I was honored to be included in the celebration of the naming of the Ray Mabus Political Science Department at Ole Miss. It was a great event for friends from Ray’s many years in public life. I was introduced to Ray by Denise DeRossette, an old friend from our days at St. Luke’s in Fondren when she was working for him as state auditor. While in the reception line on Ray’s inauguration day as Govenrnor, Ray greeted me with “Hello, official sunglass supplier to the Governor’s office!” That carried on during his days as Secretary of the Navy when I supplied him with BLUE CAMO sunglasses for him and his travel staff and more to give out to others in the military and others on the world stage. I’m glad to be able to share the text and video of his acceptance speech of gratitude. (see youtube link below)
First, some thank-yous. Ole Miss—Chancellor Boyce, Dean Cohen, and Chair Bruce—thank you for this incredible honor you have bestowed on me. It is one of the things that has touched me the most in my entire life, and it is deeply meaningful to me and to my family. Throughout my life, I’ve had some wonderful constants, but one has always been Ole Miss.
One of my earliest memories was being on the Circle in 1954, when my father and mother brought me here for the dedication of Carrier Hall. My father was an Ole Miss engineer, Class of 1922. His brother, my uncle, was Class of 1917. My uncle won a Taylor Medal in 1917. They have pictures of all the Taylor Medal recipients, and 52 years later, I got to put my picture up there.
As a little boy, I came to Ole Miss over and over again to see football games. At the 1962 Mississippi State game, I ran down onto the field and got Louie Guy’s chinstrap, which is now in the archives at Ole Miss. Those were wonderful times, along with some more difficult ones.
I lived 90 miles south of here, in Ackerman, in 1962, when James Meredith integrated Ole Miss and the riot took place. But when it was time for me to choose a college, there was no choice. I knew I was coming to Ole Miss. I wanted to come to Ole Miss. I had grown to love it since I was tiny.
I drove up here in my mother’s car exactly 60 years ago. Since then, I’ve returned over and over again after graduation. I came back for commencement twice, and I taught here in the early 2000s in the Honors College, teaching a course on the Middle East. It was here that I met friends I’ve had for a lifetime. They are some of the closest friends I’ve ever had.
There were eight of us who got together somewhere in the world. Sadly, we’re down to six, but we’ve done it for 40 years in a row. Those sorts of friendships just don’t happen very often.
As Chancellor Boyce said, I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to attend some of the great educational institutions in this country: a master’s degree at Johns Hopkins and a law degree at Harvard. I say this without diminishing either of those institutions: the best education I got was here at Ole Miss. I had professors who knew me, cared about me, understood how to open horizons, showed me what was possible, and helped me see that I could do things I had never even remotely considered.
I picked my parents and relatives very carefully. My dad, an engineer from Ole Miss, went back and earned a degree in philosophy. His sister, my aunt, whom my daughter Elizabeth is named for and who is here tonight, spoke and taught four languages. My uncle, after finishing at Ole Miss, went to West Point and was commissioned into the U.S. Army.
My dad owned the hardware store in Ackerman, but he had an insatiable curiosity about the world. By the time I left Ole Miss, he and I had traveled through the Middle East—to Tehran, Cairo, and Beirut. We had also traveled across the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
In spite of all the advantages I had, it was at Ole Miss where that curiosity truly blossomed. I was surrounded by professors and friends who shared that curiosity, who wanted to understand the world and our place in it, and to think about what our path would be and how we would travel it.
These friends are amazing people, and look at what they have done with their lives. Our experience at Ole Miss included staying up until three or four in the morning, talking and discussing the big questions—the kinds of questions that 18- and 19-year-olds ask.
I want to build a little on Dean Cohen’s remarks. We need STEM education. I know we do. But I also want to make a strong case for the liberal arts. The liberal arts don’t tell you what to think; they teach you how to approach issues and how to reach decisions. Human beings have faced the same issues for millennia, although those issues have appeared in different clothing, different eras, and different situations.
Many smart people have faced these same issues and written about them. When you study political science, languages, or history, you get to read and learn about people who have thought deeply. You don’t have to agree with them. You just have to be allowed to see how they saw the world. That experience broadens horizons and strengthens dreams.
I hope this Department of Political Science, and the students who pass through it over the coming months, years, and decades, will help students leave able to think critically about issues—not simply accept what they’re told, and not become cynics, but become skeptics who demand answers.
Almost 500 years ago, John Winthrop, when he was leaving to found what became the Massachusetts Bay Colony, said that the people who would found and govern that colony needed to focus on four attributes: courage, judgment, integrity, and discipline and dedication.
What a high bar. The banner now hanging on Dupree is one I love for many reasons. It approaches the idea a little differently: “Understand power. Influence change. Shape the future.”
If students coming through the Department of Political Science and this great university—which has become a nation-leading institution—can understand power, influence change, and shape the future by using courage, judgment, dedication, and integrity, they will be exceptionally well prepared for life. They will be well prepared to do the things this community, this state, this nation, and this world need.
I’m going to finish with a question, but first I’ll give you the answer. There are several answers to this question.
Yes, we are a great national institution that competes at the highest level with any other educational institution. Yes, we are attracting the best students, not just from Mississippi but from around this country and around the world. And yes, we are going to help this state and this country by producing incredibly well-educated and thoughtful members of society.
For those of you who did not go to Ole Miss, those of us who did have been asked this question a thousand times. Are you ready?
Hotty Toddy, gosh almighty! Damn right! Hotty Toddy, gosh almighty! Who the hell are we? Hey! Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am! Ole Miss, by damn! Thank y’all. Video at: https://youtu.be/fPM-bc7F9B8
Al Underwood is a Northsider.
