Atomic Energy Commissioner
1954
Citation:
In times of uncertainty and insecurity, in times like our own when people seem to go questing for the ominous and the appalling, the greatest gift that God can send to a community or a nation are wise leaders, who can look into the future and tell us how to steer our course so as to avoid blunders and escape destruction. When moreover men of vision are men of prudence, our confidence is doubled, and when to vision and prudence is added courage in the face of the elemental powers of nature, we are thrice confident. The man whom we are privileged to honor tonight combines these three qualities of vision, of prudence, and of courage. He applied them in the field of technical research and enriched industry with some two hundred discoveries in the use of electricity. He applied them in the business world and rescued a mammoth transportation system from insolvency. He applied them in the realm of human relations when he mediated between government and labor in the administration of a vast health and welfare fund. He has thus shown himself an eminent scientist, financier and social economist. But his is more: the success that will outlast all these was achieved in his family life. He and his devoted wife have shown American men and women that life's deepest and most enduring satisfactions are to be found in the security and warmth of a Christian home, in which the mutual love of father and mother and children is inspired by the example and teaching of Christ, and nourished and strengthened by the power of prayer and of divine grace. Their large, happy home full of children is the most eloquent expression of their total personality. Such was the man whom our Chief Executive chose as one of the responsible guides of our atomic energy program. To his duties on the Commission he brings an extraordinary scientific competence, a keen sense of responsibility for Government spending, and a loyal regard for the general good of our beloved country and of humanity - the homes full of children all over the world. Reverend President, I have the honor of presenting Thomas Edward Murray for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science. Commencement, University of Detroit, June 16, 1954.