Thayer Award Acceptance Address

general douglas macarthur: Thayer Award Acceptance Address<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

general westmoreland, general grove, distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the corps!

as i was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, "where are you bound for, general?" and when i replied, "<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />west point," he remarked, "beautiful place. have you ever been there before?"

no human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this [Thayer Award]. coming from a profession i have served so long, and a people i have loved so well, it fills me with an emotion i cannot express. but this Award is not intended primarily to honor a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code -- the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent. that is the animation of this medallion. for all eyes and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the american soldier. that i should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride and yet of humility which will be with me always: duty, honor, country.

those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. they are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

unhappily, i possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean. the unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and i am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.

but these are some of the things they do. they build your basic character. they mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. they make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid. they teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in(请你继续关注：Www.) the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the si ……此处隐藏15510个字…… us; lets elect a peoples president; and lets have government by and for the american people again. to an administration that would savage student loans and education at the dawn of a new technological age, we say: you fit the classic definition of a cynic; you know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. to our students and their parents, we say: we will insist on the highest

standards of excellence, because the jobs of the future require skilled minds. to young americans who may be called to our countrys service, we say: we know your generation will proudly answer our countrys call, as each generation before you. this past year, we remembered the bravery and sacrifice of americans at normandy. and we finally paid tribute -- as we should have done years ago -- to that unknown soldier who represents all the brave young americans who died in vietnam. let no one doubt, we will defend americas security and the cause of freedom around the world. but we want a president who tells us what americas fighting for, not just what we are fighting against. we want a president who will defend human rights, not just where it is convenient, but wherever freedom is at risk -- from chile to afghanistan, from poland to south africa. to those who have watched this administrations confusion in the middle east, as it has tilted first toward one and then another of israels long-time enemies and wonder: will america stand by her friends and sister democracy? we say: america knows who her friends are in the middle east and around the world. america will stand with israel always. finally, we want a president who will keep america strong,

but use that strength to keep america and the world at peace. a nuclear freeze is not a slogan: it is a tool for survival in the nuclear age. if we leave our children nothing else, let us leave them this earth as we found it: whole and green and full of life. i know in my heart that walter mondale will be that president. a wise man once said, every one of us is given the gift of life, and what a strange gift it is. if it is preserved jealously and selfishly, it impoverishes and saddens. but if it is spent for others, it enriches and beautifies. my fellow americans: we can debate policies and programs, but in the end what separates the two parties in this election campaign is whether we use the gift of life for others or only ourselves. tonight, my husband, john, and our three children are in this hall with me. to my daughters, donna and laura, and my son, john junior, i say: my mother did not break faith with me, and i will not break faith with you. to all the children of america, i say: the generation before ours kept faith with us, and like them, we will pass on to you a stronger, more just america. thank you.

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