Governor Hughes (1960s)

governor reviews we have young people and we have people of all different age groups within the state of Iowa what are your some of your concerns let's say for the young people of Iowa well I think really the concerns that I have today are very complex because the Society of living in Iowa though at a somewhat slower pace than we find it in more metropolitan areas of the country is becoming increasingly more complicated for all of us I think the greatest challenge that we and the adult level have today is really opening the channels of communication with young people which includes the young adults of our state as well as the youth of our state that are still in the academic areas of study also I think we're doing something about this but we're not doing it in nearly the efforts that we need to place on it the emotionally disturbed young people in Iowa are becoming a great concern to me at the high school level as well as an early adult level we seem to be for some reason not only in Iowa but in the nation pushing these people across an emotional barrier almost to a point of no return I think we have to understand that with the numbers of people who I think by 1970 about 60% of our population will be 25 or younger who have never really experienced a total war as the adults of this country have they have been trained in trying to understand the teachings of the Bible the believing in the brotherhood of man and believing that in a democratic society all people should be allowed to develop to the maximum their capacity whatever that capacity is and yet we see our state in our country torn with an internal strife for the lack of understanding lack of tolerance ridden with racial prejudice job problems and people working at less than their capabilities because of some of the prejudices that have existed in our history I think this is one reason that we see percentages of our young people who are being fed up for the adult society and saying that you say nice things but you don't practice what you really are preaching and our problem is trying to I believe not only talk to the young people but to work with the young people in overall betterment of our society and I think that this problem of communication really is the greatest problem we have now we've started in Iowa many things to better train for job opportunities the young we've been very late in doing it I think the very of occasional technical schools for example are areas where many of our young people who have not been able to go on for higher education can have an opportunity for technical training and for vocational training I think also very few of those who have gone on to institutions of higher learning probably shouldn't have gone and as a result of then those freshman dropouts that we experienced in our colleges and universities and they could have better gone to a technical training school also our high school graduate or our high school dropouts in our high school courses who are of course under trained and under skilled and underemployed can be trained in this type of a system for better employment I think the relationship with the trouble we see across the country and the fact that most of the mob violence that is existed has been in youth from 14 to 25 years of age but most of these youngsters are followers they're not leaders but they are led by a hard core of rebellious many times elements in these cities and states that result in a lot of these people who have no job opportunities no money in their pockets or culturally and economically deprived following and doing anything to attract attention or to draw to themselves attention that they need in this social structure that we live in these problems are very complex now is this partially going to be solved by people other than as you see these elements of the criminal or such as this being the leaders the can we solve it partially by other individuals who are actually deeply concerned going in and giving out themselves to be the leaders I think this is really the only way we can solve it so many times I feel that we have turned to the federal system of government and say we have a huge problem that we can't handle now come and do something about it well I don't think the appropriation of a hundred billion dollars in America today would solve the problems of underprivileged students and young people in our society I think it resolves itself down to the individual person in our society being concerned about the well-being of a fellow human being and interested enough to not only give perhaps a little of their money but to give an awful lot of their time and their energy to these young people and making them feel a part of a productive society they don't like being demeaned for example just creating a job which is meaningless in putting a young person alcohol in garbage for example when they could be trained to be a mechanic is a demeaning position but doing something to encourage this young people to have a job where he can work and then helping him to continue his education counseling them about the problems they have in their home they don't want to be problems they they want to be creative and helpful and I think it results in the fact that individual Iowans and individual people all over America have to give of their time and their energy trying to correct the conditions that are the result of sometimes a hundred or two hundred years of social structure that has been wrong and depriving these people are many times young people misunderstood misunderstood in the sense that if they are interpreted by being as by adults as being hostile as being implied some of these things purely as a matter of the young person really not knowing from their past experience how to conduct themselves in a way that's understood by the adults I think this is undoubtedly true and again I think it results in a breakdown of the home structure in some of the lower economic areas of our society whether in this home structure they do not have the opportunity to observe the normal rules of living that we observe in family life they don't have proper parental control nor can the parent give guidance when the youngster is out on the street every night for example to 11 or 12 o'clock or maybe later without the parents knowing where the child is at I think it's interesting to note of course that many of these people are not simply from the lowest economic structure but from the great broad middle-class of Americans where they have had many of the benefits of being well educated and having everything they need to eat proper clothing to wear and being taught the mannerisms of the society in which we live but at the same time sort of acting out almost to the same degree that we find for example in a retarded person trying to draw attention love and affection and understanding and if there's no other way to receive it then this acting out process does receive that attention in this way people like rap Brown do off and immediate solution as a torch and a fire and a way to attract attention the other means is slower but more necessary but this is their communication and what we might call the negative way that's absolutely correct now I think we can do many positive things I think all of these young people if you reduce it down have the same desire in their heart that you and I am most people in my opinion are FA afraid to turn within themselves anymore and really so to speak be still and listen to God to commune with nature and to understand their purpose of being all of us like to feel that there is a purpose for our life these young people feel the same way they'd like to contribute to humanity while they're here and being fraught with conditions that don't allow contributions then they resort to destructive forces that in itself a hopeful better society really if you were to talk to them about it this destruction they think will bring about a betterment of the conditions they observed and we can reverse this trend by understanding the problems they face and by ourselves not being ashamed to talk about our innermost concerns which are the same as theirs and almost any family in America if you talk to the family unit and you reduce it down to those people and really say what do you want in life for yourself and for your children and most parents today would say I'd like to provide a better way of living so that my children don't have to face some of the problems that I faced well as you and I know we can't do that our children are going to face their own problems probably tougher problems than you and I faced even though I lived as a youngster in the Great Depression years being poor was no problem because everyone was poor but today it is a problem because everyone isn't for most people live in a rather affluent society and yet we have a great broad spectrum of underprivileged youth and then the average middle-class you see this under privilege and they say why they have the capabilities but they've never been allowed to develop them and they start acting out they find themselves in trouble with the law and the minute that centered on the record they find themselves further deprived of the necessary training and education they need so we need to bring them back into the spectrum and to assist them in these ways and listen you know I think it would be well for we as adults to spend more time listening to our younger people than in preaching to them governor Hughes do you think adults are secure and have the answers to these questions well I think probably we see a very high degree of frustration in our adult society today i I doubt that this is much different than it has been throughout history except that we have a largely increasing population not only of our own country but of the world so it's becoming more concentrated than the problems are becoming more complex I'm not one who subscribes to the theory that our problems are insoluble because I happen to think that though each generation faces increasingly greater problems as they come along I God has given each succeeding generation greater ability and greater techniques to solve those problems but I do find in the circle of people that I come in contact with in large numbers that people who have been modestly and extremely successful in professional fields in almost every area that you come in contact with people who are reaching the near middle age we might say my and older who are frustrated they've been successful in their chosen careers their families sometimes are grown their younger children are in college or have graduated from college and now they find themselves unable to communicate with the younger generations of our people almost totally out of contact with the international scene that we find ourselves involved in as leaders of the world and feeling that perhaps they have failed in what has been an eternal search for peace and understanding in humanity and we reduce it again to the final analysis of what purpose do I have in life and if each one of us ask ourselves that question and we were to say how successful have I been in contributing to human understanding in my years here on this earth I think most of us would have to concede that we have not contributed to the extent that we have had the ability to contribute and that for that reason we're probably failing to communicate to the younger generation of our own ability and perhaps because of our own failures to make the contribution we should have made it's very interesting I think to see the interest of people now however wanting to do more and we should utilize these talents because people my age have more free time they have higher educational capabilities than previous generations they have more professional experience and ability they can focus on the problems so under the right direction and with the light leadership and working with the young people we have probably the greatest opportunity we've ever had I believe was secretary Gardiner of Health Education and Welfare that said the biggest problems we have are really the largest opportunities brilliantly disguised and so we can find solutions but well we have the situation of both the adult living longer as well as the increased population and again with some of the changes as as you commented working with than in some of the generations before it was much more likely the father and son and mother and daughter be working together rather through some of these formative years rather than they are now and also the perhaps some of the questions were answered at home do you think that as adults and not spending as much time with our own children or other children that we get concerned as young adults and as teenagers our preteen children question some of the values and questions some of the things that are going on in the world do we get scared and not pursue well I think undoubtedly we do because I think I remember as I grew up and was a young adult that really were looked at with us Gantz when you started to question some of the so-called accepted principles in the way we did things I think every young person should be encouraged to ask questions and not be afraid to ask questions they ought to be encouraged to ask questions about everything from the Bible to professional occupations and our international policies our state policies our local policies our educational systems the way we live anything should be open to question I think they should be constantly encouraged to seek the truth because I personally feel the ultimate answer is that God is truth and God is love and that when we question things we can't help but contribute to a better society by simply asking the questions but I think what we should train them to do is ask the questions with constructive efforts and ideas rather than destructive efforts and ideas simply to tear down and I think by doing this and within this framework that probably the generations that now find themselves separated because of lack of you can perhaps made that final contribution to humanity of really finding together some of the solutions that all of us have been searching for independently I think it may be a rare opportunity have you any suggestions as to how we can be guide our youngsters in the direction of being able to evaluate the the ability of the person who answers the questions asked well I think there is one text again I hate to return so constantly to simply truth or perfection or or whatever it might be but I think the question that can be asked is if is it good and if it is good for Humanity is it good for society is it good for all peoples regardless of race creed color or ethnic or origins or whatever it may be that then in the whole the subject would be good if it's an improvement now as to the qualifications or the prejudices of the person answering the questions I think that should be questionable I don't think there should be any fear of questioning the authority of a person who claims to be an authority on a subject I think this is certainly something that is subject to challenge and I don't think any of us should fear it I'm challenged every day in my business and I think this is good for the democratic system I think I should be challenged I think I should be placed under the glaring light and open to inspection of my policies and my thoughts and my ideas I think the same should apply to religion to professional standards to umbrella type protection over certain professions that should be examined our school systems our educational systems our so-called ivory tower precepts of what we have should all spend the entire scrutiny of examination and not fear it because if it's right it'll withstand the exam and if it's wrong it can't long withstand it anyway and I think we should encourage the questions and seek solutions it's been my experience that I've learned a lot more because people have questioned something and I think from the experience of professional teachers for example at whatever level that their students make of them a better person because they do question themselves have way sometimes too much of a tendency to blame an individual that through the questioning and got some very personal and emotional perhaps scars and I have been inclined to make them live with those rather than what they learned that will be a positive value for society well I think this is true I think that probably if we use the terminology scars that scars are a really more character building than they are destructive if the personality of the individual is correct i I think character is forged by somewhat wrong decisions by sorrows by disabilities as well as the happiness and the joys of life I think that one is in balance with the other for example a thing that brings you the greatest joy usually holds the power of bringing you the greatest sorrow and that if these things become out of balance or one does not counterbalance the other than the character of the personality becomes scarred to the extent that it reflects something that is not a true true perception of the subject discussed and as a result I think we do have warped approaches that are followed and are taught and sometimes are not questioned enough so it is necessary to exercise care and seeing that what we see is a whole philosophy as well as a whole person reflecting that philosophy and an imbalance person and an imbalance philosophy and an imbalance purpose of life because if a goal of life is only to seek wealth then fulfillment will never be achieved in all probability and if the goal of life is only to achieve certain materialistic developments then I doubt that that will bring final fulfillment either we have to relate to cultural areas and understanding and appreciation we also have to relate someone I believe to spiritual areas of guidance in order to be a well balanced total society as well as they're well balanced total person and I think without relating the three areas together the spiritual and materialistic and the cultural that we do get out of balance from time to time and that we should encourage our young people to work for all three governor Hughes thank you very much for sharing some of your comments concerning the use of the state of Iowa and your thoughts concerning this with us it's been my pleasure thank you you