FDR’s Forgotten O
Prize Day Speech
ver the years, the Prize Day podium has featured leaders in government and education, law and religion, arts and business and media. A long list of literati, and a few glitterati. The first known Prize Day speaker—in 1887— was Massachusetts Governor Leverett Saltonstall. We don’t know exactly who spoke in 1886, when a single student graduated; the Groton archives refer only to “a number of gentlemen.” On two later occasions, there was no Prize Day speaker—in fact, no Prize Day at all. The reasons: chickenpox in 1892 and mumps in 1899. Unsurprisingly, Prize Day speeches have touched on common themes, such as gratitude and service. They frequently reacted to troubles of the day, from World War II to the Cold War to terrorism. Lamentation over an increasingly fast-paced society occurred as early as the 1920s. Groton’s list of esteemed speakers (see page 15) includes U.S. presidents, Cabinet members, and Congressmen; numerous university presidents and professors; social justice activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu; the German chancellor who served shortly before Hitler; and countless other leaders and influencers. But the words of perhaps the most famous speaker of all have been known only within a limited Groton circle. Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a Prize Day speech in 1931, while he was governor of
New York and his son, Franklin Jr. ’33, was a Fourth Former. FDR would become president less than two years later. While President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 Prize Day speech is readily accessible online through the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University, FDR’s Prize Day speech does not appear to be in any collections outside the Groton archives. Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, said he could not find any scholarly references to FDR’s Prize Day speech. “It’s fascinating because we don’t have that many off-the-cuff remarks by Franklin Roosevelt,” Brinkley said. “It’s a very fresh, new FDR document, very useful for FDR studies. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to find anything new on FDR .” Brinkley said the speech, delivered during the Great Depression, “illuminates some of his thinking about what would become the New Deal . . . he’s tapping on issues about health care and taking care of people, about people with mental disabilities; what’s going to be our obligation to society and what does it mean? It has a modern ring to it.” FDR scholars may find the speech particularly interesting because it was delivered at Groton. “This isn’t just a random talk to any school,” Brinkley said. “This is to his alma mater.” — Gail Friedman
www.groton.org
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