    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [February 9, 1995]
    [Pages 188-189]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Dinner Honoring Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany
    February 9, 1995

        Chancellor Kohl, members of the German delegation, members of the
    diplomatic corps, distinguished guests: On occasions like this, I
    normally rise to say how very much I've enjoyed spending time with a
    distinguished head of state. I enjoyed today, but after all, it was
    Helmut Kohl's third visit to the White House since I have been
    President. He's been here so many

    [[Page 189]]

    times during his 12 years as Chancellor that, on his last trip here, he
    took me to his favorite restaurant in Washington. [Laughter] I'm happy
    to announce that after this dinner, Chancellor Kohl will be conducting
    tours of the White House. [Laughter]
        Helmut Kohl has become a good and trusted friend of mine, as he has
    been a good and trusted friend of the United States for as long as he's
    been in public life. Hillary and I were deeply touched last summer by
    the famous Palatinate hospitality which he and Mrs. Kohl showed to us
    when he took us to his hometown of Oggersheim. I must say, I felt right
    at home when we turned down the street on which the Kohls live and the
    whole neighborhood turned out to say hello. I hope that Chancellor Kohl
    feels at home here, and I hope someday I'll have the opportunity to take
    you to my home. Believe me, the whole neighborhood will show up.
    [Laughter]
        Even before Helmut Kohl became Chancellor, American leaders were
    drawn to Rheinland-Pfalz. In 1788, a couple of years before Helmut
    became Chancellor, Thomas Jefferson traveled along the Rhine. He loved
    the paintings he saw in Dusseldorf, but he was annoyed that the
    Westphalians thought they were the only people who smoked their hams;
    they didn't know Virginians did it, too. When he traveled farther south
    to the Palatinate, he said he had entered what he called ``our second
    mother country'' because so many people from that region had settled in
    America and their customs had become American ones. History does not
    record whether Thomas Jefferson sampled that famous regional dish
    Saumagen, but I have, thanks to Helmut Kohl.
        When Hillary and I went home with the Kohls, I was remembered that
    real leadership does not begin in theories but in places and lives like
    those I saw in Oggersheim, in the homes that we love and the people and
    the customs that make us who we are. We are all proud of the ties that
    bind us together. The German language sums up the richness of those
    bonds in a single almost untranslatable word, Heimat. Here in the United
    States, my attachment to my roots has become somewhat legendary, but no
    world leader has more love for his Heimat than Helmut Kohl. A leader who
    keeps his Heimat in his heart will always remember what people want
    most, the certainty that their children will inherit a more peaceful,
    more prosperous, more rich world in terms of the human spirit. Today we
    worked hard to advance those shared goals, goals which have bound our
    people together for nearly 50 years now and goals which will take us
    together into the 21st century.
        Ladies and gentlemen, let us raise a glass to the friendship between
    the people of the United States and the people of Germany, and to the
    Chancellor who has done so much to make it better.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:05 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the
    White House.