[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5808-S5811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ROTARY KEYNOTE ADDRESS

  Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, I wish to call the attention of my 
colleagues to a most thoughtful address delivered in my State of 
Indiana recently by a fellow Hoosier, one who served as a Member of 
Congress from Indiana for 22 years, 1959 until 1981. I refer to Dr. 
John Brademas, who represented the district centered in South Bend.
  A Democrat, John Brademas served throughout those years on the 
Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives where 
he took part in writing most of the measures then enacted to support 
schools, colleges, and universities; the arts and the humanities; 
libraries and museums; Head Start; and education of children with 
disabilities as well as others.
  In his last 4 years, John Brademas was majority whip of the House of 
Representatives, third-ranking member of the Leadership.
  Seeking election in 1980 to a 12th term, John Brademas lost that 
race. He was shortly thereafter invited to become president of New York 
University, the Nation's largest private, or independent, university.
  He served as president until 1992 when he became president emeritus, 
his present position. I believe it is recognized by those in the higher 
education world in the United States that John Brademas led the 
transformation of NYU, as it is known, to one of the most successful 
institutions of higher learning in our country.
  A graduate of Harvard University where, as a Veterans National 
Scholar, he earned his B.A., magna cum laude, in 1949, he went on to 
Oxford University, England, where as a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a 
Ph.D. with a dissertation on the anarchist movement in Spain.
  John Brademas is married to Dr. Mary Ellen Brademas, a physician in 
private practice, a dermatologist, affiliated with the NYU Medical 
Center.
  On May 2, 2009, John Brademas delivered the keynote address, 
``Rotary: Pathfinder to Peace,'' for a statewide conference in 
Indianapolis of members of Rotary Clubs from throughout Indiana.
  I believe my colleagues will read with interest John Brademas' 
address on this occasion, and I ask unanimous consent to have the text 
of his remarks printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                      ROTARY: PATHBUILDER TO PEACE

  Keynote Address of Dr. John Brademas, President Emeritus, New York 
University and Former Member (1959-1981), U.S. House of Representatives 
                              (Dem.-Ind.)


             rotary international district 6506 conference

                  (Indianapolis, Indiana, May 2, 2009)

       Rotary District Governor, Judge Tom Fisher; Rotarians all, 
     I am greatly honored to have been invited to open your 
     conference in Indianapolis today.
       In the first place, I am a fellow Hoosier. My mother was 
     born in Grant County, Indiana, and my two brothers, sister 
     and I, while students in school in South Bend, would spend 
     summers in the small Grant County town of Swayzee at the home 
     of my mother's parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Chester Goble.
       As my grandfather had been a school principal and college 
     history professor, he had a library in their home of some 
     6,000 books. My brothers, sister and I practically lived in 
     that library during those summers--an invaluable experience.
       My mother was a schoolteacher and my father ran a 
     restaurant. My dad, Stephen J. Brademas, was born in Greece, 
     and although we four children grew up with a strong sense of 
     pride in our Hellenic ancestry, we were all members of the 
     Methodist Church.
       I must add that I am the first person of Greek origin 
     elected to the Congress of the United States, and only last 
     month I was at the White House for a reception hosted by 
     President Obama to mark Greek Independence Day, while some 
     days after that, I attended a similar reception at Gracie 
     Mansion, the home of Mayor Bloomberg of New York City.
       You may also be interested to know that when I was a senior 
     at South Bend Central High School, P. D. Pointer, our school 
     principal, invited me to join him at the regular luncheons of 
     the Rotary Club of South Bend.


                       rotary club of south bend

       Indeed, on inquiry of the Rotary Club of South Bend about 
     those luncheons, I learned that 65 years ago, the students 
     who attended them were not called ``Junior Rotarians'' but 
     ``High School Boys'' even as I was reminded that in January 
     1945, 65 years ago, I gave the farewell for the ``High School 
     Boys'' who graduated from Rotary luncheons that week.
       So it's obvious that my link with Rotary goes back a long 
     way!
       After high school, with World War II still on, I enlisted 
     in the Navy and was sent to an officers' training program at 
     the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, Mississippi.
       Following my freshman year at ``Ole Miss'', with the war 
     over, and discharged, I went to Cambridge, Massachusetts and 
     Harvard where I completed college, graduating in 1949. And 
     I'll be back at Harvard next month for the 60th reunion of my 
     graduating class.
       While at Harvard, I spent a summer working with Aztec 
     Indians in rural Mexico, wrote my college honors thesis on 
     the Sinarquista movement there and four years later, at the 
     other Oxford, in England, as a Rhodes Scholar, wrote my Ph.D. 
     dissertation on the anarchist movement in Spain, which was 
     centered in Catalonia.
       My study of the anarchists was published thirty-five years 
     ago, in Spanish, in Barcelona, and, in fact, only last 
     December, I was awarded an honorary degree by the University 
     of Barcelona.
       I like to say that although I studied anarchism, I did not 
     practice it! For only months after returning to South Bend, I 
     was running for Congress.
       Just old enough under the Constitution to be a candidate, I 
     lost my first race, in 1954,

[[Page S5809]]

     by half a percent. Not surprisingly, I decided to run again 
     two years later and lost a second time, in 1956.
       My political godfather, you may be interested to know, was 
     a Hoosier who became Chairman of the Democratic National 
     Committee, the late Paul M. Butler of South Bend.
       Indeed, as I've said, one reason I was so pleased to accept 
     the invitation to address you today is that it's good to be 
     back home in Indiana--and surrounded by fellow Hoosiers!
       After a brief stint serving in Chicago on the presidential 
     campaign staff of Adlai Stevenson, I again ran for Congress 
     and, as I told you, I lost a second time--as did he--in 1956. 
     But I still thought I could win, and on my third try, in 
     1958, was first elected, then ten times reelected, and so was 
     a Member of Congress for twenty-two years.
       I am delighted in this respect to see here today a 
     distinguished member of the Supreme Court of the State of 
     Indiana, Justice Frank Sullivan, and his wife, Cheryl. 
     Justice Sullivan was at one point my top assistant when I was 
     a Member of Congress and, indeed, his wife, Cheryl, was also 
     a member of my staff. She now serves on the staff of Senator 
     Evan Bayh as Policy Director.
       I served on Capitol Hill during the Administrations of six 
     Presidents: three Republicans--Eisenhower, Nixon and Ford; 
     and three Democrats--Kennedy, Johnson and Carter.


                majority whip, house of representatives

       During my last four years, I was the Majority Whip of the 
     House of Representatives, third-ranking position in the House 
     Democratic Leadership.
       Every other week, as Whip, I would join Speaker ``Tip'' 
     O'Neill of Massachusetts, House Majority Leader Jim Wright of 
     Texas, Senate Majority Leader Bob Byrd of West Virginia and 
     Senate Majority Whip Alan Cranston of California for 
     breakfast at the White House with President Carter and Vice 
     President Mondale. All Democrats, we talked politics and 
     policy. It was a fascinating experience and I've just written 
     to President Obama to urge, respectfully, that he follow the 
     same practice.
       Indeed, because, as you may know, President Obama will, in 
     two weeks, give the commencement address at the University of 
     Notre Dame, in my old Congressional District, I hope, as I 
     plan to be there, to review my suggestion with him then.
       Beyond serving as Whip, I found my principal responsibility 
     in Congress was on the Committee on Education and Labor of 
     the House of Representatives. There, for more than two 
     decades, I helped write all the Federal laws then enacted to 
     support schools, colleges and universities; libraries and 
     museums; education for handicapped children; the National 
     Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities; Head Start; the 
     War on Poverty; the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Education Act; the 
     Environmental Education Act; and the Pell Grants for aid to 
     college students.


                      international education act

       But of particular interest, I trust, to Rotarians is that I 
     was also chief author of the International Education Act of 
     1965, a measure that authorized Federal grants to colleges 
     and universities to offer courses about other countries.
       This legislation is, in my view, directly in harmony with 
     the central mission of Rotary International.
       For, as you Rotarians know better than I, the fundamental 
     mission of Rotary, as it describes itself, is ``to build 
     world peace and understanding through its network of over 1.2 
     million members in over 32,000 clubs in 200 countries and 
     geographical areas.''
       The description continues: Rotary club members, coming from 
     all political, social and religious backgrounds, are united 
     in their mission to promote international understanding 
     through humanitarian and educational programs. Rotary clubs 
     initiate projects both locally and internationally, to 
     address the underlying causes of conflict including 
     illiteracy, disease, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water and 
     environmental concerns.


                     president, new york university

       I leap ahead. Following my defeat in my campaign for 
     reelection in 1980, I was invited to become President of New 
     York University, the largest private, or independent, 
     university in the United States.
       Located in Manhattan, headquartered on Washington Square 
     Park, NYU, as it is familiarly known, I found an exciting 
     place to be, and to lead it, an exciting challenge.
       You will not be surprised, in view of what I've told you, 
     that I gave particular attention to NYU's programs for the 
     study of other countries and cultures.
       I found on arrival in 1981 that New York University was 
     already strong in French and German Studies.
       Two years later, in 1983, I awarded an honorary degree to 
     King Juan Carlos I of Spain, announced a professorship in his 
     name and in 1997, in the presence of Their Majesties, the 
     King and his Greek Queen, Queen Sofia, and of the then First 
     Lady of the United States, now Secretary of State, Hillary 
     Rodham Clinton, I dedicated the King Juan Carlos I of Spain 
     Center at NYU for the study of the economics, history and 
     politics of modern Spain.
       All this was the result of my having, as a schoolboy in 
     South Bend, read a book about the Maya! So I know what early 
     exposure to another culture, another country, another 
     language has meant in my own life.
       And I believe that among the reasons--I do not say the only 
     one--the United States suffered such loss of life and 
     treasure in Vietnam and does now in Iraq is ignorance--
     ignorance of the cultures, histories and languages of those 
     societies.
       I add that the tragedies of 9/11, Madrid, London, Bali and 
     Baghdad must bring home to us as Americans the imperative, as 
     a matter of our national security, of learning more about the 
     world of Islam.
       But it is not only for reasons of national security that we 
     must learn more about countries and cultures other than our 
     own. Such knowledge is indispensable, too, to America's 
     economic strength and competitive position in the world.
       The marketplace has now become global. Modern technology--
     the Internet, for example--has made communication and travel 
     possible on a worldwide basis. In the last few years, I 
     myself have visited Spain, England, Greece, Jordan, Morocco, 
     Cuba, Kazakhstan, Japan, Turkey and Vietnam.


                      international studies at nyu

       Reflecting on my commitment to international education, I 
     can say that during my presidency of NYU, my colleagues and I 
     established a Center for Japan-U.S. Business & Economic 
     Studies, a Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, Onassis Center for 
     Hellenic Studies, a Remarque Institute for the Study of 
     Europe, a Center for Dialogue with the Islamic World. And 
     with a gift from a foundation established by the late Jack 
     Skirball, an Evansville, Indiana rabbi, who went into the 
     motion picture business and became very successful, the 
     Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies.
       NYU has also opened several campuses abroad--in Madrid, 
     Florence, Prague, London, Paris and most recently, Dubai, 
     Ghana and Shanghai. We have established an NYU base in Buenos 
     Aires and will shortly do so as well in Tel Aviv.
       Moreover, when I last looked, New York University is among 
     the top half-dozen universities in the United States in 
     hosting students from other countries.
       Now if as a Member of Congress and as president of New York 
     University, I pressed for more study of other countries, 
     cultures and languages, I continued--and continue--to do so 
     wearing other hats.
       Appointed, by President Clinton, chairman of the 
     President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which 
     in 1997 produced a report, Creative America, with 
     recommendations for generating more support for these two 
     fields in American life, I was naturally pleased that our 
     committee recommended that our ``schools and colleges . . . 
     place greater emphasis on international studies and the 
     history, languages and cultures of other nations.''
       As for seven years chairman of the National Endowment for 
     Democracy, the Federally financed agency that makes grants to 
     private groups struggling to build democracy in countries 
     where it does not exist, I had another exposure to the 
     imperative of knowing more about other countries and 
     cultures.
       I continued that interest through service on the World 
     Conference of Religions for Peace; on the advisory council of 
     Transparency International, the organization that combats 
     corruption in international business transactions; and by 
     chairing the American Ditchley Foundation, which helps plan 
     discussions of policy issues at Ditchley Park, a conference 
     center outside Oxford, England.


                  senators richard lugar and evan bayh

       Here I must note that citizens of Indiana can take pride in 
     the leadership in the shaping of our national foreign policy 
     offered by three distinguished legislators in Washington. 
     Senator Richard Lugar is former chairman of, and now ranking 
     Republican on, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, while 
     Lee Hamilton was for a number of years chairman of the House 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs and is now director of the 
     Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C.
       Moreover, Indiana's junior Senator, Evan Bayh, has 
     important assignments in foreign affairs through membership 
     on four committees--Armed Services, Intelligence, Banking, 
     and Energy and Natural Resources.
       Preparing for my visit with you today, I had a good 
     conversation with Harriet Mayor Fulbright, the widow of 
     another distinguished Congressional leader in foreign 
     affairs, the late Senator J. William Fulbright. Harriet told 
     me about a forthcoming--November 1 to 3--Global Symposium of 
     Peaceful Nations.
       The purpose of the Symposium, to be held in Washington, 
     D.C., will be ``to call attention to the value of peace and 
     the strategies available to achieve a more peaceful world.'' 
     The Symposium, to be sponsored by the Alliance for 
     Peacebuilding and the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center, 
     will focus on measuring, defining and quantifying ``peace'', 
     in order, Mrs. Fulbright added, that countries can understand 
     ``the elements of peacefulness''. When I told her I would be 
     speaking to you today, Mrs. Fulbright strongly affirmed the 
     role that Rotarians can play in this effort to recognize and 
     press for the achievement of these elements for global peace. 
     We can, she said, learn how countries are organized to find 
     peace and we can stimulate the leadership to promote peace.
       Clearly, business and the professions have a deep moral 
     interest as well as business and professional interests in 
     building a world of peace.
       I hope that Rotarians will pay attention to the forthcoming 
     Global Symposium because

[[Page S5810]]

     its mission is so much in harmony with the stated goals of 
     Rotary. For I remind you that among the objectives of Rotary 
     is ``the advancement of international understanding, goodwill 
     and peace through a world fellowship of business and 
     professional persons united in the ideal of service.''
       Here are some specific suggestions for what Rotary Clubs 
     and individual Rotarians can do to achieve those objectives. 
     Certainly, Rotary should continue to support current programs 
     such as Polio Plus, Rotary Youth Exchange, for students in 
     secondary education, and the Rotary Foundation's 
     Ambassadorial Scholarships as well as Rotary Fellowships, 
     which support graduate fellowships in other countries.


                       rotary world peace fellows

       I draw particular attention to a relatively new initiative, 
     the ``Rotary Peace and Conflict Resolution Program'', which 
     provides funds for graduate study in several universities 
     around the world. I note that Rotary World Peace Scholars are 
     to complete two-year studies, at the Master's level, in 
     conflict resolution, peace studies and international 
     relations, and that only five years ago, the Rotary World 
     Peace Fellows Association was established to encourage 
     interaction among scholars, Rotarians and the public on 
     issues related to peace studies.


              rotary graduate fellow, joan breton connelly

       Here let me cite an example with which I am familiar of the 
     impact of a Rotary Fellowship.
       In 1979, the Rotary Club of Toledo, Ohio awarded Joan 
     Breton Connelly a Rotary International Graduate Fellowship 
     enabling her to spend a year of study in Athens, Greece. The 
     fellowship supported her participation in the American School 
     of Classical Studies distinguished program in Classical 
     Archaeology. The generous terms of her fellowship allowed her 
     to go to Athens three months early for intensive language 
     training in modern Greek, an utterly transformative 
     experience for Connelly.
       She has returned to Greece every one of the 30 years that 
     have followed, participating in and now, leading, 
     archeological expeditions. A Professor of Classics and Art 
     History at New York University, Connelly has taken hundreds 
     of her own students to Cyprus where she has directed the 
     Yeronisos Island Excavation Field School for nineteen 
     summers.
       Rotary International's investment in the young Joan 
     Connelly has certainly paid off. In 1996, she was awarded a 
     MacArthur Foundation ``Genius'' Award for pushing the 
     boundaries of our understanding of Greek art and myth, 
     reinterpreting the Parthenon frieze. She has become a leader 
     in the preservation of global cultural heritage, having 
     served on the President's Cultural Property Advisory 
     Committee, U.S. Department of State, since 2003.
       In 2002, the Republic of Cyprus awarded Dr. Connelly a 
     special citation for her leadership in the exploration and 
     preservation of Cypriot cultural heritage.
       In 2000, she was granted honorary citizenship by 
     Municipality of Peyia, Republic of Cyprus, singling her out 
     as the only American citizen to enjoy this status. Professor 
     Connelly attributes all these successes to that first break, 
     the Rotary International Graduate Fellowship that so 
     generously opened for her a new world and gave her, through 
     rigorous language training, the all-important gift of 
     communication.
       So I think that Rotary International, Rotary Clubs and 
     Rotarians are on the right track!
       Here I remind you that there are 33,000 Rotary Clubs in 
     over 200 countries and geographical areas with over 1.2 
     million business, professional and community leaders as 
     members.
       I must also tell you that a few years ago (2006), I co-
     chaired the Subcommittee of the Committee for Economic 
     Development (CED) which produced a report entitled, Education 
     for Global Leadership: The Importance of International 
     Studies and Foreign Language Education for U.S. Economic and 
     National Security, and that our report made these 
     recommendations:
       1. That international content be taught across the 
     curriculum and at all levels of learning, to expand American 
     students' knowledge of other countries and cultures.
       2. That we expand the training pipeline at every level of 
     education to address the paucity of Americans fluent in 
     foreign languages, especially critical and less commonly 
     taught ones such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, 
     Persian/Farsi, Russian and Turkish.
       3. That national leaders--political, as well as business, 
     philanthropic and media--educate the public about the 
     importance of improving education in foreign languages and 
     international studies.
       You will not be surprised, in view of what I have already 
     said, that to these recommendations I say anew, ``Amen!''
       Indeed, only a few days ago, former Congressman Lee 
     Hamilton, with whom I spoke about my visit with you today, 
     observed that one aspect of the foreign policy of the United 
     States that pays the highest dividend is our support for 
     international exchanges.


                        CONGRESSMAN LEE HAMILTON

       Lee Hamilton, as you know, one of the most highly respected 
     Members of Congress of our era, told me, ``A foreigner who 
     has studied in the United States will become an ally.'' Lee 
     said that Rotary Clubs were one of the key groups with whom 
     he met in Indiana and added, ``Rotary Clubs in Indiana are 
     movers and shakers, civic-minded leaders in their 
     communities.''
       Now you all know that I am a Democrat but speaking to you 
     today, I am pleased to recall the budget recommendation of 
     President Bush for Fiscal 2007 for programs to strengthen 
     international and foreign language study and to remind you 
     that just four years ago, President Bush told a group of 
     university presidents in the United States how important it 
     was to strengthen the study of foreign languages, 
     particularly Arabic and other critical languages.
       Here I echo the final sentence of the CED Report of which I 
     earlier spoke, ``Our national security and our economic 
     prosperity ultimately depend on how well we educate today's 
     students to become tomorrow's global leaders.''
       To that again I say, ``Amen!''


                     CSIS COMMISSION ON SMART POWER

       As I reflected further on my remarks today, I recalled a 
     most thoughtful report, issued a couple of years ago by the 
     Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 
     entitled the CSIS Commission on Smart Power. The report, 
     produced by an impressive group of American leaders, co-
     chaired by Richard L. Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of 
     State and Assistant Secretary of Defense for International 
     Security Affairs, and Joseph S. Nye, Jr., distinguished 
     service professor at Harvard, former dean of the Kennedy 
     School of Government there, and also former Assistant 
     Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and 
     the chairman of the National Intelligence Council, and 
     including such other figures as former Supreme Court Justice 
     Sandra Day O'Connor, Senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel and 
     several prominent leaders of business and industry, asserted:
       The United States must become a smarter power by once again 
     investing in the global good--providing things people and 
     governments in all quarters of the world want but cannot 
     attain in the absence of American leadership. By 
     complementing U.S. military and economic might with greater 
     investments in soft power, America can build the framework it 
     needs to tackle tough global challenges.
       You will not be surprised that among the recommendations of 
     the CSIS Commission on Smart Power is greater investment in 
     education at every level.
       The authors of the report assert: ``Countries with a higher 
     proportion of 15-to-29 year-olds relative to the adult 
     population are more likely to descend into armed conflict. 
     Education is the best hope of turning young people away from 
     violence and extremism. But hundreds of millions of children 
     in the developing world are not in school or else attend 
     schools with inadequate teachers or facilities. . . . An 
     annual meeting could help increase the saliency of U.S. 
     bilateral and multilateral efforts to increase education 
     levels worldwide . . .
       The report goes on to observe:

     ``. . . [T]he number of U.S. college students studying abroad 
     as part of their college experience has doubled over the last 
     decade to more than 200,000, though this still represents 
     slightly more than 1 percent of all American undergraduates 
     enrolled in public, private and community institutions. One 
     way to encourage U.S. citizen diplomacy is to strengthen 
     America's study abroad programs at both the university and 
     high school levels . . .''
       In addition to increasing the number of American students 
     going abroad, the next administration should make it a 
     priority to increase the number of international students 
     coming to the United States for study and research and to 
     better integrate them into campus life.
       America remains the world's leading education destination, 
     with more than a half-million international students in the 
     country annually.
       We urge the next president of the United States to make 
     educational and institutional exchanges a higher priority . . 
     .
       The American private sector also has a responsibility to 
     educate the next generation of workers. The next president 
     should challenge the corporate sector to develop its own 
     training and internship programs that could help teach the 
     skills that American workers will need in the decades to 
     come. The next administration should consider a tax credit 
     for companies to make their in-house training available to 
     public schools and community colleges.
       The concluding paragraph of the report of the CSIS 
     Commission on Smart Power is also worth quoting here: 
     ``America has all the capacity to be a smart power. It has a 
     social culture of tolerance. It has wonderful universities 
     and colleges. It is has an open and free political climate. 
     It has a booming economy. And it has a legacy of idealism 
     that channeled our enormous hard power in ways that the world 
     accepted and wanted. We can become a smart power again. It is 
     the most important mandate for our next president.''
       I think you can see from what I have told you of the 
     recommendations in this report how closely they harmonize 
     with the goals and mission of Rotary.


             ROTARY CLUBS, ROTARIANS: PATHBUILDERS TO PEACE

       So I hope that individual Rotarians and Rotary Clubs will, 
     wherever they are, among their other commitments, lend 
     support to efforts, both private and public, to encouraging 
     education about other countries and

[[Page S5811]]

     cultures and in this way, in the language of Rotary 
     International, ``provide humanitarian service, encourage high 
     ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill 
     and peace in the world.''
       In this way, Rotary Clubs and Rotarians can be pathbuilders 
     to peace.
       Now both because of the pressures of the economic recession 
     and the commitment of Rotary International and, indeed, of 
     our conference in Indianapolis to ``World Peace and 
     Understanding'', I want to call to your attention a 
     development only several days ago that I believe directly 
     relevant to our discussions.
       I could, of course, speak of President Obama's stimulus 
     plan with its several features designed to put more cash into 
     the pockets of taxpayers, laid-off workers, and first-time 
     homebuyers as well as college students. But I want rather to 
     take note of the action only last month of Congress in 
     voting, by overwhelming bipartisan majorities, approval of 
     the Serve America Act of 2009. This legislation, co-sponsored 
     by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and 
     Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, would by 2017 triple the 
     number of participants in AmeriCorps, our major national 
     service program, and create a number of new volunteer 
     programs. AmeriCorps members work for ten months to one year 
     for a modest stipend, and when they finish, get a grant 
     for education.


             JOHN BRADEMAS CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF CONGRESS

       Finally, I shall take advantage of this forum to say just a 
     word about what is now my own major initiative in my capacity 
     as president emeritus of New York University. It is the John 
     Brademas Center for the Study of Congress, located in NYU's 
     Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
       For I think it is not as widely understood as it should be 
     that in our American separation-of-powers constitutional 
     system, Congress--the Senate and House of Representatives--
     the legislative branch of our national government, can be a 
     source of national policy as well as are the President of the 
     United States and members of the executive branch.
       I've earlier given you one example directly related to the 
     commitment of Rotary, the International Education Act. This 
     measure did not originate in the White House but on Capitol 
     Hill.
       It is, however, not easy for even informed Americans to 
     understand the operation of Congress. After all, there are 
     100 Senators and 435 Representatives and we do not, 
     customarily, have the strict party discipline commonly found 
     in parliamentary democracies.
       So how does Congress make policy?
       Our Center sponsors lectures, symposia and research on the 
     ways in which the Congress of the United States initiates and 
     shapes national policy.
       A modest example: While in Congress I was chief author in 
     the House of Representatives of the Arts and Artifacts 
     Indemnity Act of 1975. This law enables museums, galleries, 
     and universities to borrow art from abroad as well as lend 
     parts of their collections to museums in other countries 
     without paying the prohibitive cost of private insurance. The 
     Federal Government, under this legislation, indemnifies the 
     works on loan.
       So, last January, we convened, at NYU, under the auspices 
     of the Brademas Center, a colloquium, which examined the 
     impact of this legislation and ways to expand it. The session 
     was led by former National Endowment for the Arts Chairman 
     Bill Ivey and brought together leaders from the museum, 
     foundation and performing arts worlds as well as scholars of 
     arts and public policy and public officials. Based on our 
     discussions, we are preparing a report to the President and 
     Congress with recommendations for expanding international 
     arts and cultural exchanges as part of a renewed strategy for 
     U.S. public diplomacy.
       To reiterate, in view of the commitment of Rotary ``to 
     encourage and foster the ideal of humanitarian service'' and 
     ``to help build goodwill and civil peace in the world'', I 
     believe it wholly fitting that Rotarians as individuals and 
     Rotary Clubs as community organizations, wherever located, 
     encourage and support education about other countries and 
     cultures.
       To conclude, as I reflected on what I might say to you 
     today, I realized that such is the role of the United States 
     in the world today that challenges never cease.
       For example, in light of President Obama's recent encounter 
     with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, we must ask where is 
     United States policy toward Cuba going?
       Given the recent attacks on American vessels by Somali 
     pirates operating off the coast of Somalia, what is our 
     appropriate response?
       Then comes the controversy over the correct action--if 
     any--to take with respect to Central Intelligence Agency 
     interrogators who apparently tortured detainees during the 
     presidency of George W. Bush.
       And beyond these challenges in foreign policy is, of 
     course, the economic challenge here at home--the recession. 
     That is the subject for another speech and one I shall 
     certainly not inflict on you today.
       Clearly, as we look at the challenges our country faces 
     both at home and abroad, we can all agree that dealing with 
     them requires the most knowledgeable and intelligent 
     responses our country can make. And that's why I believe that 
     the commitment of Rotarians ``to bring together business and 
     professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, 
     encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help 
     build goodwill and peace in the world'' is still as valid, 
     indeed, essential today as when I was one of the ``High 
     School Boys'' attending luncheons at the South Bend Rotary 
     Club.
       Again, I count it an honor to have been invited to address 
     you and I wish you, my fellow Hoosiers, all the best in the 
     years ahead!

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