Hesburgh (2018) - full transcript

In any list of the most influential men in American life,

you'’ll find the predictable political leaders,
commentators and tycoons.

But one name
that keeps cropping up

is surprisingly
none of those things.

He advises presidents...

He was a mythic figure.

...confers with the Pope.

We heard these stories,
growing up, about this legend.

He is chairman
of the Rockefeller Foundation

and a director
of the Chase Manhattan Bank.

My God, how many lives
did this man live?



He is
Father Theodore Martin Hesburgh,

President of
the University of Notre Dame.

We don'’t prove anything
by burning something down,

we prove something
by building it up.

He knew everyone.

I heard from some he was
a very progressive liberal,

and from some he was a very conservative man of the cloth.

The University has to try
to get people to be critical,

find values
that make life worth living.

When you were dealing
with a great difficulty,

he'’s the kind of guy
you would pick.

He did too many things.

You couldn'’t count them all.

Everywhere you looked,
there was Hesburgh.



Father Hesburgh recognized that we all
had a duty to serve and to give back.

We all ought to be protesting against
many of the things we see in modern life.

Father Ted
should be a saint.

People have become concerned,
people have begun to care.

He was one of the outstanding figures of the 20th century.

Since the age of six,

all I wanted to be is a priest.

Growing up
in Syracuse, New York,

I was never the kid playing fireman in the backyard.

There wasn'’t a moment
when I chose it.

The priesthood was my calling.

I think a lot of that came,
maybe, from our family.

Our mother and father
were very religious.

And I think that faith, once he decided to be a priest,
just continued to grow.

Post-war period,

98 % of the people said
they believed in God.

The churches were full.

Priests were heroes
in the movies.

Sorts of people that went into the ministry were young men

who would otherwise be
doctors, lawyers,

living through the most religious period in American history.

A Holy Cross Priest encouraged me to study at Notre Dame,

and I jumped at the chance.

But priesthood wouldn'’t come
without sacrifice.

I think the tough part
about being a priest

is really leaving your family,

and becoming part
of another family.

He was part of the CSC family.

I was homesick at first,
but my older sister, Mary,

wrote me letters every week.

She was my best friend.

And no matter how tough
my training became,

she was there for me.

I committed myself entirely
to the priesthood,

taking the vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience.

Being able to be married,
have a family,

but he was so focused and so dedicated on being a priest.

You give up
a life of wealth, marriage,

and most of all,
your freedom of choice.

After my ordination, I desperately wanted to become a Navy Chaplain

to do my part
during World War II.

But my superiors told me no,

I was to get a doctorate and return to Notre Dame to teach.

As time went on,
I came to love teaching,

and I had the chance to minister to all
the returning veterans living on campus.

It wasn'’t how I expected
to serve my country,

but I was serving in my own way.

Then one day, a vow of obedience turned my world upside down.

The President of Notre Dame
called me and told me,

"Ted, you'’re in charge."

Oh, boy. Here we go.

Father Hesburgh!
Are you busy, Father?

The Notre Dame administration
saw in Hesburgh leadership,

a very young man,
and they groomed him.

Nothing can prepare you for all of a sudden being in charge.

I decided if I was going to be President,

I had to shake things up.

It was not that strong of a school.
It needed a lot of push.

In those days,
what most people knew about Notre Dame was football.

In a few years,
they knew Notre Dame

because Father Hesburgh
was President there.

He wanted to build
a big university.

He wanted the best.
He wanted the excellence.

No one wanted to talk academics.

When I brought it up, a reporter threw me a football

and told me to assume
the hiking pose.

I won'’t repeat what I said to him,
but something had to change.

To help me,
I chose a talented priest

named Ned Joyce
as my vice president,

and together,
we pushed Notre Dame in a new direction.

I'’d like to present
this gentleman to you.

His name is
Father Edmund P. Joyce.

I'’m Chairman of the Faculty Board and Control of Athletics

at the University of Notre Dame.

Hesburgh removed deans,

he removed faculty members,

he made a change,

and he didn'’t accept
less than excellence.

He did a lot of things
people would have thought

as not particularly priestly.

He was entrepreneurial.

If you would look over here
for a moment,

you will notice a plan of Notre Dame as it is today,

and Notre Dame as we hope it to
become in the years immediately ahead.

One of the greatest of
all universities of all times,

and I would like
to tell you why.

If we wanted excellence
for the University,

we needed money, and lots of it.

Notre Dame presidents
have always been priests,

and as men
under vows of poverty,

fund-raising
was not their strong suit.

I had to do things differently,

and I started by making
some powerful friends.

The remarkable thing
that he did was,

he met captains of industry
who had lots of money,

and in many cases, I think,
were fascinated by the collar.

Priests, they were
fascinating characters.

They took vows of celibacy.
What'’s that all about?

One of the major foundations was looking around to give money,

and guess who popped up?

Notre Dame in the person
of Ted Hesburgh.

To be his driver.

Oh, my goodness,
we just had a ball.

He would share with me the letters that included checks.

He'’d say,
"Have you ever held a check worth five million dollars?"

And he'’d pass the check
up to the front seat.

He was a man'’s man,

would go back and have a drink
and have cigars.

And the women loved him.
He was handsome.

He won on both sides.

Father Ted
was drop-dead gorgeous.

I mean, he could have gone
in the movies.

He was caring, he had humor,
he had humanity.

Mother met him at a YPO meeting.

Ann Landers had
90 million readers.

I remember when mother was named
the most influential woman in America.

She and Father Ted bonded.

They both wanted
to save the world.

A friendship was beginning.

I found myself rubbing shoulders with all sorts of people

I'’d never have dreamed of meeting in my previous life,

such as Cardinal Montini, the Vatican Secretary of State.

And even Richard Nixon,
Eisenhower'’s vice president,

who came to Notre Dame
to cheer on our rival, USC.

We hit it off and began a long correspondence.

Notre Dame was on the path
to becoming

one of the nation'’s
greatest schools,

until we came up
against an obstacle

from the last place
we ever expected.

As far as
the Catholic Church goes,

he was a bit of a renegade
with regards to rules.

He used common sense.

At the start of my presidency,

we invited a controversial priest named John Courtney Murray

to speak at a conference
on campus.

Murray was upsetting the church

for supporting
religious liberty.

He argued that
disagreeing with the church

doesn'’t always make
someone wrong.

People have differing opinions

and the church
had to be open to ideas

instead of shutting them out.

He was ahead of his time.

We published Murray'’s lecture with all the others into a book,

and the Vatican was furious.

It was considered a heresy.

You could be condemned for believing in religious liberty.

John Courtney Murray,

who was the great theologian
proposing religious liberty,

was silenced,

was forbidden to publish
in the 1950s.

Cardinal Ottaviani, right-hand man to the Pope,

sent a letter to my superior, ordering me to stop the book.

He wrote, "Withdraw the book,

do not say why, and do not mention my name."

"Roma locuta est,
causa finita est,"

meaning, "Rome has spoken,
the cause is finished."

It was censorship,

and I told them, "No."

I took a vow of obedience,
but I had to draw a line.

At a university,

you can'’t censor ideas if they disagree with your own.

I told Ottaviani, "If you withdraw this book,
I resign as president."

Well, the book sold out,
and I kept my job.

Things returned to normal
with the Vatican,

but I hoped
they got the message.

Because he was who he was,

and had no ambition
to someday be, you know,

a cardinal or something moving up in the hierarchy and so on,

he could speak his mind.

With all the connections
and friends I was making,

they started reaching out
to me for advice.

And as a priest, it was my job to give them advice.

So they kept calling.

Dwight Eisenhower
is very important

in the evolution of Father Hesburgh as a public figure.

Somehow or other,

Father Hesburgh
came to his attention

very early in his career
at Notre Dame.

The National Science Board'’s job

is to advise
the President and Congress

on all matters
related to science.

Eisenhower brought me on
as a moral voice.

To me, there didn'’t have to be a divide between theology and science.

He took great pride in having participated in early advances in science

because he wasn'’t a scientist,
he was basically a philosopher.

Soon, I was invited to join
three other science boards.

I was spending more and more time away from campus,

but thankfully, Ned was always ready to take charge in my absence.

Plus, I knew the connections could benefit the University, so I stayed on.

Then one day,
the Vatican called,

asking about a very delicate science position

that they needed to fill.

The bomb is now at 8,500 feet,

at 4,500 feet,

approaching 1,500 feet.

Watch the air overrun it.

The nuclear threat is a very difficult threat to perceive.

It'’s global. It'’s horrible.

It'’s a threat
that can annihilate human life.

In the early '’50s,
the threat became worse because Russia got the bomb.

Now you'’ve got two nations
that can nuke each other

and didn'’t understand
one another.

Russia today is regarded

as a grave threat to our nation,

to our freedom,
to the peace of the world.

Back in the '’50s and '’60s,
we were terrified.

That became the era where we were told to hide under our desks

because we might be nuked
by Russia.

The United States
and the Soviet Union

would be able to survive
a nuclear attack,

at least to the point of being able to launch a massive counterstrike.

That threat was what
Eisenhower wanted to address,

and the International
Atomic Energy Agency was formed.

The Vatican looked for people who could speak to different cultures.

I think that'’s why they reached out to Father Hesburgh.

We had the world'’s two nuclear superpowers under one roof,

and they wouldn'’t speak
to each other.

But, as a delegate
of the Vatican,

I could talk with the Russians without stirring up controversy.

Mr. President,
distinguished delegates,

I would, first of all, like to

associate myself
with the kind and gracious words

of the distinguished delegate
of the Soviet Union.

What we need to do
to diminish this threat

is to build bridges between
Russia and the United States.

The importance of having
Father Hesburgh is that

he could talk with Russian scientists and American scientists.

They were pleased
to have a mediator.

Even if they didn'’t believe
in the Catholic Church,

they respected him
as a man of religion.

He was a very good friend
of the delegate from Russia,

whose name was Emelyanov.

He became very close friends
with him.

Emelyanov and I bonded at the nightly cocktail parties.

We both worked for universities,

and after a few nights
of socializing,

we were thick as thieves.

But I had to split my time

between the American
and Russian parties

because they didn'’t invite
each other.

It was ridiculous, and I figured

if we were ever going to have a conversation,

I had to send out
my own invitation.

But the Vatican didn'’t throw cocktail parties.

We held mass.

I got both nations'’ delegates to attend,

even though
they weren'’t Catholic.

The Russians couldn'’t even understand the church service.

But I sat them
next to each other,

and for one hour a week,
they were in the same room,

talking.

It may seem small,

but it was a start.

Father Hesburgh had an extraordinary ability to reach across lines.

He often said
that the Latin word for "priest"

was "pontifex,"
"bridge builder."

Ted was a bridge builder between people and God and among people.

As I was coming back

from that first summit
in Vienna,

I bought a copy
ofTime magazine.

I opened up at random and found a little article saying

Congress was debating all summer on civil rights.

For a problem so enormous,
Congress came up

with the same solution
they always did:

presidential commission.

Historically, presidential commissions have been appointed

when a President
had a very tough problem

and he didn'’t quite know
what to do about it.

Wherever the federal authority
clearly extends,

I will do the utmost

that lies within my power
to bring into living reality

this expression of equality
among all men

who are citizens
of this country.

The idea was that there would be

a federal commission
for the first time,

investigating and studying
civil rights issues,

thinking about the best
and most creative ways

that the federal government
can engage.

The commission would have the power of subpoenaing people,

to require them to come and tell these
representatives of the federal government

exactly what was going on
in the civil rights arena.

The Civil Rights Commission
had a lot of promise in it.

What it would become
and what it would do

would depend on the people
who were appointed to it.

The first Sunday I was home,

I got a call
from the White House asking,

"Have you heard of this
Civil Rights Commission?"

Well, he would'’ve said,
"We'’re all created in the image of God.

We'’re all equal in God'’s eyes,

and all these other things that describe us are accidents of history."

The President wanted to have three Republicans and three Democrats.

He called Father Ted and said,
"I need another Republican."

Father Ted said,
"I'’m an Independent,"

and the President said,
"Close enough."

Father Hesburgh
was non-partisan.

He was willing to get in there,
roll up his sleeves

and figure out,
how do you come up with answers?

The commission was given
two years to investigate

the civil rights problems
down south

and write a report telling Congress how to fix it.

To make things more difficult, the commission was split evenly

between three southerners
and three northerners.

Most thought we'’d be too busy arguing
with each other to get anything done.

Presidential commissions

do their work,
issue their study,

goes on a shelf
and then just sits there.

But Hesburgh said,
"We'’re not going to let that happen."

We are trying
to create one nation.

It could very possibly be
that we are verging

through our institutions
towards two societies,

one black and one white,
and that wouldn'’t be America, I don'’t think.

White children and colored children integration,

throughout of which will come
a mongrel class of people!

I say for the mothers to keep their kids out of school!

We are white people!
We don'’t want them to go to school with Negroes!

The commission
was asked to zero in

on the voting issue down south, which Congress agreed

was the most crucial
civil rights problem.

Black citizens all over the south were denied the right to vote,

but Congress didn'’t have the evidence to prove it yet.

Our first hearing
was in Montgomery, Alabama,

once the scene
of the Confederacy

and probably
as close to the heart

of the civil rights problem
as you could get.

Alabama and Mississippi
were the places

where the most egregious of civil rights violations occurred.

It was a very scary time for the commissioners to go to Alabama.

In Montgomery,
the most important person we had to subpoena

was a county judge who refused to let
us examine the county voting records.

The judge said he would burn the records before he'’d turn them over.

His name, by the way,
was George Wallace.

I will not comply,

and I will not produce records
as requested by this subpoena

issued by the Civil Rights Commission here in Montgomery, Alabama.

We came into town just as Wallace was campaigning for governor.

He had promised
to keep Alabama segregated,

and we were his first test.

George Wallace threatened

to put the commissioners in jail

if they came to Alabama.
They went anyway.

We wrote ahead for hotel reservations in Montgomery,

but with three blacks
in our group,

including Commissioner Wilkins, we were turned down everywhere.

We thought
we could solve the problem

by staying at
Maxwell Air Force Base,

but we were told that the people of Montgomery

would never stand for whites sharing barracks with blacks.

There was only one thing
left to do:

go directly to Eisenhower.

Ike blew a fuse.

He wrote a scathing executive order saying

the General was out of his damned mind to turn us away,

and they'’d have to take us in.

Let them come.

This is just another evidence
of government

by threat, force,
and intimidation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this public hearing of the United States Commission on Civil Rights

will now come to order.

As it turned out,
practically nobody

was registered to vote
in Montgomery County.

They had
all kinds of cute tricks.

Like they automatically registered all the white people,

but for the blacks,
they had the registration

say from 4:00 to 5:00 on the first Monday
of the month in some godforsaken place.

Many of the black citizens
were given

what was supposed to be a reading comprehension test.

Once the line formed up,
they would take one person and flunk him.

None have passed the test.

The test was so difficult,
not even the registrar

in charge of grading them
could pass it.

Would you please make a reasonable interpretation of Section 182?

I will not.

- You decline to--
- Yes, sir.

You decline to interpret Section 182?
- I do.

On what grounds?

On pressure being put on me
before a committee like this.

On the ground
that it will incriminate you?

That'’s right.

We had
racist high-school dropouts

telling black PhDs
from Tuskegee University

that they weren'’t able to vote because
they weren'’t ready yet to have them vote.

All testimony at the hearing
verifies this.

To call this devious
shows a lack of understanding

of the independence
and procedure

of the state courts of Alabama.

Over the years, 1,600 people tried to register

and all of them
were turned down.

There was not
a single black person

in all of Montgomery County
who was registered to vote.

Sheriff, we'’ve been hearing

all morning and afternoon
about fear.

Can you think of any reasons
why there would be

fear among the community on a basis of trying to register to vote?

No, no, I can'’t understand them
having a fear of me.

I'’ve asked myself this.
Can you...

Has there ever been in history
a good society built on fear?

Father Hesburgh and US Commission on Civil Rights:

their leadership is in many ways

when this country decided,

"We'’re not gonna go backwards.
We'’re gonna go forward."

We were all very proud
of what he was accomplishing,

but during that period,

our family saw
very little of him

because he was only home maybe one week a year on vacation.

The distance didn'’t make it easy to visit family.

My schedule didn'’t make it easy.

I think the hardest thing
that Ted encountered

on a personal basis
during his lifetime

was the loss
of our sister, Mary.

Ted and Mary were very, very close.
They were 18 months apart.

I was on a trip when I got word she was dying.

Breast cancer.

I flew home straightaway
and found her bedridden.

I said mass for her

and asked if she wanted me to anoint her.

"Why the heck do you think
I sent for you?" She said.

"Just for fun and games?"

I was with her when she died.

In fact,
I was the only one with her.

He talked about it often.

That really got to Ted.

He was very, very close to her.

That had a big impact on him.
I think that was his first real loss.

You could see he felt that pain,
but he also never lost hope.

It'’s because of his faith,

um,
that he was a man of hope.

"We'’re gonna get through this."

In my faith, you learn there'’s meaning in suffering.

But to truly understand that,

you have to first suffer,
yourself.

It tests your faith,

but in the end,
I found strength.

And as a priest,
I wanted to help others find their own strength,

even in the greatest
of suffering.

We have created
a kind of social situation

where discrimination bears upon a person because of his color

a thousand times a day.

He can'’t do this,
he can'’t do that.

He'’s lacked many things
that we take for granted,

or our youngsters
take for granted.

And therefore,
you cannot put all these inhibitions around a person

then say,
"Why don'’t you try harder?"

Well, of course we could all do better if we worked harder,

but it'’s like holding
a man under water

and saying,
"Why don'’t you swim?"

The commission had been
traveling around for two years,

conducting hearings
and gathering testimony,

and it came time for the commission to write its first report.

The problem was
so much more than voting.

Black citizens were denied
housing and education.

But the southerners on the commission argued that voting was enough.

They sat in a room
and never talked to each other.

There was southern blood,
Yankee blood, anti-blacks.

You know, tough stuff.

Our two years was almost up

and we had to write our report.

Without it,
the commission was finished,

along with any chances
for a real civil rights law.

They were
in Shreveport, Louisiana.

It was over 100 degrees.

We tried to finish the report,

but we were crammed together
at another air base.

Planes were roaring every night. We couldn'’t sleep,

the food was terrible,
the weather was awful.

We couldn'’t bring ourselves
to finish it.

One night,
Commissioner John Battle came knocking on my door.

I was the only one who would drink bourbon with him,

so we stayed up
talking over drinks.

He was a staunch segregationist, but we still found common ground.

That got me thinking.

I called up one of the University'’s donors

and asked him to send
his private plane,

so it could take us away from Shreveport to Land O'’Lakes, Wisconsin.

Land O'’Lakes
is University property.

It'’s 6,000 or 7,000 acres
of lakes and woods.

It'’s very primitive.

It was Father Hesburgh'’s
favorite place.

I called Land O'’Lakes and said,

"Make sure you'’ve got
food and drinks for 15 people

and meet us at the airport
at 5:00."

We all huddled onto the plane and began drafting the report.

We wrote out all 12 recommendations to Congress.

That was easy.

The hard part now

was getting the commission
to agree.

We needed a miracle.

Ted told me.
He said it was going nowhere.

But I found one thing running
through our conversations,

that they all liked the fish.

First evening at Land O'’Lakes

was everything I hoped
it would be.

The air was crisp,
the lakes were shimmering,

and the steaks and bourbon could not have tasted better.

The Lord must'’ve been with us that evening

because we all caught fish,
a lot of fish.

I mean, like 20 or 30.

They'’d never seen anything
like this in their lives.

After months of fighting,
the arguing stopped.

I arranged to put bitter rivals

like Governor Battle and George Johnson in the same boat.

And after
a few hours of fishing,

even a segregationist and a black civil rights lawyer can get along.

Once they trusted each other,

they were able to do
tremendous work.

When the day was done,
we gathered onto the porch

and voted
on the recommendations.

He loved to watch people
who didn'’t agree on anything

get in the room
and bridge all that.

You almost got this sense that

if Father Hesburgh'’s for it,
then we all ought to be for it.

The catalyst was the fishing,

and the real catalyst was Ted.

We unanimously agreed on 11 of the 12 recommendations.

We couldn'’t believe it,

but we now had
everything Congress needed

to draft a civil rights law.

We took the report to Eisenhower, and he laughed out of shock.

He said, "How did this happen?

This whole commission
was a put-on,

and here we have
three Democrats,

a couple of Republicans

and an Independent priest,

and we got you to agree
on civil rights?"

I said, "Mr.
President, we may have had our disagreements,

but at the end of the day,

we were all fishermen."

At school, we were having trouble finding a commencement speaker

and a cardinal
for graduation mass.

It was a month before graduation,
and we still had no one.

Things were getting dicey.

My assistant, Helen,
had never failed me before,

so I turned her loose
on half the problem.

"You suggest the speaker," I said, "and I'’ll find the cardinal."

She thought for a moment,
then suggested,

"Let'’s ask
President Eisenhower."

I said, "Everybody in the world wants the President to be the speaker.

How are you going to get--"

"Well," she said,

"you'’ll never know
if you don'’t try."

I said, "All right.
You'’re a great fan of Eisenhower,

so you write the letter to him,
and I'’ll write a letter to my friend Cardinal Montini

to preach the Homily."

We promptly got back
two acceptances.

Eisenhower said,
"Since I was a kid,

I wanted a degree
from Notre Dame.

I don'’t know if I'’ve got anything worthwhile to say to your students,

but I'’ll be glad to come."

Peace or war.

These are the substance of the political decisions and actions

that you young people
must be ready to participate in.

So after scrambling to get
anyone we could find,

we brought in the President of the United States and Cardinal Montini,

who was about to become the most
powerful man in the Catholic Church.

I came to know all of the popes throughout my life,

but the only one I considered a true friend was Giovanni Montini,

who who would take on the name Pope Paul VI.

He could talk to me about topics like nuclear war

and the state
of the Catholic Church.

If we thought the other was wrong,
we would say so.

We respected each other.

He was constantly
presenting me with gifts.

I finally got to return the favor when I found out

that the Pope and I both had a love for space travel.

TheApollo flights
were beginning

and I called up my friend,
Jim Webb,

the head of NASA,
to send me films.

I would join the Pope for dinner and we'’d set up the projector,
pour a drink,

and watch as mankind took its first journeys into space.

The Pope watched
with astonishment.

It was a rare chance for both of us to escape,
to relax.

It was easy to forget
I was sitting next to

one of the most powerful men
in the world.

A man who was overseeing
the most momentous

religious event
of the 20th century.

Considered one of
the most important councils

in Catholic Church history,

Vatican II saw 2,400 bishops

and other prelates

revise many aspects
of church activity.

The council produced
16 documents,

designed to modernize the role of the church in world affairs,

and its work was carried on
by Paul VI.

I have seen more change
in the Catholic Church

than I think took place
in the church

in the last 450 years
since the reformation.

Hesburgh was profoundly affected
by Vatican II

and used that change in the church to direct his own life.

His instincts about laities,
instincts about engaging the culture

come out of that
Vatican II mentality.

The church was respecting
new ideas, religions,

and getting
the laypeople involved.

I went to the Vatican and saw John Courtney Murray giving a speech.

The Catholic Church
was entering the modern age,

and the Pope wanted people he trusted by his side.

Paul VI wanted to make him
chief of the military chaplain,

which would have been
an automatic Cardinal.

I was in the Pope'’s private library

and he handed me
a small leather box.

And inside was an enormous emerald ring.

He said,
"I wore this as a Cardinal,

and now it'’s yours."

The Cardinal'’s ring,
given to Father Hesburgh,

clearly in the hope

that he would wear it,

as a Cardinal,
as a prince of the church.

He thought about it and told me,

"I can do a lot more
as a head of a university.

I'’ve got way more freedom
than anybody else does."

There'’s no job
for an American Catholic priest

that is better than being President of the University of Notre Dame.

Why would you leave that
to become a bishop?

Of what? Of Salt Lake City?

I politely said,

"Thank you for the ring,
Your Holiness,"

and then put it in my pocket.

Secretary damn near died.

He said, "What are you doing? He just gave you his ring! His ring!

Pazzo Americano!"

That means "crazy American."

He used to keep
the Pope'’s ring in his drawer,

which was not a good idea.

It'’d be rolling around
with this cigar cutter.

People gave him incredible things,
and he appreciated it.

And he would say, "Thanks!"
But he'’d, you know,

throw it in a drawer
or whatever.

He was pretty protective of his cigars,
I gotta tell you that.

So...

I mean, he traveled the world.
He was everywhere,

but Notre Dame
was always home.

Students like to tell
this story.

They say,
"You'’re walking around campus

at 2:00 or 3:00
in the morning,

you see the light,

so you climb the fire escape
and knock on the window.

You end up having coffee
and talking out your problems

with the president
of the University."

You needed advice,
you'’d go to Father Hesburgh.

You had an issue,
you'’d go to Father Hesburgh.

I mean, it was just--
His door was always open.

He was very much
like a father figure.

He was a priest and he always said,
"That'’s my primary identity."

That pastoral contact
with people never left him.

The kids got to know him.

So all the kids in the dorms
would call him "Uncle Ted."

"Hi, Uncle Ted."
"Hi, dear."

The bad part of that was

if we were out
in a social situation,

it would take us a half an hour
to get out the door.

You know, he was beloved.
He was like Santa.

I'’ll never forget,

I think I was
all of 32 years old,

and I went in
to see Father Hesburgh

to ask him for some advice
about running for Congress,

and while he couldn'’t endorse me,
which I would'’ve loved,

especially running in my home district in South Bend,

he gave me some of the best advice I'’ve ever had.

Serve our country,

put your country before party
and before politics,

and always do the right thing.

It sounds easy.

It sounds like a platitude,
a motto,

but sometimes
that'’s really, really hard.

Father Hesburgh was asked
how he managed to maintain

relatively good rapport
with his students.

He said, "Well,
if you'’ve got someone weird enough to be walking around

at 3:00 in the morning,
wanting to talk,

and a President weird enough to want to talk to him,
you get along."

It'’s very hard
to neatly categorize

my relationship
with Father Hesburgh.

I grew up without a father.

And when I got to Notre Dame,
I had a father.

And his name was
Theodore M. Hesburgh.

I didn'’t know he would be my father,
but that'’s how he functioned,

and he was...

He was the largest figure
in my life.

We had this
unusual relationship,

and I'’d given him a lot of trouble through the years

because I was editor
of the student newspaper.

I mean, we argued,

sometimes very strenuously.

Sometimes I was just
so full of myself

that it was idiotic,

but he wasn'’t perfect either,

and he wasn'’t afraid
to admit that.

He really looked after me.

I was waiting for Father,
taking him to Chicago where he was being honored,

and I see a young student.

She kept wiping her eyes,
and he brings her out.

And I say, "Well,
we'’re supposed to go to Chicago."

He said,
"Marty, just take the bag,

put it in my room in Corby,
and I'’ll... I'’ll talk to you tomorrow."

This young lady'’s father
had passed away.

The family didn'’t have the resources for her to stay at Notre Dame.

Father Ted took care of that.

That young lady graduated
from Notre Dame.

That was my Father Ted.

Nobody watching, you know,
just...

They were talking about how he would be
gone so much and he would travel around,

but the reason he did that
was to set the example

for the faculty
and for the students,

that the institution needed to be engaged in the world.

My uncle was in the limelight,
and Father Joyce was

really at home
keeping things running smoothly.

It was a marriage, of sense.

Father Ted had such confidence
in Father Ned.

To keep the place going
would allow him

to be away from Notre Dame
as often as he was.

Ted and Ned were a great team,

and I used to say it was
Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside.

He was away a great deal,
with good reason.

When he was away,
then I became acting president,

but we never had any crises
while he was away, thank God.

He'’s just been a wonderful,
wonderful priest and a wonderful friend.

My friends, though, would often implore me to slow down,

especially Eppie Lederer,
whom the world knew as Ann Landers.

Our correspondence grew more and
more frequent as the years went on,

and I even started to have
a hand in her work.

Mother'’s MO for the column
was to rely on experts.

I don'’t pretend to be
an authority on every subject.

In fact, I don'’t pretend to be
an authority on any subject

because when they write
to Ann Landers, they'’re...

They'’re getting the top-notch brains in the country.

She was very well-connected.

There was nobody who'’d not return a call from Ann Landers.

I'’ve been lucky,
my friends are marvelous.

They'’re people like... like Ted Hesburgh,
the President of Notre Dame.

People would write her about their most intimate problems,

the type of things
I'’d hear in confession.

She'’d secretly forward me
their letters and say,

"I think
we can help this person."

I'’d look into it and then write her back saying,

"Case solved."

Father Ted was not only
her theological adviser

for letters that came to the column that had to do with religion,

but he was her adviser.

Now, this is only peculiar
because we are Jewish.

He was her go-to guy
when she had a problem,

because she trusted him.

It was a friendship between advice-givers,

and I needed advice
just like everyone else.

She could always help
when the job got tough,

and on the Civil Rights
Commission,

the job was about
to get very tough.

As Eisenhower'’s time in office was ending,

the commission worried the President
wouldn'’t act on our recommendations.

See, on their own,
our recommendations were worthless.

They needed to be
turned into law,

and then that law
needed to be enforced.

I wrote to my friend
Richard Nixon,

hoping he would push
the President to act,

but he couldn'’t change
Eisenhower'’s mind.

So the buck got passed
to the next President.

I'’m not satisfied
until every American

enjoys his full
constitutional rights.

I think we can do better.

I knew the Kennedys

through Father John Kavanagh, my predecessor at Notre Dame.

And Jack seemed just the person to push Congress

to turn our findings into law.

There was enormous hope
throughout the country.

The commissioners thought that John Kennedy would be a friend.

But President Kennedy didn'’t act on our recommendations.

In fact, he almost completely ignored them.

People in Mississippi

begged the commissioners
to come to Mississippi.

But every time
they'’d get ready to go,

somebody would come
from the White House and say,

"Could y'’all think about that
a little bit more?"

And since Kennedy was a friend,

at first they said, "Well,
he must have some reason."

The President'’s right-hand man and Attorney General

was his brother Bobby,

who made it clear that pushing for civil rights

would cost the President the south, and a second term.

"If we do this,
we'’re gonna lose the south."

John Kennedy
didn'’t take that risk.

We told the President
and his brother,

"Now is the time to act.
We need a civil rights law."

But Bobby disagreed and called the commission "second guessers."

He complained that with every civil rights decision he made,

Father Hesburgh was always
around the corner to say,

"You'’re not doing enough."

There were a lot of politicians who wanted to kinda slow-walk this stuff

and not create waves in their communities or upset people.

In a democracy,

we govern either by leadership
or by crisis.

And if leadership is not there,

we will ultimately
govern by crisis.

We came here 10,000 strong.

We said we would come
again and again...

There were two very different sides in the fight for civil rights.

On one side was our commission, fighting with hearings and reports.

On the other side were civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.,

taking their fight to the streets in mass protest.

When Father Hesburgh came
into the Civil Rights Movement,

he brought with him a reputation of a values-based leader in our country.

King was leading a movement.

Hesburgh was on
a Civil Rights Commission.

They occupied very different
places in society.

It'’s a very different
kind of thing

to be, sort of,
a presidential appointee and leading a movement.

King rallied the country

to take a stand
for civil rights,

even making a stop
at Notre Dame.

The Negro has a double burden,

outright discrimination
in employment.

I imagine you have
a little of that in South Bend.

He wants a fair opportunity
and a fair share of the society

he has also contributed to
over all these years.

On campus,
the students wanted to join the cause,

but if they were
going to protest,

I wanted them to do it
the right way.

Do I have a moment to say something?
- Yes.

I met a youngster
the other night and he said,

"I'’m going to Canada
to teach school."

And I said,
"Why are you going to Canada to teach school?"

"Well, I'’m upset about this country,
its racial problem.

I want to disassociate myself
from this country."

And I said, "Well,
if you want to disassociate yourself from this country,

get up and leave and go someplace else and do something good.

But if you want to do
something good,

I think there'’s a lot of room right here to do something good."

But he said, "I'’m just upset
about the country."

I said, "Well,
then do something about it.

It'’s your country.
It'’s your problem."

I wanted the students

to face the country'’s issues
instead of running away.

I wanted them
to speak their minds

while letting those
who disagreed do the same.

I wanted the students
to protest with respect,

even in the face of hatred.

It'’s a hot time
in the old town tonight.

The Notre Dame Texas Club

invited Wallace to campus.

He criticized
the same Civil Rights Law

I was pushing to enact.

But as a university,
we felt he had the right to speak.

If the law can compel me
to employ a Negro,

it can compel that Negro
to work for me.

Father Hesburgh would bring
the different voices,

the different perspectives there
to listen to them,

maybe to learn
something new from them,

or to learn how to debate
against those views.

And I always thought
that the hallmark of a liberal

was that they would listen
to all sides, but...

I hope you'’d let...

Show that fellow
where the little room is.

As tensions rose down south

and the influence
of the Civil Rights Movement

continued to spread,

our leaders
finally began to act.

Kennedy had initiated
some civil rights legislation

against the advice
of his brothers,

against the advice of the party.

He saw that something
needed to be done.

Hesburgh thought
Kennedy was heroic

for doing this
despite all the obstacles.

In too many parts
of the country,

wrongs are inflicted
on Negro citizens

and there are no remedies
of law.

I am therefore asking the Congress to enact legislation.

Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen.

You'’ll excuse the fact
that I am out of breath, but...

about ten or 15 minutes ago,
a tragic thing,

from all indications
at this point,

has happened
in the city of Dallas.

If John F. Kennedy'’s death had any message, it was this:

get on the road
because the hour is late.

The Civil Rights Commission met with our new President,
Lyndon Johnson,

during his first days in office.

Johnson looked pale
and exhausted.

He was under enormous strain
from the presidency.

We talked to him about a plan for civil rights,

a need for legislation.

He told us,
"If I'’m gonna be known as a good president,

I'’ve gotta do something."

The dream of equal rights
for all Americans

must and will be translated

into effective action.

Johnson met
with the House and Senate,

telling them,
"This law is going to pass."

He slammed a folder
onto the table,

and inside of it were our commission'’s recommendations.

The President
was playing hardball.

He had this little book
of all the Senators

and Congressmen
and their foibles.

Whenever he didn'’t
know something,

he called J. Edgar Hoover
at the FBI.

He called each lawmaker
around 3:00 a.m., saying,

"This is your President,
and I understand

you are not going
to vote for my bill."

They'’d say, "Lyndon, come on. You'’re a Southerner.

I vote for your bill,
and they'’ll cut my throat."

And Johnson said,

"If you don'’t vote for my bill, I'’ll cut your throat."

Or Johnson said,

"Let'’s say the front page

of theWashington Post says,

'‘What is the Senator doing

in Room 346
of the Mayflower Hotel

every Saturday night
at 9:00?

Is he up there saying the "Our Father" with somebody?'’"

He literally blackmailed everybody that he had something on,

and he had something
on just about everybody.

Johnson was absolutely ruthless in this pursuit.

You don'’t read about it
in history books,

but that'’s how it happened.

I know because I was there.

As Johnson was working
his powers of persuasion,

King was working
from the outside,

hoping to send
a message to Congress.

But his rallies
were met with violence.

The Florida Advisory Committee

to the US Civil Rights
Commission

warned that the city
was becoming

a racial super bomb
with a short fuse.

The situation
had become so serious,

to create
a special state police force.

We have further agreed
to call off demonstrations.

There was a time when Martin Luther
King was seen as a major hot potato.

He was a renegade and a rebel.

There were people who thought that he was a Communist,
and people were scared of him.

King prepared for his next rally in Chicago,

but his gatherings earned
a violent reputation.

This was King'’s chance
to show Congress

a peaceful gathering
of civil rights,

but when he invited the Mayor and Archbishop,
both declined to attend.

Many people
in the American government

thought of Martin Luther King
as an alien enemy agent,

somebody who'’s gonna
totally ruin society.

Ted would'’ve been aware of threats made
against him and other civil rights leaders.

Father Hesburgh
was asked to join

Martin Luther King in Chicago.

He wasn'’t worried
about the controversy.

His only response was,

"When do you want me there?"

He was putting his moral weight

behind Martin Luther King
and what he was trying to do.

All that we cherish at the base
of the great dream of America

demands a dedication
to the dignity of man.

The God-given dignity
of every human being.

When a man who'’s working

the government and the official side,
the commission side,

shows up in Chicago,
he'’s moved to the movement side.

It'’s a different place
for him to be.

And I think that had
a lot of power.

We have come a long, long way
in the civil rights struggle,

but let me remind you
this afternoon

that we have
a long, long way to go.

And I think that was
a real moment in his life

to be shown there
with the civil rights leaders,

that he was down in the audience

and Martin Luther King
called him up to the stage.

♪ We shall overcome♪

What Father Hesburgh did

by grasping Martin Luther King'’s arms that day

is he said, "This is
a partnership in America."

Civil rights is not just
about black Americans.

It'’s about...
It'’s about all of us.

And what we are.
What are our qualities,

what are our values
as human beings?

Eleven days later,

we made history.

The Civil Rights Commission was responsible for the groundwork

on every civil rights law that passed after it was established.

Every single one.

Despite all the obstacles
along the road,

this country finally had
a true Civil Rights Law.

Now we just had to make sure
it was enforced.

The world was rapidly changing.

Johnson sent more troops
over to Vietnam,

hoping to achieve peace
without conquest.

For the Catholic Church,
meanwhile,

Vatican II came to a close.

Though the Church progressed
in many ways,

one of the most important issues, in my mind,

remained unsolved.

A lot of people believe that Notre Dame is part of the Catholic Church,

at least financially.

It isn'’t. We don'’t get
one single nickel

from the Catholic Church,
haven'’t for a hundred years.

In the wake of Vatican II,

Catholic universities faced
a critical question:

was it possible to be both a great university and Catholic?

I believed it was.

As long as there was balance.

Father Ted could go back
in his presidency

and point to
various efforts by Rome

to curtail something that was happening at Notre Dame.

Hesburgh had to do
what the Vatican said to do,

so they were under the authority of the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Ottaviani
sent Catholic universities

a list of moral positions,

telling schools what was forbidden to teach in their classes.

There'’s probably no better way to provoke thought about something

than to tell human beings
they can'’t think about it.

I was entirely devoted
to the Church,

but I wouldn'’t let it stand
in the way of education.

The word Catholic
means "universal."

Father Hesburgh believes a Catholic
university is one that doesn'’t shut out ideas,

whether you agree or not.

I believed education
had to have morals,

but there had to be a way to balance faith and academics.

Vatican II inspired laypeople to be involved in the church,

and I wanted the same
for Notre Dame.

The University would no longer be run only by priests.

If the institution
is in the hands of lay boards,

that gives them
an amount of freedom

that they wouldn'’t have
otherwise.

We began a shared governance
of clergy, educators,

businessmen,
and civil rights leaders.

He ended up replacing

some of these Catholics
on the board

with men who weren'’t.

I'’m the first Jewish trustee
of Notre Dame.

In fact,
at my first trustees'’ meeting,

I felt everybody was eyeing me
a little suspiciously.

So I said, "Don'’t worry, guys.
I'’m not anti-pigskin,

but please, no more football
on the Jewish Sabbath."

There was a certain amount
of resentment. Notre Dame,

to these Catholic members of the board,
was their university.

I was criticized
for the changes,

but there was more to be done.

Vatican II didn'’t provide a document on Catholic education.

So I gathered a group
to write one ourselves.

Many of
the Vatican II participants

came together again
for what'’s been called

"Vatican Two-and-a-Half."

Like the Civil Rights Commission before,

we all met
in Land O'’Lakes, Wisconsin.

Clergy, laymen,
educators from Georgetown to Boston College,

all gathered together
to draft a document

on what a Catholic University should be.

Among those who were present
at Land O'’Lakes,

there was a mix of clergy,
laypeople,

representing different
points of view and backgrounds,

all in good conversation,

and that was the model for what should
be going on in the church in general.

It was part of his genius
to pull that off.

A Catholic University must have

true autonomy
and academic freedom

in the face of authority.

There must be no outlawed books or subjects.

Catholicism must be perceptively present and effectively operative.

We must examine all aspects of society and the church,

and objectively evaluate them.

The Catholic University
of the future

will be a true,
modern university.

The document became known as the Land O'’Lakes Statement.

Notre Dame is a crossroads

where all the intellectual
and moral currents of our times

meet in dialogue.

A place where
all of the burning issues

that affect the Church
and the world today

are plumbed to their depths
in an atmosphere of faith.

Where differences of culture,
religion, and conviction

can coexist with friendship,
civility, and even love.

When it comes to education,

we want to call the shots.

Rome didn'’t like that very well.

Not many things happened in 1967
that are still controversial,

but Land O'’Lakes
is one of them.

Some of the authorities in Rome

didn'’t like it
because it looked like

it was taking away
some of their control.

For some,

to waver
from the Catholic Church

was a step on a wayward path,

and Hesburgh was leading them in the wrong direction.

There is a conservative element
in the Church

that believes that'’s the point

at which Catholic universities began shedding their Catholic identity.

Ironically, Notre Dame
is not one of them.

But there are other
Catholic universities

where, sadly,
that'’s not the case anymore.

Many believed the document encouraged schools

to sacrifice their religion
for academic prowess.

That we were losing everything that
separated us from the secular universities.

We were trying to create
high-quality universities

that also took
religious side seriously.

And there'’s always a balancing act that goes along with that.

The assumption people have
is that

every time you have change,
it'’s bad.

I say my assumption is that
change is the price of progress.

Tensions rose when an Archbishop criticized the Catholic Church,

taking aim not at the Pope,
but his advisers,

and I publicly took his side.

The Vatican called days later,

exclaiming the Pope was furious with my position,

that I'’d betrayed him
as a friend.

I said I didn'’t attack him,
I criticized his council.

I said what was on my mind.

But it didn'’t matter.

They gave me an ultimatum, saying, "Retract the statement,

or you will fall from the Pope'’s good graces."

I said, "No, you'’re confusing honesty with loyalty.

The most loyal thing I can do for the Pope is to be honest with him,

which I'’ve always been.

I stand by my position."

I didn'’t know it then,
but his advisers misled me.

The Pope wasn'’t angry.

I don'’t think he even knew
what happened.

I stopped visiting him,

and he didn'’t know why.

The late '’60s shook America
to its core.

I speak out against this war because I'’m disappointed with America.

There can be
no great disappointment,

where there is no great love.

Martin Luther King,
20 minutes ago, died.

Senseless murders that made our youth recognize

the depth
of this nation'’s divide.

That their America
was not one and indivisible,

and the war in Vietnam
only deepened their outrage.

Now we find that
Richard Milhous Nixon

is going to be the 37th President of the United States.

Five years ago,
American combat troops were first sent to Vietnam.

We'’re not going to withdraw
from that effort.

It would not bring peace.

It would bring more war.

A fire was lit,

and suddenly, the pain of war became the pain of the students.

If you do it unto the least of these,
my brethren,

ye do it unto me.

As the Vietnam War escalated,

President Nixon called upon
college presidents

to end the protests
erupting on their campuses.

But the students were passionate and weren'’t about to let up.

No school could maintain order,

including Notre Dame.

♪ There'’s a riot going on♪

♪ There'’s a riot going on♪

♪ There'’s a riot going on♪

♪ Student demonstration time♪

It was really a time
of turmoil and turbulence.

This was the time of the draft.

Anybody could be called up,
except if you were in college.

That created, I think,
a sense of guilt

among many of the young men and women who were in college.

As the faces of authority
at Notre Dame,

Ned Joyce and I
faced backlash and uproar

from our students
like never before.

We did our best to keep Notre Dame from devolving into chaos,

which proved far more difficult than we ever imagined.

At Notre Dame, there were protests,
there were draft card burnings.

Students yelling and screaming.

But he wasn'’t afraid of anybody.

He had an allegiance
to the military.

He admired the men and women
who served.

One has to remember that at that time,
most people were for the war.

We did our best
to maintain order,

to let outside know that everything was under control.

The most natural thing I could do here today is talk about student unrest,

but I suspect most of you have had it about up to here,

and I have to admit that I have had it up to here also.

But every day,
Ned and I knew

that this dam could burst
at any moment.

One by one,
college and university presidents

resigned amidst the chaos.

Starts with Clark Kerr of Berkeley,
Grayson Kirk of Columbia.

Two pages, both sides,
and three columns on the back.

I wrote down
each of their names,

reminding myself
I could be next.

As the campus protests
intensified,

Nixon continued to call
for a way to control it.

Many of these pickets
who say they'’re for peace,

and I'’m sure they'’re well-intentioned,
they haven'’t been there.

The war in Vietnam is being fought to prevent World War III.

That'’s what'’s involved here.

That'’s what these poor,
stupid people don'’t understand.

I had always supported the students'’ right to protest,

but it was now
becoming dangerous

and standing in the way
of classes and education.

It was time to draw the line.

Reverend Theodore Hesburgh

today announced
a "Get Tough" policy.

Father Hesburgh said
demonstrators will be given

15 minutes
to halt their protest.

If they don'’t,
they'’ll be suspended on the spot.

If they do not halt within another five minutes,
they will be expelled.

Within two days,
the letter was reported

in every newspaper
in the country.

The rule was clear and simple:

15 minutes and you'’re out.

Many saw it as a blueprint for stopping student protests.

We thought a University was a place where you discuss things,

but it'’s not a place where you prevent people from discussing things.

People who see him
as a liberal hero

have got to remember, no,
he'’s more complicated than that.

When the CIA and Dow Chemical held interviews on campus,

12 students blocked anyone
from entering the offices.

They told the other students,

"If you'’re going
into that interview,

you'’ll have to walk
over us first."

As I promised,
they had 15 minutes to move or they'’d be suspended.

We gave them 20,
and they didn'’t flinch.

I couldn'’t back down on this.

And when it was all over,

five students were expelled.

I was just stunned
that he could go for that.

It seemed so Nixonian.
Fifteen minutes or you'’re out.

And back then, if you were
thrown out of school,

it was the equivalent
of a death sentence

because you would be drafted
and be sent off to Indochina.

And I wrote him. I said,
"I think this is appalling."

Anson sent me a telegram criticizing my 15-minute rule.

He ended his message with a call for my resignation.

I mean,
what'’s the whole business

about due process
and civil rights?

The only moral thing
you can do is resign.

That really hurt him.

Would you consider
stepping down

as President of Notre Dame?

I think I would be
an absolute fool

if I never considered
stepping down.

Everybody in this job
in the whole country

considers stepping down
about five times a week.

I received thousands of letters

both praising and condemning
the 15-minute rule.

But one powerful voice
came to my defense.

President Nixon today in a letter to Father Theodore Hesburgh,

the President of
the University of Notre Dame,

applauded Father Hesburgh'’s tough
stand on protests and demonstrations.

In his letter today, Mr.
Nixon wrote to Father Hesburgh,

"I applaud the forthright stand
you have taken."

Father Ted was much in the news

because he had,
according to Nixon,

stood up to the protesters
at Notre Dame, the students.

And Nixon took that to mean

that Hesburgh was on his side.

Nixon called me to Washington

to discuss the protests and my future in the government.

I was still on the Civil Rights Commission

and I told him
I'’d be resigning soon

to focus more on Notre Dame.

But Nixon had
something else in mind.

President Nixon today named the President of Notre Dame University,

Father Theodore Hesburgh,
as Chairman of the Civil Rights Commission.

Father Hesburgh has served on that commission for 11 years.

I could have said no.
We'’d done our jobs.

Civil Rights laws
were finally on the books.

But someone would have to ensure they were enforced.

And I couldn'’t help but wonder, if I said no,

whom Nixon would appoint
in my stead.

After I took the job,
Nixon and I continued to stay in touch.

But as the Vietnam War
intensified,

our friendship
was about to be tested.

Good evening,
my fellow Americans.

North Vietnam has increased its military aggression in Cambodia.

I have concluded

that the time has come
for action.

After promising
to withdraw troops,

Nixon expanded the war
into Cambodia.

Student protests became violent,

burning and bombing ROTC buildings on
their campuses to rebel against the military.

The National Students Association called for a shutdown

of all university campuses
in all states

to protest the Cambodian War.

Father Theodore Hesburgh,
President of Notre Dame University,

had said he didn'’t want, and would not accept,
any kind of student strike.

I was
the Student Body President.

I felt that there was a need

for a different type
of education,

and that a student strike

would be the means
to come to that end.

There was no question
that Father Hesburgh

did not want to have any kind of student strike at his University.

The Student Body President,
Dave Krashna,

invited me to speak at a rally

to protest
the Cambodia invasion.

I was warned it was
a set-up for humiliation.

This was my one shot
to prevent a strike.

I had to take an honest stand against the war.

But I never could have predicted the
tragedy about to come out of Kent State.

Four students shot and killed by the National Guard.

As the news reached Notre Dame,
I was already giving my speech.

Evil may be,

and often is,
completely victorious

in the lives of persons
and in the lives of nations.

But do we stand tall,
as persons or as a nation, in such a victory?

There comes a time in life,

in personal life
and in national life,

when moral righteousness is more important than empty victory.

I must tell you honestly that violence is the worst reaction

to the violence that all of us abhor in Vietnam.

I came out against Nixon,

but I couldn'’t stop
the student strike.

The campus shut down, and the students were restless.

In the wake of Kent State,
they wanted to act.

We both had jobs to do.

He did his job,
and I thought I did my job.

All these students,
my classmates,

they wanted to do something.

A large group of students
gathered outside my office,

asking for copies of my speech.

"How many?" I asked.
They said, "Thousands.

We'’re going to have students
go to every house in town

to try to get them to sign it."

I said, "Tell you what.

You do all that, and I'’ll send it off to Nixon."

I think they fundamentally
bought non-violence,

and they fundamentally
preserved non-violence.

And there were probably
a few youngsters around here

that would have liked
to have thrown

a Molotov cocktail,
say, at the ROTC building.

And we didn'’t stop them,
it was the other students that stopped them and said,

"You do that
and you distract the nation

from what
we'’re trying to say here

and what we'’re trying to prove,

that peace is important,
that human life is important and sacred.

That we have to learn
to talk to each other."

We waited for Nixon'’s response.

But the letter never came.

During the week of the strike, the students and I

continued to speak out
against the war.

We held mass on campus to honor the lives it claimed.

But as I waited
for Nixon to respond,

I received word that a former student was in desperate need of help.

Robert Anson,
a correspondent for Timemagazine,

disappeared in Cambodia,

and villagers said
Communist troops

disabled his car with gunfire

and then dragged him away
into the woods.

They pulled me out of a car

and threw me into a hole
about four feet deep

and threw in a trenching tool
and gestured, "Dig deeper."

And I knew
I was digging my own grave

because they were
killing Americans like that.

An officer came over
and took the trenching tool back

and put his foot on my chest and leaned me up against the hole

and put his AK to my forehead,

the barrel of his AK to my forehead and then locked and loaded.

I knew exactly one word of Vietnamese and it was the right word.

I said "Hoòa biình,"
and it meant "peace" in Vietnamese.

The State Department confirmed this afternoon that Robert Anson,

a correspondent
for Timemagazine

is presumed captured
by the Viet Cong.

The chief
at the Time Life News Service

flew to Notre Dame and made an
appointment to see Father Hesburgh at night.

And he told him the situation.

And he said, "Unless you can do something to intervene,
he'’ll be dead."

He had lots of telephones
on his big desk

in the President'’s office,

and he reached over and he picked up one and he put it to his ear

and the receiver to his ear.

And the first words out of his mouth were,
"Your Holiness."

He called the Pope.

And he said,
"You were a journalist before you became a priest,

and we gave you an honorary degree from Notre Dame."

He said,
"I have a close friend of mine.

He'’s a journalist
and he'’s in big trouble.

So we'’d like you to do
what you can."

Robert Anson, looking thin

after three weeks as an enemy prisoner in Cambodia,

drove into Phnom Penh today,
a free man.

Bob, do you think
you'’ll be doing

any more reporting
out of Cambodia?

When I was released,
I went up to see Father Hesburgh that night

to say thank you.

I talked with the Pope.

He asked, "Where have you been?

You don'’t visit anymore."

I thought he was angry with me.

But he made me promise to visit next time I was in Rome.

He missed his friend.

It was like
we'’d never stopped speaking.

But as one friendship
came back into my life,

another was falling apart.

Nixon never responded to the letter from my students.

And I couldn'’t remain silent on his
actions while he refused to speak to me.

And it wasn'’t just Vietnam.

As the 1970
mid-term elections neared,

we on the Civil Rights
Commission

began to notice
a disturbing trend.

The worst single offender
of Civil Rights violations

was Nixon'’s own government.

Richard Nixon
had supported Civil Rights,

really, when he was a senator.

But he was also a political individual who wanted to win.

Nixon decided the key to his ability to win would be to turn to the South,

and to build what became known
as the Southern Strategy.

If he made a big deal about his opposition to Civil Rights,

the white southerners
would vote for him.

The result was that
very little progress was made

for a number of years.

Father Ted referred to

the Civil Rights Commission

as the
"Conscience of the Government."

The commission
will pay attention

to what the government is doing,

and if it'’s doing something
that invades people'’s rights

or won'’t advance human rights,

then the commission
ought to speak out and say so.

Tell the public.

Right before mid-term elections,

we prepared to release
our report.

The White House panicked.

They thought our announcement would sway voters.

They told us,
"Delay the report."

Here is the first complete study ever
made of the whole Federal Establishment,

as regards, at least,
to Civil Rights compliance

and how we'’re delivering on what the law says we should do.

It says the performance
is pretty poor, always has been.

They were concerned
about the timing,

and we didn'’t
share their concern

as to the political importance
of the report.

We are an independent agency.

We generally do
what seems best to us.

If it'’s not independent,
it is nothing.

We don'’t wait to see if Congress likes it or the President likes it.

We issue the report.

The Notre Dame President rated

President Nixon'’s performance
as uneven.

Mr. Nixon has praised

Father Hesburgh'’s firm stand
on campus unrest,

but a White House source
said today

that this report is unfortunate,

coming in the middle
of the election campaign.

All we'’re saying
is that this represents

the Constitution
of the United States.

It'’s high time we got serious

across the board
on implementing it.

If this is not done,

there'’s going to be many decades

before we get anything

like equal opportunity
in this country.

In a massive report today,
the Civil Rights Commission declared

that the federal government has failed
to keep its own promises on equal rights

and the commission
blamed the failure

on lack of presidential leadership,
past and present.

The reason
Nixon appointed Hesburgh

was that Father Hesburgh
had this great credibility

and that he would
give him some cover.

And Father Hesburgh, frankly,
didn'’t fall into that trap.

Nixon, he was shocked when Father
Hesburgh stood up for the commission.

He said today, "This commission
has had it up to here

with counties and communities that have
to be dragged kicking and screaming

into the US Constitution."

Hesburgh said that neither the people nor the government

is serious about equality.

I think Father Hesburgh,
to his credit,

became the conscience
of the country

on civil rights.

Mr. Morgan,
I have read the report

of the Civil Rights Commission,

and I respectfully
disagree with it.

Where they say that this nation,
the American people,

do not have a commitment
to the cause of civil rights,

I believe
that'’s an unfair charge.

I do not question the sincerity

of the members
of the commission.

I do not think
they should question

the sincerity
of the great majority

of the American people
on this issue,

particularly in view of the great progress that has been made.

His leadership was just critical
at that time. I...

I drew inspiration from it
as a young director

at the office for Civil Rights.

I always felt that
Father Hesburgh had my back.

Over the next two years,

Nixon made a minor effort
to enforce the law.

Today, the commission
issued a follow-up

saying there had been some improvement in the last year,

but only from poor to marginal.

I thought we got through to him.

But the 1972 election
was approaching.

His key to winning
was the South.

He chose to take a stand against school integration efforts.

It'’s wrong
for the white children.

It'’s wrong
for the black children.

I made a promise to Nixon
when taking this job:

"If you violate Civil Rights,

I'’m coming after you."

Father Theodore Hesburgh

said the federal government
lacks commitment and aggression

in carrying out
its Civil Rights function.

The whole government needs to be more committed to this.

It needs to speak forcefully about it and act more forcefully,

give more leadership
from the top to the bottom.

I can'’t make it
any more clear than that.

We need a systemic change.

You'’re not going to solve it,
one man isn'’t going to solve it.

You can put the good Lord in as President of the United States,

and this would be a...
he wouldn'’t solve this problem

if everybody wouldn'’t cooperate.

In a final pushback against Nixon,

I wrote a piece
forThe New York Times

two weeks before the election.

I believe we are at a historic crossroads today,

much more momentous
than that of a century ago.

We have witnessed enormous progress from minorities in America.

But the whole upward thrust may be reversed in the days ahead.

Throughout the nation,
there'’s a great reluctance

to move forward in this field.

"No one likes to look
at the heart of darkness.

The real solutions are painful."

Unless we have bombings and burnings and violence and disorder,

people tend to go back
to sleep again.

Those who ignore history

are condemned
to repeat its mistakes.

As the polls close
across the country,

the President will be re-elected
in a landslide.

That'’s what our trend
now indicates.

The President,
re-elected by a landslide.

The Reverend Theodore Hesburgh,
President of Notre Dame University,

resigned today as Chairman of the US Civil Rights Commission.

Hesburgh said his resignation had been
discussed with White House staff members,

who told him the President
wanted him to quit.

For weeks, I avoided interview requests.

Everyone wanted to know
the story for my firing.

I spent 15 years
with the commission.

What was there to say?

I know why I was fired.

In Nixon'’s shoes, I might have even done the same.

But I took a stand for something,

and I wasn'’t about to stop.

He has been president
of his University

longer than any current president of any other university.

He is Father Theodore M.
Hesburgh. Hesburgh of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has made
some revolutionary changes.

He said to me,
"How can it be a great university without women?"

Under pressure from Hesburgh,
Notre Dame went co-educational.

It was very important to all.
Notre Dame was a great university,

and the way to make it better
was to have women on campus.

He was so proud
that women were at Notre Dame.

And I think it'’s high time we broaden the rights of women in this country

and their participation in life
at every level.

We saw such a stark lack of diversity.
Okay, something has to change,

and we can always strive
to do better.

Notre Dame broke
its long-standing opposition

to post-season football games

because the students
wanted the money

for minority scholarships.

For the first time, the name of
Father Theodore Hesburgh

was missing from a Civil Rights
Commission report.

I shall resign the presidency
effective at noon tomorrow.

I spoke up for a long time
against the Vietnam War,

and now I'’m working with
the President'’s Clemency Board.

There'’s a joke on campus.

What is the difference between
God and Father Hesburgh?

God is everywhere.

- Father Hesburgh is everywhere but Notre Dame.
- Father Theodore Hesburgh.

We'’re happy to welcome
Father Hesburgh in take two.

Father Hesburgh.
Father Theodore Hesburgh...

But being a president
of a major university

just hasn'’t given him
enough to do.

We went to him in the '’80s

and asked him to help us
on the nuclear threat

and bring the nuclear issue
to the public.

We have to look at that globe
and begin to think

that'’s our world,
that'’s all we'’ve got.

Father Hesburgh, what can we do
along this southern border?

We did craft the Immigration Legislation and passed it.

And that was largely by the leadership of Ted Hesburgh.

I don'’t think any Americans want to see a military solution.

I'’d say let'’s solve it
while we can.

There was a mission
in El Salvador.

President Reagan
sent Hesburgh there

to monitor the elections.

I spent a third of my life
doing things that are political,

but they'’re political
within the law, the system,

to change the system,
to change the law.

And I'’m going to
keep on doing it.

Father Hesburgh

was one of the giants

of the Civil Rights movement.

You'’re one of the most influential men in this country,
aren'’t you?

I don'’t know that, I...

I...

I don'’t think I'’m trying to be.

He can enjoy
the perks of his prestige,

but rarely asks for them.

So you'’d argue that your power is the power to persuade,
the power to influence.

I would think that'’s true,
probably.

A lot of it is just
power of friendship.

I mean, I know a lot of people
that I'’ve worked with,

and we respect each other
and we work together well.

Father Ted was probably
her best friend.

If she had...

a question that was at all
on his radar,

she would go to him,
because she trusted him.

Ann Landers, advice-giver to millions,
today told her readers

that her 36-year marriage to Jules Lederer is ending in divorce.

She said she felt she owed it

to her more than 50 million readers to tell them herself,

but said
she will not tell them why,

and begged them not to call
or write and ask why.

My parents'’ divorce,
unlike a lot of divorces,

was very public,

not only because she was famous,

but because of what she did.

And my father was worried
it would harm her career.

Like, "Look who can'’t keep
her marriage together."

During the divorce,

there was more than one trip
to South Bend.

He was very useful to her,

because he said, "It'’s okay.
You'’ll be okay."

She was devastated.

She called me one night saying,

"Ted, I'’m supposed to know everything about everything,

except my own life.

I just need some guidance."

She could talk to me
about anything

because she knew
she was talking to a friend.

Wouldn'’t you like to get married?
- No.

You wouldn'’t?

I decided that question
when I was 18 years old.

You get
an awful lot of attention,

you'’re a very attractive man,

you'’ve got
a great sense of humor. You...

I wonder whether being single is not,
in many ways, often a distraction

because of the well-meaning attention that you may get from women

who genuinely admire you
as a person.

And perhaps that kind of attention and
distraction would be diffused if you were...

If there was a Mrs. Hesburgh.

- Yeah.
- I hope the question is understood.

No, I understand.

Maybe the thing
that attracted Mother to him

was his intellect
and his integrity.

I don'’t know
what was underneath.

There was just something
between them.

Little else has changed during our 44 years of friendship,

but he is still the best-looking man in any room,

and the smartest.

I'’m going to sign off

the same way that I have signed
all my letters to Father Ted

over nearly 45 years.

And that is,

"With love, but no kisses."

It became a real love

as friends love each other,
and he loved her.

People have asked me, um,

could it have been
more than a friendship?

And I'’d... I'’d stake my life
on the answer being no,

because he was Father Ted.
I mean, his...

his beliefs
meant the world to him.

But I felt, being a priest,
I could belong to everybody,

and the price of belonging
to everybody

is probably
not to belong to anybody.

May the Body of Christ bring us all to life everlasting.

When we think about Father Ted,
I think you really cannot,

uh, talk about him
and any of the decisions he made

without talking about his faith.

This is a priest that said Mass

every single day of his life,
save one,

celebrated Mass
in the most arcane places.

You'’ll hear it said of someone,
"If he hadn'’t been a priest,

he would'’ve been a CEO
at a major bank."

No one would have said that
of Ted Hesburgh.

Hesburgh was a priest
in his cradle.

You can'’t understand him apart from his commitment to his priesthood.

Being a priest is a fairly

isolated life.

There'’s no family,

there were no kids to raise,

there was no wife
to take care of.

There were no grandkids.

And so, it freed him to be

a father to all people.

He married my parents.
He baptized me.

He baptized all my siblings.
He married all of us.

So, he'’s got a huge family.

And he did have
the best of both worlds.

Being a priest was something
he always wanted.

It was, I think,
a true calling for him.

If right now
I had a real choice,

I could be President or I could be a priest-- I couldn'’t be both,
I know.

I'’m sure, in this country,
you couldn'’t be both.

I wouldn'’t hesitate one second.
I'’d be a priest.

When Ted finished his 30th year,

he went to the Board of Trustees and said,
"I'’m ready to step down."

They said, "We'’d like you
to take another five-year term

and prepare younger Holy Cross religious as your potential successor.

I had never really thought about being President of Notre Dame

until I was asked
to play this role.

Father Ted gave me
two bits of advice.

"Take care of your mother while she'’s still alive,"
which I did,

and, "Be yourself,"
and that'’s what I tried to be.

So I think the transition
went very smoothly.

He left the campus
with Father Joyce,

and it gave me
and my new administration

a chance
to get off the ground.

So, I'’m very thankful to him.

And I tried to do the same
when Father Jenkins took over.

There was things that came up
that he didn'’t agree with,

but his answer
was always the same.

He said, "I had my shot,
and I did what I had to do."

One of the best-known
American educators

is leaving
one of the most visible jobs

in higher education
in this country.

He is Father Theodore Hesburgh,
President of Notre Dame for 35 years.

Just shy of his 70th birthday,
Father Theodore Martin Hesburgh

has spent exactly half of his life as Notre Dame'’s President.

But we don'’t know
where we'’re going from here

and we don'’t know
what we'’re going to do,

but I can guarantee you
there are a lot of battles

yet to be won for justice.

There are a lot of mountains
yet to be climbed

to overcome human ignorance
and human prejudice,

and at times, human stupidity.

There are many songs
yet to be sung

in the name of joy and happy marriages and good families,

and a dedication to all that'’s good and true and beautiful.

In his retirement,
he just shifted gears.

He kept getting involved
in all kinds of things.

He still was on committees.

He was still asked
his opinion on things.

It gave him an opportunity to spend more time at Land O'’Lakes.

I didn'’t sense
any frustration whatsoever.

He just continued
to stay involved.

He accepted invitations
to do things that

most people his age
would not have.

So, I don'’t think Ted
had it in him

to just sit around idly
and look out the window.

I just don'’t think
that was his personality type.

He said he felt very important
that both Ted and Ned,

both of them
should get out of town.

Well, that'’s what really initiated the thought to get that motor home

and drive around
the United States.

They load up an RV

and towed a car behind the RV

and went
on a cross-country trip.

Father Ted and Father Ned,
simply put, were... were brothers.

The thing that was amazing,
35 years together,

and Ted said
they never had an argument.

It really changed Ted'’s life
when Ned died. He really...

He really lost, you might want to say,
lost a brother.

And I thank you, Ned,
for just being my brother for so many years,

for putting up with me
when I needed putting up with.

For just always being there.

Although he didn'’t
talk about it a lot,

he felt it and he would
share it with me.

We developed a close relationship later on in life

and he had a chance to spend a lot more time with the family

and with our children,
and became very close to them.

He gets to know students.

They are calling him Father Ted,
and he'’s every student'’s grandfather.

And he loved that.

He'’s a famous man.
People know him.

And sometimes he talked about,
you know, stuff that he did.

Working with the Popes, the Presidents,
but I don'’t know that man.

The one I know is the priest.

The loving Father.

I cherished these years.

I spent time with the people
I loved most in this life.

And with every year
I stepped back,

the world stepped forward,

until finally
something inspiring happened

that I'’d feared
I would never live to see.

Is anyone out there
who still doubts

that America is a place
where all things are possible?

Tonight is your answer.

I remember getting a call
from the White House.

Father Jenkins has invited
President Obama to campus.

Should the President go?

Surprisingly enough,
he accepted.

Isn'’t this great?
The President is coming to Notre Dame.

In some ways,
he was coming to respect Father Hesburgh.

I think President Obama
was in great awe of Father Ted

because he had prepared the way

for the role that he could play

as an individual.

But then,
there was a great firestorm.

President Obama today steps squarely into the middle of what may be

this country'’s deepest cultural, religious,
and political divide: abortion.

Murder!

It is a murder without courage.

It is a murder
without conscience.

Our campus was a bit besieged
by protesters for about a month.

There was a lot of anger,

a lot of criticism
of the University

that it had sold out,
that it had sold its soul.

It took me by surprise,
the intensity of the criticism,

the national character
of the coverage.

Father Jenkins
took a lot of crap.

Boy, I tell you, they went at him,
you know, headlines, you know.

"How could you invite
this horrible baby killer?"

My mother
saw this news coverage,

so she called Father Ted
and asked him,

"How'’s my son doing?
Did he do something wrong?"

And Father Ted just assured her that this is a good thing.

After that phone call,
she didn'’t worry again.

He was completely supportive
of Father John Jenkins.

Father Hesburgh,
throughout his tenure at the University,

always wanted to bring in
different views,

whether that was a Republican president or a Democratic president.

Sometimes we get passionate
about our own personal causes

or the causes
that we have great faith in,

but he was always a person that could look at the wider picture,

understanding that people
of good will can disagree.

It is not an issue
that lends itself to compromise.

But can he find a way
to bridge the divide?

It was...
It was actually a beautiful day.

The president came in, and...
Tremendous excitement.

Before Obama came out on stage,

he asked to meet
Father Hesburgh privately.

Father Ted said to him,

"I knew Martin Luther King.
He would be very proud of you."

And President Obama, I think,
was clearly touched by that

and said, "I don'’t think
I would be here

as President of the United States if it weren'’t for you

and members of the Commission
on Civil Rights."

Ladies and gentlemen,

please welcome the President
of the United States.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We must find a way
to live together

as one human family.

Unfortunately,
finding that common ground

is not easy.

Some people say
you'’re willing to listen

to different opinions,

you'’re not strong
in your own belief.

When, in fact,
in the history of America,

the true leadership has been the people who can bridge

the two different ideologies.

Father Hesburgh was somebody who could bring those people together

and find ways that they could get in the same room,

be respectful,

and come to some kind
of resolution.

That'’s the only way in America
to get things done.

Father Hesburgh has long spoken
of this institution

as both a lighthouse
and a crossroads,

a lighthouse that stands apart,
shining with the wisdom of the Catholic tradition,

while the crossroads is where differences
of culture and religion and conviction

can coexist with friendship, civility, hospitality,
and especially love.

In gratitude for your visit,
we would like to present you with a memento

dear to the heart of Notre Dame.

Before we present you with a copy of that photograph,
Mr. President,

if you and all here
will forgive me for pointing,

Father Ted is sitting behind the students in the first row.

When I visited President Obama
about a year or two later,

it was hanging
right off the Oval Office.

That was a powerful moment,
I think, for Father Hesburgh

that touched a chord both in his heart and in his soul.

I had been alerted by the people
at Holy Cross House,

our retirement
health care facility,

that Father Ted
was probably in his last days.

We went out to the tent

that Ted had gotten attached to Holy
Cross House so he could smoke his cigars

and his cigar was sitting unlit
in his fingers

and I asked Ted,
"What are you thinking about?"

He said,
"I'’m thinking about eternity."

He said, "I'’m looking forward
to the next stage of my life."

When I started with him,

he said he wanted to go to Mass
every single day.

"And I want you to make sure."

For the last day, I get him dressed in the black.
He looked so good.

He says
he'’s going to say Mass.

And I'’m like, "Wow,
I can'’t believe I'’m taking care of such a man."

He started to go
really about 9:30.

Amivi came in the room

and she proceeded
to say the rosary in French,

and he'’d respond in French.

"Je vous salue Marie, pleine de grâce,

Le Seigneur est avec vous,

vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes."

And it was just beautiful.

"Sainte Marie, Mère de Dieu,

priez pour nous, pauvres pécheurs,

maintenant et à l'’heure de notre mort."

After rosary was over,
Ted said, "Amivi, what do I do now?"

I said, "Well,
now it'’s time to close your eyes and open it in Heaven."

When I drove Father Hesburgh,
and we went out St. Mary'’s Road,

and he would have me
stop the car, both in and out.

We would stop the car
and he would pray

for his fellow priests and brothers buried in the cemetery.

He'’d hit me in the shoulder
and he'’d say,

"Our last trip,
you'’re bringing me here."

After the funeral,
we made the turn to go downhill by St. Mary'’s Road

and there'’s hundreds,
if not thousands of people lining that road.

I can'’t think of
a greater tribute to Father Ted

than having the students

that he loved a great deal lining the route to his final resting place.

This was someone who was totally committed to the country,

to his faith,

and to what was right.

He understood how to engage
the larger culture.

And it'’s more divided now
and more coarse than ever,

but boy, could we use a figure

who understood how to transform it and also articulate

both what'’s right
and wrong with it.

And we just don'’t have
those kind of figures anymore.

He could talk
across differences,

create a trust,
create a mutual understanding.

That'’s the kind of leader
that we need today.

It'’s the kind of leader
Father Ted was.

Father Ted'’s leadership has shown the world what Catholicism really is.

I regard Father Ted Hesburgh as one of the few great men in history.

Really, "one in a million"
doesn'’t even say it properly.

He was one of the special ones.

I think we were all in awe

of the finality
of such an incredible life.

I just owe him everything.

What made him
such an extraordinary figure

was that he really didn'’t belong
to any side.

He belonged to the side
of decency,

he belonged to the side

of a fundamental belief

in... the redeemability
of mankind.

I think he felt he had done the job that God wanted him to do.

A job well done.

Let us all ponder the words
of our good Lord,

"Whatsoever you do to one of these,
my least brethren,

you did it to me."