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Friday, May 18, 2018

LEARNING WITHOUT LIBERTY IS ALWAYS IN VAIN

JFK DELIVERS COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT VANDERBILT 

Nashville (JFK+50) President John F. Kennedy gave the commencement address to the faculty and graduates of Vanderbilt University* here in Nashville on May 18, 1963. The President was the honored participant in the 90th commencement exercises held at Dudley Field on the campus just west of downtown Nashville.

More than 30,000 people attended the event with the President's address beginning at 11:10 a.m. Central time.  Other guests included Tennessee senators Estes Kefauver and Albert Gore, Sr.,Tennessee Congressmen Richard R. Fulton, Joe L. Evans, Ross Bass, Robert A. Everett, and Tom Murray.

The day of the Vanderbilt commencement was also the 30th anniversary of the Tennessee Valley Authority.  Guests included members of the Army Corps of Engineers of the Tennessee Valley.

President Kennedy said...

"Vanderbilt University...has grown from a small Tennessee university...to one of our Nation's greatest, with 7 different colleges, and with more than half of its 4200 students from outside...the state."

The President continued...

"The essence of Vanderbilt is still learning.  The essence of its outlook is still liberty.  And liberty and learning will and must be the touchstones of any free university in this country.  For liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain."


*Vanderbilt University, founded in 1873, was named for Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt who hoped his $1 million endowment would help heal the wounds between the North and South brought by the Civil War.

In 2012, VU was ranked 17th among all universities in the United States and #1 in the fields of special education, audiology and educational administration. 



Cornelius Vanderbilt Statue
 Vanderbilt University
 Nashville, Tennessee
 Photo by John White (2011)