Bill Clinton

“ While Hellenic literature, art, architecture, and philosophy have profoundly influenced western civilization for over 2,000 years, democracy remains the most precious gift to our world from the Greeks of ancient times. This manner of government, placing authority directly into the hands of the people, has long fulfilled the needs and aspirations of freedom-loving nations around the world. Our founders chose to adopt the democratic system when declaring America's liberty, just as the Greek Constitution enshrines democracy as the governing rule of the Hellenic Republic. ”

“ It is one of history's great ironies that Greece, the birthplace of democracy, was subject for centuries to foreign domination, culminating in almost four hundred years of political suppression by the Ottoman Empire. The Greeks' age-old love of liberty remain strong, however, and in 1821, Greece began its successful struggle for self-determination. ”

“ In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twentieth. ”