Miss Vicki Heilig, Chairman of the Confederate Memorial Committee of the District of Columbia, Ladies of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Children of the Confederacy, members of the Southern Relief Society and Sons of Confederate Veterans, I am honored to have been asked to speak at this annual Confederate Memorial Ceremony. We are gathered here to commemorate the 191st birth anniversary of President Jefferson Davis and the 85th anniversary of the dedication of the Arlington Confederate Monument.
We are gathered here this afternoon in front of what I believe to be the most profoundly wise execution of a work of art that I have seen in my lifetime. What I mean by "profoundly wise execution" is that this monument reflects the intellectual power of a great sculptor, creating through his highest and noblest personal, religious and moral nature, a truly great work of art. This is not the most exquisite monument I have ever seen, though I think it is strikingly handsome. It is, as I said, a most profoundly wise work of art. It reveals and concentrates in beautiful, rugged bronze nearly every idea that a true Southern historian, theologian, statesman and patriotic citizen could present about the religion, history, culture, morals, economics and politics of a civilization from out of which the Confederate States of America evolved. This monument captures ideals and accomplishments that still existed at the end of the War for Southern Independence.