Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Ivester, our gracious and generous hosts this evening.
Executives of The Coca-Cola Company, especially. Earl Leonard who is a member of our Special Olympics International Board of Directors, and all the Group Presidents
Members of CIES Organization
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Welcome to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.
I welcome you on behalf of all members of the Kennedy Family. Senator Kennedy wanted to come but he was prevented from doing so by last-minute business in the United States Senate. But, fortunately, I can welcome you on behalf of my wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
Experienced, married couples in this audience will not be surprised, I believe, to hear me say that Eunice is the greatest of all the Kennedy’s!
And lest you think that I exaggerate her importance, please let me remind you that she is the one who originated the Special Olympics Movement that sports and training program with 1,200,000 athletes now operating in 145 countries, with 1,000,000 Volunteers, coaches, and family members working, free-of-charge, everywhere! Eunice manages that huge program at a cost of $120 per athlete per annum! That $120 covers the day-by-day costs of all the training, the local Games, the costs of travel and equipment, etc. No sports program exceeds that return on every dollar invested in its activities.
Now you know why she’s had me working as a full-time volunteer for 11 years with no pay at all.
I also count myself among the lucky men and women who had the honor to work with President Kennedy! I’ve got many anecdotes and stories from those days. But the most unique qualities Kennedy brought to his Presidency were his extraordinary vision and his courage. Let us never forget that it was Kennedy who, speaking in 1963 before thousands in Berlin and millions by TV all over Europe, declared, “Ich bin ein Berliner”.
I was stunned by those words. I had fought for five and a half years in that World War II. Kennedy himself had been wounded and nearly died in that War. So those words, “Ich bin ein Berliner” became a call not only for a new Europe with a new outlook, but for a new World, devoid of all the old fears and hatreds. That goal has not yet been fully achieved, but Boris Yeltsin just last week signed a new accord bringing Russia for the first time into close alliance with N.A.T.O. Stalin, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev would never have joined in alliance with N.A.T.O.
Miracles do happen, even in politics.
But they are also taking place in human relations.
Today there are 170 million people on earth with mental retardation. Thirty years ago there was no plan or Movement to help all of them. They were ostracized and considered hopeless. Now Special Olympics reaches 1,200,000 of them, daily. Experts tell us Special Olympics will have three million athletes in Special Olympics by the year 2001, two million Volunteers, coaches, and family members, 155 or 160 countries, not just the 145 we have today. Most importantly, this Movement is not only a sports Movement. It has energized Medical Schools, Law Schools, and Divinity Schools to find out what those 170,000,000 persons with Mental Retardation can do, not what they cannot do. The results are astonishing.
Also: We have been astonished to see huge worldwide corporations like your own Coca-Cola, like Kodak, like Otis Elevator, like ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), like Procter & Gamble now supporting Special Olympics with contributions in the millions of dollars worldwide. Yes. But also they are hiring persons with Mental Retardation to work in their companies. The contributions these corporations have made demonstrate that in the 21st Century all human beings on all continents can learn to work together, eat together, play together, live together, peacefully, and profitably.
Coca-Cola has helped pioneer the new and emerging relationship between business and not-for-profit enterprises. Coke has shown that by helping whole communities, one helps business, too. Tonight, we celebrate 20 years of great retail promotions which have benefited Special Olympics and Coca-Cola together and we hope for more in the future. Tonight we celebrate the commitments of retailer and bottler volunteers who have benefited Special Olympics and Coca-Cola, and we hope for more in the future. Tonight we celebrate the great marketing association between the world’s greatest consumer brand, Coke, and the world’s best sports organization, Special Olympics, and we hope for more. Indeed, we celebrate almost 30 years of partnership which has benefitted all of us in this room, and will only be outdone by what we can do in the 30 years ahead.
So, I leave you with two messages tonight: Message of challenge and thanks.
The challenge is to match the success of the promotional campaigns that have been so successful in the U.S. with equally good promotions in places like Brazil, China, England, Japan, South Africa and Germany. We have raised 10 million dollars every year in the U.S. from corporations so why can’t we raise double that amount outside the U.S. while at the same time building Coca-Cola’s economic strength and market share? I hope that many of you in this room will join us doing just that.
And perhaps more importantly, my message tonight is one of thanks.
Thank you, Doug Ivester. You and your colleagues have made a world of difference. In fact, you have changed the world for the humblest citizens in ways that have touched us all.
President Kennedy surely could not have envisioned us tonight when he spoke in Berlin, but maybe he hoped that one day, with the world free from historic divisions, people would focus their energies to unleash and recognize the dignity of every citizen of the world. In our own way, I think we have begun to do just that. I hope that we will continue to do so for years to come. In fact, dare I say,
“Always Special Olympics, Always Coca-Cola!”
Always, all of us for a better and safer and more prosperous world!
