The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ROTARY KEYNOTE ADDRESS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S5808-S5811 on May 21, 2009.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ROTARY KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, I wish to call the attention of my colleagues to a most thoughtful address delivered in my State of Indiana recently by a fellow Hoosier, one who served as a Member of Congress from Indiana for 22 years, 1959 until 1981. I refer to Dr. John Brademas, who represented the district centered in South Bend.
A Democrat, John Brademas served throughout those years on the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives where he took part in writing most of the measures then enacted to support schools, colleges, and universities; the arts and the humanities; libraries and museums; Head Start; and education of children with disabilities as well as others.
In his last 4 years, John Brademas was majority whip of the House of Representatives, third-ranking member of the Leadership.
Seeking election in 1980 to a 12th term, John Brademas lost that race. He was shortly thereafter invited to become president of New York University, the Nation's largest private, or independent, university.
He served as president until 1992 when he became president emeritus, his present position. I believe it is recognized by those in the higher education world in the United States that John Brademas led the transformation of NYU, as it is known, to one of the most successful institutions of higher learning in our country.
A graduate of Harvard University where, as a Veterans National Scholar, he earned his B.A., magna cum laude, in 1949, he went on to Oxford University, England, where as a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a Ph.D. with a dissertation on the anarchist movement in Spain.
John Brademas is married to Dr. Mary Ellen Brademas, a physician in private practice, a dermatologist, affiliated with the NYU Medical Center.
On May 2, 2009, John Brademas delivered the keynote address,
``Rotary: Pathfinder to Peace,'' for a statewide conference in Indianapolis of members of Rotary Clubs from throughout Indiana.
I believe my colleagues will read with interest John Brademas' address on this occasion, and I ask unanimous consent to have the text of his remarks printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
ROTARY: PATHBUILDER TO PEACE
Keynote Address of Dr. John Brademas, President Emeritus, New York University and Former Member (1959-1981), U.S. House of Representatives
(Dem.-Ind.)
rotary international district 6506 conference
(Indianapolis, Indiana, May 2, 2009)
Rotary District Governor, Judge Tom Fisher; Rotarians all, I am greatly honored to have been invited to open your conference in Indianapolis today.
In the first place, I am a fellow Hoosier. My mother was born in Grant County, Indiana, and my two brothers, sister and I, while students in school in South Bend, would spend summers in the small Grant County town of Swayzee at the home of my mother's parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Chester Goble.
As my grandfather had been a school principal and college history professor, he had a library in their home of some 6,000 books. My brothers, sister and I practically lived in that library during those summers--an invaluable experience.
My mother was a schoolteacher and my father ran a restaurant. My dad, Stephen J. Brademas, was born in Greece, and although we four children grew up with a strong sense of pride in our Hellenic ancestry, we were all members of the Methodist Church.
I must add that I am the first person of Greek origin elected to the Congress of the United States, and only last month I was at the White House for a reception hosted by President Obama to mark Greek Independence Day, while some days after that, I attended a similar reception at Gracie Mansion, the home of Mayor Bloomberg of New York City.
You may also be interested to know that when I was a senior at South Bend Central High School, P. D. Pointer, our school principal, invited me to join him at the regular luncheons of the Rotary Club of South Bend.
rotary club of south bend
Indeed, on inquiry of the Rotary Club of South Bend about those luncheons, I learned that 65 years ago, the students who attended them were not called ``Junior Rotarians'' but
``High School Boys'' even as I was reminded that in January 1945, 65 years ago, I gave the farewell for the ``High School Boys'' who graduated from Rotary luncheons that week.
So it's obvious that my link with Rotary goes back a long way!
After high school, with World War II still on, I enlisted in the Navy and was sent to an officers' training program at the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, Mississippi.
Following my freshman year at ``Ole Miss'', with the war over, and discharged, I went to Cambridge, Massachusetts and Harvard where I completed college, graduating in 1949. And I'll be back at Harvard next month for the 60th reunion of my graduating class.
While at Harvard, I spent a summer working with Aztec Indians in rural Mexico, wrote my college honors thesis on the Sinarquista movement there and four years later, at the other Oxford, in England, as a Rhodes Scholar, wrote my Ph.D. dissertation on the anarchist movement in Spain, which was centered in Catalonia.
My study of the anarchists was published thirty-five years ago, in Spanish, in Barcelona, and, in fact, only last December, I was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Barcelona.
I like to say that although I studied anarchism, I did not practice it! For only months after returning to South Bend, I was running for Congress.
Just old enough under the Constitution to be a candidate, I lost my first race, in 1954, by half a percent. Not surprisingly, I decided to run again two years later and lost a second time, in 1956.
My political godfather, you may be interested to know, was a Hoosier who became Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the late Paul M. Butler of South Bend.
Indeed, as I've said, one reason I was so pleased to accept the invitation to address you today is that it's good to be back home in Indiana--and surrounded by fellow Hoosiers!
After a brief stint serving in Chicago on the presidential campaign staff of Adlai Stevenson, I again ran for Congress and, as I told you, I lost a second time--as did he--in 1956. But I still thought I could win, and on my third try, in 1958, was first elected, then ten times reelected, and so was a Member of Congress for twenty-two years.
I am delighted in this respect to see here today a distinguished member of the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana, Justice Frank Sullivan, and his wife, Cheryl. Justice Sullivan was at one point my top assistant when I was a Member of Congress and, indeed, his wife, Cheryl, was also a member of my staff. She now serves on the staff of Senator Evan Bayh as Policy Director.
I served on Capitol Hill during the Administrations of six Presidents: three Republicans--Eisenhower, Nixon and Ford; and three Democrats--Kennedy, Johnson and Carter.
majority whip, house of representatives
During my last four years, I was the Majority Whip of the House of Representatives, third-ranking position in the House Democratic Leadership.
Every other week, as Whip, I would join Speaker ``Tip'' O'Neill of Massachusetts, House Majority Leader Jim Wright of Texas, Senate Majority Leader Bob Byrd of West Virginia and Senate Majority Whip Alan Cranston of California for breakfast at the White House with President Carter and Vice President Mondale. All Democrats, we talked politics and policy. It was a fascinating experience and I've just written to President Obama to urge, respectfully, that he follow the same practice.
Indeed, because, as you may know, President Obama will, in two weeks, give the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, in my old Congressional District, I hope, as I plan to be there, to review my suggestion with him then.
Beyond serving as Whip, I found my principal responsibility in Congress was on the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives. There, for more than two decades, I helped write all the Federal laws then enacted to support schools, colleges and universities; libraries and museums; education for handicapped children; the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities; Head Start; the War on Poverty; the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Education Act; the Environmental Education Act; and the Pell Grants for aid to college students.
international education act
But of particular interest, I trust, to Rotarians is that I was also chief author of the International Education Act of 1965, a measure that authorized Federal grants to colleges and universities to offer courses about other countries.
This legislation is, in my view, directly in harmony with the central mission of Rotary International.
For, as you Rotarians know better than I, the fundamental mission of Rotary, as it describes itself, is ``to build world peace and understanding through its network of over 1.2 million members in over 32,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographical areas.''
The description continues: Rotary club members, coming from all political, social and religious backgrounds, are united in their mission to promote international understanding through humanitarian and educational programs. Rotary clubs initiate projects both locally and internationally, to address the underlying causes of conflict including illiteracy, disease, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water and environmental concerns.
president, new york university
I leap ahead. Following my defeat in my campaign for reelection in 1980, I was invited to become President of New York University, the largest private, or independent, university in the United States.
Located in Manhattan, headquartered on Washington Square Park, NYU, as it is familiarly known, I found an exciting place to be, and to lead it, an exciting challenge.
You will not be surprised, in view of what I've told you, that I gave particular attention to NYU's programs for the study of other countries and cultures.
I found on arrival in 1981 that New York University was already strong in French and German Studies.
Two years later, in 1983, I awarded an honorary degree to King Juan Carlos I of Spain, announced a professorship in his name and in 1997, in the presence of Their Majesties, the King and his Greek Queen, Queen Sofia, and of the then First Lady of the United States, now Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, I dedicated the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center at NYU for the study of the economics, history and politics of modern Spain.
All this was the result of my having, as a schoolboy in South Bend, read a book about the Maya! So I know what early exposure to another culture, another country, another language has meant in my own life.
And I believe that among the reasons--I do not say the only one--the United States suffered such loss of life and treasure in Vietnam and does now in Iraq is ignorance--ignorance of the cultures, histories and languages of those societies.
I add that the tragedies of 9/11, Madrid, London, Bali and Baghdad must bring home to us as Americans the imperative, as a matter of our national security, of learning more about the world of Islam.
But it is not only for reasons of national security that we must learn more about countries and cultures other than our own. Such knowledge is indispensable, too, to America's economic strength and competitive position in the world.
The marketplace has now become global. Modern technology--the Internet, for example--has made communication and travel possible on a worldwide basis. In the last few years, I myself have visited Spain, England, Greece, Jordan, Morocco, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Japan, Turkey and Vietnam.
international studies at nyu
Reflecting on my commitment to international education, I can say that during my presidency of NYU, my colleagues and I established a Center for Japan-U.S. Business & Economic Studies, a Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, Onassis Center for Hellenic Studies, a Remarque Institute for the Study of Europe, a Center for Dialogue with the Islamic World. And with a gift from a foundation established by the late Jack Skirball, an Evansville, Indiana rabbi, who went into the motion picture business and became very successful, the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies.
NYU has also opened several campuses abroad--in Madrid, Florence, Prague, London, Paris and most recently, Dubai, Ghana and Shanghai. We have established an NYU base in Buenos Aires and will shortly do so as well in Tel Aviv.
Moreover, when I last looked, New York University is among the top half-dozen universities in the United States in hosting students from other countries.
Now if as a Member of Congress and as president of New York University, I pressed for more study of other countries, cultures and languages, I continued--and continue--to do so wearing other hats.
Appointed, by President Clinton, chairman of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which in 1997 produced a report, Creative America, with recommendations for generating more support for these two fields in American life, I was naturally pleased that our committee recommended that our ``schools and colleges . . . place greater emphasis on international studies and the history, languages and cultures of other nations.''
As for seven years chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, the Federally financed agency that makes grants to private groups struggling to build democracy in countries where it does not exist, I had another exposure to the imperative of knowing more about other countries and cultures.
I continued that interest through service on the World Conference of Religions for Peace; on the advisory council of Transparency International, the organization that combats corruption in international business transactions; and by chairing the American Ditchley Foundation, which helps plan discussions of policy issues at Ditchley Park, a conference center outside Oxford, England.
senators richard lugar and evan bayh
Here I must note that citizens of Indiana can take pride in the leadership in the shaping of our national foreign policy offered by three distinguished legislators in Washington. Senator Richard Lugar is former chairman of, and now ranking Republican on, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, while Lee Hamilton was for a number of years chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and is now director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C.
Moreover, Indiana's junior Senator, Evan Bayh, has important assignments in foreign affairs through membership on four committees--Armed Services, Intelligence, Banking, and Energy and Natural Resources.
Preparing for my visit with you today, I had a good conversation with Harriet Mayor Fulbright, the widow of another distinguished Congressional leader in foreign affairs, the late Senator J. William Fulbright. Harriet told me about a forthcoming--November 1 to 3--Global Symposium of Peaceful Nations.
The purpose of the Symposium, to be held in Washington, D.C., will be ``to call attention to the value of peace and the strategies available to achieve a more peaceful world.'' The Symposium, to be sponsored by the Alliance for Peacebuilding and the J. William & Harriet Fulbright Center, will focus on measuring, defining and quantifying ``peace'', in order, Mrs. Fulbright added, that countries can understand
``the elements of peacefulness''. When I told her I would be speaking to you today, Mrs. Fulbright strongly affirmed the role that Rotarians can play in this effort to recognize and press for the achievement of these elements for global peace. We can, she said, learn how countries are organized to find peace and we can stimulate the leadership to promote peace.
Clearly, business and the professions have a deep moral interest as well as business and professional interests in building a world of peace.
I hope that Rotarians will pay attention to the forthcoming Global Symposium because its mission is so much in harmony with the stated goals of Rotary. For I remind you that among the objectives of Rotary is ``the advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.''
Here are some specific suggestions for what Rotary Clubs and individual Rotarians can do to achieve those objectives. Certainly, Rotary should continue to support current programs such as Polio Plus, Rotary Youth Exchange, for students in secondary education, and the Rotary Foundation's Ambassadorial Scholarships as well as Rotary Fellowships, which support graduate fellowships in other countries.
rotary world peace fellows
I draw particular attention to a relatively new initiative, the ``Rotary Peace and Conflict Resolution Program'', which provides funds for graduate study in several universities around the world. I note that Rotary World Peace Scholars are to complete two-year studies, at the Master's level, in conflict resolution, peace studies and international relations, and that only five years ago, the Rotary World Peace Fellows Association was established to encourage interaction among scholars, Rotarians and the public on issues related to peace studies.
rotary graduate fellow, joan breton connelly
Here let me cite an example with which I am familiar of the impact of a Rotary Fellowship.
In 1979, the Rotary Club of Toledo, Ohio awarded Joan Breton Connelly a Rotary International Graduate Fellowship enabling her to spend a year of study in Athens, Greece. The fellowship supported her participation in the American School of Classical Studies distinguished program in Classical Archaeology. The generous terms of her fellowship allowed her to go to Athens three months early for intensive language training in modern Greek, an utterly transformative experience for Connelly.
She has returned to Greece every one of the 30 years that have followed, participating in and now, leading, archeological expeditions. A Professor of Classics and Art History at New York University, Connelly has taken hundreds of her own students to Cyprus where she has directed the Yeronisos Island Excavation Field School for nineteen summers.
Rotary International's investment in the young Joan Connelly has certainly paid off. In 1996, she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation ``Genius'' Award for pushing the boundaries of our understanding of Greek art and myth, reinterpreting the Parthenon frieze. She has become a leader in the preservation of global cultural heritage, having served on the President's Cultural Property Advisory Committee, U.S. Department of State, since 2003.
In 2002, the Republic of Cyprus awarded Dr. Connelly a special citation for her leadership in the exploration and preservation of Cypriot cultural heritage.
In 2000, she was granted honorary citizenship by Municipality of Peyia, Republic of Cyprus, singling her out as the only American citizen to enjoy this status. Professor Connelly attributes all these successes to that first break, the Rotary International Graduate Fellowship that so generously opened for her a new world and gave her, through rigorous language training, the all-important gift of communication.
So I think that Rotary International, Rotary Clubs and Rotarians are on the right track!
Here I remind you that there are 33,000 Rotary Clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas with over 1.2 million business, professional and community leaders as members.
I must also tell you that a few years ago (2006), I co-chaired the Subcommittee of the Committee for Economic Development (CED) which produced a report entitled, Education for Global Leadership: The Importance of International Studies and Foreign Language Education for U.S. Economic and National Security, and that our report made these recommendations:
1. That international content be taught across the curriculum and at all levels of learning, to expand American students' knowledge of other countries and cultures.
2. That we expand the training pipeline at every level of education to address the paucity of Americans fluent in foreign languages, especially critical and less commonly taught ones such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Persian/Farsi, Russian and Turkish.
3. That national leaders--political, as well as business, philanthropic and media--educate the public about the importance of improving education in foreign languages and international studies.
You will not be surprised, in view of what I have already said, that to these recommendations I say anew, ``Amen!''
Indeed, only a few days ago, former Congressman Lee Hamilton, with whom I spoke about my visit with you today, observed that one aspect of the foreign policy of the United States that pays the highest dividend is our support for international exchanges.
CONGRESSMAN LEE HAMILTON
Lee Hamilton, as you know, one of the most highly respected Members of Congress of our era, told me, ``A foreigner who has studied in the United States will become an ally.'' Lee said that Rotary Clubs were one of the key groups with whom he met in Indiana and added, ``Rotary Clubs in Indiana are movers and shakers, civic-minded leaders in their communities.''
Now you all know that I am a Democrat but speaking to you today, I am pleased to recall the budget recommendation of President Bush for Fiscal 2007 for programs to strengthen international and foreign language study and to remind you that just four years ago, President Bush told a group of university presidents in the United States how important it was to strengthen the study of foreign languages, particularly Arabic and other critical languages.
Here I echo the final sentence of the CED Report of which I earlier spoke, ``Our national security and our economic prosperity ultimately depend on how well we educate today's students to become tomorrow's global leaders.''
To that again I say, ``Amen!''
CSIS COMMISSION ON SMART POWER
As I reflected further on my remarks today, I recalled a most thoughtful report, issued a couple of years ago by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), entitled the CSIS Commission on Smart Power. The report, produced by an impressive group of American leaders, co-chaired by Richard L. Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State and Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, and Joseph S. Nye, Jr., distinguished service professor at Harvard, former dean of the Kennedy School of Government there, and also former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and the chairman of the National Intelligence Council, and including such other figures as former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel and several prominent leaders of business and industry, asserted:
The United States must become a smarter power by once again investing in the global good--providing things people and governments in all quarters of the world want but cannot attain in the absence of American leadership. By complementing U.S. military and economic might with greater investments in soft power, America can build the framework it needs to tackle tough global challenges.
You will not be surprised that among the recommendations of the CSIS Commission on Smart Power is greater investment in education at every level.
The authors of the report assert: ``Countries with a higher proportion of 15-to-29 year-olds relative to the adult population are more likely to descend into armed conflict. Education is the best hope of turning young people away from violence and extremism. But hundreds of millions of children in the developing world are not in school or else attend schools with inadequate teachers or facilities. . . . An annual meeting could help increase the saliency of U.S. bilateral and multilateral efforts to increase education levels worldwide . . .
The report goes on to observe:
``. . . [T]he number of U.S. college students studying abroad as part of their college experience has doubled over the last decade to more than 200,000, though this still represents slightly more than 1 percent of all American undergraduates enrolled in public, private and community institutions. One way to encourage U.S. citizen diplomacy is to strengthen America's study abroad programs at both the university and high school levels . . .''
In addition to increasing the number of American students going abroad, the next administration should make it a priority to increase the number of international students coming to the United States for study and research and to better integrate them into campus life.
America remains the world's leading education destination, with more than a half-million international students in the country annually.
We urge the next president of the United States to make educational and institutional exchanges a higher priority . .
.
The American private sector also has a responsibility to educate the next generation of workers. The next president should challenge the corporate sector to develop its own training and internship programs that could help teach the skills that American workers will need in the decades to come. The next administration should consider a tax credit for companies to make their in-house training available to public schools and community colleges.
The concluding paragraph of the report of the CSIS Commission on Smart Power is also worth quoting here:
``America has all the capacity to be a smart power. It has a social culture of tolerance. It has wonderful universities and colleges. It is has an open and free political climate. It has a booming economy. And it has a legacy of idealism that channeled our enormous hard power in ways that the world accepted and wanted. We can become a smart power again. It is the most important mandate for our next president.''
I think you can see from what I have told you of the recommendations in this report how closely they harmonize with the goals and mission of Rotary.
ROTARY CLUBS, ROTARIANS: PATHBUILDERS TO PEACE
So I hope that individual Rotarians and Rotary Clubs will, wherever they are, among their other commitments, lend support to efforts, both private and public, to encouraging education about other countries and cultures and in this way, in the language of Rotary International, ``provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.''
In this way, Rotary Clubs and Rotarians can be pathbuilders to peace.
Now both because of the pressures of the economic recession and the commitment of Rotary International and, indeed, of our conference in Indianapolis to ``World Peace and Understanding'', I want to call to your attention a development only several days ago that I believe directly relevant to our discussions.
I could, of course, speak of President Obama's stimulus plan with its several features designed to put more cash into the pockets of taxpayers, laid-off workers, and first-time homebuyers as well as college students. But I want rather to take note of the action only last month of Congress in voting, by overwhelming bipartisan majorities, approval of the Serve America Act of 2009. This legislation, co-sponsored by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, would by 2017 triple the number of participants in AmeriCorps, our major national service program, and create a number of new volunteer programs. AmeriCorps members work for ten months to one year for a modest stipend, and when they finish, get a grant for education.
JOHN BRADEMAS CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF CONGRESS
Finally, I shall take advantage of this forum to say just a word about what is now my own major initiative in my capacity as president emeritus of New York University. It is the John Brademas Center for the Study of Congress, located in NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
For I think it is not as widely understood as it should be that in our American separation-of-powers constitutional system, Congress--the Senate and House of Representatives--the legislative branch of our national government, can be a source of national policy as well as are the President of the United States and members of the executive branch.
I've earlier given you one example directly related to the commitment of Rotary, the International Education Act. This measure did not originate in the White House but on Capitol Hill.
It is, however, not easy for even informed Americans to understand the operation of Congress. After all, there are 100 Senators and 435 Representatives and we do not, customarily, have the strict party discipline commonly found in parliamentary democracies.
So how does Congress make policy?
Our Center sponsors lectures, symposia and research on the ways in which the Congress of the United States initiates and shapes national policy.
A modest example: While in Congress I was chief author in the House of Representatives of the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act of 1975. This law enables museums, galleries, and universities to borrow art from abroad as well as lend parts of their collections to museums in other countries without paying the prohibitive cost of private insurance. The Federal Government, under this legislation, indemnifies the works on loan.
So, last January, we convened, at NYU, under the auspices of the Brademas Center, a colloquium, which examined the impact of this legislation and ways to expand it. The session was led by former National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Bill Ivey and brought together leaders from the museum, foundation and performing arts worlds as well as scholars of arts and public policy and public officials. Based on our discussions, we are preparing a report to the President and Congress with recommendations for expanding international arts and cultural exchanges as part of a renewed strategy for U.S. public diplomacy.
To reiterate, in view of the commitment of Rotary ``to encourage and foster the ideal of humanitarian service'' and
``to help build goodwill and civil peace in the world'', I believe it wholly fitting that Rotarians as individuals and Rotary Clubs as community organizations, wherever located, encourage and support education about other countries and cultures.
To conclude, as I reflected on what I might say to you today, I realized that such is the role of the United States in the world today that challenges never cease.
For example, in light of President Obama's recent encounter with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, we must ask where is United States policy toward Cuba going?
Given the recent attacks on American vessels by Somali pirates operating off the coast of Somalia, what is our appropriate response?
Then comes the controversy over the correct action--if any--to take with respect to Central Intelligence Agency interrogators who apparently tortured detainees during the presidency of George W. Bush.
And beyond these challenges in foreign policy is, of course, the economic challenge here at home--the recession. That is the subject for another speech and one I shall certainly not inflict on you today.
Clearly, as we look at the challenges our country faces both at home and abroad, we can all agree that dealing with them requires the most knowledgeable and intelligent responses our country can make. And that's why I believe that the commitment of Rotarians ``to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world'' is still as valid, indeed, essential today as when I was one of the ``High School Boys'' attending luncheons at the South Bend Rotary Club.
Again, I count it an honor to have been invited to address you and I wish you, my fellow Hoosiers, all the best in the years ahead!
____________________
