Ambassador McCormick Welcomes Harriet Fulbright

(L to R) The Hon. Chris Carter; Ambassador Bill McCormick; Mrs. Harriet Fulbright; The Rt Hon. Helen Clark.

As prepared remarks of Ambassador Bill McCormick at a Beehive reception to welcome Mrs. Harriet Fulbright to New Zealand. Mrs. Fulbright is in New Zealand to mark the 60th anniversary of the Fulbright Program operating between the United States and New Zealand.

The Right Honourable Helen Clark; The Honourable Chris Carter, Mrs. Harriet Fulbright; Members of the NZ-US Fulbright Board of Directors; Ladies and Gentlemen:

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Mrs. Harriet Mayor Fulbright to New Zealand on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Fulbright program between the United States and New Zealand.

Mrs. Fulbright is President of the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center that serves to advance the work of her late husband, Senator J. William Fulbright, and to continue her own lifework.

The Fulbright Center promotes world peace and nonviolent means of resolving conflicts through international collaborations and education programs.

Senator Fulbright earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Arkansas in 1925 followed by an MA at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.  Returning to Arkansas to lecture in law, he served for two years as the president of the University of Arkansas. He was elected to Congress in 1942 and served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  The Fulbright Resolution adopted by the House supported international peace-keeping and encouraged U.S. participation in what became the United Nations.

Representative Fulbright was elected to the Senate and served from 1945 through 1974, becoming one of its most influential and best-known members. Senator Fulbright’s legislation establishing the Fulbright Program passed through the Senate without debate in 1946.

Its first participants went overseas in 1948 and since then there have been more than 250,000 grantees. Many of them have made significant contributions within their countries as well as advancing mutual understanding between the people of the world.  In 1993 President Clinton presented Senator Fulbright with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In New Zealand, the Fulbright Commission’s work in exchanging the best and brightest scholars between our two countries is a long standing example of cooperation that underlies the friendship.

Additional to my words of welcome to Mrs. Fulbright here tonight, I have been asked to introduce the Prime Minister, Helen Clark  - and I’m really pleased to do this because we have had a great year. New Zealand-American mutual understanding, cooperation and friendship have grown stronger.

In January I traveled with the Prime Minister, her husband Peter, along with Sir Edmund Hilary and other dignitaries, to Antarctica  - where we celebrated 50 years of United States and New Zealand scientific cooperation.

In March I participated in the Prime Minister’s successful visit to Washington, where our bilateral interests were cooperatively progressed.

The United States government is grateful for New Zealand’s leadership in resolving regional conflicts and for its peacekeeping commitments in the Asia Pacific region.

On America’s Memorial Day, the Prime Minister opened an exhibition in Old St Paul’s church that recalls the experience for New Zealander’s when US Marines were stationed here in World War II.

The Prime Minister’s respect for Kiwi veterans is exemplary, and I was honored that by opening the Marines exhibition she highlighted American veterans of World War II who fought for the peace of this region.

Throughout her career as an academic and politician she has promoted peace, mutual understanding and cooperation between nations (she could have come from the Fulbright Centre!). 

It is a great pleasure to welcome The Prime Minister, The Rt. Honourable Helen Clark.