Thank you. I am truly honored to be asked to address all of you today.

This is a very major homecoming for me. It is a homecoming to a region in Mississippi where my family has lived for over 160 years. It is where I have spent most of my life, and where I can be on Mother's Day weekend, in 1998, with my almost-90-year-old mother-who, by the way, first met my father right here in Oktibbeha County over 63 years ago, and she is here with us today.

It is also a homecoming for me to be here at Mississippi State, where most of my family and childhood friends received their higher education, and where I can, today, compliment this great university on good judgment to select an extraordinary young fellow from my hometown as its 16th president. Congratulations to you, Dr. Portera. The folks in West Point are very proud of you.

I have now lived away from this part of the country for almost 25 years. This has given me the rare opportunity to watch the seasons change in another part of America, and yet keep my secure and deep roots in this part of the country.

During all that time, it has been my primary role to give direction to a rather large enterprise, which we call "Sara Lee." The two questions I get asked most often as I go around the country are, first, "Was there ever really a person named Sara Lee?" and, secondly, "How do you work for Sara Lee and not get big and fat?"

To the first question, the answer is: Yes, there is a Sara Lee. She is actually a lovely woman, who is a bit younger than I am. She was eight years old when her father chose her name for his bakery products. As a result, Sara Lee Corporation has a distinction of being the largest company in the world named for a woman, and it is a distinction we are very proud of.

The answer to the second question is: Yes, I do eat Sara Lee products several times every day. If someone is truly worried about this, I go on to quote Mae West, a famous lady of yesteryear, who once said when asked about her indulgences, "Too much of a good thing is-wonderful!"

Sara Lee is not just a product. It is also a corporation, and one that has experienced a record of uncommon success as it has built itself up around the world.

Also, during my time away, I have had the special opportunity to be a part of the civic life of the truly greatest American city of them all-Chicago. And, I have had a rare view, as well as some modest participation, in the remarkable political, economic, and social changes which have occurred during this last quarter of the century.

It is from that perspective that I want to talk to you about the world you are entering today, and I will offer a few predictions and opinions about what might lie ahead. You know, I have always thought that a speaker without an opinion or point of view is about as useless as a dog that won't hunt. So, since I do want to be useful today, you're going to have to listen to some opinions from me!

Today, as you graduate, the peace and prosperity which all Americans so yearned for a few decades ago is a reality. And, today, there are for Americans vastly improved economic and other societal opportunities that were once denied to over half of the people in the past.

Yes, at this moment in the sweep of history, you graduating seniors do not face the prospect of being sent to foreign wars, for a relative peace has broken out around the world, and America stands, as never before, as the undisputed leader of the entire political world. America also has economic preeminence in the world today. As you graduate, our country has the highest standard of living for its people of any country in the world. We are, indeed, in prosperous times.

And on the social front, America increasingly has a major point of distinction, for we provide here today better opportunities for women and minorities than any country in this world. As never before, and in a reversal of all human history, women, African Americans, and other minorities are today occupying important leadership positions-positions that were previously reserved only for white males.

Yes, all of us in America are more fortunate than ever as you graduate. That point of view about the condition of America, as you are graduating, reminds me of a commencement address made at Vassar College in 1975. The speaker was the noted humorist, Art Buchwald. The best remembered part of his speech was one short sentence. He said to the graduating seniors, "We, the older generation, have given you a perfect world, and we don't want you to do anything to louse it up!"

Well, neither today's world nor certainly the world of 1975 can be called perfect, but the admonition to "not louse it up" is certainly appropriate for you graduates today.

Why is it that we have come to such a moment at the end of the 20th century-a moment which compares so favorably with all of our past history?

Is it the leadership of our country and their willingness to keep us engaged politically and economically around the world?

Is it technological progress of our time-technology which has promoted globalization and brought growth and discipline to countries around the world?

Or is it the lessons of our recent history-the barbaric 20th century wars and all the economic gyrations that we have experienced?

Or, perhaps, is it the spirit of Americans-their willingness to change, accept, and integrate people from around the world, and pursue freedoms and democratic processes with such great fervor?

The answer to that question is, "All of the above." It is the confluence of all these forces that has produced this 'best of times' for us, and you should know that.

You should also know that there are no guarantees that this golden age will continue or that more progress will occur in the future. Securing the political, economic, and social successes of yesterday and building on them tomorrow depends, more than anything I can think of, on you.

You are, by definition, leaders-for you are Americans and you are educated. Thus, the future will be your creation. So, let me offer a few predictions and opinions and advice.

On the world's political scene, surely the most impactful future dynamic we face is the reemergence of Asia-particularly China. I suppose that is on my mind because later this month, I will be visiting with Chinese leaders in Beijing. The reawakening of China, with its almost 1.2 billion people-five times the size of the United States-has created the likelihood that China will become a world-class economic power.

Thus, how we relate to China is the most important foreign policy issue of our time. In my judgment, it is imperative for us in America to stay deeply engaged with China, for we want China to emerge as a prosperous and peaceful member of the world's community. I believe that China will change. Its ideology will fade into the background as the market economy emerges and grows in China. Remember, it was the late Deng Xiaoping who once said, "Who cares if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice?"

And, time is on our side. Today, there are over a billion Chinese who have access to television. In fact, I learned recently that the second most popular person in China-second only to Mao Tse Tung-is a young man from the South in the United States, who lives not so far from where I do in Chicago, and his name is Michael Jordan.

And soon, there will be a million computers hooked up to the World Wide Web in China. Yes, China will change. I am absolutely convinced, if you can create economic interdependence between countries, you can then engage man's inherent competitive spirit in building economies rather than using that spirit to destroy one another.

All over the world today, leaders are turning to capitalism-to the American system-to build their economies and to solve their problems of getting along with each other. To solve the conflicts in the Middle East, they have economic summits. Old Communists are now fighting for economic development in Eastern Europe. And, early next month, I plan to go with Secretary of Commerce Daley on his first trade mission to Ireland, timed to coincide with the new peace agreements in that country.

Yes, we are living in an age of the triumph of capitalism. This new world order has turned to us merchants and industrialists to do what those autocrats and bureaucrats failed so miserably to do in the early part of this 20th century.

"I have shared with you my optimism, and I hope it will prove to be infectious. . . . " -John H. Bryan Jr.

The force that is the means to all of this powerfully positive end is something we call today 'globalization.' It is a force that is connecting the world, and it is a force that cannot and should not be turned back. It is a force that will bring discipline to nations and will even change the role of nations. But, most importantly, globalization is the force to assure peace and prosperity in the world ahead.

So, my strong advice to you is do not let America disengage from this world. For only America's leadership and America's constructive involvement in the world can keep the peace that we enjoy today.

Turning to the economic scene, America certainly is in a moment of historic transition. We are, today, in the twilight of the industrial age, a time when most people of our country spent their energies on manufacturing the products that we need to live our lives. I saw such a transition in the early part of my life. You see, when I was born here in Mississippi in the middle of the Depression, 99 percent of our people in this state were engaged in farming. Today, it is the reverse.

About 3 percent of the work force is engaged in agriculture in America, but our agricultural output is much greater, food and clothing are much cheaper. We made progress!

Peter Drucker, the brilliant management writer, says that the industrial worker in America is going the way of the farmer. Today, 11 percent of our work force makes or moves things in industry. By the year 2010, Mr. Drucker predicts that industrial workers will account for only 5 percent of the American work force. But, our manufacturing output will be greater and more efficient.

I agree with him, and this is another change that represents progress.

Technology and globalization are making so many basic products more efficient and available to us in America. And that has allowed most working Americans to turn their attentions to improving the level of services in our country, and spending their time on the development of the new products for tomorrow-products that are mostly born of creativity and innovation. The most important product of our time is certainly the miracle microchip. Less than 2 percent of its value comes from raw materials, and 98 percent comes from creativity.

Creative capital is, surely, our most important asset of this time we call the 'age of knowledge.'

The current focus of this age of knowledge, as you know, is in the communications arena. With mind-boggling speed, we see technology so rapidly improving our ability to develop and disseminate information, and there is emerging a global information utility, which we call the Internet.

Some day, we shall be able to access and relay information almost anywhere around the world, at any time, at no cost.

There is really no way to over-state the impact of all of this on our economic development. Now, there are predictions that within 20 years or so, we shall have completed this information or communications era. Futurists seem rather certain about what is next. They call it an era of 'biotechnology,' and it has begun.

It seeks progress with regard to living things-plant and animal life-but I suspect the greatest interest will be in biotechnology designed to alter the quality and lifespan of us human beings. You have some exciting years ahead.

You know, the rapid progress being made in this age of knowledge is particularly notable here in America. And that, I must tell you, is because America is the one country in the world with the most freedom to innovate, with the greatest economic incentives for people to discover and build business enterprises. And America is the place with the fiercest competition, seeking to satisfy consumers in the marketplace.

Throughout all history and in all places, the most certain way to build economies and to encourage innovation is to open up and free the conduct of economic activity, and let competition work. The movements to liberalize trade in the world, to deregulate our economy, to make America more competitive, have paid enormous dividends in our time.

So, my strong advice to you is: Do not reverse the course that has made America the technological and economic leader of the world. Do not yield to those who seek protection from competition.

Isolationism and protectionism do not work. America must stay on its economic course.

Returning now to the social front, the future face of America is not really very difficult to predict. We know the demographic trends, and as someone once said, "demographics is destiny."

The population of America will become dramatically more diverse in your lifetime. In 1998, about 73 percent of us are called "white"-but by the year 2050, only 53 percent will be so defined.

The African American population of America is predicted to move from 13 percent to 15 percent. Our Asian population will grow from 4 percent to 9 percent, and our Hispanic population will more than double from 11 percent to 24 percent 50 years into the next century. All of that added to the aging of America and you have some quite impactful demographics.

Another fact to consider is that large corporations are increasingly calling themselves multinational. In fact, Sara Lee does about 40 percent of its business-or about $8 billion-outside the United States.

So, we have many different nationalities working together in our company. At Sara Lee's annual President's Conference last year, we had 176 of our top officers gathered at Williamsburg, Va., and about half of them were born outside of the United States.

The demographics of America and the global character of tomorrow's business will change attitudes and will cause major changes in the workplace, changes which are going to occur in your lifetime.

Realizing that, it has long been my personal conviction that the growing diversity of America should be taken advantage of by a company like Sara Lee.

After all, we are an enterprise that needs to know the base from which we shall draw our employees, and know our customers, if we are to stay ahead in this ever-changing world.

So, Sara Lee has long had a program of strategic diversity designed to bring women, minorities, and foreign nationals to the very highest levels of our company.

In the United States today, 27 percent of all of our top-level management are female and about 12 percent are minorities.

"It is you who should determine what you believe is in the best interest of yourself, as well as your country and your fellow man." -John H. Bryan Jr.

I suspect that Sara Lee is in the forefront of the move toward increased diversity in corporate America, and this is just where I would want us to be, for I do believe that the business case for managing an enterprise with a more diverse management is a very powerful one. Diversity does give Sara Lee a competitive advantage.

As I preach the gospel of diversity, I often recall a speech once made by Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize winner and notable economist from the University of Chicago. It was at a dinner celebrating the 100th anniversary of the University of Chicago. He told us why the university had produced such an astounding number of Nobel Laureates, now numbering 68-more Nobel Laureates than any university in the entire world. Friedman said it was because the University of Chicago was a place where allegiance to diversity had been the rule throughout all of its 100 years of history.

The university enrolled women from the very beginning in 1892. It had African Americans in that first class. Today, Asians make up about 27 percent of the undergraduate student body, and 15 percent of the entire school population.

Then, Friedman went on to say-with a bit of tongue in cheek-that the University of Chicago was founded by a Baptist, John D. Rockefeller, as a school for proper Presbyterians who wanted to get a Catholic education from a bunch of Jewish professors.

Diversity does encourage creativity, and creativity is surely the lifeblood of renewal for any modern institution.

Well, I have given you a rosy picture of life as you graduate, near the end of this thousand-year cycle, which we call the millennium. Opportunity abounds, the world is at peace, and America is the undisputed economic and political leader of the world.

I have shared with you my optimism, and I hope it will prove to be infectious, because optimism is such a vital characteristic for the leadership roles you must play as educated Americans moving into the world at this remarkable time.

And, I certainly do subscribe to what is, perhaps, the most famous quotation ever by a Mississippian, when in 1950, William Faulkner, the Nobel Prize winner, expressed his optimism by assuring us that mankind indeed would endure and prevail.

My purpose today has not been to ask that you accept the predictions or opinions I have offered. You should seek your own truth. It is you who should determine what you believe is in the best interest of yourself, as well as your country and your fellow man.

My purpose today has been simply to cause you to think-to think seriously about the issues that can create a more peaceful, prosperous, creative, and just society for us all. And, my purpose also has been to cause you to look at the megatrends which are driving the world as you know it today.

The world's greatest author offered some pretty good advice when he said, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."

So, as you go forth from today, proceed wisely and thoughtfully, act boldly, and let's try to catch one of those rising tides. In any event, I do wish you great good fortune on this, your graduation day.