HONORARY DEGREE CITATIONS
Both born and educated "far above Cayuga's waters," for a third of a century you have played leading roles in American life, at the bar, in extraordinary public service, and as the stalwart leader of Cornell's trustees. From the thirties, when the problem was malpractice in the nation's security markets, through the fifties and the frightful frustrations in dealing with the Chinese Communists at Panmunjom, to the sixties, when the problem is that grossest of all malpractices, nuclear war, you and "hard-nosed" assignments have had an affinity for each other. We are grateful to one who bears without dismay the burden of both man's fear of himself and his hope for disarmament. We expect no miraculous deliverance from this Janus-faced outlook. We ask only on the side of man's best hope that your staunch spirit may stand between us and surrender to irrational fear, just as it has stood between us and the unreason of our adversaries. Dartmouth welcomes into the fellowship of his son an eminent lawyer who now, as the custodian of a cause that transcends the client's interest, deserves to bear the symbol of society's highest respect, the Doctorate of Laws, honoris causa.
Except for an educational foray into New England to capture Dartmouth's A.B. and Harvard's LL.B. degrees, you have as- sumed that being born in Chicago saves a fellow from a lot of looking around, particularly a fellow destined before his fiftieth birthday to be president of the world's largest bank under one roof. But it is neither the size of your bank's roof nor even your position as a pillar of that roof that brings you here today. Unlike the ancient Corinthian monument which cited a citizen for being "a banker but honest," we presume fidelity as well as prudence in one of your profession and our tribute is reserved for such a one who is also noted for his vision in both our public and private affairs, for his ability to reassure us (and incidentally Mr. Khrushchev) on the authority of Governor Bradford's history that communism was tried and found wanting in America some two hundred years before Marx, and yet who tells us straight out that the American way, as foretold by our own Declaration of Independence, is not to require others to model themselves in our image. In token of her appreciation to all her sons whose private careers strengthen the fabric of American publicmindedness your College acknowledges you to be a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
Born an American because of crop failure in the fields of Ireland, inured to hard work and short rations as an orphan in the coal fields of Pennsylvania, educated at West Point from the enlisted ranks, seasoned to combat as a parachutist in the fields of Europe, commander of the legendary 82nd Airborne at 37, author, businessman, diplomat, devotee of music, painting, the ballet and five (repeat five) daughters - how self-made can one man be? You exemplify your own precept that "power and leadership are inseparable." You understand that power of the modern mind we call science and the practitioners of that power have good reason to regard you as a valiant leader of it. From the cold regions at the ends of the earth to the heat barrier at the beginnings of space you, as Chief of Army Research and Development, led the early and suc- cessful efforts to match the ongoing power of our knowledge with our will to use it. It is particularly fitting that one who personifies Lord Dartmouth's motto, "Valor Rejoices in Contest," should bear from this day on the highest honor this College bestows, her honorary Doctorate of Laws.
In the world of medicine your name passes current as an international standard of excellence at the bedside, in the laboratory, and in councils of state. Mindful of the tangled claims of heredity and education for any greatness, we may impartially say that on both counts few men could have been better prepared for service to the life sciences than the son of Jacques Loeb. And fairness to yourself impels us to say that the potential which was at hand has been more than fulfilled: it has been honored by an earned distinction edged with grace. In the literature of modern medicine your name stands to the fore in the investigation of electrolyte and water metabolism, in the treatment of Addison's disease and diabetes, and also as the author of medical texts to whom medical students are only less indebted than their prospective patients. All of this and more is witnessed by the honors you hold, the homage of your peers, and the responsibilities you bear. Here at Dartmouth where you have encouraged and helped guide the refounding of our historic medical school we feel the special gratitude a patient knows for the family doctor whose personal concern is matched by the magic of his cures. On you, a great physician in the most meaningful sense of that proud appellation, Dartmouth with abiding admiration and affection bestows her Doctorate of Science.
Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth, Class of 1939, Yale Ph.D., twenty years of scholarly work in human perception and communication earned you preeminence in your profession. The Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Psychological Association in 1960 was followed only a year later by your election to the presidency of that Association, honors rarely accorded the younger generation in any profession. A son's scholarly harvest is itself a bountiful re- turn in kind to his alma mater, but the commitment of a liberally educated man is to his time as well as his trade and four years ago you postponed new scientific study to devote your expertness to the greatest issue of human nature in our time - the cold war. You remind us that the mentality of war is ever the enemy of that knowledge of self by which alone a free society can be true unto itself and you ask us to ponder well whether in today's nuclear arms race and mistrustful negotiations the way forward cannot be pried open by the unilateral use on both sides of one of the oldest forces in human affairs - the power of a good example. In appreciation of your example as a teacher-scholar and concerned citizen your College confers on you her Doctorate of Science, honoris causa.
Your matchless art has created its own rival - those who would out-sing you with your praise. In five fiery years of grand opera you have called forth more metaphors, more similes, more "F" notes of praise than perhaps any prima donna since Helen of Troy. Unlike yourself, Helen never was acclaimed "the essential female" by one admirer and yet by another as "a completely reasonable woman." These somewhat contradictory judgments of yourself were brought into divine harmony however by a third critic, who revealed you as in truth "a Goddess performing among us," a revelation with which we are here content and will not compete. Even so the paeans have not all been figuratively sung; the forty-two minutes of ovation which made Metropolitan Opera history last year was surely no figure of speech! Your mother tells us your voice "came from God," but you make the effort that turns talent into art. It has been asked how many people know the work, energy, ambition, and loving help that brought you to this pinnacle? One person alone ever knows these answers, and because you know them so well and because you transform them into a joy that does both man and his Maker proud, Dartmouth delights to unfurl for your bearing the banner of her honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
It is not just that you are a product of New Hampshire, not just that your East Derry rearing was an idyl of boyhood which featured such staples as crashing a home-made glider at age eleven, the Boy Scouts, ski-jumping, church, school, Tom Swiftand His Flying Boat, and working almost as hard as all fathers are wont to say they did; nor is it that these led to Annapolis and the proud duty of a Navy test pilot; no, it is not even that you are the son of a Dartmouth man, Class of 1913. It is simply that you are the American Christopher Columbus of space exploration. Your May 5, 1961 exploit was heroic because it was the kind of bravery that mattered greatly. It was a bravery in skill that gave new relevance to knowledge and opened unimagined realms as the reward of effort. Dartmouth is privileged to acknowledge such a mastery of both self and of unique tasks with the unprecedented award of her Master's degree both honoris causa and summa cumlaude.
ALAN BARTLETT SHEPARD JR. Astronaut; Commander, U. S. Navy MASTER OF ARTS
