The Power of the Presidency Stressed on James Madison Day

"You can't make executive decisions from the Congress. It has to come from the president," said Eagleburger, who was Henry Kissinger's executive assistant and who held major positions in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Carter and Bush. And presidents, he insisted, must have "sufficient authority to make the kinds of decisions that are necessary in times of crisis."

The convocation was the culmination of the March celebration of James Madison's birth 251 years ago. "On this occasion, we honor the man whose name this university bears," said President Linwood H. Rose in welcoming the Wilson Hall audience. He announced that JMU will acquire a life-sized bronze statue of James Madison, contributed by the Forbes family. The statue will ultimately reside in front of Varner House, while a replica of Montpelier's temple, paid for in part by the 2002 Senior Class Challenge, will face the statue from the Burruss Hall lawn.

The link between the man and the university is fitting because, as James Madison Center Director Philip Bigler ('74, '76M) said, Madison "thought of education and republicanism as one and inseparable."

Vice President for Academic Affairs Doug Brown recognized award recipients, while Student Government Association President David J. Mills ('02) spoke on behalf of the student body. "This nation has thrown its hat over the high wall of freedom. ... The events of this year have taught us the sobering price of freedom."

Eagleburger, the keynote speaker, announced to great applause that he would donate his $10,000 speaking fee to JMU for scholarships.

"In times of crisis," he said, "... it's the presidency and the president who make all the difference." He cited "the tremendous authority Lincoln exercised" to hold the union together; the reforms Teddy Roosevelt made in the government's approach to dealing with economic problems; and the "sense of hope" FDR provided to bring the nation through the Depression.

The U.S. response to Sept. 11 is one of those crises, "a task that cannot any longer be avoided, that is going to cost us tremendous agony ...," Eagleburger said. "You have to look to the president of the United States for leadership in a case like this." He called on the Bush administration to clearly define its objectives. "It's not enough to say our objective is to destroy terrorism. ..."

Eagleburger concluded by saying, "This country of yours and mine, ladies and gentlemen, is now pledged to a war. ... And if that doesn't point out beyond a shadow of a doubt the importance of the presidency, I don't know what does."

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was the original keynote speaker, but JMU withdrew its invitation after Goodwin acknowledged quoting other writers without sufficient attribution in her book, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.

To read more about James Madison Day, award recipients, retiring professors and the encore visit by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, go to www.jmu.edu/montpelier and click the Full Monty icon.

-- Pam Brock