[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 51 (Monday, December 21, 1998)]
[Pages 2500-2501]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Honoring Eunice Kennedy Shriver at the Special Olympics Dinner

December 17, 1998

    Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you. Pretty rowdy crowd tonight. 
[Laughter] I am delighted to join Hillary in welcoming all of you here. 
We're delighted to have you at this remarkable celebration of the 30th 
anniversary of the Special Olympics.
    Let me say just for a moment, I am also thinking tonight about the 
brave American men and women in uniform who are carrying out our mission 
in Iraq with our British allies.

[[Page 2501]]

I know that our thoughts and our prayers, indeed, those of all the 
American people, are with them tonight. And I wanted to say that what 
they are doing is important. It will make the world a safer, more 
peaceful place for our children in the 21st century.
    I'd also like to say a word now about the Special Olympics. More 
than 30 years ago Eunice Kennedy Shriver had an idea as simple as it was 
revolutionary, to give young people with disabilities the chance to know 
the thrill of athletic competition, the joy of participation, the pride 
of accomplishment. Out of that powerful idea, dreamed up at a kitchen 
table and launched at a backyard in Rockville, Maryland, Special 
Olympics grew and grew and grew.
    Just think of it--if you can remember back to the time before the 
Special Olympics, many people actually believed that people with 
disabilities were incapable of performing the most basic, every day 
activities, let alone competing in sports. But this year, 30 years 
later, there are more than one million Special Olympic athletes throwing 
the javelin, swimming the 500-meter butterfly, walking the balance 
beam--something most of the rest of us cannot do--[laughter]--and 
inspiring hope all over the world.
    So tonight I ask all of you to stand and join me in toasting Eunice 
Kennedy Shriver; her wonderful family, who have supported her every step 
of the way; to all the people who work so hard year-in and year-out to 
make Special Olympics possible, and to the athletes who are an 
inspiration to us all; to Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Special 
Olympics. Ladies and gentlemen, Eunice Shriver.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 8 p.m. in a pavilion on the 
South Lawn at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Eunice 
Kennedy Shriver, founder, Special Olympics. The transcript made 
available by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks 
of First Lady Hillary Clinton.