University of Virginia Library

Powell Cries For Order

There is abroad in this country
an escalating unrest which has led
to unprecedented crime, civil
disobedience, and disrespect for law
and due process. As others have
noted, we are also witnessing a
pervasive permissiveness—on campus,
in churches and homes, in our
political institutions.

Ancient standards of morality,
decency, and good taste have
crumbled. Concepts of duty,
patriotism, and responsibility are
often subordinated. Even some of
the most respected values of
Western civilization are under
virulent attack.

It hardly need be said that the
causes of this disintegration and
disarray are complex and
deep-seated. They could be the
subject of many other talks. Some
of these causes are related to
pressing needs in this country and
abroad. A thoughtful person would
minimize the seriousness of the
need for improved job and
educational opportunities for all,
for equal justice, for more effective
means of participation in the
democratic process, and perhaps
above all for assurance of peace in
the nuclear age.

But it must be evident that none
of the grave problems of our time
can be solved unless we first
preserve an ordered society in
which law is again respected and
due process observed.

This is as true on the college
campus as it is in society in general.
This, it seems to me, is a first and
overriding duty of all of us who
share some responsibility for higher
education in this country.