PH FIND it difficult to discuss with
84 you the deeply disturbing reali-
3 ties of the world. It isa comfort-
= ing and inspiring experience to
look into the brave, open countenances of
young men who are about to go out into
the world and take up the task which 1s
waiting—to carry on the fight for the ideals
and privileges of freedom and liberty which
we all hold dear. The obstacles and trials
in the paths of each are many and grave:
heroic and forthright qualities of the soul
are required to conquer them. Those very
obstacles, however, constitute a great and
glorious challenge—a challenge 1t 1s our
heritage and obligation to accept, that we
may be welded, as were our forefathers,
into the very brawn, brain, and sinew of
our nation.
In the aceptance of any challenge, the
primary quality is courage. The founders
of our great republic were the personifica-
tion of courage in its finest form; today’s
patriots can be equally brave, equally
strong, and equally essential to our sorely
harassed nation. We need strong, young
blood to strengthen veins which have been
weakened by the creeping virus of apathy,
lethargy, deceit, and treachery—the rich,
red blood of true Americanism!
Our forefathers remained steadfast in
the face of ominous difficulties. They
achieved an almost impossible task. They
reached a summit of accomplishment that
was the marvel of the civilized world. But
they attained this only because they pos-
sessed an elemental, rugged, uncompromis-
ing courage in the face of almost over-
whelming difficulties. They never knew
the meaning of fear. The word ‘surrender’
was not in their vocabulary. They were
fighters, battlers for their high ideals—
martyrs, if necessary. They were ready
and eager to sacrifice everything that life
holds dear for a cause that to them was
greater and more sacred than life itself.
They were proud to be Americans!
The caliber of our forebears is a precious
heritage. Nothing that has been handed
down to us by the fathers of our country
can be retained unless we exert every pos-
sible physical, mental, and moral effort for
the attainment of our ideals, for the reten-
tion of our sacred heritage.
We of the FBI know how necessary is
courage. The men of the FBI must meet
the challenge of the lawless elements in all
parts of our country. They must risk their
lives in the capture of the most dangerous
types of desperadoes. They must be willing
to sacrifice all that man holds dear in order
Page FOUR
WHAT IS YOUR FUTURE TASh
By J. Edgar Hoover,
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
¥ “Or did we forget
those God - given
qualities of sureness,
of strength, of cour-
age, and of vigilance
which had made the
eagle a symbol of
this nation?’
ANY z2L.
ry ANN
that the men,
women, and chil:
dren of this coun-
try may be pro-
tected and safe in
their daily life.
These men have
demonstrated he-
roically that the
youth of America,
properly trained
and dedicated to
high ideals, are the
worthy successors
of the youth of
76 who won our
freedom, and the
vouth thereafter
who blazed the
trails and broke
the frontiers to
build the greatest
citadel of de-
mocracy.
It would be futile for me to attempt to
point out the ways and means of living in
order to acquire a balanced, forceful, etfec-
tive character. Countless sermons have
been preached; innumerable books have
been written; the texts of righteousness are
all around us. We simply need the courage
to apply their principles to the attainment
of worthy ends. The cultivation of mind
alone never will create character. There
must be instilled in us, developed by us,
those moral principles and attributes which
have come down to us through the ages,
with the sanctity of both divine and human
authority.
To be a university graduate does not
indicate by any means that a man possesses
a rounded, fully developed character. A
number of university graduates I have
known have traveled paths that led to
crime and disgrace. They have used their
education to the detriment of the commu-
nity, rather than for its benefit—their lives
a curse to humanity and to themselves, a
tragic distortion of all that for which youth
should stand. Therefore, you will be
strongly fortified in your battle of life, for
battle it is, if you take into the world those
time-honored and proved moral principles
that have been handed down to you by
law-abiding, God-fearing ancestors.
One of the principal reasons for the de-
moralizing and shocking increase of crime
in the past two decades has been the in-
effectiveness of religious and moral infiu-
ences In our individual communities.
History in the past two thousand years has
demonstrated that the forces that make
men Christians make them good citizens.
Let me remind you that as faith in the
Supreme Being diminishes, so does charac-
ter weaken—and so does the courage so
vital to carry on the battle against the
obstacles which today may be found on
every side.
In the FBI, we demand that the charac-
ter of our men be unsullied and above
suspicion. All of the intellectual accomp-
lishments that can be secured, all of the
scholastic honors that can be attained,
will not entitle a man to appointment in
the FBI if it cannot be demonstrated that
he possesses, in addition, a balanced,
forceful, moral character. Just as there 1s
no substitute for strong character in the
work of the FBI, there is no substitute for
strong character in life itself.
The world 1s desperately in need of
The WATCHMAN MAGAZINE