For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 21, 2001
Remarks by the President in Commencement Address Yale University New Haven, Connecticut
Listen to the President's Remarks
12:05 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: President
Levin, thank you very much. Dean Brodhead,
fellows of the Yale Corporation, fellow Yale parents, families, and
graduates: It's a special privilege to receive
this honorary degree. I was proud 33 years ago
to receive my first Yale degree. I'm even
prouder that in your eyes I've earned this one.
I congratulate my fellow
honorees. I'm pleased to share this honor with
such a distinguished group. I'm particularly pleased to be
here with my friend, the former of
Mexico. Senor Presidente, usted es un verdadero
lider, y un gran amigo. (Applause.)
I congratulate all the parents who
are here. It's a glorious day when your child
graduates from college. It's a great day for you; it's
a great day for your wallet. (Laughter.)
Most important, congratulations to
the class of 2001. (Applause.) To those of you
who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say, well
done. And to the C students -- (applause) -- I say, you,
too, can be President of the United
States. (Laughter and applause.) A Yale
degree is worth a lot, as I often remind Dick Cheney --
(laughter) -- who studied here, but left a little
early. So now we know -- if you graduate from
Yale, you become President. If you drop out, you get to
be Vice President. (Laughter.)
I appreciate so very much the
chance to say a few words on this occasion. I
know Yale has a tradition of having no commencement
speaker. I also know that you've carved out a single
exception. Most people think that to speak at
Yale's commencement, you have to be
President. But over the years, the specifications have
become far more demanding. Now you have to be a
Yale graduate, you have to be President, and you have had
to have lost the Yale vote to Ralph Nader. (Applause.)
This is my first time back here in
quite a while. I'm sure that each of you will
make your own journey back at least a few times in your
life. If you're like me, you won't remember everything you
did here. (Laughter.) That can be a good
thing. (Laughter.) But there will be
some people, and some moments, you will never forget.
Take, for example, my old
classmate, Dick Brodhead, the accomplished dean of this
great university. (Applause.) I remember him as a
young scholar, a bright lad -- (laughter) -- a hard
worker. We both put a lot of time in at the
Sterling Library, in the reading room, where they have
those big leather couches. (Laughter.) We had a
mutual understanding -- Dick wouldn't read aloud, and I
wouldn't snore. (Laughter.)
Our course selections were
different, as we followed our own path to academic
discovery. Dick was an English major, and loved the
classics. I loved history, and pursued a diversified
course of study. I like to think of it as the
academic road less traveled. (Laughter.)
For example, I took a class that
studied Japanese Haiku. Haiku, for the
uninitiated, is a 15th century form of poetry, each poem having 17
syllables. Haiku is fully understood only by
the Zen masters. As I recall, one of my
academic advisers was worried about my selection of such a
specialized course. He said I should focus on English.
(Laughter.) I still hear that quite
often. (Laughter.) But my critics
don't realize I don't make verbal gaffes. I'm speaking in
the perfect forms and rhythms of ancient
Haiku. (Applause.)
I did
take English here, and I took a class called "The History and
Practice of American Oratory," taught by Rollin G.
Osterweis. (Applause.) And, President Levin, I
want to give credit where credit is due. I want
the entire world to know this -- everything I know about
the spoken word, I learned right here at Yale. (Laughter.)
As a student, I tried to keep a low
profile. It worked. Last year the New York
Times interviewed John Morton Blum because the record
showed I had taken one of his courses. Casting his mind's
eye over the parade of young faces down through the years,
Professor Blum said, and I quote, "I don't have the
foggiest recollection of him." (Laughter.)
But I remember Professor
Blum. And I still recall his dedication and
high standards of learning. In my time there were many great
professors at Yale. And there still
are. They're the ones who keep Yale going after
the commencements, after we have all gone our separate
ways. I'm not sure I remembered to thank them
the last time I was here, but now that I have a second
chance, I thank the professors of Yale University.
(Applause.)
That's how I've come to
feel about the Yale experience -- grateful. I studied
hard, I played hard, and I made a lot of lifelong friends.
What stays with you from college is the part of your
education you hardly ever notice at the
time. It's the expectations and examples around
you, the ideals you believe in, and the friends you make.
In my time, they spoke of the "Yale
man." I was really never sure what that
was. But I do think that I'm a better man because of Yale.
All universities, at their best, teach that degrees and
honors are far from the full measure of
life. Nor is that measure taken in wealth or in
titles. What matters most are the standards you live by, the
consideration you show others, and the way you use the
gifts you are given.
Now you leave Yale behind, carrying
the written proof of your success here, at a college older
than America. When I left here, I didn't have
much in the way of a life plan. I knew some people who
thought they did. But it turned out that we
were all in for ups and downs, most of them
unexpected. Life takes its own turns, makes its own demands,
writes its own story. And along the way, we
start to realize we are not the author.
We begin to understand that life is
ours to live, but not to waste, and that the greatest
rewards are found in the commitments we make with our
whole hearts -- to the people we love and to the causes that
earn our sacrifice. I hope that each of you
will know these rewards. I hope you will find
them in your own way and your own time.
For some, that might mean some time
in public service. And if you hear that
calling, I hope you answer. Each of you has unique gifts and
you were given them for a reason. Use them and
share them. Public service is one way -- an
honorable way -- to mark your life with meaning.
Today I visit not only my alma
mater, but the city of my birth. My life began
just a few blocks from here, but I was raised in West Texas.
From there, Yale always seemed a world away, maybe a part
of my future. Now it's part of my past, and Yale for me
is a source of great pride.
I hope
that there will come a time for you to return to Yale to say
that, and feel as I do today. And I hope you
won't wait as long. Congratulations and God
bless. (Applause.)
END
12:15 P.M. EDT
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