[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[November 1, 2000]
[Pages 2404-2405]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the White House 
November 1, 2000

    Thank you very much, and good afternoon. I know I speak for all of 
us in thanking David McCullough for that 
wonderful review of President Adams' life and Presidency. We could all 
listen to him all day and never stop learning.
    I thank Bob Stanton for his 
distinguished work at the Park Service. I'd like to thank 
Representatives Delahunt and 
Markey for coming here, for representing 
the State of Massachusetts, home of the Adams family. I thank all the 
descendants of the Adams family who are here with us today, and I know 
that they share in the pride all Americans feel for the contributions of 
John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, and so many other members of 
their family, to the richness of our Nation's history.
    Mayor Williams, thank you for 
joining us here today. I'd like to thank the members of the White House 
Historical Association Board, including Bob Breeden and Hugh Sidey and Neil 
Horstman, who helped make this month of 
celebrations possible. I'd like to thank the people here at the White 
House who played their role--Melanne Verveer, the First Lady's Chief of Staff, who has worked so 
hard on the historic preservation work we've been honored to do these 
last 8 years; and especially our Chief Usher, Gary Walters, and through him all the members of the White House 
staff, who for 200 years now have been the unsung heroes of making this 
place work every day, making it a place available to the American 
people, and still a home for the President and his family.
    I'd also like to thank the United States Marine Band. For more than 
200 years, they have set a standard of musical excellence that has 
enriched this house and our entire Nation. They have been the 
President's own, and for me, it has been a special honor and treat. They 
have stirred the spirits of more people than President Adams could ever 
have imagined when he signed the bill creating the Marine Band. And 
today their music is in honor of his memory. So let's give them a big 
hand. Thank you very much for being here. [Applause]

[[Page 2405]]

    As David McCullough just said, the Capital City President Adams 
helped to shape was a very different place than the Washington we know 
today. Our Nation was new and still carving out the symbols that would 
define it forever. History tells us that even as the city's planners 
debated the final design of this house, masons laid its stone 
foundations more than 4 feet thick. Like our Nation's Founders, these 
men were building a monument to freedom, and they wanted it to last.
    In 1814, when the British troops captured Washington, they entered 
the President's House, as it was then known, to find supper still on the 
table. The First Lady, Dolly Madison, had prepared it for her husband, 
but had to leave it behind when she fled. Well, the British were uncouth 
enough to eat the supper before they set fire to the house. [Laughter] 
When the smoke finally cleared, it was just a charred shell, but the 
stone walls stood strong, and so did our Nation.
    For two centuries now, Americans have looked to the White House as a 
symbol of leadership in times of crisis, of reassurance in times of 
uncertainty, of continuity in times of change, of celebration in times 
of joy. These walls carry the story of America. It was here at the White 
House that President Jefferson first unrolled maps of a bountiful 
continent to plan the Lewis and Clark expedition; here that President 
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves, some of 
whose ancestors had quarried the very stone from which the White House 
was built; here that President Roosevelt held the Fireside Chats, 
willing his nation through the Depression, then marshaling our Allies 
through the war.
    Over the course of 2 centuries, the White House has also been home 
to 40 Presidents and their families, including mine. Hillary, Chelsea, 
and I love this house. We have loved living here. It is still a thrill 
every time I drive up in a car or land on the back lawn in the 
helicopter, just to look at this magnificent place and to feel the honor 
of sharing its history for these 8 years. We are profoundly grateful to 
the American people for letting it be our home for these years.
    One of the best things about it, like any home, is welcoming others 
to share in its beauty and history, not just heads of state or great 
artists or famous scholars but the people this house really belongs to, 
the American people. The White House is the only executive residence in 
the entire world that is regularly open, free of charge, to the public. 
And every year nearly a million and a half people walk through its 
halls, marveling at the history and taking away perhaps a little better 
sense of who we are as a nation.
    Hillary has taken a special 
interest in supporting this living museum, showcasing the full diversity 
of our Nation's art, culture, and history. I thank her, especially, for 
establishing the Sculpture Garden over here to my left in the Jackie 
Kennedy Garden. And from the day we moved in, she has also devoted 
herself to preserving the White House and has personally overseen the 
restoration of several of its public rooms, rooms on the Residence 
floor, on the second floor, and on the third floor.
    Working with the White House Historical Association, she's also helped to raise a lasting endowment, 
something that is profoundly important because it will enable us to 
better preserve the White House and its collections for all generations 
to come.
    In renewing this beloved monument to our Nation's history and 
freedom, we also renew our commitment to the dream of our Founders that 
our democracy, built upon bedrocks of liberty and justice, will grow 
ever stronger and remain forever young.
    So as the White House enters its third century, let us remember 
President John Adams, being grateful to him for his many contributions 
to our Republic and his determination to define us as one nation. And 
let us share his prayer that in this house the best of blessings will be 
bestowed, and that leaders here will find the wisdom and the guidance to 
do well by our Nation, to do well by all of our people, and to be a 
responsible leader in the larger world.
    That's what John Adams tried to do; that's what America has tried to 
do for 200 years now. We are still in the business of forming that more 
perfect Union of our Founders' dreams. I hope and believe he would be 
pleased.
    Now, let the celebration begin.

Note: The President spoke at 12:32 p.m. on the Blue Room Balcony at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to Presidential historian and 
author David McCullough; and Mayor Anthony A. Williams of Washington, 
DC.