Alexis De Tocqueville Society of The United Way Dinner Honoring Frederick W. Smith Founder and Chairman Fedex Corp., May 6, 2000

REMARKS AS PRESENTED BY IRA A. LIPMAN CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT GUARDSMARK, INC.

MAY 6, 2000 PEABODY HOTEL MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, FRIENDS OF THE UNITED WAY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WE ARE HERE TONIGHT TO HONOR AN EXTRAORDINARY INDIVIDUAL-A MAN WHOSE IMPACT ON THIS COMMUNITY AND, INDEED, ON THIS COUNTRY FEW CAN EQUAL. HE CREATED A NEW WAY TO DELIVER GOODS AND HELPED TRANSFORM MEMPHIS INTO A MAJOR WORLD TRANSPORTATION CENTER.

WE DON’T JUST SEND PACKAGES ANYMORE; WE FEDEX THEM. WHO ELSE BUT FRED SMITH CAN TAKE CREDIT FOR A NEW VERB? HE IS WITHOUT QUESTION, IN MY PERSONAL OPINION! THE GREATEST ENTREPRENEUR OF THE 20TH CENTURY. HE ACCOMPLISHED MORE IN 10 YEARS THAN PEOPLE CAN DREAM ABOUT. BUT WE ARE NOT HERE TO PRAISE THE BUSINESS SKILL OF THE FEDEX FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN.

THE ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE SOCIETY AWARD HONORS ANOTHER SIDE OF THIS MAN. WHEN HE TOURED THE UNITED STATES IN 1831, DE TOCQUEVILLE WAS IMPRESSED BY AMERICANS’ WILLINGNESS TO VOLUNTEER AND BY THEIR FAITH IN THE FUTURE. FRED EMBODIES THOSE QUALITIES AS FEW OTHERS DO. SO TONIGHT, IT IS ESPECIALLY APPROPRIATE THAT WE SALUTE FRED AS A VOLUNTEER AND AS A VISIONARY.

HE IS A VERY SPECIAL PERSON. UNDER FRED’S LEADERSHIP, FEDEX GREW INTO THE LARGEST EXPRESS TRANSPORTATION COMPANY IN THE WORLD. AS THE COMPANY GREW, ITS SUPPORT FOR UNITED WAY GREW ALSO. IN 1999, THE COMPANY’S LOCAL CONTRIBUTION WAS $3.5 MILLION, ABOUT 17 PERCENT OF THE CAMPAIGN TOTAL. TRY TO IMAGINE MEMPHIS WITHOUT FEDEX. WE WOULD MOURN THE LOSS OF MORE THAN 30,000 JOBS. MEMPHIS WOULD NOT BE THE DISTRIBUTION CENTER IT IS TODAY.

BUT THE VOID IN THIS COMMUNITY WOULD BE BIGGER THAN THAT. WITHOUT THE COMPANY’S GENEROSITY, HOW MANY SERVICES WOULD NOT BE PROVIDED? VICTIMS OF FIRE OR FLOOD WOULD HAVE NOWHERE TO SLEEP IF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS CUT BACK. PREGNANT TEENS WOULD BE TURNED AWAY FROM THE BETHANY HOME AND LOSE THEIR SECOND CHANCE.

HOW MANY CHILDREN WOULD DIE WITHOUT THE LIFELINE THAT SOUTHERN POISON CENTER OFFERS? WITHOUT SOS, MANY OF THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED WOULD LACK DIGNITY AND A CHANCE TO CONTRIBUTE. MANY SENIORS WOULD LOSE THEIR INDEPENDENCE AND MANY CHILDREN WOULD LOSE FOSTER GRANDPARENTS WITHOUT SENIOR SERVICES. PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS WOULD LACK A SUPPORT SYSTEM WTHOUT THE HARWOOD CENTER.

HOW MANY DEAF CHILDREN WOULD NEVER LEARN TO TALK WITHOUT THE MEMPHIS ORAL SCHOOL’ HOPES THAT YOUNG MEMPHIANS CAN CROSS THE RACIAL DIVIDE WOULD DIM WITHOUT THE WORK OF BRIDGES. CHILDREN EAGER TO LEARN WOULD BE TRAPPED IN THE GANG CULTURE OF HOUSING PROJECTS WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE QUEST. HOW MANY TROUBLED TEENS WOULD BE LOST UNLESS YOUTH VILLAGES CONTINUES TO TAKE THE TOUGHEST CASES? WITHOUT LATINO-MEMPHIS CONEXION, WHO WILL BRIDGE THE CULTURAL GAP?

DRUGS OR GANGS WOULD LURE MORE INNER-CITY YOUTHS WITHOUT THE INTERVENTION OF THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS. FEWER OF THE MENTALLY ILL COULD FIND JOBS WITHOUT TRAINING AND PLACEMENT FROM THE LOWENSTEIN HOUSE.

WITHOUT CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, FEWER LOW-INCOME FAMILIES COULD GET THE EDUCATION AND SKILLS TO IMPROVE THEIR CONDITION. DRUGS WOULD RUIN MORE LIVES WITHOUT THE MEMPHIS RECOVERY CENTERS OR THE GRACE HOUSE. ABUSED WOMEN AND CHILDREN WOULD HAVE NO SAFE HAVEN WITHOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROJECT OR CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER. ADULTS TRAPPED BY ILLITERACY WOULD HAVE NO HOPE WITHOUT THE MEMPHIS LITERACY COUNCIL. WITHOUT FEDEX, THE UNMET NEEDS AND THE UNEASED PAIN WOULD SCAR THIS COMMUNITY DEEPLY. BY ITSELF, FEDEX’S $3.5 MILLION CONTRIBUTION IN 1999 COULD FUND THE ALLOCATIONS OF 40 OF THE 107 UNITED WAY AGENCIES IN THE MID-SOUTH.

IN ADDITION, MANY AGENCIES USE UNITED WAY FUNDING TO LEVERAGE OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS. LAST YEAR, UNITED WAY AGENCIES SERVED 350,000 PEOPLE IN THE MID-SOUTH. TAKE AWAY FEDEX’S 17 PERCENT AND 60,000 PEOPLE MIGHT BE TURNED AWAY. WE WOULD ALSO MISS THE VOLUNTEER SUPPORT FROM FEDEX EMPLOYEES. A FEDEX EMPLOYEE IS ON THE BOARD OF ALMOST EVERY UNITED WAY-SUPPORTED AGENCY, AND HUNDREDS MORE VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME AND ENERGY. FRED STARTED HIS COMPANY BECAUSE HE COULD SEE A NEW WAY TO FILL A BUSINESS NEED.

HE BRINGS THE SAME VISION AND LEADERSHIP TO HELPING UNITED WAY FILL A SOCIAL NEED. FROM DAY ONE AT FEDERAL EXPRESS, FRED HAS BEEN INTERESTED IN GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY. IN HELPING OTHERS, HE DEMONSTRATES THE SAME KIND OF VOLUNTEERISM THAT HE DEMONSTRATED AS A COURAGEOUS MARINE OFFICER IN VIETNAM. HE SERVED TWO TOURS, FIRST IN THE INFANTRY AND THEN AS A FORWARD AIR CONTROLLER. HE FLEW MORE THAN 200 GROUND-SUPPORT MISSIONS AND EARNED THE SILVER STAR AND BRONZE STAR.

FRED WAS A HERO IN SERVICE TO HIS COUNTRY AND IS A HERO TO THE PEOPLE OF MEMPHIS. AND ALL THE TIME, HE WANTED NO ATTENTION FOR HIS ACTIONS. FRED IS A CARING, GIVING FAMILY MAN, DEVOTED TO HIS WIFE AND FAMILY. THE PRESENCE OF HIS LOVED ONES HERE TONIGHT, INCLUDING HIS MOTHER AND HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW, SHOWS WHERE HIS HEART IS. (THE NEXT PAGE, PAGE 8, IS OPTIONAL) VISIONARIES LIKE FRED CAN SEE FURTHER THAN MOST PEOPLE. THEY TAKE RISKS. THEY ACT BOLDLY. LOOK AT WHAT FRED HAS DONE:

• YALE GRADUATE;
• MARINE OFFICER;
• FOUNDED FEDEX;
• OPENED MEMPHIS SUPERHUB;
• WON MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD;
•WON THE STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP FORUM’S PETER F. DRUCKER AWARD;
• WON THE WRIGHT BROTHERS MEMORIAL TROPHY FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO AVIATION;
• A DIRECTOR OF THE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE, THE CATO INSTITUTE AND THE MAYO FOUNDATION;
• CO-CHAIRMAN OF THE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL PROJECT IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

WE REVERE FRED FOR HIS COMMITMENT TO OUR COMMUNITY AND FOR THE POSITIVE IMPACT HE HAS HAD. HE WILL NEVER KNOW ALL HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED, ALL THE LIVES HE HAS TOUCHED. THE GROWING COMPANY HE FOUNDED MIGHT BE MONUMENT ENOUGH FOR MOST PEOPLE. BUT FRED HAS ANOTHER EQUALLY ENDURING LEGACY-A LEGACY OF GIVING THAT HAS HELPED THOUSANDS FIND A BETTER TOMORROW.

LET ME ADD A PERSONAL NOTE ABOUT THE KIND OF MAN HE IS. IN 1984, WE FOUNDED THE ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE SOCIETY CHAPTER IN MEMPHIS. WE NEEDED AT LEAST TEN PEOPLE, AND FRED WAS AMONG THE FIRST TO JOIN. OUR 17 CHARTER MEMBERS RAISED $370,000 THAT FIRST YEAR. TODAY, THE SOCIETY HAS 81 MEMBERS, WHO GAVE NEARLY $1.8 MILLION LAST YEAR. IN 1985, WORKING AS GENERAL CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN OF THE UNITED WAY OF GREATER MEMPHIS, WE WERE SHORT OF THE GOAL IN THE LAST HOURS OF THE CAMPAIGN. FEDEX, WHICH KNOWS SOMETHING ABOUT DELIVERY ON DEADLINE, PUT US OVER THE TOP.

FEDEX WAS AMONG A GROUP OF COMPANIES THAT CONTRIBUTED TO A RECORD-BREAKING CAMPAIGN. MY FRIENDS, WHEN YOU NEED HELP, YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY DEPEND ON FRED SMITH. HE IS A COMPLEX CHARACTER, IN THE WORDS OF IRA A. LIPMAN. I LOVE HIM AND MEMPHIS LOVES HIM-MORE THAN HE KNOWS. FOR THAT REASON, AS A THANK-YOU FOR EVERYTHING HE’S DONE FOR MEMPHIS AND UNITED WAY, WE GIVE FRED THIS AWARD, WHICH EMBODIES VOLUNTEERISM, COMMITMENT, CONTRIBUTION AND A DEEP SENSE OF WELL-BEING FOR HIS FELLOW MAN.