Bill Clinton: “this is such a happy occasion and I am delighted that so many of you who know the importance of this extraordinary…”

“this is such a happy occasion and I am delighted that so many of you who know the importance of this extraordinary artist-citizen's work could join us. I want to thank Speaker Hastert and Senator Stevens, as well as our leaders in the Senate, Senator Frist and Senator Reid, my colleague Senator Enzi, Congressmen Pascrell and Bilirakis, and of course Ambassador Boggs. It is so wonderful that we are here in this historic building, where Americans can see the best of our democracy in action. I often just shake my head and wonder as I walk through the Capitol--its beauty, its iconic power really defy my attempts at articulation. More than any other building, it is the exterior of the Capitol that we associate with the freedoms, values, and privileges of American citizenship. But on the inside we tell so many stories about who we are as a people, what our aspirations and our dreams might be. Constantino Brumidi was 47 years old, a painter, when he came to our shores. As is often the case with the immigrant experience, he landed here with nothing but a dream, and within a relatively short period of years he was here at the Capitol, using his talent and the great tradition that he exalted, to turn the interior of our Capitol into something much more alive and real than just the walls and the columns that held it up. He had a Greek father, an Italian mother; some might very well say the best of both worlds.…”