Children Take the Spotlight in Joyous Trek Over Bridge

When President-elect Bill Clinton led a joyous procession across this city’s Memorial Bridge on Sunday night, it was no accident that he was surrounded by hundreds of children, including a contingent from a California camp for youngsters with cancer.

“Let us build an American home for the 21st Century where everyone has a place at the table and not a single child is left behind,” Clinton said before leading the procession across the Potomac River.

The children’s faces were as bright as the brilliant spotlights that lined the bridge. As they walked over the half-mile span, the Boys Choir of Harlem waited at the other end, singing “ . . . didn’t you know that you’re my hero”--a lyric from a popular song.

About a dozen California children with cancer were on hand, led by Pepper Edmiston, who runs Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times in Kern County.

The children were carefully chosen by the Presidential Inaugural Committee to represent a cross-section of America’s young people--as symbols of a new Administration that pledges to be inclusive.

Among the children who walked across the bridge with Clinton and Vice President-elect Al Gore to the Bells for Hope ceremony were Special Olympics participants, urban scholars and Boy and Girl Scouts, officials said.

At the end of the procession, the children participated in the bell-ringing ceremony, where Gore remarked: “When the President-elect and I ring this bell shortly, it will signal to the world our national unity and our commitment to a peaceful, safe and prosperous future for all our children.”

The march was the first of many inaugural events designed specifically for children.

Others are two hourlong shows at the Kennedy Center featuring performers such as Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers), the Muppets, the Joffrey Ballet and the Los Angeles Youth Ensemble Theater from the Van Nuys High School of Performing Arts.