    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [October 29, 1996]
    [Pages 1973-1974]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Receiving a Henry Ossawa Tanner Painting for the
    White House Collection
    October 29, 1996

        Let me just say, very briefly, I want to thank Dr. Rae Alexander-
    Minter for her moving tribute and for making this possible. I want to
    thank her mother for taking good care of this picture.

    [[Page 1974]]

        Thank you, Edward Bell, for being a good American citizen and asking
    questions, which is what we need our citizens to do. Thank you, Rex
    Scouten; and thank you, David Driskell; thank you to the late Sylvia
    Williams. I'd also like to thank my wife for her insistence that we take
    up Mr. Bell's suggestion.
        Tonight is a happy night for us, to be here, to be a part of this.
    Tonight reminds us, in all humility, that we are simply tenants here
    passing through--even though we're trying to get our lease renewed at
    the moment. [Laughter] There is, in any case, a limit on the lease, and
    it's a very short period in the very long life of our great country.
        And in so many ways, everything that represents America sooner or
    later has to come to represent a better America, has to come to reflect
    our ongoing journey. And I was thinking tonight that Thomas Jefferson,
    whose statue looks directly into the second floor Oval Room, right above
    us here, would be smiling. You know, on the memorial they have that
    wonderful quote, when Jefferson said, ``When I think of slavery, I
    tremble to think that God is just.'' He knew better. And it took us a
    long time to come to grips with all that.
        And this magnificent artist whom we honor tonight had to live in the
    afterwash of the Civil War and our continuing struggle to come to grips
    with our obligations as a people, both moral and constitutional. Now, a
    long time after that and too long in coming, this great painting will
    hang in the Green Room and over 1\1/2\ million visitors will see it
    every year. Most of them, but not all of them, will be Americans. Of the
    Americans, they will come from more than African-American and Caucasian-
    American stock. They will now come from a myriad of racial and ethnic
    and religious groups. But when they stop in the Green Room and look at
    this beautiful work of art, they will know that America here in the
    people's house is moving again toward its ultimate destiny and living
    closer to its ideals.
        To all of you who have made that possible, I thank you. I thank you
    for being here tonight. And I ask you now to join us in the reception.
    Thank you very, very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:52 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Rae Alexander-Minter, grandniece
    of the artist and former owner of the painting Sand Dunes at Sunset,
    Atlantic City; Edward Bell, who wrote to the President informing him
    that no works of African-American artists were included in the White
    House collection; Rex Scouten, White House Curator; David Driskell,
    expert on African-American art; and Sylvia Williams, former director,
    Smithsonian Institution Museum of African Art.