Two Good Grad Speeches 45 Years Apart
By Michael Kaufman
If there is anything more boring than a speech at a high-school graduation ceremony, no one ever told me about it. As a father of five, uncle, grandparent, and family friend, I have sat (and slept) through more stultifying commencement addresses than I care to remember. In fact, until this month there was only one I could remember, that given by Jon Kotch, the valedictorian of my high school class of 1964 at Oceanside High.
Jon scrapped his pre-approved remarks and instead delivered a stinging critique of school administrators for suppressing independent thought and creativity for four years. It was an electrifying address but it was met with the normal amount of disinterested applause from the assembled parents and guests. Most of the audience, accustomed to hearing the usual tedious claptrap and platitudes about the “future,” had simply tuned out. “Abe Lincoln could come back from the dead and deliver the Gettysburg Address here and these people wouldn’t notice,” complained Helen Press, mother of my friend, Steve, one of the few parents who actually listened to Jon’s speech.
Two years before Jon gave his valedictory speech, Robert M. Morgenthau was the Democratic candidate for governor of NY State. I took part in his campaign as a 16-year-old member of the Junior Democrats. Unfortunately, my memory of the event, which ended in a lopsided victory for Nelson Rockefeller, betrayed me when I met Mr. Morgenthau last year at the Storm King School in Cornwall.
Our daughters were performing in a play together and since the girls are friends I thought it would be a nice gesture to introduce myself. As we shook hands I added, “I campaigned for you when you ran for Nassau County Executive.” His puzzled expression was enough to tell me I had misspoken. “Fishkill!” was all he said by way of correction. “Fishkill!” he repeated merrily before sauntering down the aisle to take his seat. It was my turn to be puzzled…until I learned that in addition to his longtime regular job as Manhattan District Attorney, Mr. Morgenthau likes to spend time on the family apple farm in Fishkill in Dutchess County, far from the suburban climes of Nassau.
This I learned from Mr. Morgenthau as he delivered the guest speech just three weeks ago at the Storm King graduation. His daughter Amy, the youngest of his five children, was among the graduates. Morgenthau, who
Robert M. Morgenthau with his daughter Amy following his graduation speech at the Storm King School in Cornwall.
will turn 90 next month, has been Manhattan DA since 1975, winning seven consecutive elections and countless convictions along the way. In February he announced that he will not seek re-election and will retire at the end of the year. His fabled career inspired the television series “Law and Order.”
Nobody tuned out his speech, which he began by noting that Storm King has been around since the Civil War (speaking of Abe Lincoln) and adding a quip alluding to his own longevity. From then on he spoke forthrightly about issues that now face our country and that will bear on the lives of the graduates for years to come.
He praised Storm King’s officials for “internationalizing” the school, half of whose students hail from Pacific Rim countries like Japan, China, and Korea. “The planet keeps getting smaller,” he said, “and it is important that we Americans reach out across the seas to our neighbors rather than consider ourselves ‘exceptional’ and try to go it alone.”
He spoke of the close relationship that existed between Storm King and Deerfield, the Massachusetts school from which he graduated 72 years ago. At Deerfield, he said, headmaster Frank Boyden “joined the boys from the farms and the mills with the children of the privileged to create a community in which no one cared which was which.
“I finished high school in 1937,” he continued. “It was not a happy time. Economically, we were mired in the Great Depression and the drums of war were sounding.” Now, he told the students, it is their turn to deal with hard times. “Economically, we face the worst crisis since the Great Depression. The US is threatened by enemies, some of whom have, or soon may have, nuclear weapons. We are torn internally as to whether tactics we have used against our opponents have made us too much like our enemies.” At this some of the adults in attendance shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
He had no platitudes or “magic answers” for the students but instead drew on his own life experiences for guidance. Soon after he enlisted in the Navy in 1940 he learned that “you can’t row a boat unless everyone is pulling in the same direction. You see infinitely varied skills and personalities, and virtually everyone will make a contribution to the common effort if you dig until you find the skill that each person brings to the table and make room for them to employ those skills.”
He told of serving on a destroyer on convoy duty in the Mediterranean during World War II when a torpedo hit a nearby transport. The ship exploded and sank, killing all 580 men aboard. “A second torpedo sank our ship,” he continued. “Every convoy’s standing orders were quite clear and strict: If a ship went down, every other ship in the convoy must sail on, lest other ships be hit as well. But that night, two destroyer escorts manned by the Coast Guard ignored the orders. They stopped and, at intense risk to themselves, shined their searchlights on the waters until they could fish out the men from my destroyer. The captains of those ships did not go to prep school but they had somewhere learned what I am trying to convey to you now. Work as a team, remember where you came from, and leave no comrade behind.”
From World War II he shifted to current events, offering a ringing endorsement of Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Judge Sotomayor spent five years in Manhattan as an Assistant District Attorney “prosecuting murderers, child pornographers, and just about any other kind of criminal you can imagine,” he recalled. “She illustrates the basic principle of the American credo…It didn’t stop with Abe Lincoln. If you are an individual with talent who will work hard, you can be promoted to any position your skills earn.
“The American Dream does not always come true,” he cautioned. “Life can never be that simple. But Judge Sotomayor’s example shows that it is a dream well worth pursuing.” His remarks on behalf of Judge Sotomayor drew loud applause, save for the the same few who again shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
His parting advice: “Use the next few years to explore knowledge and your own mind before working too hard on a career. Be loyal to those in your past. Look for the best in the people you meet down the road, appreciate their diverse talents, and work with them to resolve today’s challenges.” He received a standing ovation.
Don’t tell Kotch but I think Morgenthau’s speech may have been even better than his.
Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.
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