, of the boston marathon bombing, we spent time with today at saplling rehab when they gathered on a sunny day to celebrate the demonstration of an amazing physical strength and determination when they must find the physical strength and determination necessary for their own recovery. we extend our deepest sympathies to all of you who have an toward violence and loss here. -- kurds for us, it is about but kurds for us is doing everything we possibly can to make sure that fewer parents face that loss. for me, it meant learning more about politics. previously, i handled the spaceflight travel

responsibilities in our marriage, and gabby handled the politics. but now we have to do to the politics together. -- gabby, her cordage is the her encourage is the equivalent of a lunar mission. she has set her sights on a distant arising, a country that will be dramatically safer from gun violence, and she works hard each and every day with physical therapy, speech therapy, and also a little bit of yoga to make sure she is in shape to get their. doubters,are many many who think the nra and the rest of the gun lobby is simply too powerful, many who think are deep and patriotic support of the second amendment, which, by the way, gabby and i share, would prevent us from making progress. any use all the failure of the senate to pass expanded background checks last week

have thrown up their hands in anger and disgust. that is fine. our friend jim lovell, the commander of apollo roman 13, remembers being amazed. whens a main just in 1971 president kennedy said we would get to the moon. jim says that he thought that was impossible. then, as many of you know, he flew there, twice. there are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happens, and there are people who wondered what happened. [laughter] to be successful you need to be a person who makes things happen. gabby giffords is a person who makes things happen. [applause] gabby has chosen to help inspire, organize, and motivate

a nation that is fed up with violence, and fed up with congressional inaction, and she has chosen to focus us on coming together and taking concrete steps that will keep families and communities safer. her courage inspires us daily, but i know she is inspired by the kurds of those who came for her mama those she met today and those hundreds of thousands of americans all across the country who are joining her each and every day, those who are sending checks for five dollars, $10, honey is that they may deed in tough times -- they may need in tough times, to stand shoulder to shoulder with gabby, those who are talking to their friends at the grocery store and at the water cooler and on playgrounds and saying,

we can do better, and i am standing with gabby giffords to get it done. i know she is inspired by the courage, by her friend and staffer gabe zimmerman, who ran toward her and toward danger during the terrible shooting in tucson and lost his life trying to help. resident kennedy said, the stories of past courage can't teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration, but they cannot supply courage itself, for this, each man or woman, must look into their own soul. 'sddy's courage -- gabby courage is limitless and powerful. we ask for your encourage in joining us to make sure we achieve our goal of a safer

america for all of us. i would like to introduce you to reminds me each and every day to deny the acceptance of failure, my beautiful wife, gabrielle giffords. [applause] >> thank you to the kennedy family for this award. i appreciate it very much. we all have courage inside. i wish there was more courage in congress. [laughter] it is hard to express it. i know. it has been a hard two years for me, but i want to make a world

-- the world a better place. more than ever. thank you. [applause] thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> they live look at the lincoln memorial, where visitors are remembering america's fallen heroes.

fromll have live shots around washington all day him as citizens visit memorials to remember those who served and are currently serving. a commencements

address was delivered at sacred heart university. the school tragedy at newtown was discussed and where newtown goes from here. this is 10 minutes. ♪ >> it is my pleasure to introduce our luncheon speaker, steve milloy. he is a prolific author on such epags as health care scams, cleanup standards, the nuclear power industry. he is a biostatistician, with degrees from johns hopkins, also an attorney with degrees from georgetown and the university of baltimore.

he has concurrent positions at the competitive enterprise institute, the center for security policy, and the american tradition institute. " the wallppeared in street journal," and is a commentator on fox news. books,he author of five including his most recent, " green hell." presentany writers here know, authors are not always responsible for the titles of their books. editors and publicists have a hand as well. i am not quite sure whether the on-out frontal assault i environmentalists was his idea, but it might well be. he is a pull no punches guy

when it comes to the efforts of some environmentalists to invent what they cannot know to extrapolate beyond the bounds of sew fear. i will let him demonstrate all of that in his own inimitable style in a few minutes, but before i unleash steve, i want to present a context for why i have asked him here today. environmentalism is a new topic. there's no mention in the early volumes of academic questions in nd only a fewnd can onl passing references.

the politicization of science, and so on. wait a minute. the politicization of science? yes, that was a longstanding area of inquiry, but nas failed to register the affinity between activists and alarms. that changed in october of 2007, when nas bumped into delaware's and documentation program, which forced hard-core leftist ideology on students and sent those who resisted to what the university itself called the treatment. [laughter] the foundation for individual rights and education did a splendid job in shaming the university of delaware into dropping the program temporarily, it appears, while behind theked

scenes. as the dust settled, it was pointed out that delaware program, which focus on sexuality and race, had little to do with environmentalism, was according to its internal documents a sustainability program. and to the extent that word make anything at all, it means us is warmed over environmentalism, but we were wrong. we wondered why it was called that and began to tug on that thread. we discovered that the word sustainability was a term of a much broader scope than it sounded. its main proponent, the word designated a combination of anti-free market economics, the collective struggle for social justice agenda, and an anti- fossil fuel environmental agenda, pictured as three circles overlapping and sustainability is this center

of the overlap. this is not the platce to talk nast how did -- but continues to be the only systematic effort among higher education touch dogs to track what the sustainability movement is up to. we called it how many delaware's? ondevoted a special issue the movement. we created an encyclopedia, adopted a policy statement, and published over 100 articles on our website about the movement. the topic front of the debate over global warming, and here comes a dick's claim or. the social association of scholars is not going to wait in on the dispute, and we have members on both sides of that debate. when it comes to the science of global warming, we are resolutely in favor of good science, transparency of

methods, open access to data, and a peer review process kept free of intimidation. the existence, consequences, causes, possible remediation of global warming are not our subject, but the misuse of science to advance the political agenda, any political agenda, is very much our concern. one last prefer toward remark, and i will turn this over to steve, he is here as a white knight. in our original planning i intended this luncheon to feature a debate between myself and a leading advocate of the sustainability movement in higher education. over the months, i contacted all , and one byd giants one not one of them would accept and invitation to debate. one of theusy, but tactics of the sustainability movement is its insistence we are long past the point where there is anything left to debate.

the science is settled. catastrophe is imminent. the time for critical election is past. the time for action is upon us. this and from any of these declarations is worse than intellectual folly. it is a kind of treason. that train of thought, you call it the sequestering of recent inquiry and the shunning of evidence that does not fit the narrative, is a signature of a dangerous ideology. it is why the national association of scholars has taken up this issue and why we will stick with that, and here to explain how the movement has planted itself in the growth of steve milloy. thank you. [applause] good afternoon. it is an honor to be here today. i want to thank ashley for

remembering me from a couple of years ago when i met her. an amount of courage for a group that also itself the national association of scholars to invite a guy the website calls junkscience.com. peter asked me to talk about the ility movement. it is incumbent upon me what i might be qualified to pontificate on the serious topic of sustainability. who is steve milloy, why am i here? nationalirit of association of scholars, i have spent time in school myself. by the time i was 30, many moons ago, i had a graduate degree in biostatistics, and i worked as a computer systems engineer for wall street firms.

i worked as a lawyer for the sbed. -- sec. so far you are not seek connection. until i was 31, there there was not one. i made up for that. the981, i lost my job for second time. desperate to find a new job, i got hired by a washington lobbying firm. the firm was run by the man who advised ronald reagan to classify ketchup as a vegetable in the school lunch program. mye that sounds silly,, boss knew how the government works, where the bodies were buried, and he actually buried some. he hired me because as a lawyer and biostatistician he felt i had good skills that he thought

would be useful in the field of environmental risk assessment. wasack of knowledge apparently not a problem. as i have learned over the past 20 years, hardly anyone does anything about the environment. i got lucky. i was thrust into the assignments that dealt with a broad spur the room issues about pesticides, radiation, secondhand smoke, epa, fda, health regulations, and i worked on a project to get george h w bush to issue an epautive order to tell the how to invite a risk. i became so knowledgeable about environmental risk assessments that i successfully pitch to the u.s. department of energy to harm me as a consultant to help them fight the epa. why would a department of energy hire an outsider to fight a sister agency? the epa was pressing the

department of energy on cleanups for the exchange of weapons laboratory, like oak ridge, sandia, and others. epa also wanted energy to vacuum its nevada test sites. epa wanted the department of energy to vacuum up the top one inch of soil, decontaminate it come and replace it. this work was rejected because it cost hundreds of billions 20 years ago. review u.s.as to government environmental policies to determine if they had been developed on the science or politics. this was great for me, and i hired taste that and spent the next year studying policies. we interviewed hundreds of people, government agencies, activist groups, trying to get to the not of whether policies is science or politics. in the end we produce what i thought was a fantastic report

which concluded that an arbitral policies across-the-board are based more on politics than science. i sent my report up the chain of command at the doe for review so we could get it published. i was excited and proud. everything into a screeching halt. and called to a meeting, was told my report would not be seeing the light of day. he implied that if i knew what was good for my contracting business, i would follow orders. there was no criticism of my report related to me. i was told to put a lid on it. even though i was a political novice, it was easy to figure out the problem. although my project started , it was completed under clinton. as far as the clinton administration is concerned, what i did was incredibly politically correct incorrect. and notwas sacrosanct open to question. what they did not count on was

that i do not care for authority or their organizations, so i said goodbye to my career as a beltway bandit, took my report and published it. i pitched it to th" the wall street journal." i related the story not because of what i was about today to tell you, it comes from a career's worth of trench warfare, combat with the epa, the environmental movement, and their victims. let's talk about sustainability. what is it? it is basic conceit is we only have one earth. that is true. if we use it up or polluted beyond recognition, there will be no earth for tomorrow, but we cannot use the earth up tomorrow either since we will be that the day after.

since we need to use and pollute at least part of the earth, to make it through today and tomorrow and into the day after, we need to figure out a way to ration our use of the earth so we do not use it up and pollute it all at once. rationing of the earth's resources is sustainability. while the theory of sustainability appears to have a great deal of intuitive appeal, reality of sustainability is quite different. in all the years that i have worked on environmental issues, have only run across one example where the concept of sustainability was actually test driven. it almost was. in the mid-2000, i managed a .ublicly traded mutual fund taking a page from the environmental activist look, we bought shares in companies that were being assaulted by radical environmentalists or had already been captured by them. what are these companies was the investment bank goldman sachs. in 2005, he discovered goldman sachs is about $60 million of

shareholder money to purchase a hundred thousand acres of land at the bottom of the world at tier adel fuego, and then donated the land to a green wildlifeled the conservation society. we took her complaint to the shareholder meeting, which was the last one for hank paulson, a fearsome wall street personality who was later a treasury secretary. 10-xpected it would be a minute meeting and turned it into a one hour nightmare. the ceo of not only goldman sachs, he was also the chairman of the nature conservancy. paulson's son was a trustee of the wildlife conservation society, the group that picked up that acreage. it was only the tip of the iceberg. we learned the whole sordid history of this tract of land

and its nightmares in her section with sustainability. the land had and purchased by a washington state timber company. the ceo of that company turned out to be rather green for a timber company. he had purchased the 8000 -- 800,000 acres nine years earlier to save it from a japanese purchaser who wanted to clear- cut the land and sell the wood. trillium outbid the japanese, bought the land for 200 million dollars, and announced it intended to do the world's first sustainable logging project. trillium hired a respected forrester to develop a plan that was hailed by conservationists as visionary. conservationists are distinct from environmentalists. in short, trillium said it would harvest only a portion of the trees and put some parts of the tract permanently off-limits for logging.

trillium invited the environmental community to bless its plan and invited the green to our implemented as well. trillium worked with the nature conservancy which at the time had a board member named wendy paulson, hank paulson's wife. while the nature conservancy pretended to help trillium, the rest of the environmental movement formed a global alliance to determine to stop trillium. lawsuits were filed, trillium for severe it -- trillium persevered. went on for nine years, and in the end trillium emerged victorious from the litigation, but it was a pirate pyrric victory. --lean was able to out

trillium was able to raise money, and hank paulson and achs acquired the land. you might think that the goldman sachs would take the forest, a multibillion dollar asset, and log it for itself. instead, hank paulson gave the land worth billions of dollars to the wildlife conservation society and took only $34 million text eduction. when this was brought to the , thetion at the meeting directors find paulson $100 million, but the dirty deed ever touched -- sabotage the plan and was not on mine. today the 800,000 acres remains unproductive. trillium had anticipated revenues of 150 million dollars annually from its project. instead, the wildlife conservation society is trying to figure out how to develop it

for a site for eco-true is in, which is foolish. is a reality of sustainability. it is only the notion, the purpose of which is to fool people to think that environmentalism exists on a higher moral line than the rest of us. it is the environmentalist that are thinking of and planning for the future. otherwise the rest of us would just recommend that were future generations. sustainability is a con, a fraud,. the real essence of sustainability is denial, saying no, no, you cannot cut trees down, no, you cannot use fossil fuels, no, you cannot use water. you're not even supposed to be. when i started working as a consultant, one of the huge environmental controversies was trash. the assumption and it's waste disposal was not sustainable, because the environmentalist

said we were running out of space. 20 years later we have more people whine more stuff, creating more waste, even with the recycling that goes on, even though we are throwing away more than three times the trash than we did 20 years ago. we have a huge surplus of landfills, which is why it costs so little to have your trash pickup. theing a reality challenge benefit of the doubt that they --weconcerned about and can only conclude they made the same mistake that a demographer made in the late 18th century. it was rejected the population growth would outstrip food production and that ensuing famine and starvation would cut population down to size. what it was failed to foresee was the development of knowledge and technology that would greatly expand the food

supply so that never-ending surpluses of food are actually what happened, not famine and starvation. in the jump forward iseline to the woman who credited with launching the modern environmental movement, rachel carson. carson warned that continuing use of chemical pesticides would decimate bird populations. of course, it never happened. in fact the great part populations that carson said were threatened were actually on the rebound when ddt use was at its highest. the bald eagle was not on the verge of excision in 1960. it was on the verge of 1916.tion in ddt had nothing to do with the fate of any of the great earns. .- birds ddt was banned by the epa in

1972, a ban that was exported worldwide, and since then tens of millions of poor people have died from malaria around the world world, especially in sub-saharan africa. was paulhel carson ehrlich. he predicted hundreds of millions perished from famine and starvation. to avoid this, he advocated, among other things, the government spike drinking water with contraceptives. .e fretted it was unsustainable he was bachelet al gore before algore was al gore. he turned out to be wrong, but that is a topic for another discussion even though his population global fear mongering was entirely wrong and because environmentalist are so totally beyond shame, he went on to that julian simon in 1980 the prices wouldve medals -- metals

be scarcer and cost more in 1990 and 1980. simon won the bet as availability of each increased during that 10-year period. just for grins, president of hamas current top science adviser helped erlich pick the metals to bet on. let's talk about some other sustainability myths and realities. we hear from environmentalist fossil fuel use is not sustainable. if not complaining about air pollution and global warming, it will simply run out of fossil fuels. the air quality reality is that we burn more fossil fuels than ever in our air, talking about china -- not talking about china but u.s., it is clean and safe as it was before the industrial revolution. i only want to talk about global

warming because it is worth a separate discussion, but suffice it to say over the past 17 years we have in it more than 500 billion tons of carbon dioxide and everyonesphere agrees there is been no meaningful change in global temperatures during that time. we know from atmospheric physics the next 500 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted will have less impact than the previous 500 billion tons. we dispense with air pollution and global warming, are we running out of fossil fuels? the answer is in an phatic no. even without considering the new fracking technologies, and other technologies making it possible to recover more oil than from known and even previously tapped out formations, humanity so far has used about a trillion or so barrels of oil but recently, at least 200 barrels were discovered in the australian outback. that may hold trillion barrels

of oil. which bring in fracking has been an energy game changer. and the last five or six years, the u.s. has gone from having enough natural gas to export. we of so much the gluttonous a secure the prices are so low that it endangers the viability of the u.s. -- which has several hundred years of reserves itself. the new york times recently reported on the shell formation in the western u.s. called the green river formation which has been estimated to hold three trillion barrels of reserves, more than all the known reserves in the world. i am not saying we're going back to 50 cents per gallon gasoline which is what it was when i started grow -- driving, but we're not running out of also fills the air. water? this should not be news to anyone, water is the most abundant substance on the planet. there may be occasional droughts.

snowmelts another man-made shortages of water, but there is no way we are running out of water. we may need to figure out how to get water from where it is to witness to be, but there is plenty of water. we may have to import water from canada, which holds 20% of the world's freshwater, we may have to rethink how we do storm water management. worst case, we may have to say goodbye to a minor species of freshwater fish that no one really cares about to start with -- and the san joaquin valley, farmers are fighting to get water. the federal government does not want to give them water because it is endangering a small smell fish. we may pay more, but there is plenty of water. is if theuestion environmentalist will allow us to access. that is the sustainability problem. there are two parts to this question. first, environmentalist assert

love of the planet, people take a decidedly back seat. tens of millions of sub-saharan africans and others have died and other sickened from malaria since the sustainability but will insist the sites as unsustainable. 8 million children died annually from the vitamin a deficiencies. now that we have developed by technology, many of these lives may be saved. the green movement stands in lockstep against golden rice because biotechnology, by their decree, it is not sustainable. it might be sustainable for those poor children who are dying from a vitamin a deficiencies. it is the number-one killer, poverty, especially where it prevents electricity and sanitation and clean water. ourefforts to improve blocked by environmentalist. green friends said they worry about global warming causing flooding in bangladesh, but not because they're interested in

preventing the disaster but so they can use the notion of flooding as a tragedy to advance their political cause in the u.s. paul ehrlich, our green demagogue, is still a member of stanford university and a member of the prestigious national academy of sciences. he said the population on the adult population surrounding one to 2 billion british that was 45 years ago. 45 years ago paulo ehrlich is dead wrong and people are blessings and resources. the second aspect of the population of sustainability issue is actually the real sustainability problem, that advocates have entered the overlooked. that problem is the sustainability of the welfare state. in the 1940's, about 40 workers supported each social security

retirees. today, less than three workers. only do werim, not jacked up the wages, we also added medicare and now obamacare. meanwhile, are sustainability friends have been pushing birth control and abortion. far be it for libertarian like to tell people how to manage the personal reproduction activities. i would suggest it will first it will be unsustainable if we continue the war against reproduction. finally, let's talk about sustainability on college campuses. college campuses are the perfect breeding grounds for an ira -- environmentally some and sustainability. you have kids learning nothing. most of what they've learned about the informant is a little more than political correctness. as we know, universities are stocked with academics to start with those who do research and from issues more likely get grant money from the pro

sustainable government. kids come into college not knowing much about college -- the increment will possibly not know much more when they graduate. natural resources are scarce, we must minimize their use. sticking a shovel in the ground destroys local ecosystem bridge no development is allowed. what is not taught is any sort of critical thinking. the way i learned about environmental issues is by asking questions. i read somewhere a certain chemical pesticide was a certain cancer risk. i would then ask the question, how do you know that? i subsequently learned the person organization making the assertion really did not know whether the chemical was a problem or not. you've got young adults and four years on academically correct campuses and the bad combination is exploited by outside

agitation from radical environmental workers. for example, hot green issue like now is keystone xl pipeline. if approved by the obama administration would bring tar sands oil from the canadian process of a bridge to the gulf coast refining and exporting. the environmental movement is apoplectic about keystone xl. the tar sands give canada the potential to become another saudi arabia. that is the last thing they want to see commercialized. the economics. the college green movement is relied on against the keystone xl for the environmentalist. a college professor whose radical activist group 350.org is funded by fluorescent green private foundations and other fossil fuel haters started a fossil fuel divestment movement on campus. just last week in washington, d.c., they held with it

considered the largest global warming rally in history. 350.org is campuses, organizing college kids to protest or pressure at the universities to do best fossil fuels investments from their endowments. airtran to quit fossil fuels with apartheid and even now -- they are trying to equate fossil fuels with apartheid and even now slavery. because no talk about the informant is complete without a swipe at al gore -- i think i already had one -- several weeks ago at a rally harvard university out or to the students he was young he would be agitating for a divestment along with them. andirony lost on the global dopey college kids is a week or so earlier al gore announced he was selling his current tv to al jazeera for $500 million. some earn from the production of oil.

about my listdone and radical environmentalism and sustainability on college campuses? is it important that young adults turn into adults will the simply grow up? will then move on from youthful dalliance is with flagrant nonsense? i'm not in the business of predicting the future but i will say maybe look at the baby boomer experience. did the college radicals in the 1960's grow up? some did, but many did not. worse, the ones that didn't are running the country now. corruption on college campuses does have consequences. strange as it may seem, a dublin colleges for this travesty. it is our fault. we have allowed this to happen. at the risk of overgeneralizing, and instead of by the political spectrum and the left and right, on the right this been more than 40 hours creating wealth and the other side is in 40 more hours plotting how to redistribute it. that is their profession.

they want to manage society and do it on a full-time basis. the beginning of the progressive movement, the left has been this time capturing institutions like universities. by now the left has captured virtually every major society institution including most largely publicly traded companies. we have let it happen. we've been too busy greeting me what they want to redistribute. what can we do? or 15and probably 10 others that like to fight the sustainable movement on a full- time basis. we few or against dozens of major in criminal organizations, each with scores of staff and billions of dollars in funding. all working to make society as they see it. if i was a mahfouz hand, i would

say we're all doomed. there are strangling our society, appears that all is nearly lost, especially after last november. i am not a mouth disease and. unforeseen technology is helped this.avert -- divert we could not have done this without the internet. like the printing press 500 years ago, in the control of distribution of news and information. since i don't know how much longer the small band of skeptics can continue to struggle against this huge green movement -- we are getting older in the battered its wearisome -- i encourage all of you to get involved whatever way you can. nothing you can do is inconsequential, even if it is just a simple letter to the editor. become passionate about this issue. it is not about making sure there is enough birth but for people live on in the future or saving the polar bears, but

totalitarian stop control of every aspect of our lives. these people want to tell you ,here to work, where to live whether to lift, how much water you can have, how much electricity, what kind of food you should eat. every aspect of your lives. we already have green approved toilets. where implementing greene approved light bulbs. a couple of years ago the greens right to ban the sale of dark colored cars in california. he could not even have the color car you wanted. it really is every aspect of their lives. there is a junta 21. as the name sounds, it is a plan for global management for the 21st century. i wish i had a power point to show you the picture. agendau go home, google 21 map.

you'll get a mostly yellow, orange, and read a map of the u.s. that lays out how the u.n. agenda 21 plan would restrict private property and development in the u.s. it is a shocking image. there is just a little bit of green. for a natural born into authoritarian like me, asserting control of my life is a no- brainer. when i learned it was based on a pack of lies to start with, i became incensed. i urge you to become incensed, too. thank you. [applause] to we have time for questions? >> we have a hand-held microphone. if you want to ask a question, raise a hand and someone will find a way to you. anybody.

any questions? >> yes, concerning -- >> where are you? >> here. manyrecall from my visit years ago, it belongs to argentina. >> the 800,000 acres was part of chile and part argentina. >> well, are right. aren't they players in this? aren't they happily accepting the fact that you have locked away the very large piece of real estate that could be converted into welt? >> they are remarkably unprepared to deal with the sustainability movement. i believe is the guy that started north face. he has bought enough land, he has almost bisected chile with

his land holdings. i believe there is some ongoing litigation about this. all of this stuff -- i think society's are sufficiently corrupt where you can make things go away with money and money goes a long way. they don't really have a strong sort of free enterprise movement we have here with watchdog systems, so, no, i think this country has been asleep at the switch. >> [inaudible] there is a lot of literature on the other side. dozens ofliterally books representing a position consistent with yours. >> that is a great point. at a dear friend who is a physician and texas. he is extremely well read. that is the problem with folks

on the right. we know what is wrong, that we are too busy doing other things and we don't prioritize, actually taking action. the other side, they don't spend time learning anything about anything and they just act. it really does work. >> would you comment about our glorious mayor? [laughter] and his agenda and the fact that many conservatives, particularly those with money, like very much? and second, what is he likely to do with this foundation when he leaves office on this front? >> i would say for the most part michael bloomberg is new york city's personal tragedy. i think he is way off base with fats,gging on salt, trans going after a 16-ounce soda is.

it is crazy. but he is new york city's problem for right now. the real problem i have with bloomberg, he has given the sierra club for example $50 million and they are using that money to go around shutting down coal-fired power plants. making us more dependent on natural gas, which right now it is cheap but natural gas is a very spikey history. bloomberg is a problem on a national level because of his foundation. he is very anti-coal. last he gave a speech where he said coal is dead man walking. it provides 35%, 40% of our electricity. for him based on junk science to go after coal is ridiculous. but if you have a lot of money, like george soros, you can do it every one. -- whatever you want.

>> i am wondering what role large corporations play in this debate? do you find them to be helping you or are they pandering? >> that is also a great question. when i started out, large corporations would be interested in supporting people like me. they were interested in science, sound science and sound economics. but that is no longer the case. they have been hijacked by greens. yeah of chairman of the nature conservancy, chairman of goldman sachs. even companies which don't sign on really to the green agenda like the oil companies have frankly been intimidated from taking too high a profile on these issues. it is really unfortunate because there in the right and

green is the wrong. it is easy to demonstrate, but corporate america are either squeamish or have been taken over. the this is why i started this mutual fund in the mid 2000's was to push back on ness. meeting, a lot of ceos, you find out if they are not empty suits on environmental issues, then they are light green plants. it is a real problem for america. could you give us a very simple distinction, usable for students, between weather and climate? >> weather is what is happening right now. climate is a longer-term atmospheric condition. we hear the term climate change. i think it is misused. climate is always changing.

it generally changes very slowly. you can hardly notice it. people are calling what is going on now climate change. i don't know we could really detect any significant climate change. , thears ago environmentalist were panicking about global cooling. then it became a global warming. when that stop handing out, it became climate change. i think they're starting to realize the what is now things are speeding up. last year was extreme weather, hurricane sandy. now i'm picking up that is now or the one l. goh, they want to go with climate disruption. [laughter] not that that has any basis, but we're going up is in a couple of years debunking climate disruption, whatever that means. basically, weather the short term and climate is very long

term. >> over here. hello? >> whoever has the microphone, the of the floor. >> thank you so much. i think most of the people around respond well to almost everything, i think. one question with respect to population. what if we do a little cost- benefit analysis and say to ourselves, ok, let's say why shouldn't we want half the population that we currently have in 10, 20, 30 years, where is the downside? it seems the only downside be pointed to is that we want be able to afford to continue with social security and medicare. and if that is the case, eventually, a price is going to have to be paid. we cannot continue to increase the population in order to support medicare and social security. so why shouldn't we struggle to

try to limit population to some extent and avoid some of the problems and you admit there are some environmental problems that, population. >> i abhor central planning. i think it is a failure. population control as a matter of central planning just makes natural affecta when societies get wealthier, they have fewer children. you don't need that 10 children with knowledge that only three of them are going to survive. you can just have three children and the odds are that all three will grow up and do well. i am not for having more people to support social security. that is the liberal sort of hypocrisy or sustainability problem. we should be saying who can be border who cannot be born or how many

people there should be. i think this is a big planet and there are lots of resources as long as we have the ability to use them, the welfare societies become cleaner, the health care they become, we should -- if there is going to be a central policy, is to be encouraging economic dilemmas of people can become wealthier who then become cleaner. look at the u.s. and europe compared with russia and china and brazil and mexico. environmental wgires. they live and dirty and garments because they are corporate look at china. even with all of the chinese economic growth, they still don't feel they can afford the basic controls on their smokestacks. the answer there is, not necessarily to make chinese pass a clean air act because that is obvious, but it is for china to

become even more economically successful so they feel like, we can afford to clean up the air. i hope that answers your question. >> can you comment on the recent near to it that if congress does not pass any action regarding environmental stuff that the president will do some kind of executive order action on this? >> he does not really need executive orders, per se but the as the epa and thanks to justice anthony kennedy who granted the epa the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the clean air act, the epa, has carte blanche to do what it once. i say that because it is very difficult to sue and beat epa in court because the laws have been constructed -- first, these laws were written by environmentalist and ridden by those to be enforced by environmentalist --

in a written by those to be enforced by environmentalist. industry tends to be victims of these laws. they cannot -- the only way you can beat epa in federal court is if you find some egregious procedural error. you cannot question the epa's science or their economics. you cannot question epa's decision making. all you can do is hope to find they tracked someplace. lot toident obama into a the epa. in his last administration he sent to the proposed to ban new coal-fired power plants. in this administration, he is expected to set standards for existing coal-fired power plants that will drive them out of existence. think, well,people

president obama is for fracking and natural gas. in my view, he is only using natural gas to destroy the coal industry. there is a glut of natural gas. he likes that because it has reduced prices so much c coal, which is really pretty cheap fuel, cannot really compete with it in the u.s. anymore so utilities are starting to plan for a non-coal future relying on his continued gluit. i can assure you president obama's of the president and hillary after the ones coal is killed, they will kill fracking. and then we're going to do? they book, i describe how environmentalist do not like fossil fuels or nuclear power. they don't really like solar and

wind, either. wherever they can, they block these things. senator dianne feinstein had a bill a couple of years ago to block solar panels in the california desert, worried about how they might interfere with the desert tortoise. offshore wind farms, you have to do these environmental impact statements that focus on how the wind turbines pylons but interfere with the reproductive habits of whales. it is crazy. but to answer your question, president obama has a lot of executive authority and with a split congress, the only tool the republicans have is to say, no. in the last four years, they passed a lot of bills to try to rein in the epa and president obama but those things never had a chance in the senate and they seem reluctant to me to use our budgetary power.

they could just say, no. they could cut back funding but have not been willing to do that so far. [applause] a live picture of the world war visitors arehere remembering the fallen soldiers on memorial day. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> more live shots from around the washington all day as citizens visited them monuments and memorials to pay tribute to

those who served in are currently serving. next up, commencement speeches. first, the recent tragedy. then addresses from three u.s. senators. by al franken at the university of minnesota and then tax be chambliss at birmingham state university in georgia. to go after president grover cleveland loses bid for reelection in 1888 his wife tells the staff -- >> i want to take good care of the furniture and ornaments in the house because i want to fight everything just as it is now when we come back four years from today. take good they did return to the white house winning the election of 1892. we continue our series of first ladies live tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span, c-span radio,

and c-span.org. the first selectman of newtown, conn. delivered a commencement address at sacred heart university. she discussed the school tragedy and where the town of new town goes from here. this is 10 minutes. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. thank you for introducing me with such kind comments and for welcoming to sacred heart university. i am humbled and greatly honored by this recognition. congratulations to the graduates were having reached this milestone is life's journey, and congratulations also to the moms and dads, spouses, friends, relatives and supporters out

there who are so proud of your accomplishments and who wish you happiness and success as you go forward. i have had the pleasure of sitting in the audience of the graduation of my own children and soon for my grandchildren. those events always filled me with satisfaction that i accomplished one of life's goals, successful shepherding and parenting for those who what i have boundless love and for whom i am filled with great hope and expectations for their years to come. i describe myself these days as an accidental politician. and i never intended to have this role, never thought of myself in an elected position. as ant more than 30 years teacher and administrator. now as the first select woman in

the town of new town. a town that i care for a great deal. a town that loves children and families and especially proud of their schools. december 14, 2012, a horrible tragedy came to this town. we lost count -- 20 children and six adults to a terrible, by the crime, the worst school shooting in history. that violence perpetrated upon us by an angry, confused young man left us fragile beyond words. our sense of self, confidence that we are sales -- that we are safe was destroyed. that this one event would not define us. that this community was be known

-- would be known for its courage for acts of loving kindness, that we would not fall into the emotional abyss and not let the violence rob us further. but the loss of 26 innocent lives is more than we would ever want to sacrifice and that we will allow the killer no more. there is a magnificence in that sense of resolve. it lifts the spirit and provides the strength needed to go on in the face of unspeakable hurt. i think it is a tool for self preservation. the anchor and the lifeline used by many, including the to get through the first weeks after the event. thus positive spirit was almost palpable. brought us together and set aside differences. pledges of perseverance four -- were communicated over and over again.

i hear that same resolve in the voices of boston, and even still in those i talked with from our route, tucson, columbine and blacksburg. i marvel every day at the conviction expressed by some money that we will make something good come from that evil act. still today, one of the 40 days after the event, the commitment to do good continues unabated. that the initiatives the for in scope, scale, content and hope this matter not. in fact, i am pleased to witness the great diversity of efforts, even of seven of those -- some of those appear to diverge from the norm. the important part is everyone finds their voice in use as their talent, what ever it is, to improve the lot for the common good. basically humans are good and kind.

given a choice, i believe each of us individually and collectively would more often than not choose the good act over the evil act. i believe we do not like it at all when the balance between good and evil is tipped away from us. our personal security is threatened and is at stake when evil gains too much ground and threatens to overtake the power of goodness. when that evil happens in a place like sandy hook elementary school, it brings beer to all of us. a school known to do all the right things to ensure student and staff safety in which was known to be a loving and includes a place could be the site of a mass killing that -- and none of us are safe. i sensed right away but the world would be watching. that what we said and did would make a difference in how the community would be perceived. that mattered a great deal to me

and still does. i care that new town in sandy hook are not synonymous with a horrible, tragic act. the future viability of our town depends on how we are perceived by those who would become our new residents. school children, families, businessmen, shopkeepers. we are and always have been a good place. we deserve to be seen for the goodness. but how to go forward? ?ow am i to leave how to do it in such a way that others watching would recognize our resolve to persevere mixed with a strong dose of compassion and act of kindness. as i read in your comments about my town, i think we have done fairly well in this regard. there is no hint book to guide us so we have had to rely upon by what isd a ballot possible.

i recognize pretty quickly that i want to lead with my heart, not just my head. my role as the town leader was and is to model the confidence that we will recover, that the community will be known for courage and dignity and resolve and compassion. that we will move past tragedy. that we will put our arms around each other and love and support for as long as it takes to restore balance. i pray every day i will find the courage and wisdom needed to lead others on the journey of recovery. help us to know the world is not only watching but they cared. the outpouring of love, hope, and purse was overwhelming. all quarters of the world were represented in that outpouring. every country and every continent. every major government and most minor states. messages and more than 20 languages from churches, schools, families, individuals

and organizations. we learned through the experience that we are one people the world over. with just a few messages for my experience. find time in your busy schedule to perform a service for others. that is one of the greatest service you will experience in your adult life. embrace every leadership are opportunity. is the mostur heart active ingredient in the active function. indeed at a personal level and social dynamics. make yourself part of a group, a community of like-minded individuals. look for the communal resolved. when others make communities that care for its members, our future as a society will depend on those communities.

finally, let me congratulate you again on this occasion. i wish you well on this endeavor and i wish for you and -- for you to embrace and care for mother earth and all of its people. i believe your generation possesses the answers to the problems we face today. i look forward to the future recreate for my grandchildren and their children. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. crews deliver this year's of commencement address in michigan. he talked about economic freedom, economic opportunity and the story of his father escaping cuba as a teenager. this is 25 minutes. [applause] >> thank you very much.

think you so very much. , moms and dads, faculties, trustees, members of the hillsdale community, i am anteful for the warm welcome overly generous introduction. edward r. morrow to describe this in 1940. now the hour has come for him to mobilize the english language and send it into battle. these are different times to be sure. justifiably proud of leadership, good humor and ability to send the english language into battle. today is a day of celebration. work,bration of your hard

commitment, time, energy and passion and careers that you have put into graduate from hillsdale. celebration for the sacrifice and dedication your family has put in to get you here. todayonored to join you but let me say most forgettable part of the entire day will be addition -- will be the politician they invited to be your commencement speaker. [laughter] today is the day your welcoming and celebrating with friends and family. but no worries. i'm in politics. i'm used to speaking when no one is listening. [laughter] indeed a few years back, i was on an airplane, and a voice came on paging tom cruise. somewhat sheepishly, i came to the run of the plane and i said, i think you may be looking for me.

you have never seen so many disappointed flight attendants. [laughter] this opportunity i had a wonderful opportunity to tour the campus of hillsdale. i was taken to the top of the tower. i carved my name in the top of the door. and the statue of margaret thatcher. i understand that statue was unveiled, she sent a letter of praise that said "hillsdale college symbolizes everything that is good and true in america. you uphold the principles and cherish the values which have made your country a beacon of hope."

i could not agree more. i also understand that two of the men graduating today are the creators of that interesting game referred to as thatcher ball. i have no doubt that margaret thatcher would chuckle at the games only rule -- no murder allowed. [laughter] i'm not sure how she would react to the unusual way the score is tallied. [laughter] there are commencement speaking held on campuses all over the country this spring. but this one here is different. hillsdale is known across the country as a class by itself. those graduating from other colleges are being told to go out and make something of themselves. before the 287 men and women receiving their degree your today, the expectations are much, much higher. because of the education you have received here, you are uniquely prepared to provide desperately needed

principled leadership to your family, your church, your community, your country, and your fellow man. while undergraduates have been exposed to college courses such as lady gaga and the sociology of fame -- and i feel quite confident the doctor will not be teaching that in the fall -- you have been grounded in an understanding of our constitution and our government that our founders delivered to us. you understand that precious legacy and the need to preserve it. this past year, the world lost baroness thatcher. in her honor, i would like to spend a few minutes discussing the miracle of freedom. in the history of mankind,

freedom has been the exception. for millennia, it has been nasty, brutish, and short. which is how some of my senate colleagues describe me. [laughter] thets were taken away by whim of monarchs area the british began a revolution in a meadow. as the magna carta provided to all free men of our kingdom, we have also granted for us and our heirs forever all these dignities written out before, to

have and keep for them and their heirs. that revolution reached full flower in philadelphia in 1787 and the constitution that began from to radical premises. first that our rights did not come from kings or queens or even presidents, but on god as the declaration observes, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and among these are life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. second in the constitution, the framers inverted the understanding of sovereignty. power comes not from the monarch on down, but instead of from we the people. and the constitution in turn lends authority to those in office for just a brief time. as james madison explained, "if

men were angels, no government would be necessary. in framing government which is to be administered men over men, the great difficulty lies this. you must first enable the government to control the governed. and in the next place oblige it to control itself." in my short time in elected office, i can assure you there are no angels in washington. that is why, as thomas jefferson put it, the constitution serves as chains to bind the mischief of government. when government is limited, rights are protected and rule of law is honored, freedom flourishes. all of you know this already. hillsdale does not subscribe to

the notion that all books published before 1900 are obsolete. against all odds, the college speaks up, as it did during the 19th century, for permanent things. with those foundations, what has freedom rocks? simply put, the american free market system is the greatest engine for prosperity the world has ever seen. freedom works. hasther nation on earth allowed so many millions to come with nothing and achieve anything. and all the centuries before american revolution, the average human lives on between one dollar and three dollars a with little difference

between asia or africa or south america. from that point, the beginning of the american experiment, for the first time in history, per capita income in a few countries began to grow rapidly and none more so than the united states. over the last two centuries, u.s. growth rate has far outpaced average growth rates throughout the world, producing per capita income about six times greater than the world average. 50% higher than the incomes in europe. put another way, the united states holds for wave five percent of the world population and produces a staggering 22% the world output. infraction which has remained stable for two decades, despite growing competition from around the world. notica's predominance is new. by the 1830's, the late british economist angus madison observed american per capita income was already the highest in the

world in the 1830s's. this was the result of american economic freedom which enables on the norse of small businesses to flourish. today the u.s. dollar is the national reserve currency. english is the standard language for commerce. the strength of the u.s. economy allows us to maintain the mightiest military in the world, effectively enforcing a pax americana. on culture, tv, the u.s. is preeminent in the world. 80% of the movies seen in the world are made in the united states. a disproportionate number of world's great inventions in medicine, electronics, the internet, technology come from

america. improving, expanding, and saving lives. america is where the telephone, the automobile, and the airplane were all invented. americans were the first to walk on the moon. we invented pong, space invaders, and the iphone. but most importantly, freedom produces opportunity. i would like to encourage each of you to embrace what i call opportunity conservatism, which is every domestic policy which is conceptualized, articulated should be viewed with a laser focus to how it impacts the most vulnerable among us. we should view every policy through the lens. how does it impact the most vulnerable? the most fundamental difference between left and right is both look at the economic ladder and those on the left was to physically move people up the economic ladder, and that is

almost always driven by noble intentions, and yet it never, ever, ever works. the only way anyone has ever climbed the economic ladder is to pull him or herself up one rung at a time. [applause] as president reagan observed, how can we love our country and not love our countrymen? and loving them, heal them when they are sick and revived opportunity to make them self- sufficient so they will be will in fact and not just in theory? historically our nation has enjoyed remarkable economic mobility. 60% of the households that were in the lowest income quintile in 1999 were in a higher quintile 10 years later.

60%. simultaneously almost 40% of the richest households fell to lower quintile in 10 years. this is a nation where you can rise or fall, climb the ladder, based not on heredity, the blessings of aristocracy, but based on your talent, your passion, your perseverance, your willingness american dream. economic freedom and the prosperity it generates reduces poverty like nothing else. studies over and over again five countries with higher level of economic freedom like the united

states have poverty levels as measured by the united nations, that basket of conservatism, 75% lower than countries that are mostly repressed. i remember some time ago of former texas senator, phil gramm, participating in a senate hearing on socialized medicine. and the witness their explained that government would just take care of us all. senator gramm gently demurred and said, i care more about my family than anyone else does. and this wide-eyed witness said, oh, no, senator. i care as much about your children as anyone. senator gramm smiled and said really? what are their names? [laughter]

thanks to america's free-market system, the average poor american has more living a's than the typical nonpoor -- has more living space than the typical nonpoor worsen in sweden, france, or the united kingdom. in the year i was only 36% of the u.s. population enjoyed air conditioning. today 80% of or households in america have air conditioning. and $.96 of poor parents stated -- 96% of poor parents stated they are children not go hungry during the year because they could not afford food. now there is still need. and all of us should act to help our man. but more and more government is not the answer. to say otherwise is to ignore

the fact that all major european nations have higher levels of public spending than the united states does and all of them are poor. human beings are not happiest when they are taken care off by the states. those who depend on the yoke of the government are among the least joyous in our society. we all flourish when afforded the opportunity to work and create and accomplish. economic growth and opportunity is the answer that works. the prosperity and opportunity of the american remarket system gives us better healthcare, higher levels of education, the means to better protect the environment. pneumatic where you look in the world, the evidence is clear, as a strategy to create greater well-being, freedom works. the advancement of economic

freedom, empowering individuals to decide for themselves where to work or how to spend or invest their resources outperforms government programs, centralized plants or increasingly regulated markets. it is for that reason so many millions have risked everything for a chance at the american train. fledars ago, my father cuba. he had been imprisoned and tortured as a teenager in cuba. today my father is a pastor in dallas. to this day his front teeth are not his own because they were kicked out of his mouth when he was a teenager. when he landed in austin, he did not speak a word of english. he had $100 sewn into his underwear.

i do not advise keeping your money in your underwear. he got a job as a dishwasher. he graduated from college. he got a job. he started a small business. he worked for the american dream. imagine if the minimum wage had two dollars an hour instead of hanging able to work for $.50. he may not have gotten that first job. i cannot tell you how many times i have said they got some well- meaning liberal did not come to him when he landed and put his arm around him and said, let's take care of you. let me make you dependent on government. and by the way, don't bother learning english. instead, my dad like so many millions before him came seeking a better life. when i was a kid my father used

to say to me all the time, when we faced oppression in cuba, i have a place to flee to. if we lose our freedom here, where do we go? my entire life my dad has been my hero. i will tell you what i find most incredible in his story. how commonplace it is. every one of us here today has a story like that. we could, pier 1 at a time to this podium and everyone could tell the story of our parents or grandparents or great great rant parents. we are all the children of those who risked everything for liberty. that is the most fundamental dna of what it means to be american. the value of freedom and opportunity above all else. in 1976, margaret thatcher delivered her pivotal written awakes speech. she said "there are moments in our history where we have to make a fundamental choice. this is one such moment, a moment when our choice will determine the life or death of

our kind of society and the usurer of our children. let's ensure our children have caused to rejoice we did not forsake their freedom." if we do not fight to preserve our liberty, we will lose it. and each of you with a world- class education is perfectly situated to lead the fight. to communicate one-on-one with your peers and neighbors and colleagues on facebook, on twitter, with internet videos, with creative communication, to tell and retell the story of america re-. -- america the free. to so many young americans who have never had the opportunity to hear that story from the media, from the schools, and certainly not from hollywood. the 287 men and women graduating today are ideally situated to win that argument,

tell that story. thatcher continued, "of course, this places a burden on us, but it is not one we are reluctant to bear it our freedom survives." at hillsdale, you are all prepared to go forward. carry the torch for freedom so each one of us works to ensure that america remains a shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope and freedom and opportunity for the rest of the world. thank you and god bless you. [applause]

>> the university of minnesota morris held a commencement ceremony earlier this month. this year speaker with al franken. the former saturday light spokesperson talk about the effect on national energy policy. this is 25 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. wasn't holly great? [applause] i told her i wish she would have shared one of those 25 drafts with me.

[laughter] thank you, chancellor johnson, for your leadership here, for your stewardship of this great tradition of intellectual achievement and engagement, and most of all for that really warm introduction. i want to begin by congratulating some people who truly earned a day of celebration. relax a little bit after lifetimes of taking an impossible journey to get to this day. i'm referring of course to the parents of the class of 2013. [laughter]

[applause] things about you in a minute. [laughter] as someone who has been looking forward to having kids graduate from college myself, i can tell you your parents are every bit asrob today as you are. they you during the endless application process, every bit as miserable as you the wrist time you got homesick, every bit as anxious as you when you had a big paper or a final exam coming up. your parents have grown up with you and gone through all the 22 years or so, including

the four or five years you have been here. and they did not even get to go to the parties. [laughter] so please hug them. [laughter] later today and in the future a lot. got it? ok, sappy lecture over. now it's time for you who are graduating today to give yourself a deafening round of applause. now! [applause] now, in the program, next to your name, it lists your degree like it's no big deal. like you showed up on campus four years ago. there you are.

i can understand why they kept it short. if they really wanted to be descriptive, it should have been your name, where you are from, and something like "never made anything less than an a-in high school, and then she got a c actually had to go to the professor for help" or "he auditioned for jazz fest sophomore year and did not get in, auditioned junior year and did not get in, and then he ended up with one of these solar's and it was that the solos and it was spectacular" " everyone in her family was a doctor, but she realized her passion was history and she had to go home for thanksgiving." [laughter] and she had to explain to her cardiologist mom why medicine just was not for her. many of you felt lonely.

felt all of you sometimes overwhelmed. many of you -- definitely all your -- made mistakes. sometimes the states that at the time made you thought you had ruined your entire lives. but you are still here and you are getting your degrees. it is incredible you made the dean's list or the founders club or broke some athletic record at school. is it in some weird way impressive you want strike eight red bulls in a row so you could finish a paper in one night? i guess so. [laughter] but i think the best part of what each of you has done

individually is you know you felt uncertain, you know you screwed up at times, you kept going. you made it. congratulations. of course, well each of you have accomplished so much individually, what makes this an extra special place is what you have accomplished together. this school's identity -- you can see it in the traditions of providing free tuition for native american students. you can see it in the government structure that actually gives students a real voice in how the school is run. you can see it and the way the college and the community's support each other. morris did not become a leader in technology by accident.

and it would not be a world either if the community and the college had not worked together to make it that way. it may be the first school in the nation to have on your campus -- the money that gets pumped into the economy when you buy corn for the gasification plant, the student-run recycling program that processes more than 200 thousand pounds -- 200,000 pounds per year. it all happens because everyone at the school considers themselves to be a member of this immunity and everyone in this community considers themselves to be cougars. [laughter]

i know folks here have heard a lot, i know folks have heard a lot about sustainability and sustainable energy. you know who else has heard a lot about it? the other 99 members of the united states senate. [applause] see, as chairman of the senate subcommittee on energy, i spend a lot of time trying to convince people out in washington that not only does sustainable energy and energy conservation really important, it is also something we can do. and as a senator, thank you. [laughter]

and as a senator who represents this state, well, i spend a lot of time bragging about you in particular. at a time when too many in washington will not admit that climate change is a real problem, one committee is showing us what a real solution looks like. and you're doing it in a way that really exemplifies the best about what morris means. you are reaching out and including everyone. you are organizing on the grounds instead of waiting for someone else to lead. you are bringing the change you want to see in the world. now, when it comes to the change we all want to see in country's energy policy, well, it won't be easy. but you have proven that change

can come from the ground up, and don't think for a minute that you aren't making a difference beyond this campus. a decade after morris made the commitment to become a green school, it encouraged other schools to be more like morris. princeton review surveyed nearly 10,000 college applicants year, and 62% said the school commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply. you are making a real commitment. that is what this school is like. you know, world last local art schools do not spontaneously appear.

[laughter] morris was founded here in the middle of the night, america. because a group of ordinary citizens got together and decided a liberal arts college would be a good idea and got together to make it happen. no wonder morris turned out so many people who learn how to make a mark on the world. working in washington the way that i do, i am looking for so many morris graduates. go hang out in any minnesotan's office on capitol hill, it will not be long before you meet a friendly, passionate morris grad. someone like jerrod from the class of 1978 who is working with the board members of congress. i'm lucky enough to have a time of morris graduates on my staff.

lana petersen is my state office and is one of my closest advisers. shelley schaefer, less of 1997, my deputy. adam, class of 2009, coordinate our internship program in washington. cougars tend to find themselves in leadership positions and that is a good thing, if you ask me. we could use more people in washington who know what it means to work, who always thinks

to reach out to the community. who understand how to work with others. to make positive change. i know that many members of the class of 2013 spent some time organizing on behalf of political candidates. i know that many organized for me, thank you. i know many of you may be thinking about which leadership position you plan to attain when you leave here. hopefully not mine. [laughter] at least not for a while, ok? ok? [laughter] but even if you are in the politics business, you are thinking about what kind of leader you will become, what kind of places you will go and what kinds of things you will achieve. that's a fun thing to think about.

and what makes the dream more than a dream, what makes it a goal is the impressive potential you have already shown right here at morris. and you guys are overachievers. something like 25% of you are double or triple majors. but all that potential can also lead to a lot of pressure. especially because there are only so many nobel prizes to go around. some of you will walk out of here with a plan and execute it flawlessly. you will think you know exactly what you want to get out of life and exactly how to get it, and you will be right. you will never doubt yourself. you will never struggle. you will never make a mistake. good for the two of you. [laughter] as for the rest of you, remember the times you felt lonely, overwhelmed, the times he made mistakes, felt like the end of the world. that will not stop happening just because you got a diploma today.

don't worry. this is not me telling you that failure is a better teacher than success. failure actually kind of sucks. and so do the useless platitudes told by speakers like me at commencement addresses like this one. like failure is a better teacher than success. here's another one. it's lonely at the top. actually, it's a lot lonelier at the bottom.

here's one i particularly don't like. when one door closes, another door always opens. first of all, that's not true. [laughter] and even when another door opens, sometimes it's a trap door. leading to that very lonely place at the bottom. [laughter] can i see the trap door? oh, man, this is fun. now, all these platitudes aside, nearly all of you will experience failure. some of you will have failure you recover from. yes, learn from. yes, be all the better for, because once you have the failure, that's the only good option. too take something from it. some of you will never recover

from your failures and statistically 2 in 5 of you will spend some part of your life in prison. [laughter] and interestingly, it's one of those graduates will consider prison to be the best thing ever happened to them. [laughter] just for the sake of argument, let's say there's a middle ground between the white house and the penitentiary. the middle ground in which you have a leg up over most college graduates, who in turn have a leg up over pretty much everyone else, but in which you are not exempt from anxiety and indecision, and yes, failure. i know it sounds like a mixed

bag, especially considering this is supposed to be an inspirational speech. [laughter] but i have good news for you. you can make your mark on the world without conquering it first. and you can do it without leaving town. that may be one of the most important lessons you learn when you spend time on campus here at morris. morris is morris because generations of students, faculty, administration, neighbors who selflessly gave up their time, their resources, their potential to make it the landmark campus that it is. mattie graduated in 1976 with a degree in philosophy and the talent for graduating -- four writing.

she has spent her career right here in morris, hoping to lead this community by organizing alumni to give back and telling incredible inspiring morris stories to the world. doc carlson, class of 1965, made his alma mater come alive by making jazz his profession. making this camp is more inclusive by incorporating different of different cultures into the life of the school. tommy roberts, class of 1968. could have been a history professor anywhere. he was a brilliant teacher. but he was a cougar most of all. a former leader in student government and came back and contributed decades to this

campus. his wisdom and his loyalty and his wit touched the lives of what must have been thousands of students who no matter who they were or what they are doing today, just would not be the same without him. i am not trying to convince you to stay in morris forever, although i bet mattie would appreciate that and you could do worse than staying in a community in close proximity to don's. but milkshakes do not count as breakfast after the age of 25. [laughter]

i'm here to suggest you can make a big impact on the world by making a big impact on your community wherever that turns out to be. it's possible your path will lead you somewhere you never expected to be. somewhere far away from the place in your mind today. it's possible that your path will turn out to exist and you will just have to invent it. success does not always come the way you think it will. the word success does not always end up meaning the same thing you thought it would when you started out. but whether you end up starting a business or running for business or discovering a or finding a job you like and raising a family and little league and taking vacations, you are going to belong to a place. you're going to be part of a community area -- are going to

be part of a community. if you're lucky, you will find yourself in a community just like this one, the one you have been part of for the past four years. but no matter what community you write yourself in, you will do everything you can to make it more like this one. no matter what you end up doing, no matter what your path turns out to be, and no matter how many faults starts and wrong turns you encounter, you can always make a difference in the world by making your community a little bit more like morris, by making it a little more inclusive, by making it a more fun, by making an example for the rest of the country and the rest of the world. you are part of a select group of people seeing firsthand what a community like that can accomplish. although, as i mentioned, i spent a lot of time trying to tell other people in washington about the secret, with everything you learned here, whether it is what you learned

about chemistry or history or anthropology, what you have learned is about organizing and coalition building and the rush you get when you change the world around you. the question is not whether you will make your mark. it is where. so what can i tell you as you get ready for this next step? don't freak out when you fail. don't wear socks with sandals. [laughter] really. your forget to hug parents. beyond that, all i can really think to say is thank you. thank you for working tirelessly for social justice. thank you for setting a great example for the rest of us.

and thank you for inviting me to this remarkable place to share this remarkable day with you. thank you. [applause] >> several thousand undergraduates at the university of georgia listen to saxby chambliss delivered the commencement address earlier this month. he talked about efforts being made to prevent another 9/11 or o blessed -- oklahoma city bombing. >> thank you very much. it is a privilege and an honor to be here tonight.

to you, president adams, the trustees, fellow alumni, graduates, family, and friends, thank you for allowing me to share this momentous day with these graduates in this great institution. there is another group of people we need to thank tonight and that the proud parents and in particular all of the mothers here tonight on this mother's day weekend. [applause] to all of you mothers who have provided so much inspiration for these young folks, let's have them stand up and let's salute them for a minute. [applause]

all you fathers, you played a pretty key role in this, too, but we have another month before we are going to recognize you. i also want to recognize and say thank you to my good friend, mike adams, for his leadership here. he is been a leader on higher education issues across our state and across our nation. he has been such a valuable servant during his tenure here in athens. we wish he and mary the best at whatever phase are next life takes. tonight we gather between the hedges to celebrate the graduation of more than 5000 women and men from this very special place. i have to tell you, i am a little bit intimidated. that never happens to me. politicians better not get intimidated or you are going to

lose. but the reason i am intimidated is that i have been in this stadium and on this field literally hundreds of times over the last 50 years but i have never performed on this field. and i know that most of you all here tonight are used to performers on the field like jason aldean. tonight, i'm sorry, you just get the other guy. the university of georgia is not only our flagship institution in our great state and a world- renowned school but also a very very special place to me personally. as president adams said, it is my alma mater and where more than 40 years ago, i met my

wife. let me tell you, i am proud of that sheepskin on my wall but i really love my wife. as excited as you are, i know most of you are sad to leave this beautiful campus. but remember -- today is about beginnings. webster's dictionary defines commencement as the act of starting something. you'll find the friendships you have made here and the lessons you have learned here will ground you as you face the joys and challenges that will become a part of your life story.

i know it's hard for you to see the news these days and not worry about your generation and wonder how it will be treated. it's easy to feel overwhelmed and with how much the world has changed just in the time that you have been here at u. ga. look no further than the events in boston last month where a single incident, a joyous event celebrating human stamina and achievement, transformed into a scene of life-changing carnage.i uncertainty and unease are two and and

very powerful emotions. my position as vice-chairman of the senate select committee on intelligence, i hear daily about what a scary place the world can be. i am privy to details that keep you me awake at night on a regular basis. but they also hear how dedicated young people like you say and and a night are out there working hard, piecing together value and from -- valuable information, taking down bad guys, and preventing another boston, and other september 11 or oklahoma city from happening. i want to issue challenges to graduates tonight. the first deals with this very topic. the world is an uncertain place. it's difficult and complex out there. your challenge that i issue is to bring sureness out of unease, light out of shadows and resolutions out of questions. it is a changing world but great

change begets great opportunity. think of how your generation has forced change and become leaders in the cause of freedom in all parts of the world. around the world in such faces at tunisia, egypt, libya and syria, men and women of your generation have raised their voices, stood up to tyranny, braved beatings and imprisonment and risked their life and limb to bring down some of the planet's most notorious regimes. it was that change brought about by your generation that is given millions of people one of life's greatest gifts -- the chance to rule themselves. things you learned here and how you build on those experiences will have a direct impact on america's national interests and

our place in this shifting world. some of you will choose to join those already in uniform serving our country and for that decision, i salute you. others of you will serve our country differently. some of you will be in laboratories where you will tackle problems that could prevent bioterrorism or cure diabetes. in engineering firms, others of you will invent new technologies. in classrooms, you will educate the next generation of american leaders. in businesses, you will help from american competitiveness. you will revolutionize agriculture with new technology. no matter what career you embrace or how you decide to fit into this changing world, do it

with dignity, do it with passion and with a spirit of community and most of all, do it with excellence. to be graduating from u. ga. means that you're all smart. despite some of you spending your free time sitting on couches in the yard and drinking beer -- yeah, y'all know who you are. that was a lot more noise than i expected here, jeez. but even so, just because you are here tonight tells me that all of your hard-working and you are blessed with the most important ingredients for success in life. but listen, no matter how smart you are, no matter how good- looking you are, no matter how

talented you are or athletic you are or brave you are, here is my second challenge to you -- embrace humility. why do i say that? because you are going to need it. because somewhere along the line, each of you are going to fail. some of you in more spectacular ways than others. you won't be alone. here is an abject failures. oprah winfrey was fired earlier in her career as a reporter for being unfit for tv. despite finishing third in her law school class, former supreme court justice sandra day o'connor could not even land an interview with nearly 40 law firms and was offered a job as a secretary. walt disney was fired from a newspaper job because he lacked imagination and had no good

ideas. former british prime minister winston churchill who also knew about winning and losing put it this way -- success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. michael jordan, who failed to try out for his high school varsity basketball team, catalog his career this way -- i have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. i have lost almost 300 games. 26 times, i have been trusted to make the game-winning shot and missed. i've failed over and over again in my life and that is why i succeed. ladies and gentlemen, you can count on three things in life -- death, taxes, and failing at something somewhere along the way.

and i speak from experience. my first run for public office was not a success. in 1992, i got a little over 30% of the vote in the primary that i first ran in. but it's not about failing. it's about how you handle it. do you accept it as fact? or do you accept it as a challenge? humility is not a lack of confidence. it takes far more confidence to be humble than to be arrogant. being humble will allow you to figure out who you really are, what you don't know and yet what you can do better. every successful person has stumbed somewhere along the way and most successful people have understood that only by embracing humility will they figure out a path to improvement.

st. augustine once queried, do you wish to rise? begin by descending. do you plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? late first the foundation of humility. the fact that you are sitting here today in your cap and gowns that you're blessed -- means you're blessed. for unto whom much is given, of him will be much required. thomas jefferson put it a little differently. when he wrote, "there is a debt of service due from every man and woman to their country." i hope some of you will serve your nation in the way i did not mention earlier that by running for public office.

despite what the pundits, cynics, and even the polls say, it is a noble calling. you are entrusted by voters to make difficult decisions to write laws and set policies and change not just those policies and laws but the very course of our nation. my final challenge to you is my final challenge to you is this -- be active at the local, state, and federal political levels. your community and your country need you. in these uncertain times, we need your brainpower and gumption and your enthusiasm more than ever. whatever path you may travel in life, there is no substitute for

shortcut to success. above all, stick to your principles and be bold. most of you were lucky enough to be born americans. some of you chose to be americans. you should take every opportunity to understand what being an american means. travel, read, engage others. be curious about the rest of the world. america has long been the lighted lamp, that beacon for the oppressed, strivers and those who simply you're in for a better life. your country offers you a great opportunity for success. i have every faith that your future is so bright, it is yours for the taking. godspeed as you begin that journey, and go dogs! [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> senator elizabeth warren

delivered the commencement address at framingham state university in massachusetts. her remarks are about 15 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you very much, thank you, senator, for that very kind introduction. thank you, president flanigan, board of trustees, the framingham board, and congratulations to the class of 2013. fabulous. [applause] i got to say, from one state school grad to another, you have done a good thing. you can do a lot more. i'm really happy for you. i want to say to the class of 2013, as you are are going out into the new world, as with any

journey, it can be scary. no more lunchtime with edith. no more ice cream from mad willy's. and hardest of all, no more e- mails from the dean. [laughter] it is true. but seriously, as you head out, i know that some of you are very worried about graduating into a tough economy. some of you are concerned about finding a job. and some of you are working hard to persuade yourself that moving in with mom and dad is almost as good as having your own apartment. i know it is hard out there. i have high hopes for everyone of you. i mean that. every single one of you. i have high hopes because even at this time of transition, and in this hard economy, you have --doesy done stuffing top.

something really soft. -- tough. you have graduated. hoorah. hoorah. it was a smart decision, a good education is the foundation for a better future. people who graduate or more resilient financially and they weather economic downturns better than people that don't graduate. people who graduate are likely to be more economically secure, likely to be healthier and live longer. a college degree puts a lot in your corner and in just a few minutes you will have one. so, whatever comes your way, you have the right start. and you got that right start by planning carefully and working hard toward a specific goal. in fact, you got here today by

following the advice of about a zillion teachers, cabdrivers, bartenders, and everyone else who told you to set a goal and stick with it. but on this beautiful day, this last day before we turn you loose into the world, i want to make a pitch for something else. among all of the goal setting and the perseverance, i want to talk with you about something different. i want to talk with you about being open to the unexpected, about making room for the improbable and the unlikely. now, i know why i am here. it is not my fashion sense or my ability to telling a joke, i was invited here today because i'm your senator. what does that mean? for some of you it means i'm the person sending you e-mails asking for money.

it means i am the person standing between you and some more gatorade. [laughter] for others of you, i am the person you are wondering, will she finish in time for me to hit the bruins game? [cheers and applause] and the answer is maybe. listen closely. so, in any case, i am here today because i am your senator. but the funny thing is, i never planned to get into politics. if you don't believe me, try to find a political consultant anywhere in the country who will tell you that the best way to get elected to office is to become a professor and pick fights with ceo's of banks. nope. i pretty much that my whole career as a teacher. and after i graduated from a

commuter college, which cost $50 a semester, i taught elementary school. i thought i had my life planned. two years and one baby later, i decided to go to law school, thinking i could be a trial lawyer. i thought i had my life planned. three years and another baby and another move later, i became a law professor. teaching bankruptcy and writing books about the economic issues facing middle-class families and i was sure i had my life all planned. and then one day i got a phone call. it was in the 1990's. i had been teaching law 15 years. it is a former congressman who has just been appointed to head up a commission to rewrite the bankruptcy laws. he wanted to be able to give help to families in terrible financial trouble. he thought i could come to washington and help him.

i thought he was crazy. i had a job. i was sure about what my job was. my job was to teach classes and do research and write books. i did not know anything about washington politics. frankly, i did not want to. and then he offered me a deal. he said if i come up with a few good ideas, ideas that would help families, he would figure out the politics and turn them into law. i did not think i could stand the politics, but he pushed and i decided to try. for me, this first the trip ended up being about fighting for families that were getting squeezed out of the middle-class class and taking on an army of lobbyists working for big banks. for me it was about the optimism that if we work hard and work together, we can make a difference that matters. as it turned out, i had the honor of fighting along senator kennedy and others trying to

protect families that were hanging on by their fingernails. one fight led to another, bringing accountability to the bank bailout, setting out a section bureau and now representing the people of massachusetts. so here is where i see this, the congressman made an improbable offer. he brought me into a fight that changed my life. it has been tough but all in all, it made me a believer in the incredible power of trying the unexpected. class of 2013, all of the planning and all the preparation the world can't prepare you for the many twists that are coming your way. like just today, it you might need the guy you will marry or the guy you will divorce. [laughter] maybe both. you can't predict it all. people will tell you to plan

things as best you can. they will tell you to focus. they will tell you to follow your dreams and they will be right. but they will also be a little bit wrong. never be so faithful to your plan that you are unwilling to consider the unexpected. never be so faithful to your plan that you are unwilling to entertain improbable opportunities that come looking for you. and never be so faithful to your plan that when you hit a bump in the road, or when it hits you, you don't have the fortitude, the grace, and the resiliency to rethink and regroup. this openness to the improbable, the ability to get out of your comfort zone and rework a plan, consider something new, this is part of the american spirit that has made our country great. not far from here, 400 years ago, puritans and pilgrims

landed on the shore of a land they knew nothing about. they had left everything they knew, by the way, with no ability to call, text, or e-mail anyone they left behind. and they set across a giant ocean to start something different. surely nobody spent a career planning that trip. a generation of people who had been born as colonists, who had lived as subjects of the most powerful empire decided they were going to get rid of the monarchy and create a democracy, a form of government that had barely been seen on this earth since the ancient world. unexpected, you bet. at the time their success was deeply improbable.

but they did it anyway. and keep in mind, and it was not one of the elder statesman of the 19th century who freed the slaves and won the civil war. it was a newcomer, a country lawyer best known for debates that occurred during his senate campaign he lost. it was not a diplomat who won the first nobel peace prize. it was teddy roosevelt who had been well known for wanting to take america into war and lead the charge. but to left himself open to making peace. and it was not one of the dynastic families whose favorite son ended world war ii. nope, it was an ordinary fellow from missouri who came home and opened a haberdashery. i do not think anyone in this

country predicted or planned where he would go. these are the stories we know from our political history. but our country is filled with stories of the unexpected. people like ruth wakefield, class of 1924. she ran out of chocolate one day and improvised with broken pieces of a chocolate bar and invented the chocolate chip cookie. people like o'neill who after tornadoes in massachusetts in 2011 created recovers.org to help communities with disaster recovery. or someone who ended up a hero with a friendship forged in the heat of tragedy. throughout our history, we have seen people abandoned their well constructed plans when an opportunity opened up or a challenge hit them.

this has been a driver of our success, the willingness to take risks, innovate, adapt when our plans do not work out as we expected. so to all of you who have always known exactly what you wanted to do when you grow up, go get them. good for you. but for everyone else, the people with plans, the people with no plans, keep space in your heart for the improbable. i promise you won't regret it. congratulations, class of 2013. [applause]

>> we are live at the korean war more oil. s since the 60 year conflict in korea ended. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

we will continue to bring you live pictures from washington this afternoon, visiting monuments, or member and who or are serving. president obama laid a wreath at the tomb of the -- >> after grover cleveland lost his election, his wife tells the staff -- >> take care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house, and not let any of them

get lost or broken, for i want to find everything as it is now. we continue our series on first ladies, live tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span, c-span3, c-span radio, and www.c- span.org. >> president obama was at arlington national ceremony today to attend the annual memorial day service. >> present arms. ["the star-spangled banner" plays]

>> order.

present arms. [drum roll]

["taps" plays]

>> order. historythe long

of america there are names that shine like beacons in the night americathe last full measure of ♪evotion

the last full measure of devotion the last full measure of devotion

the last full measure of devotion they gave themselves to serve the greater need and for those who did survive and came back home alive they join in praise of comrades who were slain most highly resolved that these dead shall not have

vain the last full measure of devotion beyond the call of duty were their deeds the last full measure of devotion they gave themselves to serve the greater need and for those who did survive and came back home alive they join in praise of comrades who were slain most highly resolved that these dead shall not have in vain ♪ n

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the official parting and remain standing for the invocation and national anthem.

>> captain colonel michael grainer, the u.s. army military grainer, the u.s. army military district of washington, major general michael lenington, commanding general united states army, military district of washington, ms. catherine conden, director arlington national cemetery program, general martin dempsey, chairman joint chiefs of staff, the honorable chuck hagel, secretary of defense.

>> ladies and gentlemen, the president of united states. ["hail to the chief" plays] >> ladies and gentlemen, the chaplain. >> let us pray. almighty and eternal god, we ask that your presence be upon us this day, a day which we as a nation come together on this hallowed ground to honor without hesitation those brave men and

women who gave all they had for our nation's freedom. it is because of their selfless service and valor that we can stand here this day without fear knowing that we can continue sharing a lasting peace with liberty. greater love has no one than this than someone laydown his life for his friends. let us not forget those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. therefore, we continue. those who and died for our country in war and remembering too that this gift of peace often comes from long struggles, the kind of peace that is bound from the blood of heroes, brave men and women who answered the call, saying send me. brave men and women who witnessed the crucible of war

and failed to come home. let us now celebrate this peace and long for an everlasting peace that can come only from you, o god. lord help us to recommit on our own lives so the service of our great nation, carrying the torch of freedom for generations yet to come. we, your people, give you thanks. amen. and amen. >> please join the united states air force band and the senior master sergeant in singing our national anthem. say, can you

see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there o say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free brave? ♪ e of the

[applause] >> please be seated. >> ladies and gentlemen, general dempsey. >> mr. president, members of congress, distinguished guests, veterans, fellow americans, and most especially the families of our missing and fallen warriors. welcome. 150 years ago this november at the soldiers' national cemetery in gettysburg, pennsylvania, president abraham lincoln delivered one of the most monumental and enduring speeches in american history. in his gettysburg address, delivered at a ceremony not unlike this one, to an audience

much like you, lincoln eloquently memorialized those who gave their lives so that future generations of americans might live in freedom. he also reiterated the very principles of our democracy. but lincoln did something more in his 272-word address. he challenged the audience to honor the memory of the fallen by every committing themselves to the virtues for which they fought and died. after humbly miscalculating the lasting nature of his words, he urged, "for us to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion." how powerful, how poetic, how proper. we stand today in this cemetery, arlington, created during the war which lincoln spoke. now it's home to our nation's fallen from all of its source.

if we stand here thankful stewards of the blessings that these fallen have passed on to us. but we do not stand alone. today across our great nation in crowded cities or in country towns grateful citizens will bow their heads in honor of our fallen heroes. that is devotion. whether gathered in a picnic or parade or baseball game or a solemn cemetery like this one, americans will remember that the peace and liberty we enjoy each and every day were made possible by the devotion and sacrifice of a long line of brave men and women in uniform. that line has continued to grow. today, america's uniform the sons and daughters are on patrol in afghanistan and many other places of on the frontiers of freedom throughout the world. our young men and women are serving as honorably and as bravely today as their forefathers. when the nation called them to duty, they came. i'm inspired each and every day

by their sense of purpose, their personal courage, their character, and their confidence. there are the best led, the best trained, and the best equipped force on the face of the earth. as a nation, we must ensure that they remain so. today i join everyone here and across this great land in honoring those who have willingly sacrificed while donning the cloth of our nation. we honor their loved ones who nobly carry on. today i ask all of us to reflect on this great nation founded on service and sacrifice. let us rededicate ourselves to the best of america, its freedom, its responsibility, and its promise, and may peace be our ultimate cause. may god bless our fallen, out missing, our veterans and their families. may we be forever grateful and may god bless america. thank you. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, listen now as the sergeant from the u.s. air force performs "america ♪he beautiful." o beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain for purple mountain majesties

above the fruited plain america! america! god shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood orom sea to shining sea beautiful for patriots' dreams beyong the years gleamalabaster cities undimmed by human tears

america, america god shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea and crown thy good sea tootherhoodfrom ♪ ing sea

>> ladies and gentlemen, secretary hagel. [applause] >> mr. president, mrs. obama, secretary shinseki, general dempsey, fellow veterans, service members, and distinguished guests, my wife entire greatly honored to be with you today to observe memorial day.

together we gather to remember america's sons and daughters who sacrificed everything in defense of our nation. for generations, americans have set aside this day to honor those who have fought and died to keep our nation safe. a civil war veteran, supreme court justice oliver wendell holmes once said, "every year in the spring at the height of the symphony of flowers and love and life there comes a pause. through the silence we hear the lonely pipe of death." every memorial day, america is reminded of these selfless individuals, america's quiet heroes. we also think of america's new generation of defenders, protecting our interests in every corner of the globe, preserving our freedoms and our way of life. they work for a more peaceful and hopeful world. as general macarthur said, "the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must

suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." the memories of american heroes laid to rest at arlington and around america have kept alive our families and communities. this memorial day we honor those families who are heroes left behind. the honor them in appreciation for the sacrifices they have endured. we also honor the perseverance and resilience of our military families today, for they are dealing with all the challenges of life. america thanks you. all of us in positions of trust and responsibility must always make decisions that are worthy of the sacrifices of those who serve our country. on this sacred day as we recall the words of president lincoln

when he referred to the mystic bonds in chords of memory, we honor america's fallen patriots by striving to be worthy of their great sacrifices as we all work toward making a better future for all mankind. it is now my honor to introduce someone who has shown unwavering commitment to our service men and women and their families and to lead our nation today with great strength and wisdom. ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome our commander in chief, the president of united states of america. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. please be seated, thank you very much. good morning, everybody. i want to thank secretary chuck hagel, not only for the introduction, but for your lifetime of service. a sergeant in the army to

secretary of defense and always a man who carries with it the memory of friends and fallen heroes from vietnam. we are grateful to you. i want to thank general dempsey, major general linnington, catherine condon who has served arlington with extraordinary dedication and who will be leaving us, but we are so grateful for the work she has done. for the chaplain, secretary shinseki, all our guests and almost of all, to members of our armed services and our veterans, to the families and friends who have fallen who we honor today, to americans from all across the country who will come to pay your respects, i have to say is always a great honor to spend this memorial day with you at this sacred place where we honor

our fallen heroes, those who we remember fondly in our memories, those known only to god. beyond these quiet hills, across that special bridge, is a city of monuments dedicated to visionary leaders and singular moments in the light of our of ourc.-- in the life republic. it is here, on this hallowed ground, where we choose to build a monument to a constant thread in the american character, the true that our nation and doors because it has always been home to men and women who were willing to give their all and lay down their lives to preserve and protect this land that we love. that character, that

selflessness, beats in the hearts of the very first who fought to hold our union together and in those who fought and defended a broad in the beaches of europe to the mountains and jungles of asia. this year, as we mark the 60th anniversary of the end of fighting in korea, would offer a special salute to all those who served and gave their lives in the korean war. over the last decade, we have seen the character of our country again with nearly 7000 americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice on battlefields, in city streets, have a world away. last memorial day, i stood here and spoke about how for the first time in nine years, americans were no longer fighting and dying in iraq. today, a transition is under way in afghanistan and their troops

are coming home. fewer americans are making the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan and that progress for which we are profoundly grateful. this time next year, we will mark the final memorial day of our or in afghanistan. and so, as i said last week, america stands at a crossroads. even as we turn a page of a decade of conflict, even as we look forward, let us never forget, as we gather here today, that our nation is still at war. it should be self evident. in generations past it was during world war two, millions of americans contributed to the war effort, soldiers like my own grandfather, women like my grandmother the work to the assembly lines. during the vietnam war, just

about everybody knew somebody, a brother,, a friend who served in harm's way. today, it is different. perhaps it is a tribute to a remarkable all-volunteer force made up of men and women who stepped forward to serve and do so with extraordinary skill and valor. perhaps it is a testament to our advanced technologies which allows smaller numbers of troops to wield greater and greater power but regardless of the reason, district cannot be ignored that today, most americans are not directly touched by war. as a consequence, not all americans may always see or him andrasp the depth of

him sacrifice, the profound costs that are made in our name right now as we speak, every day, our troops and our military families understand this and they mentioned it to me their concern about whether the country fully appreciate what happened. i think about a letter i received from a naval officer, a reservist, who had just returned from a deployment to afghanistan and he wrote me "i am concerned are work in afghanistan is fading from memor/." as we keep this conflict alive in the hearts of our people. he is right. as we gather here today at this very moment, more than 60,000 of our fellow americans still serve far from home in afghanistan. they are still going out on patrol, living in spartan forward operating basis, still risking their lives to carry out their mission.

when they give their lives, they are still being laid to rest at cemeteries in quiet corners across our country including here in arlington. capt sarah cohen had a smile that could lead a prayer room and after graduation she became a former black hawk pilot. was just 27 years old when she and and four other soldiers were killed by helicopter crashedhim during a training mission near kanduhar. she was laid to rest in section 60 and she is remembered today by her mother who says she is proud of her daughter's life, proud of her faith and credit per service to our country. -- and proud of her service to our country.

[applause] staff sergeant frank e. phillips came from a military family that and was as tough as they come. combat medic, he was on patrol and afghanistan three weeks ago when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. he was so humble that his parents never know how many lives he had saved the until soldiers started showing up at his funeral from thousands of miles away. last week, he was laid to rest just a few rows over from sarah. staff sgt eric gin was a born leader, a member of the marine corps special operating command. he had served five tours of duty but kept going back because he felt responsible for his

teammates and was determined to finish the mission. on may 4, he gave his life after escorting a high-ranking u.s. official to meet with afghan leaders. later, his family got a letter from a marine who had served two tours with eric. and the marine roche "there were people who measured their success on how many enemies they killed or how many missions they led. eric bass to success on how many of his friends he brought home and he brought home many including me." eric was laid to rest here arlington just six days ago. [applause] today, we remember their service. today, just steps from where these brave americans lie in the eternal peace, we declare as a proud and grateful nation that their sacrifice will never be

forgotten. just as we honor them, we hold their families close because, for the parents to lose a child, for the husbands and wives to lose a partner, for the children who lose a parent, every loss is devastating. for those of us to bear the solemn responsibility of sending these men and women into harm's way, we know the consequences all too well. i feel it every time i meet a wounded warrior, every time i visit walter reed and every time i grieve with the goldstar family. that is why on this day, we remember our sacred honor -- obligation to those who lay down their lives so we can live our lives, to finish the job is men and women started by keeping our promise to those who wear america's uniform, will give our troops the resources they need, to keep faith with our veterans

and their families now and always, to never stop searching for those who have gone missing or who are held as prisoners of war. on a more basic level, every american can do something even simpler. as we go about our daily lives, we must remember that our countrymen are still serving, still fighting, still putting their lives on the line for all of us. last fall, i received a letter from candy averett of charlotte, north carolina. both of her sons are marines and one served two tours in iraq and her youngest was in afghanistan and at the time and he was, in her words, 100% devoted to his deployment and would not have had any other way. reading the letter was clear that she was extraordinarily proud of the life her boys had

chosen but she also had a request on behalf of all the mothers like her -- she said "please don't forget about my child and every other breed and soldier over there will probably choose to serve their country." and others plea. -- a mother's pleqa - don't forget on this memorial day and every day. let us be true and meet that promise. let it be our task every single one of us to honor the strength and resolve and the love these is brave americans felt for each other and for our country. let us never forget and always remember to be worthy of the sacrifice they make in our name. may god bless the fallen and all

those who served and my god bless the united states of america. [applause] [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the playing ♪f "taps" and the benediction. ♪

♪ >> let us now joined together one last time in prayer on these hallowed grounds for our servicemen. almighty god, continued to endeavor president and all our leaders with energy and insight and send us all of our with strength for the journey that lay ahead, let each and every day remind us to pray for the safety of our brothers and sisters in arms who stand at the tip of the spear for our nation

this day for our freedom. continue to bless this nation, our friends and the flag research. may the spirit of god be near you to defend you within you to refresh you, before you to guide you, behind you to justify you, and above you to bless you for ever more. go in peace brothers and sisters, amen. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain in place until the president has departed and the ar rs are retired. they

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] the [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] a way as we're seeing live view

of the vietnam memorial. it has been almost 40 years since the conflict in vietnam ended with 58,000 americans losing their lives in the war.

>> we will have more from memorials this afternoon. >> over the next hour we will look at some of our first ladies and those who influence their lives. our program on martha

visit ton included a the homestead. >> it is clear that after martha arrived there is a lot of management that she has to do. she marries george washington she brings with her 12 house slaves. on imaginable an luxury. crops.e not producing they are doing things like cut gain, serving at tables, and doing the laundry, this is not productive labor. she brings those slaves with her as she brings financial and makes it be

possible for washington to be away. it enables them to volunteer his time and talents to run the revolution. it is clearly critical. revolution of the he was a distant cousin. then it is toward augustine washington who is washington's nephew. he and that marrying fanny bassett who is martha washington's nice. that tells you something about the closeness of some of the family relationships. it is clear that while they are she was a taken charge woman. her interaction with these slaves and the cooks in the kitchen, the maids, there are also slave women who are so ending on a continual basis to

produce yarn. she is supervising what the gardeners are- doing. she liked having a kitchen garden that she could go out and bring in festivals for what they would be able to serve. she is the one who is really planning the menus. there are a lots of levels she is working with. it is a big operation. it sets her up for her whole life. >> a close friend spent most of her time in massachusetts. story of abigail adams is a story of sacrifice and commitment to country. occasion.se to the countr for the first 10 years they lived in this home. it is where they raised their four children. this is the birthplace of their second child, john quincy adams,

who went on to become the six presidents. it is important because the primary link to between she and john adams he was serving in philadelphia would be letter writing. it was from this house that he was provided a window into what was happening back here in the colony of massachusetts during the revolutionary war. she would report to john about the militia in boston. she took her young son right road.o penn hell down the she would watch the battle with her son and for on the fires and the smoke rising. she was literally the eyes of the revolution to john adams and the second continental congress. are in the hub of the household. this room could be considered the classroom for abigail and

her four children. the schoolsember were closed down. the children do not benefit from a formal education. it was to abigail to to teach them the lessons, not only arithmetic in french but also .eality and literature she was their primary educator. this is the room where many of of those lessons would have taken place. she reported to john adams, she took up the works of ancient history. she was having john quincy reader at least two pages a day. for a seven-year-old boy to accomplish this he had a very good and struck her. -- instructor. there were many refugees leading from boston out into the country. they needed a place to live up. adams wanted to open a home next

door. she rented out the house to a farmer and his son. they would provide assistance on abigai the farm to abigail. she met was in very ill treatment. she asked them to share the house with refugees that he refused. before she received a response from john she solved it. she had taken care of the problem and paid mr. hayden to leave the premises and provided the opportunity for her to provide for refugees. there were soldiers prepping their maneuvers. she reports to john that young john quincy is marching proudly behind the militia. at one point there were militias of living the attic and second-floor. herwelcomed these men to home and supported the revolutionary war with her actions.

1787, abigail realized they had outgrown their little cottage. she began to negotiate through her cousin to purchase the house we are standing in front of right now. ofn adams enjoyed a lot peace and tranquility. he christened his home "peace field." there were three smaller bedrooms on the third for and then a small kitchen in the back. there were about seven point five rings. this was john and abigail's homebase. first lady,ing abigail woods been nine years in this house house. the first year she was setting up the house. she had remembered this house as one of the grand houses but her perception of grant had changed since living in europe. she made plans to enlarge the house. she wanted to improve on the

size and height of the seasonings and size of space. she would write to her daughter warning her to not wear any of her large feathered hats because the ceilings were too low. she began working to an architect to enlarge the home. , adding ad the size long haul and a long entertainment room or she would receive her guest. she had the builder deal down -- dig down to seek to get the high ceilings without disrupting the architecture. if you step down two steps you are in a whole different world. wouldcal day for abigail to be rise at 5:00 a.m. she had many chores to do. toh time was spent tending the farm and taking care of the orchard and house. she also love the early morning hours to spend by herself and

having a chance to indulge in one of her novels. although this is a presidential home, it is the home of a family. abigail, incident having servants do all the work for her, she would be contributing to the kitchen and household. this is something she continued throughout her life. she was very involved. she had children and grandchildren visiting. .t was a very lively household she also spent a great deal of her time writing. was oursfortune fortune. abigail would write of the room she was in and the view she saw. "the beauty outside the window of which i write --"

thewas the wife that president and also still a mother. she would describe life here so romantically that john adams would cry oh my sweet farm what i would enjoy -- do to enjoy without interruption. >> known for her aerobics --ing 1812, dalley madison johnny madison was a trendsetter. >> most are based on descriptions we have of the way that she dressed. one just that we own is a re- creation of something that we still have. this is typical of the style of the day. it shows classical lines, a simple drape. it was much more simple and elegant than the fashion before or after. style that sort of she would have worn while she was first label, regency style. many dresses were more elegant.

this is what represents what she were at her inaugural. at the ball she wore what was described as a "simple last velvet." pearls that was elegant but less ostentation than diamonds you would normally find in europe. she was setting a style that was unit -- unique to american fashion. many people think that she set the fashion of the turbine. it that is not true. it began in persia and move roof france and england. she popularized the style. that was considered her classic look, to wear some sort of an on top ofturbin her head. sometimes they thought her fashion was a little bit too regal. there was one instance where she

wore something that was lined and she wore some gilt edging in people said that this was overstepping things. she looked too regal. she looked to cleanly. -- queenly. they thought she was setting the wrong tone for republican america. two were the end of her life, she wore many of the fashions that she wore in her earlier date. some of this may have been to in .olk that american founding she was the last living matriarch of this generation. some of it was because of the in her life. she did not have the money for the latest fashions. she had to wear many of her old close and reaper is them. .- and read -- purpose them she's often wearing the same thing. >> a more private earners lady,

elizabeth munro, broke some of the traditions that did in gained a reputation of being queenly. >> one of the most authentic and the house. you go back to one time in the white house i would probably go period the munronroe because the wheels of the united states began to come to life. monroe that the era of good feeling would last forever and and political parties would dissolve. people began moving west in big norma numbers. that would be the. i would like to be listening to what was going on. life forroe and his into french everything. they spoke french at home. he wanted all the furniture to come from france. he spent a lot of money bringing these things such as these clocks.

these things are still in use. many of the things he acquired are still in use. you have that. our earliest things, many of them are in the blue room. we have the wonderful guilt chairs. they were required by president munro from france. he was criticized for buying french and not american things. theress passed a law saying furniture of the white house must be up american possible.able, if this is much more of the same as the furniture. it is really a place where they would probably feel the most comfortable like teddy roosevelt in the east room. i understand this room. the furniture we bought, that

is what we set. this is wall street -- wallpaper that is vintage. >> the only first lady born outside the u.s. had to make a few adjustments to her lewd life in america -- in america. >> when they first came to the old house they had just journeyed back from europe washin and thengton made the journey up. the journey was very difficult. she was brought here to meet her father and mother-in-law. of that moment she would write that i could have not been more astonished. winninga challenge in over abigail adams. john adams was easy. well-liked.elt very abigail was more skeptical perhaps due to his teasing.

he only gave abigail a little bit of information about louisa catherine and was not forthright in his attentions. it was a surprise that he married her so quickly. abigail did not get a chance to know her. she was quite concerned that although she was a american citizen should never step foot on american soil. this is not what she had intended for her son. three time she learned to grow in love and understand her. arough the years they forged strong and loving relationship. louisa catherine and john quincy did not live at peace .ield year-round they would return during the summer months to get a relief from the politics. the education, it

, he alwayss her felt that she was the odd man out. england and in educated in france. a foreign entity. his recollection is of louisa is sitting at her room using her teapot set that she brought home from england. she would entertain both herself and many of her guest's in this room. adam would inherit this home from john adams. john quincy thought about selling this house. they decidedion, this was important to the family story to hold onto this house for future generations.

1828,to the election of rachel jackson enjoyed a brief time of relaxation, sharing it with close friends and family. >> she came to this property in 1804. while.retiring for a he spent a lot of time at home. haverimary people would visited prior to the war of 1812 would have largely been friends and relations from the area. family.ad a huge they have lots of kids. there was a lot of them. they were in and out all the time. rachel was very close to her family. jackson blueberry close to the family. after the war of 1812 when he is becoming this national hero there were old here all the time.

she was acknowledged to be a pretty nice hostess. fame after thes battle of new orleans from 1815 on through the rest of here, they have lots and lots of company. they have many parties or evening dinners or things here at the hermitage. they were entertaining people who were used to find things in the city. they appreciated those fine things to. they acquired a good deal of silver. such as these punch cups here. he would have been used for an evening party for probably some very highly liquored up punch. she had very nice things. of her from the country, she was not that exactly. i think it was more about her comforts in the big city than it

was about her actual appearance or clothing she was not a fan of anything that took interjection away from the hermitage. during the war of 1812 there are letters that say things like do not let fame and fortune blinds you to the effect. i need you. i think he knew that she would have preferred him to stay home and be plantation owner. this is the earliest letter we have that jackson wrote to rachel. when heritten in 1796 was in east tennessee on business. it is addressed to her "my ."arest tart it is my greatest pleasure. my heart rest with you and what

pleasing hopes i have when i shall be reached toward to your arms are there to spend my days in domestic sweetness with you, the dear companion of my life, never to be separated from you again. the garden was always considered one of the special places. lots of comments from visitors about her gathering flowers. there is one story when a lady was here on her honeymoon, they were invited to stay. she mentioned that the garden was very spatial -- special to rachel and when they were preparing to leave she walked through the garden with rachel and rachel gathered flowers and gave her a posey before they left. , andce in society that delta van buren was well-suited for her role as white house

hostess for her widowed father- in-law. >> they would spend the summers here. there were occasions where they would spend part of the winter months here. here in the dining room she would have served as hostess. she had many social events. she would betimes the hostess for those occasions just that she was at the white house. refined and wealthy. she had all the appropriate social graces. even the ambassador from france who is typically critical of american manners complemented her. martin van buren purchase this home in 1839 during the second year of his presidency. hundred added another acres and have a successful farm. typically theoom women would engage in a variety of activities.

they would recite from memory to one another. they would often play power games. she was trained in philadelphia. we have a heart here. she would have played the harp for other female guest here in the green room. .his is the breakfast room it is a much more intimate room compared to the main hall. it is a place where the family has their daily meals. this is the daily china that they use in households. she would have eaten off these plates. it is easy to imagine her serving someone teach or passing the gravy boat. >> in july of 1833, she suffered a miscarriage. we know from letters that she wrote that during the time she convalesce on this couch in the main hall.

later when she was serving as the hostess she had another baby girl died as an infant. they did have three sons that lived through adulthood. here on the second floor they would have spent a great deal of time while they were visiting her father-in-law. thatve several dresses were worn by her. it is easy to imagine her wearing them out one at the events. the parasol here she likely would have use during the summer months when they were visiting while she was out strolling the grounds. it was a large farm of 240 acres. i believe martin van buren and his daughter-in-law had a very close relationship. he was a very amiable man. in the sociald graces of the 19th century. i think they genuinely care for one another. ,> prior to becoming first lady

letitia tyler raised their family and manage their plantation from williamsburg. tyler resigned from the united states senate. him and his wife and their family moved here to williamsburg to establish his law practice. officetructed his law and his laundry. the house but they lived in is no longer here. it is perfectly situated at the .enter of the town to the is right across the street. this is the beating heart of williamsburg even in the 1830's. all the social activity, they are really living at the center of it in this fantastic 18th- century house. after they moved here, when

letitia is running the going to behe is operating out of a house. she is running their various plantations all over the place. 1839.ffered a stroke and she is still able to retain control of the family at counts, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved. he went to was elected as vice president. it is here in the spring of 1841 when he was informed that he became 10 president of the united states. letitia tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united states. over,when her term was juliett tyler and the president retired to the plantation a long be james river. atte john tyler was born

greenway. he purchased this house at the end of his presidential term. he came down here once before he was able to retire. he brought with him julia gardiner. she said the hand of god in nature have been counted to my sharewood forest -- sherwood forest but i can improve on it. she did. she had the moldings imported from italy. she had the mantel pieces come in from italy. the knocker on the front door on it andod forest has been meticulously polished through the years. if that was one of her to the house. julia and her mother were very close. we are fortunate to have many

letters written between julia and her mother. one roome is only wide. you want the breezes to go from the north to the south. they would sit in the hall quite frequently. she set in the open doorway that led to the south porch and wrote letters to her mother. quite frequently she commented on the president who kept his feet on the banister and would read his newspaper and threw it on the floor. in the great room is a table on which we are told john tyler sent julia tyler breakfast in his bedroom after he had been around the house after his horseback ride. he would go to that table and have breakfast with his wife which he would carry in on a tray. and saysr rights are

she understands that you sleep until 9:00 in the morning and that the president brings you breakfast in bed. she said please do not take advantage of an elderly -- whoan who don't upon don't upon you. she writes to her mother frequently what she is doing on this plantation. she reports almost every purchase of furniture in the house. her brothers who were students her buyingn became agents. the mirror was ordered from a and called " baudains" when it comes she is distressed because the edges cover the edge of the mirror face of the window facing. back iter rights are says do not be so picky on my new shop.

back andther rights back says do not be so picky of my new shominutia. this was to represent the gardeners. you can see the water in the background. they were very young when the portrait was done. this started at 9:00. then she says they danced the .irginia waltz among one thing she did here for entertainment is they allowed all the house servant children to play continuously with the children of the big house. the letters she speaks of her children playing with the .hildren in the yard

she speaks of their dancing with the children. the supervision of the house servants were many. there were a total of 90 slaves. were there.rvants they were totally under her supervision. they were happy in this household. she refers to the melody of his boys. she always refers to his intelligence. she had a wonderful time here. >> during our program on sarah houck we look at her and how she saw her presentation. >> how she looked was important to her.

from a standpoint of how she was perceived, she sought as a reflection on the presidency itself. she was known for having beautiful dresses and looking incredible in a white house that was equally beautiful. this was purchased in paris france and warm by her later in the administration. it is a robot. .- it was basically a robe the white dress is a ballgown also made in paris, france. it was high-end fashion for the 1840s. it was a stylesheet used again and again. she would find a style and keep with it. it has a great deal of lace attached to it. frugal woman, she often perches dresses and then live by a great deal of material

to go along with them so she could change the way they look. incident having five or six gallons, she will buy one -- instead of buying five or six gallons, she would either one and material for others. was of the american mood in the 19th century. it was not to be un-american for .omen to wear precious gems she would wear gold and silver .rench paste so few of these addresses have survived the cut is they're made made out of silks and satins. rejig because they are made out of -- because they are made out of silks and satin. dolly madison was still alive and was a regular visitor to the white house. adopted thatshe style after mrs. madison.

abigailcher by trade, fillmore was the first to have an application before coming first lady. .> we have the blonde they were both teachers. and both had this desire love of reading. abigail actually was wrought up in a family that had many books. her father was a baptist reach her. he loved to read. she was surrounded by folks whole lifetime. was here she continued that. they have their own personal library. she wanted to let young people learn extensively about the world as it was. this room we are in is actually the focus of the entire house. right here.ade

she independently employed herself as a teacher here if she tutored young students in the evening mainly in the course of history. this would have been the living room and also served as the kitchen. they would spend hours by the light of the fire. they would do their reading and lighting. abigail fillmore cook in this very room. here we are in the bedroom. the original staircase has quite an angle to it. we do believe it was a wooden ladder at that time. as a young wife and mother, dressed in a long dirt and with a toddler on her hip, she absented that ladder into the bedroom. -- ascended that ladder into the bedroom. was aw that abigail wonderful seamstress. here with aer quilte

tumbling block pattern. the house on main street was a very busy place. each store was a vibrant community. it is developing. abigail would have had many visitors. she would have had people come in. they would possibly have tea. a can imagine her having very full life. we see her as a hospitable young woman, young wife, young mother, teacher. >> having already lost two sons and hoping her husband would not win election, jane pierce when their families suffered a train accident. >> this was home to john and mary aitken. mary was jane pierce's sister. all was therefore jane at of her most important times in her life. to visitfranklin came

the aitken family. they came here with their son to visit the cousin's. franklin and jane became very close. the family stayed at 48 central street which was the summer white house. it is called that because rincon pierce would come visit his wife. she would stay with her sister mary and he would come visit them and the summers in particular. it is believed that the administrative staff stay just across the road from them. jane and franklin were staying in andover because there have been a death in the family. her uncle had died. they went to boston to attend that funeral. he returned to they could pack .n and had to court -- concorde the train ride was very devastating. and inre a mile out

axelrod broke. it slipped. as i understand it, then he was a child. he was moving about. when the train rolled down he was hit in the back of his head very severely. he did not survive the crash. the services took place at mary kin's house. mary was very grief stricken and cannot make it to the funeral. jane was referred to as tubercular. she probably died of a lung disease. harriet lane was hostess to her uncle james buchanan and many social activities which prepared her for her future as as white house hostess. >> here we are. this is the home of president

james buchanan. in the spring of 1848, they moved here. this is the place that she will call home until the age of 36 when she married and moved to baltimore. >> this room is a very special room. it is a very special helub. to friendserve teas and guests. it is the room where the family lived. they would spend time together and play games, seeing tom enjoy each other's company. this is a gift from her uncle. this was purchased sometime in the mid-or late 1860s. we have her music book here. it is embossed with her name. it contains a number of her favorite pieces including italian classics. we also have some patriotic songs in here.

one of her uncles favorite things to do was listen to his knees lay the religious hymns. he was a very devout presbyterian. this is something that brought a great amount of joy. she was very enthusiastic about things european. , she waswas appointed over the moon about being his companion. she made a great impression. dignity.anners, dated 08 this is a gift that the queen greatarriet, a gold flood, and inside it has her name and the date of 1857 when she received it. behind we have a lithograph of

queen victoria and her husband, prince elbert, and these were a nomadic gift -- a diplomatic efforts. what is special about these is they hung in the white house and were brought here to their home in wheatland. she spent a lot of time traveling. they also entertained international visitors. one of the most interesting groups they had visit them was a japanese allegation, which came to the white house in 1860 and came bearing all types of gifts. what we see are the things they ,rought, if little shoes, paper folded objects, origami, a dictionary in japanese, and she found these things intriguing. >> an ambitious woman, mary todd her husband reach

his goals. >> this is the home where mary helped build abraham lincoln's political career. they would invite friends and family over to talk politics, events of the day. this is where he became the president. mr. lincoln was an ambitious person. he had a lot of goals, but those were enhanced when he met and married mary todd. she was ambitious. she said she wanted to marry a man for a good mind, and she said she was going to marry a man who would be president. ever something about lincoln that she saw the potential, and encouraged it, and helped develop it. lessons in etiquette that helps polish them up for washington society, the political parties they had, where they invited a lot of important people, the

strawberry cream parties, talking with the wives of those important gentlemen. she wielded a lot of power. .his is the dining room when they moved in it was a kitchen, and that is not something a polished, high society upper class person would do. mary had grown up with a formal dining room, and she felt she needed to have one here because she did not want her children growing up without proper manners. in a lot of cases, mr. lincoln needed that polishing as well. all her boys needed polishing am a so she created this dining room to have that formal space for she and her family, but also for when they had guests over. there were a lot of people that visited mr. lincoln during the 1860 campaign and after he was elected. there was four months between the election and the inauguration, so there were ther a lot of visitors.

mary was annexed to the hostess and would have had trays of her famous white cake or the macaroon pyramid from a confectionery that was in downtown springfield. we know they bought lots of those. you could get your refreshments in here. this is the double parlor, and these are the nicest rooms in the house. mary spared no expense. the table, brass valances, the windows, gilded candlesticks, a walnut what's not shelf with a bust of mr. lincoln on it. that was here in 1860. not everybody in the neighborhood could say that they had a bust of their husband in their living room.

this is where she wanted to show off. mary held her parties in here where she discussed her husband's aspirations. this is where people started when they visited. they met mr. lincoln here. he was probably standing in the archway. this is where mr. lincoln back with the republican national convention committee that told him he was nominated. this was the seat of power in this house. mary helped to showcase what her husband had done, how far he had come from that log cabin in the middle of nowhere kentucky to this beautiful house, very comfortable house, and hinted at where they were headed. stating to the world that abraham lincoln had made it and was ready to move on. had to take aon

different approach to being first lady. >> we have artifacts relating to the presidency and beyond. he would have one of eliza's necklaces, which is a plain cloth which shows her simple tastes. another is her sewing case, and three of her favorite pastimes, being as reclusive as she was, were embroidering, reading poetry, and scrap booking. they received political gifts while in the white house, and we have an ivory basket that came from the sandwich islands, which are now the hawaiian outlines -- islands. andrew johnson was the first president to have an easter egg roll on the white house lawn. it stopped during the civil war, but he brought it back. some theories hold he held it

on the white house lawn so eliza could watch, weaning and invalid -- meaning and invalid with tuberculosis could see that. to eliza chose not to be -- assume the role of first lady. she received many gifts. one of the most spectacular is the porcelain box that was given to her why the noble frenchmen and had 50 pounds of chocolate on bonds in it. we have in the letters from her children saying that they would go up to mom's room in the white house to get a treat from the bonbon box. another item was in remembrance of her visit, and it was charles dickens who would come visit them. she returned and brought back one of her books, and this gave her a chance to remember his

visit, and charles dickens is one of the most prophetic writers of that time. another item she brought back was a gaming table given to them by the people of ireland, and it is 500 pieces of inlaid work. and they would play euchre. it looks like a regular table when you open it up, but the craftsmanship is remarkable. another thing that goes back to that is the fruit container, a gift from the children of elidel via when they were in the white house. home brought that back when they returned. >> after years of following her husband from one military outpost to another, julia krantz was given a place to call home. >> this home was a gift that 13 businessmen from molina purchased to give to the grant family in appreciation for his

work during the war. she said this was furnished with everything taste could offer. we are now in the parlor, which was the entertaining part of the home. tulia was an avid entertainer. the family spent time here in the parlor also. we know mrs. grant and their daughter played the piano. imagine the family sitting here, the general in his favorite chair, listening to the sister and mother playing songs for them, and they entertained in here, and maybe julia played a song for their gas. his presidentiald campaign here. the day after his election, they opened up their home and , counsel, for people to file through and congratulate both of them on his election. this is the general and mrs. grant's bedroom. personals the most

peace in the house. this is the original bad day rocked, putting down roots here. this was always here for them when they came back. this is called a lap book. this was julia's. correspondents in here when she was writing letters or receiving them. her grandfather was a methodist minister. growing up it was important to her and she instilled that in the children. they attended the methodist church here. the pew is still marked. we have a bible given to mrs. grant by the methodist episcopal church in 1888. this is the dressing room, the most personal space in the house relating to juliet grant.

this is where she would get ready in the mornings, get ready in the evenings, ready for bed, and just get solitude from everybody. we have a lot of things that belonged to mrs. grant. we have her sewing kit that she would have used to mend socks, so a button on. he had a couple pairs of her shoes that she wore. and some purses that she would have used as they went visiting on a sunday afternoon. a majority of furnishings we still have in the house along to the grant family when they were here. if they walked through the door, they would recognize the house and feel right at home, because of furnishings are the same as when they were here. careerted his political her here, and this is wheere he was living when he was elected. >> called the mother of the y hayes'kindness'

and geared her to many. >> she and her husband had eight children. five lived to adulthood. we know from letters that this was their gathering space. ,ot only is this their bedroom but this is where they spent a lot of family time together. this is important to lucy as a mother because this is where her eighth child was born in this bed. he was the only one of the eight children to be born here. tragically, he was never healthy and when he was 18 months old, he contracted dysentery and so he passed away which was something that was very hard on the family. this is lucy's sewing machine, and this is what she took with her when she was in cap with her husband during the civil

war. it was important to her that she be with him as often as was practical. when he was in with your cap, when he was not out on campaigns, in western virginia, she would travel with him and write him letters how important it was for her to be with him. she wrote she was concerned about the welfare of the men that were in his regiment. she took this with her and she would do sewing, she would mandate uniforms. lucy was a good seamstress. not only did she repair uniforms, but she made her own wedding dress, a very beautiful dress. this is something that would have been important to her. one of the interesting things we know of her, this is where they had family christmases, and they would write about these. they would have breakfast and then they would come in here and opened presents, the whole family would gather.

they would have simple presence, not a lot. this is the space where they would do that. and a lot of them traditions. -- a lot of traditions. this is a watercolor painting of the president and lucy aust drew at the white house,, and you can see there are vibrant newcomers in here. here in the bedroom, that same colors team is reflected thomas o we know lucy liked lou. when we were reupholstering the furniture, to take it back to the original, what did it look like, we found of the fabric embedded in these pieces of furniture. this is the bedroom of rutherford and lucy's only daughter. her name was fanny. of fanny painting with her father. she was the only daughter.

she was their only daughter. you can imagine a little girl growing up in a house like this with a lot of brothers. even though her parents claimed she was not the favorite, she had the furniture made for her, she had one of the bigger bedrooms. she was the darling to her mother and her father. >> with the love of books and lucretia garfield as established the president for her president's library. >> this is the formal parlor and family room that served as both. james and lucretia spent a lot of time with their children. toy had lost two children infancy. those children died before the family moved here. all had thehildren

benefit of having to intelligent parents who strongly believed in education. they felt education was an emancipating factor and what that was a key to success. we have molly's piano, which was a gift to her on her 13th birthday in 1880. she practiced the p&f, and that was a reward. , liken the family parlor every room in the house, you see a lot of books. books are very important, and their children love to read. some of their favorite authors were dickens, and there are several volumes of his work here, also william shakespeare. each other.ead to often times out loud in the evenings. that was one of their favorite activities. we are here in the dining room,

and in the center of the table is an interesting art piece. --is called mrs. garfield adored her time at the expedition. butisited all the tents, she specifically was interested in the science and technology of the day, and she would write pages and pages of what she saw at the site. a lot of people think of this as artistic.field she loved the sciences. dinnertime was an important time of the day. it was a time for them to get together and talk about what they were doing. the garfield's would use this time to play games with the children. sometimes they would bring books

to the children. words were often misspelled. they would quiz that children. they made everything an educational experience. our series is available on c-span, c-span radio, and online at www.c-span.org\firstladies. cleveland lost his election >-- >> and they did return to the white house, winning the election in 1892. the life of frances cleveland as series on firstsurre ladies. it has been nearly 70 years

since the global conflict ende.,

rememberingle are those who served. now more about the u.s. military is a look at the availability of jobs for service

members returning from iraq and afghanistan. this is a half hour. >> it encourages veterans to stay informed. our website it's 6 million villages a month. host: is it an offshoot of monster.com? guest: it is. it sponsors concern to better your life. military.com is along the same lines. host: when some leaves service

and going into the job market, what are some of the key issues they face as they make that transition? guest: we've had that discussion since the war of 1776 ended. people say, what are your plans? some of the issues that face military folks is they don't take a step back and figure out what they're interested in, what they wanted to win a innocence grow up or get out. a lot capitulate to whatever their skills are in the military or network with other veterans for jobs. one of the big questions that they come to is, what do i want to do? what is my interest? what kind of vacation to want to get into? our nation's history is i went into the military to get a good job and be set for a career. host: how much of their skill set involves themselves in that transition? if have to get education, what happens? guest: we need to begin with the end in mind. is the education needed? is there training or certification needed?

looking at translating of skill sets to jargon or civilian terminology is a challenge. i often say military skills are lost in translation, not just the hard skills, if i was a plumber in the air force, for example. but also the skills companies are seeking. human-resources experience, training experience from supply chain experience. it accompanies along with super vision and leadership that military folks bring to a company or organization. host: how much is the military involved in the transition? guest: programs have talked about these things and helped folks with a resumes. a transition program has actual tracks so someone can choose to take a track or day in employment, a track in training, a track and education where they emphasize you're transitioning to state university or community college, for example, and here

are things you need to know and with the landscape looks like. the same thing with certifications and the new track is entrepreneurship. i want on my own business. we can provide the skills and tools in our transition programs from the v.a. and department of labor are doing a good job. host: we're talking about the component picture, especially vets leaving the service, with randy plunkett. he serves as a committee and government outreach director at military.com. you can ask him questions -- if you are an iraq and afghanistan veteran and looking for a job, if you have questions as well, 202-585-3883. from the employer's point of

view, when someone with a military background comes across their does, does it take precedence? do they automatically get more consideration? guest: we have seen a great resurgence with employers and renewed interest in hiring veterans beyond just it is a nice thing to do or we want to give back to the person. the problem comes when in h.r. manager or recruiter is looking at the resume and if it is terminology on a that is military specific, many times they want to help it if the terminology is present and they don't understand it, then they will move on to the next resume. overall, i think employers have gotten interested and are getting training. we provide training to companies around the military culture to help their hiring managers and their recruiters understand the culture better.

host: what about the art of job interviewing? guest: military.com has hundreds of articles around resume writing, using social media to find a job. all of those things are relevant to our audience and audiences in general. host: democrat line, st. petersburg, florida. caller: first of all, military.com, the email, received the email and it is very informative and a great way to keep up with the news, military-related news. i want to ask your guest if he is aware of any mental health counseling for family members of veterans? guest: a couple of things come to mind. first, thank you for being a military.com member. given our great program of mental health professionals that focuses on military families, i think the most important thing

would be to refer someone to the resources directory on the via a -- the v.a. web site that provides a lot of great information for families around mental health. host: new york, lisa, a veteran. good morning, lisa. caller: thank you. can you hear me? host: go right ahead. caller: i have a question about employment. i am coming from desert storm years ago and it was difficult because there was no internet --sues about transmitting translating military experience into civilian life, credentials, however. i am still seeing the same issues with young veterans leaving iraq, afghanistan. they have to pay fees in order to get their military training translated into civilian.

some of them are going back to college, but they still need that part-time job and the end up on unemployment. is there any means for them to get free training or assistance as far as resume writing, etc.? guest: i'm glad to ask the question. military.com has a military skills translator. first of all, it is free to anyone who wants to use it. but it takes that language issue, that lost in translation issue, and provides civilianized terminology around someone's specialty code or maybe enlisted classification. people can experiment with it. there are a lot of resources out there. i think the issue we run into is information, helping folks find the sources of information. one great place is our local

one-stop unemployment centers that have representatives who help veterans translate those skills into common terminology that folks can understand. i think the most important thing i want to say is that of veterans need to own their job search just like they were commissioned in the military, this should be their mission. they should find resources. take a step back, figure out what you want to do. to the skill sets you have directly relate to your job, apply to the job you want? great. if they don't, what are those other soft skills i talked about human-resources, training, management skills to bring to the table. you need to articulate those in the job you are applying for, regardless of what it is. a company needs to know that you bring a lot more to the table than just military experience. host: does it matter if it is in civilian life or the federal? guest: i think both. there's a website where you can go to if you want a job at the

v.a. and i think the principle is expanding across federal uneven state governments. host: john, democrat line. go ahead. caller: i have become 100% social security disabled. the point i want to make, first, my 20% does not equal 100%, it is less than 10% of 100%. if they redid the pay scale so 10%, 20% would actually equal 10% or 20% of the 100%, it would help a lot of people. there are many veterans who do not have families. i think an effort should be made to help them either date or help them find families if they're too far gone to date. host: thank you for the comments. republican line.

caller: hi. i am calling about my son who was in the west virginia national guard, his second deployment. he held a civilian job for 14 years. while he was deployed his second time, there was a promotion he missed. when he came back and was asked about it, they told him the reason he missed the promotion was because he was deployed. he went through the legal situation, the call to the military, you know, the call to the military, talking to his employer back and forth. he was lost in the legal system. i feel his rights were not covered by the military with this. host: mr. plunkett? guest: i was say if you're son-- if your son

has not used the employment support of the guard or reserve, that is a joint venture between the department of defense and the department of labor, their function is to protect the redeployment rights of guard and reserve members. one of the rights under that law is that you must be considered for promotion when you are deployed. the employer needs to treat us like you're not there and hence you have a right to be reemployed when you return. if he has not contacted esgr, they have people who work closely with companies to explain the law and that is a great place for him to take his case to. host: tony, los angeles, independent line. caller: i want to thank military.com and brian jordan for having the courage to report

on the u.s.s. liberty crew memorial. i confronted john mccain last year about his betrayal of the u.s.s. liberty crew. it was barely picked up in the u.s. media. they just talked about me being the hut where. i want to salute brian jordan. he is the only one who had courage to cover the memorial on june 8 last year. guest: thank you. host: about the employers, we hear as for situations with emotional issues that sometimes occur, ptsd, does that become stigma for someone looking for a job in the job force? guest: sometimes there are stereotypes, just like with any other group, a protected class under labor. the amount of people while tragic that have post-traumatic stress disorder, it is not reflective of the larger veteran population. most folks understand ptsd is a natural reaction to stress, a disorder comes when you cannot work through it.

there are employers who say that could be a stigma, just like employers say we don't hire veterans who were in the national guard or reserve because they're going to deploy, stating that is against the law but we know in reality it is a challenge that happens. host: texas, republican line. caller: hi, how are you? let me turn down the tv. i just got a little comment and one or two questions. the guys and gals that get out of prison, they have jobs for them. why aren't us veterans able to get a job? i think walmart is hiring and i think all of these stores ought to hire. these guys and gals are protecting us here in the united states. if it wasn't for them, just like us to tell my big bosses, if it wasn't for us guys, you guys

would not have a job. i think it is very bad they're not doing that. on the veterans administration, i am a disabled vet. i used to go in every six months and now it is every year. i hurt my back in the 1950's in the air force. another comment, it has nothing to do the veterans, but i have been trying to get on for four days now. this baloney going on in washington, there should be some heads rolled. host: were you in the service and went to the civilian job market? is that your experience? caller: i worked in the oil field for 40 years. it is just not right. people use oil and gasoline and

all that, they're stopping the oil industry from bringing the pipes down here. they could use it for other things. host: i just want to know how easy that transition was free going from military to a civilian job? caller: i had a job before i got out. it was in 1957 when i got out. it was during the korean era. i had a little bit inside connections and got with an oil company the day before i got out i had all my stuff done and what right to work. guest: let's talk about gas and oil. companies are actively hiring veterans. one of the things we noticed about companies that have the oil fields in north dakota, offshore in the gulf, is most folks work two weeks on, two exhausted they don't care. it is a huge benefit for

military. they cannot find enough folks. folks looking for work better interested in that should check out the oil companies. host: las vegas, democrat line. caller: i have a quick comment and question. i'm hoping you can answer my question. we have over 800,000 veterans that are unemployed. 40,000 veterans that are homeless. that is a disgrace. my question to you is, just a few weeks ago there was a jobs bill in the senate that was strictly for veterans. it was paid for, would not add a penny to our debt. why in the world would the republicans filibuster that bill? host: you can leave your comment as it is.

is there anything you wish to say? guest: large bills that have the weight of the bill, i think a lot of times the discussions and disagreements come with the things that are added to a bill and i think that it's lost sometimes. host: at this point that says, ups is hiring veterans. how did they set the example? guest: they're great. fedex, home depot. jpmorgan chase, the 100,000 jobs mission they initiated that now has over 100 companies involved. i think big business is getting the message and are doing well by veterans and their families. host: is there a hard number or anecdotal number about intimate -- unemployment

rate or the unemployment rate among veterans? guest: as of april, it is about 7.75%. for the younger veterans, the picture has gotten better as well, down to about 9%. men fare better that women. women are about 11% or 12% and men are about 8%. so we still have some work to do there. talking about what your last guest was saying, spouse unemployment is higher and that is a challenge for companies to build a portable career for spouses so they can move from place to place and not miss a beat. host: california, democrats line for randy plunkett of military.com, serves as their government and community outreach. caller: good morning. i am on business. our network is wounded warriors.

[indiscernible] my question is, with small businesses [indiscernible] when you hire disabled in california, yet have certain criteria. god bless america and have the memorial day. host: thank you. guest: there is a tax break for businesses that hire veterans and i would refer someone to their tax attorney or accountant for the details. the wounded warrior project has a program or they work closely with companies and small businesses even to get wounded warriors back to work. it is a great program. i think is a really important

point that it is not just big businesses that reaching out and working with military families and veterans, the companies of all size. one of the great things i talk to companies about is if you have more than 30 employees, you probably have someone in your company who is a veteran or in the guard reserve, or someone married to that population. a great internal resource for how to find and hire people like themselves. host: here is a viewer who asks, do companies consider veterans as long-term unemployed and some do not hire people who been unemployed for a while? guest: i don't sense that. and it depends on the company, the individual. one thing i tell companies, once you hire a veteran and they understand their place in the organization, that will to lead to longevity. one of our researchers found the average retiree from the military has three jobs in 18 months. they always tell us historically

they feel like they did not fit into the culture. it is the onus on the veteran to figure out of the company is a good fit for them. but i think once the company explains, here is where you fit in the big picture, and also understands what they're doing contributes to the company's mission, that leads to longevity of stand with the company. host: st. louis, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. hi. host: go ahead. caller: i am a retired veteran, 43 years of service. after i did three tours overseas, when i came home and my brother-in-law told me there are hiring at chrysler. i went down to the unemployment office and they said they did not know anything about it. i said i was a veteran. they said, go see v.a. of sales. that asked if i had my 214. they found a piece of paper and

said, take it to chrysler. i got hired. we had a thing in the military called sandbaggers, a lot of veterans, they think society owes them something because they served.that is a yes or no reason. if you have skills, if you want to work, there is always work in america if you want a job. it depends on what you are willing to do. i was willing to do anything to take care of my responsibility. it's not on that not all on civilian employees. a lot of it has to do with the veteran themselves. i would like to say before i leave here, if you call your station and turn your sound off on your tv, you can hear every

word you are saying through your telephone, so you don't have to have the tv on. just keep the telephone to your just keep the telephone to your ear. thank you very much for taking my call. guest: that's good advice, earl. the point we make here is that veterans are individuals. some folks have more motivation than others. some folks are better fits that companies than other folks. i think that is the most important thing. just like everyone else, you need to own the responsibility of building a great career and act on it. host: greg from north carolina, independent line. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i think that for a lot of the vets, the employment here, especially in right to work states like north carolina, it is better than being on an unemployment line. if you are an older vet,

something that might help is just to be able to get back in. if you can pass the physical fitness test and written test, let the older vets back in if they can pass the physical tests. forget about the age restriction. one thing that is helpful for jobs is mobility. dmv is completely useless. for somebody that's been around about 17 countries, then comes back here -- host: ok, caller, thanks. older vets. guest: i retired from the air force at 47 as opposed to 38 because i was out of the military for seven years and went back in. there is a great opportunity there. talking about mobility when it comes to veteran employment -- 75% of veterans have told us in the studies we do every year at

military.com, they say "i'm willing to move for a job." host: and social media and things like that -- we hear about the civilian workforce being able to adapt to those sorts of things. how does that work? guest: if you are in the military right now and you don't know what linkedin is, you owe it to yourself to learn about that. own your career. linkedin is a great place to network and folks in companies where you want to work and connect it with them see if you are a good fit. host: democrats' line. john, you are up. caller: good morning. happy memorial day. guest: hi, john.

caller: i need to ask you guys a question. i'm a vietnam veteran. i was over there in 1967, 1968. i was wounded and everything. i know this is about unemployment. when i came home -- years back it was a different situation. but i need to ask this guy a quick question about the v.a. could i do that? host: i don't know -- is this about employment in general or no? caller: no, i just wanted to ask him a quick question about what a doctor told me one time. host: take a shot at it, go ahead. caller: last year i was at the v.a. in youngstown, ohio, and i ran into this doctor for a check up and everything, and he said he was a naval doctor. the guy turned around and looked at me and said you blank blank vietnam veterans think we owe you the world.

i never heard anything like that. i actually got up and walked out. and he is a naval doctor, too. guest: that is a tragedy. we do owe veterans everything. look at where we are today on memorial day, honoring those who sacrifice for our country and their families. i don't think we can never do enough to help the veteran population with whatever career path they want, whether it is employment, education, owning a business. i think we will always have room for improvement. but at the same token, we're talking about it throughout many communities. one thing i love about where i work is that it transcends politics. there is a lot of interest from democrats and republicans and independents on taking care of veterans of the families. host: if i am a veteran and i have six months to get out, what am i doing as far as the job search is concerned? guest: figure out what you want

to do, in essence, when you grow up, start with the career path, start with that career in mind. if that involves education, some kind of internship, certifications, you need to investigate those things. treat that like it is your mission. once you have done that, when backwards to make sure you have important milestones. again, i will talk about military.com. we have a transition center where somebody can go and give us specific information and get targeted e-mails up to one year out of separation of things you should be doing to prepare for the transition to civilian life. host: randy plunkett is the community and outreach director. thanks for your time. guest: thank you so much, pedro. tomorrow, a discussion on the

enforcement of tax exempt law. also life in the white house. " begins atn journal 7:00 eastern on c-span. we are seeing a few visitors walking along the reflecting pool near the lincoln memorial. the lincoln memorial was dedicated in 1922.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> we have been showing you what is happening on the mall in washington dc on this memorial day weekend. cruz delivered a commencement address at hillsdale college.

this is 25 minutes. [applause] >> thank you very, very much. thank you so very much. graduates, moms and dads, faculty, trustees, members of the hillsdale community. i am grateful for that warm welcome, and for that overly generous introduction. it was edward r. murrow who described the ascension of winston churchill to be prime ministership in 1940. "now the hour had come for him to mobilize the english language and send it into battle." these are different times to be sure. but we are all justifiably proud

of his leadership, his good humor, and his ability to send the english language into today is a day of celebration. it's a celebration of your hard work, your commitment, time, energy, passion, and prayers that you have put into graduating hillsdale, it is a day of celebration for the sacrifice and dedication to her family has put in to get you here. i'm honored to join you today. let me say i fully recognize the most forgettable part of the entire day will be the politician they invited to be your commencement speaker. [laughter] today is the day your welcoming and celebrating with friends and family. but no worries. i'm in politics. i'm used to speaking when no one is listening.

[laughter] indeed, a few years back, i was on an airplane, and a voice came on paging tom cruise. somewhat sheepishly, i came to the front of the plane and i said, i think you may be looking for me. you have never seen so many disappointed flight attendants. [laughter] this morning i had a wonderful opportunity to tour the campus of hillsdale. i was taken to the top of the tower. i carved my name in the top of the door. and my favorite spot was the statue of margaret thatcher. i understand that statue was unveiled, she sent a letter of praise that said "hillsdale college symbolizes everything

that is good and true in america. you uphold the principles and cherish the values which have made your country a beacon of hope." i could not agree more. i also understand that two of the men graduating today are the creators of that interesting game referred to as thatcher ball. i have no doubt that margaret thatcher would chuckle at the game's only rule -- no murder allowed. [laughter] i'm not sure how she would react to the unusual way the score is tallied. [laughter] there are commencements being heldon campuses all over the country this spring. but this one here is different. hillsdale is known across the

country as in a class by itself. those graduating from other colleges are being told to go out and make something of themselves, but for the 287 men and women receiving their degree your today, the expectations are much, much higher. because of the education you have received here, you are uniquely prepared to provide the desperately needed principled leadership to your family, your church, your community, your country, and your fellow man. while undergraduates have been exposed to college courses such as lady gaga and the sociology of fame -- and i feel quite confident the doctor will not be teaching that in the fall -- you have been grounded in an understanding of our constitution and our government that our founders delivered to us. you understand that precious

legacy and the need to preserve it. this past year, the world lost baroness thatcher. in her honor, i would like to spend a few minutes discussing the miracle of freedom. in the history of mankind, freedom has been the exception. for millennia, human existence has been nasty, brutish, and short. which is how some of my senate colleagues describe me. [laughter] we were told our rights were taken away by the whim of monarchs, the british began a revolution in a meadow.

as the magna carta provided to all free men of our kingdom, we have also granted for us and our heirs forever all these liberties written out before, to have and keep for them and their heirs. that revolution reached full flower in philadelphia in 1787 and the constitution that began from to radical premises. first that our rights did not come from kings or queens or even presidents, but on god almighty. as the declaration observes, we hold these truths to be self- evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. second in the constitution, the