The clarion call - what if no one answers?

• Author: Pettis, Eugene K.
• Position: Legal profession - President's page

Most significant events in life have a precursor, a forewarning of their arrival. How these events impact us and society is often determined by whether we answered the "clarion call."

History is replete with examples of the consequences of survival and destruction, depending on whether a clear message of needed action was heard and fulfilled.

American Revolutionary Paul Revere's ride in 1775 to Lexington was intended to inform John Hancock and Samuel Adams that a British assault against the colonists armed in Concord was inevitable. Fortunately, Revere's warning was taken seriously and a plan for Hancock's and Adams' escape was executed. How would history have been written if Hancock did not escape the British invasion?

Remember the "October surprise" of 1962, when a U.S. U-2 aircraft took several pictures believed to be sites of nuclear missiles under construction in Cuba? As we now know, the Soviet Union had placed nuclear missiles on the island to deter any future invasion attempts by the U.S. Fortunately, President John F. Kennedy heeded the warning and ordered a blockade of the island, setting off a direct confrontation with the Soviets. By determined action, the confrontation ended with the Soviets dismantling their offensive weapons in Cuba and returning them to the Soviet Union.

But not every clarion call has been answered. Oftentimes, this failure has led to devastating results.

Perhaps one of the most significant was Pearl Harbor. Two warnings of approaching Japanese attack planes were ignored. Early morning, on December 7, 1941, a Japanese midget sub was spotted and sunk near the entrance of Pearl Harbor. Shortly thereafter, an Army radar station on the north shore reported the sighting of planes about 50 miles away. The Navy lieutenant believed they were U.S. planes returning from a reconnaissance mission, and the sightings were ignored. Shortly thereafter, we now know, one of the most brutal attacks on American soil was carried out.

We in the legal profession have heard clarion calls on impending crises that should inspire us to act--not just for the good of our profession, but for society as a whole.

We've heard the warnings about the proliferation of law schools and so many fresh law graduates without...