Class of 1999: Shaping the Course Of History

US Department of State Dispatch, June, 1999

Commencement address at Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, Washington, DC, May 29, 1999.

Father O'Donovan, Dean Gallucci, Doctor Brown,--(inaudible)--Ambassador Don McHenry; Class of '99, of which I am a proud member, and your families and faculty and other members of this distinguished university community and guests, and all friends: Good morning. I have to tell you that I am deeply moved by having this honorary degree. I have collected a few--(inaudible)--but I have to say that--(inaudible)--the one thing missing in my life was a Georgetown honorary degree. So thank you very much.

As I look out on this audience, lots of thoughts run through my mind. I've lived in the neighborhood a long time and through my endless Ph.D. studies, I really--(inaudible)--try to find books.

I have sat in this audience as a parent twice. I have sat up here as a faculty member for 10 years because I love graduations and I used to come to all of them. I never imagined that I would be standing in front of you as Secretary of State of the United States. Nor did I imagine, actually, that I'd have an honorary degree from Georgetown. So this is a pretty good day.

To the Class of 1999, I say congratulations. Today is a day to celebrate. It is the payoff for all the exams, the late nights in the Lauinger Library, and the carpal tunnel syndrome caused by so many hours at a computer. Now, graduation is one of the five great milestones in life--the others being birth, death, marriage, and the day you finally pay off your student loan.

Now, I really do, as I said, love graduations, and I have attended a lot of them. I love the academic surrounding and the caps and gowns and the solemn traditions. Recently, I was at the University of Arizona, and there, the solemn tradition is to throw tortillas around like frisbees during the commencement speech. It's a little unusual, but it does keep you alert. This is important because, if Father O'Donovan will forgive me, a commencement speech can be a little like a sermon, except you don't have the fear of God to keep you awake.

This morning, I promise not to bore you--at least intentionally--and I will suppress the habit I developed as a professor of speaking in 50-minute sound bites.

I begin by saying that the Georgetown School of Foreign Service has a tradition of excellence to which the President of the United States--among other distinguished alumni--can attest and which Dean Gallucci and his faculty continue to uphold. This school is renowned for producing people who are doers. It yields an annual harvest of diplomats, educators, business people, and professionals who are not afraid to run necessary risks.

If I have any advice for you who graduate today, it is to embrace this Georgetown spirit. Yours is the last graduating class of the 20th century. And the character of the new century will be determined not by the complacent but by the courageous, not by the critics, but by those willing to put their lives and careers on the line to make the future better than the past.

When I was a professor, I often would ask my students to role play and pretend they were diplomats or generals confronted by a crisis. Of course, I would always give the role of Secretary of State to a woman student. And I would ask the students to formulate recommendations based on U.S. interests and values. At the time, our most vital interests were defined solely in Cold War terms: to defend our people, territory, and allies from communist aggression.

Our task today is more complex. I remember delivering a lecture here years ago after the Berlin Wall fell, celebrating that event but also warning that the world might become more, rather than less, dangerous.

In recent years, that fear has been validated by the revival of ethnic strife, the increased destructiveness of international terror, and the spread of advanced weapons technologies.

Meanwhile, the information revolution has created a new linkage among events that is both instantaneous and global. [Sound of airplanes overhead.] Oh, yes, I remember the airplanes, too. As a result, what happens anywhere can matter everywhere, and will likely matter soon.

In such an environment, there is always the danger that we will talk ourselves into paralysis. For the geopolitical chessboard is now multidimensional, and anyone seeking a reason not to act will always be able to find one. But if our choice is always to wait until everything is perfect and all the downsides have turned rightsides up, waiting is all we would ever do.

We have long since passed the time in our history when we could count on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to guarantee our security; when we could protect our interests by maintaining a few key relationships, principally in Europe; and when we could safely take a reactive approach to most events in most places most of the time.

Our era demands a dynamic approach that recognizes the global nature of our interests, the rapidity with which new threats may emerge, and the extent to which progress in one area can lead to a breakthrough in another. That's why, as I speak, the United States is preparing for a new push on all tracks of the Middle East peace process.