When I told Mrs. Clayton that I would be attending the Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony at Monticello here in Charlottesville, Virginia, she asked me to write a description of these events.
Monticello is the home that Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, built in the Piedmont area of Virginia about 100 miles south of Washington D C. It is the only home that has been named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. Approximately a half a million persons tour the house and grounds each year. A virtual tour can be found at www.monticello.org. By the way, that is Mrs. King of the King Cafe in the photograph on the left!!
Each year always on the Fourth of July the Western District Court of Virginia swears in a group of immigrants that have successfully qualified to become naturalized citizens. It is a joyful occasion and many local residents attempt to make attendance an annual event. This year’s ceremony was made extra-special by a visit by President George W Bush and over 3000 people attended.
This was only the fourth time that a sitting president had attended the ceremony. Franklin Roosevelt (1936), Harry Truman (1947) and Gerald Ford (1976) and now George W. Bush (2008). The President made a short speech welcoming the 72 new Americans into our ranks as citizens. A few demonstrators shouting anti-Bush slogans disrupted his speech, but he handled this with good cheer and many in the crowd booed the demonstrators. As one of the newly naturalized citizens, a young woman from Iraq, said, “I am very proud of my country. Everybody can have their own speech, but I didn’t like it at all, especially today”. That seemed to be the sentiment of most people there, that this was a celebration of newly attained citizenship, not a political event.
In the ceremony the presiding Federal Court judge administered an oath to all 72, then each one were handed their certificate by President Bush. Most of the new citizens were accompanied by relatives and friends and there was much cheering and many took the opportunity to get their photograph taken with the President.
To end the ceremony all stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. We were lead by an older gentleman who was a U S Army Veteran who as a young man was part of the invasion force at Normandy on D-Day June 1944. All in all this was a very patriotic day and one that made me quite proud to be an American.
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