THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 15, 1995 TAG: 9505150037
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Former President George Bush, speaking at the College of William and Mary's graduation Sunday, stepped up his attack on the ``crazy people'' who criticize federal law enforcement agents.
Referring to his presidency, Bush said, ``I miss dealing with the law enforcement people who lay their lives on the line for us every day. And I think we all ought to speak up against the excesses of these crazy people who put them in a bad light and refer to them as Nazis and jack-booted thugs.''
The remark drew a burst of applause.
Bush did not identify to whom he was referring. But last Wednesday, less than a month after the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, he announced that he had resigned from the National Rifle Association because of a recent fund-raising letter that criticized some agents as ``jack-booted government thugs'' who wore ``Nazi bucket helmets.''
At William and Mary, Bush spent most of his 14-minute speech imploring the 1,660 graduates to work to improve the world.
``We do really need a kinder and gentler nation,'' he said. ``Government has an obligation to help, and yet there is something very special about the kindness of a neighbor helping someone he or she might not even know.''
The college's president, Timothy J. Sullivan, also referred to Bush's stance this past week. Sullivan, in his introduction, called Bush a ``man of personal integrity and consistent courage, . . . willing to call extremists what they are - a mortal danger to American freedom - and to stand up for the honorable memory of federal agents who lost their lives.''
This was the second time Bush has spoken at a local commencement in the past five years. In 1991, he appeared at Hampton University, where many students refused to stand for him and raised clenched fists to protest his veto of a civil rights bill.
But at William and Mary on Sunday, the crowd was adoring. Students and relatives offered four enthusiastic bursts of applause as he walked through the hall and later gave him a 34-second standing ovation before his talk.
Bush praised the graduates because, he said, more than half had volunteered in some activity during college. That work, he told them, is not over.
``I believe that any definition of a successful life in America must include service to others,'' he said. ``It doesn't mean that you have to run for public office. . . . It does mean rolling up your sleeves and getting involved in your community, and it means getting off the sidelines, being a doer and not a critic.''
Bush also turned folksy, poking fun at himself, as well as some traditional targets.
He thanked the college for giving him a chance to get over his ``identity crisis'' since leaving office. ``First, it was that I was the husband of the great author . . . and then the father of the governor of Texas. And then there was television coverage of my blasting a lady with my tee shot in the Bob Hope Tournament.
``And then my wife had to say, `You have to play golf, as if there's not enough violence already on television.' ''
As a private citizen, he said, he misses some aspects of life as president, such as ``dealing with our superb military.'' But there are some things he doesn't miss.
``With all respect to the national press, I don't miss ya,'' he said, to another round of applause. ``With all respect to Capitol Hill, I don't miss you either.'' More subdued laughter.
Bush is the first former or current president to deliver a commencement address and to get an honorary degree at the same ceremony at William and Mary.
But he is the sixth president to enjoy a William and Mary tradition - a seat in a 230-year-old high-backed mahogany chair. The chair has been borrowed from the Williamsburg Masonic Lodge whenever a former or sitting president visits the campus.
As Bush walked up to the stage, Sullivan pointed him to the large chair. Bush looked surprised and spread out his hands, palms outstretched, as if to say, ``All this for me?''
Early in his speech, Bush referred to his seat: ``I am pleased to be sitting in that enormous chair. My predecessors were obviously men of distinction, broad of intellect, and also broad in beam if they needed a chair like that.'' ILLUSTRATION: TAMARA VONINSKI
Staff
Graduates March On
College of William and Mary
Bush: No kind words for ``crazy people'' who criticize law agents.
by CNB