The President’s Blog

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, Germany signed an armistice with the rest of the western world to end the “Great War” or World War I as it came to be known. Thereafter, the day, November 11, was observed as an unofficial holiday to recognize veterans of WWI, and it was made an official state and federal holiday in 1938: “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.”
In 1954, by act of Congress, Armistice Day was expanded to include all veterans of all wars and the name of the holiday was changed to Veterans Day.
With American engaged in two active wars, Veterans Day takes on even more importance as our students and employees return from military service to take on their place in society as civilians once again. I am deeply grateful for the sacrifices they have made and believe that we are a better world for their willingness to serve our great country.

Two weeks ago, I made a pilgrimage that I have wanted to make for almost 40 years–I went to Canterbury Cathedral. As an undergraduate major in English, I had studied Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in Middle English and, of course, the Tales are about the lives of pilgrims who are going to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the site of the murder of Thomas Becket who was killed by knights of King Henry II.
Despite many trips to Great Britain over the years, I had never visited this historic site. Well, it was worth the wait. Canterbury Cathedral is still drawing pilgrims from all over the world. It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Great Britain and it is an active church. The site of Beckett’s murder by the knights is marked by a special altar and the chapels of the cathedral are as wonderful as any I have ever seen.
This is one of the special places in the history of the western world, and I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit there.