At a time when some politicians thrive by presenting a bleak picture of the U.S., former Rep. Richard “Dick” Gephardt told Iona University’s Class of 2024 graduates that the country offers vast opportunities for them. Gephardt, who served 28 years in Congress including as House majority leader from 1989 to 1995 and minority leader from 1995 to 2003, represented Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District. Gephardt received an honorary degree from Iona at the commencement event.
After leaving Congress, Gephardt established the Gephardt Group, a labor relations consulting and government affairs firm. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Centene Corporation, the Ford Motor Company, Spirit AeroSystems, the U.S. Steel Corporation and the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. He was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Scripps Research Institute, a nonprofit research organization engaged in basic biomedical science. Gephardt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is the founder of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at Washington University in St. Louis. From 2009 to 2013 he served as chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy.
The graduation event took place on Iona’s New Rochelle campus and was attended by more than 5,000. Iona University President Seamus Carey congratulated the graduates and advised, “You’re going to have access to more data and knowledge than any generation before you. But it’s not about data and knowledge. It’s about what do we do with it? How do we interpret it? How do we use it? What do we use it for? And that requires wisdom,”
In his keynote address, Gephardt recalled that the best advice he ever received came from his mother when he was five years old. She knelt down, looked him in the eyes and said, “You’re going to have times when things go very wrong. But always remember, success never teaches us anything. Failure is the great teacher.”
Gephardt ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1988 and 2004, but failed to win it.
“There are eight billion people in the world. Only 7% of that eight billion have a college degree,” Gephardt said. “Think about how special and privileged you are. In addition, we live in the United States of America. This is the wealthiest country in the world. Half of the people in the world today live on less than $6 a day versus an average of $200 a day in America.”
Gephardt said that just by being an American citizen “you have won the lottery. But gratitude is not all you’re thinking about today. Maybe a lot of you are thinking and wondering about what comes next in my life. Because everyone is different the answer to that question will have many different answers. Some will be looking at ‘where can I get a job’ in part to pay off your student loans. Some will think of further higher education. Some will just not know what they think will come next.”
Gephardt noted that in 1776, the Declaration of Independence promised Americans life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
“Today might be a good time to think about what achieving happiness means to you,” Gephardt said. He urged the graduates to investigate what he called “the vast landscape of opportunities that are out there for you.”
