University of Arkansas Commencement Address, January 1961

2. Gibran, whom we all know as the author of The Prophet, wrote of "Talking." He said, among other things, "You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts," and " ... in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered. For thought is as a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly." Heeding the Prophet, I tried to do my thinking for today in advance. I should like to read, or talk, and ask you to think for me as I do so. I would like to ask you to think for a few minutes about leadership and responsibility in the world of today. Today's world is a vastly different world from that in which I lived when I sat where you seniors sit, some twenty years ago. Today's world demands a new kind of responsibility, a different kind of leader. Many of you are and have been leaders among your fellow students. You are among the best fitted of the young men and women of America to be leaders among your fellow citizens. The road will not be an easy one, nor the burden light. [stamp in margin: Jul 29 1961] As university graduates you can be expected to be leaders in intellectual pursuits, in the arts and sciences, in your church. If the world is to sur- vive you must also accept the mantle of leadership in community affairs, in civic responsibilities, in state and federal politics and government, and in the fight for world peace and understanding. Legend has it that this Southland of ours was once a dream-world of white columned mansions, hoopskirts and lace, white gloves and magnolias, where every man was a king or a slave; and where the former never soiled his hands and the latter sat around and told delightful stories to young Master