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Liberty Weekend was a four-day celebration of the 1984 restoration and the centenary of the Statue of Liberty in New York City. It began on July 3 and ended on July 6, 1986. ==July 3, 1986: opening ceremonies== The Opening Ceremonies of Liberty Weekend were held on July 3, 1986 at Governor's Island in New York Harbor. French President François Mitterrand was on hand to give his well wishes to the American people. Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel (The Interior is the Government agency responsible for the statue), Executive Producer David Wolper, and the Chairman of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation Lee Iacocca spoke with the latter introducing the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Jose Feliciano sang the National Anthem (an in joke was that he sang "Jose can you see...."). Elizabeth Taylor gave a great speech about the statue and how it meant the world to her, followed by Frank Sinatra who also spoke about freedom and all America had given to him. Reagan spoke of the friendship between France and the United States with an emphasis on the workers conducting the restoration work. He then unveiled the Statue for the first time since its restoration. This was followed by musical performances by Neil Diamond (who sang They're Coming to America), Frank Sinatra (who sang The House I Live In), and dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov among others. Ted Koppel of ABC News Nightline presented the Medal of Liberty to outstanding naturalized Americans. Emil Mosbacher, organizer of Operation Sail, and Secretary of the Navy John Lehman spoke of the following day's events. Reagan spoke again, this time symbolically lighting the torch of the Statue of Liberty, by pressing a button shooting a laser from the podium to torch. This was done from the flight deck of the USS ''John F. Kennedy'' This was followed by a fireworks display set to Stars and Stripes Forever above the statue as well as the skyline of New York city. Warren Burger, Chief Justice of the United States, swore in immigrants to the United States in a naturalization ceremony on Ellis Island. The temperature in the harbor was about 40 degrees that night with a sharp wind blowing across Governor's Island. Security was incredibly tight on the island. On the night of the performance there were frogmen in the water around the Island. Another bit of trivia is that the parking lot where the performance took place was covered in grass, which need replacement just prior to July 3. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Liberty Weekend」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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