Press Release - The International Freedom Center

June 10, 2004

Statement by Tom A. Bernstein: Freedom Center Speech

I want to thank Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg for entrusting us with this awesome responsibility. I particularly want to thank Chairman John Whitehead, Kevin Rampe and Anita Contini and their colleagues at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. To paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, the credit belongs to the person actually in the arena. And that person, with unparalleled dedication, has been John Whitehead.

I speak today on behalf of our Planning Committee, led by three colleagues, who are on stage today: co-founder Peter Kunhardt; Paula Grant Berry, a member of the LMDC Family Advisory Council; and Stephen Heintz, President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. I also speak on behalf of the Committee of distinguished Advisors and Scholars who have worked with us for the past two years to develop plans for the Freedom Center.

As one of our colleagues said when he joined our team: “I know this will be an incredible journey and we will build a great and worthy institution. But I feel a little like Lewis and Clark must have felt when they were still in St. Louis.”

This point cannot be overemphasized. Great institutions like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia are not born over night. Like freedom itself, they are the product of many years of intense labor, contentious debate and struggle. We have no illusions. Our journey will be no different.

But we can promise this. We will dedicate ourselves to building an institution grounded in passion, excellence and integrity. And if we do our job well, we will leave a powerful legacy to our children and future generations.

Like other great historic sites, the International Freedom Center will harness the power of history and use it as a springboard for contemporary dialogue, debate, and engagement. It will do this in partnership with leading arts, cultural, media and academic institutions here and abroad.

The International Freedom Center will serve as a hub for national and international exhibits. It will collaborate with freedom museums at historic sites around the country and the world, bringing their stories of struggle, heroism and conscience to New York City.

The Center will serve as a magnet for the world's great leaders, thinkers and activists to participate in lectures and symposiums that examine the foundations of free and open societies. The Center’s theaters will feature original productions as well as films from around the world. Daytime and evening programs will help revitalize the economy of Lower Manhattan.

Both at the site and on the Internet, the International Freedom Center will be an educational resource for the city, the country and the world. It will strive to educate and inspire visitors and promote greater civic engagement.

In the words of Fareed Zakaria, author and journalist and one of our distinguished advisors:

"Freedom is the most powerful idea in human history. It is the idea that human societies have been moving toward for hundreds of years that more than any other concept has shaped the world we live in. And what better place for a Center dedicated to an exploration of that idea than New York City-the most open city in the most open society in the world."

No person better personifies the meaning of freedom in today’s world than Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In the wake of the Soweto uprising in 1976, Archbishop Tutu became the General Secretary of the South African Council on Churches. Speaking out against the injustice of the apartheid system, he became the leader of the crusade for justice and racial conciliation in South Africa. In 1984, in recognition of his courageous work, he received the highest award the world can offer -- The Nobel Peace Prize.

A citizen of the world, New York City has no greater friend. We are truly honored to have him with us today. Ladies and gentleman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

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