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REMARKS AT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
COMMENCEMENT, HEIDELBERG, GERMANY

June 2, 1968

The office of Governor brings many burdens and an occasional
blessing. Among our nation's fifty Governors, the Governor of Mary-
land alone can look forward to a responsibility which is really a
blessing, and that is the University of Maryland commencement at
Heidelberg.

I shall cherish the experience of visiting this historic City and par-
ticipating in this impressive ceremony. I am proud that Maryland, in
its own way, shared in Heidelberg's great University tradition; and
I am particularly honored that Chancellor Kiesinger has joined us
today.

As I bring greetings and good wishes to today's graduates, their
families and the University faculty, I also convey the warmest regards
of the citizens of Maryland to the citizens of Germany.

James Garfield, the twentieth President of the United States said,
"Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education,
without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently main-
tained. "

The Department of Defense, through its support of the Armed
Forces educational programs, demonstrates that the causes of freedom
and education may be simultaneously served. We are primarily a
nation of citizen soldiers and the time that a citizen spends as a soldier
is best spent when it combines the development of his talents as a
citizen with the sharpening of his skills as a soldier. In this way the
citizen soldier fights for freedom on two fronts; with his mind and with
his body.

Military service properly viewed and used becomes not an interrup-
tion but a continuation of individual enrichment. Those of you who
have seized this opportunity are to be congratulated for being both
good citizens and good soldiers.

I think we all agree that knowledge is a formidable force and the
ultimate weapon to peace and progress. I think we are also sufficiently
schooled in the "Realpolitik" to realize that until all men recognize
the rule of knowledge, free men must rely on the rule of strength.