Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As we exit this difficult and stressful year we must look ahead with hope for a brighter future. Fortunately, we have many brilliant hearts and minds focused on how we make such a future possible for our world.
The late William Polk had a full and illustrious career studying and helping to steer a wise and just foreign policy for the United States – including serving on JFK’s three-man crisis management team during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Speaking to graduating students at Bennington College almost fifteen years ago, he articulated an analysis of where we stand in the world that is as precisely accurate today as it was then. (When he speaks of “neoconservatives,” add “neoliberals,” and when he references Afghanistan and Iraq, add Ukraine, and the speech could have been written for 2023 graduates.)
Most importantly, he gave his audience members hope and assurance that they held the power to move our country toward a better future in their hands.
We hope you can take a little time to consider this wise man’s appraisal of our country. And it is our hope for all of us that we can truly take to heart his empowering notion that the future is ours to create.
Happy New Year to You All!
Center for Citizen Initiatives
William Polk: Talk at Bennington College students and faculty on September 15, 2008