Former Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, will speak to Class of 2005 graduates and their parents June 17 at the 147th annual commencement, Northwestern officials announced Wednesday.
The Arizona senator, who vied with then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree at the ceremony in Ryan Field, said John Margolis, associate provost and secretary to the honorary degree committee that works on the commencement ceremony.
“Senator McCain is very much in demand and we were delighted he found time in his schedule to be with us in June at Northwestern,” Margolis said.
In his fourth term in the Senate, McCain is chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs and serves on the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee and the Armed Services committee.
Officials made a great choice in choosing McCain because he can relate to people on both sides of the political spectrum, Communication senior Tyler Zanders said.
“I think it’s an excellent compromise,” Zanders said. “While he’s certainly a Republican, he is a darling to many Democrats for speaking against Bush.”
The university does not know what McCain will emphasize. Zanders said he would like to hear McCain encourage students to speak their mind.
McCain, who served as a pilot in the Vietnam War, had a distinguished military career. He has received honors including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart.
In 1967 McCain’s plane was shot down over Vietnam. He was held as a prisoner of war for five-and-a-half years in Hanoi. McCain could have been released earlier because he was the son and grandson of Navy admirals, but he refused to break the military code that POWs are released in the order that they are captured. He was released in 1973 after having survived injuries from his plane crash, beatings, a year of torture and two years in solitary confinement.
University President Henry Bienen said in an interview with The Daily in mid-January that planning the commencement speaker is never easy.
“The trouble with planning a long-way away, major public event, whether it’s commencement or Martin Luther King Day, you’re at the mercy of people’s calenders who are not very dependable about their calender,” he said.
When “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw spoke at commencement last year, there was a risk he would need to cancel, Margolis noted.
“Last year there was a possibility that a news events would make it impossible for him to come,” Margolis said. “If one is working with national and international figures … there is always a risk a person’s plan will change.”
Other commencement speakers have included UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002 and Wendy Chamberlin, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, in 2003.
The Board of Trustees and faculty members decide to give honorary degrees every year. This year they decided that McCain was deserving “because of his record of public service in the military and in Congress,” Margolis said.
The commencement speech will not mark McCain’s first visit to NU. McCain came to Evanston in February 2001 with along with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to discuss their campaign finance reform bill. The bill was signed into law by President Bush in 2002.
Reach Ashima Singal at [email protected].
