George H. W. Bush, former President of the United
States (1989 - 1993), also received an honorary
Doctor of Laws degree during the Comencement
Ceremony.
The
Text:
Note: Due to the size of the graduating
class, undergraduate commencement is held
at twin ceremonies. The following transcript
was made from audio tape recordings of both ceremonies.
Thank you, Roger (Roger Gelfenbein, Chair of the UConn
Board of Trustees) and thank all of you for that warm
welcome. I wish Barbara had been here to hear that nice applause
from this marvelous class. You see I am going through a bit
of an identity crisis now. Look, I used to be President of
the United States of America, now I am known everywhere I
go as Barbara's husband or the father of the Governor of Texas.
So thank you. Thanks for that welcome.
May I join all of you in congratulating Beverly and Raymond Sackler for the
honors that they have certainly earned in the good that they do for our society,
and, of course, solute the Class of 1998 and your eloquent spokesman, Kristen here,
(Kristen Sandstrom, as class representative, presented the graduating class)
who set a record for being short and brief in her remarks. Something that you know.
I hope you know, that you hope I'll follow.
Of course over my 35 years in and out of public
service, I have been fortunate to be invited to a number
of graduation ceremonies and you can never tell who's happier
that this educational and enriching experience has come to
a close, the students or the parents up there. And of course
as proud parents in our own right, we have been blessed to
see our five kids graduate from college and so to the broke,
but happy parents here let me say that Barbara and I feel
your pain.
I was reminded of this parental role again last
week as I watched our oldest grandson graduate from Rice
in Houston. There were plenty of smiles, maybe a few tears.
And it struck me that perhaps more than any other day there
is a certain something special about graduation day. It struck
me that days like today are days when the past intersects
with the future.
And this is also a wonderful day for family when
the generations come together. And I was thinking about all
of these different things, as I sat there at Rice listening
to a marvelous graduation speech by Kurt Vonnegut. And then
another thought occurred to me. It occurred to me that as
the graduation speakers this afternoon, I should remember
to do unto others as I would have them do unto me.
And I thought of a graduation at Yale. They got
a pastor to come graduate. I am not against pastors, but
he went on. He says,"Y is for youth", 40 minutes
on that. "A is for altruism," About 20 minutes. "L
is for loyalty", 15 minutes. "E is for excellence",
about 20 minutes. The minister finished, everybody had left
except one guy praying. And he said,"Son, I am very
pleased to see a man of your faith praying here. May I ask
what you are giving thanks for?" He said,"I am
giving thanks that I didn't go to the University of Connecticut."
I'll tell you what I really think about long graduation
speeches . But as my friend, Dana Carvey would say,"Not
gonna do it! Wouldn't be prudent!" You know I talked
to Kristen about it. Her speech was so short that I now have
additional time to develop a couple of themes that I know
you will be interested in. The Federal Reserve Board, the
Gold Standard and then I will give you 15 minutes on why
Dennis Rodman should never be Secretary of State.
No, I will be brief, cause I am reminded of my
favorite story told by Billy Graham, who has been just a
wonderful inspiration in my life and in Barbara's life, a
friend of ours. He told about this speaker standing where
I am and he went on and on and on and finally the head table
over here, guy picked off his shoe, heaved it at the speaker,
missed him, hit a lady in the front row and she said,"Hit
me again, I can still hear him". So I will.
This year marks my fiftieth, half a century since
I graduated from college. And it is funny, I can't remember
where I had lunch yesterday, but I do remember something
from way back then, remember it distinctly: the last baseball
game of my college career back in June of '48.
We played at Yale Field, reunion weekend. And
for some reason I will never forget the site of the 50 year
reunion class that came parading into the ballpark. There
they were. A bunch of helplessly old guys, rejoicing in seeing
old friends, glad, most of them, just to still be alive and
surely the class here, you don't reunion at commencement
time, but the Class of '98, 1898 is the same here at this
school. I am not sure. A lot of good will that day as the
members of the Class of 1898 marched in. Some still had a
spring in their step. But let's face it, I've got to recognize
it. They all looked old and with good reason.
Their generation had been through a lot.
The Class of 1898 graduated from UConn or from
my school (Yale) down the road. They watched in awe as the
Wright Brothers first flight sputtered into the sky and then
a little later, Henry Ford gave us the automobile. And 20
years following graduation, they agonized over the "War
to End all Wars". They saw World War I grind up their
classmates. I think seven from the University of Connecticut
gave the ultimate price in helping to defeat Germany's aggression.
And 30 years removed from their graduation they were seized
and many destroyed by the Great Depression that rocked and
socked our nation.
And as the Class of 1898 celebrated their 40 reunion,
they saw Hitler unchecked, race through the lowlands and
free nation after free nation fell beneath the Nazi boot
while the US and others stayed on the sidelines. "No
Americans to fight abroad", was the cry.
And 45 years after they left college, they saw
their sons and daughters fight in World War II, fight to
end German Fascism and Japanese Imperialism. But as they
came together for their 50th reunion, hopes had been lifted
with the end of World War II and the founding of the United
Nations.
And still as the Class of '98, 1898, began to
fade from the scene, the dark shadows of the Cold War began
to stretch across Europe. Before long it would envelope Africa,
Asia and Latin America too.
My class was 1948 and most of us here in my school,
those who might have been in that vintage year served in
World War II. The country came together essentially for one
purpose. We saw many classmates die. UConn lost 114 graduates
during that War. So together we saw the horrors of war. We
felt the joys of victory. And we watched as our nation in
victory embrace our former enemies and help them nurture
their new democracies. We lifted up Japan and we lifted up
Germany and helped them grow and remain democratic.
We saw TV begin. Didn't have TV when I was a kid.
I know that is hard for you. We had Buck Rogers and Wilma
Derring. We had the Lone Ranger and Tonto, but we didn't
have tv. We saw it begin with Ed Sullivan and Milton Berle
and Lucy and in time there was 60 Minutes and All
in the Family, but then later we got Rosanne Barr and
Jerry Springer. What a waste, what a trivialization of a
media.
We saw the Cold War intensify as Soviet tanks
crushed the Freedom Fighters in Eastern Europe and that monstrous
obscenity, the Berlin Wall divide a great country right down
the middle. My class saw the threat of nuclear war as two
super powers faced each other down. The Communists said,"We
will bury you." And our response was "Freedom will
prevail."
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UConn's War Dead
|
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In preparation for his remarks,
former President Bush requested
information about UConn alumni,
students, and faculty who
lost their lives during war
time. Approximately
133 alumni of the University
of Connecticut have died in
service to the nation since
1898.
- One graduate died just after the Spanish American
War. Willis Nicholas Hawley, Class of 1898,
died Nov. 19, 1898 of typhoid
fever at a Red Cross Hospital
in Philadelphia. In 1915,
an armory/gymnasium was named
for Hawley. Still standing
and recently renovated into
a fitness center, Hawley Armory
is a well-known campus landmark.
- Seven (7) alumni died in World War I, all in
1918 between June and December.
- One hundred-fourteen (114) UConn alumni died
during World War II, including Harold R. Frecklton,
Class of 1936 who was editor of the student newspaper
in 1934 and a reporter for the Hartford
Courant;
and two brothers, Roger Brundage, Class of 1939,
and Pierce Brundage, Class of 1943, members of
a family with close ties to the University.
- Ten (10) alumni died during the Korean war.
- Two (2) UConn alumni were listed as missing
in action during the Vietnam conflict. In 1974,
a tree was planted on the Student Union Mall in
their memory.
- One student, Cindy Beaudoin was killed during
the Gulf War (Desert Storm). Two months after
enrolling as a freshman, 19 year-old Beaudoin
went to the Persian Gulf as a medical technician
with the 142nd Medical Company of the Connecticut
National Guard. On February 28, 1991, the day
after the cease-fire, she was traveling with a
doctor in an Army vehicle in Kuwait when both
were killed by explosions. In 1992, a plaque in
her memory was placed on a boulder outside the
Student Union. There is also a student scholarship
given in her name.
|
And we witnessed two ghastly wars with unhappy endings, Korea and Vietnam. And
again UConn alumni answered the call to duty and paid the price losing 10 in Korea,
a couple of more I believe the record shows in Southeast Asia. And the latter conflict
divided our country like nothing since the Civil War and we lived blanketed with
fear over nuclear fallout and super power conflict.
My predecessor, Ronald Reagan, came into office
and rightly concluded that only a strong America, strong
NATO could guarantee freedom and I became president in 1989
and in four short years, your class, this Class of 1998,
saw perhaps the most monumental global changes in the history
of this country. The Berlin Wall fell. Germany, against all
predictions was unified and remaining in the Alliance in
NATO. The Baltic States, three of them gained, all three
of them gained their independence. The Warsaw Pact, the enemy,
the Warsaw Pact totally collapsed and the Soviet Empire Imploded
and Eastern Europe liberated and with Gorbachev's cooperation,
and incidentally, I know him well and I believe Gorbachev
will be treated very kindly by history.
With Gorbachev at my side, we convened the Madrid
Peace Conference where Arabs and Jews talked peace in one
room, an unthinkable scenario for years. And that never would
have happened without Desert Storm, without the 31 nations
that came together to form a disparate but historic coalition
in defeating a brutal aggressor on the sands of Kuwait. And
thankfully the outcome of the Gulf War was different from
the Asian forays that preceded it.
But the victory was won at great cost and our casualties were light compared
to other wars, but that didn't make it any easier to make a decision to send someone
else's son or daughter into battle. I have never forgotten people like UConn's
Cindy Beaudoin, a medical specialist who had her abdomen ripped apart by shrapnel
and gave the last full measure of devotion. People like her give the phrase "Duty,
Honor, Country" true meaning and certainly inspired me and I believe inspired
an entire nation.
And gradually your class began to see, you got
through high school, going through high school and into this
magnificent university, that things were different now. Very
different now in this world of ours. The Soviet Union will
never go back together again. Eastern Europeans, in my view,
are going to remain free and in spite of India's unfortunate
action just this week, the world no longer has to worry about
a super power war, a nuclear Armageddon.
And sure dangers remain. Today everyone says to
me,"Well why do we need to be strong? Who is the enemy?" Well
the enemies are international terror, fundamentalism, people
killing people in the name of God. They are the spread of
weapons of mass destruction and all these and more explain
why the US must stay involved in the world and why we must
lead.
And today there is a strange coalition at work
in Washington and across the country consisting of people
on the political right and the political left coming ogether
to keep us from staying involved. Big Labor and Liberal Democrats
joining some Republicans on the right in calling for America
to come home, that we have done our part and it is time for
others to do the heavy lifting on international leadership.
And we must not listen to that siren's call of protection
and isolation and we must not neglect Asia.
We must tend to the most important bilateral relationship
in the world, incidentally, and that is the United States/China
relationship. Not by bashing China, but by heeding the advice
given just this last week of the Dalai Lama, who has huge
differences with Beijing and dissident Wan, the man who stood
in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, both say that
we ought to work closely with China, not cut off relations
with China, work closely with China and try to effect change
in that manner. The point is, we must treat great nations
with respect, while never yielding one inch on our fundamental
beliefs on rights or whatever else the subject.
As we move into the next millennium, this great
class has a shot at a world that is far more peaceful and
much more prosperous, and much freer and much more democratic
than the Class of 1898 or the Class of 1948. And to be sure
our society will have ills to battle, such as these great
domestic problems that plague us, teenage pregnancy , drugs,
broken homes, gang violence, illiteracy, filthy entertainment,
racial prejudice, all of these things will continue to plague
us, but the world you enter is far from perfect, but I believe
you're blessed because it will be more democratic and I think
there will be far less risk of the kind of confrontations
that previous generations faced.
Great professors have given you a great education
and you ought to be counting your blessings. I know you don't
like them all, but nevertheless, you ought to be counting
your blessings for how lucky you are. You have been blessed
to forge friendships that will last a lifetime and until
your 50th reunion when you come back here and beyond that
too. Most of all you have been blessed by the abiding love
of parents, which has guided you. You are blessed by the
values that they've taught you which will sustain you through
success and defeat alike. You have been given all this and
more.
So my question is what are you going to do with
your life? Will you constantly gripe and complain when things
go wrong? Will you be selfish and say why me, or if it feels
good do it. Will you roll up sleeves and get involved and
put something back? Will you strive to lift someone up and
help others, all the while giving credit to someone else?
Will you say politics is lousy as you sit whining on the
sidelines, or will you serve society, serve your country?
I have a wonderful feeling that you will appreciate
what you have been given at this great university and that
you will charge out of here setting big goals, achieving
great ends in your own way. I also hope that you will find
a way to be one of a thousand points of light, because your
country needs you and your country is counting on you. My
God bless each and every one of you as you leave this wonderful
university.
Thank you very, very much.
