Transcription
You, you have said that, uh, in in our time, uh, unfortunately, there is a separation between patriotism and liberalism, meaning a kind of an understanding of of Western civilization. So, so that is something you also have to convey not only to the broader public, but also to your soldiers that that there there there is, uh, uh, an important element, uh, of knowing the tradition that they come out of that that's broader than the military tradition.
Yes. Going back to the 1960 to 1975 time frame, there was a disenchantment among many people in the country. Uh, and, you know, we ended up in Vietnam and it just tore the society apart in terms of trust of each other. Uh, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, I'm sure had the best of intentions, uh, Democrat presidents, Democrat Party presidents. Uh, when Nixon got in, he was confronted with a war that the American people had basically, uh, grown very disappointed in. Uh, and the country was in the process of holding it against its military, many of whom were draftees, of holding it against the political, what they thought was the right wing, uh, I I think to some degree unwilling to look at the fact it was the political left that had put us into the war. Uh, but I don't think it's ever been patched up.
Now, I will tell you that among young people today, they are very non-ideological and they don't buy into it. Uh, they draw their own conclusions and they may agree or disagree with things, but it's not based on what happened in those days. I think that that divorce between liberalism and patriotism has never been patched up. But jumping forward to today, uh, I would tell you that I have lance corporals who can articulate the nobility of the wars we are in today better than the spokesmen in Washington, D.C. The ideas that grew out of the Enlightenment, they were given voice in our country in our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, those are worth defending. And I've dealt with this enemy since 1979, and I don't patronize them. When they say "Girls don't go to school," they mean it. You're not going to have a barbecue and talk them out of their position. They didn't arrive there rationally, they will not be rationally uh removed from that position. Uh when you find people who say "You will pray, you will go to church the this mosque, and by the way, if you don't go to this mosque, you go to that one, we're going to kill you." Uh well, these are irreconcilable differences. And so somehow we have to be able to articulate this, understand this, and be able to explain the nobility of it.
And I think really since Tony Blair left office as the Prime Minister in the United Kingdom, we've had no Western political leader who has been able to address in a compelling, persuasive way, for example, what FDR was able to to convey uh when we went into World War II. I mean, here our fleet was laying on the bottom of Pearl Harbor, Admiral Nimitz was on his way to take over a shattered military, the army would surrender in in the Philippines, and at that point, the American people were very focused on the Japanese, and FDR said, "No, we're not going after the Japanese first, we're going after Hitler first." How did he change the American people to do it? He was persuasive. He brought Frank Capra out of California, a movie director, put an army uniform on him, said, "You're going to make movies that every single young American in in basic training in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, they're all going to watch them, and they're going to understand why we fight." We've done none of that in this in this fight so far. So, we we've got a problem that divorce is still real. Mostly, it's with old guys. Uh I find it's the unspoken elephant in the room with people my age who who were able to dodge out of the draft something like that who still think it matters. It doesn't matter to me. I'm more interested in their views today, but to some of them I think it does still matter and there's a sense of their manhood is in question. I think it's more of a self-consciousness than anything that we feel.
>> Another order One last question. Students watching this program, what advice uh you would give them about preparing for future in the military? And and I as a a little note here, I want to add a quote from you which where you say, "Now from a distance I look back on what the core taught me to think like men of action and to act like men of thought, to live life with intensity and a passion for excellence."
>> Mhm.
>> How how does that translate into preparations that students might think about for the future in the military?
>> There is there is a disappointing aspect to all this that after thousands of years of living on this planet, we're still at a point where violence is used to settle differences. Uh and it can be depressing for those young men and women who are choosing to go into the military. The the point I would make is that no matter how bad any situation is, do not fall into pessimism or defeatism or cynicism because all cynicism is is a refuge that says, "I don't have to do anything about this because after all it's such a bad situation, I exempt myself from having to work on it." So, the first point is guard yourself and don't let the disappointment drive you to a to a negative view of the world. The second point is remember that America has the power of inspiration and the power of intimidation. And don't short-change either one of those. Make certain that at times, if you can use the power of inspiration to bring out the better angels in people, keep trying. One more month, one more week, one more day to do so, whether it be with a small village that's trying to fight terrorists or it's it's a high-level meeting. But at the same time, uh if you have covenants without swords, if you have no effective military, then your moral voice will never be heard as loudly. And dare I say that we just saw what Putin did in Crimea, and it may be that he thought he had an opportunity there that we've not demonstrated a steadfast uh basically that we're sticking with our allies. So, I think you've got to recognize in the real world a combination of between the ability to inspire and the ability to intimidate, and don't overuse one or the other. A blend of them. That would be my advice to them.
>> Uh Jim, I want to thank you for coming to the campus to be the Nimitz lecturer, and and thank you for taking the time in your schedule to be uh on our program. It was it both informative and inspiring. Thank you.
>> This is a pleasure, Harry. This is Some things are work and some are play. This is a pleasure.
>> Thank you very much.