Excerpts from Madeleine Albright's Commencement Address

You are here

Excerpts from Madeleine Albright's Commencement Address

Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!

Sign In | Sign Up

×

Madeleine Albright, American secretary of state, delivered the Harvard University commencement address June 5, 1997. Her perspective on world events and trends, along with her enunciation of America's vision and world mission and the obstacles to be overcome, makes compelling reading. Here are excerpts:

"Today we recall another turning point in [our] era. For on this day 50 years ago Secretary of State George Marshall addressed the graduating students of this university . . . The secretary's words were plain. But his message reached far beyond the audience assembled in this yard to an American people weary of war and wary of new commitments, and to a Europe where life-giving connections between farm and market, enterprise and capital, hope and future had been seared . . .

"Today in the wake of the Cold War it is not enough for us to say that communism has failed. We, too, must heed the lessons of the past, accept responsibility, and lead.

"Because we are entering a century in which there will be many interconnected centers of population, power and wealth, we cannot limit our focus, as Marshall did in his speech, to the devastated battleground of a prior war. Our vision must encompass not one but every continent.

"Unlike Marshall's generation, we face no single galvanizing threat. The dangers we confront are less visible and more diverse, some as old as ethnic conflict, some as new as letter bombs, some as subtle as climate change and some as deadly as nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands.

"To defend against these threats, we must take advantage of the historic opportunity that now exists to bring the world together in an international system based on democracy, open markets, law and a commitment to peace . . .

"We can invest the resources needed to keep America strong economically, militarily and diplomatically, recognizing, as did Marshall, that these strengths reinforce each other . . .

"And we can recognize, even as we pay homage to the heroes of history, that we have our own duty to be authors of history. Let every nation acknowledge, today, [that] the opportunity to be part of an international system based on democratic principles is available to all. This was not the case 50 years ago . . . In Europe we are striving to fulfill the vision Marshall proclaimed but the Cold War prevented, the vision of a Europe whole and free . . . "Where half a century ago American leadership helped lift Western Europe to prosperity and democracy, so today the entire transatlantic community is helping Europe's free nations fix their economies and cement the rule of law . . .

"The Cold War's shadow no longer darkens Europe, but one specter from the past does remain. History teaches us that there is no natural geographic or political end point to conflict in the Balkans, where World War I began and where the worst European violence of the past half century occurred in this decade. That is why the peaceful integration of Europe will not be complete until the Dayton peace accords in Bosnia are fulfilled . . .

"We can accept atrocities as inevitable, or we can strive for a higher standard . . . We can heed the most searing lesson of this century, which is that evil—when unopposed —will spawn more evil . . .

"Today the greatest danger to America is not the foreign enemy; it is the possibility that we will fail to heed the example of that generation, that we will allow the momentum towards democracy to stall, take for granted the institutions and principles upon which our own freedom is based and forget what the history of this country reminds us [of], that problems abroad, if left unattended, will all too often come home to America . . .

"There is no certain road map to success, either, for individuals or for generations. Ultimately, it is a matter of judgment, a question of choice . . . "We have responsibility in our time ... not to be prisoners of history, but to shape history, a responsibility to fill the role of pathfinder, and to build with others a global network of purpose and law that will protect our citizens, defend our interests, preserve our values and bequeath to future generations a legacy as proud as the one we honor today.

"To that mission, I pledge my own best efforts and summon yours . . ." GN