Teddy talks (and the modern-day commencement address at IU Bloomington)

May 8, 2014

Herman B and Booker T.

Mellencamp and Sylvia McNair.

Birch and Evan Bayh.

Q, Quincy Jones.

Pauley, Smiley and Enberg, oh my.

The statesmen, Richard Lugar and Lee Hamilton.

The Nobel winner, Eleanor Ostrom.

The Batman crusader, Michael Uslan, and the Puzzlemaster, Will Shortz.

Oh, and did we mention Teddy Roosevelt?

All of these names, from music, media and the movies, as well as education, politics and policymaking, are associated with the modern-day commencement address at Indiana University Bloomington, first introduced in 1892.

Last spring, the IU Archives presented a great look back at commencement ceremonies of yesteryear, complete with some stunning black-and-white photography. And for those who want to delve deeper into the history of who’s spoken at commencement, the Office of University Archives and Records Management also has a complete listing of speakers and speech titles.

There you’ll find the notables I’ve listed above, including IU’s legendary 11^th president, Herman B Wells; the late IU distinguished professor Elinor Ostrom, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; celebrated musicians Booker T Jones, Quincy Jones, John Mellencamp and Sylvia McNair; renowned TV broadcasters Dick Enberg, Jane Pauley and Tavis Smiley; longtime Indiana political leaders, Birch Bayh, Evan Bayh, Lee Hamilton and Richard Lugar; Batman producer Michael Uslan; and New York Times crossword puzzle guru Will Shortz.

And that’s only going back a mere 26 years.

Keep scrolling down the list and you’ll find Supreme Court justices, U.S. senators, governors, lieutenant governors, ambassadors, and, yes, former U.S. presidents.

Indeed, that’s the Teddy Roosevelt on the list. Nine years after completing his second term as U.S. president and one year before his passing, Roosevelt delivered the 1918 spring commencement address in Bloomington. While we can’t be certain that Roosevelt ‘spoke softly’ during his address, titled “Straightforward Americanism,” we do know that he was greatly impressed by Bloomington and its graduation proceedings.

He said:

“I want to say at the outset that I don’t think that I have ever been at a more beautiful university commencement than this.”

See IU’s press release about this year’s commencement speakers in Bloomington, Michael D. Higgins, president of Ireland, and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. Visit the official IU Commencement website for additional details on this year’s ceremonies.

Tags: commencement speakers, graduation speakers, Ireland, IU Archives, Michael D. Higgins, Paul O'Neill