Address at the Harvard Tercentenary

Performed by Franklin D. Roosevelt
Recorded September 18, 1936

President Conant, distinguished guests, my fellow alumni:

I am here today in a joint and several capacity: first, as the President of the United States; second, as Chairman of the United States Harvard Tercentenary Commission, which is composed of five members of the Senate, five members of the House of Representatives, a representative of the United States Army and one of the Navy, and two representatives of the Universities of the United States, the distinguished Presidents of the University of California and the University of North Carolina; finally, I am here as a son of Harvard who gladly returns to this spot where men have sought truth for three hundred years.

The roots of Harvard are deep in the past. It is pleasant to remember today that this meeting is being held in pursuance of an adjournment expressly taken one hundred years ago on motion of Josiah Quincy.

At that time many of the alumni of Harvard were sorely troubled concerning the state of the Nation. Andrew Jackson was President. On the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Harvard College, alumni again were sorely troubled. Grover Cleveland was President. Now, on the three hundredth anniversary, I am President.

To go back a little further, in the words of Euripides:

"There be many shapes of mystery. And many things God makes to be, Past hope or fear. And the end men looked for cometh not, And a path is there where no man sought. So hath it fallen here."

In spite of fears, Harvard and the Nation of which it is a part have marched steadily to new and successful achievements, changing their formations and their strategy to meet new conditions, but marching always under the old banner of freedom.