[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 4 (Monday, January 26, 1998)]
[Page 122]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the White House Endowment Dinner

January 21, 1998

    Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please? This will be 
a brief program, because we want you to have a wonderful time tonight at 
the White House. We thank you for doing so much to support the White 
House Endowment Fund and for your commitment to ensuring that this 
house, the people's house, remains the pride of our people well into the 
next millennium.
    No one has been more committed to making sure that this house is for 
all of our people than the First Lady. Over the past 5 years, Hillary 
has worked so hard to showcase the talent and creativity of all 
Americans in each of these grand and historic rooms, from refurbishing 
the Blue Room to securing the first painting by an African-American, or 
the first painting by Georgia O'Keefe for the White House's permanent 
collection. Her contributions to this house will remain a long time 
after we're gone from Washington.
    Let me say it was in no small part because of her dedication that 
the 1.5 million visitors who walk through the White House every single 
year have been able to enjoy the richness and diversity of America's 
cultural heritage. I thank her for her leadership and for making this 
house on all floors a more wonderful and truly historic place to live.
    And now, in reverse of the usual order, it is my pleasure and honor 
to introduce the First Lady of the United States.

Note: The President spoke at 8:05 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the 
White House.