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Commencement Address, St. Michael's College, Winooski, VT, June 8, 1969
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Commencement Address, St. Michael's College, Winooski, VT, June 8, 1969
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The original documents are located in Box D27, folder "Commencement Address, St.
Michael's College, Winooski, VT, June 8, 1969" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press
Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D27 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS. ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE
WINOOSKI, VERMONT, 3 P.M. SUNDAY Bishop
JUNE 8, 1969.
Resided
MOST REVEREND CLERGY, FACULTY MEMBERS,
HONORED GUESTS, PARENTS AND GRADUATING
SENIORS OF THIS OUTSTANDING INSTITUTION OF
LEARNING:
Skiine
what alth
I AM DELIGHTED TO BE WITH YOU HERE
IN THE EXHILERATING ATMOSPHERE OF THE GREEN
MOUNTAIN STATE AND ONE OF VERMONT'S FINEST
COLLEGES.
I AM MOST GRATEFUL FOR THE HONOR
YOU HAVE BESTOWED ON ME. I HOPE I AM
DESERVING OF IT. AND I PRAY I MAY LIVE THE
REST OF MY DAYS IN KEEPING WITH YOUR
CONFIDENCE.
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE SPOKEN
TO AN ALL-MALE GRADUATING CLASS,
AND + FIND
LUMBUIT
-2-
THE EXPERIENCE MOST INTERESTING
I WOULD
GUESS THAT THE LACK OF FEMININE DISTRACTION
ON CAMPUS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH
ST. MICHAEL'S REPUTATION FOR SCHOLASTIC
EXCELLENCE.
I HAVE A SON IN COLLEGE, AND I FIND
THAT WHEN HE SOMETIMES LOOKS TIRED AND
PEAKED HE IS JUST SUFFERING FROM A CO-ED IN
THE HEAD.
I SENSE AN INDEPENDENCE OF SPIRIT
AT ST. MICHAEL'S. THIS REMINDS ME THAT
ALTHOUGH MASSACHUSETTS ANNEXED MAINE IN
1652 / AND IT TOOK A BRITISH ROYAL COMMISSION
TO SEPARATE NEW HAMPSHIRE FROM MASSACHUSETTS
IN 1680
VERMONTERS MANAGED TO FIGHT OFF
TERRITORIAL CLAIMS BY BOTH NEW YORK AND
NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE MIDDLE 1700's. A LOT OF
PEOPLE THINK THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOYS GOT
TOGETHER TO FIGHT THE BRITISH BUT THE TRUTH
IS THEY FIRST COMBINED FORCES TO PROTECT
-3-
VERMONT FROM THE COLONY OF NEW YORK.
BUT I DID NOT COME TO VERMONT TO
TELL YOU ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THIS PROUD
STATE. THE POINT I MAKE IS THAT AMERICA
TODAY DESPERATELY NEEDS THE KIND OF PIONEER
VERMONT SPIRIT AND THE RUGGED COURAGE THAT
TRIUMPED OVER THE BRITISH AND LAND-GRABBING
COLONIAL NEIGHBORS AS WELL.
AMERICA NEEDS, TOO, THE KIND OF
MORAL COURAGE AND DEVOTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS
THAT PROMPTED VERMONT TO BECOME THE FIRST
STATE TO END SLAVERY AND TO ENACT UNIVERSAL
MALE SUFFRAGE WITHOUT PROPERTY QUALIFICATIONS.
I AM FOND OF READING EARLY AMERICAN
HISTORY BECAUSE I BELIEVE IT TELLS US MUCH
THAT IS INSTRUCTIVE TODAY. WE CAN LEARN MUCH
FROM IT -- FROM THE SUFFERING THE EARLY
AMERICAN SETTLERS ENDURED, FROM THEIR
INCREDIBLE STRUGGLES SIMPLY TO SURVIVE AND
TO WORSHIP GOD AS FREE MEN.
BERAL
IBRARY
-4-
THOSE WERE INCREDIBLE TIMES. BUT
SO TOO IS THE ERA IN WHICH WE ARE LIVING.
AMERICANS ARE LIVING IN AN AGE WHICH
IS IN ITSELF A FANTASTIC PARADOX. IT IS THE
MOST ADVANCED OF ERAS, BOTH TECHNOLOGICALLY
AND IN TERMS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS, AND YET IT
IS STAINED BY UNRESTRAINED SAVAGERY. /
WIDESPREAD VIOLENCE,/ OFFICIAL CORRUPTION
AND REVOLTING LICENTIOUSNESS. IT IS AN
AGE WHICH HAS PRODUCED MARVELS IN MEDICINE
AND IN SPACE EXPLORATION -- AND ALSO
FIENDISH WAR MACHINES CAPABLE OF DESTROYING
ALL OF MANKIND.
IF I MAY DEPART FROM THE SERIOUS
FOR JUST A MOMENT, PERHAPS IT IS SMALL
WONDER THAT MANY AMERICANS ARE UNHAPPY WITH
OUR SYSTEM TODAY. AFTER ALL, WHEN THE
FIRST SETTLERS CAME TO THIS COUNTRY THERE
WAS NO NATIONAL DEBT AND THERE WERE NO
TAXES. THE INDIANS WERE RUNNING THE COUNTRY,
-5-
AND THEY MADE THE WOMEN DO ALL THE WORK.
HOW COULD ANYONE IMPROVE ON A SYSTEM LIKE
THAT?
However,
FEW OF US WOULD WANT TO GO BACK TO
LIVING AS THE PIONEERS DID, CLEARING THE
LAND TO GROW A FEW CROPS AND SHOOTING GAME
TO PUT SOME MEAT ON THE TABLE.
YET THE TRUTH IS EVIDENT THAT MAN
IS TOUGHENED BY SEVERE HARDSHIP AND HIS
CHARACTER ANNEALED TO THE STRENGTH OF STEEL
IN THE FIRES OF ADVERSITY. TODAY MANY OF US
FIND LIFE TOO EASY.
THE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN OF TODAY
HAVE BEEN SPARED MUCH OF THE HARDSHIP AND
Disager
in
ADVERSITY OF THE PAST. FOR INSTANCE, THEY disagned
you may desagner AND 2 your
with
KNOW NOTHING OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION BUT
WHAT THEY HAVE READ IN HISTORY BOOKS. IT IS
INCONCEIVABLE TO THEM THAT A WHOLE
GENERATION OF AMERICANS COULD HAVE GRUBBED
AROUND FOR SCRAPS OF FOOD / OR WAITED IN LINE
-6-
AT SOUP KITCHENS AND RELIEF WAREHOUSES.
I WORKED PART-TIME IN HIGH SCHOOL,
AND I WORKED MY WAY THROUGH THE UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN AND YALE LAW SCHOOL. I AM NOT
COMPLAINING, AND I AM NOT PREACHING. I AM
SIMPLY TRYING TO UNDERSTAND TODAY'S YOUNG
PEOPLE. AND TO DO THAT I HAVE TO LOOK AT
THE WORLD THEY LIVE IN AND ASK MYSELF HOW
IT IS DIFFERENT FROM MINE.
THIS IS THE AGE OF AFFLUENCE. OUR
UNDERSTANDABLY
PEOPLE PEOPLE APPALLED AT POVERTY IN THE MIDST
OF PLENTY. IN MY YOUTH EVEN MEN WITH
1/77
it
GREAT TALENT AND ABILITY WERE OUT OF WORK
AND ONE OF THE POPULAR SONGS OF THE TIME
support
WAS "BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME. II
UNTIL VIETNAM, THE YOUNG MAN AND
WOMAN OF TODAY KNEW NOTHING OF WAR. MANY
OF THEM OBVIOUSLY AGREE WITH BENJAMIN
FORD
FRANKLIN WHEN HE SAID, "THERE NEVER WAS A
LIBRARY
GOOD WAR OR A BAD PEACE."
-7-
MY GENERATION FOR FOUR YEARS FOUGHT
THE FIRST TRULY GLOBAL WAR IN HISTORY TO
CLEANSE THE WORLD OF NAZIISM AND FASCISM - -
AND SAW AMERICA PREVENT A COMMUNIST TAKEOVER
IN SOUTH KOREA.
TODAY'S PACIFISTS WRAP THEMSELVES
IN ROBES OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. DO THEY
THINK THEY ARE ALONE IN HATING WAR? ANYONE
WHO LOVES WAR IS INSANE.
IT WAS A GREAT MILITARY MAN, GEN.
WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, WHO SAID: "YOU
CANNOT QUALIFY WAR IN HARSHER TERMS THAN
I WILL. WAR IS CRUELTY, AND YOU CANNOT
REFINE IT. WAR IS HELL. BUT GEN. SHERMAN
ALSO SAID -- AND THIS IS IMPORTANT -- "THE
LEGITIMATE OBJECT OF WAR IS A MORE PERFECT
PEACE II
IS NOTHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR?? ?
SOME YOUNG PEOPLE SNEER AT
PATRIOTISM AND WHAT MEN LIKE ME CALL
-8-
AMERICANISM. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ALL OF
OUR CITIZENS REDEDICATE THEMSELVES TO THE
AMERICANISM DESCRIBED BY PRESIDENT THEODORE
ROOSEVELT WHEN HE SAID: "AMERICANISM MEANS
THE VIRTUES OF COURAGE, HONOR, JUSTICE
TRUTH SINCERITY AND HARDIHOOD -- THE
VIRTUES THAT MADE AMERICA.
AMERICANS OF MY GENERATION LOOK AT
YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN WHO WAVE THE VIET CONG
FLAG
I
THROW FIRE BOMBS I ASSAULT DEANS
AND
FACULTY MEMBERS IN OUR SCHOOLS OF HIGHER
EDUCATION. I COMMIT PUBLIC FORNICATION, I AND
SHOUT AND WRITE OBSCENITIES AND WE ASK
OURSELVES: WHAT DO THEY WANT? WHO ARE THEY?
WHAT HAS AMERICA SPAWNED? AND WHY ? ?
THESE YOUNG PEOPLE SCREAM THAT
AMERICA IS RACIST, / CAPITALISTIC /AND
IMPERIALISTIC AND THE SYSTEM MUST BE TORN
DOWN
THERE ARE ANSWERS FOR THESE CHARGES,
-9-
BUT HOW DO YOU REPLY WHEN RADICAL LEADERS
SHOUT YOU DOWN OR ROUGH YOU UP AND MOUTH
MEANINGLESS PHRASES BORROWED FROM MARXIST-
LENINIST AND MAOIST WRITINGS
?
WE HAVE GREAT NEED FOR A DIALOGUE
IN THIS COUNTRY -- A QUIET REASONED DIALOGUE
DEALING WITH THE VIETNAM WAR, INJUSTICE TO
NEGROES, CORRUPTION, MATERIALISM AND THE
ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF LIFE.
THIS KIND OF DIALOGUE GOES TO THE
BASIC PURPOSES OF A UNIVERSITY -- A PLACE
WHERE FACULTY AND STUDENTS ENGAGE IN AN
UNFETTERED SEARCH FOR TRUTH AND NEW ANSWERS
TO DEPRESSING PROBLEMS.
BUT HOW CAN YOU HAVE A DIALOGUE
WHEN RADICAL LEADERS LAUNCH VIOLENT ATTACKS
UPON THE UNIVERSITY ITSELF WITH THE AVOWED
OBJECTIVE OF DESTROYING WHAT THEY CALL
"THE ESTABLISHMENT?"
FORD LIBRARY
WHAT IS "THE ESTABLISHMENT?" THE
-10-
ESTABLISHMENT IS YOU AND ME AND EVERYTHING
THAT HAS GONE INTO THE BUILDING OF AMERICA.
IT IS OUR DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.
IMPERFECT AS IT IS, I BELIEVE IT IS THE BEST
FORM OF GOVERNMENT EVER DEVISED. Churchill
I AM FULLY AWARE THAT THERE IS A
LACK OF ADEQUATE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOUNG
PEOPLE AND THE OVER-30 GENERATION TODAY -- A
LACK OF SUFFICIENT COMMUNICATION BETWEEN
STUDENTS AND FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION EVEN
AT PEACEFUL COLLEGES SUCH AS ST. MICHAEL'S.
COMMUNICATION WE NEED -- AND NEED DESPERATELY.
BUT VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER.
SHUTTING DOWN OUR GREAT UNIVERSITIES IS NOT
THE ANSWER. BLACK SEPARATISM IS NOT THE
ANSWER. DESTROYING COLLEGE ADMISSION
REQUIREMENTS SO THAT OUR COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES BECOME REMEDIAL INSTITUTIONS
IS NOT THE ANSWER.
WE DON'T SOLVE PROBLEMS BY RUNNING
-11-
AWAY FROM THEM OR ABANDONING OUR VALUES OR
DEGRADING OURSELVES WITH COMPLETELY
UNINHIBITED LIFE STYLES.
THE PROBLEMS TODAY ARE ESSENTIALLY
THE SAME FOR ALL AMERICANS. THEY ARE NOT
EASY PROBLEMS AND THERE ARE NO EASY
SOLUTIONS.
VIETNAM. A TRAGIC WAR. I DON'T
BELIEVE IT PROVED THAT AMERICA WAS WRONG IN
SEEKING TO THWART COMMUNIST AGGRESSION. I
BELIEVE IT DID PROVE THAT OUR FOREIGN POLICY
IN RELATION TO COMMUNIST EXPANSIONIST PROBES
SHOULD BE ONE OF SELECTIVE INVOLVEMENT AND
OF CAREFULLY REASONED JUDGMENT AS TO WHETHER
POSSIBLY MINIMAL RESULTS WOULD JUSTIFY THE
INVESTMENT in camathes + dollars.
I ALSO BELIEVE THAT FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN FOUR YEARS THERE IS REAL HOPE FOR
PEACE IN VIETNAM.
FORD is LIBRARY 938830
RACISM. IT IS NOW A TWO-EDGED
-12-
SWORD. GUILT FEELINGS SERVE NO USEFUL
PURPOSE. WE HAVE MADE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS.
THE ONLY ULTIMATE ANSWER IS TO MAKE A LIVING
TRUTH OF THE WORDS THAT MAKE THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE A GLOWING
TESTIMONIAL TO MAN'S ASPIRATIONS: "WE HOLD
THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT ALL
MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, THAT THEY ARE
ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN
UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THAT AMONG THESE ARE
LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. 11
THE FRAMERS OF THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE WERE NOT TALKING ABOUT BLACK
MEN. SLAVERY WAS PRACTICED IN THE UNITED
STATES AT THE TIME. BUT WE MUST APPLY THEIR
WORDS IN THE CONTEXT OF TODAY'S WORLD AND
CLOTHE THEM WITH THE TRUTH THAT ALL MEN
ARE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF GOD.
HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED HOW OFTEN
THE DRAFTERS OF THE DECLARATION OF
-13-
INDEPENDENCE REFERRED TO THE DEITY?
THEY BEGAN BY STATING: "WHEN IN THE
COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS, IT BECOMES NECESSARY
FOR ONE PEOPLE TO DISSOLVE THE POLITICAL BONDS
WHICH HAVE CONNECTED THEM WITH ANOTHER, AND
TO ASSUME AMONG THE POWERS OF THE EARTH THE
SEPARATE AND EQUAL STATION TO WHICH THE
LAWS OF NATURE AND OF NATURE'S GOD ENTITLE
THEM, A DECENT RESPECT TO THE OPINIONS OF
MANKIND REQUIRES THAT THEY SHOULD DECLARE
THE CAUSES WHICH IMPEL THEM TO THE SEPARATION."
AND AFTER ASCRIBING TO THE CREATOR
THE ENDOWING OF MEN WITH CERTAIN
UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THE DRAFTERS OF THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE CONCLUDED THEIR
STATEMENT OF THE CAUSES OF SEPARATION FROM
ENGLAND BY PROCLAIMING "A FIRM RELIANCE ON
THE PROTECTION OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE."
IN EVERY AGE, IN EVERY TIME AND IN
EVERY CLIME THERE ARE DOOMSDAY SAYERS WHO
-14-
RUN ABOUT PREDICTING THE END OF THE WORLD.
MOST PEOPLE JUST SMILE TOLERANTLY, SHAKE THEIR
HEADS A BIT AND SAY TO THEMSELVES, "POOR
FELLOW.'
ONE OF THE RECENT POPULAR SONG HITS
IS A CALYPSO TUNE ABOUT CALIFORNIA SLIDING
INTO THE SEA. I THINK IT HAS A DEEPER
MEANING.
MANY MEMBERS OF THE OLDER GENERATION
TODAY ARE COMPARING THE ABANDONMENT OF
INHIBITIONS / THE EXCESSIVE EMPHASIS ON SEX
/
AND THE GENERAL DECLINE IN MORALS IN THE
UNITED STATES TO THE BIBLICAL STORIES ABOUT
SODOM AND GOMORRAH AND TO THE FALL OF
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME.
I CAN UNDERSTAND SUCH FEELINGS.
VALUES CHANGE, YES, BUT CERTAIN TRUTHS
ARE IMMUTABLE. AND WE LIVE TODAY IN AN
FORD
AGE WHEN THE NEW BARBARIANS SEEK TO DESTROY
TRUTH, AND THE PORNOGRAPHY PEDDLERS ARE
-15-
EVERLASTINGLY ENGAGED IN PURSUIT OF THE
FAST BUCK.
THERE ARE TRUTHS THAT ARE NOT
DEBATABLE -- THE TRUTHS THAT ARE LAID DOWN
IN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS -- THE TRUTHS THAT
GIVE RISE TO CODES OF ETHICS AMONG CIVILIZED
PEOPLES -- THE TRUTHS THAT CAUSE MEN TO
SPEAK OF INTEGRITY, HONOR AND VIRTUE.
WHEN MEN ABANDON THESE TRUTHS, THEY
LOSE ALL SENSE OF VALUE. THEY LIVE A LIFE
IN DEATH. THEIR LIVES ARE A WASTE AND THEY
CARRY HELL AROUND WITH THEM IN THEIR HEARTS.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS SAID: "THREE
THINGS ARE NECESSARY FOR THE SALVATION OF
MAN. TO KNOW WHAT HE OUGHT TO BELIEVE; TO
KNOW WHAT HE OUGHT TO DESIRE; AND TO KNOW
WHAT HE OUGHT TO 00.4
TODAY AMERICA IS SHAKEN BY DOUBTS
ABOUT THE MEANING OF EDUCATION, ABOUT THE
IDEALS OF THE COLLEGE GENERATION, AND INDEED
-16-
ABOUT THE STABILITY OF AMERICAN SOCIETY.
COLLEGE STUDENTS, ADULTS OVER 30,
ALL OF US WHO STILL ENGAGE IN THE USE OF
REASON SHOULD LOOK AT OUR LIVES AND AT
AMERICA AS A NATION AND ASK: WHAT ARE WE?
WHERE ARE WE GOING? WHERE DO WE WANT TO GO?
AND WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET THERE?
WE ARE LIVING IN THE MIDST OF
REVOLUTION IN AMERICA TODAY -- NOT ONE
REVOLUTION BUT MANY. AT THE CENTER OF ONE
OF OUR POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS IS THE STUDENTS
FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, THE CORE OF THE NEW
LEFT MOVEMENT.
LEADERS OF STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC
SOCIETY HAVE CONCLUDED -- IN THE WORDS OF ONE
OF THEM -- THAT THE "SEEMINGLY SEPARATE
PROBLEMS OF RACISM, URBAN POVERTY,
AUTHORITARIANISM IN THE ACADEMIES AND THE
VIETNAM WAR ARE ALL THE OFFSPRING OF A SINGLE
PARENT CAPITALISM." SIMPLE, ISN'T IT?
-17-
DESTROY CAPITALISM AND YOU WILL SOLVE ALL OF
AMERICA'S PROBLEMS, SDS LEADERS SEEM TO BE
SAYING. THEY MIGHT MORE APTLY CALL THEMSELVES
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOLISHED SOCIETY.
THIS NATION DOESN'T NEED A NEW
REVOLUTION. IT NEEDS TO BUILD ON THE OLD
ONE THE REVOLUTION IN WHICH THE GREEN
MOUNTAIN BOYS FOUGHT SO VALIANTLY.
WE NEED A RETURN TO MORAL VALUES.
THIS SHOULD BE OUR REVOLUTION. THIS SHOULD
BE OUR ANSWER TO THE CRUSHING MATERIALISM
THAT IS ROBBING OUR LIVES OF MEANING.
CONSIDER WHAT GOOD THE RADICAL
STUDENT LEADERS COULD ACCOMPLISH IF THEY WOULD
MOBILIZE MODERATE STUDENTS INTO AN ARMY TO
CLEAN UP AND REPAIR SLUM DWELLINGS INSTEAD
OF EXHORTING THEM TO AN ASSAULT UPON THE
CITADEL OF REASON ITSELF: THE UNIVERSITY.
AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS TODAY ARE
AMONG THE MOST PRIVILEGED AND FORTUNATE
GERALD
LIBRARY
-18-
INDIVIDUALS IN THE WORLD, WHATEVER THEIR
COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE RELEVANCE OF CURRENT
CURRICULA.
AND HERE AT ST. MICHAEL'S YOU ARE
DOUBLY BLESSED BECAUSE YOU HAVE RECEIVED
A COLLEGE EDUCATION ROOTED IN MORAL VALUES
AND THE STEADFAST BELIEF THAT MAN IS ONLY A
LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS.
I CONGRATULATE YOU, FOR YOU ARE NOW
PREPARED TO LIVE A LIFE WHICH RECOGNIZES
THAT LOVE OF FAMILY IS OF PARAMOUNT
IMPORTANCE, THAT MARITAL FIDELITY IS A
NECESSARY FOUNDATION FOR HAPPINESS, AND THAT
NOTHING IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN THE INTEGRITY
OF THE INDIVIDUAL.
THESE ARE SOME OF THE TRUTHS THAT
AMERICA HAS LOST IN THE WHIRL OF THIS ATOMIC
AGE
THE FEAR OF IMMINENT NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION
THE PURSUIT OF HEDONISTIC PLEASURE / AND THE
THROWING OFF OF REASON AND RESTRAINT.
LIBRARY
-19-
I DO NOT BELIEVE AMERICA IS DOOMED.
AS I LOOK AT THIS GRADUATING CLASS, I SEE
THE BIRTH OF A NEW MORALITY IN THIS COUNTRY --
NOT IN THE NARROW SENSE BUT IN TERMS OF NEW
STRENGTH OF CHARACTER BOTH IN AMERICANS AS
INDIVIDUALS AND IN THE UNITED STATES AS A
NATION.
THERE IS SUCH AN ENTITY AS NATIONAL
CHARACTER. IT IS A COMPOSITE OF ALL THE
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE INDIVIDUALS
WHO MAKE UP A NATION. Beauty of Josephs wat was to many chom.
I FEEL YOU ARE STRONG MEN, AND THERE
ARE MANY MORE AMERICANS LIKE YOU THROUGHOUT
THIS GREAT LAND OF OURS. AND SO I DO NOT
DESPAIR
I BELIEVE THAT YOU AND OTHERS LIKE
YOU WILL GO OUT INTO THE COMMUNITIES AND
BUILD ON THE OLD REVOLUTION -- MAKE OF AMERICA
A NATION WHICH UNMISTAKABLY STANDS FOR
JUSTICE AND DECENCY AND REASON, FOR EQUALITY
-20-
AND OPPORTUNITY AND HOPE.
I BELIEVE YOU AGREE, AS I DO, WITH
PLUTARCH WHEN HE COUNSELED THAT "PERSEVERANCE
IS MORE PREVAILING THAN VIOLENCE; AND MANY
THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE OVERCOME WHEN THEY
ARE TOGETHER, YIELD THEMSELVES UP WHEN
TAKEN LITTLE BY LITTLE."
SO LET US, EACH ONE OF US, LIGHT A
CANDLE INSTEAD OF CURSING THE DARKNESS -- SO
THAT TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE A GREAT LIGHT
WHICH SHALL ILLUMINE THE WORLD_FOR OURSELVES
AND FOR ALL MEN.
-- END --
GERALD R. LISBARY FORD
Distribution: 20 copies Mw. Ford
M affice Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE, WINOOSKI, VERMONT
AT 3 P.M. SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 1969
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
Most reverend clergy, faculty members, honored guests, parents and
graduating seniors of this outstanding institution of learning:
I am delighted to be with you here in the exhilerating atmosphere of the
Green Mountain state and one of Vermont's finest colleges.
I am most grateful for the honor you have bestowed on me. I hope I am
deserving of it. And I pray I may live the rest of my days in keeping with your
confidence.
This is the first time I have spoken to an all-male graduating class and
I find the experience most interesting. I would guess that the lack of feminine
distraction on campus has something to do with St. Michael's reputation for
scholastic excellence.
I have a son in college, and I find that when he sometimes looks tired and
peaked he is just suffering from a co-ed in the head.
I sense an independence of spirit at St. Michael's. This reminds me that
although Massachusetts annexed Maine in 1652 and it took a British Royal
Commission to separate New Hampshire from Massachusetts in 1680, Vermonters
managed to fight off territorial claims by both New York and New Hampshire in
the middle 1700s. A lot of people think the Green Mountain Boys got together to
fight the British but the truth is they first combined forces to protect Vermont
from the colony of New York.
But I did not come to Vermont to tell you about the history of this proud
state. The point I make is that America today desperately needs the kind of
pioneer Vermont spirit and the rugged courage that triumped over the British and
land-grabbing colonial neighbors as well.
America needs, too, the kind of moral courage and devotion to human rights
that prompted Vermont to become the first state to end slavery and to enact
universal male suffrage without property qualifications.
I am fond of reading early American history because I believe it tells us
much that is instructive today. We can learn much from it -- from the suffering
the early American settlers endured, from their incredible struggles simply to
survive and to worship God as free mên.
(more)
GERALD FORD JBRARY
-2-
Those were incredible times. But so too is the era in which we are living.
Americans are living in an age which is in itself a fantastic paradox. It
is the most advanced of eras, both technologically and in terms of social progress,
and yet it is stained by unrestrained savagery, widespread violence, official
corruption and revolting licentiousness. It is an age which has produced marvels
in medicine and in space exploration -- and also fiendish war machines capable
of destroying all of mankind.
If I may depart from the serious for just a moment, perhaps it is small
wonder that many Americans are unhappy with out system today. After all, when
the first settlers came to this country there was no national debt and there were
no taxes. The Indians were running the country, and they made the women do all
the work. How could anyone improve on a system like that?
Few of us would want to go back to living as the pioneers did, clearing
the land to grow a few crops and shooting game to put some meat on the table.
Yet the truth is evident that man is toughened by severe hardship and his
character annealed to the strength of steel in the fires of adversity. Today
many of us find life too easy.
The young men and women of today have been spared much of the hardship and
adversity of the past. For instance, they know nothing of the Great Depression
but what they have read in history books. It is inconceivable to them that a
whole generation of Americans could have grubbed around for scraps of food or
waited in line at soup kitchens and relief warehouses.
I worked part-time in high school, and I worked my way through the
University of Michigan and Yale Law School. I am not complaining, and I am not
preaching. I am simply trying to understand today's young people. And to do
that I have to look at the world they live in and ask myself how it is different
from mine.
This is the age of affluence. People are appalled at poverty in the midst
of plenty. In my youth even men with great talent and ability were out of work,
and one of the popular songs of the time was "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime.'
Until Vietnam, the young man and woman of today knew nothing of war. Many
of them obviously agree with Benjamin Franklin when he said, "There never was a
good war or a bad peace."
My generation for four years fought the first truly global war in history
to cleanse the world of Naziism and fascism and saw America prevent a Communist
takeover in South Korea.
(more)
-3-
Today's pacifists wrap themselves in robes of self-righteousness. Do they
think they are alone in hating war? Anyone who loves war is insane.
It was a great military man, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who said:
"You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you
cannot refine it. War is hell." But Gen. Sherman also said -- and this is
important -- "The legitimate object of war is a more perfect peace."
Is nothing worth fighting for?
Some young people sneer at patriotism and what men like me call
Americanism. I would like to see all of our citizens rededicate themselves to
the Americanism described by President Theodore Roosevelt when he said:
"Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and
hardihood -- the virtues that made America."
Americans of my generation look at young men and women who wave the Viet
Cong flag, throw fire bombs, assault deans and faculty members in our schools of
higher education, commit public fornication, and shout and write obscenities and
we ask ourselves: What do they want? Who are they? What has America spawned?
And why?
These young people scream that America is racist, capitalistic and
imperialistic and the system must be torn down.
There are answers for these charges, but how do you reply when radical
leaders shout you down or rough you up and mouth meaningless phrases borrowed
from Marxist-Leninist and Maoist writings?
We have great need for a dialogue in this country -- a quiet reasoned
dialogue dealing with the Vietnam War, injustice to Negroes, corruption,
materialism and the ultimate purpose of life.
This kind of dialogue goes to the basic purposes of a university -- a place
where faculty and students engage in an unfettered search for truth and new
answers to depressing problems.
But how can you have a dialogue when radical leaders launch violent
attacks upon the university itself with the avowed objective of destroying what
they call "The Establishment?"
What is "The Establishment?" The Establishment is you and me and every-
thing that has gone into the building of America. It is our democratic system
of government. Imperfect as it is, I believe it is the best form of government
ever devised.
(more)
-4-
I am fully aware that there is a lack of adequate communication between
young people and the over-30 generation today -- a lack of sufficient communi-
cation between students and faculty and administration even at peaceful colleges
such as St. Michael's. Communication we need and need desperately.
But violence is not the answer. Shutting down our great universities is
not the answer. Black separatism is not the answer. Destroying college
admission requirements so that our colleges and universities become remedial
institutions is not the answer.
We don't solve problems by running away from them or abandoning our
values or degrading ourselves with completely uninhibited life styles.
The problems today are essentially the same for all Americans. They are
not easy problems and there are no easy solutions.
Vietnam. A tragic war. I don't believe it proved that America was wrong
in seeking to thwart Communist aggression. I believe it did prove that our
foreign policy in relation to Communist expansionist probes should be one of
selective involvement and of carefully reasoned judgment as to whether possibly
minimal results would justify the investment.
I also believe that for the first time in four years there is real hope
for peace in Vietnam.
Racism. It is now a two-edged sword. Guilt feelings serve no useful
purpose. We have made substantial progress. The only ultimate answer is to
make a living truth of the words that make the Declaration of Independence a
glowing testimonial to man's aspirations: "We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness."
The framers of the Declaration of Independence were not talking about
black men. Slavery was practiced in the United States at the time. But we must
apply their words in the context of today's world and clothe them with the truth
that all men are equal in the eyes of God.
Have you ever considered how often the drafters of the Declaration of
Independence referred to the Deity?
They began by stating: "When in the course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and
(more)
-5-
equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation."
And after ascribing to the Creator the endowing of men with certain
unalienable Rights, the drafters of the Declaration of Independence concluded
their statement of the causes of separation from England by proclaiming "a firm
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence."
In every age, in every time and in every clime there are doomsday sayers
who run about predicting the end of the world. Most people just smile tolerantly,
shake their heads a bit and say to themselves, "Poor fellow.'
One of the recent popular song hits is a calypso tune about California
sliding into the sea. I think it has a deeper meaning.
Many members of the older generation today are comparing the abandonment
of inhibitions, the excessive emphasis on sex and the general decline in morals
in the United States to the biblical stories about Sodom and Gomorrah and to the
fall of ancient Greece and Rome.
I can understand such feelings. Values change, yes, but certain truths
are immutable. And we live today in an age when the New Barbarians seek to
destroy truth, and the pornography peddlers are everlastingly engaged in pursuit
of the fast buck.
There are truths that are not debatable -- the truths that are laid down
in the Ten Commandments -- the truths that give rise to codes of ethics among
civilized peoples -- the truths that cause men to speak of integrity, honor, and
virtue.
When men abandon these truths, they lose all sense of value. They live
a life in death. Their lives are a waste, and they carry hell around with them
in their hearts.
St. Thomas Aquinas said: "Three things are necessary for the salvation
of man: To know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and
to know what he ought to do."
Today America is shaken by doubts about the meaning of education, about
the ideals of the college generation, and indeed about the stability of American
society.
College students, adults over 30, all of us who still engage in the use
of reason should look at our lives and at America as a nation and ask:
(more)
-6-
What are we? Where are we going? Where do we want to go? And what is the
best way to get there?
We are living in the midst of revolution in America today -- not one
revolution but many. At the center of one of our political revolutions is the
Students for a Democratic Society, the core of the New Left Movement.
Leaders of Students for a Democratic Society have concluded -- in the words
of one of them -- that the "seemingly separate problems of racism, urban poverty,
authoritarianism in the academies and the Vietnam War are all the offspring of
a single parent capitalism." Simple, isn't it? Destroy capitalism and you
will solve all of America's problems, SDS leaders seem to be saying. They might
more aptly call themselves Students for a Demolished Society.
This Nation doesn't need a new revolution. It needs to build on the
old one, the revolution in which the Green Mountain Boys fought so valiantly.
We need a return to moral values. This should be our revolution. This
should be our answer to the crushing materialism that is robbing our lives of
meaning.
Consider what good the radical student leaders could accomplish if they
would mobilize moderate students into an army to clean up and repair slum
dwellings instead of exhorting them to an assault upon the citadel of reason
itself: the university.
American college students today are among the most privileged and fortunate
individuals in the world, whatever their complaints about the relevance of
current curricula.
And here at St. Michael's you are doubly blessed because you have received
a college education rooted in moral values and the steadfast belief that man is
only a little lower than the angels.
I congratulate you, for you are now prepared to live a life which
recognizes that love of family is of paramount importance, that marital fidelity
is a necessary foundation for happiness, and that nothing is more precious than
the integrity of the individual.
These are some of the truths that America has lost in the whirl of this
atomic age, the fear of imminent nuclear annihilation, the pursuit of hedonistic
pleasure and the throwing off of reason and restraint.
I do not believe America is doomed. As I look at this graduating class,
I see the birth of a New Morality in this country -- not in the narrow sense but
in terms of new strength of character both in Americans as individuals and in
(more)
-7-
the United States as a Nation.
There is such an entity as National Character. It is a composite of all
the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals who make up a Nation.
I feel you are strong men, and there are many more Americans like you
throughout this great land of ours. And so I do not despair.
I believe that you and others like you will go out into the communities
and build on the old revolution -- make of America a nation which unmistakably
stands for justice and decency and reason, for equality and opportunity and hope.
I believe you agree, as I do, with Plutarch when he counseled that
"perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be
overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little."
So let us, each one of us, light a candle instead of cursing the darkness --
so that together we will make a great light which shall illumine the world for
ourselves and for all men.
# # #
O Office Copy
AN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE, WINOOSKI, VERMONT
AT 3 P.M. SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 1969
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
Most reverend clergy, faculty members, honored guests, parents and
graduating seniors of this outstanding institution of learning:
I am delighted to be with you here in the exhilerating atmosphere of the
Green Mountain state and one of Vermont's finest colleges.
I am most grateful for the honor you have bestowed on me. I hope I am
deserving of it. And I pray I may live the rest of my days in keeping with your
confidence.
This is the first time I have spoken to an all-male graduating class and
I find the experience most interesting. I would guess that the lack of feminine
distraction on campus has something to do with St. Michael's reputation for
scholastic excellence.
I have a son in college, and I find that when he sometimes looks tired and
peaked he is just suffering from a co-ed in the head.
I sense an independence of spirit at St. Michael's. This reminds me that
although Massachusetts annexed Maine in 1652 and it took a British Royal
Commission to separate New Hampshire from Massachusetts in 1680, Vermonters
managed to fight off territorial claims by both New York and New Hampshire in
the middle 1700s. A lot of people think the Green Mountain Boys got together to
fight the British but the truth is they first combined forces to protect Vermont
from the colony of New York.
But I did not come to Vermont to tell you about the history of this proud
state. The point I make is that America today desperately needs the kind of
pioneer Vermont spirit and the rugged courage that triumped over the British and
land-grabbing colonial neighbors as well.
America needs, too, the kind of moral courage and devotion to human rights
that prompted Vermont to become the first state to end slavery and to enact
universal male suffrage without property qualifications.
I am fond of reading early American history because I believe it tells us
much that is instructive today. We can learn much from it -- from the suffering
the early American settlers endured, from their incredible struggles simply to
survive and to worship God as free men.
(more)
-2-
Those were incredible times. But so too is the era in which we are living.
Americans are living in an age which is in itself a fantastic paradox. It
is the most advanced of eras, both technologically and in terms of social progress,
and yet it is stained by unrestrained savagery, widespread violence, official
corruption and revolting licentiousness. It is an age which has produced marvels
in medicine and in space exploration -- and also fiendish war machines capable
of destroying all of mankind.
If I may depart from the serious for just a moment, perhaps it is small
wonder that many Americans are unhappy with out system today. After all, when
the first settlers came to this country there was no national debt and there were
no taxes. The Indians were running the country, and they made the women do all
the work. How could anyone improve on a system like that?
Few of us would want to go back to living as the pioneers did, clearing
the land to grow a few crops and shooting game to put some meat on the table.
Yet the truth is evident that man is toughened by severe hardship and his
character annealed to the strength of steel in the fires of adversity. Today
many of us find life too easy.
The young men and women of today have been spared much of the hardship and
adversity of the past. For instance, they know nothing of the Great Depression
but what they have read in history books. It is inconceivable to them that a
whole generation of Americans could have grubbed around for scraps of food or
waited in line at soup kitchens and relief warehouses.
I worked part-time in high school, and I worked my way through the
University of Michigan and Yale Law School. I am not complaining, and I am not
preaching. I am simply trying to understand today's young people. And to do
that I have to look at the world they live in and ask myself how it is different
from mine.
This is the age of affluence. People are appalled at poverty in the midst
of plenty. In my youth even men with great talent and ability were out of work,
and one of the popular songs of the time was "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime."
Until Vietnam, the young man and woman of today knew nothing of war. Many
of them obviously agree with Benjamin Franklin when he said, "There never was a
good war or a bad peace."
My generation for four years fought the first truly global war in history
to cleanse the world of Naziism and fascism and saw America prevent a Communist
takeover in South Korea.
(more)
-3-
Today's pacifists wrap themselves in robes of self-righteousness. Do they
think they are alone in hating war? Anyone who loves war is insane.
It was a great military man, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who said:
"You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you
cannot refine it. War is hell." But Gen. Sherman also said -- and this is
important -- "The legitimate object of war is a more perfect peace."
Is nothing worth fighting for?
Some young people sneer at patriotism and what men like me call
Americanism. I would like to see all of our citizens rededicate themselves to
the Americanism described by President Theodore Roosevelt when he said:
"Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and
hardihood -- the virtues that made America."
Americans of my generation look at young men and women who wave the Viet
Cong flag, throw fire bombs, assault deans and faculty members in our schools of
higher education, commit public fornication, and shout and write obscenities and
we ask ourselves: What do they want? Who are they? What has America spawned?
And why?
These young people scream that America is racist, capitalistic and
imperialistic and the system must be torn down.
There are answers for these charges, but how do you reply when radical
leaders shout you down or rough you up and mouth meaningless phrases borrowed
from Marxist-Leninist and Maoist writings?
We have great need for a dialogue in this country -- a quiet reasoned
dialogue dealing with the Vietnam War, injustice to Negroes, corruption,
materialism and the ultimate purpose of life.
This kind of dialogue goes to the basic purposes of a university -- a place
where faculty and students engage in an unfettered search for truth and new
answers to depressing problems.
But how can you have a dialogue when radical leaders launch violent
attacks upon the university itself with the avowed objective of destroying what
they call "The Establishment?"
What is "The Establishment?" The Establishment is you and me and every-
thing that has gone into the building of America. It is our democratic system
of government. Imperfect as it is, I believe it is the best form of government
ever devised.
(more)
-4-
I am fully aware that there is a lack of adequate communication between
young people and the over-30 generation today -- a lack of sufficient communi-
cation between students and faculty and administration even at peaceful colleges
such as St. Michael's. Communication we need -- and need desperately.
But violence is not the answer. Shutting down our great universities is
not the answer. Black separatism is not the answer. Destroying college
admission requirements so that our colleges and universities become remedial
institutions is not the answer.
We don't solve problems by running away from them or abandoning our
values or degrading ourselves with completely uninhibited life styles.
The problems today are essentially the same for all Americans. They are
not easy problems and there are no easy solutions.
Vietnam. A tragic war. I don't believe it proved that America was wrong
in seeking to thwart Communist aggression. I believe it did prove that our
foreign policy in relation to Communist expansionist probes should be one of
selective involvement and of carefully reasoned judgment as to whether possibly
minimal results would justify the investment.
I also believe that for the first time in four years there is real hope
for peace in Vietnam.
Racism. It is now a two-edged sword. Guilt feelings serve no useful
purpose. We have made substantial progress. The only ultimate answer is to
make a living truth of the words that make the Declaration of Independence a
glowing testimonial to man's aspirations: "We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.'
The framers of the Declaration of Independence were not talking about
black men. Slavery was practiced in the United States at the time. But we must
apply their words in the context of today's world and clothe them with the truth
that all men are equal in the eyes of God.
Have you ever considered how often the drafters of the Declaration of
Independence referred to the Deity?
They began by stating: "When in the course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and
(more)
-5-
equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.'
And after ascribing to the Creator the endowing of men with certain
unalienable Rights, the drafters of the Declaration of Independence concluded
their statement of the causes of separation from England by proclaiming "a firm
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence."
In every age, in every time and in every clime there are doomsday sayers
who run about predicting the end of the world. Most people just smile tolerantly,
shake their heads a bit and say to themselves, "Poor fellow."
One of the recent popular song hits is a calypso tune about California
sliding into the sea. I think it has a deeper meaning.
Many members of the older generation today are comparing the abandonment
of inhibitions, the excessive emphasis on sex and the general decline in morals
in the United States to the biblical stories about Sodom and Gomorrah and to the
fall of ancient Greece and Rome.
I can understand such feelings. Values change, yes, but certain truths
are immutable. And we live today in an age when the New Barbarians seek to
destroy truth, and the pornography peddlers are everlastingly engaged in pursuit
of the fast buck.
There are truths that are not debatable -- the truths that are laid down
in the Ten Commandments -- the truths that give rise to codes of ethics among
civilized peoples -- the truths that cause men to speak of integrity, honor, and
virtue.
When men abandon these truths, they lose all sense of value. They live
a life in death. Their lives are a waste, and they carry hell around with them
in their hearts.
St. Thomas Aquinas said: "Three things are necessary for the salvation
of man: To know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and
to know what he ought to do."
Today America is shaken by doubts about the meaning of education, about
the ideals of the college generation, and indeed about the stability of American
society.
College students, adults over 30, all of us who still engage in the use
of reason should look at our lives and at America as a nation and ask:
(more)
-6-
What are we? Where are we going? Where do we want to go? And what is the
best way to get there?
We are living in the midst of revolution in America today -- not one
revolution but many. At the center of one of our political revolutions is the
Students for a Democratic Society, the core of the New Left Movement.
Leaders of Students for a Democratic Society have concluded -- in the words
of one of them -- that the "seemingly separate problems of racism, urban poverty,
authoritarianism in the academies and the Vietnam War are all the offspring of
a single parent capitalism." Simple, isn't it? Destroy capitalism and you
will solve all of America's problems, SDS leaders seem to be saying. They might
more aptly call themselves Students for a Demolished Society.
This Nation doesn't need a new revolution. It needs to build on the
old one, the revolution in which the Green Mountain Boys fought so valiantly.
We need a return to moral values. This should be our revolution. This
should be our answer to the crushing materialism that is robbing our lives of
meaning.
Consider what good the radical student leaders could accomplish if they
would mobilize moderate students into an army to clean up and repair slum
dwellings instead of exhorting them to an assault upon the citadel of reason
itself: the university.
American college students today are among the most privileged and fortunate
individuals in the world, whatever their complaints about the relevance of
current curricula.
And here at St. Michael's you are doubly blessed because you have received
a college education rooted in moral values and the steadfast belief that man is
only a little lower than the angels.
I congratulate you, for you are now prepared to live a life which
recognizes that love of family is of paramount importance, that marital fidelity
is a necessary foundation for happiness, and that nothing is more precious than
the integrity of the individual.
These are some of the truths that America has lost in the whirl of this
atomic age, the fear of imminent nuclear annihilation, the pursuit of hedonistic
pleasure and the throwing off of reason and restraint.
I do not believe America is doomed. As I look at this graduating class,
I see the birth of a New Morality in this country -- not in the narrow sense but
in terms of new strength of character both in Americans as individuals and in
(more)
-7-
the United States as a Nation.
There is such an entity as National Character. It is a composite of all
the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals who make up a Nation.
I feel you are strong men, and there are many more Americans like you
throughout this great land of ours. And so I do not despair.
I believe that you and others like you will go out into the communities
and build on the old revolution -- make of America a nation which unmistakably
stands for justice and decency and reason, for equality and opportunity and hope.
I believe you agree, as I do, with Plutarch when he counseled that
"perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be
overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little."
So let us, each one of us, light a candle instead of cursing the darkness --
so that together we will make a great light which shall illumine the world for
ourselves and for all men.
###