Introduction:

Now I have the honor of introducing our distinguished commencement speaker Kay Bailey Hutchison, United States Senator from Texas.

Senator Hutchison was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas. She is a prominent, senior-leader in the U.S. Senate with so many accomplishments that if I were to cover all of them for you then my introduction, would be longer than her speech.

But, there is a thorough biography in today's program, so you can review the details there and I will speak briefly on the Senator's leadership in the area of education, and her support of this university.

In 2001, Senator Hutchison wrote provisions to the no child left behind act which contains the most extensive reform changes to the elementary and secondary education act, since 1965.

Senator Hutchison also wrote provisions to help recruit teachers in an educational bill signed into law in 2002. And also in 2002, her leadership in the Federal appropriations process resulted in a grant to launch UNT's science and math teacher academy at our UNT Dallas Campus. The Senator made a special trip to the Dallas campus in June of that year to announce the funding.

And despite Senator Hutchison's past University of Texas connection, including degrees from U.T. and the U. T. Law school, she is very good friend to this university, the University of North Texas. And I consider her a very good personal friend, as well. I'm honor to introduce our friend, our Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Kay Bailey Hutchison:

Thanks. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Members of the Board of Regents, Chancellor Jackson, president Pohl, members of the faculty, invited guests and most importantly the mighty class of 2004. Congratulations.

One member of your class, Amanda Lynn Chase, spent the last four months toiling away in my press office in Washington DC. And I'm counting on Amanda to see that the North Texas Daily covers my speech of very favorably.

I know that some of you out there spent more time at the Tomato than Wooten Hall. More time preparing for the Fry Street Fair than for finals. But you are here and that's all that matters now. Congratulations for sure.

Earlier this year, I met the former president of Brazil, Fernando Cardoso. He was serving as a visiting scholar at the library of Congress and I asked him this question: "When you return home and you speak to the Rotary Club in Rio, what are you going to relate to them about your four months experience in the United States?" Without a pause he said: "The extraordinary commitment to higher education. It is unique to America, the way universities welcome partnerships with business and utilize the resources of the community to enhance the educational experience of American students." I thought that said a lot. And as you are being privileged today to graduate from one of these extraordinary universities, I think that you should be proud too.

This is the fourth-largest University in Texas, with 98 Bachelors, 128 Masters, and 48 Doctoral degree programs. It is nationally known for programs as diverse as jazz studies, fashion design, and urban policy.

I want to start with the simple advice that you probably got from your mother. Since tomorrow is Mother's Day, and you have just given her her best present already, I'm going to read from a book that you probably read a 1000 times. It gives you almost all the advice you need for life's journey. From Dr. Seuss: "On you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go, though your enemies prowl. Onward up many a frightening creek. Though your arms may get sore, and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike, and I know you'll hike far. And face up to your problems whatever they are. You'll get mixed up of course as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life's a great balancing act. And will you succeed, yes you will indeed. 98 and 3/4th percent guaranteed. Kid you'll move mountains, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting so get on your way."

That is the advice for the normal challenges of life. But your generation has another challenge. When you started classes here, four, or five, or six years ago, you couldn't have imagined how much our world would change before this day came.

On September 11, 2001, your sophomore year in college, terrorists struck America and forever altered the course of our nation. That day more than 3000 innocent people lost their lives in New York City, Washington DC, and rural Pennsylvania. A nation previously insulated by geographic borders is no longer. A tremendous challenge has been placed on our shoulders.

History has shown us time and again, that freedom is not free. It takes a constant effort to maintain and for over 200 years, America has been at the forefront, answering freedom's call.

I want to take a moment now and asked if any of you, anywhere in this auditorium, if any of you have a family member now serving in our military or if you yourself are serving in guard or reserve in our military. I want you to stand, right now, so that we can thank you. So that we can thank you from a grateful nation.

Thank you. Thank you. It was Thomas Jefferson who declared: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Every generation is called upon to protect our liberty."

During World War II, thousands of Americans lost their lives, in a global battle against an insidious enemy, Nazi totalitarianism. Tom Brokaw poignantly recounted the tales of those heroes in his book: "The Greatest Generation." He told the first-person stories of love, loss, and honor. Your grandfather's generation did their jobs, fought for our freedom, came home, and didn't even talk about it. They simply felt it was their duty.

And yet, the battle was not over, and it is never over. Almost immediately, we were thrown into a Cold War. America once again called to contain the sinister brutality of communism. The Berlin Wall came down, when you were an elementary school. And most of you have never viewed Russia as an adversary. What a testament to the strength of our democracy, that in a generation global politics can shift so dramatically. The Cold War took five decades to win. There were periodic wars, but the Cold War was really a testament of perseverance and a test of our national will.

Again, America prevailed and more than 400 million people living under the yolk of communism were set free. It is the signal accomplishment of the last half-century.

Yet again, we soon learned the battle for freedom was not finished. It is never finished. The Cold War ended when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. The post-Cold War ended when the World Trade Center came crashing down.

Today we're racing with a new threat, global terrorism. An enemy with no borders, no uniforms, no respect for the traditional rules of war, and more importantly no respect for human life. An enemy willing to kill itself, in order to kill us. This is a test of my generation and your generation.

World War II took a few years of bitter fighting and sacrifice. The Cold War took decades of dedication and patience. This battle against terrorism is an amalgamation of both. A war, and a long Cold War to follow. The question is: "Will our generation meet the test? Will we have what it takes to win?" It will take both our generations for this fight for freedom. We must start the fight, but you must have the patience and commitment to see it to its end. It will be 25 to 50 years, before we see the victory in transformation of cultures that have never known freedom.

Our reaction to September 11 was swift. We went to root out terrorism in Al-Quaeda's breeding ground. Now we are implanting the message of democracy. Today 12-year-old girls in Afghanistan are going to school for the first time. Where there was once evil and oppression in Iraq, there is now hope. Our efforts won't succeed overnight, it will take patience and steadfast commitment by the American people. We must show that the benefits of freedom, where people live in dignity, with basic human rights, and the ability to rule themselves, are places where fanaticism cannot flourish, and we will all be safer. We are protecting freedom every bit as much as our fathers and mothers and grandparents did before us. We must prove worthy of those who have gone before us. On our watch, we must not lose what the sacrifices of others have gained.

Today our country is weathering a storm. Stories that some of our own have mistreated prisoners in our custody against our own standards, against our morals. We will show why we are different. The truth will come out. And justice will prevail. And the stories of heroism will drown out the negativism.

Pat Tillman, who gave up a $4 million NFL contract to enlist as an Army Ranger and died for our country in Afghanistan. It is the respect for human life and the zeal for freedom that makes us different from our enemy.

And I will end with a story that represents what America really stands for. It is the story of the rescue of Jessica Lynch. We all know that story, we all saw it happen before our eyes. But it wasn't the rescue itself, that is the testament to America. It was the dead of night. The Army Rangers had one Mission. To go into that hospital, to rescue Jessica Lynch and to take her to the helicopter and get out of there before dawn.

But something happened in that hospital, a doctor said to the Commander: "You know that there are dead Americans buried on the hospital grounds." He did not know that. They were not prepared for that. But he said: "We will take every American home." And he described it this way, they dug with their hands, and raced the sun. They had no shovels, they had nothing. They dug with their hands, and they took every dead American to the helicopter because their motto is: "We never leave one of our own behind."

We never leave one of our own behind. That is the difference between us and our enemy. That is why we will win this war for freedom. We cannot lose. Our generation will meet this test and we will pass freedom to our children as our fathers and grandfathers have done for us. We will do that. We will do that for the future of America. America is the beacon of freedom to the world. If we don't stand for freedom, it will not flourish anywhere.

So thank you, thank you for graduating today. Thank you for being a part of a new generation, a generation that will meet responsibility for our country and our future. Congratulations.