Press Release, Address of the President in Connection with the Ground-Breaking Ceremonies for Wake Forest College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

A DDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT IN CONNECTION WITH THE GROUND- BREAKING CEREMONIES FOR WAKE P.P.F. FOREST COLLEGE, WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA, OCTOBER 15, 1951, 2:32 pem., e.d.t. 5830 mbl (AS ACTUALLY DELIVERED) Mr. President of Wake Forest, Your Excellency the Governor of North Carolina, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: It is a privilege for me to be here today. It is a privilege to join my fellow-Baptists in rejoicing at the enlargement and rebuilding of one of our great institutions. It is a privilege to join the people of North Carolina in son celebrating their devotion to freedom of the mind and spirit. Freedom of the mind and the spirit are very, very important to us and to the whole world today. I believe the history of Make Forest College has some significant lessons for us in this regard. Wake Forest College has given 117 years of distinguished service to education and religion in this great State. Over the years, this college has sent thousands of graduates throughout the land to positions of leadership and trust. This college, like others in every part of our country, has remained loyal to the principle that the purpose of education is to seek the truth. This is an article of faith that underlies our whole educa- tional system: "Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " Students and teachers in American schools, seeking the truth without hindrance of censorship, have been largely responsible for the amazing progress of our country. We believe, in America, that the pursuit of the truth is open to all comers. No group that seeks the truth is a dangerous group, or a subversive group -- not in the United States of America, at any rate. We know that any attempt to control the mind of man defeats itself. We know that as long as our schools enjoy freedom, our political liberties are safe. For this reason, Americans of all parties and creeds can join together in their support of education -- public and private. Here in North Carolina, you have built a fine public school system, crowned with a State university respected throughout the academic world. And right here I want to pay a tribute to Gordon Gray. He is one great patriot, and I am very fond of him. At the same time, you have made progress in private education, culminating in the endowment, in one generation, of two such institutions of higher learning as Duke and Wake Forest. Right here I want to pay a tribute to the people who made this situation possible. It is a wonderful thing when men of great wealth do the patriotic things that are being done here today for this great school. The history of this college shows how all Americans can unite in support of education. It is a Baptist college; yet the magnificent gift that stimulated its rebuilding came from donors who are not them- selves Baptists, and the funds that are to go into these buildings were supplied by all kinds of Protestants without regard to race or creed -- and by Catholics and Jews, as well. A college is an institution that is dedicated to the future. It is based on faith and hope -- faith in the basic decency of our fellow men, and hope that the increase of knowledge will promote the general welfare. (over) First lopy filed- pp71-7