George W. Bush

Field: politics

Transcript

President George W. Bush addresses Calvin College's Class of 2005, urging graduates to contribute to American freedom by serving their communities. Drawing on Alexis de Tocqueville and Dutch figure Abraham Kuyper, he argues that individual freedom is anchored in community institutions like family, faith, and civic organizations. He calls on graduates to choose citizenship over spectatorship and to embrace service through faith-based and community efforts.

Key moments

01 Opens with humor about his own college experience and English skills
02 Cites Tocqueville's Democracy in America on Americans banding together for the common good
03 Argues private character, local power, and community involvement sustain a free society
04 References Abraham Kuyper's call for Dutch immigrants to serve as Christian citizens
05 Challenges graduates to choose to be citizens, not spectators, through service

Transcript

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Provenance

Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB

NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording