University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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- T THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE TWENTY YEARS ago, in writing one of my first messages for a senior class after becoming President of the Univer- sity, I expressed the opinion that one of the most im- portant attributes of educated men and women was their ability to withhold decisions and action until they had askod and answered two questions: Is it so? and What of it? At that time the greatest economic depression in history was just getting under way, and there was considerable justification for pessimism about the ability of a frocly competitive capitalistic system to remain solvent. While tho system has since pulled itself out of the quicksand, and has amazed the world by its productive power in war and peace, efforts to maintain or increase our pessimism about the American way of doing things, and to lead or force us into dictatorship have multiplied many fold. It is even more important now than it was two decades ago to meet statements on points of controversy with a reasonable amount of skepticism. But I have learned in these years that it is not enough to question the truth or significance of what others tell us. It is essential also that we seek the answers to such questions, and that we lend our positive support to those things which aro true and significant. We need skeptics, but we do not want cynics. We know our democracy is not yet functioning per- fectly and that free enterprise has its faults, but we also know, if we have any ability to observe and evaluate, that no other form of government offers the individual greater freedom to seek betterment and happiness, and no other economic system has ever rewarded the individual more richly for his efforts. If we become so obsessed with vices that we cannot recognize virtues, then skepticism may destroy rather than save us. I com- mend this thought to you as you leave the Berkeley campus, and I wish you every success in whatever you undertake to do in the world beyond its confinos. i

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THE UNIVERSITY THE CLASSES STUDENT LIFE ATHLETICS ORGANIZATIONS

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