The National Endowment for the presents the

Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities

The National Endowment Hoover Institution for the Humanities Stanford University , D.C. Stanford, California

Wednesday, May 2, 1990 Thursday, May 10,1990 The National Endowment for the Humanities presents the

Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities

East Coast Program

Departmental Auditorium Washington, D.C. Wednesday, May 2, 1990

West Coast Program

Hoover Institution Stanford University Thursday, May 10, 1990 National Endowment for the Humanities

East Coast Program

Welcome an d Rem arks Lynne V. Cheney Chairman National Endowment for the Humanities

Introduction Hillel Fradkin Vice President for Program The Bradley Foundation

The Nineteenth Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities

Bernard Lewis

“Western Civilization: A View from the East”

Special Presentation

Reception National Museum of American History Hoover Institution Stanford University

West Coast Program

Welcome John Raisian Acting Director Hoover Institution

Opening Remarks Lynne V. Cheney Chairman National Endowment for the Humanities

Introduction Ewart A.C. Thomas Dean, Humanities and Sciences Stanford University

The Nineteenth Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities

Bernard Lewis

“Western Civilization: A View from the East”

Special Presentation

Reception Stauffer Auditorium Bernard Lewis

“ "X T o human being is free from regarded as the opening of the study of human failings, among them modern Turkey. Other works include ^1 loyalties and prejudices which The Arabs in History (1950), The Middle may color his perception and presenta­ East and the West (1964), The Assassins: tion o f history,” writes Bernard Lewis in A Radical Sect in Islam (1967), The History—Remembered, Recovered, Muslim Discovery of Europe (1982), The Invented (1975). “The essence of the Jews of Islam (1984), The Political critical scholarly historian is that he is Language of Islam (1988), and the soon aware of this fact, and instead of indulg­ to be published Race and Slavery in the ing his prejudices seeks to identify and Middle East: An Historical Enquiry. correct them.” His books have been translated into Lewis has spent more than five decades nineteen foreign languages, including in his pursuit of historical truth, never Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew. deviating from his mission as a historian A prolific writer, Lewis has written and Islamicist. From 1949 to 1974, articles for Foreign Affairs, Commentary, Lewis taught history in the University of The New York Review of Books, The New London’s School of Oriental and African York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Studies. Recognized as the ranking Journal, , and other scholar of Islamic and Middle Eastern journals and periodicals. history, he is the Cleveland E. Dodge Bom in London in 1916, Lewis Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern received his bachelor’s and doctoral Studies at Princeton University. He has degrees from the University of London also been coeditor of The Encyclopedia of and later earned his diplome des etudes Islam and a member of Princeton’s semitiques from the Universite de Paris. Institute for Advanced Study. He moved to the in 1974 He has taught and lectured at a to become a professor of Near Eastern number of other colleges and universi­ Studies at Princeton University, where ties including the University of ; he served until his retirement in 1986. College de France; Collegio de Mexico; Among his many honors and awards, University' o f California, Los Angeles and Lewis has been named a member o f the ROBERT P. MATTHEWS Berkeley; Columbia University; Indiana American Philosophical Society, the University; and other academic institutions British Academy, the Turkish Historical in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Society, and the Institut d’Egypte. Lewis Lewis has written and edited more received the Citation of Honor from the than twenty books in the field. The Turkish Ministry of Culture in 1973. Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961) is He holds five honorary degrees. The Jefferson Lecture 1981 1986 Gerald Holton delivered the tenth Leszek Kolakowski delivered the fifteenth n 1972 the National Endowment for the Humanities established the Jefferson Lecture, “Where Is Science Jefferson Lecture, “The Idolatry of Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities as the highest official award the federal Taking Us?,” in Washington, D.C., and Politics,” in Washington, D.C., and I government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humani­ Boston. Holton examined the historical Chicago. Acknowledging the legacy of ties. The lecture provides the opportunity for an outstanding thinker to explore, relationships between the humanities the Enlightenment, Kolakowski cau­ in a public forum, matters o f broad concern in the humanities and to affirm the and the sciences and the dependence of tioned against converting political relationship between the great works of the humanities and the intellectual, moral, science on value judgments. commitments into moral principles, thus and political traditions of our civilization. The Jefferson lecturer is chosen each year 1982 “fabricate(ing) gods for an ad hoc use in a political power game.” by the National Council on the Humanities. Emily T. Vermeule presented the elev­ Previous Lecturers enth Jefferson Lecture, “ Greeks and 1987 Barbarians: The Classical Experience in In the sixteenth Jefferson Lecture, “The 1972 19 77 the Larger World,” in Washington D.C. Intellectual World of the Founding The first Jefferson lecturer, Lionel The sixth Jefferson Lecture, “The Writer Her lecture, illustrated with slides, dis­ Fathers,” Forrest McDonald paid tribute Trilling, in his address, “Mind and and His Country Look Each Other cussed the significance of archaeological to the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitu­ the Modem World,” examined con­ Over,” was 's nostalgic discoveries. tion by examining the intellectual temporary culture in relation to the recollection of his growth as a writer in 1983 origins that shaped America’s founding. humanities. Chicago during the Great Depression. He presented the lecture in Washington, , the twelfth Jefferson The two-part lecture was given in D.C., and Lawrence, Kansas. 1973 lecturer, delivered a two-part lecture, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Erik H. Erikson, in the second lecture, “The Vindication of Tradition,” in 1988 “Dimensions of a New Identity,” 1978 which he examined “Tradition as Tracing the American communitarian examined the American identity as it C. Vann Woodward, in the seventh History” and “Tradition as Heritage.” state from its beginnings in World War I evolved during Jefferson’s lifetime and lecture, “ Europe’s America,” addressed He gave the lectures in Washington, through the major events of the twenti­ into contemporary society. historical and contemporary European D.C., and Chicago. eth century and contemporary America, 1974 views of America. He gave his lecture in 1984 delivered the seventeenth Washington, D.C., and Seattle. Jefferson Lecture, “The Present Age and The thirteenth Jefferson Lecture, “The In the third lecture, “Democracy and the State o f Community,” in Washing­ 1979 Humanities and the Defense of a Free Poetry,” probed ton, D.C. poetry’s role in a modern industrial , in the eighth lecture, Society,” was delivered by society with special attention to the “ Render unto Caesar...,” discussed the in Washington, D.C., and New York 1989 concept of self. reciprocity of rights and duties among City. Hook examined the problem of In the eighteenth Jefferson Lecture, 1975 the government, society, and the maintaining allegiance to democratic “The Fateful Rift: The San Andreas universities. He delivered his lecture in ideals in the face of rising worldwide Fault in the Modern Mind,” Walker Paul A. Freund, in the fourth lecture, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Austin. totalitarianism. Percy showed how modern science fails “Liberty: The Great Disorder of to explain uniquely human behavior and Speech,” focused on the benefit o f free­ 1980 1985 proposed a new “science of man” that dom of speech and of the press, as well Barbara Tuchman presented her lecture, In the fourteenth Jefferson Lecture, focuses on the way language links the as on the responsibilities of those who the ninth in the series, on “Mankind’s “ Literature in a Technological Age,” mind with the physical world. Percy de­ Better Moments,” examining those rare claimed that the age of exercise these freedoms. livered the lecture in Washington, D.C. times in world history when humans technology has obscured the importance 1976 were at their best in creating and of literature and given rise to a synthetic The fifth Jefferson lecturer, John Hope developing a better life. Tuchman spoke prose that is “ gutless, bloodless, and Franklin, explored “ Racial Equality in in Washington, D.C., and London. thoroughly inhuman.” He delivered the America,” the foundations of racism lecture in Washington, D.C., and New and its implications for contemporary Orleans. society. Franklin spoke in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. National Endowment Stanford University for the Humanities tanford University was founded The university is organized into seven schools: earth science, education, engi­ he National Endowment for the o f the social sciences that employ his­ by Leland and Jane Stanford in neering, graduate school of business, Humanities is an independent torical or philosophical approaches. S1885 as a memorial to their only grant-making agency established Grants are made through five divisions child, Leland Jr., who died o f typhoid in humanities and sciences, law, and medi­ cine. Among the 1,315 faculty mem­ by Congress in 1965 to support scholar­ — Education Programs, Fellowships and 1884 when he was fifteen years old. bers, there are nine Nobel laureates and ship, research, education, and public Seminars, General Programs, Research The university is on the site of the old five Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as programs in the humanities. Programs, and State Programs—and two Palo Alto Stock Farm, a world-famous 130 members o f the American Academy By definition, the humanities include, offices, the Office of Challenge Grants horse-breeding ranch operated by the of Arts and Sciences and twelve winners but are not limited to, the study of the and the Office of Preservation. Respon­ Stanfords in the late nineteenth century. following disciplines: history; philoso­ sibility for grant awards rests by law with One of California’s most prominent of the National Medal of Science. The university is currently in the midst phy; languages; linguistics; literature; the Chairman of the Endowment, who citizens, Leland Stanford was president of a centennial celebration with 1985- archaeology; jurisprudence; the history, is advised by the National Council on of the Central Pacific Railroad and drove 1991 designated as “The Centennial theory, and criticism of the arts; ethics; the Humanities, a board o f twenty-six the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, Years.” comparative religion; and those aspects distinguished private citizens. completing the first transcontinental railroad. He served as governor of Cali­ fornia during the Civil War and was a U.S. senator when he died in 1893. Departmental Auditorium Hoover Institution ompleted during the spring of architect Arthur Brown, the three 1935, the auditorium is unique structures provide a single dominant ex­ he Hoover Institution on War, Located on the Stanford campus, the C in its construction. For acousti­ panse of monumental classical architec­ Revolution and Peace at Stanford Hoover Tower and adjacent buildings cal purposes, the walls and massive ture along Constitution Avenue. University is a center for ad­ house a library of approximately 1.6 columns are faced with synthetic stones Perhaps the most important event held vancedT study in domestic and interna­ million volumes and an archive consist­ composed of crushed oyster shells. in the Departmental Auditorium was the tional affairs. Founded by President ing of 4,000 collections. In addition to Formerly known as the signing o f the North Atlantic Treaty on Herbert Hoover in 1919, it contains Stanford students, faculty, and resident Wing, the auditorium is located on April 4, 1949. For this historic event, one of the largest private archives and staff, users of the library and archives Constitution Avenue between the U.S. President Harry S Truman welcomed most complete libraries in the world on include scholars from throughout the Customs Service and the Interstate the secretaries of state or the foreign economic, political, and social change in United States and other nations who Commerce Commission. Designed by ministers of twelve nations. the twentieth century, as well as a major come to conduct research in the out­ scholarly press. Affiliated with the standing area collections on Africa, the institution are five Nobel laureates and a Middle East, East Asia, Russia, Latin host of distinguished statesmen. More America, North America, and Eastern than 100 resident scholars examine and Western Europe. major issues in economics, political sci­ ence, sociology, education, and history. National Museum Special Presentation of American History 'ritings by , The library, a nonprofit corporation edited by Jeffersonian scholar that has been supported by the National external influences that have helped to he National Museum of Ameri­ Merrill D. Peterson, will be Endowment for the Humanities, can History, authorized by shape national character. Among the W presented to Bernard Lewis by Lynne V. publishes the works of America’s notable items exhibited are the desk Congress in 1954 and opened to Cheney, Chairman of the National foremost writers in a uniform series of used by Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Tthe public in 1964, was designed in a Endowment for the Humanities. hardcover editions. Writings by Thomas Declaration of Independence, Thomas modified classical style, faced with rose- Through this gift, the Library of Amer­ Jefferson is the twentieth volume in its Edison’s phonograph, the John Bull white Tennessee marble. ica has chosen to honor the Jefferson collection. The museum’s basic mission is to locomotive, and a Model T Ford. The lecturer and the intellectual and civic illuminate, through collections, exhibi­ museum has the responsibility for the virtues exemplified by Thomas Jefferson. tions, research, publications, and care of more than 16 million objects educational programs, the entire history that the Smithsonian Institution has o f the United States, including the acquired during the last century.

“ ...as long as we may think as we will, and speak as we think, the condition of man will proceed in improvement.” —Jefferson: Writings Letter to William Green Munford June 18,1799

“ O f those recorded by historians few incidents have been attended with such circumstances as to excite in any high degree this sympathetic emotion of virtue. We are therefore wisely framed to be as warmly interested for a fictitious as for a real personage. The field of imagination is thus laid open to our use and lessons may be formed to illustrate and carry home to the heart every moral rule o f life. Thus a lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics, and divinity that ever were written.” —Jefferson: Writings Letter to Robert Skipwith August 3, 1771

“ I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation o f freedom and happiness.” —Jefferson: Writings Letter to George Wythe August 13, 1786 Acknowledgments

emonstrating a shared commit­ The May/June issue of Humanities, ment to excellence and achieve­ the bimonthly review of the National D ment in education and scholar­ Endowment for the Humanities, is avail­ ship, the following donors join the able free at the entrance. This edition National Endowment for the Humani­ features a conversation between Bernard ties in presenting the nineteenth annual Lewis and Chairman Lynne V. Cheney. Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities. The Endowment gra|efully acknowl­ The Jefferson Lecture will be broad­ edges their cooperation and generous cast nationwide on National Public support. Radio in May. Check local listings for dates and times. Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Earhart Foundation Hallmark Cards, Inc. John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. Philip F. Schoch Trust The National Endowment for the Humanities presents the Nineteenth Annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities “Western Civilization: A View from the East” by Bernard Lewis Wednesday, May 2, 1990 8 p.m. The Departmental Auditorium Constitution Avenue between 12th and 14th Streets, Northwest in the City of Washington Dessert reception to follow at the National Museum of American History Constitution Avenue Admit one No reserved seats Admission by ticket only