When CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer found out he had passed his final exams and would be graduating from the School of Advanced International Studies, he was elated.
"I literally jumped up in the air and clicked my heels together and did a big scream, as if I were a cheerleader or something, and it sounds so stupid, but I was so happy I literally jumped for joy," he said. "The moment I found out that I was going to graduate and get the degree -- it's not the kind of moment that you forget."
Since then, Blitzer has become one of the most respected members of his field, winning numerous awards and asking hard-hitting questions to a variety of world leaders. For instance, during the 2000 election, Blitzer interviewed all of the major party presidential candidates, according to his official biography on http://www.cnn.com.
Today, more than thirty years after graduating from SAIS, his enthusiasm for Johns Hopkins has not diminished.
"I think that Johns Hopkins University -- undergraduate, graduate -- is one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the world, and that it's got a fabulous reputation, not only here in the United States, but around the world," Blitzer said.
He has so much faith in Hopkins, in fact, that the only suggestion he has for the University to prepare its students for increasing globalization is to do "more of the same."
"All of the work that comes out of Johns Hopkins speaks for itself," he said. "So, in this increasingly competitive, global marketplace c9 the best thing we can be doing is doing more of the same -- just keep on pursuing excellence, keep on pushing for the highest quality in math and science, literature, medicine and all the core areas, and be as competitive and be as strong as we possibly can."
He also recalled the draft lottery of his college years and said that while most military leaders are content with a solely volunteer force, world events may lead to "increasing pressure" to reinstate the draft.
"I was lucky," he said. "My number was in the high 200's -- 272, something like that -- and they said that they were only going to go up to about 120 or 130 or 140. But I remember living through that period."
"The military itself -- and I speak as a former Pentagon correspondent, I covered the military for a while -- they like it the way it is now. They have people who want to be there and they don't have to deal with people who don't really want to be there, and they think they have a better military product as a result."
"On the other side of the coin -- and this is reflected in what Congressman Murtha said to me [during an interview on March 29] or Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York says is -- we just need a bigger military, we just don't have the capability of doing it right now with just the volunteer, and it's good for the country to have people giving public service and in effect being forced to give something back to the country c9 There's two sides to this story, and I think a lot will depend on c9 the needs of the military."
Students with strong opinions on the issue should not be afraid to speak up, either, according to Blitzer.
"I think that students obviously should be knowledgeable and educated about this issue and about a lot of other issues, and if they have strong opinions voice them -- why not," he said. "I think that's part of being an American. If you have views, let us know what you think."
In a time when the impartiality of reporting is often called into question, and partisan motives guide news coverage, Blitzer is a defender of what he calls "classical" journalism.
"I'm a classical, old-fashioned kind of journalist," he said. "[I try] not to inject too much of my own personal opinions and attitudes, but what I try to do is make sure I give all sides a good chance to present their respective cases. But if I see someone is saying something that's not true or distorted or not answering the question -- it's my job, because I see myself as really the representative of the viewers out there, the people who are watching my shows -- to speak up and say, `Excuse me, you didn't answer the question.'"
The most memorable of those many interviews occurred in 1998, while he was covering the White House and traveling with President Bill Clinton. But it wasn't an interview with Clinton that particularly stands out in his mind. Rather, it was an interview with the president of South Africa -- Nelson Mandela, who also happens to be a past speaker at the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium.
"He had just taken office," Blitzer said. "The apartheid regime had just fallen, and all of a sudden you have a new black president of South Africa -- a man who had spent 25 years or so in a prison because he was a political opponent of the apartheid racist regime in South Africa. The day before my interview with Nelson Mandela, we had gone and spent some time in his cell, where he'd been a prisoner all those years c9 and here I was interviewing him, and he showed no bitterness, no anger, just was looking ahead. If anyone should have been angry and bitter and looking for revenge it could have been him, but he was a leader who went beyond his own personal pain and suffering c9 There was no civil war, no fighting -- it was an amazing moment in world history, and Nelson Mandela made it happen because of his unique stature."
He added: "It was a powerful interview I did with him and to this day it stands out in my mind as one of the big moments of my journalistic career."
Blitzer feels "blessed" to have a job that lets him learn all day, speak to interesting people and report on what's going on in the world, and credits Hopkins for making it happen.
"I get paid on a daily basis now to learn and to see and to report on what's going on," said Blitzer. "I'm really blessed that I can take that SAIS and Johns Hopkins experience that I had and parlay it into a daily profession c9 It really was one of those life-changing events for me -- the two years that I spent getting my Master's degree -- because it opened up my eyes, it opened up my curiosity, it opened me up to new opportunities that I never knew existed earlier."
Blitzer had one simple message for Hopkins students: "Keep on doing what you're doing."
"You got into Johns Hopkins -- that means you've got some talent, you've got some potential, you've got some capability," he said. "But now you've got to deliver. You've got to take advantage of this opportunity, exploit it, appreciate it -- don't waste it -- because your life is ahead of you now and the decisions you make during these critical years are going to be decisions that affect your life for thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years down the road. So just enjoy what you're doing -- relish it. If you have an opportunity to go into a field that you love -- that you're passionate about -- you'll do really well in that field because if you love what you're doing, and if you can make a living in the process, you're going to be much more successful than if you dread going to work every day. I've been blessed in having that opportunity c9 and I only wish that students who are there now take advantage of it as I did."
The Situation Room airs weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. and 7 to 8 p.m. ET on CNN. You can also catch Wolf Blitzer Sunday mornings from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.
