Will I ever start making sense.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=13985

The American Presidency Project

Harry S. Truman

XXXIII President of the United States: 1945-1953

288 - Remarks in Response to the Presentation by Princess Elizabeth of an Overmantel for the White House.

November 2, 1951

Your Royal Highness, Princess Elizabeth; Your Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh:

It has been a very great pleasure to have you as our guests.

I am sure I speak for all the people of the United States, and especially for the people of Washington. We have many distinguished visitors here in this city, but never before have we had such a wonderful young couple that so completely captured the hearts of all of us. You will leave many happy memories among the people who have greeted you here.

It is very thoughtful and generous of the King, your father, to send this gift. It is magnificent. I am especially glad that he sent us something for this building, which means so much to the people of the United States.

This overmantel will be placed in the White House, and it will be greatly cherished as a mark of the close ties that bind our two countries together. This country is built upon principles which we have inherited from the British people--our love of liberty, our system of justice which is based upon the English common law, our language-these and many other things give us a strong feeling of kinship.

Over the years, we have built these ties into a remarkable international friendship. We have had our differences in the past, but today it would be just as hard to imagine a war between our two countries as it would to imagine another war between the States of this country. It just couldn't happen.

I hope the day will soon come when the same thing will be true among all the nations of the world, when war will be impossible in the world. That depends in great measure upon how well our two countries stick together and work for world peace. I am sure that we will do a better job for world peace because your visit here has tightened the bends between us.

We want you to come back again. It has been reported to me that you would like to come back again and bring your lovely children.

When you do that, we hope that the restoration of the White House will be finished and you can see this gift installed in its place in the Blue Room. I don't know who the temporary occupants of the White House may be at that time. But you can be sure of this: No matter who they are, you and your family will always be welcome.

As you return to your home, I ask you to take our warmest greetings to the King and Queen. And I would like you to express to the King our gratitude for this beautiful gift and for the sentiment which inspired it.

Note: The President spoke at 12:30 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House.

The remarks of Princess Elizabeth in making the presentation follow:

Mr. President:

"We have spent 2 very happy days as your guests. Before we leave, I am, therefore, very glad to present to you a gift from my father, the King. I feel that this ceremony makes a fitting climax to what has been a delightful and memorable occasion for both of us.

"The renovation of the White House has attracted interest all over the world. Everyone knows how closely it has been bound up with the history of your country and how important it is to your people as a symbol of national pride.

"If it had been impossible to preserve this beautiful building many people in Britain would have shared your disappointment. As it is we are glad to join with you in celebrating its restoration; and my father, who has many happy memories of his own stay in the house, has wished to mark the event with a personal gift.

"It gave the King great pleasure when he found the overmantel which is before you now. The work of 18th century artists, and embodying the finest British craftsmanship, it seems perfectly suited for the place which it will occupy.

"It gives me great pleasure on behalf of my father, to present this overmantel to you. It is his hope, and mine, that it will be a welcome ornament to one of your proudest national possessions and that it will remain here, as a mark of our friendship, so long as the White House shall stand."

The overmantel consisted of a rare pair of English candelabra and a three-part mirror with an oil painting of flowers set above it in a carved gilt frame.










http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=38040

The American Presidency Project

Ronald Reagan

XL President of the United States: 1981 - 1989

Toasts at a White House Dinner for the Prince and Princess of Wales

November 9th, 1985

The President. Your Royal Highnesses, Sir Oliver and Lady Wright, and Ambassador and Mrs. Price, ladies and gentlemen, Nancy and I are deeply honored to welcome the Prince and Princess of Wales to the White House. Permit me to add our congratulations to Prince Charles on his birthday, just 5 days away, and express also our great happiness that we have been able to have this affair with Princess Diana, here on her first trip to the United States—that we should be able to share in that first trip.

In his 1941 address before a Joint Session of the United States Congress, Prime Minister Churchill remarked, "I cannot help reflecting that if my father had been American and my mother British, instead of the other way around, I might have got here on my own." [Laughter] But Your Royal Highnesses, the reception you've received here suggests that if you had been American, you might well have gotten to this house on your own. [Laughter]

Our two countries are bound together by innumerable ties of ancient history and present friendship. Our language, our law, our democratic system of government, our fierce belief in the God-given right of men to be free—all of these we owe to you. We've stood together through two great world conflicts. Today we go on, shoulder to shoulder, in an alliance to protect freedom and democracy.

This evening we've gathered on a happy occasion, a celebration of the "Treasure Houses of Britain," perhaps the most magnificent exhibition ever mounted and five centuries of British achievement, five centuries of elegance, beauty, and charm; I should add, wit. When Nancy and I toured the exhibition, we were struck by a settee from Balmoral Castle, constructed almost entirely of deer antlers. I've been wondering ever since whether something like that could be done with cattle horns out on the ranch. [Laughter] But one misadventure in the corral one day has taught me that it might be more painful than pleasant, so— [laughter] . The "Treasure Houses of Britain" truly is a great gift from the houses' owners, the British people, and you, the exhibition's patrons. I speak for all Americans when I say a heartfelt "thank you."

Your Royal Highnesses, in the eyes of my countrymen, you and your family hold a place of high honor; your devotion to duty commands our esteem. Americans join our British cousins in looking upon you with affection and respect. And in that same 1941 address, Winston Churchill said: "It is not given to us to peer into the future. Still I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come, the British and American people will, for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together in majesty, in justice, and in peace." And today that noble hope is a glorious reality.

Would you please join me in a toast to Her Majesty, the Queen. To the Queen.

Prince Charles. Mr. President, Mrs. Reagan, ladies and gentlemen, if I may say so, Mr. President, you really have touched both my wife and myself most deeply this evening by your extremely kind words. And we can't possibly, both of us, thank you enough for your immense hospitality and your great kindness in having us here this evening and in making us feel so unbelievably welcome.

I would think one of the most marvelous things about coming to the United States is that you have this extraordinary gift for making people feel welcome. And apart from the friendliness with which you greet everybody, it really does warm the heart to come here and be made to feel welcome. I can't tell you what it means to us both. It really does. As you know, we've flown in hesitant stages from Australia and tried to stop on the way in order to regain our strength. And all that's happened is we're suffering terribly from jet lag. [Laughter] And I've yet to discover a foolproof method for actually getting one over the problems of this particular affliction.

However, we are greatly looking forward to the opportunity of seeing this exhibition, the "Treasure Houses of Britain," which we are both very proud to be patrons of. And we hear from all sides just how stupendous this particular exhibition is. I think if you go and look at most of the country houses in Britain at the moment, you'll find them completely empty— [laughter] —of all the furniture and pictures, some emptier than others and, no doubt, with rather dirty marks on the walls where the pictures were. I only hope that they manage to get them all back in the right place at the right time. [Laughter]

I'm also very much looking forward, myself, to going to the Congress Library on Monday and discussing something about the Constitution, of which I know you celebrate the bicentenary in 1987. And I was very intrigued to discover that of the 55 delegates that came to the Federal convention in 1787, nearly all of them were in their thirties, which just goes to show what an extremely good age the mid-thirties is. [Laughter] I keep telling myself that because you reminded me about my birthday, and I'm not sure I need reminding. [Laughter]

I would also just like to say that coming, as we have, down from Australia, it is one of the more interesting aspects, I think, of the pioneering spirit of the English-speaking peoples. That here were two great continents—Australia and the United States of America, the former having developed about 150 years later than this great country-and in many ways there are similarities between the two. And I think that one of the things that becomes most obvious about Australia and America is that personal independence becomes a very dominant feature, particularly, I think, in American life. And one Englishman observed in 1796 that Americans tend to pass their lives without any regard to the smiles or frowns of men in power. However, in your case, Mr. President, I'm sure it's completely different.

So, if I may, finally, again say what an enormous pleasure it gives both of us to be here and how proud we are to be able to represent Britain here in America. As you say, it does, I think, emphasize the very strong links that do exist between our two countries—always have done, and I'm sure always will. And in the end, that bond between our two peoples is one of the most important and enduring features of this Earth.

Mr. President, thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 10:09 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the White House.










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

To: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2006 6:12:03 PM

Subject: Microsoft might take a new look at lethal injection


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/261975_lethal07.html

A decade ago, when Microsoft executives made lethal injection the primary way to execute pesky competition, it was considered less barbaric than hanging and less likely to bring long, costly trips to the woods.

Bill Gates has called lethal injection "undoubtedly innovative" and said that ruling otherwise would be "tantamount to forbidding the death penalty altogether for our competitors."

But now, as death row competitors in other states claim it's cruel punishment because it may not bring a peaceful death as once believed, some managers say Bill Gates will likely have to look for another more painful method.

"It's pretty clear that this method of execution has the potential to cause a great deal of pain -- and maybe even more pain than some of the methods we're using now and we like that."


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 07 March 2006 excerpt ends]



- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 2:51 PM Pacific Time somewhere near Seattle Washington USA Sunday 15 June 2014