Speeches Draw International Recognition

Ranging from Elbridge Gerry's call for a Stamp Tax prior to the American Revolution to Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's 1978 address denouncing western societal values, Harvard commencement speeches have continually had a national--and occasionally an international--impact.

Although the festivities were not attractive enough to secure an appearance by President Reagan in 1981, dignitaries including Theodore Roosevelt, Class of 1880, former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, and former secretary of state Cyrus Vance have addressed graduating classes.

In 1981, in place of Reagan, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., former president of IBM and one-time ambassador to Moscow, lectured on the merits of nuclear disarmament.

In 1759 the "Commencement thesis" of John Adams, Class of 1755, concerned the necessity of civil government, according to the historical accounts of Samuel Eliot Morrison. Also in the early days. Thomas Wentworth created a splash with his speech on the balance of powers.

In recent times, media coverage has ele- voted the power and the prestige of the Harvard microphone, often making it the platform for statements of international value.

Perhaps the most famous example was General George C. Marshall's 1947 pronouncement of the Marshall plan--the U.S.'s contribution to rebuilding post-war Europe.

Recent speakers have included Daniel P. Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and writer-diplomat Carlos Fuentes last year.

But not all speeches have been greeted with typical Harvard pomp and circumstance.

In 1968--a period characterized by student dissent--Harvard students protested the appearance of Shah Muhammed Reza Pahlevi of Iran, interrupting his speech several times in an overcrowded Sanders Theatre.

In 1970, a group of protestors led by Saundra Graham, now a Cambridge City Councilor and state representative, seized the stage to interrupt the first joint Harvard-Radcliffe Commencement and voice discontent over Harvard's housing policies.

The microphones were immediately turned off, as soon as officials realized what was happening, but it took off-stage negotiations between administrators and students to continue the ceremonies.

One of the most effective protests, however, took place in 1969 when more than 60 percent of the graduates wore black armbands symbolizing their desire for Harvard to adopt a policy of equal admission for both men and women