Louis B. Susman
Field: politics
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Louis B. Susman at Connecticut College, 2012
A Connecticut College address about interdisciplinary curiosity, global responsibility, the American promise of earned dreams, reputation, and courage.
Speech arc
- 0194th Commencement
Opening move
- 02Official PDF transcript
Speech beat
- 03Honorary degree
Speech beat
- 04Parent return
Speech beat
- 05Ask better questions
Speech beat
- 06Connected world
Speech beat
- 07Kennedy torch
Speech beat
- 08Reputation and dreams
Final charge
Return: An ambassador returns as guest, honoree, and parent
Susman opens by placing the day inside Connecticut College memory: an honorary doctorate, a friendship with President Leo Higdon, and his own experience watching his daughter graduate in 1984.
Occasion
The official Connecticut College PDF identifies the May 20, 2012 address as the 94th Commencement.
View
The Long Island Sound setting gives the speech a concrete sense of place before it turns outward to the world.
Role
As U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Susman frames public service as a lived responsibility rather than a ceremonial title.
Susman opens by placing the day inside Connecticut College memory: an honorary doctorate, a friendship with President Leo Higdon, and his own experience watching his daughter graduate in 1984.
Education: A liberal arts education teaches inquiry before certainty
The speech praises Connecticut College for teaching graduates to approach problems across disciplines and to ask stronger questions, not merely repeat answers.
Range
Senior work on agriculture, women's economic development, trafficking, and human rights becomes evidence of broad civic preparation.
Curiosity
The college is credited with opening students' eyes to the world and awakening them to life's possibilities.
Voice
Graduation is treated as the moment to find a public voice and understand one's place in a wider world.
The speech praises Connecticut College for teaching graduates to approach problems across disciplines and to ask stronger questions, not merely repeat answers.
World: Interdependence turns distant problems into shared duties
Susman links the economy, security, climate change, poverty, terrorism, migration, and pollution as evidence that graduates cannot isolate themselves from global events.
Connection
Financial crisis, terrorism, pollution, and poverty are presented as cross-border realities with shared consequences.
Generation
Young people in the Arab Spring become a sign that the next generation is already accepting responsibility.
Action
The charge is not to wait for perfect clarity, but to engage fully and help the world find its way ahead.
Susman links the economy, security, climate change, poverty, terrorism, migration, and pollution as evidence that graduates cannot isolate themselves from global events.
• Key takeaways •
Ask questions across disciplines
Connects to curiosity.
Find your public voice
Connects to global responsibility.
Global challenges are shared
Connects to public service.
Dreams create obligations
Connects to courage.
Reputation and courage travel together
Connects to reputation.
Closing charge
The address turns Kennedy's image of the torch into a generational handoff and closes with two practical rules: protect reputation and have courage to follow dreams.
Receive the torch and build a future worthy of your dreams
Promise
The American promise is described as the right to pursue dreams rather than inherit rank or title.
Reputation
Reputation is treated as civic capital: slow to build and easy to damage.
Courage
The final counsel asks graduates to make contributions now and shape a future worthy of their values.
The address turns Kennedy's image of the torch into a generational handoff and closes with two practical rules: protect reputation and have courage to follow dreams.
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Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →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
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