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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 21, 2001

Remarks by the President in Commencement Address Yale University New Haven, Connecticut

   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.)

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12:15 P.M. EDT