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2004 Commencement Address:
TV Newsman Walter Cronkite
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Walter Cronkite delivers his
speech to Pomona graduates. |
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Quite some years ago I gave a commencement address at Brandeis University which
I thought was rather successful -- possibly even brilliant. But I received a
letter shortly thereafter from a distinguished alumnus of that University. He
chastised me for not being more optimistic -- for not inspiring the graduates
with my hopes for the future into which they were venturing.
I pondered the criticism and was concerned that I had, somehow let that
graduating class down. And then I came to my conclusion: It was certainly true
that I had not given them a rousing pep talk but, what the devil -- I knew I had
spoken the truth as I saw it. The speech was given at the depths of one of the
most tortured decades in American history. It was the decade of the 1960's --
almost as divisive as the Civil War a century before -- a nation torn by the
battles for civil rights and women’s rights -- the assassinations, the Vietnam
war -- an economic slump. There wasn’t much to be optimistic about.
Well, here we are at Pomona, almost a half century later, and as we look around
us, the world into which you are moving doesn’t look very much brighter.
We are plagued with the Iraq war -- a possibly improving economy -- but still a
tragically large population of unemployed or under-employed -- and an
environmental crisis that threatens the Earth. Here at home we have a collapsing
infrastructure of aging bridges and dams -- and a highway system badly in need
of repair -- and, perhaps worst of all, an inadequate educational system (not
including Pomona, of course). Incidentally, those educational failures in our
lower schools could be vastly reduced by a wage scale for teachers that would
lure more of the best and brightest to the profession. And all of this as we
face a national deficit that will hobble us through your generation -- and very
likely that of your children and even grandchildren.
We have an administration in Washington that has brought us to this condition --
and we have a Democratic candidate presumptive who so far has proposed few
remedies that offer any specifics that, to this observer at least, promise the
necessary new deal in Washington. On the most critical issue, for instance,
surely a Democratic brain trust could come up with a peace plan for Iraq that --
at least-- would give us hope for a reasonably early dignified withdrawal.
But the Kerry camp may well have been buffaloed by President Bush’s oft-repeated
pledge that we won’t “cut and run” from Iraq. We all – and that includes this
speaker – when we hear that – double up our fists and say “right on, right on!”
Of course we don’t want to be seen as a nation of cowards, abandoning the fight
we have started when the going gets tough. But let’s examine the proposition
more closely. Nobody has seriously proposed that we “cut and run.” That is
purely a jingoistic slogan of an administration intent upon playing the
patriotic card to camouflage its lack of a plan to extricate us from its errors.
Is it possible that the “cut and run” stigma has so intimidated the Democratic
candidate that he can’t muster the courage to acknowledge that we must leave
Iraq and to offer a plan to expedite the departure with honor?
If that is a sound analysis -- the nation can only hope that Senator Kerry soon
regains his political courage and offers the electorate an alternative to the
administration’s failed Iraq policy.
So, with all these problems -- am I supposed to stand here today and give you a
message of unqualified hope for our immediate future? I’m sorry, but that would
be outright dishonest. However, let me now render that inspirational message
that is expected of commencement speakers.
All those problems I enumerated before can be solved -- or at least mitigated --
by an enlightened population and courageous leadership. You -- this class of ‘04
-- are particularly qualified by the education you have received here, to
provide both.
Almost certainly the problem of the most imminent danger is that of the rising
threat of terrorism. Military defense is essential, of course – but equally --
or perhaps more important -- is the job of removing the source of the
terrorists’ increasing strength. That source is the envy and the bitterness that
the deprived peoples of the world hold for the richer nations -- of which we are
the foremost.
Television, incidentally, is to a large degree, responsible for that state of
affairs. Around the globe -- in their hovels -- the impoverished people watch
television. Not infrequently -- an entire village gathers around a single set
run by a bicycle-powered generator.
And what do they see? To a large part -- reruns of American shows depicting a
people who want for nothing – not food, clothing nor shelter -- a people who
live an opulent life beyond imagination. Can we wonder that the jealousy of
those villagers -- that their discontent -- is fodder for radical leaders / who
know only violence as a means to even the scales.
Some might suggest that the solution is to get rid of television. That possibly
has some merit, -- but I find it a little difficult to agree. The challenge is
to bring hope to the world’s depressed people -- and thus diminish this source
of their unrest.
The soldiers in this great campaign to achieve a lasting peace -- will be those
of your generation. Some of you will serve in the rear echelons – the
headquarters of those organizations -- eleemosynary and profit-oriented -- that
will be organizing the building of these capitalist and democratic nations
--building the power plants, the railroads, the factories that will provide the
economic revolution raising the standard of living around the globe.
Others of you will choose the more challenging and perhaps more adventuresome
roles in the front lines. You will choose the course of volunteerism -- a civic
function of which we Americans are noteworthy. You will go to the world’s far
corners to teach others the American philosophy and know-how. For the most part,
by your knowledge -- so much of it received right here at Pomona -- you will
inspire the people of the depressed lands.
All of you, certainly, have been thinking long and hard of your future careers.
Many of you, of course, will go on to advanced degrees in law, medicine,
business, education. It is my conviction that you can have both -- a period of
rewarding public service and a succesful professional career.
In fact, the odds are high that you can gain immensely by participating in the
campaign for peace -- an experience that will profit you handsomely in the
work-a-day world. The glory, though, is in playing an important role in history.
I urge you not to believe that this dream of peace -- and the way to achieve it
-- is without reality or a solid foundation.
You will be among those making a major contribution toward achieving what
realists would say is impossible – a permanent peace among the peoples of our
globe. I happen to believe we’ve got to put idealism on at least an equal
footing with practicality. We’re going to make it, we human beings -- if we
cling to the belief, -- if we work for, bringing to reality the achievement of
peace.
Let us think big. An Orwellian thought perhaps – but why not rename the
Department of State – that is a meaningless title anyway – why not make it the
Department of Peace, to emphasize the identify of a whole new American effort --
a full court press toward a new destiny. That destiny, of course, is the
establishment and keeping of the peace.
If we can appropriate so much of our treasure, -- those billions and billions of
dollars annually, -- in developing more efficient means of killing people --
surely we should be able to appropriate funding for an equal effort to keep the
peace.
Success in that noble objective will depend on those of your generation who have
had the opportunity of an education that equips you to take a leading role in
our future – a role that you may begin, and possibly continue, in the public
service of our country. And that could include elective office. The biographies
of our future leaders may well include the notation....graduated from Pomona
College, 2004.
There is hope for the future, -- and to a great degree it rests with you.
May you have great success in your future endeavors. We wish that for you, and
for the future of America – and all humankind. |
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