1987 Saint John Spring Convocation
O'Brien, Conor Cruise
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
Orator: Cameron, Ian R.
Citation:
CONVOCATION, MAY, 1987
CONOR CRUISE O’BRIEN
to be Doctor of Letters
In presenting Conor Cruise O’Brien for an honorary degree, any Orator may well feel overwhelmed by an embarras de richesses. Diplomat, politician, educator, scholar, dramatist and literary critic, he has made his mark on so many fields that it is impossible to recapitulate, in a necessarily brief introduction, sufficient of his varied accomplishments to do justice to a truly remarkable career.
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. O’Brien entered the Irish Department of External Affairs in 1944, where he rose to the position of Head of the United Nations Section and member of the Irish Delegation to the United Nations in 1956. It was, however, during the troubles following the attainment of independence by the former Belgian Congo in 1962 that he became an internationally-known figure, when he was appointed as the Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Hammarskjöld, in the dissident province of Katanga. His role, and the role of the United Nations, in that conflict, have been vividly described in his book To Katanga and Back and analyzed, in his play Murderous Angels, in terms of what he calls the "noble abstractions" of peace and freedom which drove the main protagonists in the tragedy of the Congo.
Following his resignation from the United Nations, Dr. O’Brien served for a term as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, a position that was stimulating even by the standards characteristic of universities in the 1960’s. From Ghana, he went to New York University, where he held the Albert Schweitzer Chair in Humanities, before returning to Ireland and being elected as a Labour member to the Irish Parliament, Dail Eireann. He served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973-1977, when he became Senator for Dublin University. His interests in journalism led him to a new incarnation as Editor-in-Chief of the London Observer in 1978, and he is still a regular contributor to journals such as The New York Review of Books and The New Republic.
It is, perhaps, particularly for his scholarship that it is appropriate that we as a university are honoring Conor Cruise O’Brien today. The list of his publications is the best index of the depth and range of his intellectual accomplishment. In addition to the works already mentioned, his books include Maria Cross, a volume of critical essays; Parnell and his Party, which has been described as the best biography of Charles Stewart Parnell yet written; Writers and Politics; The United Nations: Sacred Drama; Conor Cruise O’Brien Introduces Ireland (with his wife, Maire Cruise O’Brien, as co-author); Herod’s Reflections on Political Violence; and his latest magnum opus, The Siege, a history of Zionism and the State of Isreal.
True to his Hibernian heritage, Dr. O’Brien is no stranger to controversy. Whether combating the influence of the Union Miniére in Katanga, defending academic freedom against the encroachments of the state at the University of Ghana, or condemning IRA terrorism in Northern Ireland, his courage, eloquence and wit have earned him the respect even of his adversaries. It is fitting that his qualities should have been recognized by the receipt of the Valiant for Truth Media Award in 1979.
When one is dealing with a personage as distinguished as Dr. O’Brien, it is inevitable that other discerning institutions of learning, among them the ancient Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, should already have conferred academic honours on him. It is with pleasure that the University of New Brunswick joins them in honouring this outstanding combination of man of action and man of letters.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
CONOR CRUISE O’BRIEN
to be Doctor of Letters
In presenting Conor Cruise O’Brien for an honorary degree, any Orator may well feel overwhelmed by an embarras de richesses. Diplomat, politician, educator, scholar, dramatist and literary critic, he has made his mark on so many fields that it is impossible to recapitulate, in a necessarily brief introduction, sufficient of his varied accomplishments to do justice to a truly remarkable career.
Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. O’Brien entered the Irish Department of External Affairs in 1944, where he rose to the position of Head of the United Nations Section and member of the Irish Delegation to the United Nations in 1956. It was, however, during the troubles following the attainment of independence by the former Belgian Congo in 1962 that he became an internationally-known figure, when he was appointed as the Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Hammarskjöld, in the dissident province of Katanga. His role, and the role of the United Nations, in that conflict, have been vividly described in his book To Katanga and Back and analyzed, in his play Murderous Angels, in terms of what he calls the "noble abstractions" of peace and freedom which drove the main protagonists in the tragedy of the Congo.
Following his resignation from the United Nations, Dr. O’Brien served for a term as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, a position that was stimulating even by the standards characteristic of universities in the 1960’s. From Ghana, he went to New York University, where he held the Albert Schweitzer Chair in Humanities, before returning to Ireland and being elected as a Labour member to the Irish Parliament, Dail Eireann. He served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973-1977, when he became Senator for Dublin University. His interests in journalism led him to a new incarnation as Editor-in-Chief of the London Observer in 1978, and he is still a regular contributor to journals such as The New York Review of Books and The New Republic.
It is, perhaps, particularly for his scholarship that it is appropriate that we as a university are honoring Conor Cruise O’Brien today. The list of his publications is the best index of the depth and range of his intellectual accomplishment. In addition to the works already mentioned, his books include Maria Cross, a volume of critical essays; Parnell and his Party, which has been described as the best biography of Charles Stewart Parnell yet written; Writers and Politics; The United Nations: Sacred Drama; Conor Cruise O’Brien Introduces Ireland (with his wife, Maire Cruise O’Brien, as co-author); Herod’s Reflections on Political Violence; and his latest magnum opus, The Siege, a history of Zionism and the State of Isreal.
True to his Hibernian heritage, Dr. O’Brien is no stranger to controversy. Whether combating the influence of the Union Miniére in Katanga, defending academic freedom against the encroachments of the state at the University of Ghana, or condemning IRA terrorism in Northern Ireland, his courage, eloquence and wit have earned him the respect even of his adversaries. It is fitting that his qualities should have been recognized by the receipt of the Valiant for Truth Media Award in 1979.
When one is dealing with a personage as distinguished as Dr. O’Brien, it is inevitable that other discerning institutions of learning, among them the ancient Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, should already have conferred academic honours on him. It is with pleasure that the University of New Brunswick joins them in honouring this outstanding combination of man of action and man of letters.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
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