Secretary Antony J. Blinken at the Kennedy Center Honors Dinner – United States Department of State

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Welcome to the State Department. Welcome to one of our favorite nights of the year. In fact, every year, this evening is circled on my calendar. And I’ve got to say tonight is particularly special – this is the last Kennedy Center Honors of this administration.

AUDIENCE: (Booing.) (Laughter.)

SECRETARY BLINKEN: (Inaudible.) In fact, you might have noticed that after four years on this job, there’s just a “Touch of Grey” in my hair. (Laughter.) (Applause.)

Deborah Rutter, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you to you, to the Kennedy Center, for making sure that the arts remain a central part of our nation’s capital and of American life and American democracy.

David Rubenstein. Your contributions to American philanthropy, to the arts, are simply unparalleled. (Applause.) Your tenure as the board chair of the Kennedy Center – genuinely historic.

Now, we’re here in the Ben Franklin Room. You can see Franklin looking down upon us this evening. And I’m reminded of the story of when Thomas Jefferson was appointed to follow Franklin as the United States ambassador to France. When Jefferson presented his credentials, the French foreign minister said, “You replace Monsieur Franklin,” to which Jefferson replied, “I succeed him. No man can replace him.”

David – I’m glad the Kennedy Center has persuaded you to stay – (laughter and applause) – (inaudible) while they work to find the Jefferson to your Franklin.

Now, we have a number of friends from Congress in the house, including the maestro of a sometimes unruly orchestra – Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. (Applause.)

We’re also extraordinarily fortunate to have the great Renée Fleming as our emcee tonight. (Applause.) Renée has performed at the world’s biggest opera houses, she’s won five Grammys – and, of course, earned a Kennedy Center Honor last year. But in this building, we’re proudest that her remarkable career started with a Fulbright Scholarship in Europe. (Applause.)

Now, every year, the State Department has the immense privilege of kicking off the Kennedy Center Honors to celebrate icons of American art and culture.

Art answers a powerful yearning that people all over the world share: to know that we’re not alone.

The connection that art creates can foster empathy. It can heal wounds, walk us in the shoes of people we’ve never met, break down barriers, and building community.

One of the things that I’ve found over these past four years is that the greatest poison in our common well, the well that we all have to drink from, is dehumanization, the inability to be able to see the humanity in someone else. When that happens, so much bad becomes possible, so much good, that much harder.

The arts are so important to our work because they remind us of our common humanity, and it’s why I think it’s more important than ever that we have gatherings like this one and that we honor the remarkable people we’re honoring tonight, that the Kennedy Center does the work that it does.

Here at the department, this work is also an important part of our diplomacy. Through our Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs – led by the great Lee Satterfield, who is with us tonight – (applause) – we use everything from academic exchanges to sports diplomacy to promote understanding between Americans and people all around the world. When ties between our citizens are stronger, so is our diplomacy.

Last year, we launched the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, working with partners like the Recording Academy, YouTube, and the Kennedy Center to help elevate music’s power to build more peaceful, more inclusive, more resilient societies.

We’re also thrilled that the Kennedy Center is now hosting two Fulbright Fellows. Thank you, Deborah. They’re conducting research that showcases the powerful synergies between the arts and other disciplines.

Now, tonight’s five honorees show the power of art to bring people together, to make our lives fuller, more meaningful; to tap into and to evoke a full range of emotions and insights that make us human.

Now, let’s just say that the chance to pay tribute to Francis Ford Coppola was an offer I couldn’t refuse. (Laughter.) Earlier in my career, as my wife knows and just a few other people, I actually tried my hand at making movies. It turns out there’s a key difference between me and the man we honor tonight – (laughter) – Francis has talent.

He’s used that talent to hold up a mirror to the American experience, to push the boundaries of film, pretty much from the time he picked up a toy projector as a nine-year-old to well into his 80’s today.

Now, if I had to choose ten movies to bring to a desert island, The Godfather would absolutely make the list. The only question would be: Part I or Part II? (Laughter.) Maybe both.

But I think what sets Francis’s films apart is not just the thrill of the story, the beauty of the composition, or the indelible performances that we quote many, many years on. As Francis has said, “Ultimately, with all of cinema, [we’re] just trying to learn about ourselves.” Each time we watch or rewatch his masterpieces, we discover something else about what it means to be human.

When Arturo Sandoval started playing trumpet as a ten-year-old kid outside Havana, he was told that he’d never make it as a musician. Ten Grammys, one Emmy, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a Kennedy Center Honor later, I think it’s safe to say he’s made it – and then some. (Applause.)

After listening to forbidden jazz music over Voice of America, Arturo has blended jazz riffs, Afro-Cuban beats, and Latin melodies into a sound all his own. I told him about earlier, I had a chance to see him live at Ronnie Scott’s in London in the 1980s. I just walked in with a friend, and it was mesmerizing, absolutely intoxicating, and stayed with me all these years later.

Arturo says his secret is, and I quote, “Blow your life through your horn” – (laughter) – and the energy and virtuosity with which he does that has touched people all across the globe.

For six decades, the Grateful Dead has captivated their audience with their spontaneous, lengthy jams that somehow get to a new place every time.

In the process, they’ve redefined rock and roll – adding a touch of bluegrass, a bit of folk, maybe a little gospel, even a little bit of reggae – as they mined the sweetness and sorrow of life to create something defying categorization.

Now, so many of you know this. The Dead have become more than a band; they’ve spawned a traveling subculture, a way of life, passing bootleg cassette tapes from listener to listener, generation to generation. If you’ve ever gone to a Dead show, you can smell the feeling of community in the air – (laughter) – maybe that’s something else.

This past October, the world lost Phil Lesh, who revolutionized playing bass. We’re grateful his son Grahame is with us tonight, as well as the legendary Jerry Garcia’s family. So wonderful (inaudible). (Applause.)

And what’s so extraordinary is that so many decades on, this band’s influence, its following, endured. You might say that the music never stopped, and a legion of Deadheads – including, it sounds like, some in this room – (laughter) – are out there to ensure that it never will.

Now, not many artists can say that they beat out Taylor Swift for a Grammy and had their music sampled by CharliXCX – (laughter) – which I think means that Bonnie Raitt is officially “Brat.” (Applause.)

Some of you who don’t know what that means – just check with the younger folks (inaudible). (Laughter.)

From her earliest days in the Cambridge music scene, Bonnie’s been playing the blues and singing about the most human experiences: feeling lonely, getting older, looking for love.

She’s also used her voice to advocate for causes and things that she believes in, urging her fans to use solar and wind power, holding concerts to support tsunami relief. As Bonnie has said, “As long as I’ve got a mouth, somebody’s going to be hearing about it.” (Laughter.)

Now, Bonnie, you don’t need to make us love you; we all do. (Laughter.) (Applause.)

By the dressing rooms in Harlem’s Apollo Theater, there’s a wall of signatures that stretches to the ceiling. It features the names of hundreds of Black performers who have appeared on its storied stage: Stevie Wonder, Toni Braxton, John Legend, Beyoncé.

And that doesn’t even include some of the earlier greats who graced the Apollo: Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Richard Pryor.

At a time when legalized discrimination and segregation defined American life, the Apollo was founded to launch, to shape, and to celebrate America’s foremost Black artists.

For 90 years now, it has been a home – one where you might experience some good-natured heckling during those famous amateur nights.

Along the way, the performers who have come through the Apollo have elevated and redefined genres – from R&B to jazz to rap and to pop. Now, this is the first time the Kennedy Center has ever bestowed its honor on an institution, and it’s hard to imagine one more worthy or more central to the artistic life of our country. (Applause.)

One thing I’ve learned through three decades working in public service is that our country isn’t simply embodied by leaders who land in a plane with “United States of America” painted on the side.

For people all across the globe, America is Brando and Pacino coming alive on a screen.

It’s the young boy from Cuba, soaking in the solos of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker on the radio.

It’s the timeless and transcendent sound of slide guitar, 12 bars of blues, and the “Dark Star” jam entering minute 34. (Laughter.)

It’s James Brown at the Apollo, showing the world that talent can rise above even the most entrenched barriers.

The America given voice by these artists isn’t perfect. It’s a place that knows inequality, it knows pain, it knows violence, it knows discrimination.

But it’s also a promise – to always strive for a more perfect union, to confront our shortcomings, to build a better, brighter tomorrow – a promise that has endured and inspired over centuries. And for generations, people around the world have identified with that iconic first line from The Godfather: “I believe in America.”

In the months and years ahead, I know that the hardworking professionals here in this great institution will continue to build bridges between the United States and the world, so that we can offer that hope to Americans and people all across our globe.

And as they’re doing that, our diplomats will have as their partners some of America’s best ambassadors – the musicians, the artists, the filmmakers who make up our nation’s diverse and vibrant culture – showing millions of people who we are, what we stand for, and what we can be.

To them – to you, our honorees – we give thanks for the gift of your humanity, the gift of your creation.

Thank you, everyone, for being here, and have a wonderful evening. (Applause.)