US Presidency
1992

And even now, months after the failed coup that doomed a failed system, I am not sure we've absorbed the full impact, the full import of what happened. But communism died this year. Even as President, with the most fascinating possible vantage point, there were times when I was so busy managing progress and helping to lead change that I didn't always show the joy that was in my heart. But the biggest thing that has happened in the world in my life, in our lives, is this: By the grace of God, America won the Cold War. I mean to speak this evening of the changes that can take place in our country, now that we can stop making the sacrifices we had to make when we had an avowed enemy that was a superpower. Now we can look homeward even more and move to set right what needs to be set right. I will speak of those things. But let me tell you something I've been thinking these past few months. It's a kind of rollcall of honor.