Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 18, 1993 TAG: 9301180063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO NOTE: ABOVE
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE and GUY FRIDDELL LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Long
JEFFERSON INSPIRES A FOLLOWER
If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, President-elect Bill Clinton would find a place for him in government."I would appoint him secretary of state and then suggest to [Vice President-elect] Al Gore that the two of us resign so he could become president," Clinton said Sunday.
Clinton stopped for an hour Sunday morning at Monticello, Jefferson's home, on his way to Washington for his inauguration Wednesday as the nation's 42nd president.
In a richly symbolic journey, William Jefferson Clinton sought to trace the path the third president took 192 years ago on the way to his inauguration - starting at Monticello, pausing at Culpeper to pray, and then to the nation's capital.
Modern technology, of course, dictated a few changes. While Jefferson needed four days to make the 120-mile trek by horse-drawn carriage, it was a few hours' bus ride for Clinton. And unlike Jefferson, Clinton had a caravan of journalists along for every photo opportunity.
Though times have changed, Clinton said Jefferson's ideals of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" remain undiminished. And he pledged to remain true to Jefferson's legacy.
"We wanted to start here because . . . we wanted to say to people that government belongs to you, that we don't want to be out of touch with you, that we don't want to be far away from you," Clinton told a flag-waving crowd of 2,300 on Jefferson's back lawn.
"I want to be faithful to Mr. Jefferson's idea that about once in a generation, you have to shake things up, you've got to face your problems, you have to keep this country going."
Clinton said the idea of riding a bus to Washington and stopping to meet people along the way symbolizes "the kind of populism Jefferson was associated with."
Clinton, Gore and their wives flew to Charlottesville on Saturday night. They took a 20-minute tour of Jefferson's home - broadcast live on CNN and C-SPAN - before greeting well-wishers outside.
Outdoors, Clinton and Gore entertained questions from eight schoolchildren from Washington, Maryland and Virginia who won a newspaper essay contest in which they wrote letters to the president-elect.
Nicholas Wical, who looked no more than 10, fairly stammered at the chance to address the next president. "My question goes to you, Governor Clinton, or President-elect Clinton, or whatever," he began.
"Whatever," interjected Clinton, laughing.
Some of the youths had more weighty matters on their minds, however. Phillip Crooms of Washington had written Clinton about "how many families there are where children don't have enough to eat" and how the economic strain has caused the breakup of poor families.
"In some ways, your letter moved me more than any letter I received," Clinton told him. The president-elect pledged to create jobs and improve educational opportunities.
"We can't honor Mr. Jefferson's rules of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if people who are willing to play by the rules don't have a chance to do it," he said.
Clinton told the children that Jefferson would be appalled by certain conditions today.
"I think Mr. Jefferson would be astonished by the crime rate in America today," he said. "It's hard to be free if you can't walk outside your house and feel you're safe on the street. . . . He'd want to talk about whether there's new and different things we can do to improve the personal safety of America.
"I think he would be upset that we have not done more to provide a good education for all of our people," Clinton added. "In Jefferson's time, you could be free and successful without having a good education. Today, more and more people need a good education just to function in the modern world."
Clinton urged the children to consider careers in public service. He noted that Jefferson, in addition to being president, was vice president, governor, secretary of state, state legislator and justice of the peace.
"You don't have to be a president to make a contribution," he said. "Mr. Jefferson believed what is most important happens on the local level."
Children comprised about half of the crowd at the event. Some 750 tickets were raffled off at Charlottesville schools last week.
"This is history and we're a part of it," said Tia Hawkey, a senior at Albemarle High School. "Years from now, I'll be able to tell my children that I saw a president up close."
Other tickets went to local and national Clinton supporters and staff members at Monticello and the University of Virginia. About 300 tickets were raffled to Charlottesville residents.
Tight security demanded that most people attending the event be seated before 6:30 a.m. and wait two hours in the cold for Clinton and Gore.
Jefferson's legacy never seemed to stray from Clinton's mind.
"We owe it to Thomas Jefferson . . . to face the difficult problems of our time and try to solve them and that's what he'd be telling us if he were here today," he said. "He'd say, `I did my job, now you do yours.' "