Gates issues a call to public service
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urged graduates at his alma mater to pursue a career of public service with the ideals of the settlers of nearby Jamestown 400 years ago.
Gates, a 1965 graduate of the College of William & Mary, told more than 1,760 graduates that Jamestown’s establishment of America’s first representative assembly expressed the concept that people should have a say in how they are governed.
“Having that say brought with it certain obligations -- a duty to participate, a duty to contribute, a duty to serve the greater good,” Gates told the crowd of more than 12,000 people in his 17-minute address.
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