American University - Talon / Aucola Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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In another recollection of his re- lationship with the Kennedy family, Dr. Anderson revealed that he once kicked Bobby Kennedy off the AU campus. It was on a Sunday, ex- plained the president, and Bobby was out on the Quad playing touch football. According to the president the football game was quite noisy, and he was attending a meeting. He went out and asked the football players to leave and admonished the Senator for using the campus as a football field. The president turned to the Com- munications Building and the radio tower above the field. That building was the first building built on this campus after I became president, said Dr. Anderson. He explained that the University had given WMAL-TV permission to build its television tower on the campus. In return, The Evening Star Broadcasting Company, a sister organization of The Evening Star Newspaper Company, would help the University in seme way. I went to Sam Kauffmann (who headed the companies), said the president, and told him I wanted his company to build us a building. He told me if the University would decide what it wanted, his company would build it. That ' s how AU built its Com- munications Building. Our tour brought us to the Beeghly Chemistry Building. It, too, was the product of Hurst R. Anderson ' s direct- ness in seeking financial support for the University. The president turned to the Communications Building and the radio tower above the field, That was the first building built on this campus after I became president. 13

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Walking down the drive to the Hughes- McDowell-Leonard complex, Dr. Anderson paused again, his eyes sweeping the dormi- tories all completed during his tenure here. Pausing for a moment, he looked back towards the tennis courts. He explained here was originally to be the site for the John M. Reeves Com- munity Center, but that he had had second thoughts about the choice. That ' s one reason for the delay in building it, he explained. He further explained that if the Center was built in this area, there would be no room for parking nor for expansion for the proposed natatorium. When we decide to build it, it must be as large as we want it. I want to see that it has an area for our local students who commute. Some place for them to go, he added. As we walked on down the track, Dr. Anderson continued talking, re- calling that AU during the war had been the site of a bomb disposal unit. They ' d bury the shells, and when we ' d excavate for a building, we ' d dig the bombs up. We stopped again in front of the John F. Kennedy marker at the far end of the athletic field. It was on the site of this marker, said Dr. Anderson, that the late President Kennedy made public his plans for a nuclear test ban treaty while delivering AU ' s com- mencement address in 1963. As we stood there in front of the marker, Dr. Anderson reminisced about the events leading up to the address. He said the University had con- tacted President Kennedy ' s office well in advance of commencement con- cerning the possibility of him con- senting to be that year ' s speaker. In May, the University was notified that the President would come if the Uni- versity would move commencement to Monday instead of Sunday since the President would be in Honolulu on Sunday. Commencement was re- scheduled to Monday. The day before commencement, Pierre Salinger con- tacted Dr. Anderson informing him that President Kennedy wished to make a major foreign policy address at commencement. You ' re going to be swamped with the press, warned Salinger in asking permission for the address. President Kennedy was our guest, said Dr. Anderson, and we con- sented. The president recalled that President Kennedy had arrived at AU looking rested although he had just flown in from Hawaii. I had a wonderful sleep, Dr. Anderson re- membered him as having said. And President Kennedy had added, I hope you will be happy with what I say.

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Dr. Anderson glanced towards the smoke- stacks. Out of the clear blue, he shook his head and said, We have to do something about the color of those smokestacks. I ' ve been thinking about them. We ' ve got to make them blend more with the buildings. I was driving from Minnesota to Washington, said the president, and I stopped in Ohio to see Mr. Beeghly. I asked him to help us out. Beeghly at that time, according to Dr. Anderson, was involved in a legal suit involving several million dollars. After the president told him just how much support he wanted, Beeghly replied that if he won the suit, he would help the university. That suit took ten years, said Dr. Anderson, and on the day he won it, I sent him a telegram, and then I went to see him. When the president saw Beeghly, the industrial- ist asked Dr. Anderson what he could do for him. I told him, recalled the president with a laugh, that I had the plans right there in my pocket. Those plans were for a four-building science complex. The Beeghly Chemistry Building became the first of those four buildings to be built. As we walked in the direction of the main campus, it seemed a good time to ask this man beside me — this builder, this administrator — what kind of man a university president must be. For the first time in our tour the president was silent for a moment as we walked along. Then he stopped, looked at me and said, You have to have patience in this job. If you get discouraged, you don ' t belong in this work. At the beginning, Hurst R. Anderson had no intention of becoming a uni- versity administrator. He was going to practice law, but his legal career came to an abrupt end when he ran out of money and was not able to continue his law studies. He turned to education, teaching philosophy and English. At Allegheny College, he be- came a dean. I was too young to be a dean, said the president matter-of- factly. I was also a little unhappy about being so far removed from the students. This loneliness has followed him into the presidency as well. For here