Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Remarks at the Trinity College Convocation, Hartford, Connecticut

October 20, 1954

President Jacobs, Trustees, the Faculty, the Student Body, the friends of Trinity' s family:

It would be, indeed, difficult for me to find the words in which to express the deep sense of pride I have in accepting the Honorary Doctorate of this College. And my pride does not spring solely from the fact that this is a venerable institution of learning, one with a great standing among the colleges of our country, its academic excellence, not merely because your President happens to be one of my old and valued friends and associates, but more particularly because of my very deep respect for the always great and now rapidly increasing importance of the institution of learning in the life of our Nation and of the world.

Time was when there could be disputes among nations and each could mobilize for itself an army or a fighting force which it could send out; having met the other fighting force upon the field of battle, a decision was reached; the nations and their political agencies and institutions obeyed that decision, and presumably the winner derived some advantage from the contest.

Those days have gradually left us. Professional armies, professional navies, have given way to the Nation in arms; and now we have had science give to us in these modern days weapons that mean not only is the whole Nation in arms, but the whole Nation is constantly exposed to the threat of destruction.

We have arrived at that point, my friends, when war does not present the possibility of victory or defeat. War would present to us only the alternative in degrees of destruction. There could be no truly successful outcome.

Now, many individuals through the ages have attempted, in a sentence, to define exactly what is an institution of learning. One that I think is particularly applicable at this day and time is this: it is a place where young minds are exposed to great minds.

The reason I think that this particular definition has growing applicability is because education, if it ever could, can certainly no longer discharge its responsibility by mere imposing of fact. There must be an understanding, an understanding of the relationships of one fact to another fact, and one community to another, or one trade to another, of one geographical area to another. And above all, one nation to another.

If we are to achieve such understanding, it is not enough that we know the geographical location of a friendly or potentially hostile nation, even that we know its potential strength, even that our intelligence reports on it are accurate to the "nth" degree. If we are to develop the kind of understanding that will avoid the great catastrophe of war, we must know about the cultures of these countries--the history of them. And above all, why do they react to certain actions, certain considerations and circumstances in this world in a different way from which we do? Will we be able to achieve an understanding that shows why they do it, make allowances for it, and then knowing that, go ahead in devising and composing those arrangements in the world that will gradually abolish this terrible scourge?

Indeed, I think we could put it this way: our institutions of learning, and our churches, have become the true mobilization centers of those forces which may now save civilization and preserve those forms of life, those concepts of human dignity and right, on which our civilization has been based. Unless there is this understanding developed in our institutions of learning, and unless that understanding is related to the truth, of the essentially spiritual character of man with his spiritual longings and aspirations, we cannot do our duty by ourselves or to those to whom it is our duty to pass on this civilization and this country of ours.

And so, in these halting words, my friends, my purpose is to try to make you see what is the great privilege and the great opportunity that is yours today in this great institution of learning. All over this land, people--the generation that must very quickly take over--incidentally, let me digress a bit: I most thoroughly believe in young men, and I think it is a very simple proposition, if I am lucky I may own 15 or 20 years of the United States. If each of you is lucky, you own about 60 years. And I think you ought to take a very great comparative interest on that basis.

But, at this very moment, you are passing through that stage of your life when you grasp these relationships and understanding of these relations, between a broad comprehension of tensions and stresses in the world and the spiritual values that must always underlie any solution--moral and spiritual values that must be present in any solution that you can devise and propose for the composition of the world's troubles.

I think there is no use laboring the subject. Let me, for just a moment, in closing, be a bit more personal. To each of you my warmest thanks for the cordiality of your welcome, for the attention you have paid me. I think I would be remiss, also, if I did not thank the Proctor for reciting what I deduce to be complimentary passages with respect to myself-in Latin. Since it was obvious that the tone was friendly, there must have been exaggeration. And the Latin at least had the virtue of concealing these exaggerations from me, and so saving me embarrassment. I assure you I did understand several words, "Dwight David Eisenhower" and "Ike." And that explains to you how far my own Latin is behind, these many years.

To each of you, good luck--God bless you and be with you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:20 a.m.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks at the Trinity College Convocation, Hartford, Connecticut Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232866

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