In October 2004, Italian American Heritage and Culture Month will be honoring the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, from whom we derive our country’s name, the United States of America. It was just twenty years ago, in 1984, that then President Ronald Reagan signed a special proclamation recognizing Columbus Day as a federal holiday.
Last week, our nation said farewell to our 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004). The overwhelming expression of public love and respect for a very special man spoke to the very heart of our shared American/Italian values. Perhaps more than any president in recent history, President Reagan was loved as a man, as well as, respected as a world leader. He reminded us of what is best about America. It is a place where a man of humble origin can rise to great heights and change the world. Through his idealism, humanity, and determination, he opened the free world to countless hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people through the defeat of Communism in the Evil Empire, the Soviet Union. Of course, freedom comes with a cost.
We were reminded on June 6, 2004, of the sacrifice made by his generation on the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion to free Europe of the Nazi Scourge and Fascism. In doing so, the world moved one giant step forward to securing not only our way of life for us but democracy for the world.
One is reminded of the words given by the Italian philosopher and statesmen, Filippo Mazzei to our founding father Thomas Jefferson which he incorporated into our Declaration of Independence, All Men Are Created Equal. Yes, but it was the United States of America and her allies who have insured that inalienable right. For it was Americans of Italian descent who made up the largest ethnic component of our military forces during World War II and the Republic of Italy who stands shoulder to shoulder with us today in fighting the World War Against Terrorism.
Democracy, the rule of the people, is relatively a new concept in the span of human history. Until people are free all over the world to determine their own destiny, it will be necessary for America and her friends to defend them against their would be oppressors. In doing so, we share our democratic values of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness throughout the world.


God Bless America
Joseph V. Scelsa