It was a night of all things Italian – prosciutto and parmesan offerings from D.C.’s top Italian restaurants, a silent auction featuring trips to Rome, the Italian pledge of alliance, generations of Italian families and – Joe Biden?
Yes, the vice president was the odd-man out Thursday night as the recipient of this year’s Sons of Italy Foundation award. And it didn’t go unnoticed by anyone in attendance at the annual gala that the pasty white-haired Irish-American was a bit out of place amongst the sea of dark Italians.
The emcee of the evening – Emmy-award winning actor Joe Montegna – started the night of jokes about Biden’s Irish-Catholic heritage, saying they at least have the same name in common and applauded him for marrying an Italian women. (FYI: Jill Biden’s maiden name was Jacobs, changed from Giacoppa).
But while the true Italians made several attempts at justifying him being the first non-Italian recipient, no one made a more colorful case than Biden himself: some of his best friends were Italian.
In opening his speech at the National Building Museum, Biden noted the past honorees – Frank Sinatra, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Paterno and Judge Scalia – but admitted his name has “something missing there – it’s a vowel.”
Biden took a trip down memory lane to justify the award, one he called “one of the finest honors [he’s] ever been given.”
“My self-consciousness about not being Italian goes all the way back to my childhood,” Biden explained about his move to Claymont, Delaware as a kid. And then the laundry list of all the Italians he knew began, like he use to be some member of the Italian parliament.
In describing his friends in grade school, Biden quickly listed off 10 boys all with names that could’ve come straight from a Martin Scorsese script. His football team in high school allowed him to rattle off eight more.
“And that was just the offense. You think I’m kidding. I’m not kidding. I’m not kidding,” he said with a laugh.
And it didn’t stop there. Add nine more names of staffers that helped him run for public office and the two names of his two priests closets to him and you started to get the picture.
And shockingly enough, his perfect pronunciation only added to his convincing argument.
The Sons of Italy Foundation’s Philip Piccigallo greets Vice President Joe Biden at the foundation’s 21st anniversary gala dinner May 28 in Washington, DC. Mr. Biden was the first non-Italian American to be honored by the foundation. (photo: Max Taylor)
