It would be entirely futile for me to attempt to express this morning the high sense of distinction I feel in the honor done me by this great University. In the extravagance of the language used by the two officers of the University who have just commended me I find little reason for personal pride, rather for apology to those of my own men who are in this audience and have probably realized that I am not quite so good as the University seems to think. But part of my pride comes from the fact that this Richmond University is situated in the heart of the state which, as one of the first English-speaking colonies of the United States, gave to our country such names as Washington, Jefferson, Lee and Jackson and countless others, who in their turn and in their time have done what these sons of yours have done in the last four and a half years.
They have been careful to see, these sons of yours, that the heritage these English-speaking people have, a heritage that goes all the way back to 1215 at Runnymede, has not been lost or destroyed. When the sons of America are ready always to bare their breasts in defense of the principles that the English-speaking people have come to venerate, and to consider in a class of the sacrosanct, just that long will universities such as we see here, and gatherings such as this, be possible. When those principles are gone, from attack from without or within, this can no longer be.
Even my new-found membership as a Doctor of Laws of the University of Richmond, I have a diffidence in entering any field that does not belong to my own profession. However, I realize clearly that I am here as a representative of three million Americans that the United States sent to Europe to defeat Hitlerism. My most fervent hope is that a goodly number of those three million would approve your choice of me to act as their representative today. Certainly I have the confidence to believe that I can speak for many of them in voicing the deepest hope, the deepest desire they have for the future. There is no man that has come back from France that can view with equanimity the prospect of his own son going through what he did. The world must have peace! And the men coming back from a broad demand the leadership in high places and in all the institutions in America that will lead toward that peace.
No matter how earnestly all of us may support the official and legal structure that we call the United Nations and in which we pin our hopes for one phase of this hoped-for accomplishment, we know if we stop to think a minute that in legal procedures we cannot find the entire result. Those men have a right therefore to look to our educational institutions for leadership. My great friend, Admiral Nimitz, has spoken of the value of education in war and of its value in seeking and maintaining the victory that was won. I hold that education must go further than teaching us know how, teaching us skills, teaching us to be the best doctors, the best lawyers, the best engineers in the world. It must even go further than teaching us why we will fight for the principles of free speech, of equality before the law, of the fight of habeas corpus, the right to act as we see fit, so long as we do not infringe upon the similar rights of others. Educators must show us that while for us those principles are sacrosanct, for certain others this is not necessarily the case. Although Abraham Lincoln said, A house divided against itself cannot stand, he did not say that two houses constructed differently, of different materials, of different appearance could not stand in peace within the same block. If we are going to live at peace with other nations of the world we must understand that they do not give the same veneration to these American principles that we call the heritage of the English-speaking races. They do not see that in free speech, in the right of habeas corpus, there is anything particularly wonderful. They claim in certain instances that their ideals are higher than ours. They say, “We forget the individual, we give our allegiance to the group, to the nation.” And ladies and gentlemen, some of them believe in those principles as sincerely and honestly as we believe in ours.
You will recall that in our own country we had a bit of unpleasantness that we call the War Between the States, and regardless of all the contributory causes of that War, the basic reason was a matter of principle. Never has greater heroism and endurance been shown by the soldiers on each side of a question, and each thought he was dying for a principle.
We must learn in this world to accommodate ourselves so that we may live at peace with others whose basic philosophy may be different - and in practice we will often find very great differences. We must be firm in defense of our own, we must be good-humored, and we must be patient, but we must understand, and to understand I know of no institution of America or anywhere else that has a greater opportunity than the universities, and all the lower schools. I believe that in the educational systems of the world today, in the faculties and in the student body, lie the good right arm of any commander’s punch that is looking to knock out the enemy of international suspicion, selfish greed, and intolerance, which lead to war. Thus we can win the victory! Thank you.
