 United States and Mrs. Reagan accompanied by Senator and Mrs. Robert Dole. Let us pray, Redeemer, we give you thanks for risk takers, for those who offer themselves in elections, who open themselves to setbacks and defeat as well as to celebration and victory, for those who seek office knowing that public acclaim is always mixed with public criticism. We are thankful for President Reagan and Mrs. Reagan, for what they have given to our nation these past eight years, and we ask your blessing on them as they leave Washington and continue in new ways to make their contributions to a better country and a better world. We are thankful for George Bush and Barbara, for the strength you gave them during the long months of the campaign. Pray your guidance for them in the challenging years that lie ahead. We're thankful especially for our brother Dan Quayle, for the courage he showed during these past months of trial. And we ask that he might have a continuing sense of the pride we have in him, the pain we shared with him, the love we have for him. For all of us who serve in public life, we pray that the risks we take and the sacrifices we make be in the furtherance not of our own glory, but of your glory and your kingdom. We ask your blessing on this sustaining gift of food, that we might be strengthened by it for your service and for the service of your children everywhere. Amen. Very much. We thank you for that fine music. We may run a little over 9.30 Central Time. It's going to be 9.30 somewhere when we finish. But in any event, it's a great honor to be here and a great honor to see many of our former colleagues. And I'm very proud that many of our cabinet officers are here. And I'd like to just recognize, as they came in, not in order of their importance, but I always think of the Secretary of Transportation first, Jim Burnley. Secretary, Mrs. Gavasos, Laura Werner. Secretary, McLaughlin's here somewhere. Oh, there you are. John is in Czechoslovakia. Is he coming back? Yeah. John Harrington, Secretary of Energy. And Mrs. Harrington, Lois, our good friend, former Senator and now Treasury Secretary Nick Brady and Mrs. Brady. And Secretary Otis Bohen, HHS. I would like to just take one other moment before I introduce Senator Thurman, those colleagues who are joining us and be working with us in the 101st Congress. First of all, our returning Senator, Senator Slade Gordon. Elected Mrs. Bush, my fellow colleagues in the Senate and other distinguished guests. I'm very honored to be here this evening and I want to present some watches to our Senators who are leaving. Senator Wyca and Senator Stafford could not be here. I understand their last votes were not conserved, so nothing inside not to come. Rose Mayer, by your side. Send her ahead of me, Strom. Don't let these consultants bring you good luck as long as you live. You've made a fine Senator. We're proud of you and good luck to you. The way you've been told those bills are still thank you. The finest person has been here in 34 years. I didn't want Senator Thurman to have a major role this evening. I think Rudy Bosch, which is the Senatorial Campaign Committee for sponsoring this event, in case Rudy didn't know it, and we appreciate it very much, Rudy. We certainly want to welcome our colleague, his wife, Marilyn, Dan, Vice President-elect, don't know what to call you these days, Senator Vice President-elect, colleague, and my good friend, George Bush, have had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with him in just the last 24 hours, George. What are you doing tomorrow morning? And his lovely wife, Barbara, are going to make a great President. We're very proud of you. But this is the night we honor the President. And Mr. President, we're gathered together tonight at one of those moments that we're going to remember forever. It's a punctuation point in our lives. It's an end to a chapter in our history. It's a time when we realize that we are all older, if not wiser. A time we understand once again that many are called but few answer. It's a time when we look ahead and see that thanks to you, our party still holds the destiny of the country in its hands. But as we gather here together, we also look back on the great triumphs you led us to in the past. And we count ourselves fortunate to have served with you at a great moment in America's history. Mr. President, a moment that the men and women of this country will remember with special respect as long as they care about their country. And many of us in this room had served in Congress before you came to Washington. And we all sensed the change immediately. We all knew this was a different kind of President. A President knew that there was a difference between leadership and mere office holding. A President who came to power in a dark time but knew that it was really mourning in America. A President who with his charming, courageous, and insightful wife and a wonderful First Lady would give this town a touch of class. We knew immediately that this was not an ordinary man, but rather a man who had a rendezvous with destiny and it would not shrink from that appointment. It was not an easy course you chose, Mr. President, but you forged ahead. And we were fortunate to be on your side. You conscripted us into your army. You gave the order. And up the hill we went, flags flying, swords shining. And following your lead, we made it to the top too with some legislative achievements that will always stand as landmarks in the years to come. We passed a tax cut that gave our economy a chance to flourish once again. We rebuilt America's defenses and got this country up off its knees. And we're proud to have been your advance guard in these and other accomplishments, Mr. President. And we're proud to have been the rough riders in the Reagan Revolution. And there were great moments in those first six years when you looked to us, your Republican majority, to move the agenda. And there have been a great many moments since then. But what has endured during both your terms and will endure as long as any of us have memory is the special relationship that has always existed between us and you. It is this that we will cherish in the years ahead. It is the way you bound us to your own destiny and gave us all a shared fate that will lead us always to think of ourselves in Shakespeare's words as we few, we happy few, we band of brothers. And soon you will leave and we will remain behind. We stay on to do the nation's work and also to protect your legacy and extend it to the future. In the days ahead, we will always be ready to beat back those who would destroy the great landmarks we have built together. We will always be ready to win one more for the Gipper. And we know too that you're... So as you go, you take our appreciation, our admiration and above all our prayers. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you, Bob. And thank you all very much. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed dinner tonight. At the White House, we're still eating leftover turkey. But really tonight means a lot to Nancy and me. To be here with all of you, to think that all we've done, what a team we've been and what a time this has been. My friends, we need have no regrets. We deserve to be proud. Day in and day out, you faced the opposition and fought the tough battles. In fact, when I told Bob Hope I was coming here tonight, he thought I was to do a USO show. And I want to also salute the Senate spouses. Between the considerable work that you do and your campaign efforts and the terrible work hours those senators keep, I think you, the spouses, have been nothing less than valiant. Now I must say I wish we could have regained control of this body. I think you all know the difference between a Republican Senate and a Democratic Senate. It's the difference between a supermajority and a simple majority. I'd better just let you think about that one. But I believe that it won't be too long before the Republicans win control of the Congress the same way we keep winning the White House. And sooner or later the other party is going to have to take the hint and put themselves out of their misery. But no, it's kind of like the story they tell about the great French writer Alexandre Dumas. They say that he and another fellow had a terrible dispute that they could only be settled by a duel. The two men were both such good marksmen that they agreed to draw straws and the loser would shoot himself. Well, Dumas drew the short straw, so he took his gun, closed the door, and then a single shot rang and the people rushed to look into the room. And there was Dumas standing there holding the gun in his hand. Gentlemen, he said, a remarkable thing has just happened. I missed. Well, to those just elected to the Senate and I worked with most of you in the past, it was great to see you along the campaign trail. We're so glad you made it and I know that great things lie in store for you. To those of you who are leaving office, let me say again, thank you. Life is a book with many chapters. You have written great things in that book which no one can erase and your greatest chapters still lie ahead. And to all of you who will continue to serve in this great body, the foundation of our great republic, I know that you will continue to do honor to America and that you will give George Bush the same friendship, support, and solidarity that you gave me. And really what you've done has been much more than that. Eight years ago you and I formed a partnership, a partnership dedicated to restoring America to its full greatness. No one of us could have done it alone. And had we been divided, we would have failed. But together, with the leadership, courage, and unity of the Senate Republicans, we have succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. And for what each of you have done, you have my personal gratitude and that of a grateful nation. And I want to say a special thank you to a good friend, Bob Dole, a man who I've come to know so well. He's a man so widely respected and admired that even senators on the other side of the aisle routinely steal his jokes. But his title of leader is not just a job title, it's a description of the man and no one has served his country with more loyalty and dedication than he has. I've relied on Bob Dole's help and counsel since I took office and he's never let me down. Let me just say again, Bob, thank you. As I prepare to return to California, nothing has met so much to me as the knowledge that Bob Dole and George Bush and Dan Quayle, each one of you and our whole Republican team, will be working together for the values we share and the future that stands before us. We're counting on you to help secure for our children the brightest future the world has ever known, to help keep a promise that is as old as this land we love and as big as the sky. It's the American vision of creating a new nation of free people, a country that would be a light under the nations and a shining city upon a hill. It is that vision that brought each one of us here to Washington and I know that you each will keep faith with that great American dream that burns within our souls and within the soul of every American. Nancy and I will never forget you and what you have meant to us. You've been good friends, you've served America with honor, you've made me proud of our party and if you ever find yourself driving down the Pacific Coast highway, I hope you'll come on by because up at Rancho del Cielo where the mountains meet the sky, you have a friend. All I can say and mean with all my heart is, thank you all and God bless you all. President McGinn, thank you very much and our final order of business is to present a gift to the president. We wanted to give you something to remember us when you're back in California on the ranch. So on behalf of my colleagues, I'd like to present you with this industrial strength weed wacker. It's a high tech, now he doesn't go with the, that's David Taylor, he stays but the weed wacker goes and let me tell you about this device. It's a high tech top secret device that can be used to clear out weeds, rattlesnakes, desperadoes and Democrats. Mr. President, you may know it by its code name S-D-I, sagebrush destruction inducer. And I might say the inscription on the back, reads and we can't see the back, eight grade years Republican Senator Salute Ronald Reagan, November 29, 1988. And having said that I would now propose a toast to the president of the United States. Thank you very much, that concludes the evening. Thank you.