Documents / Official release
This is a White House Office of the Press Secretary transcript of remarks by President Clinton and the First Lady at the lighting of the Christmas tree at Belfast City Hall, Northern Ireland, on November 30, 1995. It was forwarded by email on August 28, 1998. Most of the speech is about the Northern Ireland peace process and children's letters. Answering a letter from a 13-year-old named Ryan, the President jokes that as far as he knows no alien spacecraft crashed in Roswell in 1947.
“Cooper”1 page
trees will be lit all over the world in the days to come. This Christmas let us remember the reason behind why we light Christmas trees. Let us remember the reason for this grea:t holiday celebration. And let us remember that we seek peace most of all for our children. May this be one of many, many happy and peaceful Christmases in Northern Ireland this year and for many years to come . . (Applause.) And may God keep you and bless you and hold all of you in the p~m . of His hand: Thank you and God bless you .. (Applause.) . LORD MAYOR: Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a duty to do tonight. And that ' is we're going to ask the President to turn the lights on. But you and I have s'omethirig to do. We have to count down, 10 down to zero. So we want the count, 10, 9 -- slowly please, so that when the President gets ready I'll give you the okay and, then we will have the countdown. (The Christmas tree is lit.) THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) To the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, let me begin by saying to all ' of you, Hillary and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making us feel so very, very welcome in Belfast and Northern Ireland. (Applause.) We thank you, Lord Mayor, for your cooperation and your help in making this trip so successful, and we trust that, for all of you, we haven't inconvenienced you ~o . much. But this has been a wonderful way for us to begin the Christmas holidays. (Applause.) Let m:~ also say I understood just what an honor it was to be able to turn on this Christmas tree when I realized the competition. (Laughter.) Now, to become , ' Preside,nt of the United States you have to undertake some considerable competition. But I have never confronted challengers with the name recognition, . the understanding of the media and the ability in the martial arts of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. (Applause.) To all of you whose support enabled me to join you tonight and turn the Christmas tree on, I give you my heartfelt thanks. (Applause~) I know here in Belfast you've been lighting the Christmas tree for more than 20 years. But this year must be especially joyous to you, for you are entering your second
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 6 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.