Commencement Address at Boston University, by Commissioner of Education Earl McGrath, Education and Foreign Policy: A Call for Mid-Century Frontiersmen
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OCR Page 1 of 8EDUCATION AND FOREIGN POLICY, A CALL FOR MID-CENTURY FRONTIERSMEN*
Members of the Class of 1950, This morning I should like to talk with
you briefly about some facts of our international life--some fundementals of
public policy which are going to affect all of us directly, as American citizens,
now and for some years to come. My principal point is concerned with this
Nation' position in world affairs and the responsibility educated men and women,
graduates like yourselves, have in connection with our foreign policy.
If the citizen is to understand the international situation in 1950, it
is necessary that he come to grips with four cardinal facts:
First, the cold war between democracy and totalitarianism is not a conflict
between two nations. It is a global struggle for the minds of men in which the
existence of free institutions is at stake.
Second, large portions of the world such as Southeast Asia are now in
political and economic ferment, characterized by rapid change of social and
political institutions and the growth of nationalism.
Third, disturbing moral conflicts exist throughout the world. There is
urgent need for a rededication to the human values at the basis of the free
way
of life, and an active program to realize more completely our conception of the
dignity of the individual.
Fourth, we are engaged in a bold and adventurous undertaking: building
a community of free nations, founded on the basic principles of popular consent
and equal justice for all.
We cannot turn our backs on these facts of internationali life. Like them
or not, they are with us now and will remain with us for a long time. Some among
By Earl James McGrath, U.S. Commissioner of Education, Federal Security Agency,
Washington, D. C., at 1950 Commencement exercises, Boston University, Boston, Mass.
June 5, 1950.
Reproduced in Bostonia, June-July 1950, pp. 16-19.
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