A Letter from the President

The terrorist attacks of September 11th and their tragic aftermath prompted many of us to reevaluate our personal and professional objectives and priorities. A good number of our nation's federal, state and local authorities and agencies were compelled to do so as well, as were professional associations, companies and nonprofit organizations across the country. Carnegie Corporation of New York was no exception. In light of what our nation-indeed, the world-experienced on September 11th, we felt compelled to reexamine the scope and the relevance of our programs and our work.

Even before September, the Corporation had recognized the challenge posed by the threat of bioterrorism and the potential militarization of space, as well as the importance of expanding our nuclear nonproliferation program to include work in Southeast Asia and China. Another new program sought to assess how, short of warfare, solutions could be found to reconcile the increasingly widespread and dangerous conflicts between the right of different populations to self determination with established claims of national sovereignty and cries for territorial integrity. In addition, aware of the scarcity of water as a source of prospective international conflict, we had convened a study to consider the implications for future work.

In 1998 we had also identified the need to promote better public understanding of Islam, the world's fastest growing religion, and convened two conferences-the most recent in June 2001-to explore issues relating to the relationship between the U.S. and its Muslim population, as well as those who practice the faith in predominantly Muslim nations. These conferences, and a subsequent report last year, helped demonstrate the critical importance, both domestic and international, of accelerating efforts to develop greater knowledge about Islam and Muslim civilizations-especially about the common theological and ethical principles among the three Abrahamic faiths, Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Acknowledgment of Islam's enormous diversity and complexity is needed for three major reasons: to increase tolerance and appreciation of American Muslims, to encourage them-especially newly immigrating Muslims-to participate fully in the democratic system and to dispel the false notion that Islam is a monolith that is replacing Communism as our new nemesis. In this connection, it is my hope that as American Muslims become fully integrated into our society they will help bridge the gap in knowledge and understanding between the developed nations and the developing world. In short, we are facing another crucial epoch in our history, where global challenges have become national ones and where problems around the world have immediate impact on American daily life. The strength of democracy is being tested and challenged continually by issues dealing with private good and public good, patriotism and nationalism, citizenship rights and its responsibilities. In each of these issues, the role of education is critical for providing a path for understanding as well as means of self-improvement, autonomy and enlightenment.

These issues have been with us for a long time and will continue to be with us, as John W. Gardner noted in 1961, writing that, "One is struck by the paradox of all human history and human life: change and continuity. It is sometimes a little startling, and more than a little humbling, to realize that most of the old problems are still with us, and that many of the bright new ideas for attacking them today were bright new ideas 50 years ago."

Last summer, a month before September 11th, when a reporter asked Gardner to name the world's biggest challenges, he cited the degradation of the environment and warfare-and, to address both issues, he mentioned a desperate need for better conflict resolution. He concluded the interview, saying, "There's no question that a big crisis pulls the country together. But that fades. The challenge is: How do you get to a livable level-and achieve a sense of purpose-without another?"

Gardner had spent much of his life promoting progress in our easily distractible democracy, with its countless, often competing, priorities. As Carnegie Corporation's president from 1955 to 1965, Gardner became a pioneer in using knowledge to build political momentum for reforming public policies and budgets. He did it by always keeping his eye on the objective and he pushed the nation toward these goals with strategic research and policy analysis. For Gardner knew that what counts in society must be counted.

Gardner-author, civic leader, educator, statesman-died in February, leaving behind a spectacular legacy in countless fields, from civil rights to public health to school reform to anti-poverty programs. He helped plant the seeds for public television, Head Start, two-year colleges, uniform student testing and university research centers that promoted international understanding during the Cold War. In education, he was a champion reformer, promoting countless improvements in K-12 and the complete transformation of higher education. It was appropriate that Gardner served in the Johnson Administration as U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare because he always emphasized that the three areas were interrelated. He also recognized the importance of the nonprofit sector in creating a civil society and in developing civic leaders-and he acted on this conviction in many ways, including co-founding the Independent Sector, an umbrella organization that serves to strengthen all nonprofits. And as the founder of Common Cause, he must have been pleased by the U.S. House of Representatives' vote-just two days before his death-to overhaul the nation's campaign finance laws.

John Gardner's life reminds me of a wise saying from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: "A life is action and passion. It is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged as not to have lived." John Gardner lived a full life.

Vartan Gregorian
President

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