University of Virginia Library

University Awards 2,458

Mrs. Johnson Commends Class For
'Individual and Larger' Concerns

Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson
told the 2,458 members of the
1973 graduating class that two
distinguishing characteristics
set them apart from previous
graduating classes–their special
concern with "large concerns"
and "parallel concern with very
individual and personal
matters."

"Peace and justice and
freedom are not abstract
concepts to you," Mrs.
Johnson said in
Commencement ceremonies on
the Lawn. "They are real and
vital concerns. This itself is not
unique. But the accelerated
challenges of history have also
presented you with new causes
of global dimension, such as
saving this planet's ecology and
improving the quality of life in
the age that grows more
impersonal and more urban.

"You are questioning as no
other generation has
questioned in a long time"
ethical standards and "all the
wide interrelationships
between human beings, she
said.

"Building on the framework
of what endures from the
worthy past, you are searching
for new understanding and new
meanings so you can establish
standards that are more
relevant in your own lives and
times," she added.

Members of the class have
heard more than their share
"about a doomsday destiny,
about dreadful fate that awaits
this planet, about the decay
and decline of this country,
and degeneracy of your own
generation."

However, Mrs. Johnson
noted, "I don't believe that
poisoned clouds of polluted air
must inevitably consumer our
atmosphere or that our life
style must inevitably kill our
waters. I believe there are
answers, and I think that I am
looking into the faces of
several hundred of these
answers this morning."

"Of faults and flaws,
America may have them
a-plenty, but you can do
something about them."

Outlining advances in
education, medical care,
scientific research , and
environmental concern during
the last decade, Mrs. Johnson
said that "this is not the
measure of a nation grown old
or grown tired. It certainly is
not the measure of a people
grown callous or corrupt.

"No, the record of our land