Analysis: Those Who Deserve Freedom Will Fight for It

Date: January 23, 1942

Author: Monroe E. Deutsch

Genre: speech

Summary Overview

This speech was given at the University of California at Berkeley by its vice president and provost, Dr. Monroe E. Deutsch. In January 1942, college campuses across the nation were still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor the month before. The United States was at war with Japan, Germany, and their allies, and men of college age were aware that they could be called up to go to war at any moment. Many men and women had already left college to join the military or pursue other employment. In this speech, Deutsch encouraged students at the University of California not only to be ready to serve their country, but also to see their contributions to the nation broadly and not strictly in terms of soldiering and warfare. The nation would be unprepared for peace and democracy, he argued, if all of the energy of the nation were turned to war. He encouraged his students to take advantage of every opportunity they had to profit from their time at college, however long that would be.

Defining Moment

Administrators and educators at American colleges and universities had been aware of the implications of war for their students and staff since Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in 1939: US college students were primarily of military age; university laboratories and science facilities would likely be focused on war technology; and administrators could be called on to allow their campuses to be used as training centers and even to provide housing for the military. Many faculty and administrators had been part of the war effort in World War I, and the feeling was widespread among educational leaders that the government had failed to utilize the skills of faculty and students in that war.

In June 1940, the American Council on Education (ACE), an influential association of US institutions of higher education, issued a statement recommending college campuses for defense training and that academic freedom be maintained throughout any conflict. The council began publishing a pamphlet about these issues, Higher Education and National Defense. The ACE convened a meeting of five hundred representatives in February 1941 to discuss the theme of “Organizing Higher Education for National Defense,” and throughout 1941, representatives met with government and military officials to discuss how to proceed.

On December 7, 1941, the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese. War with Japan was declared the following day in a joint session of Congress. On December 11, Germany declared war on the United States, and hours later the United States followed with a declaration of war on Germany. On January 3, 1942, a meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, brought together representatives from educational, military, and government institutions, including over one thousand college and university presidents who pledged to offer the nation “the total strength of our colleges and universities” as well as the support of “our faculties, our students… and our physical facilities.” The conference adopted a series of resolutions, including recommendations that colleges increase physical fitness training, accelerate degree programs, and consider ways to test students and assign credit for wartime experience. During the war, the ACE was the organizing body for all colleges and universities in the nation, and it worked closely with the War Department to formulate strategies to deal with veterans' issues, credits for war service, and the use of campuses as training centers.

Author Biography

Monroe Emanuel Deutsch was born into a Jewish family in 1879. He grew up in San Francisco and graduated from Lowell High School. He attended the University of California and received his bachelor's degree in 1902 and his master's degree in 1903. Deutsch returned to San Francisco to teach high school until 1907, when he was hired as an assistant professor of Greek studies, a position he held while pursuing his doctorate in classics at the University of California. He received his doctorate in 1911, was given the position of dean of summer sessions at the Los Angeles campus in 1918, and was hired as a full professor of Latin in 1922. From 1922 to 1931, Deutsch was dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California at Berkeley and was also made vice president of that university in the later years of that nine-year span. In 1931 he became provost of the university, a position he held until his retirement in 1947. He was granted honorary law degrees from various universities throughout his career. Deutsch died on October 21, 1955, in San Francisco.

Document Analysis

This speech was given at the University of California at Berkeley at a campus meeting. Deutsch begins by welcoming current and former students and reminding them that they are meeting in perilous times. Despite the student body being smaller, the pursuit of higher education is therefore all the more important, he says: “You are called to be the recipients of higher education, to receive a training which under other conditions many would have shared with you.” Deutsch stresses that although the nation needed to focus its energy on the crisis of war, and the universities were necessarily focusing their attention on scientists who were “devising means to protect our soldiers and sailors, as well as to assure victory,” the nation should still function “in all the many other fields in which training is offered.” Every person who could contribute to the war effort should do so, but “at the same time we must not in the process destroy the things for which we are fighting.” The university, not as a physical structure but as a bastion of the free pursuit of knowledge, is one of the things that Deutsch feels must be protected, and “such a university even in time of war will not surrender its character or its obligations.”

Deutsch acknowledges that it is difficult to prioritize things that are not directly related to the war. “Spiritual freedom” is a worthy goal, he argues, even in times of war. In fact, none of the other freedoms can be attained without it. If the war proved to be long and difficult, and the spiritual and intellectual energy of the nation in general and universities in particular focused only on the war effort, there would be no leaders capable of shepherding the nation into peacetime, and “we should have a generation capable of wielding the sword or the gun but poorly adapted to the pursuits of peace.” In addition, understanding history and philosophy will be necessary to guide the nation during these critical times. “And in these studies you will often see a relationship to the times in which we are living.”

The best thing that students can do is appreciate that they are living in extraordinary times and get the most they can out of their days in college. “Bring from them everything precious that you can.” If students are called on to serve the war effort directly, they should do so, but “when the war ends, the infinitely difficult problems of reconstruction will arise, and the builders will have their part to play.” Deutsch reminds students of the struggles of other nations engaged in the war.

In his parting words, Deutsch advises students not to give in to the prejudice and discrimination that often accompanies “war hysteria.” He cautions them to remember that the United States is a nation of immigrants. “Whether your parents were born in Germany, England, France or Japan, you are alike American citizens.”

Bibliography and Additional Reading

Beevor, Antony. The Second World War. New York: Back Bay, 2012. Print.

Cardozier, Virgus R. Colleges and Universities in World War II. Westport: Praeger, 1993. Print.

Kandel, I. L. The Impact of the War upon American Education. 1948. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2012. Print.