 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan. Ladies and gentlemen, the number one legionnaire, a life member of Pacific Palisades Post from the Department of California, the President of the United States. Thank you very much. Hello veterans and your ladies and thank you for allowing Nancy and me to interrupt your evening here for just a few minutes. It is for only a few minutes because I understand on the logistics they've gotten for our schedule tonight that if we get in and out of each one of the parties in 10 minutes, it will only take us four and a half hours. But this is number one and in more ways than one. I have been told that you are honoring here tonight, as well any of us should, our Congressional Medal of Honor winners. And when I think of them, I remember a story I read once and it was actually a novel written by James Warner Bella who used to write those great cavalry Indian pictures that John Ford and John Wayne would do. He was called the Kipling of America for writing of that great era in American history. But I remembered in this one story, he had troops, cavalry detachment out, the war party and so forth. And the commanding officer fell mortally wounded and he called the next in command over who was to take over. And the lines I've never forgotten. He said to him, as he was dying, there may be only one time, one moment in your life when you will be called upon to do the nasty thing that has to be done when you are the only one that can serve your country in that moment. He said, do it or the taste will be forever ashes in your mouth. The men you honor tonight have no taste of ashes in their mouths. And because there were men and there are men today in this land of ours who are willing to do that thing that only they are in a position to do, that we're able to meet as we meet tonight. We're able to have a day in which we continue 200 years of an orderly exchange of leadership and reins of authority in our government without military overthrow or force or violence, that we're able to still breathe free. And God help us. That must always remain when Alexander Hague in the hearing the other day before the Senate committee said and said with no uncertainty, there are things for which we must be willing to fight. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, Nancy and son Mike, his wife Colleen. We're delighted to be here. I know that it can only be for a few minutes because there are 10 of these and we're going to get to all of them. And the fellows that are engineering getting us around say it's only going to take four and a half hours. But we're delighted to be here and thank all of you for your being here. I think you might like to have a little news bulletin. I have just learned that the planes have landed in Algiers 50-52 and I just won't call them hostages. They were prisoners of war, but they are all pale and hearty and are now, and you can imagine their happiness, they're preparing to board the American planes for the last leg of the trip to Eastbound. I thought I thought you'd like to like to hear that. You know, thanks to Bob Gray who introduced me here and to Charlie Wick, the two of them as co-chairman of this inaugural. You agree that it's been a pretty fine inaugural so far. I think it's been wonderful right down to those beautiful fireworks tonight that I hope you saw. And incidentally the Christmas tree lights have gone on. But almost 200 years ago at the first inaugural, people came by stagecoach. This time people all over America. Millions of people are attending this one by satellite because in addition to these 10 balls here in Washington, there are in the neighborhood of a hundred going on in various cities throughout the United States and they are receiving, participating in these balls by large screen television that is being bounced off the satellite to them. And in each one of those cities, all of the proceeds are going to the charity of the choice of that community in their own community going to charity. So again, I know we have to move on, but Nancy and I again just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This has been a wonderful day. Thank you very much. Thank you. You ladies and gentlemen, we're so happy to be here. It's your number seven so far. No, number eight. And they they tell us that by the time we complete the circuit, it will have taken about four hours and a half. But now speaking of time, I have been figuring that I could take advantage of these meetings to give you a little update on the news. I think you will be happy to know and all evening I've been refusing to call them hostages. I refer to them as prisoners of war, but you'll be happy to know that they are just roughly they're in the American plains and roughly only an hour and a half away from touchdown in V spot in Germany. Maybe you've been in here and so you haven't noticed. But that tree in Washington that hasn't been lighted for two years, the lights are on now. This is so wonderful to to see all of you and to have a chance to thank you. The there is another thing that's unusual. Thanks to these chairman that I have just spoken of and how hard they have worked and all of this inaugural. Almost 200 years ago, there was an inauguration of the first president of the United States and the people who came to that one inaugural ball and that inaugural ceremony came on horseback or by stagecoach. Tonight, there are people all over America who are attending these balls by satellite, including in Paris, even Americans there by closed circuit, big screen television in somewhere near 100 cities. There are people who are dancing to and hearing the same music that you are listening to that are joining you and seeing all of you on that screen. Taking turns are there. The program is taking turns dropping in it at each of the of the separate balls that are being held here. And in each of those communities, the proceeds are going to the charities that they have chosen in their own communities that they should go to. And I think there's some kind of symbolic in that. Here we are on the first night and there are communities that are keeping their money at home. We're going to do our best to see that the idea catches on. But I know we only have a few moments because as I told you, we're on quite a circuit. But this morning, it wasn't too easy to see you. You were quite a distance away. It's wonderful to be able to see you up close because you reinforce my own belief in my own words more and more as I see you here. That together, we're going to do the things that have to be done. Thank you all very much. God bless you.