"The Influence of American Diversity and Values Through the Rule of Law" A Lecture by The Hon. Alberto Gonzales, 80th United States Attorney General of the United States

(Washington D.C., June 23th, 2014)

Biography

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Judge Gonzales graduated from Texas public schools and then enlisted in the United States Air Force.  After serving his country he accepted an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy.  Judge Gonzales attended the Academy for two years before transferring to and graduating from Rice University and Harvard Law School.

Judge Gonzales worked as a business lawyer for 13 years at the Houston law firm of Vinson & Elkins.  In 1995 he resigned his law partnership to serve as General Counsel to the Governor of Texas.  After three years the Governor appointed him Texas Secretary of State where he served as Senior Advisor to the Governor, Chief Elections Officer and the Governor’s lead liaison on Mexico and border issues.  In 1999 the Governor appointed him as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Texas.

 After winning a statewide election in 2000 to remain on the Texas Supreme Court, Judge Gonzales resigned from the bench to accept a commission as Counsel to the President of the United States.  He served as White House Counsel for four years prior to his confirmation as Attorney General at the age of 49.

Judge Gonzales was with the President when he returned to Washington on September 11, 2001 as he began to formulate the nation’s response to the terrorist attacks against the United States.  As Attorney General, Judge Gonzales maintained the Department’s focus on its key objectives, including preventing acts of terrorism and reducing the threats of gangs, drugs, and violent crime.

Among his many professional associations, Judge Gonzales is a member of the American Law Institute, former board director of the State Bar of Texas, and former president of the Houston Hispanic Bar Association.  The State Bar of Texas awarded a Presidential Citation to Judge Gonzales for his work in addressing the legal needs of the indigent; and the National Hispanic Bar Association honored him as the Latino Lawyer of the Year.  Early in his professional career, the Texas Young Lawyers Association selected Judge Gonzales as the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas.

Judge Gonzales has also been active in a wide range of community organizations, including serving as a board director of the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Houston.  He presided as president of Leadership Houston and of the Houston Hispanic Forum.  Presently he serves on the board of directors of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville.

The Association of Rice Alumni has honored Judge Gonzales as a Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University.  He also received the Harvard Law School Association Award from the Harvard Law School Association.  Among his numerous other service awards, he was selected as one of Five Outstanding Young Texans by the Texas Junior Chamber of Commerce. 

His work in the Hispanic community and his achievements as a role model have earned him recognition as Hispanic American of the Year by HISPANIC Magazine and one of The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America by TIME Magazine. 

Judge Gonzales is presently the Dean and Doyle Rogers Distinguished Professor of Law at Belmont University.

“The Influence of American Diversity and Values Through the Rule of Law”

A Lecture by The Hon. Alberto Gonzales, 80th United States Attorney General of the United States

 

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I have mixed emotions whenever I return to Washington D.C. where I spent seven years in the service of the American people, during a truly historic period in our nation’s history. There are fond memories of state dinners, weekends at Camp David, and advising a President about a Supreme Court appointment. But there were hard days too of tough decisions and media scrutiny. While my successors in the White House Counsel’s Office and at the Justice Department are undoubtedly today advising policy makers on such matters as the deteriorating situation in Iraq, the fate of the captured militant allegedly responsible for the attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, and lost emails at the IRS, I have the pleasure of spending a stress free afternoon with you my friends at this International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy.

This is not to say that cultural diplomacy – commonly understood as the exchange of ideas, information and other aspects of culture to foster mutual understanding – is not important.  To the contrary, it is precisely for these complicated times in this very dangerous world that cultural diplomacy is a most effective complement to the other levers of power that modern nations employ.

When I worked in the White House, I often asked first time visitors what made the greatest impression.  Many said the Oval Office of course.  Some replied the Rose Garden or Cabinet Room.  However, most confessed they enjoyed most watching Marine One land or take off from the South Lawn.  You’ve seen it many times on television, but electronic images cannot capture the power and sound that can be heard from every corner of the 18 acre White House compound, nor can you fully appreciate the grandeur and the symbolism of the President’s helicopter unless you are standing there, feeling the gale force winds on your face.               

At most Marine One movements, there are a group of visitors invited to watch as the President either arrives or departs; and ordinarily there is a bank of news cameras to capture moments of history.  On the evening of September 11, 2001, the scene was quite different.  As a result of the deaths of thousands that morning, there were no crowds of well-wishers to greet President Bush as he arrived home.  I stood waiting on the Oval Office porch with Karen Hughes, the President’s Communications Director, as Marine One landed on the South Lawn, its perimeter manned by Secret Service agents in black uniforms carrying machine guns.  Both Karen and I knew President Bush well from our days working with him when he was Governor of Texas.  He nodded but said nothing as he approached us.  I remember searching his eyes as we met, looking for any retreat or hesitancy.  There was none, just anger and resolve.

Adjacent to the Oval Office is a small study and a private dining room.  We followed the President back to his dining room and there, joined by National Security Advisor Condi Rice, Chief of Staff Andy Card and Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, we shared our experiences from that day and we discussed with the President what he should say that night in a televised address to reassure the nation.

This was an extraordinary moment in the history of our country, and extraordinary in my own life, because I grew up in a time when there were few Hispanic role models.  No one who looked like me had ever advised the President as his Counsel.  In days gone by no one who looked like me would have been waiting outside the Oval Office to advise the President about the important legal issues that arose that day. Likewise, in days gone by no African-American would have been working in the Oval Office as President or serving at the Justice Department as Attorney General.

The point, ladies and gentleman is that America truly is a melting pot, a nation of immigrants, a collection of people of different skin colors, religious beliefs, languages and cultures.  Few American cities are a better example than Washington D.C. Assimilation and tolerance has been difficult at times, but we have made progress, and in doing so I believe we as a nation have learned the importance of making an effort to understand the differences in other people, most of us have learned not to fear but embrace those differences.

This afternoon I will focus on American diversity, American rule of law, American values – not because they may be best or preferable - but simply because of the power of American influence. Much of what we do is studied and copied around the world.

If you are a lawyer your probably know that this year legal bar associations all across America celebrate the  1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, an acknowledgment – really a confirmation – that race, for all of its good and bad, is very much part of the American story. 

I remind my students at Belmont University that while the Declaration of Independence professes that all men are created equal, the reality was far different for blacks and other minorities during the early history of this country.  It wasn’t so long ago that segregation was the accepted practice in the American South, interracial marriage was prohibited, and separate but equal was the law of the land.

Minorities were not allowed to vote or hold office, but laws such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act leveled the playing field for people like me.  In 2000, I was on the ballot for a statewide office in Texas. Do these laws make a difference?  They did for me.  The rule of law opened the doors of opportunity.

Today, we are a stronger country because of our diversity. Yet not all is perfect here, in various ways we are still a people divided over race.  I don’t know whether the prejudices that feed the fear, distrust and hatred of others who are different can in time be overcome for everyone through education, communication and understanding.  Perhaps so, but until that day arrives, we continue to need the Civil Rights Act; we continue to need the rule of law.

Our laws alone cannot change people’s hearts but through their vigorous enforcement by lawyers in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, our laws can encourage change in people’s behavior. 

I have spoken the phrase “rule of law” several times as if you surely must know what it means.  Most people are surprised when I explain there is no one universally accepted meaning of the term, yet there is virtually universal agreement of its importance, and of the moral obligation to follow it.  For purposes of our discussion today I will rely on the definition adopted by the United Nations:

…the rule of law refers to a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency.

Respect for the law, the rule of law, is necessary for the effective protection of human rights and property, and to sustained economic investment, progress and development.  However, there are sometimes vast differences from country to country with respect to one’s legal obligations and rights, precisely because laws reflect values. And because our values often differ from the prevailing values of the people of other countries, our laws often differ from their laws. This is a distinction often forgotten by those making accusations that a State or an individual has violated the law. For example, both the application of the death penalty to certain crimes, and the private ownership of firearms are consistent with American values because they are protected by our constitution. I am not saying there is universal support for both among Americans, I am just suggesting that the death penalty and right to bear arms are recognized by our courts even though neither is a privilege viewed as consistent with the rule of law in many countries.

A more recent example relates to the ongoing debate over sending U.S. military advisors into Iraq. The U.S. is reluctant to place Americans in Iraq without a status of forces agreement, an agreement that sets forth the understanding between two countries in the event an American soldier is accused of committing a crime in another country. The United States customarily insists that in the event a soldier is accused of committing a crime in another country, that soldier will be subjected to U.S. justice in U.S. courts. We do not seek to have our own soldiers escape responsibility or punishment for criminal acts, we merely want them subjected to U.S. notions of due process under our laws that reflect our values.

To be sure, our values change over time, depending on circumstances or events here and abroad. What would have been unthinkable behavior by the American government in 1940, became acceptable after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. What would have been unthinkable behavior by the American government in 2000, became not only acceptable, but expected, after the September 11th attacks.

These examples show that whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, we place greater weight on certain values than on others depending on the times and circumstances. I suspect that immediately following any future attack of the size and scope of September 11th, a majority of the American people would be comfortable with our government aggressively protecting us and our national interests, even at the price of some liberties and loss of privacy.

Today, with the images of the September 11th attacks just a dim shadow in our rear view mirror, Americans are less accommodating to government intrusion of their privacy, and much more willing to question the collection activities of the NSA, the CIA and the FBI.

There has been much criticism in certain quarters of the extraordinary steps taken the Bush Administration, with support of Congress, to protect our country from subsequent attacks by Al Qaeda. I will leave for another time a discussion about the Bush record. For today I want you to know we understood from the beginning that the United States could not successfully eliminate this terrorist threat – in spite of our vast economic and military power – without winning the war of ideas and the hearts and minds of the world community. Doing so required us to expand our cultural diplomacy, to open up lines of communications, to truly listen and learn about other cultures and religions, to try to understand how we are perceived around the world and why America is distrusted.

Sometimes our cultural diplomacy was as simple as me hosting the Chinese Minister for Security at a Washington Nationals baseball game, an introduction to the nation’s past time. Sometimes the exchanges occurred without fanfare or conscious efforts such as in the routine day to day contacts between the local population and Department of Justice personnel stationed in 80 countries around the world.

On many occasions the exchanges were more targeted. We sent teams of lawyers and policy makers to a number of countries to (i) help draft a new constitution, (ii) help reform their judicial or correctional systems and (iii) help institute a system of laws or a legal framework to reduce corruption and provide a means of redress for those who were injured. While our efforts at cultural diplomacy may have been inconsistent at times, it was a part of our strategy, and cultural diplomacy continues today under the current Administration.

In my dealings with foreign government officials I tried to be mindful of the sovereignty of other nations, and when I found myself initially disagreeing with the policies of another nation I tried to remind myself that the United States has not always been right with respect to policy. As the world’s leading superpower, I believe the United States has an obligation to lead, but we must lead when we can by example and persuasion, not by intimidation or force.

I also believe it preferable to lead by consensus, as one of many nations. However, no sovereign nation can be expected to forfeit its authority to act in its own self interest and in the interests of its people. While such instances many be rare, there may be times when a power such as the United States must act along – accepting the consequences of being judged by the international community.

Of course; the official cultural exchanges by our government are far exceeded in number and effectiveness by the private exchanges between American citizens, non government groups and private companies interacting with their respective counterparts around the world. We are the exporter in chief when it comes to cultural diplomacy. As you undoubtedly know organizations as diverse as the American Bar Association and the Heritage Foundation have established rule of law programs to facilitate the exchange of ideas and help foster mutual understanding.  Organizations such as the American Council of Young Political Leaders seek to bring together emerging leaders and send them overseas so that they might better understand developing issues in other countries.  I myself was a member of delegations sent to China and to Mexico in the 1990s.  In fact, new House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and I spent two weeks in China when we were both just beginning our government career. Countless other programs facilitate knowledge and exposure to new ideas and culture, all fostering a better understanding between people of different countries.

Fortunately technology and relative ease of travel has made exchanges of music, culture, ideas and values far easier. Regrettably, however, that same technology is used sometimes to spread hate, untruths and unsupported accusations. To be candid, sometimes governments themsevles are the source of such misinformation. We must be vigilant in the pursuit of truth and courageous to speak out and confront those who seek not to build relationships, but to tear down the bonds of friendship.

From my chair as Attorney General I viewed cultural diplomacy as an indispensable element of American diplomacy and a necessary tool in our arsenal to combat threats. Some might refer to cultural diplomacy as our secret weapon, but that would be an unfortunate description. Like some of you, I have had the privilege of working with citizens around the world, and I have had the pleasure to walk the Great Wall of China, stand at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, take a stroll down Red Square in Moscow and explore one of the interior chambers of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. After experiencing such wonders and beauty one cannot help but be inspired to try to understand the people and culture of these countries.

That desire to know and understand others is the first step towards respect. I have always found it easier to work with someone –easier to reach an accommodation with someone - I respect.

In conclusion, I believe it fair to say that in the last three -quarters of a century people around the world have looked to America in times of crises or turmoil.  In 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke of American heroism before a Joint Session of Congress.  President Sarkozy said this:

“The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents tell about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strengths, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars. 

The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it. 

Fathers took their sons to the beaches where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.”

President Sarkozy went on to add:

“I want to express the deep, sincere gratitude of the French people.  I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American Army did in France, I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one’s family.”

President Sarkozy spoke with obvious gratitude and pride about American sacrifice.  He has not forgotten we are America, and neither should those of us here who are American.

Yes, we have challenges, and yes, the stalemates in Washington over immigration, same sex marriage and gun rights are frustrating.  But, when I look at my sons and the opportunities they have, opportunities that my father dared not imagine, I am reminded that America remains a great country with substantial influence.

I am the son of a Mexican carpenter and cotton picker.  My father did not go to school beyond the second grade, and yet I served as the Attorney General of the United States.  We live in a country where merit and achievement still count for something - where dreams still do come true.  For this and many other reasons America is worth fighting for; she is work dying for.

I love my country, I love what she stands for, and the opportunities she has given me. No, we are not perfect, far from it. Yes sometimes we meddle. Sometimes we make mistakes by assuming we know best, but at least in most of instances we are motivated by good intentions. I hope my comments are not taken by my friends from overseas as arrogance or vanity. They are not intended to be; rather they are a reflection of my pride in my home country, in the American culture. It is the feeling that I would hope everyone has for their own country.

For many of us, we share the same wishes, dreams and hopes for a better life, for economic opportunity, personal freedom and safety. Working together we can achieve these goals. Let us move forward united by common purposes, ideas and values.  Symposiums like this one are an excellent way to continue the effort.

Thank you