Video: 'George H. W. Bush's Farewell Address 1993'

(Tuesday, January 5, 1993, 1:22 p.m. EST) — President George H.W. Bush, in a farewell address today as commander-in-chief, said he will pass on to his successor a dangerous world that may require the use of American force — preferably with allied support but alone if necessary — when diplomacy fails and “the stakes warrant.”

The United States must avoid both isolationism and the temptation to play world policeman to solve every problem, he said.

“Military force is never a tool to be used lightly or universally,” Bush told 4,260 cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point.

“We need not respond by ourselves to each and every outrage of violence There is no support abroad or at home for us to play this role nor should there be.

“But in the wake of the Cold War in a world where we are the only remaining superpower, it is the role of the United States to marshal its moral and material resources to promote a democratic peace It is our responsibility.”

Bush who used military power in Panama the Persian Gulf and now in Somalia said there can be “no single or simple set of fixed rules” for the use of force. Any such rigid formula would play into the hands of would-be troublemakers by tipping them off about U.S. intentions he cautioned.

Instead, he recommended general guidelines for determining when US troops can be put in harm’s way — big stakes for US interests an opening for effective use of force “limited in scope and time” and an absence of other options, and potential benefits that justify potential costs and sacrifice.

“Once we are satisfied that force makes sense we must act with the maximum possible support,” he said.

Bush would leave office in 15 days, having been defeated for re-election by Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton, who became the 42nd president of the United States on Jan. 20, 1993.