President Clinton appealed to unionist and nationalist politicians to move the peace process forward, reminding them they should "obey not only the letter of the Good Friday Agreement but its spirit as well".
He was speaking at a ceremony at which he and the leaders of the eight Northern Ireland parties which negotiated the agreement were given the Averell Harriman awards.
Addressing the leaders in the Omni Shoreham Hotel here, the President said he wanted to strike just the right note between a celebration of how far things had come and a plea to keep the work of converting agreement into action moving forward. He urged the leaders to "move quickly to resolve remaining differences, remembering that it is essential to keep an open mind and act in good faith".
The President had separate but brief meetings with the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, and the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams.
Mr Clinton said that he had "closely followed recent efforts to hammer out agreements for the new executive political structures and the bodies that will deal with cross-Border issues".
He applauded the "tireless work" of Gen John de Chastelain "towards achieving the vital goal of disposing of weapons now that the war is over".
Mr Clinton's very heavy programme yesterday did not allow much time for discussions with the leaders. After opening a conference in Washington in the morning, he flew to Tennessee for the funeral of Mr Al Gore snr, father of Vice President Gore.
The death of Mr Gore snr prevented the Vice-President from swearing in the new US ambassador to Ireland, Mr Mike Sullivan. There had also been plans for President Clinton to make an appearance at the swearing in.
The President's meeting with Mr Trimble took place at the White House after his return from Tennessee. The meetings between Mr Clinton and Mr Hume and Mr Adams took place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.
Mr Trimble and Mr Hume were to leave the presentation dinner to fly to Oslo by private jet for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. The aircraft was supplied by Dr Tony O'Reilly of the Heinz Corporation and Independent Newspapers.
On Monday night the political leaders received the Profile in Courage awards at the Kennedy Library in Boston.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, represented the Government at both ceremonies.
Ms O'Donnell will visit the White House today for discussions on the Northern Ireland situation.
The other Northern Ireland leaders to receive the Averell Harriman Awards are Lord Alderdice of the Alliance Party, Mr David Ervine of the PUP, Ms Monica McWilliams of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, Mr Gary McMichael of the UDP and Mr Malachi Curran of Labour.