Clinton claims he's an heir of the era
Ruth Stevens
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Clinton spoke to nearly 800 students, faculty, staff and scholars in Richardson Auditorium. Before his address, he was presented with the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service by the American Whig-Cliosophic Society, Princeton's largest student organization.
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"The central lesson of the Progressive Era is that you either have to shape change consistent with your values, or you will be shaped by it in ways that make it more difficult for you to live by your values," he said. "To retreat from responsibility is to invite instability. To embrace the obligation of leadership has consistently, under Progressive times, led to better lives for all Americans."
Clinton delivered the keynote address at an academic conference on "The Progressive Tradition: Politics, Culture and History." During the two-day event, noted scholars re-evaluated the Progressive Era, a 20-year period of political and social reform that began in 1900. Panels explored the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, a Princeton graduate who also served as the University's president.
Speaking to a crowd of nearly 800 students, faculty, staff and scholars in Richardson Auditorium of Alexander Hall, Clinton said, "I always felt that the work we did in the last eight years made us the heir of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson."
In fact, the last time he was on campus to speak on commencement during the University's 250th anniversary celebration, Clinton called his time as president a "New Progressive Era."
"The Progressives thought we could only keep faith with the past by keeping faith with the future," he said during his more recent 45-minute address. "Their time had much in common with ours. Therefore, our responsibilities have much in common with theirs: To preserve what is enduring, but to adapt our nation, time and again, to what is new."
Clinton said his administration has worked to adapt U.S. domestic and foreign policies to "sweeping changes" in such areas as science and technology, social diversity, pluralism and global interdependence.
He cited today's economic expansion, rise in household income and decline in poverty rate as evidence of his administration's success in implementing the Progressive principles. But he said more is yet to be done, especially in such areas as creating additional educational support, providing workers with more child care alternatives and, in general, bringing the less advantaged into what he called "the circle of opportunity."
"We get a chance like we have today maybe once every 50 years -- where we have both prosperity and social progress, coupled with national self-confidence and the absence of serious crises at home or threat abroad -- to imagine the future we would like to build, and then go about building it," he said.
"I believe that in order to preserve a new Progressive Era," he said, "we must go much further than we have in our own national consciousness in understanding that our continued prosperity as well as our security requires us to continue to be involved in the world -- to lead in the world and to cooperate in the world."
Clinton mentioned U.S. involvement in peacekeeping efforts, noting the recent fall from power of Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
"We have made the world more safe against force and selfish aggression, but we know like Roosevelt and Wilson before us that no peace is lasting unless it is backed by the consistent, dedicated leadership of nations that have the wealth, size and power to do the right thing," he said.
"Here in America and in more and more nations around the world, progressive parties are in power," he continued. "I believe that the continuation of this legacy in our time depends as much as anything else on whether we actually believe in our common humanity and the primary importance of acting on our increasing interdependence."
He encouraged the audience to analyze history and to use that knowledge to preserve the principles of the Progressive Era.
"You are in the middle of what could be the longest and most significant progressive era in American history," he concluded. "I ask you to study the one that happened before, but to fully live the one that is unfolding before your eyes."
Before his address, Clinton was presented with the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service by Katharine Strong Gilbert, president of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society. Founded in 1765, it is the oldest college political, literary and debating society and is Princeton's largest student organization. The award goes annually to an individual who has dedicated himself or herself to the nation's service and the service of all nations. Past honorees have included Earl Warren, Golda Meir, Jesse Jackson and Adlai Stevenson.
"You are in the middle of what could be the longest and most significant progressive era in American history. I ask you to study the one that happened before, but to fully live the one that is unfolding before your eyes."
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October 16, 2000 Contents • Close
encounter: Crowd relishes access to
president • Imaginations
drive wall • Spotlight
/ People
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