Biden Delivers Personal, Emotional Speech At UConn's Dodd Center

STORRS, CT — In an impassioned speech that was clearly rooted in personal affection, U.S. President Joe Biden Friday helped re-dedicate the University of Connecticut's Dodd Center for Human Rights, about 25 years to the day after the center opened and 75 years to the day when the Nuremberg Trials — the papers from which the center houses — rendered historic sentences for crimes committed during World War II.

"This is not hyperbole," Biden said to kick off his speech. "It's a genuine honor to be here."

Biden joined former U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and other dignitaries at the Dodd center. The center, which opened in 1995, was originally named for the late Senator Thomas J. Dodd, the senior prosecutor for the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg after World War II and a strong advocate for human rights throughout his Senate career. Christopher Dodd worked with the university to conceive, fund, and build the center to preserve and extend his father's human rights legacy.

The center is home to the papers Thomas Dodd saved from the trials.

"Seventy-five years ago, on Oct. 15, 1946, 21 defendants received sentences, restoring the rule of law," Christopher Dodd said.

The Dodd Center for Human Rights will serve as an umbrella home for the UConn's "rich and diverse human rights programs, including The Human Rights Institute and Dodd Impact.

It had been known as The Thomas J. Dodd Research Center since its opening in 1995, and the UConn Board of Trustees voted unanimously in August to authorize its dedication as The Dodd Center for Human Rights.

The Dodd Center for Human Rights will continue to be home to the Archives and Special Collections of the UConn Libraries, the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, and the Human Rights Institute.

Biden's trip marked the second for a sitting president to the center. Bill Clinton spoke at the original dedication. Biden said he called Clinton just before the appearance.

Friday's appearance was clearly personal for the President, who considers himself a close Friend of Christopher Dodd. Biden talked about what is often the hypocritical nature of human rights and used the example of a person making. global proclamation about rights, yet mistreating a waitress later on at dinner.

"That's the real message," Biden said. "And I've never seen Chris Dodd walk away from anybody. We're here to renew that passion Chris Dodd brought to the floor."

And also, Biden said, the passion Thomas Dodd brought to the trials, calling it a "real and immediate impact" to the post-World War II era.

Biden called the Dodd Nuremberg papers, "A first-person, first-draft of history."

He expanded on that.

"As a young lawyer, Thomas Dodd traveled to the bombed-out cities in Europe to document the shocking atrocities of some of the most notorious villains in history," Biden said. "The trials were a testament to justice and the documents were there so it could never be denied. They pursued the truth, as ugly and as traumatizing as it was. And they showed us that evil still needs to be guarded against. The trials were a blueprint for future atrocities."

UConn, through the Dodd center, was the first university to offer a major in human rights. Toward the end of his remarks, Biden spoke directly to those students.

"We need you," he said. "We need you badly."

Perhaps the legacy and mission of The Dodd Center was best summed up by the invocation delivered by Rabbi Philip Lazowski, a survivor of the Holocaust. The rabbi said Nuremberg was the first instance of prosecuting "crimes against humanity."

"This is a holy place," he said. "It houses the papers through which Thomas J. Dodd prosecuted terror."