James Madison University - Index

James Madison University - Liberty & Learning - Index

Foreword
On March 16, 1951, Madison College, as we were then known, held celebrations
in honor of James Madison’s two hundredth birthday. The day was clear,
cool, and breezy as spring approached the bucolic Shenandoah Valley. Dignitaries
traveling to attend the celebration included Virginia Governor John S. Battle,
U. S. Senator Harry F. Byrd and Congressman Burr Harrison.
The day might have been filled with the scholarly remarks typical of such academic
functions held on a small American college campus if it were not for the
keynote speech delivered in Wilson Hall Auditorium by Dr. Raymond Pinchbeck,
dean of the University of Richmond. So impressed by the speech was Representative
Harrison that he returned to Washington, D. C., and redelivered the
entire address on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives so that Pinchbeck’s
words would perpetually reside in the Congressional Record.
As president of James Madison University, I find it especially important that
in his remarks Dean Pinchbeck observed the very real link between James Madison,
the man, and the institution that bears his name. I quote Dean Pinchbeck’s
words from that March 21, 1951, edition of the Congressional Record in this forward.
Pinchbeck said,
Two hundred years ago today, James Madison, the Father of the Constitution
of the United States, was born. It is fitting that we assemble here, at Madison
College, which bears his name, to pay tribute to this great citizen. It was a
highly significant and appropriate honor paid James Madison in 1938 when his
beloved native Commonwealth of Virginia gave his name to this college, which
is dedicated primarily to the preparation of teachers of the youth of Virginia.
Madison believed that popular government, political democracy, and human
freedom would not long endure without an intelligent and educated citizenry.
Yet, in a broader context, Pinchbeck made what may have been his most
insightful observation about Madison’s legacy.
Memorials to James Madison have not taken the form of equestrian statues
or monuments. The life and services of this gentle and scholarly man must be
sought in the libraries of the United States and the free nations of the world.
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