Vice President Sang Joo Kim, thank you and ICAS for this honor and this wonderful evening. It has been joyful to see so many old friends and meet new friends among this distinguished crowd. Sang Joo Kim, Becky Dunlap, and Sunny Park thank you for your gracious remarks. Given Admiral Harris’ remarks, I’d like us all to please join in a cheer: Go Army! Beat Navy!

Sang Joo Kim, distinguished guests, members of the Institute for Corean-American Studies, honored guests: thank you for this wonderful recognition.

It is a privilege to join the distinguished list of individuals, like Becky and Sunny, you have honored with the Liberty Award. I am deeply grateful.

To the members of ICAS, every-one a volunteer, my appreciation. ICAS is a unique institution — a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting cooperation, peace, security, and prosperity among people and nations, especially in the context of U.S. and Asia-Pacific relations. It is sustained by volunteers working pro bono, motivated not by profit but by service. The opportunity to contribute in even the smallest way to your mission is humbling.

I accept this award knowing that any success I have had reflects the dedication of many others. I am the grandson of Italian immigrants who came to this country believing in opportunity. They arrived with little more than faith in the possibility that hard work could transform a life.

This faith for a better life originated in a group of determined men who in 1776 wrote down an idea that every person – not just the privileged or powerful – has certain inalienable rights.

My grandparents were poor, but proud Americans. Everyone in their house spoke English - except when my grandma and grandpa were arguing.

My father, the son of those immigrants, was educated and served as an Army non-commissioned officer for 32 years, including service in World War II. His example, and those of his 3 brothers, all WWII Veterans as well, taught me that liberty is precious — and that it comes with obligations. He and my mother, the county health nurse, encouraged me to serve others, not be served.

Because of them and a few special teachers and a coach, I earned the extraordinary privilege of attending the United States Military Academy at West Point and leading America’s sons and daughters in peace and in conflict.

Those men and women probably shaped me far more than I ever shaped them. Their courage, professionalism, and devotion to one another represent the very best of the American spirit. Some of them are here tonight – thank you. I share this honor with them — and with every teammate and mentor who has made my service possible.

I also want to share this honor with a new family I’ve joined since retirement from the military, nearly six years ago now, The Cohen Group. TCG is a phenomenal team that provides strategic advice to business globally; a company who lives the values of our Republic, and who challenges me to be all I can be – even at my advanced age! Bob Tyrer, CEO and several TCG colleagues are here tonight. Thank you.

ICAS has long understood a crucial truth: Liberty does not preserve itself.
It must be strengthened by those who believe in it.

Our founders, drawing on the great ideas of the Enlightenment, declared that all people are endowed with certain unalienable rights — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These were not privileges for the few, but universal rights for the many. Our Constitution later made clear that our work was only beginning — committing us to form a more perfect union.

Not a perfect union.
A more perfect one.
A nation always striving to match its reality to its ideals.

Thanks to that commitment — carried forward by generations — the grandson of immigrants and the son of a World War II veteran could be educated at West Point and trusted with leading soldiers in the defense of freedom. Only in a nation committed to liberty could such a journey be possible.

On a recent visit to China as I was walking through the Beijing Airport to depart and my shadow, the intelligence officer who had been with me all week, asked me a question: Sir, your father was a non-commissioned officer, right? Who did you know that made it possible to become a general?

Only in a nation committed to liberty could my story be possible.

But the task is far from complete. America faces profound challenges, at home and abroad. Here at home, our political divisions can make it easy to forget that before we are members of any party or identity group, we are citizens of a shared republic. Abroad, we confront adversaries who hope to undermine confidence in democracy — to sow doubt about freedom’s durability.

For example, I saw a podcast earlier today of the many hybrid actions that Russia is undertaking in our country and our western allies to undermine our democracies. They are active and increasingly aggressive in their actions.

In such times, we must hold fast to our north star: the belief that every human being possesses dignity, that democracy must be nurtured and can be self-correcting, and that alliances grounded in shared values are essential to peace.

Also, we must honor the Declaration not by placing it on a pedestal, but by continuing its work:

• Ensuring that every person can live with dignity
• Guarding liberty against both external and internal threats
• Expanding the pursuit of happiness so that opportunity is never limited by race, gender, origin, or circumstance

As I accept this Liberty Award, I do so not as a mark of what has been finished — but as a reminder of what remains to be done.

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is more than a historical phrase.
It is a living promise — a beacon guiding us forward still.
The founders gave us a vision; it is our duty to carry it on.

So let us step boldly into that responsibility.
Let us widen the circle further still.
And let us ensure that future generations can say:

We know the promise of 1776; we made a more perfect union.

Thank you again for this humbling honor.

May God bless you.
And may God bless the United States of America.