Congratulations to you young men receiving your Eagle awards this day.  A great deal of hard work lies behind each award, along with good times and good memories.  For a young man between the ages of 13 to 18, the Eagle award is the one achievement that will shine out for decades to come.  Colleges and future employers alike recognize that the Eagle award denotes a young man who “had his act together” at an early age, who could set and meet goals, who understood that duty and responsibility are parts of citizenship in a free Republic.

I also congratulate the parents and other family members here today.  You can take pride in your son, or grandson, or brother, or nephew.  And you can take some satisfaction that you have met your responsibility toward the young person sitting with you.  Your encouragement has been a real part of his success.  Eleven years ago, I sat where you are now, as my own son received his Eagle award.  Enjoy this special moment.

Finally, I congratulate the scoutmasters and other scouting leaders here today.  Your investment of work, energy, time, and commitment have born fruit in these fine young men:  on behalf of the communities of northern Illinois, I thank you.

I want to offer a few thoughts this afternoon about manliness.  That’s a word that we don’t hear discussed much these days.  For some decades now, it hasn’t been politically correct to talk about the manly man.  Fortunately, that may be changing, in part because of a brand new book entitled Manliness.  The author is one of America’s leading political philosophers:  Harvey Mansfield, Professor of Government at Harvard University.  According to Professor Mansfield, manliness is not really about physical strength or aggression.  He calls true manliness a quality of the soul, rather than simply of the body.  His short definition of manliness is:  showing “confidence in a situation of risk.”  Let me repeat that:  manliness is showing confidence in a situation of risk. 

What does this mean?

Allow me to answer with a somewhat personal story.  My son Anders, the Eagle Scout I mentioned, has gone on to become a scientist, a research geologist studying glaciers and ice sheets.  This winter he received his doctorate in glacial geology from Oregon State University.  A few years back, he was doing a research project on a glacier in Alaska.  One day, he was asked to take a visiting science teacher with him to see the research site.  To get there, they had to carefully traverse deep crevasses or ice canyons and cross ice bridges on the glacier.  Alas, on the way back from the site, one of the visitor’s crampons—the spikes strapped on his boots—broke.  The visitor panicked, he froze, he refused to move.  Anders worked to calm the visitor, actually dancing around on an ice bridge to show that it could be done without falling.  He took some cord and—as best he could—relashed the crampon onto the visitor’s boot, using knots he had first learned back in Webelos.  And then he lashed himself physically to the visitor and walked him, slow step by slow step, across several treacherous ice bridges, back to camp. 

Was Anders a hero, here?  No, not really.  But here he was a man, showing confidence in a situation of risk.  And I believe you can see how it was skills that he had learned in Scouting that enabled him here to be a man:  even in the tying of knots. 

Professor Mansfield’s book contains a chapter on “The Manliness of Theodore Roosevelt.”  This is my favorite part of the book because Theodore Roosevelt is my favorite President.

I like Mr. Roosevelt because he was a complete man.  What do I mean by that?

• Theodore Roosevelt was actually born a sickly child, with a serious case of asthma.  His father, though, urged him to exercise and to explore the outdoors.  As a young man, Roosevelt dedicated himself to what he called “the strenuous life.”  Through sheer will power, he strengthened his body.  He became a model outdoorsman; a wilderness explorer and camper; a boxer; a hunter; a cowboy; and a great conservationist of forests, wilderness, and wildlife.

• Roosevelt also believed that the love of the outdoors and the love of books go together.  “Reading with me is a disease,” he once joked.  Even when he was President of the United States, Roosevelt read at least one book a day, and over five hundred books in a year.  He was also a writer; in the 21 years between his graduation from college and becoming President, he wrote books and essays that filled 23 thick volumes.

• Theodore Roosevelt is remembered as a man of war.  He did fight in the Spanish-American War and led the famous cavalry charge up San Juan Hill; he received a medal for bravery and believed that all able young men should learn the virtues of the warrior.  All the same, Roosevelt was also a man of peace.  He is one of only two American Presidents to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in his case for ending a war between Russia and Japan.  In the early years of World War I, he tried—heroically but without success—to end the human carnage in the trenches of that terrible conflict by seeking to negotiate a peace without victors.

• Roosevelt was also a husband and the father of six children.  All his life, he was acutely sensitive to the needs and sensibilities of women.  He said that the way for a man to honor “this indispensable woman, the wife and the mother,” was to insist on her treatment as “the full equal of her husband.”  A true marriage, Roosevelt insisted, would be “a partnership of the soul, the spirit and the mind, no less than of the body.”  The first task of every true man was the building of a good home, for the rearing and protection of children.

• “Life is a great adventure,” Mr. Roosevelt concluded, “and the worst of all fears is the fear of living.”  The true man, he believed, understood his duty to grasp every opportunity that came his way and to go as far as he could, in order to live the complete life.

• Some of you probably know that Theodore Roosevelt was also among the founders of The Boy Scouts of America.  He served as Vice-President of the new organization and he held the special title of “Chief Scout Citizen.”  The first edition of The Handbook for Boys, predecessor to today’s Boy Scout Handbook, appeared in 1911 and it carried a message from President Roosevelt.  Allow me to share a few excerpts.  He wrote:

• “No man is a good citizen unless he so acts as to show that he actually uses the Ten Commandments and translates the Golden Rule into his life conduct—and I don’t mean by this in exceptional cases under spectacular circumstances, but I mean applying the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule in the ordinary affairs of every-day life.  I hope the Boy Scouts will practice truth and square dealing and courage and honesty.”

And President Roosevelt adds:

• “The same qualities that mean success or failure to the nation as a whole mean success or failure in men and boys individually….Any boy is worth nothing if he has not got courage, courage to stand up against the forces of evil and courage to stand up in the right path.  Let him be unselfish and gentle, as well as strong and brave.  It should be a matter of pride to him that he is not afraid of anyone and he scorns not to be gentle and considerate to everyone, especially those who are weaker than he is.  If he doesn’t treat his mother and sisters well, then he is a poor creature no matter what else he does; just as a man who doesn’t treat his wife well is a poor kind of citizen no matter what his other qualities may be.  Let the boy remember he must have knowledge, he must cultivate a sound body and a good mind and train himself so that he can act with quick decision in any crisis that may arise.”

Remember here Professor Mansfield’s definition of manliness:  it is showing confidence in a situation of risk.  Clearly, this is also how President Roosevelt himself, 95 years ago, understood the mission of Scouting:  as he put it, to train boys how to “act with quick decision in any crisis that may arise.” 

You new Eagles here today are well on your way to manliness, able to show that confidence in a situation of risk, that quick decision in any crisis.  We are proud of you and we salute you.