Tommy Thompson Talks

May 17th, 2007 5:00 PM UTC
By Matthew Bartlett

Presidential Candidate Gov. Tommy Thompson made a few campaign stops in New Hampshire yesterday. As many ONE members know, Gov. Thompson was the Secretary of Health and Human Services and was the first heads of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

I caught up with Gov. Thompson in Concord, NH, to thank him for his work with PEPFAR and the Global Fund. I even asked him to sign a copy of a speech he gave in 2004. Below is an excerpt from the speech. His words continue to inspire me today:

“You don’t have to share a man’s faith to help save his life. You don’t have to speak a woman’s language to cure her illnesses. You don’t have to understand a town’s culture to bring it fresh water. But you do have to understand your place in the world and your responsibility to love your neighbors, whether they live down the street or across the ocean.

They say that good fences make good neighbors, and maybe they do. But what I’ve learned is that good medicine makes good neighbors, and it makes good foreign policy, too.” -Address of Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to the American Enterprise Institute Conference on the Global Pandemic: AIDS in Africa, China & Russia, Washington, D.C., February 5, 2004.

Later in the day, I went with a group of ONE members to catch up with Gov. Thompson at a local seafood restaurant in Seabrook, New Hampshire. While wearing the ONE band, Gov. Thompson spoke with ONE members about his time in the developing world and how as president he would continue to work on issues related to global health.

Our ONE Marine Michael Castaldo was there with his family to welcome Gov. Thompson and make sure he heard from the ONE Campaign on his campaign stop.

All over America, people are lending their voice to the ONE Campaign to make sure that the next president of the United States knows that fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa is an American priority.

TAGS: ONE Vote 08, The ONE Blog