 public band, play the national anthem of the Republic of France. President Mitterrand, Madam Mitterrand, distinguished guests and fellow Americans. As Secretary of Transportation, it is the restored Statue of Liberty, the symbol of freedom and hope for all mankind. The statue has particular relevance to the many immigrants whose first glimpse of America was the sight of that towering cathedral to liberty, that monument to hope, future generations, by remaining strong as a nation, by making plain our determination never to let our freedoms slip away. From school kids, from companies and civic groups, from people in Europe and from people behind the iron curtain, even from Vietnamese boat people. It came to help thank you on behalf of all of America. President Mitterrand, John Wearr, the leader of the French workers, said his countrymen understood. After all, he asked, how would Frenchmen feel if Americans showed up to help restore the Eiffel Tower? But as the people of France, this statue came from their pockets and from their hearts. The French workers, too, made discoveries. Monsieur Wearr, for example, normally lives in a 150-year-old cottage in a small French town. But for the last year, he's been riding the subway through Brooklyn. A study in contrast, he said. Contrast indeed. But he has also told the newspapers that he and his countrymen learned something else at Liberty Island. Irish, Russian, Polish, and Indian backgrounds. Fascinating, he said, to see different ethnic and national types work and live so well together that people of every nation could live together as one. It's especially from the French and American people have forged a special friendship over the course of two centuries. Yes, in the 1700s, France was the midwife of Ireland. And yet, my fellow Americans, it is not only the friendship of two peoples, but the friendship I thought about my grandfathers coming through here. And which of us does not think of other grandfathers? Look up. She was beautiful. Another talked of how all the passengers rushed to one side of the boat for a fast look at their new home, the whole boat bent toward her. She was beautiful with the early morning light. The millionaire captain of artillery described how on a troopship returning from France, even the most hard-bitten veteran had trouble blinking back the tears, wrote to his fiancee, Bess, back in Independence, Missouri, as the Liberty Lady in New York Harbor. And that's why tonight we celebrate this everybody's gal. We sometimes forget that even those who came here first to settle the new land were also strangers. I've spoken before of the tiny Arabella. The eyes of all the world were upon them, and that they must not forsake the mission that got under the nations of all the world, a shining city upon a hill. Call it mysticism, if you will. I'll shortly cast its glow upon her as it has upon us for two centuries, keeping faith with a dream of long ago, and guiding millions still to a future of peace and freedom. Thank you, and God bless you all. He had a tender age, and an attacker polio when he was four did nothing to diminish it. Making parents, Kenneth Clark immigrated to New York's Harlem in 19th century. His work was one of the main contributing factors to the eradication of that deadly disease around the world. At 80, he still actively crusades for causes that benefit mankind. The Medal of Liberty is awarded tonight to Dr. Albert Sain. In 1945, Anne Wong began a career... ...of this historic occasion. I know that... Many of them passed through this harbor, went by this lady, looked up at her torch, which would light the night in their honor. They were the men and women who labored all their lives so that their children would be well-fed, clothed and educated. The families that went through great hardship yet kept their honor, their dignity and their faith in God. They passed on to their children those values. Values that define civilization and other prerequisites of human progress. They worked in our factories, on ships and railroads, in stores and on road construction crews. They were teachers, lumberjacks, seamstresses and journalists. They came from every land. What was it that tied these profoundly different people together? What was it that made them not a gathering of individuals, but a nation? That bond that held them together as it holds us together tonight? That bond that has stood every test and travail is found deep in our national consciousness. An abiding love of liberty. For love of liberty, our forebears, columnists, few in number and with little detentions, and themselves fought a war for independence with what was then the world's most powerful empire. For love of liberty, those who came before us tamed of vast wilderness and brave hardships which at times were beyond the limits of human endurance. For love of liberty, a bloody and heart-wrenching civil war was fought. And for love of liberty, Americans championed and still championed even in times of peril the cause of human freedom in far-off lands. A God who gave us life, Thomas Jefferson once proclaimed, gave us liberty at the same time. But like all of God's precious gifts, liberty must never be taken for granted. Tonight, we thank God for the many blessings He has bestowed on our land. We affirm our faithfulness in His rule and to our own ideals. And we pledge to keep all alive the dream that brought our forefathers and mothers to this brave new land. On this theme, the poet Emmett Lazarus, moved by this unique symbol of the love of liberty, wrote a very special dedication a hundred years ago. The last few lines are ones we know so well. Set to the music of Irving Berlin, they take on tonight a special meaning. And so, with joy and celebration, and with a prayer that this lamp shall never be extinguished, I ask that you all join me in this symbolic act of faith, this lighting of Miss Liberty's torch.