Remarks by President George W. Bush at the Topping Out Ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center

Thank you all for coming.

[Applause]

They said I had to pick an architect to design this building. One of the key things, if you have to make a decision, is to recognize what you don’t know. I don’t even—well, that’s not true.

So I asked Laura to head the design committee, which was a very wise decision. She spent a lot of time interviewing different architects and landscape designers and picked two of the best in the country. And so we’re proud to be associated with you, Bob, and we thank you for this magnificent design.

The first time I’d actually been in the building was yesterday, and it’s awe-inspiring. I mean, it exceeds expectations. It is going to be a fabulous addition to the SMU campus and to Dallas, and I am incredibly excited about the facility itself. Welcome, and thank you for coming.

I also am proud to be here on the stage with the president of a budding football power. I mean, when we picked SMU, I knew it had high academic standards. And for you students who are here, we’re thrilled you’re here with us. You really go to a fine university — a really good one.

I remember asking Condi Rice — she’s involved with the Institute — and I said, “Are you going to be active?” She said, “I need to go speak to Paul Ludden, who’s the provost of the university, before I commit.” She came back and said, “You’re not going to believe how good SMU is.” I mean, it’s really moving.

So I knew we were getting associated with a fine university. I just wasn’t sure it was going to be such a fine football power. So, Gerald, thank you for your hospitality. We’re really excited to be a part of SMU. This is going to be a symbiotic relationship — big word here — on the campus.

Of course, Adriana [Martinez], I want to thank you very much for being here. She’s a student trustee. Thank you for representing the students. I have spent time on campus. I intend to spend more time on campus. I’ll never forget going into a classroom — I walked in, there’s a guy with his hat on backwards. It was an early-morning class. He kind of looks at me and says, “Man, you look like George Bush.”

I hear that quite frequently, but I always feel younger when I walk into a classroom. It is really exciting to be able to interface with the SMU student body, and I’m looking forward to doing more of it.

I’m thrilled with Mark Langdale and his team. Mark’s done a fabulous job. For all those of you who work for the Bush Foundation and the Bush Institute, thank you. Thank you for your contributions.

I also want to say something about Manhattan Construction. I had some experience with them before — after all, they built the Ballpark at Arlington, and it’s still standing. I am impressed by the job you’re doing — on time, slightly under budget. But I’m more impressed with the workers. I mean, imagine what it’s like to be building this building during the hottest summer on record. And so I am looking forward to breaking some bread with you to personally thank you for all you’ve done to make this building as good as it can possibly be.]

I’m thrilled about the building. I’m thrilled about the museum. I think it’s going to be interesting for people to walk through and kind of recollect on what it was like during the eight years of my presidency. The archives are going to be interesting, particularly if you’re a historian. After all, it’s going to be 25,000 boxes of materials — 190 million emails, or something along those effects. I wisely had no emails.

But I’m also really excited about the Institute. The challenge after you’ve been president is to make sure you’re still constructive — that you add something to society. And so I thought long and hard about how I wanted to do that.

I decided that politics was interesting — it was a fascinating 14 years. I’m out. I’m looking forward to watching the races. I’m looking forward to kind of giving my opinions privately to people who want to know. But I’m also interested in staying involved with public policy that will be consequential, that will be effective.

So we picked four areas in which to focus.

One is education. The truth of the matter is America needs to educate our children as best as we possibly can. And so we’ve concluded we can help by better training principals and equipping principals with the tools they need to be effective leaders in the classroom. Along those lines, we’ve attracted some of the best education scholars in the country, led by Jim Guthrie. And it’s important for people who supported us to know that at some point in time, we’ll be able to look back and say that as a result of your contributions, X number of principals are better equipped to do their job in the classroom.

Secondly, we’re going to promote economic growth at the Bush Center. To this end, we’ll have a book published by Crown Publishing this next spring on how to grow the economy at four percent. The book is authored by four Nobel Prize-winning economists.

Thirdly, we believe that it’s important for America to continue to lead in saving people’s lives. PEPFAR, which is an initiative during my presidency, has now saved seven million lives. I mean, the American people ought to be incredibly proud of the fact that seven million people now live as a result of our generosity.

And we want to continue to lead in compassion. We want to make sure our country doesn’t retreat and continues to help save lives where possible. And therefore, we’ve started the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon campaign, along with the State Department and UNAIDS and the Komen Foundation. We’re going to take existing AIDS platforms in the developing world and use those platforms as ways to save women from dying from cervical cancer.

And I’m confident that I’ll be able to report to those who’ve supported the Institute and the Bush Center that as a result of your generosity, thousands of women now live who might not have.

And finally, Laura and I believe that freedom is the only way to peace. We believe in the universality of freedom. Deep in everybody’s soul is the desire to live in a free society. And we want to help people realize the blessings of freedom.

To this end, we’re going to build something unique here — a freedom archive. It’s a place for dissidents, reformers, underground preachers to store their writings, their sermons, their diaries, so they’ll be forever memorialized in the greatest free country ever.

It will be a way to inspire people who are on the front lines of the freedom movement. It will be a way to remind our fellow citizens that we should never take freedom for granted. And when people desire to be free, it’s incumbent upon those of us who live in a free country to help them do so.

We believe that women will lead the freedom movement in the Middle East. And to this end, we’re going to do everything we can to empower women so they can help develop civil societies and these young democracies in the Middle East. We believe 50 years from now, the Bush Institute will have an impact on world peace as a result of spreading freedom.

And finally, one of the things I’m concerned about is that our veterans don’t think that Laura and I love them — but we do. And to this end, the Bush Center is sponsoring some unique events to remind our country how blessed we are to have people who are willing to sacrifice in the cause of freedom.

One of these will take place a week from today, called the Warrior Open. As a result of the generosity of corporations the Bush Center has recruited, 20 veterans — all of whom have been severely physically wounded in combat — will be playing a two-day golf tournament at Los Colinas Country Club.

The purpose is to say to the veterans, “We care for you.” To say to the groups that sponsored them, “We honor you.” And to say to our fellow Americans who may think their life is miserable: here’s the life of somebody whose life actually was miserable and who, as a result of fortitude and courage and desire, has overcome that difficulty — and now can shoot scratch golf on one leg.

So this is what we’re doing. This is going to be an exciting place — a place of learning, a place of scholarship, but most importantly, a place of action. A results-oriented institute that will have an effect on our country, and we think on the world.

We’re honored to have your support. For those of you who’ve supported us, we can’t thank you enough. My only pledge to you is that this will occupy our time — in other words, this is where we’re going to pour our heart and soul — to make sure it’s a center of excellence, not only to benefit SMU, but to benefit Dallas, our country, and hopefully the world.

Thanks for coming.