Commencement Speech, Part 2
continued:
Yet, our nation is calling the watchman down from the tower. There are some
who want to send Paul Revere into retirement. And I fear it is much too early for
that.
By the mid-1990s, defense spending will be well under four percent of our
economy. That’s down to pre-Pearl Harbor levels. Some members of the “blame
the military crowd” in Washington want to cut defense even faster -- almost
recklessly. They think military weapons and, yes, military people are somehow akin
to warmongers.
But just recently we’ve seen an incredible example of the great humanitarian
duties performed by the U.S. armed forces. You don’t hear too much about it from
that “blame the military crowd” but I think history will record it as one of the great
humanitarian projects of our era.
Not too long ago, our forces went into Somalia, a country suffering from daily
violence and intense starvation. I’m sure you remember the horrifying pictures on
television of the starving children there. Our country made the bold and difficult
decision to take the lead in this effort, and our troops were sent because it was the
right thing to do. They performed brilliantly and restored order to that desperate
country and when the mission was successfully completed, they came home. It
was a proud moment for our country and I, for one, commend those young heroes
for their valor.
Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana has put it simply and put it well, “The role of the
United States should be to lead the world. Our country has the wisdom, the
political will, the military capability, and the economic strength to perform that role
better than any other.” I would add only this, it is freedom itself that still hangs in
the balance -- and freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.
Some continue to think of the world’s best military as a laboratory for social
experiments. Well, I’m here to tell you that nothing could be farther from the truth.
We are at peace today and we have that peace through strength, and you, our
military, are the providers of that strength. Most importantly of all, you are not
wagers of wars, but keepers of the peace.
I’m tired of listening to those naysayers -- I heard them often during my own
years as Commander-in-Chief. Our military buildup, we were told, threatened a
dangerous escalation of tensions. Our deploying of Pershings and cruise missiles
in Europe would destroy any hope for negotiations with the Soviet Union, they said.
Our insistence on S.D.I. would scuttle the I.N.F. Treaty. And what kind of fool
would call the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” and say that communism was destined
for the ashheap of history?
You know, I have to wonder, just how many times do some people have to be
wrong, on so many crucial points, before they start asking themselves a few
questions? But you know what some of those critics are saying today? Some of the
same people who said our policies were doomed to failure because the Soviets
were supposedly too strong are now trying to argue that our policies made no
different because the “evil empire” was doomed to collapse no matter what we did!
Looks to me like it ought to be time again for “knob answer” three -- “Sir, no excuse,
sir.”
Today, having achieved the victory over communism that some said we were
foolish to even seek, America faces the question of military preparedness in a post-
Cold War era. And we are hearing some of the same old voices of the “blame the
military crowd,” but they’re uttering a slightly different message. Before, their theme
was that American military might was too costly and too dangerous. Now, they
claim that it is too costly and largely unnecessary -- that danger is past and the war
is won.
It is said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. And I’d like to offer
several reasons why we must stay strong militarily:
First, despite the spread of democracy and capitalism, human nature has not
changed. It is still an unpredictable mixture of good and evil. Our enemies may be
irrational, even outright insane -- driven by nationalism, religion, ethnicity or
ideology. They do not fear the United States for its diplomatic skills or the number
of automobiles and software programs it produces. They respect only the firepower
of our tanks, planes and helicopter gunships.
Second, the Soviet Union may be gone, but even small powers can destroy
global peace and security. The modern world is filled with vulnerable “chokepoints”
-- military, geographic, political and economic. The actual lives at stake may
be few in number. But, in an era of mass communications, a well-aimed assault
can topple governments, cause economic dislocations and spark international
conflict. Iraq came close to taking over two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves.
Terrorists have attacked airplanes, boats, government buildings, the Olympic
games, and even the World Trade Center.
Third, technology -- for all its blessings -- can enable new enemies to rise up
overnight. Scientific information flows to ambitious dictators faster than ever. The
research and development cycle for new products has shrunk from ten years to five
years to two years or even shorter. Technology turns the world upside down.
When I was a boy in Illinois, Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers dominated the
global marketplace with their marvelous machines. But I was not long out of
college when Adolf Hitler’s sophisticated tanks and bombers over-ran Europe. Nazi
Germany also built the first jet place and it became frightfully close to inventing the
atomic bomb before we did.
The Soviet Union was devastated by Hitler’s invasion in the early 1940s. Yet the
communist nation quickly rose from the ashes and developed the hydrogen bomb.
And few people expected Iraq to recover so quickly from its horrendous war with
Iran in the 1980s.
And who can predict what will be the “blitzkriegs” of tomorrow? Nearly two
dozen nations will be able to produce ballistic missiles by the year 2000. On top of
that, thousands of nuclear weapons and poorly paid nuclear technicians float
around the former Soviet Union -- available to the highest bidder.
Over the past few months, we’ve heard quite a few odd announcements coming
out of Washington. Just this week, the new administration announced plans to
slash the Strategic Defense Initiative program. They have been all too eager to
denounce this program for years and they have been proven wrong, time and time
again. I am quite proud of the S.D.I. program we launched a decade ago. I feel it
played an instrumental role in our victory over communism. Now, I may not be a
Rhode Scholar, but I do know this, if we can protect America with a defensive
shield from incoming missile attacks, we should by all means do so. And if the new
administration in Washington thinks we are no longer at risk, they need to open
their eyes and take a long, hard look at the world.
The Romans warned long ago, “Let him who desires peace prepare for war.”
Washington would echo these words in the very first State of the Union Address,
reiterating to his countrymen one of the simple truths of the ages -- “to be prepared
for war is one of the effectual means of preserving peace.” Yet it seems we must
re-learn this lesson time and time again, often at terrible cost. I know.
In my eighty-two years, I’ve seen America drop her guard time and time again --
and each time with tragic consequences. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson won the
election on a promise that he would keep the nation out of war. Shortly afterwards,
an unprepared America was sucked into World War I. In 1940, President
Roosevelt won re-election on a peace platform. That peace platform soon
crumbled under the bombs of Pearl Harbor. After World War II, we disarmed
virtually overnight. Before you knew it, our army was being pushed around by
ragtag troops in Korea. And later, the Soviets shocked us by launching Sputnik and
by invading Afghanistan. Today, the United States dominates the world arena.
Once again, our noble first instinct is to seek peace. And that’s why America needs
the brave and skilled soldiers of The Citadel more than ever. Just in case.
As General Colin Powell -- my former National Security Advisor and now
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- has noted, we need a powerful military that
can solve small problems before they become big, bloody ones.
We cannot allow another Saddam Hussein to grab every oil patch in the Middle
East.
It would be difficult to sit on the sidelines in Bosnia and watch the slaughter of
innocent men, women and children and allow war to spread elsewhere in Europe.
For let us not forget that that is the exact place that the first World War began.
When I was about your age, President Roosevelt said we had “nothing to fear
but fear itself.” Today, in much different times, our prosperous nation has little to
fear but complacency itself. We must stay strong and flexible. We must keep our
powder dry. And this venerable academic institution has an historic obligation to
preserve the liberty of America.
Savor these moments. Keep these memories close to your heart. Cherish your
families and friends because we never know what the future will bring. Live each
day to the fullest. Because it is you who will lay the solid foundations of a free
society.
You are ready to build the homes, the neighborhoods and businesses of the
21st century. A noble defender of freedom, General Douglas MacArthur, knew well
the qualities of a soldier patriot. During the desperate early days of World War II,
when our victory in the Pacific was by no means assured, he wrote a prayer for
someone he loved dearly -- his young son. Perhaps it could have been written by
any father or mother here today.
Here is part of the General’s prayer, “Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong
enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is
afraid. One who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and
gentle in victory. Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deed; a
son who will know Thee -- and that to know himself is the foundation stone of
knowledge.
“Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true
greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.
“Then, I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not lived in vain.’”
Cadets, live each day with enthusiasm, optimism, hope and honor. If you do, I
am convinced that your contribution to this wonderful experiment we call America
will be greater than we ever imagined.
In closing, let me say that nothing made me prouder as President than America’s
young people in uniform. And no decision was ever more difficult for me to make
than the times I ordered our military forces into action. Each time I issued such an
order, I reminded myself that it wasn’t just a nameless, faceless soldier I was
dispatching, but a child of loving parents; the partner of an adoring spouse; or
perhaps the parent and provider for some happy children. I reminded myself that if
things should go wrong, and casualties did occur, it wouldn’t just be a day of flagdraped
coffins coming home.
There would permanently be empty chairs at family tables, vacant seats in little
league baseball bleachers, and teary-eyed explanations to young children about
why their mommy or daddy wouldn’t be coming home again.
So I felt then, as I feel now, America owes a special thanks to those who are
willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. We must honor them and
respect them, not just when they are in battle, but every day they wear the proud
uniform of our country.
When I met with each of my successors prior to beginning their presidencies, I
strongly offered a bit of personal advice. I told them, even though you don’t wear a
uniform, as President you are the Commander-in-Chief. And when you are saluted
by a member of the Armed Forces, don’t just smile or wave. I said, stop and salute
them back. And, from what I’ve seen, they’ve followed that advice.
So today, as an old calvary officer and your former Commander-in-Chief, I hope
you will allow me once again to show you how proud I am.
Thank you, again, for having me here today. Congratulations and God bless
you. "
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