47th annual FPA / NBC Luncheon May 8, 2007 Featuring: Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News Anchor and Managing Editor Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent David Gregory, Chief White House Correspondent MR. BRIAN WILLIAMS: —From the panel up front, a few things first, as Andrea and David make their way up. Thank you very much for the Herbert Hoover letter. It's nice to know that the world was in the same shape in 1938 as it is today. This has become, of course, a great tradition in my life as well. And it's always fun for me to see Mary Belknap at this lunch. And to pretend that we don't see each other all year, except for once a year, on this day. That's our joke together, anyway. Mrs. Belknap has always been a great sport. And is huge part of the FPA. I have to say that we have in our midst, I think the only person in this room who attended last night's white -tie state dinner. We have another person up here who is leaving from LaGuardia to go attend tonight's dinner, the reciprocal dinner at the British Embassy. And your humble moderator is just back from the garden party yesterday afternoon at the British Embassy, which my wife and I refer to as the JV event for the Queen and Prince Phillip. Foreign Policy Association 1 www.fpa.org So I think with all that we're going to cover with our C hief White House Correspondent, David Gregory, with our Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, I am duty bound and further would be remiss if I didn't ask David to tell us about last night's dinner. David? MR. DAVID GREGORY: Thank you, Brian. Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. You know, there was a question that came up in the State dining room last night from somebody at my table who said, as we were looking at the Queen's jewels and her diamond tiara, do you think it's real? And the question was about do you really think she travels with that? Wouldn't she keep the real thing back home and have this as, kind of, the carry-on version? And I went out on a limb and I said, you know, what's the point of being the Queen if yo u can't travel with the real thing? You know what I'm saying? So that was rather striking. It was such an honor to be there last night. As many of you know, George W. Bush cannot entertain enough. [Laughter] If it's not a cocktail party, it's a State Di nner, it's dinner and dancing with friends. It's opera. So this was really a perfect event for him. Actually, no, I think he's only had four or five other state dinners. And it was, in fact, Mrs. Bush and Secretary of State Rice who prevailed upon him to throw a white-tie dinner. And he likes to joke around at these things. You recall back in 1991, he apparently was told not to speak to the Queen, and proceeded to speak to her and told her about his cowboy boots. And I saw him last night. And he said you l ook pretty good in tails. So it really was a lovely event; a thrill of a lifetime for myself and my wife to meet the Queen. I had a chance to take my 4�-year old son to the arrival ceremony in the afternoon. And he got a good glimpse. And didn't unders tand why she didn't come talk to him. I had to explain that. Foreign Policy Association 2 www.fpa.org But as I say, there are some moments in this job and in life generally, no matter how often you may go to these events. And I'd never been, where you have a certain oh, wow moment. And for me it was sitting at the adjacent table to the President and the Queen. The Queen on the President's right, Nancy Reagan on his left. And you know, watching the three of them talk, just a few feet away from me, sitting underneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. And that was a wild moment for me. So it was interesting also to note some people you may not expect to have been there. Colin Powell was there among the other secretaries of state, Republican secretaries of state, although James Baker was not there, as Andrea and I talked about. And Trent Lott, who has a rather frosty relationship with this White House, was there as well. As was the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who took to the dance floor right away after Itzhak Perlman performed, so she didn't waste any time. And who knew that John Roberts, Brian, Chief Justice, was such a dancer. He and his wife, Jane, were out there dancing the night away, so it was a real thrill. MR. WILLIAMS: So this is the kind of texture, I think�over at the council, they're hav ing some dry event right now. [Laughter] But you're going to leave here today with some real added value. I did note the Chief Justice was sitting�those of us who had to watch CSPAN�I noticed that the Chief Justice was sitting on the other side of the Queen. Who was at your table? We're not near done with this by the way. Who was at your table, David? MR. GREGORY: It was a lovely table. I sat with� MR. WILLIAMS: [Interposing] David there's no [unintelligible] here. He can't remember a thing. Foreign Policy Association 3 www.fpa.org MR. GREGORY: The Secretary of Agriculture was our host. I was a little disappointed, because apparently you're supposed to sign your menu card. And everybody at the table signs it. And he did not carry out that tradition. And it goes downhill from there. No. Itzhak Perlman's wife was with us and some others. It was not a star-studded table. But as I say, did I mention that we were sitting close to the President? I don't know. The table was very close. My wife, however, sat with Colin Powell, and Nancy Pelosi, and Mrs. Bass and others, so good, clean fu n. I mean, you know, look, I mean, they talked about the Atlantic Alliance. But let's be honest. We know what that's all about. Let's talk about the tiara? You know what I'm saying? MR. WILLIAMS: And Andrea, you were the host of an event on Saturday in Jamestown. And you'll be seeing the Queen again tonight. Can you add, Andrea, to the texture that we're trying to impart here today? MS. ANDREA MITCHELL: Well, actually, as a trustee of the Williamsburg Foundation, we had the privilege of having the Queen, Her Majesty, in Jamestown and Williamsburg for two days last week. And she was very interested in the educational components. And what has happened in 50 years since her last visit to Jamestown. The recent excavation in the last two years, where they have actually found and identified the bodies�the remains, rather, of some of the original settlers is quite extraordinary. And what we're trying to do there is what we try to do with all reporting, is do a reality check. And really rewrite American history, as Michael Beschloss and Jon Meacham and other have been trying to do in Newsweek, memorably, to explain what really happened in Jamestown. And why - for those of you from the Boston area - the Plymouth narrative has superceded Jamestown. Even though J amestown and that area preceded what happened in New England, probably because Jamestown was not a very pretty story. And it's a much more child friendly, school friendly, story to talk about the Foreign Policy Association 4 www.fpa.org Native Americans and the new colonists, escaping for religio us freedom and sharing a Thanksgiving feast than what really happened in Virginia. But what we're trying to do is make people more aware. And I think Queen Elizabeth was really engaged in that. It was quite remarkable. So tonight is the return dinner that the British are hosting. I was struck last night, again, watching on CSPAN, along with Brian and Jane Williams, watching the toasts on CSPAN. The Queen's toast was rather remarkable, which is of note for this audience in particular, because she talked about the Atlantic Alliance. And the continuity of our relationships, despite differences and changes in administration and in governments in Great Britain. And we're about to see another change in the U.K. She talked about the continuing engagement of our two countries, our two peoples, our shared traditions, and called for a new focus on world poverty and also global warming. So it was a rather substantive toast. And if you were watching CSPAN, they also played some of the remarks from the Reagan visit in San Francisco. I attended that, as a reporter in 1983 and attended the dinner in 1991, and you could see the evolution. The Queen is clearly thinking back on her half-century-plus reign. And thinking about some of the larger issues; much more sustentative than you might expect from someone who is a monarch and not a head of government. MR. WILLIAMS: I was actually thinking, while you and I were among the housebound last night, forced to watch the State Dinner on CSPAN, as opposed to being, say, a guest at the dinner like David was.