Thank you, Congressman Skelton. And I want once again to congratulate you, Representative Blunt and your colleagues for the commemorative legislation you introduced and enacted. I wish all of our dealings with Capitol Hill were so successful. In any case, you should be proud, for this is a great day for the State Department and a great day for Missouri.

Mr. President; Members of Congress; Excellencies from the diplomatic corps; members of the Truman family; George Elsey; James Earl Jones; distinguished colleagues, guests and friends, good afternoon.

It's no secret that this ceremony has a very personal meaning for me. Harry S Truman was my first American President. Because of his vision and that of his generation, I have been privileged to live my life in freedom.

Today, we link in symbol what has long been linked in spirit, by stamping the home of American foreign policy with the name of one of its greatest architects.

No one understood better than President Truman the importance of effective diplomacy as a complement to America's economic and military strength. He was a doer, whose plain words and bold actions mended a broken world, saved freedom, and embodied the principles of our nation at its best.

It is fitting, therefore, that we gather in tribute to Harry S Truman today; and that we are led in doing so by the man I am about to introduce.

When President Clinton took office, he confronted a world in which the signposts that had guided us since Truman's generation had disappeared. The lessons learned from the past had to be applied in new ways. America could quite easily have retreated, refused to take risks, and turned its back on hard problems around the globe.

Instead, for almost eight years, President Clinton has had the strength to hold 20th Century alliances together, and the vision to respond to 21st Century threats.

He has helped create a world more free than it has ever been; restored America's international economic leadership; engaged China and Russia with firmness and wisdom; responded with success and guts to security threats in the Balkans, East Asia and the Gulf; led on human rights, including the rights of women and girls; and made bold progress with our allies towards a Europe without walls, wholly at peace and fully free.

In an era of complexity and constant change, President Clinton has brought America into the new century strong and prosperous, and helped make the world more democratic and just. That is a remarkable record. And it is a remarkable honor for me to introduce to you now, the President of the United States, Bill Clinton.