November 12th, 2025| 1 min readEvents
The Stanford and Palo Alto communities gathered on Veterans Day to honor the sacrifices of those who protect and defend the nation.
When considering the United States military, one might think of its size, force, and sophisticated technologies. But in her time as U.S. National Security Adviser and Secretary of State, Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice also observed something else while visiting American military bases.
“What I saw was these extraordinary human beings, these extraordinary patriots who had taken up arms to defend us,” she said, adding that people are the heart and soul of America’s armed forces.
“That’s what this military is. People who have come from all over the country – all colors, all shades and sizes, all heritages, all experiences – to be a part of this extraordinary force that defends us at the bottom lines of freedom,” she said.
Rice, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution, was the keynote speaker at the fourth annual Veterans Day celebration hosted by Stanford and the City of Palo Alto. The event was held at the Traitel Welcoming Pavilion at the Hoover Institution on Tuesday evening. First-year undergraduate and U.S. Air Force veteran Zach Wright served as master of ceremonies for the event, which opened with the national anthem sung by the a cappella group The Stanford Medicants.
The evening included remarks from Palo Alto Mayor Ed Lauing, retired U.S. Air Force commander Ray Powell, and Michele Rasmussen, Stanford vice provost for student affairs.
Rasmussen called on the community to remember the advantages Americans have because of the sacrifices of the nation’s military men and women: “Let us long remember the liberties we enjoy because they stepped up,” she said.
Honoring veterans
According to Rasmussen, more than 1,100 veterans reside in Palo Alto and there are 36 undergraduate and over 100 graduate student veterans currently enrolled at Stanford, many of whom attended Tuesday’s celebration. Also in attendance were long-time Palo Alto resident Ernestine Faxon, a 102-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II, and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Manny Velasco, who served in the Vietnam War.
The South Bay Blue Star Moms organization presented Velasco with a quilt of valor during the ceremony.
Andrew Brodhead
In her address, Rice said that because of the protection provided by our military, the United States is among the most innovative, creative, and prosperous nations in human history, enabling Americans to push the frontiers of knowledge. Members of the military defend and protect democracy at home and abroad, as well as those who seek the freedom and rights enshrined in America’s founding documents:
“The right to say what you think, to worship as you please, to be free from the knock of the secret police at night, to be free from the arbitrary power of the government, and to have the dignity that comes with choosing those who would govern,” she said.
Members of the military protect the nation’s principles, Rice said. While citizens of many other nations are united by race, ethnicity, or religion, Americans are united by a creed: “That it doesn’t matter where you came from, it matters where you were going.” Americans have also adopted a responsibility to serve others, she said – a responsibility that is only possible because it’s defended by our men and women in uniform.
Rice reflected on her own experience, recalling the time she was sworn in as Secretary of State in the Franklin Room at the U.S. Department of State. “Here is this Black woman, child of the segregated South, and she’s taking an oath of office to defend the Constitution of America, which once counted her ancestors as three-fifths of a man.”
Her experience, she said, reflects the American collective story: “Progress together, progress through our institutions, progress because we keep an eye not just on who we were and who we are, but who we want to be. And progress that is possible because we are protected by the men and women that we celebrate today.”
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