Commencements: Address of Earl Warren, 1969
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ADDRESS BY THE HONORABLE EARL WARREN, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES, AT THE WINTER CONVOCATION OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY - FEBRUARY 22, 1969
This is an appropriate time and place and under proper auspices to send out into a turbulent and confused world a graduating class of free thinking and acting students, trained in the best traditions of our Nation at a University bearing the name of the Father of our Country, without whose great character and faith in the cause of freedom our Nation might not have come into being.
Without his perseverance throughout dark and perilous years, we might never have had a Constitution binding ourselves into a Union capable of sustaining itself in the family of nations. Because of the divisiveness of the times, the envy and suspicion that prevailed among the colonies and the covetous eyes of foreign nations that hovered around us, we might have fallen prey to blandishment or conquest, resulting in Balkanization into 50 separate, jealous and warring countries instead of one Nation devoted to the principle of achieving unity through diversity.
Those were perilous times, as are ours. There was divisiveness worldwide and at home, as we have today. There were apostles of doom then as now, and many were willing to succumb to the same feelings of frustration that plague so many of us today. There were great problems to be solved before the clouds of despair could be replaced by sunshine. But, by the indomitable faith of Washington and a small bevy of men -mostly young men - our thirteen colonies were molded into one Nation of free Americans. They planned; they explored; they migrated west, and laid the foundation for a Nation that spans the Continent.
Their program for the opening of the great Northwest Territory was followed by a migration that transformed that vast primeval territory into five of our most dynamic States. Those who went there were not driven by fear or frustration. They went there because of their vision of a good life in the free government that the Northwest Ordinance guaranteed them. Likewise, those who made the long trek in covered wagons from the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast were not deterred by fear of known or unknown hardships. They faced the facts and conditions whatever they might be, and blazed the trails that led to statehood for that entire region. It was not easy to accomplish. They met with problems that seemed almost insurmountable and faced dangers that were terrifying, but they pressed on. It was said of those pioneers that the timid never started and the weak died on the way. The same faith built our cities, our transportation facilities, our business and educational institutions, and our industrial plants.
This same spirit has pervaded our national life until recent years when the tragedy of wars, the dangers of atomic holocaust and the sudden awareness that along with the great material advances we have made, many problems have developed to the point of crisis, and have cast foreboding clouds on our horizon.
To many people, this means defeat and frustration. They take counsel of their fears rather than the faith that has made the United States the great Nation it is. They have lost faith in the dedication of the American people to our basic principles. They refuse to recognize that everything which has been accomplished here since the time of George Washington has been the result of hard work and a vision for a still better America. They refuse to recognize that nothing we consider worthwhile in the development of our country has ever been accomplished through fear, frustration or weakness.
I hope these morbid sentiments do not indicate that they have become tired of trying to make our ideals come true, because if the American people ever tire of governing themselves according to these ideals, our Nation is on its way to the same fate that has befallen free governments in other ages.
Ours is not the first nation to establish a republic or even a pure democracy. Long before the Christian Era, there were many democracies around the Mediterranean Sea. People rejoiced in them and prided themselves on their freedoms. However, most of them were short-lived, because after a time they became tired of governing themselves; tired of facing the problems incident to free government; in other words - frustrated. They then fell to some form of autocracy under which it is easier to live, if one does not care for freedom and independence of the spirit. The one that lasted the longest was Rome because it was dedicated to law, and citizenship was considered an office. However, even Rome fell after a thousand years when the citizenry became debauched and the government corrupt. As we all know, when Rome fell the world sank into centuries of Dark Ages. It was not until Washington and like-minded men of his generation established this Nation, dedicated to human rights and complete reliance on citizenship, that the world was given a new inspiration for free institutions.
And here we are today only seven years short of the Bicentennial of our Declaration of Independence.
What is our future to be? Are we fading as did other democracies or are we to retain the pride, the diligence and the efficiency of Rome that lasted a thousand years? There are but two ways to go - up and to still greater achievements or down to the level of those nations which have the forms of free government on paper but without the freedoms that they have espoused. Is our age to be the beginning of a great Renaissance or is it to be an erosion of self-government to a point of no return?
Either conclusion can be argued from symptoms that are observable to all and depending on whether we have the faith and the determination to govern ourselves. I believe it will be the former, and in saying so I put my faith in you and the other wonderful young people of your generation. You are not tired of governing yourselves. You are not motivated by despair. I feel sure that you will recognize the great things that our Nation has accomplished in the past as well as the problems that have been swept under the rug in our race to establish this as one of the greatest democracies in the world. I am sure you will not consider our problems insoluble, because you have had a broader and better education than any college generation in our history; you are living in a time of greater change than in any other era; you know what is going on in the world and are concerned about it.
I cannot but note the difference between this college generation and my own. Without getting into the delicate subject of age, I suppose I might tell you that my graduation was in 1912, which was two years before World War I started in Europe and five years before our entry into it. It was supposed to be a golden age. The world was at peace as much as it ever has been; our country was expanding at a rapid rate and was prospering; there was a job in almost any field a young man desired to enter; there were no great national or international problems to be solved by us; we were not aware of any great causes to be served, and our outlook was more or less of the bread and butter type. There were, of course, many problems developing, but they were not on the surface, and if we had been aware of them no one would have taken the time to listen to us. As a result, outside of the few who went into educational or religious work, I cannot remember any of my contemporaries who pursued any great causes. We merely looked for a job.
How different it is now. The problems of the world and of our own country are myriad. And they are on the surface for all to see. No group in our Nation is more interested in them than our present crop of college students. Our young college graduates in large numbers are enlisting in great causes and taking jobs that mean more to them in satisfaction than in money. In my own profession, it has made a marked impression. Only a few years ago, I was told that out of the top 40 students in one of our nationally-minded law schools 35 gravitated to big Wall Street law firms. I could hardly believe it, but found it was at least substantially correct. Others, of course, went to firms in other big cities. That situation has changed radically. Today these same firms are facing real competition from services that pay much less money but provide more satisfying experience. Now these same law firms are recruiting like colleges recruit football players.
The starting salary is $15,000 with a guarantee of assuring the newcomer a certain amount of time off from his duties to pursue a cause of his choice. That is a most encouraging sign because it is expected that an able young man or woman is not going to submerge his personality into routine work. It calls to my mind the story of an English Prime Minister whom, as I recall, was Disraeli. He was asked by a young man what he might do to prepare himself for important public service. His answer was that he should dedicate himself to some good cause, and then pursue it diligently the remainder of his life.
How appropriate that advice would be for university graduates today. And if I might insert an addendum to it, I would suggest that it be an unpopular cause or at least a controversial one because very little satisfaction flows from a cause which everyone favors.
What causes there are today! One does not have to search for one. They crowd themselves upon us. And they are causes that we can do something about. While some of them are of long standing, according to our rights, they do not go back thousands of years as do the problems of some countries in other parts of the world.
We are neither a new country nor an old country. We have not yet reached maturity in all respects, and we are not too old to learn from past mistakes. We are old in the sense that we have the oldest written Constitution in the world guaranteeing human rights. We are young in the sense that we have new states and others that are rich in opportunities but only sparsely populated. We have the most modern business and industrial plants in existence. We are living in the most prosperous era any nation has ever known. We have great cities and an outstanding educational system.
Yet in our haste to develop our material resources we have neglected certain phases of our national life until they present problems of crisis proportions. I am sure that a nation, capable of building cities such as we have, can make them livable for all our people; that a nation which can develop an educational system such as we have can make education free and equal for all; that the most prosperous nation in the world can see to it that neither 20% nor 10% nor even 1% of its people should be poverty stricken; that a nation of free people can protect itself against crime and against the killing of 55,000 and injuring two million more on our highways as we did last year; also that it can, if it works at it, free our waterways and the atmosphere from the pollution that is not only nauseating but also endangers the health of all our people.
I am sure that a nation which was dedicated to the principle that “All men are created equal and . . . as such are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” 193 years ago can, if it will, wipe out the prejudice and discrimination that make large segments of our people less than first class citizens.
And I am sure that we can have peace if all of us turn our minds and hearts to it. These are but a few of the problems that contain causes for all of us to pursue.
I dislike casting the burden on you who are graduating at this time because you did not create the problems, but you are the ones who must either solve them or sit on the side lines and watch them magnify both to your discomfort and your discredit. Your useful years will extend well into the next century. You and your children and their children are to be either the beneficiaries of a better America or the victims of not only your own mistakes but ours.
I believe you will make it a better America. You now have the opportunity to do so; you have the impelling self-interest to stimulate you, and you have the numbers to make yourself heard.
Half of our population - 100 million - are 25 years or younger and the average age is constantly lowering. This makes it a young person’s Nation. The problems cry out for your leadership. I am sure you will not fail.
I wish I could give you the answers to some of them, but I cannot. Neither can I promise you that they will be easy, but I can assure you that it will be exciting for you, and I hope with all my heart that your efforts will be rewarding.
May God bless you in everything you undertake.
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Author or Source: Commencement Programs/RG0043
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: January 22, 2007
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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