[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.