Address by the Honorable George M. Leader, Governor of Pennsylvania, at the Delegates' Luncheon, April 2, 1955

• Published date: 01 July 1955
• Date: 01 July 1955
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625530000102
• Author: George M. Leader
• Subject Matter: Articles

1

Address

by

the

Honorable

George

M.

Leader,

Governor

of

Pennsylvania,

at

the

Delegates’

Luncheon,

April

2,

1955

R.

President,

Members

of

the

M Academy,

Ladies

and

Gentlemen:

Ungenerous

and

vain

as

it

may

sound

at

the

outset

of

my

remarks,

I

want

to

say

that

the

main

feeling

I

have

as

I

stand

here

before

you

is

pride.

Of

course,

I

am

pleased,

too.

But

mostly

I

am

proud,

proud

to

be

the

governor

of

a

state

which

is

the

home

of

an

academy

illustrious

enough

to

attract

such

a

distinguished

group.

In

addition,

I

am

delighted

that

the

American

Academy

has

taken

as

the

theme

of

its

Fifty-ninth

Annual

Meet-

ing

the

important

subject

of

internal

security

and

civil

rights

in

the

United

States.

As

I

looked

into

the

history

of

your

venerable

society,

I

was

struck

with

the

number

of

names

of

men

prominent

in

your

activities

who

have

distinguished

themselves

in

the

field

of

the

social

sciences.

The

work

of

men

like

Edmund

J.

James,

S.

N.

Patten,

S.

M.

Lindsay,

L.

S.

Rowe,

E.

M.

Pat-

terson,

J.

H.

Willits,

and

Thorsten

Sel-

lin-to

mention

only

those

who

come

more

readily

to

mind-have

bestowed

upon

your

organization

a

tradition

of

sober

and

sound

scholarship.

In

so

doing

they

have

resolutely

refused

to

allow

your

organization

to

become

the

instrument

of

any

special

interest

or

propaganda

activity.

With

so

much

hysteria

in

the

country

today

on

the

subject

of

individual

liberty

and

civil

rights,

it

seems

to

me

most

appropriate

that

an

organization

with

this

solid

reputation

for

dispassionate

scholarship

should

address

itself

to

a

discussion

of

the

sensitive

subject

of

internal

security

and

civil

rights.

As

many

of

you

know,

I

am

not

a

lawyer

but

a

person

trained

in

educa-

tion,

who

turned

to

the

poultry

busi-

ness

and

to

the

field

of

state

govern-

ment.

Speaking

as

a

layman

in

the

field

of

your

concern

this

week

end,

it

has

always

seemed

to

me

that

civil

rights

are

perhaps

too

much

construed

in

the

negative,

as

a

protective

device

against

invasion

of

individual

freedom

of

action.

As

such,

civil

rights

are

traditionally

associated

with

courts

and

lawyers

and

due

process

of

law.

In

the

past

twenty

years,

American

society

has

suffered

many

trials,

both

in

war

and

in

economic

depression.

Re-

gardless

of

the

theories

of

some

of

our

classical

economists

and

sociologists,

American

society

has

become

an

organ-

ism,

rather

than

an

aggregation

of

indi-

vidual

persons.

It

seems

to

me,

look-

ing

at

this

problem

as

a

public

servant,

that

since

society

has

become

so

urban-

ized

and

so

industrialized,

and

men

have

become

so

economically

and

socially

in-

terdependent,

civil

rights

should

assume

more

of

the

aspect

of

mutual

obliga-

tions

and

should

be

a

positive,

vital,

ac-

tive

concern

of

men

in

government

and

of

the

whole

body

of

our

citizens.

Certainly,

men

must

continue

to

be

protected

as

individuals

as

they

go

about

their

individual

pursuits.

But

they

must

also

be

protected

as

members

of

groups,

because

in

groups

individu-

als

lose

their

identity

and

are

virtually

helpless.

There

must

be in

government

thoughtful

people

who

are

particularly

sensitive

to

these

issues-people

who

ponder

them

constantly

and

who

have

the

courage

to

sustain

their

convictions.