[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 22 (Monday, June 6, 1994)]
[Pages 1202-1203]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Text of Remarks at a Dinner Hosted by Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy

June 2, 1994

    Mr. Prime Minister, Camilo Cavour, the first prime minister of a 
unified Italy, once claimed to have discovered ``the art of fooling 
diplomats.'' He said, ``I speak the truth, and they never believe me.'' 
Mr. Prime Minister, I hope you will believe me when I tell you it is a 
joy for us to begin our commemorative journey among the wonderful people 
of your country.
    This week we honor all those who reclaimed Europe's freedom half a 
century ago. In the time since, Italy has reclaimed her proud democratic 
heritage and become one of the world's most economically advanced 
nations.
    Now, as winds of change blow across our world, the people of Italy, 
like those of America, are laboring in the vineyards of democratic 
reform and economic renewal. As our people have been joined by kinship 
and fellowship in the past, so they will be joined in the work ahead.

[[Page 1203]]

    Robert Browning best captured what every traveler to this 
breathtaking land must feel, when he wrote, ``Open my heart and you will 
see/Graved inside of it, `Italy.'''
    Tonight I open my heart and offer a toast to the Italian people, to 
their new Prime Minister, and to the lasting friendship between our two 
great nations.