Ladies and gentlemen:

I want to express a very warm welcome to all of you to the White House. I can't think of any group that is more welcome here today, any other day, and in some ways have a more distinguished claim. We are particularly glad to salute you on Columbus Day.

I think Columbus has been a fascinating figure to me for many reasons, but partly because of his extraordinary skill as a navigator. Admiral Morison, who is our great naval historian, as you know once followed Columbus' trip. And he found that--following Columbus' diary--every marking along the Caribbean and the Central American coast, as recorded in Columbus' diary, was found to be exact with all of the modern instruments of navigation we now have. I would think Columbus would have to be considered the foremost sailor not of his time but, I think, in history.

But the more significant fact, of course, is the perseverance. As Secretary Celebrezze was saying, the second voyage, I suppose, may have been more difficult, speaking as a sailor, and the third one more difficult even than that, particularly the exploration of the Central American coast. But of course the more difficult one was the first voyage. That is always true, the first voyages are the hard ones and they require the perseverance and character. And I think that is a good lesson for all of us today as we attempt new things. The first voyages, as all of us know, are the more difficult, whether it is going into space, going to the bottom of the ocean, building a better country here, building a more prosperous country. The first voyage through our history has always been the most difficult.

I am glad to welcome all of the successors of Christopher Columbus. And you do not have to be of Italian extraction to be able to claim that inheritance. All of us who followed the great navigator to the United States have prospered and benefited, and I am sure that you take the greatest pride in the work that has been done, the families you nave raised, the children you nave educated, the position of responsibility that they have achieved.

We have four distinguished Americans here today. Three of them I warned. One, however, is ready to speak at the drop of a hat, and has, Judge Mussmano. But first I would ask the Secretary, who is a veteran of Columbus Day banquets, to say a word.