Stump and Circumstance

In the spring of 1969, Hillary Rodham, then 21, gave her first graduation speech, at her own exit from Wellesley College, offering up fiery words that would later be featured on the pages of Life as a kind of counter-commencement for the era. She stunned the old folks by chastising the day's main speaker—Senator Edward Brooke, of Massachusetts—for delivering irrelevant remarks.

"We're not in positions yet of leadership and power," she said at the time, "but we do have that indispensable task of criticizing."

This spring, Hillary Clinton, New York's junior senator, has taken to the graduation podium again—but as the featured politician who gets criticized. When she delivered her remarks at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York, she was interrupted by a heckler who shouted, "It's your war, Hillary!" Some students described her address as "too political." Others, like Andrew Mott, considered it irrelevant.

As Mott put it in an e-mail to the Voice, "The speech was solely meant as a way to convince others that she is a moderate, and had very little, if anything, to do with the students."

Of course Mott, an avowed Republican, doesn't speak for the many fans who made Clinton a hot commodity on the graduation circuit this year. The putative presidential candidate ranked among the most popular speakers around, crisscrossing New York from upstate to Manhattan and back again. She delivered four commencement addresses here and a fifth to an all-women's college in Decatur, Georgia.

Clinton pretty much stuck to the traditional script, largely steering clear of politics and focusing on words of exhortation, counsel, and caution. Transcripts of the addresses range toward seven pages, yet her staff says she delivers them without notes. She's clearly developing a certain style on the stump—tailoring her remarks to fit the audiences, saving commentary about September 11 for Manhattan students, or thoughts on the state's decaying tree canopy for forestry graduates. She personalizes her talks in a way that might surprise some, poking fun at herself, laughing along.

The senator also brought a somber political tone to some campuses, decrying the increasing financial barriers the poor face in obtaining a college education, lamenting the perils of gender inequities here and abroad, and issuing warnings about the "misuse and politicization of science."

Here are outtakes from what could be a dress rehearsal for a 2008 White House run.

Sage advice

Go through your life with kindness. Give it wherever you can, even if you don't expect it in return. Show compassion for those who are not as fortunate or as lucky. Understand that many of us have blessings we had nothing to do with. They're a gift from our creator; they were in our genes, and we didn't pick our parents. —AT AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE, MAY 14

None of us has all the answers. There's a play on Broadway now in which there's a great line. One of the characters says, "There are three truths in this world—your truth, my truth, and the truth." None of us will know the truth about everything. What we have to do is work toward understanding not only our truth, but the others' truth. . . . We now have to see ourselves as others see us. —AT MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE, MAY 20

Bear in mind that today truly is a beginning; it's a place along the road you're traveling that really marks accomplishment and achievement. But you will not always be successful in everything you try. And I believe it is often your failures, your mistakes, that will teach you more, so long as you remain resilient and committed to being all you can be to live up to your God-given potential. —AT RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, MAY 21

Grand ideals

You cannot have a democracy if half the people are shut out. You cannot have freedom if half the people are told at birth they are inferior. You cannot have peace where half the people can authoritatively decide how the other half lives. It is imperative that we stand—not just rhetorically—for peace and freedom and democracy, but that we work to help educate young women to take their places in free, democratic societies. —AT AGNES SCOTT

America is more than the sum of individuals. America is not just a place; it is an idea of historic significance. Its values and its ideals of sacrifice, of liberty, of freedom, of democracy have called upon previous generations to do their part. And those generations have answered that call. —AT PAUL SMITH'S COLLEGE, MAY 1

For the entire history of the United States . . . our country has believed in the power of science and research to serve humanity; to make it possible for more people to live healthier lives; to transform processes and agriculture and industry to put more people to work; to make work more rewarding; to create more wealth. . . . I agree with that, because at the root of democracy is free inquiry, open debate, and dialogue. —AT RPI