I don’t remember my Commencement guest speaker, but I know there was one. I would like to hear Barbara Walters. She has had an awe-inspiring career. 

A side note: When my husband received his doctorate, President Gerald Ford was the guest speaker. It was fascinating watching the media coverage and security, but once President Ford finished, the TV lights were turned off, the camera crews packed up, and the media left. It was as if the graduates were of no importance, and it should have been their day. Maybe no guest speaker is the best idea. That way the focus stays on the graduates.

Mike Wallace was the speaker at my college commencement. He had recently made a public comment that was controversial (something interpreted as racist, if I recall correctly) and was booed when he arrived at the podium. He apologized for the remark then and there. Of the two people being awarded honorary doctorates that day he was the only one present. The other was awarded in absentia (the first time the University ever awarded one in absentia) to Nelson Mandela, who was still imprisoned at the time.

Who would I want to hear now? Probably Obama. I don’t think young voters realize it but in many ways Obama is a throwback to the bygone eras of pre-Reagan, pre-Moral Majority/Jerry Falwell, moderate politicians, which I hope is making a return. Otherwise I suppose I’d want to hear someone from that era, most likely my state’s longest serving Governor, William Milliken (much in the Gerald Ford vein - wise and well-tempered, not flashy or ego driven).

Yes, a name that will live in infamy - Bernard Cardinal Law.

It was the Monday before Memorial Day in 1984 and the new Archbishop of Boston spoke at the Boston College commencement. He erred immediately by saying how gratifying it was to be able to speak at Boston University (wrong end of Commonwealth Ave!) and the crowd growled its disapproval. If only we had known the other types of mistakes he would make….

The speakers at my college commencement were Sam Rayburn and Joe Martin,  the leaders of the House of Representatives.  They alternated in the position of Speaker — Rayburn was a Democrat and Martin a Republican.  Actually, they were very good friends.

I was very sad at leaving college — I really loved it.  And as the two men passed by, Rep. Martin  turned to me and said, "Don’t cry.  You have a wonderful life ahead of you."  It meant so much to me, and I’ll never forget it, even though I’ve always been a Democrat.  I think politics were much more civilized in those days.

I have no recollection of who spoke at my graduation, but here’s a commencement address from Joan Didion from 1975 at U of C.

I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but LIVE IN IT. To look at it. To try and get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. to seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do that, I could tell you that the grave’s a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace. Nor do they sing there or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the Amazon, or touch their children. And that’s what there is to do and get it while you can and good luck with it.