 Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice President of the United States and Mrs. George Bush. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce the Presidential Escorts who will escort them. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing in our beloved United States and as we listen to our nation's leaders to remember our roots and to share our hopes. Before the invocation, after a long and courageous struggle against cancer, we mark his passing with feelings of deep sadness but with genuine gratitude for all he meant to us, Geno Barone. His son of Italy and of America, from the cold fields of Pennsylvania, touched millions. He served the powerless and challenged the powerful. He was so proud of his Italian roots and so loyal to his heritage. He was a friend and inspiration to many in this room. We are sad tonight for his passing. We have been enriched by the values he taught us, but most of all we are immensely proud he was one of us. We pledge to each other and to the Barone family who are with us tonight that we will not forget what he taught us about compassion and community. Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro and Mr. John Zaccaro. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, the Honorable Ronald Reagan. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Frank. Thank you very much. Mr. Toastmaster, Reverend Clergy, and all of you, I'm very happy to be here with all of you. In fact, let me try this. Sono molto contento di essere qui. And I, too, would like to extend an official welcome to our honored guest from Italy who were with us here this evening. As I look out at all of you here this evening, I can't help but think that you're a living affirmation of the sometimes desperate dreams of those world changers who came here and invented America. I say desperate dreams because those who traveled here by wind-driven ship or by steamer wouldn't have been making that terrible journey unless they were in search of something that had eluded them at home. Economic opportunity or personal freedom were a chance to make one's mark. The Italian-American experience was never an easy one, but it was one of great triumph. Italians, of course, made their mark on this country early on. An Italian found it. It was named for an Italian, and it was explored by Italians. But after that came the immigrants, and it wasn't easy for them. The Jews of the Borroling ghettos, the Irish living tend to a room in Boston, and the Italians looking for work in Philadelphia all shared some rough beginnings. But what distinguished these groups of immigrants is that they yielded more than their share of genius. In fact, you might say that Ellis Island was one big incubator for American greatness. All of the immigrants, and certainly the Italians, changed our country by adding, too, the sum total of what we are. They did not take from. They added, too. The Italians did it by hard work. They went to New Orleans and became longshoremen and fishermen. In Washington and Oregon, in my home state of California, they started out as hired hands and eventually built up their own farms. In Pennsylvania, they took the heavy lifting jobs, the manual labor. In New York, Chicago and Boston, they opened barber shops, fruit stands, restaurants, and eventually small banks. These immigrants were guided by habits, principles, and traditions that they took from the old country and transplanted here. They believed in the central importance of the family, the dignity of hard work, and faith in a just God who would reward effort and encourage virtue. They stayed in America, worked hard, and little by little secured the things that eluded them. They became the backbone of the American middle class. Many of them went on to great achievements and to fulfill the desperate dreams of their fathers and grandfathers, their mothers and grandmothers. I was told the other day about one family that had done especially well by the way. It was a few years ago and they moved out of their apartment in the city into a big house out on Long Island. And a friend said to the 12-year-old son, how do you like your new house? And he said, oh, we love it. I have my own room. My brother has his own room. My sisters have their own rooms. Poor mom, she's still in with dad. I want to add that the thing I like about Italian American families is that no matter how many rooms they have, they're always together. The family bond is strong and loving. There are numerous examples, of course, of Italian American triumphs. Many of them are sitting here on this dais. One of them was recently chosen to be the vice presidential candidate of her party. And I understand the pride that all of you feel. And Congresswoman Ferraro, all I can say is, and here I go again, congratulazoni. Monsignor Gino Barone used to say, there are only two lasting things we can leave our children. One is roots, the other is wings. And what can we do these days to make sure that our children are given both? And what can we do to ensure that all of the immigrant sons and daughters of our country have the same chance to prosper as the sons and daughters of Italy have? My views on these things I think are well known. We believe that the Italian traditions of faith and family, the dignity of work, and the importance of effort should be encouraged. And that's why we've tried to gear so many of our efforts toward the family, the prime generator of life and human virtues. We believe that protecting economic freedom means fighting inflation with unrelenting determination for inflation is the deadliest tax of all. Because we believe in justice, we've tried to make society a safer place. We believe that families have the right to take a walk together in a park in the dark in a city without having to fear for their lives. They pay taxes for that right, but violent crime has deprived them of it. We're tough on crime and we think we must be. Victims have their rights and always will and always must. But victims and potential victims too have their rights and we've tried very hard to make sure those rights are respected. Let me add here that in the area of organized crime and drug trafficking, our government and the government of Italy have formed an extraordinary joint working group. Representatives of Italy's Interior Ministry will be in Washington soon for intensive high level meetings with the Justice Department. The Italian government's cooperation on this matter has been complete and I believe the working group is another reflection of the excellent relations that exist between our two countries. Italy by the way deserves a lot of credit and the thanks of the world for its heroic efforts to fight crime and domestic political terrorism. All of us remember that day in 1982 when Italy liberated General James Dozier from the hands of the Red Brigades. The courage of the Italian forces took our breath away and I had the pleasure in Rome of meeting the young men that finally broke through that last door in the face of the enemy guns and affected the rescue and I want to tell you I'd feel you could send them to do some very tough jobs without arms. They were the most capable young men I've seen in a long time. Italy has been very effective in this fight and they're setting an example for the world. We believe in the neighborhood. We believe that the closer political power is to the people it affects the better it will be wielded. We believe that human experience has taught us that local control is an integral part of political freedom and we believe finally that the first and last key to making sure America will always be a haven for the immigrants who've enriched it is to ensure the peace and to ensure the peace we must remain militarily strong. Down through our history most American presidents have understood this. Our friends know well something that we know and something that our adversaries know. America can be trusted with military might. We don't like war. We never have. We're not an expansionist country or an imperialist country. We seek only to protect, never to act as the aggressor. Our nation must always remain what God in his wisdom intended it to be a refuge, a place of safe haven for those looking for the human rights that have eluded them in the place of their birth. And it must always be a place of limitless opportunity for the children and grandchildren of the dreamers who journeyed here. If we keep these things in mind then truly the children of the future will have both roots and wings and the dream will endure. Before I leave you tonight I want to add just one more thing. Decades and decades back there was an Italian immigrant who came to America and he started a family and worked hard and raised his children as best he could. One of his sons became a milkman. He too worked hard and married and had a family. And then the male man, or the milkman I should say, raised his children as he had been raised. They were taught to respect honesty, decency, and hard work. They struggled to make ends meet. All of the money went to the education of their children. They put one son through college and when he said he wanted to be a doctor they put him through medical school. Because of their diligence the son became a prominent surgeon in a great hospital. One day that surgeon, that son of a milkman, saved the life of a president of the United States who had been shot. I know this story because I was the patient. Dr. Joseph Giordano is the surgeon. The hero of the story is Joseph Giordano Sr., retired milkman and inheritor of the Italian American tradition. I have thanked Giordano's but I've not had a chance to personally thank a group like this for all that you've done to keep the tradition alive. And so, grazie. Thank you all very much. God bless you. Ladies and gentlemen in about, please be seated. In about 20 seconds I will be introducing Bishop Bevilacqua to deliver the benediction.