Natural history and this very special graduation ceremony. Im richard curran, the smithsonians distinguished scholar and ambassador at large. First and foremost, i like to extend the welcome to our colleagues and friends from the u. S. Army, distinguished leaders, and, of course, our officer our graduates and their rightly proud and maybe families. Id like to welcome distinguished guests from the Monuments Men and women foundation, including members of the board and relatives of the world. Two monuments officers. This is a very special occasion. I dont usually wear this every day to work at the smithsonian. But id also like to welcome our guests from, bank of america, whove supported the initiative from the beginning. And finally, my smithsonian colleagues and those from sister organizations involved in Cultural Heritage protect like the department of state, the fbi, the international council, museums and others who in this program, as instructors, guides and enablers. The ceremony tod
On behalf of the Smithsonian Institution and its secretary, lonnie bunch, id like to welcome you all to the next Smithsonians National museum of Natural History and this very special graduation ceremony. Im richard curran, the smithsonians distinguished scholar and ambassador at large. First and foremost, i like to extend the welcome to our colleagues and friends from the u. S. Army, distinguished leaders, and, of course, our officer our graduates and their rightly proud and maybe families. Id like to welcome distinguished guests from the Monuments Men and women foundation, including members of the board and relatives of the world. Two monuments officers. This is a very special occasion. I dont usually wear this every day to work at the smithsonian. But id also like to welcome our guests from, bank of america, whove supported the initiative from the beginning. And finally, my smithsonian colleagues and those from sister organizations involved in Cultural Heritage protect like the depar
Institution and its secretary, lonnie bunch, id like to welcome you all to the next Smithsonians National museum of Natural History and this very special graduation ceremony. Im richard curran, the smithsonians distinguished scholar and ambassador at large. First and foremost, i like to extend the welcome to our colleagues and friends from the u. S. Army, distinguished leaders, and, of course, our officer our graduates and their rightly proud and maybe families. Id like to welcome distinguished guests from the Monuments Men and women foundation, including members of the board and relatives of the world. Two monuments officers. This is a very special occasion. I dont usually wear this every day to work at the smithsonian. But id also like to welcome our guests from, bank of america, whove supported the initiative from the beginning. And finally, my smithsonian colleagues and those from sister organizations involved in Cultural Heritage protect like the department of state, the fbi, the
In 1997 and 1998, he oversaw the production of two government report about Operation Safe haven and these reports were quickly produced ae not well received in some places. So, ambassador, can you tell us what prompted the Clinton Administration to want to have these reports produced, and what was the outcome of these reports . Well, first, robert has dope an enormous has done an enormous service through his book. But i want to try to put it in an even broader context, and that is its a great tribute not only to the Monuments Men, but to the United States army and the United States of america. Contrast this enormous effort to save Cultural Property, to get it returned to its rightful owners with the action of the soviet union coming from the east to berlin. Ask they were intent on doing just the opposite, stripping germany, stripping its museums of everything that they could that was movable, taking it back to russia as war Company Sauce for their enormous compensation for their enormo
Most families, many have kids. And they used to do big jobs with big resource i didnt find it intimidating. And were pretty clever and resourceful i and trying to fige how to do things. While the army didnt help them, they didnt pay much attention to them either. To the extent they could come up with solutions, are pretty effective. At the beginning for the first five months the operation felt on its face over and over and over again to the point that general marshall wrote his protege, general eisenhower, in october of 1943 and said, you need to be very careful because people here are reading horrible newspaper accounts of damage in italy, by us, by the allies. And perceived proceed cautiously. General eisenhower didnt leave any special orders were necessary. He thought these men and women are part of a Civil Affairs division, and they have a job to do, military structure will work and people will Pay Attention to them. Time and time again it was a working. The monuments officers woul