On Forty Years
Remarks by NEH Chairman Bruce Cole
September 29, 2005
National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC
(As Prepared for Delivery)

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, Members of the Cabinet, Senators, Representatives, Ambassadors, Members of the National Council on the Humanities and the talented NEH staff, distinguished guests, and friends of the Humanities.

Welcome and thank you for joining us for this exciting evening as we celebrate four decades of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

I would like to express our gratitude to several donors who have not only made possible tonight’s event but whose gifts will enhance other NEH programs throughout this anniversary year: William Rollnick & Nancy Ellison; the Carnegie Corporation; Libby O’Connell and the History Channel; David Grange and the McCormick Tribune Foundation; Albert Beveridge and the National Trust for the Humanities; the John M. Olin Foundation; my friend Adair Margo and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and Francie Alexander and Scholastic, Incorporated.

I also want to thank Director Rusty Powell, Deputy Director Allen Shesteck, and Carol Kelley of the National Gallery of Art, our generous hosts this evening.

My own fascination with art and history was first sparked by the National Gallery. When I was a youngster, my parents made the trek from our native Cleveland to visit Washington. Among their tourist destinations was the National Gallery. My folks returned with a souvenir that would alter my life: a portfolio of illustrations from the collections of the National Gallery.

Flipping through those pages . . . As I absorbed and pondered these great works, I had the first glimmerings of what would become a lifelong scholarly pursuit: to study and understand the form, history, and meaning of art.

This gallery and its outstanding collection--as it has for so many Americans--served as my gateway to a wider intellectual world. Through that open door, I would delve into philosophy, religion, anthropology, architecture, and history.

In short, this is the place that introduced me to world of the humanities. So, it is with a sense of awe that I preside tonight over this birthday party for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Forty years ago, on September 29th 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act. With that stroke of a pen, he established both the Humanities Endowment and our sister agency the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dana Gioia, the NEA’s Chairman is here with us this evening. Thank you, Dana, for your outstanding leadership at the Arts Endowment.

At the bill-signing ceremony President Johnson gathered the nation’s brightest scholarly and artistic lights to witness the occasion. It was a big event, to be sure.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey wasn’t about to let its gravity escape. Not given to understatement, the Vice President told the Washington Star that--in the landscape of American history--the Act would loom even larger than the Marshall Plan.

Well, who’s to argue with a Vice President of the United States? In fact, the Humanities Endowment has left its mark in the last four decades.

As he swore in the members of the first National Council on the Humanities, President Johnson would speak of the Endowment’s importance in American life, “Not only in enriching scholarship,” he said, “but in enriching life for all people.”

In fulfilling that charge, NEH support has made a difference. Our partners in the fifty-six state and territorial humanities councils have flourished and excelled. Millions of Americans have experienced history through award-winning documentaries like The Civil War. They’ve visited eye-opening museum exhibitions, they’ve read Pulitzer Prize-winning books, they’ve pored over well-preserved historic papers and artifacts, and they’ve participated in school and community programs throughout the nation.

To know who we are and where we’re going as Americans, we must understand where we came from. For our democracy to survive, each generation must renew and then pass our founding principles. And to that end, the NEH’s We the People initiative has helped inspire the best in citizenship.

Introduced by President Bush in 2002, We the People has sent classic American literature to thousands of libraries. It’s brought legions of high school teachers to America’s historic places to learn from scholars. It’s making millions of our most important documents and historic newspapers accessible via the Internet. And, it’s helping spark curiosity and discussion about our past in communities large and small.

All of this has helped the Humanities Endowment respond to the challenge issued in our founding legislation that “democracy demands wisdom and vision.” As this anniversary year unfolds, the Humanities Endowment will announce new programs and grant competitions. We will help document endangered languages. We will make available the letters and papers of our nation’s presidents as well as our most influential Senators and Representatives. And--to give today’s young people the chance to discover the humanities as I did--we will share the history of our nation through the history of its art by distributing images and educational materials to classrooms and homes.

These are but a few examples of the work now underway at the Humanities Endowment.

This evening, we stand at a happy crossroads. We look back with pride on forty years of history. We also look ahead with optimism. The NEH, with the support of the President and Congress, remains an important force in cultivating knowledge that underlies everything we do.

The humanities enrich our civic life. They help citizens sustain the wisdom to govern themselves. They also inspire an appreciation for the subtle and the profound in ideas, art, books, and experience. Today, we live amid oceans of facts and torrents of data. The humanities allow us transform such mere “information” into Knowledge. They help reason rule impulse. They show us that truth, goodness, achievement, excellence, and beauty are not antiquated, disposable notions.

In short, the humanities open minds to great ideas. They help us remain both fearless and free. And long may it be so.

It is now my privilege and pleasure to introduce the Vice President of the United States, Mr. Richard B. Cheney. I look forward to hearing his remarks and those of Mrs. Cheney, a friend and a most distinguished former Chairman of the NEH.

Mr. Vice President.

[Vice President Cheney and Mrs. Cheney speak.]

Thank you Mrs. Cheney, and thank you Mr. Vice President. We are so proud to have your support and encouragement in the work we do. To express our appreciation, I would like to present to you a new book. The title is Fearless and Free. It is a wonderfully illustrated history of the NEH. The cover features a beautifully understated painting by Jamie Wyeth, who has graciously donated the use of this image. The book also features interviews with eighteen individuals who are great contributors to the humanities in America. I hope that you will enjoy it with our compliments. Thank you.

Everyone please stay and enjoy the rest of this wonderful evening. Mr. Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, thank you again.