HANNIBAL, Mo. – Renowned neurosurgeon and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson promoted faith-based freedom to an audience of over 1,600 at the Hannibal-LaGrange University gymnasium on March 13.
His speech was met with frequent applause and received three standing ovations, including one as he took the stage.
“My wife Candy and I have been to 68 countries. There is no place like America,” Carson said, emphasizing the nation’s founding principles. “Our forefathers studied other governments. They took out the bad stuff and put in the good stuff.”
He shared how the Constitutional Convention nearly fell apart until elder statesman Benjamin Franklin urged the group to pray. “After this, they wrote the Constitution,” he added. “The Constitution is a God-inspired document.” He cited Franklin’s well-known statement to his fellow citizens: The Constitutional Convention, Franklin said, had given them “a republic, if you can keep it.”
Carson warned that some people want America to fail, but he said others “are too smart to give up to socialism and Marxism. No other country has a dream.”
Using wit and clear language, Carson recalled his own journey from poverty to medicine. “My American dream was to be a doctor. I even loved going to the doctor and didn’t mind the shots—except maybe Covid,” he joked.
At eight, he wanted to be a missionary doctor. By 13, after growing up in poverty, he decided he’d rather be rich and considered psychiatry. When he later applied to Yale University, he wrote that he wanted to become a neurosurgeon—despite being told that few black neurosurgeons existed at the time. “The Good Lord,” he said, “did not disperse talent by race.”
He described himself as a poor student early on. A classmate named Steve often bragged about his grades, which frustrated him. His mother, with strong faith, made Carson and his brother read instead of watching TV. “At first I didn’t enjoy reading, but I began to enjoy the books.”
As he read and studied, he realized he couldn’t let other people impact his attitude and achievement at school. “It dawned on me,” he said. “The person who has the most to do with your life is you.”
Carson also shared how he overcame anger through prayer and reading the book of Proverbs. “The reason I was angry was because I was selfish,” he said. But God calmed his anger: “When God fixes a problem, He doesn’t do a paint job—He fixes it.”
He also discussed his early studies in classical music and his leadership while working on a highway trash crew. After medical school, Carson became director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University at age 33.
“There are a lot of things God wants us to do,” he concluded. “You see what happens with the vacancy of leadership when you put God in the backseat.”