Bill Clinton: “of Italy May 6, 1998 Good evening, and welcome to the White House, Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Prodi, distinguished members…”

“of Italy May 6, 1998 Good evening, and welcome to the White House, Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Prodi, distinguished members of the Italian delegation, my fellow Americans. Mr. Prime Minister, today we accomplished a great deal. Tonight we celebrate the ties that bind us. Those ties begin with the discoveries of Columbus and Vespucci, whose busts adorn the Blue Room next door. When the Founders created the American Republic, they looked to Rome for inspiration. George Washington was likened to Cincinnatus, the Roman hero who abandoned his plow to rescue his country by popular demand. I might say, they were the last two people to head our countries only by popular demand. [Laughter] Poets and philosophers of the Roman Republic were read and rejuvenated as our new Republic looked to the past to plan our future. In the writings of ancient Roman thinkers like Cicero and Cato, America's Founders saw the promise of democratic representative government. Every aspect of our new Republic paid tribute to the simple grandeur of Rome: from our architecture to words like ``senate'' and ``capitol.'' Indeed, after our Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what our Founders had produced. His simple reply was, ``A Republic, sir, if you can keep it.'' Towns sprang up with the names from the ancient Mediterranean world, names like Utica, Troy, or the Vice President's hometown, Carthage.…”