Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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i' we AA . M . , l I . but '.,., -g ,..A.,,, ...mmistp 4. . .. 1-' . , .2 Sumner Slichter is a nationally known economist and labor relations expert. He headed President Truman's fact-finding committee on the telephone strike last year. JOHN DUNLOP RUPERT EMERSON Associutu l'rol't'ssor of liuonomivs Professor of Government LOUIS I-IARTZ Warburg Professor of Economics Asst. Professor of Social Science Assistant Professor of Govcrnmc GOTTFRIED HABERLER OSCAR HANDLIN SIDNEY BRADSHAW FAY Professor of History, Emeritus Like a Boston Dowager Limiting our inquiry to the Harvard scene, the answer must necessarily be that, in their capacities as social scientistr, the Harvard faculty has done very little. As individual men of high intelligence, superior training, and unusual personal qualities, many of them have made very important contribu- tions both to the country and the University, and these con- tributions should certainly be duly noted. At the same time, the general tone of scholarly output has been respectable and, on the whole, the quality of their pedagogy-given the aban- donment of tutorial instruction and the rise of the super lecture-has been more than adequate. What has been lack- ing has been genuine intellectual creativeness, inquiry and discovery into the true nature of man and his institutions. In a time that cries for new ideas, or at least for a reclarification of old ones, Harvard social scientists have done little. Such strategic failure does not necessarily show up in undergraduate lecture courses, for a Harvard professor like a Boston dowager can live for a long time on his capital if he has to. Perhaps it need not worry the students at Harvard College in the short run falthough some of the more acute of our customers have commented upon it quite openly from time to timelj. In the long run however, it is a serious matter. Through such failings the social scientist reduces himself to the level of the radio commentator-a bit more cultivated perhaps, but also usually much less articulate. . 1 SHELDON GLUECK .RICHARD GOODWIN Professor of Criminology Assistant Professor of Economics PENDLETON HERRING ARTHUR HOLCOMBE nt Lecturer on Government Eaton Professor of Gfwermnont Cltcsigncd, 19473 i18l

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another, as our horizons widen and distances shrink, as our theoretical life expectancies increase, it becomes apparent that something is amiss. It was not an accident that the discovery of atomic energy was followed by its use in twin sperms of indescribable destructiveness over thejapanese islands, it was instead both a symptom and a portent. And it is an ironic commentary on the destiny of modern man that the justifica- tion for this exhibition Qand I think it was a good justification, was that to spare Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have necessi- tated the armies of the United States fighting their way ashore at an infinitely higher cost in terms of lives, suffering, and money, both to ourselves and to our then enemies. The Shortcomings of the Social Scientists The failure of men to manage their own affairs for even to have them managed for themj would seem to account for two great world wars and now presents us with the imminent and probably inevitable prospect ofa third. This failure arises out of the breakdown of human institutions and relations which are the province of the social scientists. Of course, this does not mean that he must bear the full guilt for society's disorganization, any more than Dean Sperry should be held accountable for the decline in attendance at protestant Sunday services. But some embarrassing questions are raised. What have the social scientists been doing? What constructive contributions have they made toward understanding and solv- ing our present difhculties? 11 X A JOHN G. BEEBE-CEN TER SIDNEY S. ALEXANDER In-ctviirvr on l'syc-linlogy Asst. Profvssur of Hl'0ll0llll1'H , Historian Crane Brinton is an authority on the Frey-,gh Revolu. tion. His latest book, From llflmzy Ona, argues we are not yet ready for world government. 5 FZ l g x I SAIYIUEL H. BEER I Nmlllnlfi I r f SH r li c'0W'n'UN'Yll lil'llI'y l.4'i' Prof. uf l'h'nlmll1ii's l'l'nfvssiul' ul llistnry JOHN DONALD BLACK ROBERT BLAKE in . HEINRICH BRUENING HAROLD BURBANK EDWARD CHAMBERLIN Iiititiumr Profirssur of Cove-rnnu-nt Wells Prof. uf l'olil.ii-nl IC:-uiiomy l'i'uft-ssor of I-If-oiminir-s lilgisgfxpglgggylmm' H I STERLING DOW lhisignml Junta HHS . ui son mfr-asm irf.Xl'1'lli'nliig5 11171

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The New Scholasticism What are the causes behind this general failure of the social scientists at Harvard? There is no single, simple ex- planation. The phenomenon is not limited to Cambridge although, I think, its origins may be discovered there as well as at any other institution. At the outset it should be noted that there are varying degrees of failure to be encountered here. The historians, for example, are sustained in their exertions by the rigid dis- ciplines of historical research. These disciplines seem to act as a kind of insurance against the absolute mediocrity of their product, so that in a sense no historian blessed with some GEORGE HOMANS BRUCE CAMPBELL HOPPER flssflvlflll' l'l'Uf NHU1' 'Pl S'N'lUlUl-U' Assoi-late l'rofi-ssor of fi0Yl'l'lllll4'Ili Q- K- M- KLUCKHOHN MORRIS BRYAN LAMBIE H l'l'Hl1'NN0l' Ur. flllllll'Ull l'U1N' l'x'nl't'sHm' of fiUYI'I'lllll0l1ii Dirt-r-Im' of lillibllllll li1'N!'lll'l'll fli-nli-r Dir, of lillfvllll of Rlunia-ipul lh-si-:irq-li CW' WILLIAM LANGER WASSILY LEONTIEF Cooliilgi- l'ruf1-ssor of llistury l'roI'4-asm' of l'lK'llll0llllK'S training and a modicum of conscience can be as bad as a bad political scientist. The economists, too, have their saving advantage in the form of economic theory and here Harvard is fortunate. No other institution in the world has, or probably has ever had, so distinguished a group of economic theorists assembled at any one time. But just as the disciplines ofhis- Jlwl Professor W. L. Crum, economic statistician, left Harvard last year for the University of California. Anthropologist Earnest Hooton wrote Why Mm Bvlmm' Lila' fffllif, Young M411 You Are Nowmzl. He measured hundreds of South Station travelers to develop the Hooton Coach Seat. Gaetano Salvemini, authority on the Italian Risorgimento, was once imprisoned by Mussolini. He retired in 1948.