FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

September 9, 2004
js-1898

The Honorable John W. Snow
Prepared Remarks: New York Historical Society
Event Honoring Alexander Hamilton

Thank you so much for inviting me to this special event. I am delighted to be part of this evening's opening of the New York Historical Society's exhibit honoring the first Treasury Secretary.

It's wonderful to see my old friend Mayor Bloomberg, and I also want to extend a greeting and warm wishes to the Hamilton family members who are here tonight.

I want to begin by thanking the Society – particularly the work of Jim Basker and Richard Brookhiser – for putting this landmark exhibit together. I am so pleased that Mr. Hamilton is finally receiving the attention and acclaim that he deserves. He was an individual so ahead of his times in so many ways. More than any of our founding fathers Hamilton saw what our country should – and would – become.

This exhibit, combined with the success of Ron Chernow's superb new book on Hamilton – and I'm so pleased to see Ron here this evening – is ushering in a renaissance of Hamilton, a new-found and long-overdue interest in this great founding father.

It is my hope that many people will come through the doors of this exhibit to enjoy the experience of learning about this man who truly lived life to its fullest capacity. A man who was essentially a private individual, but who was at his best when acting in a public role, when responding to the issues of his time.

It is fitting that Hamilton be remembered and honored here in New York – the city where he was educated, where he worked and developed the ideas that would shape the course of a great nation… and a place that became the commercial and financial capital of the world, thanks to the foundation of policies and institutions that Hamilton laid.

All who have served as Treasury Secretary stand in awe of Alexander Hamilton. We have all aspired to his standards and owe him a debt of gratitude.

We are grateful to the genius of Washington, who chose Hamilton to serve as the first Treasury Secretary. I don't think that any other member of Washington's cabinet had such a far-reaching impact upon the departments they headed.

When you think of the State Department, you do not think of Thomas Jefferson – as great and accomplished a man as he was. When you think of the Defense Department (then called the War Department), you do not think of Henry Knox.

But when you think of the Treasury… you do think of Hamilton. No other head of agency in our history has become so identified with, had such great impact on their department, as Alexander Hamilton.

That is why, when each morning I am greeted by the remarkable statue of Hamilton at the base of the building's south entrance, I truly draw daily inspiration. Each day, this stunning figure of a founding father reminds me – and has reminded all Treasury secretaries – of the critical role our agency plays in the life of the country.

Thomas Carlisle, the 18^th century literary figure, spoke of history as the essence of innumerable biographies. Others have talked about history in other terms. But even granting Carlisle's point, one would have to say that some biographies are far more compelling, far more important and far more interesting than others. Certainly that is true for Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton, the man you honor with this exhibit, is a fascinating study from many vantage points. His brilliance, his genius for finance and administration, his mercurial temperament, his extraordinary industry and command of every subject he took an interest in, the range of his intellect, his attachment to and influence on this city and his own personal story – all of this and more make him an extraordinary figure. So if history is a gallery of pictures, as Carlisle suggests, then we must recognize that there are only a few originals and many copies. Alexander Hamilton is an original.

Today the United States is viewed as a dominating force in world events, the most prosperous, most advanced, most powerful country the world knows. It is a nation whose commerce, business and financial institutions are the envy of the world. Hamilton, more than any of his great contemporaries, foresaw the large destiny that awaited the new Republic if it steered a good course. Hamilton was bound and determined to make sure that it did and he was at the zenith of his power in advocating those policies that he felt were best designed to put the new Republic on that course.

Hamilton saw our course and it came to fruition. He could not have seen, however, one of the roles his Treasury Department would eventually play: our modern responsibility of fighting the war on terror. Today the Treasury has the solemn responsibility of tracking the flow of terrorist finances, and of cutting off the flow of blood money wherever we find it. Because while hatred fuels the terrorist agenda, money makes it possible.

As we approach the third anniversary of September 11^th, and mark the 200^th anniversary of Hamilton's death, we are reminded that our citizens, our principles, our institutions and our foundation are unreservedly worth fighting for. We fight the war on terror to protect the people of this country, and we fight it to protect the legacy that belongs to Hamilton and our founding fathers.

With the help of Ron Chernow's brilliant book many now know the fabled story of Hamilton's life and the huge part he played in steering the Republic through its perilous early days. Time and again he took pen in hand to argue his case whether for a strong central government in the Federalist Papers or for the assumption of the debt, or the First Bank of United States.

He fought fervently for the ideas he believed in, and the struggle over those ideas defined the American political agenda of his time and to this very day.

He, of course, had worthy adversaries in those other great figures from the time, most notably Jefferson and Madison. Their debates, their arguments, their conceptualization of the role of the economy and the role of government set out the basic parameters of the longest running debate in American political history. And as is the case in most things, the genius lies in the synthesis, but that synthesis requires the anvil of well argued and well thought-out differences; that we certainly had and no voice played a larger role than that of Hamilton.

We know now that time and the course of history were on his side. The America that we have become, I think it is safe to say, was more due to his vision and his efforts and his voice than to any other. The American Revolution and building the new Republic gave Hamilton both his voice and life purpose.

As we acknowledge his greatness we also must recognize his all-too-human qualities: the rash judgments, the combativeness, the brash confidence and vanity, the extreme sensitivity. But through all the failings there shines forth the irreproachable integrity, the drive, the genius, the protean qualities on such a vast scale that were used so well to shape the formative years of the Republic and put it on the course to become the nation we know today.

In that sense he was not a man of a time, of a particular age, but of all time, as relevant today in the power and force of his basic views as he was more than two centuries ago.

If time were truly of no consequence (to the human body at least), and if I could have the privilege of dining with him tonight, I would thank Mr. Hamilton for building the foundation for what is the most open, flexible, adaptive and resilient economy in the world. I would encourage him to take pride in the fact that this phenomenal economy has recently rebounded from shocking blows – including unthinkable acts of terror… and behavior by corporate executives that perhaps would have inspired Hamilton to duel once again.

I would delight in sharing with him the reports of a strong GDP, steady job creation and record levels of homeownership. And I would assure him that the recovery and growth of this free market isn't done yet… that with the hard work of our nation's entrepreneurs and workforce, steadied by Hamilton's institutions, our country's best economic days still remain ahead of us.

Thank you all, again, for making me part of this event. It is an honor to pay tribute to Alexander Hamilton.

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