 Mr. Horowitz, this is Horowitz, ladies and gentlemen, one day when Harry Truman was president, he noticed that the piano he kept upstairs for his daughter Margaret appeared to be tilting. And when he looked more closely, he saw to his astonishment that one of the piano legs had actually gone through the floor. Experts examined the problem and they discovered that the floor beneath the piano, and indeed much of the original threw out the house by then nearly a century and a half old had become dangerously weak. In the renovation that followed, the interior of this grand old place was taken down beam by beam and entirely rebuilt. Now you may be wondering why I'm mentioning all this. Well, I want Mr. Horowitz to know, I may be sorry for this one. Today is the second time in the history of this building that a piano brought down the house. In the Ukraine in 1904, young Vladimir Horowitz studied at the Kiev Conservatory under Felix Blumenfeld, who in turn had been a pupil of Anton Rubenstein, absorbing the tradition of virtuoso performance that had reached greatness during the nineteenth century with such performers as Chopin and List. Within the fury of the modern world broke into his life. In the Russian Revolution, his parents lost everything, even the family piano. His father was unable to find work, so Vladimir himself, still only seventeen and painfully shy, was forced to begin performing in order to support his family. It was a difficult experience at first, enduring the chaos of civil war in Russia, performing again and again for no greater payment than flour or chocolates. In his own words, I felt the atmosphere in Russia, I identified with them and tried to put it all into my playing. What's he saying? He put down the house with that bag. Yes. Honey, I told you to do it only if I didn't get any applause. Where was I? Well, soon word began to spread that in Mr. Horowitz there was something special. In 1925, he left the Soviet Union and in 1926, he gave his first performances in the West. At the end of that tour, all the world knew Mr. Horowitz was a master of technique the greatest of our time. In depth of feeling, he was a genius. I've noted before that the conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, jokingly remarked after a performance, really Mr. Horowitz, you can't play like that. It shows the orchestra up. During the many decades since, Vladimir Horowitz has continued to enrich the world. Several periods of so-called retirement caused alarm that perhaps he had left the stage for good. But Mr. Horowitz used those periods for a long and intensive study. And each time when he returned, his stature was enhanced. As one critic stated of Mr. Horowitz 1940 return, he returns to us as extraordinary a virtuoso as he ever was, but a far greater artist. It was just months ago that Mr. Horowitz staged perhaps the most triumphant return of his career, a return to the land of his birth. I have never forgotten my Russia, he explained. I remember the smells when the snow melts and the spring arrives. I had to go back. His performances in Moscow and Leningrad represented the appearance of what one Soviet critic called indisputably the brightest bearer of the Russian performing tradition. No more need be said of these performances than this, as those in the audience listened, their tears, their eyes brimmed with tears. On his return to the United States, it was my honor to present Mr. Horowitz, an American citizen with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mr. Horowitz traveled to the Soviet Union under the Cultural Exchange Agreement that Mr. Gorbachev and I had signed at our first summit in Geneva. It's fitting to have Mr. Horowitz here in the White House so shortly before Mr. Gorbachev and I meet again. And in preparing for this meeting, I have found words that Mr. Horowitz is coming to mind. I am not a communist, he said, but I was brought up to seek the good. I hope that by playing in the Soviet Union I will make the good better. Well, just so in going to Iceland, it's my fervent hope that we'll be able to strengthen the good in this world, peace and freedom that all of us here so deeply cherish. Mr. Horowitz, in coming here today, you've given us beauty, you've done us honor, and enriched the tradition of this grand old house. I thank you. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to invite you into the State Dining Room for refreshments. And Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz, Nancy and I, will be joining you again very shortly.