Senator Howard Baker

"The United States and Its Global Role"
(program information)

A presentation by

Hon. Howard H. Baker, Jr.
Former U.S. Senator, Presidential
Advisor, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan

June 9, 2005
World Trade Center of New Orleans

It's a real pleasure to be back in New Orleans-and I'm honored to be a guest of your remarkable organization.

With more than half a century of experience, this institution is the senior partner among world trade centers. You've served as a model and mentor for more than 300 such centers around the globe.

Your leadership continues to contribute to New Orleans' role as one of the world's largest and busiest international port cities-and to Louisiana's rank among America's top-ten export states.

You can take pride in that heritage-as well as in your active agenda for an even more prosperous future. I've been interested in what Donna Fraiche has told me about the full range of initiatives and programs conducted by members of this World Trade Center.

And Donna, all of us associated with the law firm are proud of your service as a past president of the Center-and of your continuing involvement in its activities. In fact, reviewing the list of WTC leaders brings to mind a number of people I've been privileged to know.

I was in school at Tulane about the time of the founding of this Center's predecessor organization. So I'd like to be able to tell you that I was working alongside Hale Boggs-when he was the first executive secretary of what was then the International House.

And-I'd like to say that I was there when Lindy Boggs originated that wonderful motto that's been adopted by your Center and World Trade Center Associations around the globe. "Dedicated to World Peace, Trade and Understanding" is as succinct and appropriate as any mission statement I've ever heard.

I'd like to tell you all those things about my college days in this city. But the truth is-the closest I got to international affairs back then was gaining a working knowledge of the French Quarter.

Later on, of course, I was proud to serve with Hale and then with Lindy in Washington. I've also enjoyed getting to know their daughter, Cokie Roberts. She and my daughter Cissy are friends and have in common their careers in broadcast journalism.

After leaving New Orleans, I served in the Navy at the very end of World War II. When I returned home, I enrolled in law school at the University of Tennessee-just in time to witness some of the collegiate accomplishments of a future president of the WTC.

Hank Lauricella has had a distinguished career here as a business leader and Louisiana state senator. But in Knoxville-and at the NCAA's Hall of Fame-he's also remembered fondly for playing a little football at UT.

Another past president of WTC New Orleans is continuing to have an important impact as America's Chief of Protocol. Ambassador Donald Ensenat does a tremendous job in carrying out the many diplomatic responsibilities that make a positive difference in our relationships with other nations.

Speaking of those relationships, I'd like to recognize a member of this distinguished audience-Japanese Counsel General Masaru Sakato. My wife Nancy and I had a tremendous experience in Japan, and I hope those years contributed to an even better understanding between our nations.

Consul General Sakato, I'm honored by your presence here today. And I want to express our gratitude for the hospitality and friendship shown to us by the people of Japan.

For the next few minutes, I want to share some personal perspectives on the United States and its global role in a changing world. And it occurred to me that at least one Tennessean has dealt with that issue in New Orleans before.

When General Andrew Jackson was here in 1814, I doubt that he framed things in just those terms. All he did was lead his outnumbered troops to victory in the final battle of what's been called "The Second American Revolution."

That exclamation point at the end of the War of 1812 served notice that the United States was here to stay-that we'd be around to play an expanding role in the world. For generations, celebration of the "Eighth of January" was a national holiday rivaling the Fourth of July.

I'm sure that this audience, especially, is aware of the irony in that history. The Battle of New Orleans took place weeks after the treaty had been signed in Europe to end the war. Word simply hadn't reached this continent in time.

What a contrast to today's world-a global community built on access to instantaneous communication and nearly instantaneous transportation. Even the contrast between the present day and my time here in the 1940s is nothing short of astounding.

Any child with a mouse and an Internet connection has more information available at his or her fingertips than the greatest scholars of my youth could research in half a lifetime from the world's great libraries.

Average citizens can now afford to travel farther in a day than their parents traveled in a lifetime. They can visit in comfort the most exotic corners of the Earth, unavailable not long ago even to the most privileged and adventurous explorer.

Thanks in large measure to you and your counterparts, Americans and our trade partners enjoy a previously unimagined array of choices in food and clothing-in household goods and personal transportation-and in entertainment and culture.

So many of these choices not only are available-they're available at prices that are affordable by average families.

As mutually beneficial trade ties grow-the accompanying increases in opportunities and standards of living give rise to a kind of ultimate multiplier effect. What is being multiplied is nothing less than opportunities for individual freedom and a more peaceful world.

That's what President Bush recognized in saying that, "The case for trade is not just monetary, but moral. Economic freedom creates habits of liberty. And habits of liberty create expectations of democracy."

Those expectations are being realized in many ways. The number of participants in the global economy has increased dramatically in the past ten years-from about one billion people to more than six billion.

Newly empowered, educated, and ambitious knowledge workers are applying advanced technologies to "show up for work" around the globe.

Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist and author, covers many of those changes in his recent book, "The World Is Flat." With that play on words, he shows that the "level playing field" so long talked about has arrived seemingly overnight. And it's arrived along with new resources-and new competitors.

Yet even with the challenges of this highly competitive world, there are reasons for reassurance that go back to shared stakes in the future-the same virtues inherent in more conventional commerce.

Mr. Friedman presents that concept as the "Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention." He points out the complexity and interdependence of global supply chains-in this case for computers. For countries linked in those supply chains, he says, conflicts that threaten mutual interests are a lot less likely.

As we've seen to our sorrow, new technologies also can be applied by those who are driven by hatred rather than rationality. The entrepreneurs of terror have established their own supply chains-and they, too, are highly motivated.

Yet it seems to me that our best hopes for the world arise from the relationships built on that foundation so familiar to members of your organization-trade and understanding.

In fulfilling its global role for the 21st century, America must be the world's leading innovator, most reliable partner, and chief advocate for expanding liberty and opportunity.

What you're doing through the World Trade Center of New Orleans is nothing less than building the infrastructure of the global economy. Opening markets means opening doors for people everywhere to have better lives.

And as you've learned, the increasing prosperity and real security we seek aren't based on traditional economic issues alone.

Our success depends on being able to project our full range of national strengths-and to encourage partnerships based on the genuinely shared interests of people with the newfound freedom to pursue their dreams.

Email this page to a friend

Click here to sign up to receive the Louisiana International Trade Bulletin
and other WTC announcements by e-mail.