[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[July 17, 1996]
[Pages 1140-1141]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies
July 17, 1996

    Thank you. Since this has now happened a number of times, I have 
prepared no fewer than a dozen introductions of Hillary, and some day 
I'll get to do a few of them. [Laughter]
    I am delighted to see you all here. I want to thank Lee Annenberg 
and all the rest of you who have supported this program so strongly. I 
also want to say it's a thrill for me personally to see Robert 
Rauschenberg here again. I had the honor of presenting him the National 
Medal of Arts in 1993. And when I said--I saw him a minute or two ago, 
and he said, ``You have summoned me here again.'' [Laughter] And I 
thought, if only the Congress were as responsive as Mr. Rauschenberg. 
[Laughter] Thank you, sir, for your generosity to the arts and embassies 
program. And I'm happy to be here to witness another example of it 
today.
    I'd like to thank Senator Pell and Chairman Gilman for being here. 
Mrs. Pell, thank you for coming. I'd like to thank all the Ambassadors 
who are here, especially Ambassadors to the United States from so many 
other countries. It's a great honor for us and for this program that so 
many have come here to be with us today.
    For 10 years the Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies have 
graced the walls of nearly 200 of our embassies with over 3,000 great 
works of American art. To date you've raised over $8 million to fund 
projects at embassy residences all across the world. On behalf of our 
administration, and especially those who work in the diplomatic corps 
who have been daily enriched by your generosity, I want to thank you. 
This is a remarkable citizen achievement of which all can be justly 
proud.
    We've seen a lot of these projects, as Hillary said. She just 
returned from, I guess, seeing seven of our embassies on her recent 
trip. I never cease to be amazed, sometimes outright startled, at what I 
find when I walk into one of our embassies overseas and I see some new 
miracle of American creativity that I had never before seen. I've 
marveled at the precise restorations of priceless murals at our embassy 
in Madrid, the conservation of treasured paintings at our embassy in 
London. I know that I've only seen a fraction of them, and I hope I'll

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have a chance to see a few more in the next couple of years. [Laughter] 
I look forward to seeing more examples of these works. And I know that 
they've been highlighted in the book that commemorates your 10th 
anniversary.
    This has not been an easy time on the budgets of those in the 
Foreign Service, partly for reasons that apply to our whole budget. We 
have been working hard to get rid of a burdensome Government deficit. 
We've brought it down 4 years in a row for the first time in a long 
time, partly because there are those who believe that our diplomatic 
missions should be funded at lower levels, something with which I hardly 
disagree, especially at the end of the cold war.
    But regardless of the causes, we face significant funding 
challenges, and the kinds of things that you have made possible would 
never have been possible without your endeavors. But I'm sure you 
understand that in the environment today, they are more important than 
ever before, by far.
    And I guess if I could just do anything else here, I just want you 
to know that it really makes a difference. I want you to believe that 
the power of private responsibility and public service working together 
that you've embodied for 10 years really makes a difference. I feel it 
every time I walk into an American embassy in any part of the world. And 
I hear so many people comment on it who travel the world and go to our 
embassies. And, of course, those who work there and those who live in 
the residences are the most grateful of all.
    So let me again say, thank you. We're delighted to have you here. 
And I'd like to now call Lee Annenberg to the podium.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 2 p.m. on the State Floor at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Lee Annenberg, chair, Friends of 
Art and Preservation in Embassies; artist Robert Rauschenberg; and 
Senator Claiborne Pell's wife, Nuala.