[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 44 (Monday, November 3, 1997)]
[Pages 1667-1668]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Birthday Party for the First Lady in Chicago, Illinois

October 27, 1997

    The President. Thank you very much. You can hear I'm a little hoarse 
tonight, but I'll do my best to be heard over the din. Let me say to all 
of you, first of all, thank you, Mr. Mayor, thank you Mrs. Daley; thank 
you, Lois Weisberg. I thank all the committee, everybody who had 
anything to do with this day today. You have made Hillary and, I might 
say, her mother and her brothers who came with her today--you've made 
their whole family very happy. This has been an unforgettable day in her 
life, and I am profoundly grateful to all of you, and I thank you very 
much.
    You know, before I met Hillary, you could put what I knew about 
Chicago in a thimble and have space left over. [Laughter] About a week 
after I met Hillary, I thought there was no other city on the face of 
the Earth. [Laughter] I'll never forget the first time I came here to 
visit Hillary. I remember only two things: her father would not come 
outside to say hello to me--[laughter]--which I thought showed good 
judgment on his part--[laughter]--and she took me to Chicago and showed 
me the city. And I fell in love with it then--that was a long time ago 
now--and I have been ever since.
    This is a magnificent place. You have done unbelievable things. 
You're in the process of

[[Page 1668]]

doing other unbelievable things. They may well make a larger chapter in 
the history of this city, but you will never have a kinder, better, 
warmer gesture than the one you've given Hillary today, and I will never 
forget it as long as I live. Thank you very, very much.
    Audience member. Four more years!
    The President. It's not constitutional. [Laughter]
    I want to ask Hillary to come up now. You have to remember--this 
birthday--she wore it lightly for a long time, but her staff started 
celebrating 50 days before the event. They wanted her to recognize 
precisely how old she was by giving her one present a day for 50 days up 
to the blessed event--[laughter]--which occurred yesterday. Now she's 
still celebrating it as if she's going to hold on for dear life. 
[Laughter] Whatever she wants to do, I'm for.
    Ladies and gentlemen, our First Lady.

Note: The President spoke at 9:25 p.m. in Gar Hall at the Chicago 
Cultural Center. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Richard M. Daley 
of Chicago and his wife, Margaret, and Chicago Commissioner of Culture 
Affairs Lois Weisberg. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of these remarks.