420 State Papers and Addresses

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY—COMMENCEMENT
EXERCISES

June 9, 1941
Washington, D. C.

YOUNG men stepping forth from the halls of Georgetown today, to swell
the glorious throng who have reaped the benefits of her training in the
past, will enter a vastly different world from that encountered by graduates
of any previous year.

Amid all of the tremendous changes that have occurred and that portend,
however, it is a solace to know that there has been no change in the basic
cultural and spiritual dowry that Georgetown gives to her sons. There has
'been no change, because there has been need of none. The fundamental truths
and principles which were part of the curriculum in this Mother of Catholic
Colleges in the first days of this Republic are still, and must continue to be,
the guiding principles of life for every man who aspires to something more in
life than mere economic progress.

Coming here today to take part in Georgetown's graduation ceremonies
is like returning for a family reunion. So close have been relations between
our State and the University since those early days when Georgetown was
physically a part of Maryland; and so pleasant have been our associations
with the Institution and with its faculty, that it is rather as an adopted son
of the University than as Chief Executive of a neighboring State that I prefer
to look upon this visit today.

While the name of Georgetown strikes a responsive chord in hearts
throughout every section of the Nation today, Maryland rightly regards the
University with a special feeling of affection. Not alone is this so because
the Institution was founded by one of Maryland's most revered clergymen
and citizens, Archbishop John Carroll; nor even by reason of the fact that the
people of Maryland had such an intimate part in the establishment and up-
building of the University in its early days. Down through the century and
a half that Old Hilltop has spread its leavening influence upon the educational
system of our Country, Maryland's sons ever have been among its students,
and its alumni have left their impress deep upon the history of our State.
Simply to refer to our State's official anthem, "Maryland, My Maryland" is to
stir up memories of Georgetown of nearly a century ago, for it was your
alumnus, James Ryder Randall, who penned those heroic stanzas, the appeal
of which will never die.

These are stirring times in the world, and young men who have spent
the last four years on the banks of the Potomac, within earshot, so to speak,
of our National Capitol, know perhaps much more fully than do the graduates
of other sections, of the fast-changing and increasingly ominous developments