[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 44 (Monday, November 6, 2000)]
[Pages 2672-2676]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a National Italian American Foundation Dinner

October 28, 2000

    Thank you very much. Thank you to the diehard in the back there. 
[Laughter] Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be here. I was told on 
the way in that since I came here as a Governor in 1992, I have made 
seven of nine possible NIAF dinners, and I am delighted to be here again 
for the last time as President.
    I want to thank Chairman Guarini; your dinner chair, Dick Grasso. I 
thank the Representatives of Congress who are here, Representatives 
Morella and Pelosi and my good friend Geri Ferraro, Ambassador Browner, 
Ambassador Tufo--Administrator Browner--Ambassador Rosapepe. And the 
President of NIAF, Joe Cerrell.
    I also want to say, as all of you know, I have had a penchant for 
Italian-American Chiefs of Staff; they have been overrepresented. 
[Laughter] So far, we have staved off any affirmative action suits. 
[Laughter] When Leon Panetta was my Chief of Staff, he used to say that 
it was such a hard job, he thought ``Panetta'' was Italian for 
``pinata.'' [Laughter]
    Now, John Podesta is here. We were doing a little research the other 
day--this is true; this is not an after-dinner joke--and we discovered 
that in Renaissance Italy, the rulers of the city-states were often 
quite apprehensive that they wouldn't be able to maintain authority. So 
they from time to time hired an enforcer to come in from outside the 
city-state, and the enforcer was called a ``podesta.'' [Laughter] So he 
is well-named. And since then, we have a disproportionate number of 
Italians throughout the White House. Two of them, Karen Tramontano and 
Loretta Ucelli, are here tonight; I thank them for their work.
    I also want to congratulate Tommy Lasorda on the fabulous job he did 
with our baseball team at the Olympics. And congratulations to you, Mr. 
Berra. Your spirit was alive and well at the World Series.
    I want to congratulate the honorees tonight, my good friend Muhammad 
Ali, and Angelo Dundee, Andrea Bocelli, John Paul DeJoria, Joseph 
Nacchio, Miuccia Prada, Dick Vermeil, and my friend of many, many years 
Millard Fuller. Thank you for honoring them, and thank you for all the 
work you do.
    The legacy of Italian-Americans has been celebrated by this 
organization for 25 years now. This is an important milestone for you. I 
know that you have just begun. One of the things I particularly 
appreciate is your interest in one America, trying to reach across the 
cultural divide. Just a couple of nights ago we had a birthday party for 
Hillary up in New York. And Robert De Niro was trying to teach me how to 
``speak New York.'' [Laughter] And I don't know if you saw it, but I was 
really appreciative that he was so generous and understanding of my 
culturally challenged accent. [Laughter]
    So he tried to teach me how to say ``fuggeddaboudit.'' [Laughter] 
And I finally learned, see? [Laughter]
    At the turn of the last century, an Italian-American said, ``I came 
to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got 
here, I found three things: First, the streets weren't paved with gold; 
second, they weren't paved at all; third, I was expected to pave them.'' 
[Laughter]
    In the century that has elapsed, our streets aren't paved with gold 
yet, but our Nation has entered a golden era, thanks in no small part to 
the efforts of Italian-Americans, to your intellect, your industry, your 
goodwill, and above all, your contagious love of life. I must say, I am 
especially grateful for all the opportunities that I have had these last 
8 years to work with not only the Italian-American community but also to 
work with Italy.

[[Page 2673]]

    I thank the Italian Ambassador, whom I'm sure is here tonight, along 
with the other distinguished guests from Italy, for all you have done to 
help make the work of the United States and the world more successful. 
And I thank the Italians who have been with us from the beginning. An 
Italian discovered America; another named it. We have two busts in the 
Blue Room at the White House on the formal State Floor--only two--one of 
Christopher Columbus, one of Amerigo Vespucci, brought here in the early 
1820's by President James Monroe.
    Two Italians signed the Declaration of Independence; thousands 
fought in the Civil War; millions came ashore early in this century, 
fought in our wars, stood with us in the cold war, built the great 
American middle class, and now are leading America into the global 
information age.
    Many Italian-Americans from the beginning excelled in athletics--no 
small number in boxing. I grew up watching Rocky Marciano. There was 
Carmen Basilio, Jake LaMotta, and so many others.
    It is, therefore, altogether fitting that you would give your first 
One America Award to Muhammad Ali. In the ring, he captured the 
imagination of the world with his distinctive fighting style. Before and 
after the fights, he captured the imagination of the world with his 
distinctive speaking style. He's the first fighter ever to win the 
heavyweight title three times. But outside the ring and what he's done 
since, in my mind, are even more impressive: his work for children and 
feeding the hungry and dedicating his life to his faith and his fellow 
human beings.
    I am sure I'm not alone when I say that 4 years ago when Muhammad 
Ali lit the Olympic Torch in Atlanta, it was one of the greatest 
personal thrills I have ever had as an American citizen, and I thank 
you, sir.
    And, of course, he didn't do it alone. In his corner for more than 
four decades was tonight's other nominee, his trainer, the great Angelo 
Dundee. Truly, this Italian-American/African-American team symbolizes 
the one America you believe in. They are an inspiration for the one 
America we all still have to build.
    I am profoundly grateful that the National Italian American 
Foundation has been a vital partner in our administration's efforts to 
do that, with your programs in schools and communities all across 
America. I am especially grateful for your concern for young people. The 
first thing I was asked tonight when I was standing outside waiting to 
come in is whether after my remarks I would walk over and speak to the 
young people who are just a few yards down the way. And I'll be happy to 
do that, because they are your future and mine and ours.
    In the struggle, in the beginning of Italian-American immigrants and 
in the triumphs of Italian-American immigrants we are reminded that our 
diversity is our greatest strength, as long as we celebrate it and 
understand clearly that our common humanity is even more fundamental; 
that our Nation, as ever--indeed, more than ever--is a family of 
immigrants.
    For 8 years now, it has been my great honor, along with Vice 
President Gore, to work to strengthen America's families, to give people 
the tools and create the conditions for a better life. We've tried to do 
that through things like the family and medical leave law, which has now 
given some 22 million Americans a chance to take the time off from work 
when a baby is born or a parent is sick, without losing their jobs; by 
adding 2.5 million children to the ranks of those with health insurance; 
by providing after-school and mentoring programs to a million kids; by 
ending welfare as we knew it, but giving families the support they need 
to succeed as parents as well as workers. It has given us the lowest 
welfare rolls in 32 years, half the size they were in January of '93.
    We did it with the HOPE scholarships and lifetime learning tax 
credit to open the doors of college to all. Ten million American 
families are now benefiting from it, and the college-going rate in 
America is by far the highest it has ever been.
    We have worked hard to strengthen America's families. And, like you, 
we've worked hard to strengthen it by creating one America with the most 
diverse Cabinet and administration appointments in history, with a real 
commitment to empowering those who have too long been left out and left 
behind.

[[Page 2674]]

    When I came here in 1992, it was a very different America. We had a 
troubled economy, a divided society, a paralyzed political system. I 
think it's worth pointing out--because I watched the news tonight on the 
way over, and all the news is about the continuing arguments I'm having 
with the Congress. I never thought I would see a bunch of politicians 
stay in Washington so close to election. And I know that when you see 
this, you must think of one of Mr. Berra's immortal lines, that we may 
be lost, but we're making good time. [Laughter]
    But the truth is, this has actually been quite a productive Congress 
for the American people. We've set aside more land than ever before in 
an act of Congress for all time. We have passed an historic bill that 
I've not yet had the opportunity to sign, but the agreement is there to 
do America's part to relieve the debt for the poorest countries in the 
world, as long as they put the money into education and health care and 
development for their children and the future.
    We have provided an unprecedented outreach to Africa and our 
Caribbean neighbors. It has been a good session of Congress, and they 
are working on an education bill that I think all Americans, without 
regard to party, will be proud of.
    So while we fight and argue--which is, after all, the essence of 
democratic representation--we're actually making a good deal of good 
progress. Today, the American community and the American family is 
stronger than it has ever been.
    I know and you know that many of the social indicators have gotten 
better in no small measure because our economy has been so strong, 
because we have the lowest unemployment in 30 years and the longest 
expansion in history and the lowest poverty in 20 years, the lowest 
minority unemployment ever recorded, and the highest homeownership in 
history. A lot of you deserve a lot of the credit for that. I think 
about that every time I see Mr. Grasso ring the bell down at the Stock 
Exchange.
    But tonight, what I want to say to you is, America's business is not 
done. America's business will never be done. All of you have to decide 
how to vote in the coming election, and I did not come here to discuss 
this. But I will say that I hope that whatever happens, we will make 
decisions consistent with keeping this economy strong, keeping it 
growing, because that is what will enable us to give economic 
opportunity to people and places left behind. That is what will enable 
us to bring health care and education at excellent levels to people who 
still don't have either at the quality they should.
    We have to do the things that immigrants did when they came here. We 
have to forget about short-term gains in time to look for the long run. 
I must say, from time to time, people come up to me, and they ask me, 
``Well, what great, new economic idea did you bring to Washington? How 
did the Government makes its contribution to this boom? What new thing 
did you bring?'' And I always have a one-word answer, ``Arithmetic.'' We 
tried to bring arithmetic back to Washington. And that's how we've 
turned a $290 billion deficit into a $237 billion surplus. That is yours 
now. That is yours now. It belongs to all the American people.
    And what I want to say to you is that never before in my lifetime 
has our Nation enjoyed at once so much economic prosperity and social 
progress with the absence of domestic crisis or foreign threat to our 
security. Therefore, never before in our lifetime have we had a chance 
like this to build the future of our dreams for our children. There are 
big challenges out there. How are we going to handle the aging of 
America? When all us baby boomers retire, there will only be two people 
working for every one person on Social Security. That is, unless we can 
get even more immigrants into the country and treat them more fairly 
than we treat some of our legal immigrants today, I might add, something 
I'm trying to correct in the closing days of this Congress.
    We have the largest and most diverse school population in history. 
How shall we guarantee them all excellence in education? We've just been 
through a little bit of an energy scare. But we know that the 
development of new technologies on the horizon--and, in some cases, 
already on the shelf--could dramatically alter our future in ways that 
would strengthen our economy. Will we have the will and vision to do 
that?

[[Page 2675]]

    General Motors announced just last week that their efforts, through 
our Partnership For the Next Generation Vehicles, which the Vice 
President and I have been working on for 8 years, have given them a car 
that gets 80 miles to the gallon. I signed today the research budget for 
the Agriculture Department--listen to this--which involves funds where 
they're trying to figure out how to make ethanol and other biomass fuels 
from gasoline. Today, the problem with that is, it takes 7 gallons of 
gas to make 8 gallons of ethanol. But the chemists are on the verge of 
discovering how to make 8 gallons of ethanol with 1 gallon of gas, and 
when that happens, you will be getting the equivalent of 500 miles to 
the gallon.
    All of this is out there. The young women in the audience who are 
still in their child-bearing years, within 5 to 10 years, will be 
bringing babies home from the hospital, thanks to the human genome 
project, who will have a life expectancy of 90 years. We will see the 
cure--in the lifetime of virtually everybody in this audience, we will 
see cures for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. We may even see people be 
able to--the scientists be able to reverse Alzheimer's.
    Digital chips now can be implanted deep into the ear canals of 
profoundly deaf people and they can hear. And they believe, the 
scientists do, that soon they will be able to implant them into the 
spinal cord of profoundly injured people, and they will be able to get 
up and walk. The future is incredible out there, and I am very grateful 
that I have had the chance to serve at this time.
    But what I want to say to all of you is, this country, as always, 
belongs to the people. It may not always be clear, except at election 
time when everybody's vote counts exactly the same. But every day, in 
every way, the greatness of America fundamentally depends upon the 
people and our belief that everybody deserves a chance, and we all do 
better when we help each other, that there should be opportunity for 
every responsible citizen, but in the end, we must be one community. 
That's what this foundation has been all about. That's what your One 
America Award is all about.
    And I have to tell you today, if someone were to give me one wish, 
it would be that, somehow, America would find a way out of the thicket 
that so bedevils people everywhere. [Inaudible]--we're still fighting in 
this most modern of age over the most ancient of demons: the fear of 
those who are different from us. It is the source of anxiety in the 
country from which my ancestors hail, Ireland, where we've made a lot of 
progress on the peace process, but it's not completely finished yet. It 
is the heartbreaking source of this upsurge in violence in the Middle 
East after over 7 years of working together--people that know each other 
by their first name, know their children, know their grandchildren, all 
of a sudden at each other's throats again, almost in the blink of an 
eye, both sides shaking their heads, wondering how it could have 
happened.
    It was the source of all that awful tribal warfare in Africa and the 
ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo, which--thank God--has come to an 
end because the United States, with our allies--Italy and our other 
allies in NATO--stood up against it, and then the people of Serbia 
finally threw off the shackles of Mr. Milosevic and decided to vote for 
the rule of law over the rule of hatred.
    Now, I say all this because I really believe that in the new 
century, in order for America do to good around the world, we must first 
be good at home. And we must say we're not going to let the lines that 
divide us tear us apart as long as we share a common commitment to a 
law-abiding, cooperative future. That's why I support the hate crimes 
legislation and the employment nondiscrimination legislation and the 
equal pay legislation for women--because I believe they symbolize those 
kinds of things.
    But the larger point is the one I want to make. We're about to give 
an award to Muhammad Ali and Angelo Dundee. But all across America 
today, in little play yards and dusty rural roads, there are young 
people with their dreams. Some are of European descent; some are 
African-American; some are Hispanic; more and more are Asian. They're 
from everywhere.
    Just across the river here in the Alexandria school district, there 
are people, children, from 180 different racial and ethnic groups. Their 
parents speak over 100 different languages. So when we say we're a 
nation of

[[Page 2676]]

immigrants, we have to also say, but we're one nation, determined to 
build one family, determined to make the decisions today with discipline 
to preserve the future for tomorrow, and determined to give all these 
kids a chance to live their dreams.
    Not every child can be a Muhammad Ali, a Yogi Berra, an Andrea 
Bocelli. But every child can serve in the way that Millard Fuller has 
served, and every child can learn to respect his or her own heritage and 
faith and ethnic or racial background, but also those of every other 
American. That is the genius of America. That is the soul of the 
justification for this award you give.
    It has been a profound honor for me to be able to come here 
representing the people of the United States these last 8 years. I have 
loved the work; I've even liked the fight. But more importantly, I have 
just loved seeing Americans pull together, move forward, and believe in 
each other again. Whatever happens, no matter what comes to this 
country, don't you ever let that change. As long as it doesn't, our best 
days will always still be ahead.
    Thank you very much.
    Thank you. Now, I have the honor to present Muhammad Ali and Angelo 
Dundee with this first-ever One America award. And I ask Angelo and Mrs. 
Ali to come up here. Let's give them a big hand. [Applause]
    Thank you.

 Note:  The President spoke at 10:06 p.m. at the Washington Hilton 
Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Frank J. Guarini, chairman, 
Gerladine Ferraro, board member, and Joseph R. Cerrell, president, 
National Italian American Foundation; Richard Grasso, chairman and chief 
executive, New York Stock Exchange; U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Peter F. 
Tufo; U.S. Ambassador to Romania James C. Rosapepe; Tommy Lasorda, 
manager, 2000 U.S<ls-thn-eq> Olympic baseball team; former professional 
baseball player Yogi Berra; Mr. Ali's wife, Lonnie; tenor Andrea 
Bocelli; John Paul DeJoria, chairman, John Paul Mitchell Systems; Joseph 
P, Nacchio, chairman and chief executive officer, Qwest Communications 
International; fashion designer Miuccia Prada; former professional 
football head coach Dick Vermeil; Millard Fuller, founder and president, 
Habitat for Humanity International; actor Robert De Niro; Italian 
Ambassador to the U.S<ls-thn-eq> Ferdinando Salleo; former boxing 
champions Carmen Basilio and Jake LaMotta; and former President of the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) Slobodan 
Milosevic.