Geopolitics reflects the shifting influences among governments, cultures, social identities, and more. We open the discussion with three classmates who played central roles over the course of the years since we graduated.
We have two classmates, Joe Nye and Jack Danforth, who have been particularly active on the national scene through their involvement in government. Several classmates have urged that we feature these two prominent leaders. In response to that urging, below are videos highlighting what Joe and Jack have been up to of late.
Jack and Joe have responded with vigor to Woodrow Wilson’s famous call for “Princeton in the Nation’s Service.” “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Let’s hope that these men of our era can escape that Shakespearian fate.
Click the pictures below to play the videos.
Jack Danforth: “My hope would be… that our [Republican] party could stand by its historic values.”
Joe Nye: “Although [adversaries] didn’t agree with each other, they had, what we would call, ‘reasonable discourse.’ That’s what a university should be about.” In an earlier time, Joe Nye was a major force preventing nuclear weapons from becoming the global scourge we once feared.
We should also include Gordon Wu here because of the immense impact he had to bring increasing prosperity to the people of China. We haven’t heard publicly from Gordon of late.
Xi Jinping assumed the Presidency of China at the 12th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 14, 2013. Here is a video of Sir Gordon speaking in Hong Kong in 2012 before that turning point: In his talk, Gordon speaks to the importance of the rule of law among other elements for an empowering society.
Whether our individual contributions are publicly noted or not, our Class of 1958 is in service making our world a better place for humankind.