At a celebration to mark Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday in 2008, President Clinton reflected on the three lessons we can all take from Mandela’s life. The text of his speech is below, courtesy of the Clinton Foundation.
Thank you very much, Prime Minister, Madiba, Graca, ladies and gentlemen. First let me say, I speak tonight on behalf of all three members of our small family. Hillary, Chelsea, and I, each in different ways, have been blessed to know Nelson Mandela, to be moved by him, to be touched by him. On this, his 90th birthday, we should be grateful for three gifts, and we should respond in kind.
You heard in the introduction that I once had the honor of being a student in this country, at Oxford, almost 40 years ago. I knew then three South Africans: two white, one black. One was a committed supporter of apartheid; he had a very big brain trapped inside a very narrow mind. One, also a white man, hated apartheid, but he could never go home and live according to his convictions. And tragically, the black student could not go home, because he was getting an education and therefore might be a danger to the system.
