    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [May 21, 1998]
    [Pages 824-825]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 824]]

    Remarks at a Reception for the Sons of Italy Foundation
    May 21, 1998

        Thank you very much. I thought they were all talking, so I made them
    come up here. [Laughter] But I thank Secretary Cuomo and Paul Polo and Phil
    Piccigallo for making me feel so
    welcome. I got here in time to hear Steve Forbes talking, and I appreciate his warming the crowd up.
    [Laughter] That's the most high-class warm-up act I've had this year.
    [Laughter]
        Ambassador Foglietta, Ambassador
    Salleo; Regis Philbin, thank you for welcoming me; and to my good friend, Tony
    Bennett, welcome. I'd like to also congratulate
    tonight's honoree, Philip Guarascio, and
    thank all of you for giving me a chance to come by and share a few
    moments of your 10th anniversary.
        For over 90 years, the Sons of Italy has been a community
    organization in the truest sense. For 10 years, you've given out this
    National Education and Leadership Award, finding what I think is one of
    the very finest ways you could ever express your pride and your ethnic
    heritage and your devotion to the next generation.
        I asked before I came on the stage if I could have an opportunity to
    personally congratulate the scholarship recipients here tonight, and I
    hope that I can do this, because they, after all, represent not only
    your commitment but all our futures.
        The Italian-American tradition of work and family, faith and
    community is just as alive today as it was when the Sons of Italy first
    began to meet. As President, I have tried to pursue policies that embody
    those values, values that led so many Italian-American families to such
    great success in America.
        We've got a lot to be thankful for tonight: the lowest unemployment
    in 28 years; the lowest welfare rolls in 27 years; the lowest inflation
    in 32 years. But we all know that we've got a lot to do and that we
    can't stop until we can see the values that embody the Sons of Italy
    alive and well in every neighborhood in America. I'd like to say a
    special word of thanks to Secretary Cuomo
    for his extraordinary work in trying to make sure that we get that done.
        I'm told that tonight everybody who is here can claim to be Italian.
    I see my favorite Italian with an Irish name, Senator Leahy, out here. [Laughter] It's shameless. He's the only
    man I know who can show up at every Irish and every Italian event, claim
    to be one of you, and always be telling the truth. It seems an unfair
    advantage even in America. [Laughter]
        Tonight I know you're also celebrating the life of Frank
    Sinatra. I had, as one of the many perks of
    becoming President, the chance to get to know Frank Sinatra a little and
    to appreciate on a personal level what people all over the world
    appreciated in his music and his movies. I think it's important tonight,
    because of what you stand for, to note that while we have lost his
    remarkable voice, we have also lost a generous spirit of a man who
    raised more than a billion dollars for charity and left a lot as well,
    and really did, as I said a couple of days ago, always manage to do it
    his way.
        I want to thank you for everything you do, but especially, in
    closing, I want to say that, if you look ahead to the 21st century, we
    will be living in an economy that is increasingly based on ideas, but
    our ability to take advantage of it will rest more and more on the
    strength, the depth, and the character of our soul, on whether we can
    learn to live together across all the lines that divide us to find a
    home among people who aren't exactly like us but, down deep inside, have
    more in common with us than what divides us.
        Tomorrow, in the land of my ancestors, Ireland and Northern Ireland,
    the people will be voting on whether to discard decades of war and
    hundreds of years of conflict to chart a new path for peace for their
    children. We are working hard to preserve a peace in Bosnia among people
    of different religious traditions. We see on the Indian subcontinent new
    tensions among people of different religious and ethnic groups. We
    struggle still to make peace in the Middle East at a time when computers
    have made instantaneous the transfer of money and information and ideas
    across the globe.
        If we are to make the most of the education that you have worked so
    hard to give to the children of Italian immigrants, then we truly must
    work just as hard to embody the values by which you have lived and
    through which

    [[Page 825]]

    you have found a true home in the United States.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:42 p.m. in the National Building Museum.
    In his remarks, he referred to Paul S. Polo, president, and Philip R.
    Piccigallo, national executive director, Sons of Italy Foundation;
    Malcolm S. (Steve) Forbes, Jr., publisher, Forbes magazine; Thomas M.
    Foglietta, U.S. Ambassador to Italy; Ferdinando Salleo, Italian
    Ambassador to the United States; entertainer Regis Philbin, who
    introduced the President; singer Tony Bennett; and Philip Guarascio,
    vice president and general manager, advertising and marketing, North
    American Division, General Motors Corporation.