The remarks of Don Beyer at the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce

September 22, 2009

I was born in a log cabin in Kentucky.

Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me to be part of your program this afternoon.  I am honored and flattered by your attention.  I feel at home here, surrounded by folks who have long been responsible for making payroll, making a profit, and keeping your companies healthy and growing.

Your CEO, Martin Naville, has done an excellent job of telling me about your most significant issues.  Martin is also the master of the key statistics of trade and investment between Switzerland and the United States, which are both surprising and impressive.

The US is the largest foreign investor in der Schweiz, and is also the largest single destination of Swiss foreign investment. US investment in Switzerland equals our investment in Russia, India, China, and Brazil – combined!  America is the second largest export market for Swiss goods, while we export more to Switzerland than we do to Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Austria, combined! Swiss investment is responsible for half a million total jobs in the US, and the US for 120,000 jobs here.

But you know all this already.  I get the sense that my small purpose here today is not to reiterate statistics, however remarkable, but to try to tell you a little about how I came to be here, what I hope to accomplish, and how we can work together for the benefit of Switzerland and the United States of America.  Let me first introduce our Deputy Chief of Mission, the woman who was Charge at the US Embassy from December to August, Ms. Leigh Carter.

Some of you may be curious to know how I came to be der neue Amerikanische Botschafter here.

I was born into a family that both valued and practiced public service.  My grandfather chaired the National Mediation Board for President Franklin Roosevelt.  My grandmother spent 50 years in the federal government, for more than 20 as the acting head of the Bureau of Labor Standards, and another 15 as the US Representative to the ILO conferences in Geneva.  My father is a West Point graduate, and career Army officer.  And I was raised in Washington, DC, the oldest of six, with a terminal case of what is called “Potomac Fever” – a fascination and addiction to politics.

After graduating with a degree in economics from Williams College, I decided to head to Georgetown Medical School.  But one week before the first anatomy lab, I got cold feet, and asked my father if I could work at his new Volvo store until I figured out my life.  35 years later, in August, I finally departed the family business, to come here to Bern.

I have loved the car business.  It is immediate, it is real, it is full of conflict, it has given me direct contact with our customers on an hourly basis, it has steeled me to all the vicissitudes of human resources management – and, it is always fun to count your own money.  Over these years, I led the growth from one franchise to eight, from $3 million to over $170 million in revenue this year, to over 40,000 new and used cars sold, and to a solid reputation as America’s favorite Volvo dealer.  I am proud of our business, and so fortunate to have been part of one of the last bastions of family business in America.  My brother and sister have been partners for years.  My daughter runs the Internet side of the store.  Three nephews manage individual stores.  And many of the remaining workers think they are part of the Beyer family – and they are.

The retail car business gave me the platform and the time to pursue my real passion: public service.  Starting in 1982, I have been part of a national or Virginia campaign every single year.  Campaign manager, finance chairman, treasurer, and even candidate, I have found political action to be my most effective way of changing the world in which we live.  In 1989, I ran for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, in a hopeless campaign against the well-loved widow of a popular governor.  To the surprise of all, I won.  Four years later, I was the only statewide Democrat in the country to win on election night, as the Newt Gingrich steamroller was getting up to speed.  I chaired Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in Virginia in 1992 and 1996 – and then lost the governor’s race in 1997.

Lieutenant Governor is typically a tabula rasa position – excellent statewide visibility, and few responsibilities other than being President of the Senate.  This was perfect for me, and I used my eight years to fill that blank slate with initiatives on welfare reform, on economic recovery from the 1990-1991 recession, on the sexual assault of children, on people with physical and sensory disabilities, on high-speed rail, and on a number of other priorities.   I broke the 20-to-20 ties in the Virginia Senate, and in eight years I cast more tie-breaking votes than all previous lieutenant governors combined – and always on the winning side.

I have spent much of the last eight years working for presidential candidates:  for Howard Dean and John Kerry, for Mark Warner and for a charismatic Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama.  From the snowy Iowa caucuses to the Denver convention to Grant Park, Chicago, on Election Night, my wife and I were in the middle of the fight for an Obama victory.

I was eager to serve in the Obama Administration, with the simple goal of serving in the most responsible position the President would allow me to take.  We were thrilled when the White House called last February to ask if I would come to Switzerland.

I am discovering that in at least one way, being ambassador is like being a governor or lieutenant governor:  we can use the power and visibility of the office to do much, in a variety of directions.

I worked side-by-side with my father for years.  He is a mix of Mark Twain and Freidrich Nietzsche, the master of the aphorism.  He was always telling me that your first loss is your best loss.    That all life asks of us is that we live it with courage.  That true maturity is maintaining your idealism after you have lost your innocence.  That life is just the same damned thing over and over again.  And that if you cannot make money off your friends and relatives, who can you make money from? 

But the most important wisdom he has given me is simply:  whatever we pay attention to in life grows and changes.

I believe I have three missions here in Switzerland, and, of course, in the Principality of Liechtenstein.  The first is to continue and to expand our traditional diplomacy.   We are sister republics.  There is a prodigious amount of relationship building every day between our two nations, in commerce, in people, and in diplomacy.  From struggling over how to bring justice to Americans who broke US laws using Swiss banks, to liberating Americans held in Iran, to negotiating the normalization of diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey, to wide areas of cooperation on international terrorism, organized crime, illegal drug seizures, trafficking in persons, and so much more -- Switzerland and the United States are excellent and productive partners in making the world more secure and humane.

Occasionally, our views on issues will diverge – but these differences are more about strategy and tactics than about the objectives themselves.  I will pursue these complementary agendas with attention and energy, always aware that much of our success will be driven by the quality of relationships we build with our peers in the Swiss government.  Mutual trust and respect, openness and good communication, these are the bases of making good things happen together.

Second, I am committed to vigorous public diplomacy.  Inevitably, at a distance of more than 4,000 miles, we can misunderstand each other.  President Obama has made it clear that America cannot just lecture and preach – that we must be good listeners, too.  We must tell the story about where America is going.  And as the second most competitive country on the planet, we have many good stories to tell.

Our new President is transforming the way America works, internally and externally.  He recognizes that we cannot thrive unless we get our economy moving again.  And this means getting our own fiscal house in order, helping American families out of debt, and providing stability to financial institutions and markets.

He is determined to see that the wealthiest nation on earth is able to make health insurance available to every one of its citizens.

President Obama is changing the way we deal with countries around the world, aware that the transnational problems we face, from pandemics to nuclear weapons proliferation to climate change, cannot be solved by one nation alone.

The President is engaged on the issues we have become too accustomed to ignoring.  With the help of our partners around the world, he has committed to closing Guantanamo.  He has raised CAFE standards for our cars and trucks, and made huge new investments in alternative energy sources.  He will even appoint a US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, after years of attending in observer status.

President Obama represents the most transformational change in America since Ronald Reagan, and before him, Lyndon Johnson.  This is a story that needs to be told.  I need to tell it, all the while listening and learning as much as I can about the current thinking and best ideas of the Swiss people and their government.

My third priority is to invest as much attention as possible in expanding the already robust trade and investment between these two global economic powers.  We have a very good thing going.  The Swiss commitment to innovation, to keen financial management, and to relentlessly polite but tough business negotiation is legendary.  At home, American optimism, the openness of our markets and our society, and the hardest working labor force in the world suggests that we will not readily yield our century-long economic leadership.

I began with the fact that I was born into a family culture of public service.  My business has thrived for 36 years because of our deep commitment to customer service.  And I am here, as the United States ambassador, to serve. 

Please let me know how I can help you, in ways that serve the public interest.  Growing jobs, expanding trade, and keeping your Swiss and American companies healthy usually meet this criterion.

I fell in love with Switzerland when I was nine years old, and watched a movie about the first ascent of the Matterhorn.  Hiking the entire Appalachian Trail and climbing the Matterhorn are the two longest enduring items on my Lifetime List of Goals.  When the White House called to ask me to come to Switzerland, I asked if the President had a copy of my lifetime dreams.  I mean, how did he know?   I may not make it to the top – I am strong enough, but I wonder if my minimal fear of heights may turn monstrous a few thousand feet above the glacier.  No matter – just being here with you, having the opportunity to represent my country to the excellent people of Switzerland, is like being on top of the world. 

Thank you, and I look forward to working with you in the years ahead.