[Address] to Graduating Class of 1969 at Lehigh University / Richard Nixon.

The address is typed on White House letterhead with official seal. See additional letters in the collection from Nixon as well as his official White House biography (http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rn37.html) and research collections of his papers (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=N000116).

Nixon addresses graduates, identifying theirs as a generation that asks, "Why?" He characterizes students as centers of power and encourages them to shape their worlds and communities not only with the quality of their rhetoric, but also with the quality of their lives. Nixon cautions that "All power must be disciplined by trained intelligence and tempered by compassion." He closes with an allusion to "The Sound of Silence," a popular song by Simon and Garfunkel, and with a quote from William Faulkner. This letter was written after Nixon's election as 37th President of the United States (1969-1974). Prior to assuming these duties, he served as Dwight Eisenhower's Vice President, as a Senator from California, and as a sailor in the Navy during World War II. Nixon resigned the Presidency in 1974 during impeachment proceedings resulting from the Watergate affair.