Rosalynn Carter, and other Americans, reacted to Solzhenitsyn’s Harvard commencement address with contemptuous irritation and dismissive condescension toward “a foreigner who does not understand us.” Readers of NR, however, had a chance to note that in the space of a few weeks, two commencement speeches of very similar character were given. An American, William Buckley, delivered the other at Notre Dame. Both speeches were remarkable in that they passed up the usual self-congratulatory hyperbole one takes for granted at commencement exercises. What common awareness made them separately but similarly avoid the note of festive celebration and adopt one of somber criticism? Buckley, a man of strongly principled patriotism, cannot be accused of failing to understand America. Come to think of it, neither can Solzhenitsyn, on a reading of the full text.
A Song of Praise
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