Remarks at the Opening of the "America's Millennium" Celebration

Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning. Happy new year. Thank you, Senator Daschle, to other Members of the Congress who are here. Thank you, Mayor Williams, for your kind comments to Hillary and to me and your outstanding leadership in this city. Thank you, Robert Pinsky, for being here today and for opening the ears and eyes and hearts of so many young children to the wonders of poetry. Thank you, Dean Baxter. I want to thank the children's choir and the military band; they were wonderful today—and the singing sergeants who have left. I want to thank Ellen Lovell and the members of our millennial council, and Terry McAuliffe and all those who made it possible for us to have all these wonderful events today. I also want to thank the Lord for this wonderful weather, so we all feel good being out here.

The New Millennium Choir sang "Rising Like the Sun." Their vitality and their voices are living proof that the light may be fading on the 20th century, but the Sun is still rising on America. Even though this is an opening ceremony, what we celebrate did not begin today, and it won't end tomorrow. Two years ago Hillary and I created the White House Millennium Council to bring Americans together, in her words, "to honor our past and imagine our future." Since then, she has hosted Millennium Evenings at the White House with some of our Nation's most gifted scholars and artists, and people all over the world have participated on the Internet. She has crisscrossed America to save our historical treasures, from Harriet Tubman's home to Thomas Edison's factory to Native American pueblos. This morning we kick off not only a weekend of celebrations but a whole series of events throughout the coming year that will further mark our new millennium.

This is more than a unique moment for our calendar. It is also a unique moment for our country. Our economy is strong; our social fabric is on the mend. We're moving forward on America's remarkable journey of creating a more unified nation, a more just society, a more perfect Union.

There is no better moment to reflect on our hopes and dreams and the gifts we want to leave our children, no better opportunity to open a new chapter of progress and possibility for all people, no better time to join hands and build the one America of our dreams, no better time to be a truly good neighbor to the people of the world who share this smaller and smaller planet of ours.

So as we honor the past, let us truly imagine the future. I hope every single one of you, sometime today, and everyone within the sound of my voice will take just a little time to dream about what you want for your grandchildren and their grandchildren and what you would like the story of the 21st century to be.

Now it is my privilege to present the person who has done more than anyone else in America to help us appreciate and properly celebrate the dawn of the new millennium. Ladies and gentlemen, the First Lady of the United States.