    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [December 5, 1999]
    [Pages 2209-2211]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Kennedy Center Honors Reception
    December 5, 1999

        The President. Thank you very much. Thank you all, and welcome to
    the White House; to the wonderful array of artists who are in this room
    and members of the Cabinet and others who have come to be part of this
    happy evening.
        We share this evening with honorees who have touched our lives and
    ennobled our Nation. Recently, Hillary and I went to Greece, and I had
    the opportunity early in the morning to go and visit the Parthenon, a
    magnificent, almost unbelievable architectural creation, given what had
    to be done to make it work and the materials and instruments that were
    available at the time. The Parthenon was the brainchild of the great
    statesman Pericles. Pericles said this to his soldiers in the
    Peloponnesian War: ``We shall not be without witness. There are mighty
    monuments to our power which will make us the wonder of this and
    succeeding ages.''
        As the curtain falls on this remarkable century, at the dawn of a
    new millennium, it is fitting that we Americans should ask ourselves,
    what will be the monuments that we offer up to the gaze of succeeding
    ages? Today, we are blessed with unprecedented prosperity and military
    might, but I believe it will be true of us, as it was Pericles' Athens,
    that the monuments of power that truly define, sustain us, and last
    throughout the ages are those that spring from the mind and the spirit.
        Just as we remember the great philosophers and playwrights, the
    historians and architects of ancient Greece, so tonight Hillary and I
    are proud to welcome you here to pay tribute to these five remarkable
    artists and creators. They come from many places; their immense talents
    range over a wide creative landscape. In giving the world new ways to
    understand the human experience and celebrate the human spirit, they are
    all leaving their own enduring monuments for succeeding ages.
        And now, to present them: four Americans and one Scotsman whom
    tonight I declare an honorary American citizen. [Laughter] It seems
    appropriate to do on the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin
    Wall. After all, we couldn't have won the cold war without you.
    [Laughter]

    [[Page 2210]]

        In 1940 Borge Rosenbaum of Copenhagen
    sought safe passage to America, just ahead of the Nazi advance. The
    United States consul, who had seen his comedy show, granted him a visa
    on one condition: He had to promise to continue his career in America.
    With just $20 in his pocket, he arrived in the United States, changed
    his name, and began to learn English by watching gangster films.
    [Laughter]
        Soon, Victor Borge landed himself a regular
    gig on Bing Crosby's radio show. Eventually, this led to the longest
    running one-man show in Broadway history and 40 years of travel across
    America, Europe, and Asia, perfecting the fine art of playing brilliant
    piano in the clumsiest possible way. [Laughter]
        Who would ever have thought that one person could be both a virtuoso
    pianist and an ingenious comic, combining the two into one mischievous,
    uproarious show? Perhaps the common link between Victor Borge's music and his comedy is his uncanny gift for
    improvisation. Once, when a pesky fly would not leave him alone, he so
    skillfully incorporated the fly into his performance that all the
    audience were absolutely sure he had trained it to cooperate. [Laughter]
        At age 90, Victor Borge continues to share
    his gifts with the world, not only through comedy, piano, and conducting
    the world's major orchestras but also through the generous scholarship
    fund he created in gratitude to those who risked their lives to save
    Scandinavia's Jews. Tonight we are deeply grateful to one long-forgotten
    United States consul and to the ``Great Dane'' who has kept America
    rolling with laughter for so very many years.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Victor Borge.
        Mr. Borge. Who was that gentleman?
    [Laughter]
        The President. You know, you ought to hang onto that thought; in
    about 14 months people will be asking that question for real. [Laughter]
        Steven Spielberg once said there are only seven genuine movie stars
    in the entire world today. Of course, his list includes Sean
    Connery, one of the most charismatic and
    commanding actors ever to arch an eyebrow on the silver screen.
        He rose from humble beginnings in working
    class Edinburgh. Even today, under the tux he wears better than any man
    alive, he still sports with pride a ``Scotland Forever'' tattoo on his
    arm. He left school at age 13, helped support his family as a concrete
    mixer, brick layer, sailor, steel bender, coffin polisher, and weight
    lifter. All jobs that prepared him for a lifetime of diverse and
    wonderful roles.
        After making 007 the most famous character in the world, Sean
    Connery went on to broaden his reach with
    brilliant performances in movies such as ``The Man Who Would Be King,''
    ``The Name of the Rose,'' ``The Russia House,'' and ``The
    Untouchables,'' for which he was hailed as another Olivier. Among his
    numerous honors, he's earned an Academy Award, a British Academy
    Fellowship, the French Legion of Honor, Edinburgh's prestigious Freedom
    of the City Award, and very important to me, a fairly low handicap on
    the golf course. [Laughter]
        To this distinguished list, tonight we add Kennedy Center Honors,
    and we thank him for four decades of
    unforgettable, masterful contributions to the world of film.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Connery.
        On May 4, 1971, in a 16-minute solo of indescribable beauty and
    emotional force, Judith Jamison vaulted into
    the realm of legend. The solo was called, ``Cry,'' and Alvin Ailey
    created it just for her. Rarely, if ever, had the artistry of
    choreographer and dancer come together in such an elemental, spiritual
    way. In the chronicle of her career, that night was just one in a long
    list of soaring triumphs for Judith Jamison.
        After a childhood filled with patient and exacting study of dance,
    her big break came in 1964. ``I taught a
    class of ordinary students,'' the famed choreographer Agnes de Mille
    reported, ``but there was this one astonishing girl.'' Miss de Mille
    brought Judith Jamison to New York to perform with the American Ballet
    Theatre. A year later Alvin Ailey asked her to dance with his company.
    For the next 15 years, she premiered new roles, set new standards of
    excellence, and earned unprecedented global acclaim.
        Her achievements as an Ailey dancer would
    be enough to earn Judith Jamison a place here tonight. But she has
    always sought new ways to stretch and extend herself and those around
    her. From the Ailey Company, she went on to star on Broadway,
    choreograph modern dance and opera, and found her own dance company.
        In 1989 she returned to the Ailey Company
    to take over as artistic director and fulfill her mentor's dying wish.
    In this role, she has preserved Ailey's legacy while creating
    transcendent new works, cultivating a new generation of stars,

    [[Page 2211]]

    bringing dance ``back to the people,'' in her words, and I might add,
    greatly inspiring many of our daughters.
        Tonight we thank her for a lifetime of
    breaking down barriers and forever lifting up the grace and beauty of
    American dance.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Judith Jamison.
        After 6 years in the Navy during World War II, a sailor named Jason
    Robards, Jr., used the GI bill to enroll
    in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He got some parts and drove a
    cab to support his family. Then, at the age of 33, he auditioned for the
    lead in ``The Iceman Cometh,'' with the esteemed director Jose Quintero.
    From the moment Robards began to read, the part simply belonged to him.
    As Quintero later remarked, ``I came to see that Jason was the greatest
    young actor in the world.''
        Jason Robards' authority as an artist
    only grew with age. After his chilling performance in ``Iceman,'' he
    starred in the Broadway premier of O'Neill's ``Long Day's Journey Into
    Night,'' securing his standing as the finest interpreter of our finest
    playwright.
        He went on to earn the highest honors
    on the world's great stages, including, of course, the Kennedy Center,
    where he presided at the groundbreaking and shined in the very first
    play the center produced. Of course, he has also enjoyed remarkable
    success as a screen actor and won back-to-back Academy Awards.
        But performing under the stagelights of the theater, drawing us into
    the shadows and, occasionally, even into the sunshine, has always been
    his first love. He took possession of the
    American theater in 1956, and he has worked and reigned there,
    magnificent and vulnerable, ever since.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Jason Robards, Jr.
        When Stevie Wonder was a baby in inner-
    city Detroit, his mother dreamed of carrying her son to the Holy City of
    Jerusalem in hopes that he would gain his sight. What she could not yet
    know was that her child had already been profoundly blessed, blessed
    with prodigious, awe-inspiring inner vision, and musical talents that
    must have come from the Almighty Himself.
        By the age of 8, Stevie was composing for
    piano and mastering the harmonica and drums. At age 13, he got the world
    clapping and stomping with his breakout single, ``Fingertips Part 2.''
    His very first record went gold. At the ripe old age of 18, he came out
    with his first album of greatest hits. [Laughter]
        We all know Stevie's songs, and we all try
    to sing them. [Laughter] Even for those of us who sing off key, they're
    all in the ``Key of Life.'' At times, his songs seem to be in the very
    air we breathe, always part of the sunshine of our lives.
        Over these past 30 years, as he has
    composed and performed these songs, Stevie has also helped to make Dr.
    King's birthday into a national holiday, to tear down the walls of
    apartheid, to alleviate hunger, to stem youth violence, and, in so many
    other ways, to compose the remaining passages of Dr. King's unfinished
    symphony. Along the way, I might add, he has also been a perfectly
    wonderful friend to Hillary and to me and to Vice President and Mrs.
    Gore, for which we are very grateful.
        So tonight we honor the prodigy who became
    a prophet, for using his divine gifts to move the world to sing and to
    act.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Stevie Wonder.
        Well, there they are, ladies and gentlemen, Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Judith
    Jamison, Jason Robards, and Stevie Wonder. In them we
    find comic invention, rugged strength, towering grace, inner fire, and
    music that flows down like a mighty stream. Tonight the United States
    salutes them all.
        God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:50 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to movie director/producer Steven
    Spielberg. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary
    also included the remarks of the First Lady.