Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

Page 11 text:

D A Y . . . Uzree year in rcfrvspecf HE history of an average class at Harvard has been in the past a studious compilation of events both serious and amusing, so contrived that the alumnus, on rereading the Album, could indulge in the relaxation of nos- talgia and reminiscence. In that time, the writer was faced with the problem of combining the best elements of the historian and the raconteur in such proportion that what to him was the immediate past must somehow be sub- limated into a prose of flavor and association. The Classes of 1943 and 1944, however, are not average ones. Entering with the usual proportion of minds and dullards, of Easterns and Westerners, they have been broken in mid-shaft, to peter out into three graduations and a mixture of three or perhaps four classes. They are war-conscious classes that entered under the tired optimism of Archibald MacI.eish and are now leaving for immediate participation in the conflict itself. In the future, we will want to know more of our early reactions to the war, of the changes it brought about throughout the college, and-most important-of the changes it brought about in our own lives at Harvard and in our ideas and attitudes. Indeed, these classes can only be conceived against a background of war. Even the traditions which every previous class had held were being subtly readjusted at the very moment we were to adopt them, changing without our realizing it, never again to be the same. When we mention a dance in Novem- ber 1939, we must realize that as the dance took place, captured Polish prisoners were being shot. This does not mean that we were on the offbeat of a burning Rome or that we were callously unaware of the vast conflict ravaging both Europe and Asia, it meant that the same conflict was altering the foundations of the life we ourselves had always known before. Our traditions were in transit. The 301st Freshman class entered as Hitler completed the sack of Poland. The first week was not oriented towards the warg for it had been a week of sizing-up roommates, calibrating the eating places about the Square, and of slowly realizing how vast and complex was the heretofore simple concept of the Harvard man. But the week ended on an abruptly different note. After the bewilderment of registration, the class had assembled in the Union to test their board for the first time and to hear the inevitable assort- ment of welcoming speeches. They were to go home to their still unfamiliar rooms, filled with a mixture of fear and excitement that Archibald MacLeish's Freshman address was to inspire in them. Those of you who will be alive Hve, seven, or ten years from now will have a task of reconstruction, the labor of creating a world in which men can live together. Then, in the same note . . . Your class has a prototype, the Class of 1918. That generation, my generation, believed that the future was the war and there was no future after

Page 10 text:

I lf, 5 ,-Jv..r,qp' 'Q ff., MT .., , , . .51 M. ,,'. U J, 3, , N ,h -V ,,,,,.-v A f 7 . .V -. 4' 5 : I, I bl Y N ,L .gf M,-wigs-8,3 C ' in , Q, 51541, Q A ,TE ,' ,' If I 1 J . 9- K U I v,55. ,A 1, Y ' 444. ai +1 4 an ,- , - ' fi. f 1- ' f 1 .. 'fr ,F 'fwlyxfif ' 'I ' ' - ' ' W fx 'ff '. ' I . - ,. A' , f- '-' 74? if '-' 4 ' 3,1 ' I 0' if , , l-' 1- . L ii , ' ws -ff Q' .A fff ff . W' fy , , ' ' 1 f ' up ' - n I - Q Q C fl U M,-figs: ' ,fn wilt., A Q - W k sg f ' 4 pgs., ., ' A ' 41 . ' Q ,--5 ' :M- X 2' ' W' ,El-jgitfj 'P' 65 'w if Q 'fi A' wg., ' , . ,. P- as -V , ' -4' ff J . ,fha J S -,Q f fl h W ' :V 4 ,. Ji I ,kt f ff. U 4 ' A' ff 1f:f:-21221: Q ' ,-f1fi:.' ' Q- , ., 1 - v JM' A 51 ii Y W 4 an - .. FA ff' N -1. 1 1 V l . A 1- g . , .. - ,,-ing' , V- ,. I, A y .A - - S , -4. lp , S I 6 gpg-v,ia?, ' .A W HA F ' in.- ,I 1 J -N wr ' , M, J,-1: X I V 1, , ., my 'f ,Y Q f,,L. 4, y jp' rpg? 4:31, 11 l 5 . W , 5 'T . r, 1, v, J ,. , 9 ,gg Q ' ffidq, -IQ' ' 1. jf: 1 ,rw - - an 'n X-fax .4 Lf, , A-In v 0 f- in . Q1 5 if A Q E QQ my-b -f G,-flv V L 'fl . it , J b.,,,fkQQ ' ' ' , - ' Ap A pf- 'Q ff' . , Q ' f , Q.- ,,:,1 .1 ,7 r may .ff - ' -f - - :- , ' .. ' ' ' - . ,f fx' .Q sf A. -,fo-f.y,. if Y V-.W ff .1 'Q ' 4 1- . -A 12,1 J , W 'Szx I .4 ' ,, I ' --' -. , Ki - ' XD' . ,M .-.H ,f ,, A- , v , sf Pi., - 54- ' ff 42'-' XV: ' 1-T'-ff? F .1 Q 4 ,, I f ' ' 'gkkm :4 , ,gy J1 kv,,, 1 - -:gf - sk Y Yeh' 4 .i'.1,.Q,i iff, X t jx .L if-Ajmxz L-,J A n .f 1 'Q ' . x -e , ' .A ,f ' ' 4 I fl.. , 4 ' - ,. 14' . ' J: - , .' 1'3 ' -' ff- Arias? Q ,':. , ,'my elif Q' I ,X A , 4 Vf' 'f-ff ' L' ' ,. ' 'F 3 '- -' If ' , .M 5 FF ,4 .-q ,'. If' amy rf' vu ' ws A I. P 4 . 25:13. .T . rig F, ,ap . U- ' Ig- :gm r ' '- E .. 1 .H ' A' V'-.ry -. N :Ji- I 5 . ' 4 U 4 A. yr in 'M 1 . ' r at lt' ' I . 1 If .naw A - N ff , 1 . 21- . A , . .1 ' f4L '1 ' A V 1- X :A. , i - ,ix ' C . , I 5 C -an ' M . 2 , ..,-:A V fv A - ' ' ' ,,A.I1 j'i.,f E.4 V -f ' W 4 ,I 1 ,pu -..T, -s.. , . ,,.V,.d! -' ' fbi. Q .1526 ,gc 5 , ' vga- -' av- ,,...,,-,rx - pn. 0 r ..,,,d' --L, if Ph-bg? .,., . ,Vw- e , snuff? V- W-ff' ,V 'V ' Q -wifiw - ' - T Xia.

Page 12 text:

fwfrzrrarri Zcfiwfrfiy . Q. the war .... Now we do not see the war as a Hnality. The last war was not an end, but a beginning. In the same issue of the Crimron that printed this speech appeared an editorial which was to set the tone for the news- paper all through the fall and winter. We must convince ourselves now that no war is a holy war, that we might be heading for another great double-cross .... Freshmen met with their advisers, decided upon their courses, attended their first classes, and the year really began. Registration statistics had shown that the majority of '43 planned to be doctors, lawyers or teachers. These new students were planning for peace, and yet, the enrollment in Military Science I was higher than ever before. In the second week Freshmen heard much about the highly complex problems involved in the tutoring and tenure question, but these problems as yet meant little to them. What concerned them more were the friendships that they were making each day and the Harvard-Radcliffe Phillips Brooks House tea that was fast approaching. As the weeks fluttered by, they went to the football games, worried about the absence of concerted cheering, read that a Professor Sorokin had stated that a long war would mean the end of Europe for decades. And while discussion over the repeal of the Arms Embargo Act seethed in Congress, the .Union Committee was selected. As November came, three-quarters of the undergradu- ates voted that they were in favor of non-intervention. Then, when the first hour examinations were safely passed, relaxing Freshmen were distracted from the troubles of the classroom by the heated argument raging over the college administrations refusing to allow Earl Browder to speak here. The Crimron rebuked the administration for its de- cision, and for several days, letters and editorials, sometimes vituperative, sometimes coldly analytical, were written pro and con. Meanwhile, as lkzyjfazire Browder wore itself out, occasional editorials appeared emphasizing the necessity of remaining at peace, but these were careful, dispassionate Business School officers, loaded down with packs and assorted equipment, climb into one of their trucks to prepare for maneuvers. 'l12l'