Bill Clinton: “Ladies and gentlemen, let me say a special welcome to all of you, especially to our distinguished guests from overseas…”

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me say a special welcome to all of you, especially to our distinguished guests from overseas, to the Members of Congress, and of course, particularly to the members of the Fulbright family, to Harriet and to Betsey and Bosey and Tad. We're delighted to have all of you here tonight. Hillary and I have looked forward for some time to celebrating this 50th anniversary of the Fulbright program, to honor the dream and legacy of a great American, a citizen of the world, a native of my home State, and my mentor and friend, Senator Fulbright--a man who understood, long before others did, that the only way we could ever have peace in the world was by increasing understanding among people, by the open trading of ideas and knowledge and world views and friendships as well as goods and services. Those of us who shared his roots in the Arkansas Ozarks owe him a special debt of gratitude. His vision and brilliance and the power of his example said to a whole generation of us who were landlocked--and most of us had never been very far from home by the time we were nearly grown--that we could still imagine a world beyond the borders of our State and relate to it, to participate in it, that we needed to understand that world, and that perhaps we had something to give to it.…”