Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by the Fulbright Commission
Berlin, Freie Universität, November 25, 2008
Chargé d’affaires John M. Koenig
Dr. Hoffmann,
Dr. de Vivanco,
Dr. Simon,
Dr. Neizert,
Frau Nordus,
American grantees,
Fulbright Alumni and special guests and friends of the Fulbright Commission,
Dr. Neizert, thank you for welcoming the Fulbright community to the historic halls of Harnack House for this German-American Thanksgiving celebration,
For the Fulbright alumni here this evening, I hope that this event is a pleasant reminder of time spent in the United States. For the Americans here, I hope that you will also look back at this Fulbright family celebration of Thanksgiving and your stay here in Germany with equal fondness. I would like to commend the staff of the Fulbright Commission and all its partner organizations and institutions, as well as the members of the Fulbright Alumni for their commitment to building and maintaining one of the most valuable assets of our bilateral relationship. On the initiative of Ambassador Timken, at the Embassy and the Consulates, we have just completed documenting the levels of connectivity between our two countries. Certainly, the extensive network of personal and professional connections between the United States and Germany is an important part of that story. Connecting that network is a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving, America’s family holiday and its oldest tradition.
Thanksgiving is also an event that is steeped in history, in particular presidential history – a topic that is on all of our minds during this period of transition in the American government.
In 1789, President George Washington, George Washington’s first presidential proclamation named Thursday, November 26, 1789 as an official holiday of "sincere and humble thanks." In 1863, in the midst of a bloody Civil War, President Lincoln resumed the tradition and issued a Presidential Proclamation, in which he reminded the American people of the blessings they enjoyed and called upon his countrymen to "set apart and observe the last Thursday of November, as a day of "Thanksgiving."
With two exceptions [1865 and 1869], in all other years until 1939, Thanksgiving was celebrated as Lincoln had designated, the last Thursday in November. In 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November to lengthen the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy still recovering from the Depression.
The president's 1939 proclamation only applied to the District of Columbia and federal employees. Governors in 23 of the 48 states followed his lead. Twenty-three states celebrated on November 30; and Texas and Colorado declared both Thursdays to be holidays. Football coaches scrambled to reschedule games set for November 30.
Families didn’t know when to have their holiday meals. Calendars were inaccurate in half of the country -- and people weren't sure when to start their Christmas shopping.
The confusion as a result of the change of date set off a national debate. It was reversed in 1941 by Congress. A joint house resolution established, by law, the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. This plan allowed Thanksgiving Day to fall on the last Thursday in five out of seven years. It also ensured that future presidential proclamations could not affect the scheduling of the holiday.
So as America inaugurates a new president and installs a new administration -- that is one thing that will not change for sure!
The 2008 election was, however, an historic milestone in the history of the United States – one of which all Americans can be proud. Succeeding in his campaign to become the first African-American president, President-elect Barack Obama shattered racial barriers. As President Bush said, the senator’s “journey represents a triumph of the American story… Many Americans, who witnessed the struggle for civil rights with their own eyes, thought they would never live to see that day.”
As Secretary of State Rice said, “one of the great things about America is that it continues to surprise; it continues to renew itself; it continues to beat all odds and expectations. Americans are not going to be satisfied until they really do form that perfect union. And while the perfect union may never be in sight, we just keeping working at it and trying.”
President-elect Obama did indeed inspire voters with a vision of change. Many analysts saw his election as less of a vote against something than for something new.
Apart from Thanksgiving, another thing that will not change is the importance of a strong German-American partnership, a partnership founded on a dream of freedom and democracy. As President-elect Barack Obama said last summer in Berlin, “When the German people tore down the Berlin wall that divided East and West, walls came tumbling down around the world and the doors of democracy were opened… While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.”
Many of the international challenges that we have faced — and indeed, many of the approaches that have been developed in response — will endure into the Obama presidency.
In the past 20 years, the transatlantic partnership has become richer, more diverse and more productive than at any time in the past. The most important consequence of this strong partnership has been freedom, prosperity and peace for millions of people in Europe – and the potential and the momentum to bring these advantages to people around the world.
Around the world, increased cross-border trade and investment have been the engines of transformation of the world economy in the post-war period and have lifted millions from poverty.
In the 21st century, globalization is allowing billions of people in countries like China and India, Brazil and Indonesia to join the global economy and translate their growing wealth into national power. We must not permit the current financial crisis to obscure the tremendous benefits of our economic and commercial cooperation and interdependence. Nor can we ignore the risks posed by failing and failed States, or the suffering of those less fortunate than ourselves.
In response to all these challenges, the Bush Administration pursued a foreign policy focused on building a world of democratic, well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, that reduce widespread poverty, and that conduct themselves responsibly in the international system. These broad aims will surely endure into the next, Obama administration.
These are ambitious defining goals. Achieving them will require a sustained commitment from the United States and our allies. Let me conclude with words from the President-elect:
“Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together.
A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more -- not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.”
That, too, is also what Thanksgiving is all about.
Thank you.
