REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR MEL SEMBLER

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS

January 15, 2003

Thank you for that kind introduction.

I would like to thank President Bienen for inviting me back to Northwestern to speak. We had the good fortune to see the Bienens on one of their "stay in contact with the Alums" trips to Florida prior to our leaving for Rome. President Bienen is so good at outreach and doing what university presidents have to do. Northwestern has a special place in my wife Betty’s and my hearts. And I would like to thank my fellow classmates of the 1952 and 1953 graduating classes who honor us by being here in the audience tonight.

Last year marked the 50^th anniversary of my graduation from Northwestern and I’ve noticed a few changes around here. When I arrived here as a freshman in 1948, there were Quonset huts on Deering Meadow to house the students returning from World War Two. I lived in one of those Quonset huts my first year. Kresge Hall had not yet been built. And where you see the landfill park now, there was Lake Michigan.

50 years. You’ll forgive me if I’m a bit nostalgic. Not far from here outside Harris Hall is the famous Rock, where I met the woman who changed my life. I’m sure you all know Betty, my wife of 50 years. Class of ’53. She was Betty Schlesinger then.

Allow me one more nostalgic moment … at the end of my Junior year in 1951, I took part in the University’s centennial celebrations headed by then-President Roscoe Miller. One reason I remember it so well is that I had just been elected senior class president (Class of ’52), which meant I was fortunate enough to sit next to our visiting distinguished Northwestern alum, the famous ventriloquist, Edgar Bergen. He didn’t bring Charlie McCarthy with him that afternoon. Probably most of you wouldn’t remember Edgar, but you might remember his daughter, Candace. And I remember so well the parade of alums from the Class of ’01 marching up Sheridan Road that afternoon. That’s 19-01 Grads for you youngsters. It is such a vivid picture in my memory bank.

I have many reasons to often feel fortunate, but I feel particularly fortunate to be a Northwestern grad. And that’s not just because I met Betty here, although that would be reason enough. It’s because this is an extraordinary place of learning, in the broadest sense of that word. No other university of this size offers as many academic and professional opportunities, or excels in so many different fields of endeavor.

Northwestern produces graduates with diverse backgrounds and many talents. For alums, we have Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, and we have Ann Margaret, an outstanding performer who excelled in another kind of chemistry. We claim a major political leader from Missouri, the former Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Richard Gephardt. And before you tonight, you have a United States Ambassador who performed in three Waa-Mu Shows. In fact, I wanted to start my remarks tonight by singing a Waa-Mu production number featured in the 1951 Waa-Mu Centennial show. It seemed appropriate to me, but my staff, who know the meaning of the word diplomatic, thought it might not be Ambassadorial.

("I’d give the world to start all over, back in the old routine;

I’d live my life in fields of clover, back in the old routine.

Oh, give me the jazz, the razz-ma-tazz, and we’ll tread on Heaven’s scene,

Back in the old routine.")

Well, obviously I don’t always take my staff’s recommendations. (Once a Waa-Mu ham, always a Waa-Mu ham!)

So while I’m very proud to stand here as an Ambassador of the United States of America, representing my country overseas, I’m also proud to call myself a Northwestern grad. It’s good to be home.

I hope all you students here tonight, after leaving this beautiful campus, will continue to see this place as home, and will continue to support your alma mater, as Betty and I have done.

Let me tell you a bit about my past since leaving Evanston 50 years ago. Although my degree was in Speech, I have been first and foremost a businessman. For over forty years, I build, own, and operate shopping centers, mostly in the southeast United States, and have developed over two hundred of them.

About twenty-five years ago, I became more active in a political sense. When Betty and I saw what a social and personal scourge illegal drugs was becoming in America, we decided to do something about that. That’s why we founded and directed for many years a treatment program that rehabilitated over 12,000 young drug abusers. Through these activities, Betty and I became friends with the Bush family, going back to 1979 and ’80, when Ambassador George H.W. Bush first ran for President. And so I became more and more active in politics, mostly in fund raising for the Republican Party and its candidates, both in Florida and nationally.

I first entered diplomatic life as Ambassador to Australia and Nauru from 1989 to 1993 under Bush the father. After returning, I served eight years as Florida National Committeeman, an elected position to my national party, and as national finance chairman of the Republican Party from 1997-2000. Now I’m honored to be serving my country once again as America’s Ambassador to the Republic of Italy.

In preparing for this talk tonight, I thought I might first discuss what it means to be an Ambassador. Simply put, our Ambassador is the President’s personal representative to a country. That’s a daunting responsibility, especially when you’re George W. Bush’s personal representative to a country that is as important a friend and ally as Italy.

Nevertheless, I believe that being a Chief Executive of a company along with many other life experiences and much good common sense can be excellent preparation for becoming the chief of a mission as large as Rome. That’s because, like a CEO, an ambassador manages people, and he manages issues.

After my confirmation by the Senate, President Bush gave me a letter with official instructions, as he does for all ambassadors. In this letter, among other things, the President gave me a mandate, giving me "full responsibility for the direction, coordination, and supervision of all United States Government employees in the Italian Republic, except for (military) personnel under the command of a U.S. military commander."

In the Republic of Italy, we have over 750 people working in our embassy, three consulates, and three consular agencies. And these 750 employees come from over 30 executive branch agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Internal Revenue Service, Customs, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and of course, the Department of Defense. A lot of Americans are surprised to learn that while the Department of State is the lead foreign affairs agency, its employees can actually be a minority in many of our overseas missions.

Just as important as managing people, an Ambassador must manage the issues that are on America’s foreign policy agenda. I’ll just touch upon a few of them, and I hope we can discuss more during the question and answer period.

Our top priority is the safety and welfare of Americans living or traveling in Italy. There are a lot of them, as you can imagine: every year, some 6-7 million American tourists visit Italy, and over 180,000 American citizens live there. Our consular employees help American citizens in distress, and also maintain an information network with these citizens to advise them of developments important to their welfare and safety.

Most important, we try to create more jobs in America by opening up trade opportunities for American businesses in Italy. One of my top goals as Ambassador is to correct an imbalance in the trade between our two countries. Last year, Italy exported $25 billion dollars worth of goods to the United States, while it only imported $10 billion from the United States. We’ve got to change that, not by limiting the number of Italian products Americans buy, but by increasing the number of American products Italians buy. And so we’re working hard with the Italian government and business groups to improve the environment for American businesses and their products and services.

As you can imagine, security cooperation also plays an important role in our bilateral relationship, and has done so particularly since our countries became founding members of NATO in 1949. The United States and Italy went into the Balkans together, and we are working together now with other NATO allies to bring peace and stability there, with Italy playing a leadership role.

We are trying to bring the same determination and cooperation to other problems we face together: the Arab-Israeli conflict, the expansion of NATO, and the newest and most dangerous threat to Western values and freedoms – the rise of international terrorism.

They say that in the times of crisis you find out who your real friends are. Almost immediately after the events of September 11, 2001, the Embassy lawn in Rome was covered in flowers left by caring Italians; our telephone switchboard was lit up with calls from strangers offering condolences; and the office of our then-Charge d’Affaires was full of representatives from the highest levels of Italian government offering support and sympathy.

President Ciampi and Prime Minister Berlusconi, along with others, stepped forward immediately and resoundingly to condemn the attack and stand in full solidarity with the United States. Every bit as meaningful, a vote in favor of their approach drew overwhelming support from across the political spectrum.

The Italian government backed up their words with actions. Their contribution in the war against terrorism has been absolutely outstanding. Very soon after September 11, Italy sent troops, aircraft, and its only aircraft carrier, the Garibaldi, to support the war against terrorism. And in a few weeks, a thousand additional troops from Italy’s crack mountain division, the Alpini, will depart for Afghanistan to take part in military operations alongside the U.S. and other allies, again as part of the War Against Terrorism.

Italy has also actively participated in the international effort to bring peace and stability to post-Taliban Afghanistan, in particular leading the international effort to reform Afghanistan’s judicial system. In addition, Italy has contributed over $47 million in aid for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

While Italy has been an important leader in the international coalition in a visible sense, providing troops and materiel, it has also played a less visible, but equally important role, by cooperating with our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. These agencies have shared information and coordinated efforts to disband the terrorist cells that threaten us all. The Italian Parliament worked quickly and unanimously to strengthen laws to fight terrorism and block financial support to terrorists. The Italian magistracy and security forces took those laws and used them to take the terrorists, and their money, out of action.

Anyone who knows Italy and the Italians will not be surprised that we have been shoulder-to-shoulder in this war. One reason can be found in the bonds between our two countries. These bonds are deep, cross many generations, and run through many families.

But another reason is Prime Minister Berlusconi himself. I’ll never forget that he stood with me in the Nettuno American Cemetery last Memorial Day, to commemorate the sacrifices of World War Two, and the over 7,000 young Americans who are buried there. He had ample reason to decline my invitation: he had 19 Prime Ministers and Presidents arriving for a NATO Summit the next day, including President Bush. But I think he had his priorities straight. It was clear to me then, as it should be clear to all now, that he understands that we all must stand together against the forces that would deprive us of our freedom.

In closing, I’d like to return to that day over fifty years ago, right here on the Northwestern campus. As I sat there in Patton Gym, I thought about my future, and what I would need to do to achieve success in life. I’m sure many of you students, especially the seniors, have similar thoughts now, thinking about what life has in store for you after Northwestern.

Very soon after graduation, I read something called "The Price of Success," written by Joseph French Johnson. I’ve carried this piece of paper in my briefcase all these years. I’ve read it often. I’ve tried to practice it. I’ve shared it with my sons and many young people facing the decisions you have in front of you. I’d like to share it with you ... perhaps it might be useful.

The Price of Success

by Joseph French Johnson

Hamilton Institute

I often wonder what it is that brings one man success in life, and what it is that brings mediocrity or failure to his brother. The difference can’t be in mental capacity; there is not the difference in our mentalities indicated by the difference in performance. In short, I have reached the conclusion that some men succeed because they cheerfully pay the price of success, and others, though they may claim ambition and a desire to succeed, are unwilling to pay that price.

And the price is …

 To use all your courage to force yourself to concentrate on the problem in hand, to think of it deeply and constantly, to study it from all angles, and to plan.

To have a high and sustained determination to put over what you plan to accomplish, not if circumstances be favorable to its accomplishment, but in spite of all adverse circumstances which may arise – and nothing worthwhile has ever been accomplished without some obstacles having been overcome.

To refuse to believe that there are circumstances sufficiently strong to defeat you in the accomplishment of your purpose.

Hard? I should say so. That’s why so many men never attempt to acquire success, answer the siren call of the rut and remain on the beaten paths that are for beaten men. Nothing worthwhile has ever been achieved without constant endeavor, some pain and constant application of the lash of ambition. That’s the price of success as I see it. And I believe every man should ask himself: Am I willing to endure the pain of this struggle for the comforts and the reward and glory that go with achievement? Or shall I accept the uneasy and inadequate contentment that comes with mediocrity? Am I willing to pay the price of success?

[End text.]

Well, it is time now for Betty and me to join that passing parade of N.U. grads out there on Sheridan Road that I talked about seeing in 1951 … and it won’t be long before you undergrads will be joining that parade as well, but hopefully after each of you have paid that "Price of Success."

Thank you for joining us tonight.