Speeches and Op-Eds 2008
Remarks for Corning European Research Center Celebration
June 10, 2008
Dr. Miller, Employés de Corning, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Je suis très heureux d’être parmi vous aujourd’hui pour célébrer trois événements historiques:
le quarantième anniversaire du Centre de Recherche européen de Corning en France,
le centième anniversaire du Centre de Recherche Corning à Sullivan Park, New York
et le cent cinquante-septième anniversaire de la fondation Corning aux Etats-Unis.
As a company you are to be congratulated on your foresight 40 years ago in locating an R&D center close to your European customers – not only to better understand their needs, but also to take advantage of a highly skilled international talent base.
Corning also has more than the usual relationship with the Foreign Service of the United States and the American Embassy in France. Corning was founded and managed by the Houghton family for several generations.
Alanson Houghton, in addition to being CEO of Corning, also served as the first ambassador to post-World I Germany and later as ambassador to England in the 1920s. And his son Amory served as Ambassador to France in the late 1950s.
So for all of these reasons, Dr. Miller, I was delighted to accept your invitation to celebrate and renew the American Embassy’s long relationship with the Corning and to share with you and the Corning employees in Fontainebleau your R&D anniversary and centennial. Congratulations and thank you.