From Marshall to Rubin, A Daunting Legacy of Commencement Speakers

When former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Robert E. Rubin '60 steps to the podium in Tercentenary Theater tomorrow to deliver the keynote address, he will be only the latest in a long line of influential Harvard Commencement speakers.

Rounding out a trio of economist speakers in recent years-following Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan in 1999 and Amartya K. Sen, an emeritus Harvard economics professor, in 2000--Rubin, now chair of Citigroup, was selected by an alumni committee and University President Neil L. Rudenstine in April.

"He is widely admired, both within the Harvard community and around the world, for his statesmanship, diplomacy, and leadership in international affairs. Few government officials in our time have been held in higher regard, or have had a more significant and positive impact within their spheres of responsibility," Harvard Alumni Association President Scott A. Abell '72 said at the time.

If Rubin follows the trend of his fellow economists' speeches of the past two years, he will bring a global perspective to the Commencement stage.

"I can imagine [his speech] will be something to do with the global economy," says University Marshal Richard M. Hunt, a Harvard history expert.

Last year, Sen emphasized that globalization brings increasing inequality along with increased wealth. It is important, he said, not to ignore the negative effects of globalization.

"We cannot, to use Francis Bacon's words, let these broader doubts [about globalization] pass 'lightly without intervention,'" he said.

Greenspan, too, addressed issues of globalization, pointing out that the graduating students, about to enter the working world, would soon have global influence, shaping the world's cultural, legal and economic institutions.

Though the economist trend among Commencement speakers is new, the international themes of their speeches are not.

For many years, Harvard's keynote Commencement address has served as a formidable bully pulpit. World leaders, philosophers and renowned alumni have used the opportunity to comment on the past and to proclaim their visions for the future.

"They are speeches that are ones in which I think a lot of people look forward to hearing something from an important world figure," Hunt says.

A Revolutionary Speech

Such expectations derive from a speech given on the steps of Memorial Church 54 years ago.

History textbooks describe it as a turning point in U.S. foreign policy--and it was delivered at Harvard Commencement.

In 1947, in the wake of World War II, Secretary of State George C. Marshall approached the Commencement podium and delivered a speech that would change the world.

Though his speech was only 12 minutes long and his oratorical style was less than extraordinary, Marshall's message was revolutionary. He proposed a plan that would reform and recreate Europe's economic infrastructure, promising millions of dollars in U.S. economic aid to struggling European countries on the condition that the countries would work towards promoting a free market and forming trade alliances with the United States.

"It was unique and it was the most important speech in 20th century Harvard history," Hunt says.

Marshall almost did not speak at Harvard that year, however. Though he had also been offered opportunities to speak by the University of Wisconsin and Amherst College, Marshall decided to address Harvard's graduating class.

The timing and location of his big announcement were also uncertain.

It was only after Marshall's journey to Moscow in January 1947, where a private meeting with Joseph Stalin increased Marshall's anxiety about Europe's future, that he contemplated including foreign policy reforms in his Commencement address. When he proposed the idea to Dean Acheson, the Under Secretary of State, Acheson advised against it "on the ground that commencement speeches were a ritual to be endured without hearing."

But Marshall disagreed, and on June 5, 1947, he unveiled his plan to the world at Harvard's Commencement.

Though the speech is frequently cited in history textbooks as a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and global politics, those who heard the speech did not realize its significance--even then-University President James B. Conant '14.

"It wasn't the greatest speech in the world," Hunt says. "Most people didn't realize that they had heard one of the most important policy speeches that had been delivered at any commencement in American history."

A Legacy Of Influence

It was not the first time the Commencement speech had touched on national and international issues. The soapbox provided by the annual festivities has often inspired speeches reflective of the critical issues of the time.

In 1919, Henry Cabot Lodge, Class of 1861, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, echoed the prevalent nationalism of the day.

"Be Americans first, Americans last, Americans always," he said. "From that firm foundation you can march on. Abandon it and chaos will come as when the civilization of Rome crashed down in irremediable ruin."

And in his 1929 address--given before he became president of the United States--Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904, urged students to participate in government.

But the political significance of Harvard's is not merely a 20th century phenomenon.

At the 1743 Commencement ceremony, Samuel Adams introduced an idea that would become the cornerstone of the American Revolution. According to Adams, defying the law was acceptable when the law itself became corrupt.

"It is lawful to resist the chief magistrate if the state cannot otherwise be preserved," he said.

And, over the years, the anniversary of Marshall's speech has provided the opportunity for speeches of similar scope and demand.

Fifty years after Marshall introduced his plan that would change the world, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright addressed the crowd of students and alumni gathered in the Tercentenary Theatre and introduced her vision for a post-Cold War global order open to all nations who accept democracy and free markets.

"No nation in the world need to be left out of the system we are constructing," Albright said.

Though her speech lacked the ramifications of the 1947 speech, the history of the moment was not lost on Albright, who mentioned Marshall in her address.

"Since George Marshall's time, the United States has played the leading role within the international system, not as the sole arbiter of right and wrong, for that is a responsibility widely shared, but as pathfinder--the nation able to show the way when others cannot," Albright said.

The Humanist Voice

Though national and international figures have been more prevalent on the Commencement stage, writers, philosophers and scholars-such as novelists Lady Barbara Ward Jackson in 1957 and Ralph Ellison in 1974--have shared their words with the masses as well. And while they may not have the same potential for international impact, Hunt says, they make up for it in eloquence.

In fact, according to Hunt, the 1978 speech of Nobel-Prize winning Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is the speech most requested from the Harvard News Office.

"It was quite a powerful and prophetic speech," Hunt says.

For that reason, Hunt says he thinks the selection of three consecutive economists, including one for Rudenstine's final Commencement, is unfortunate.

"I think it's a little bit too bad that happened," Hunt says.

When selecting a speaker, Hunt says that the committee should have kept the interests of the outgoing Harvard president in mind. Although incoming University President Lawrence H. Summers is, like Rubin, an economist, Hunt describes Rudenstine as a "very eloquent humanist," and says "someone closer to his [Rudenstine's] interests in liberal arts" would have been a better choice.

But though Rubin's speech this year might not have the significance of the recent Commencement appearances of political figures like West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1990, Hunt says that as a result of the prominent status of Harvard alumni, the University is well positioned to attract world leaders at crucial moments if the need arises.

"I think many of our graduates are people who are in the world of public affairs in major ways and we can always count on them to come to Commencmenet and give a speech," he says.

--Staff writer Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at shoichet@fas.harvard.edu.