 Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're here for the signing of the proclamation with regard to Columbus Day, and I'm delighted that here on the platform with us, we have the Italian Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Ronaldo Petrinane, Ambassador Jose Lado, the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, and I think we all of us understand the connection between Spain and Italy with regard to Columbus Day. At Distella, the President of the National Italian American Foundation, Donald J. Senezi, President of Emerito, and who is also our Assistant Secretary of Education, and Anthony Giampapa, Vice President of UNICO, and Mr. Aldo Cairo, President of the Sons of Italy. You know, just the other day, I learned that the Marine Band, which is known as the President's Own, and makes me very proud to be able to say that because it is one of the great concert bands in the world, but it also has some Italian blood in its background. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson was not pleased with the Marine Band that he found at the White House when he arrived as President, and Jefferson told the Marine Commandant that he should look for musicians in Italy, which was noted then as now for its musical talent. And the Commandant, taking Mr. Jefferson's remarks as an order, sent a representative to Italy where the fellow persuaded Italian musicians of all ages to join the Marines and return with him to America. And this Italian excellence has been the standard for the band ever since. And I can tell you that even after 183 years, the band hasn't lost its Italian love and heart for music. Incidentally, that same search continues to later days. I knew a man in Hollywood when I was there, who was an actor only long enough to save money so that he could study for his chosen career, which was opera. And having enough money, he left Hollywood and went to Milan, Italy. And there he studied for two years and finally received that great honor was invited to sing at La Scala, the very spiritual fountainhead of opera. They were doing Pagliacci and he sang the beautiful aria Vesti La Giuba. And when he had finished singing, the applause from the orchestra seats and the galleries and the balconies were so sustained and so thunderous that they couldn't continue the opera until he stepped back and repeated the aria as an encore. And again, the same sustained and thunderous applause. And again, he sang Vesti La Giuba. And finally, he motioned for quiet and he said, I have sung Vesti La Giuba now nine times. He said, my voice is gone. I cannot sing it again. And a voice from the balcony says you will do it till you get it right. But if I'd have thought of all of this sooner, I would have had that marine band come to play for us today because we really should have music because this is not just a solemn proclamation signing. It's a celebration of what the great mariner Christopher Columbus accomplished. And in recent years, Columbus Day has also become a day to celebrate what Italian Americans have accomplished. Columbus is symbolic of the millions of Italians who've come to the new world since its discovery. They too possessed courage and they too sought opportunity and endured hardship for many their journey was just as personally demanding as the one that Columbus undertook. I remember John Volpe telling me that it took his parents six weeks to cross the Atlantic in steerage and all they had was a battered suitcase when they arrived. Our immigrant ancestors worked long and hard. They adhered to solid decent values and they consequently prospered. Today, if it were not for a rightful pride of heritage, there would be no reason to identify Italian Americans as any kind of separate ethnic group for Italian Americans are integrated into every aspect of American life, business, labor, arts, the professions, as well as high posts in this administration. Indeed, time would not permit me to list those who are here as a part of this administration. And I'm going to sign the proclamation now. But as I sign it, I am commemorating not only the great navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus, but those who centuries later followed him to the new world and helped make this the great nation that it is today. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, thank you both. We salute in Christopher Columbus, one of the four runners of the Atlantic Alliance with the President. I'll drink to that. Thank you very much. And now as a little girl wrote to me in a letter telling me about my job, she wound up with a PS that said now get to the office and get to work.