[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 14 (Monday, April 12, 1999)]
[Page 583]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the White House Easter Egg Roll

April 5, 1999

    The President. Thank you very much. I want to welcome you to the 
White House today. And before I say anything else, I want to say in this 
season of peace for us I know all of us will send our thoughts and 
prayers to our men and women in uniform in Kosovo and our prayers and 
best wishes to the many thousands of refugees that have been generated 
by that terrible conflict.
    Now, let me first begin by thanking our sponsors who make this 
possible every year, and I thank the White House volunteers. I'd also 
like to thank the staff for preparing--listen to this--7,000 eggs for 
today's event. That's more than we ask them to prepare for a state 
dinner. [Laughter] I'd also like to thank Scholastic, Inc., for the 
Prescription for Reading program that Hillary mentioned and tell you all 
that we have tried to make this an occasion for family learning, for 
children and their parents to learn together. The Prescription is one 
example.
    You can also see an electronic presentation on the White House at 
the CD-ROM pavilion. You can meet American figures in our history at the 
Historical Fun Stage. There will be a lot of storytelling sessions. We 
have a lot of old regulars here and a lot of new people, like Jamie Lee 
Curtis, who's come to join us this year. And we thank all of them for 
participating.
    Now, I want to get on with the show, but I want to know: Where are 
the people for the Easter egg roll? Are we down there? Turn around. If 
you want to see it, they're down right behind us.
    The First Lady. And over there, too.
    The President. And over there. Are you ready? Where's our famous, 
faithful whistle blower? Hey, Bernie. All right.
    On your mark. Get ready, set, go!

Note: The President spoke at 10:10 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to actress Jamie Lee Curtis and 
Bernie Fairbanks, White House volunteer.