Secretary of Defense William Cohen, speaking at the U.S. Embassy in the company of President William Jefferson Clinton (seated left), Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (seated right) and Ambassador and Mrs. Richard Gardner (seated left-center), recounts some of the historic developments of the day. Hours earlier, at the NATO summit, the presidents and prime ministers of the 16 member nations reached a consensus on inviting three nations, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, each a former satellite of the Soviet Union, to join the Western military alliance. It was hoped that the three selectees would be ready for full NATO integration by the turn of the century