General Douglas MacArthur Thaver Award Acceptance Address General Westmoreland, General Grove, disting uis hed guests, and gentlemen of the As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, Where are you bound for, General? And when I replied, West Point he remarked ," Beautif ul place. Have you ever been there before? No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this [thayer Award]. Coming from a prof ession I have served so long and a peo ple i have loved so well, it fills me with an emotion I cannot express. But this award is not intended primarily to honor a persona lity but to symbolize a great moral code - the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent. That is the a imation of this medallion For all eyes and for all time it is an expression of the ethics of the American soldier. That i should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride and yet of humility which w ill b with me always: Duty, Honor, Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be what you can be, what you will be. they are your rally ing points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to rega in faith w hen there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn Unhappily i possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean the unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and i am sorry to say, some others of an entirely dif ferent character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custod ians of the nation 's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid. They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort but to face the stress and spur of dif f iculty and challenge: to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep: to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. They give you a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of an appetGeneral Douglas MacArthur: Thayer Award Acceptance Address General Westmoreland, General Grove, distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the Corps! As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, "Where are you bound for, General?" And when I replied, "West Point," he remarked, "Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before?" No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this [Thayer Award]. Coming f rom a profession I have served so long, and a people I have loved so well, it fills me with an emotion I cannot express. But this award is not intended primarily to honor a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code -- the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent. That is the animation of this medallion. For all eyes and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the American soldier. That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride and yet of humility which will be with me always: Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean. The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely dif ferent character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule. But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are af raid. They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of dif ficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. They give you a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a f reshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for