El Paso's own Jose Cisneros received the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush.

As the President and many other distinguished figures looked on, First Lady Laura Bush draped the medal around Mr. Cisneros' neck. With cameras flashing and applause swelling, we moved on to the White House for a reception in rooms where presidents have hosted the world's diplomats, kings, and other history-makers. Jose Cisneros' journey to that glittering reception with the First Family began across the border in Durango.

As the Mexican Revolution swept through in 1910, the Cisneros family lost everything. They wandered north, destitute, to Juarez.

At age 15, Jose found himself in El Paso.

The upheaval that kept young Jose out of school for all but four years didn't dampen his love of books. He poured over magazines and art. He spent a lot of time in the library.

Here in El Paso, he found his way to a school run by the United Methodist church. His classmates were, like him, ready to learn and achieve no matter what or who stood in their way.

It was here, at the Lydia Patterson Institute, Jose Cisneros learned English and fueled his creativity and curiosity. His love of history, of Mexico, of the American Southwest, was combined with his love of art and drawing.

Mr. Cisneros' drawings vividly capture many colorful characters and moments from this region's past.

If you want to see all of his work, you will need a lot of time, and you better get ready to travel: his art is on display at the White House; the Texas state capitol; the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe; and Spanish embassies. You will need to track down more than one hundred books.

In addition to President Bush, world leaders including the President of Mexico and the King of Spain have honored Mr. Cisneros as a great artist… a historian who makes the past come alive through lines and color and detail.

The work and life of Jose Cisneros is a testament to this special place and the people who have made history here. You are part of this great story.

Like the young Jose Cisneros, you can go on to achieve great things and travel far beyond here… perhaps even to the White House.

Jose Cisneros has said his work aims "to rescue the picturesque characters of our past because they belong to everybody… The past is the basis of our future."

He's right. A common thread of great civilizations is the cultivation of memory. Our stories are too important to be lost.

But far too many people, particularly students, have been deprived of that vital connection to the past. Too many have never had a chance to meet the picturesque characters of our past.

The high-achieving students of the Lydia Patterson Institute will probably be shocked to learn that more than half of U.S. twelfth graders are failing American history in national tests.

This is a sad, even dangerous trend.

The NEH's founding legislation declares that democracy demands wisdom. Free nations must have educated and thoughtful citizens who can fully and intelligently participate in our government of, by, and for the people. Knowledge of history is indispensable to freedom. Democracy is not self-sustaining. It must be learned and passed down generation to generation.

Thankfully, we have leaders who take this important lesson to heart.

Last fall in a Rose Garden speech, President Bush announced a new NEH initiative entitled We the People.

The goal of the initiative is to promote knowledge of American history and culture in all its dimensions. The President has requested 100 million dollars over three years to support the We the People initiative. We are grateful for his leadership.

If funded by Congress, this initiative will bring new resources and new knowledge to every corner of the nation.

At the NEH, our conception of American history is an all-encompassing one. We will need to tell the story of America's history in its entirety - the peaks and the valleys, the margins and the center. And, of course, the history of the United States cannot be understood in a vacuum - it must include its borders and its neighbors.

As Mr. Cisneros said, our past belongs to everybody. That also means that everybody is a part of history. We all have a role to play in history's unfolding pageant.

I hope that you will join me in our work to bring the wisdom of history and the humanities to all our young people.

All of you, the community members, the scholars, the teachers, and especially, you-the students-are an integral part of America's ongoing story.

By knowing your history … you can someday make history.

Just like Jose Cisneros.

And together, we can work towards fulfilling that great democratic imperative: to give each succeeding generation a brighter light, a broader perspective, and an enriched legacy with which to face the future.

Thank you.