    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [September 29, 1997]
    [Pages 1261-1266]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Presenting the National Arts and Humanities Medals
    September 29, 1997

        Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the White
    House. I thank the Members of Congress for coming, the members of the
    councils who stood up and were recognized. I also want to thank the
    First Lady for that very nice speech and unusual introduction.
    [Laughter]
        The spin that was put on my going to the opera at home was slightly
    different than the one you heard. It went more like, ``I've been trying
    to get you to do this for 5 years now. I know you will like this if you
    go. And besides, it's `Carmen,' it's your kind of thing.'' [Laughter]
    And then afterward I said, ``Gosh, I just loved that, and I thought
    Denyce Graves was great, and it was fabulous.'' And she said, ``I told
    you. I told you. I told you.'' So I was glad to have the sort of
    sanitized version presented to you. But I thought, in the interest of
    openness, I should tell you the whole story. [Laughter]
        Let me again say to all of you, you are very welcome here in the
    White House. And let me

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    say a special word of thanks to two people: first, to Jane Alexander for
    her outstanding leadership of the National Endowment of the Arts, thank
    you; and second, to Sheldon Hackney, who recently left his job as
    Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, but who did a
    wonderful job for the United States in the position, thank you.
        This morning we honor 20 men and women and one organization for
    extraordinary achievement in arts and humanities. And in giving these
    awards, we also applaud the achievements of our country. We celebrate
    our capacity for individual expression and common understanding, and we
    rejoice in our Nation's thriving and growing diversity. We take pride in
    the power of imagination that animates our democracy.
        And above all, by giving these awards we declare to ourselves and to
    the world, we are, we always have been, and we always will be a nation
    of creators and innovators. We are, we always have been, and we always
    will be a nation supporting our artists and scholars. It is our
    heritage. It must be a great gift we give to the future.
        As Hillary said, as we work up to the millennium, we will be
    observing it in many ways over the next 4 years that both honor our past
    and encourage our people to imagine the future. Today I invite each of
    you to be partners in that endeavor in the White House Millennium
    Program, to help us to make sure the millennium is marked by a renewed
    commitment to the arts and humanities in every community in our Nation.
        One of the most important goals for the millennium is to give every
    child in America access to the universe of knowledge and ideas by
    connecting every school and library in our country to the Internet by
    the year 2000. Working together with business leaders, we've made solid
    progress. And as we work to connect our schools and libraries we must
    make sure that once our children can log on to the Internet they don't
    get lost there.
        So today I'm pleased to announce that on the 27th of October the
    National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with MCI and the
    Council of Great City Schools, will throw the switch on a new
    educational website called EDSITEment--EDSITEment, not bad--[laughter].
    This exciting new tool will help teachers, students, and their parents
    to navigate among the thousands of educational websites, and there are
    literally tens of thousands of them now. Most important, it will expand
    our children's horizons and instill in them an early appreciation for
    the culture and values that will be with them throughout their lives.
        President Kennedy once said he looked forward to an America that
    raised the standards of artistic achievement and enlarged cultural
    opportunities for all citizens. The men and women we honor today have
    brought us much closer to realizing that vision. More than 30 years
    later, at the edge of the new millennium, we must pledge ourselves anew
    to meet this challenge.
        Now it gives me great pleasure to present the 1997 National Medal of
    Arts and National Medal of Humanities awards. First, the National Medal
    of Arts.
        Like Martha Graham and Georgia O'Keeffe, Louise Bourgeois' name is
    synonymous with innovation, and her life is proof that creative impulse
    never fails. In 1981 her retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, the
    first to be devoted to a woman artist, encompassed 40 years of
    extraordinary work. Since then, she has created another lifetime of
    enduring art, and I have no doubt she has more to teach us.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Jean-Louis Bourgeois, the artist's son, will
    accept the award on her behalf. Louise Bourgeois.

    [At this point, the President and the First Lady presented the medal to
    Mr. Bourgeois, who then gave the President a gift.]

        Don't worry, I'll report this on my gift form. Thank you. [Laughter]
        When Betty Carter sings ``Baby, It's Cold Outside,'' it makes you
    want to curl up in front of a fire, even in the summertime. Performing
    with the likes of Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and
    Lionel Hampton, she is truly a goddess in the pantheon of jazz. Her
    greatness comes not only from her unforgettable voice but from her
    passionate commitment to helping young artists develop their own
    careers.
        Ladies and gentlemen, the incomparable Betty Carter.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Ms. Carter.]

        We can't celebrate art today without celebrating the people who help
    us to experience it. Aggie Gund has spent a lifetime bringing art into
    the lives of the American people. With the

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    ``Studio in a School,'' she forged a new partnership between
    professional artists and public schools to introduce children to the
    joys of creative expression.
        And I might say, that's even more important today. One of the things
    that a lot of us who care about our schools are concerned about are the
    dwindling opportunities too many of our children have in the arts of all
    kinds, because we know it gives these children, so many of them, a
    chance to learn, to grow, to find positive means of self-expression. If
    they never become any kind of artist, the increase in self-
    understanding, self-control, self-direction, and pure, old-fashioned
    enjoyment in life is more than worth the effort. And so we are
    especially grateful to Aggie Gund. As president of the Museum of Modern
    Art, she is helping to usher in the 21st century of art.
        Ladies and gentlemen, it's an honor to present her today.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Ms. Gund.]

        From the National Mall to the National Gallery, Dan Kiley has helped
    to redefine the American landscape. He's one of those rare artists who
    join the beauty and variety of nature with the joy and form of design.
    In his thought-provoking, memorable designs, building and site come
    together as one, proving that great landscapes and great buildings are
    part of the same vision.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Kiley.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Kiley.]

        It is no mystery--[laughter]--why Angela Lansbury deserves this
    award. From the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to Broadway to television, she
    has created vivid characters we can't forget. For that work, she has
    earned three Academy Award nominations, four Tony Awards, and 16 Emmy
    Awards. To that wall of honors we add this one, for she is her own
    unforgettable character.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Angela Lansbury.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Ms. Lansbury.]

        A hush falls in the Metropolitan Opera as the great chandelier rises
    and James Levine raises his baton. For 25 years and 1,600 performances
    of 70 different operas, countless operagoers, television watchers, and
    radio listeners have shared that experience and shared in the great gift
    of his talent. His work has renewed the grand tradition of opera and
    infused it with new life for the next generation of opera lovers.
        Ladies and gentlemen, James Levine.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Levine.]

        I really admire him. He was up here looking for his mother. He says,
    ``I know she's out here somewhere.'' [Laughter] Where is she? Good for
    you. Thank you.
        Just hearing Tito Puente's name makes you want to get up and dance.
    With his finger on the pulse of the Latin American musical tradition and
    his hands on the timbales, he has probably gotten more people out of
    their seats and onto the dance floor than any other living artist. For
    50 years now, the irrepressible joy of his irreplaceable music has won
    him four Grammy Awards, countless honors, and a wide world of fans.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Tito Puente.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Puente.]

        If anyone has actually given a voice to American dramatic arts, it
    is Jason Robards. In the great works of our greatest playwrights, Eugene
    O'Neill, Lillian Hellman, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, and in Academy
    Award performances in great movies like ``All the President's Men,'' he
    has brought the American experience to life with characters that animate
    history and illuminate the human condition. And every one of us who has
    ever had to give a significant number of public speeches has wished at
    some moment in his life that he had a voice like Jason Robards.
    [Laughter]

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Robards.]

        Edward Villella quite literally leapt onto the world stage of ballet
    and changed it forever with the stunning grace and muscular athleticism
    that are his signature style. As principal dancer with the New York City
    Ballet, he collaborated with the men who defined 20th century ballet,
    George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. And as artistic director of the
    Miami City Ballet, he is attracting the ballet audience of the 21st
    century.

    [[Page 1264]]

        Ladies and gentlemen, the remarkable Edward Villella.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Villella.]

        There may not be a serious, committed baby boomer alive who didn't
    at some point in his or her youth try to spend a few minutes at least
    trying to learn to pick a guitar like Doc Watson. A guitar virtuoso
    whose unique style merges many musical traditions, he started his
    remarkable career at age 13, armed with a $12 guitar and a deep love of
    mountain music. Five Grammy Awards and a lifetime of achievement later,
    he still lives in the land his great-great-granddaddy homesteaded, and
    he's still making that old-time mountain music.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Doc Watson.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Watson.]

        For our artists to create the kind of works we're here to celebrate,
    they have to have three things: time, space, and inspiration. For nearly
    half a century, that is what more than 4,500 artists have found at the
    MacDowell Colony. On this 450-acre farm in rural New Hampshire, Thornton
    Wilder wrote ``Our Town;'' Leonard Bernstein finished his great
    ``Mass.'' Today, a new generation of artists thrives in the atmosphere
    created by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, Marian.
        Ladies and gentlemen, the award to the MacDowell Colony will be
    accepted by the chairman of the MacDowell Colony, a man we all know in
    other guises, Robert MacNeil.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. MacNeil.]

        Now I have the honor of introducing the recipients of the National
    Humanities Medal, men and women who keep the American memory alive and
    infuse the future with new ideas.
        First, Nina Archabal. To those who know and work with her, she is a
    fireball who lets no one stand in the way of her mission to preserve
    Minnesota's history. To the State of Minnesota, she's a bridge-builder
    between native peoples and other Minnesotans, helping them share their
    stories. To America, she exemplifies how tradition informs everyday life
    and shapes history. And just this morning she told the President that it
    was high time he high-tailed it out to Minnesota to see exactly what she
    was doing. [Laughter]
        Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Nina Archabal.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Ms. Archabal.]

        David Berry and I share a goal: to strengthen our Nation's 2-year
    community colleges so that more Americans can get the education they
    need to succeed in life, no matter how old they are or where they come
    from. As professor of history at Essex County College in Newark, New
    Jersey, he's broadened the horizons and expanded the dreams of his
    students. As director of the Community College Humanities Association,
    he's helping 2-year colleges all over the country to do the same.
        Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know how many of you have ever spent
    any time in these 2-year institutions, but they are exhilarating in the
    opportunities they offer to people who not so long ago would never have
    been able to dream of them. And the fact that we are bringing the
    humanities into them and putting them front and center is a very
    important part of inspiring the Americans of the 21st century, because
    more and more of them will find their way to these remarkable
    institutions.
        Ladies and gentlemen, David Berry.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Berry.]

        After a very, very successful career as chairman and CEO of an
    investment banking firm, Richard Franke could well have rested on his
    achievements. Instead, he made it his mission to advance the cause of
    the humanities in everyday life. Through the Chicago Humanities Festival
    he founded in 1989, he's bringing the pleasures of art and ideas to the
    people of the great city of Chicago. And his commitment to the
    humanities extends to the entire Nation.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Richard Franke.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Franke.]

        I doubt that there is a more revered force in American education
    today than Bill Friday. As president of the University of North
    Carolina, he devoted himself to improving education for all Americans.
    There is hardly an important

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    educational task force he has not been a member of. He helped to found
    the National Humanities Center. He sat on the Carnegie Commission on
    Higher Education and the President's Task Force on Education. As
    executive director of the Kenan Charitable Trust, he continues his life
    of achievement.
        I can tell you that in all the years that I served as Governor and
    Hillary and I worked to improve education for our children from
    kindergarten through higher education and to change the horizons of the
    South in ways that would bring people together and elevate their
    conditions, no one was more respected or had more influence on how we
    all thought and what we tried to do than the remarkable Bill Friday.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Friday.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Friday.]

        I think I should say that our next awardee, Don Henley, is not in
    the wrong category. [Laughter] He has already won so many awards for his
    wonderful, wonderful music, he may think that he doesn't need another.
    But today we honor him not for another hit record but instead for 7
    years of relentless effort to protect a vital part of America's history,
    the woods that inspired Henry David Thoreau to write his greatest work,
    ``Walden.'' Through his support of the Thoreau Institute, Don is also
    keeping Thoreau's great legacy alive for the 21st century.
        I've known Don for many years, and I told him today right before we
    came out here that if I had a nickel for every time he has hit on me to
    preserve the woods around Walden Pond, I would indeed be a wealthy man.
    [Laughter] He has done his job to preserve a profoundly significant part
    of our legacy as a larger part of his passionate commitment to
    preserving our environment and our natural heritage.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Don Henley.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Henley.]

        Great writers reveal a world we've never seen but instantly
    recognize as authentic. Maxine Hong Kingston is such a writer. In her
    groundbreaking book ``The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of Girlhood Among
    Ghosts,'' she brought the Asian-American experience to life for millions
    of readers and inspired a new generation of writers to make their own
    unique voices and experiences heard.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Maxine Hong Kingston.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Ms. Kingston.]

        The great chorus of American voices has also been immeasurably
    enlarged by the work of Luis Leal. For 50 years he has told the story of
    the Chicano people, here in America and all over the Latin world. In 16
    books he has revealed the unique voice of Latin literature. In 1995, in
    recognition of his great contributions, the University of California
    created the Luis Leal Endowed Chair in Chicano Studies, the only one of
    its kind in our Nation.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Luis Leal.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Leal.]

        As we approach the millennium, many Americans are examining their
    own and our Nation's spirituality, faith, and the role of religion in
    our Nation's life. No one has thought more deeply about these questions
    than Martin Marty, a renowned scholar of religious history, the author
    of 50 books, the director of the Public Religion Project at the
    University of Chicago which finds common ground in our diverse
    communities of faith.
        Among many things to which he is faithful, he is faithful to his
    teaching, and he told me he is missing class today, one of the very few
    times in a very long career of teaching. We have all been enriched by
    his work, and we thank him for it.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Martin Marty.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Marty.]

        Paul Mellon has elevated the great tradition of American
    philanthropy to an art form. His gifts have immeasurably strengthened
    the cultural institutions that are at the very heart of our civil
    society, including, of course, the National Gallery here in Washington.
    With his sister, he established the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the
    Nation's largest private funder of the humanities. And through his
    exceptional generosity, he has enriched the libraries of our Nation with
    precious collections of the world's greatest works.

    [[Page 1266]]

        Ladies and gentlemen, Robert Smith of the National Gallery of Art
    will accept the award on behalf of Paul Mellon.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal to Mr. Smith.]

        No one has done more to expand the American library of voices than
    Studs Terkel. He has quite literally defined the art of the oral
    history, bringing the stories of ordinary people to life in his unique
    style and letting the everyday experiences that deepen our history speak
    for themselves. That is why I am very pleased he has agreed to advise
    the White House Millennium Program on the best way to collect family and
    community histories, a project we will launch with the NEH this spring.
        Ladies and gentlemen, a true American original, Mr. Studs Terkel.

    [The President and the First Lady presented the medal and congratulated
    Mr. Terkel.]

        He just thanked me for coordinating the medal with his trademark
    shirt, tie, and socks. [Laughter] The rest of our honorees will just
    have to abide it. We were trying to get the wardrobe right.
        Let me again thank all of you for coming and say a special word of
    thanks to Senator Pell and to Congressman and Mrs. Capps, to Congressman
    Horn, Congresswoman Maloney, Congresswoman Pelosi, Congressman Serrano,
    and Congressman Burr. And I thank them. We have talked a lot about all
    the fights that exist between the President and Congress over the NEH
    and the NEA. It's important to recognize we've got some good supporters
    there, too.
        Let me invite you to enjoy the Marine Orchestra, to enjoy each
    other, to enjoy this beautiful day and the rich gifts our honorees have
    given us.
        Thank you very much for coming.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:45 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano
    Denyce Graves; former Senator Claiborne Pell; and Lois Capps, wife of
    Representative Walter Capps.