Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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The Young Republican Club still has Faith in the Grand Old Party Believing that a college political organization need not necessarily have its feet firmly planted in the air, a planning committee including Sturtevant Hobbs '46 and presided over by William A. Rusher 3-L founded the Young Republican Club in November, 1947. Despite its youth on the Harvard scene and its practice of charging dues to discourage the sunshine patriots and professional joiners, the Club's membership has grown rapidly. Town Meetings Groundwork for the Republican Club was laid by the Republican Open Forum, instituted at Harvard in the fall of 1947, also by Rusher. The basic idea was that of GOP party Sturtevant Hobbs '46 flepj escorts Massachusetts' ex-Lt. Gov. Arthur W. Coolidge to a Republican Open Forum. leaders Saltonstall, Stassen, Baldwin, and Morse, and many such forums were organized on campuses and in cities through- out the country. Such prominent statesmen as Republican Congressman Christian A. Herter, head of the Congressional Committee to survey European reconstruction and recovery needs, addressed the Harvard group on topics ranging from foreign policy to such domestic problems as regulation of in- dustry and labor and control of the Communist menace. One function of the Open Forum was to poll audience reaction after each lively town meeting type discussion on a topic of national interest, the results of the balloting being sent to central head- quarters in Washington to assist in guiding Republican policy makers. 12831- President Bill Rusher Qrwzterj plans campaign strategy. Law School men have taken a leading part in HYRC. Mock Convention In answer to the need for more direct support of Re- publican principles than could be afforded by discussion groups alone, the Young Republican Club was organized. Besides its frequent open meetings, with prominent GOP guest speakers such as Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Arthur W. Coolidge, the Club circulates a bi-weekly newsletter on its activities and political developments in general. Pledged to action, the Young Republicans engaged in numerous verbal skirmishes with political opponents at Harvard and conducted a vociferous mock nomination convention, which resulted in the nomination of Senator Vandenberg. As election time drew near, the Club set up an information service supplying the details of residence and registration requirements and absentee voting privileges. Results of the 1948 voting somewhat dampened GOP ardor at Harvard as well as elsewhere, but Young Republican Club strategists point out that Harvard student sentiment on the eve of election indicated an overwhelming 2-1 Republican majority, and that the election returns merely proved, there- fore, that there aren't enough HYRC's. Bob Means '46 politicking for Stassen at the Republican Club's mock convention. Vandenberg was the winner.

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QSM fb .'i i3S vw' xii' awafioo The Liberal Union on the picket line. Seven short years of Harvard history, not unmarred by periods of turbulent factional strife, have seen the Liberal Union outlast its growing pains and emerge as one of the most vigorous and enterprising organizations on the College scene. Though not properly a political group, the HLU believes that liberal principles must not be confined to parlor discussions over the coffee-cups, but carried into sincere and effective action in the press, at the polls, and in everyday social and economic life. If small in numbers, HLU members have often demonstrated energy and leadership sufficient to produce impressive results. The original Liberal Union, formed in 1941 out of dissatisfaction with the national youth movements, died a natural death in 1942. Reviving two years later, the new HLU joined the U. S. Student Assembly and later the Students for Democratic Action, deciding after some discussion to take a vigilant stand against the possibility of Communist influence within the Liberal Union. The Anti-Communist sentiment carried William H. Bozman '46 to the Presidency in 1946. Bans and Discrimination Among HLU activities which '46 will remember was a test case violation of the City ban on sales of the book Strange Fruit. Though the case soon sank out of sight in the legal quagmire, attendant publicity provoked much criticism and discussion of the advisability of Boston's famous bans on 1943-44. Back Rouujohn B. Hall '47, Alfredj. Pugliese '47, David Kligler '47, Edwin M. Davidson '45. Thin! Row: Reuben P. Hersh '47,james G. Trager,Jr. '46, Donald C. Borg '47, Monroe S. Singer '47, Abraham P. Goldblum '46, Saul L. Sherman '47, Henry U. Grunebaum '47. Second Row: Herbert I. David '47, Edgar M. Rubin '47, Don S. Willner '47 fPre.fit!entD, Frank X. Murphy '47 Uerretnryj, Irwin Leff '47 QTrea.turerD, Norman J. Golden '46, Front Rouxjohn Wermer '47, Henry Gluck '47, Bernardj. Wolfson '47, George S. Koch,jr. '48 1947-48. Bark Row: Richard M. Hays '49, Allen H. Barton '45, Geoffrey W. White '48, Warrenj. Greene '46, Dwaine W. Dilts '50, Front Row: Robert A. Levine '50, Eugene V. Dalgin '45, Frederic D. Houghteling '50 QPrc'ridentj, William H. Bozman '46, Don S. Willner '47. The Liberal Union Believes in Vigorous Political Action so-called immoral literature. A more successful local campaign was the drive inthe spring of 1947 against anti-negro dis- crimination in the local nitery, Club 100. Enlisting Crimson and student support, the Liberal Union threw picket lines about the offending tavern and forced an agreement from the management to abandon their previous discriminatory policies. The HLU's original small news bulletin has given place recently to the Student Progrmive, a magazine printing liberal student commentary from all over the nation. The HLU sponsors numerous forums on political and economic topics, works for liberal candidates in Congressional and local political campaigns, and co-operates with labor unions in opposing anti-labor legislation. For the scoffers who feel that impassioned student liberals are merely tilting at windmills, the HLU offers a striking answer in its election year campaign. After the smoke had cleared on November 2, 1948, Liberal Union members could point with pride to the attainment of all three of their major objectives: the re-election of President Truman, the election of Governor Dever, and the defeat of the Massachu- setts restrictive referenda on labor. 1aYf1 1' - . xxfu I I V

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Mt. Washington snows are favorite practice slopes for Ski Club members. Lack of Practice Hampers the Ski Club in lntercollegiate Meets Skiing at Harvard has always been hampered by the dearth of suitable nearby slopes, especially for jumping and cross-country work, and, until recently, by the lack of official recognition for the Ski Team. The nucleus of the Club, its most expert skiers, form the Ski Team and represent Harvard in intercollegiate competition. The 1943-44 season was the last in which the wartime Club could enter a Team in many intercollegiate meets. Even with the aid of '46 skiers George Shedd and john E. Thayer, the lack of practice told against Harvard in the Lake Placid and Dartmouth meets, but Team members did capture first, third, and fourth places in the A.M. C. Wildcat race, and competed in the Gibson Trophy race. Despite the difficulties of competition, undergraduate interest in skiing continued during the war. The Club's 27-bunk cabin in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire, con- structed by the members on land given in 1939 by Harvard's noted mountaineer Bradford Washburn remained open. Both undergraduate skiers and returning veterans fastened their skis to their auto ski racks and drove up on occasional winter week ends, or spent summer days and fall week ends clearing brush, repairing and enlarging the cabin, and building up the community woodpile. The 1946-47 season saw the Ski Club's membership begin to increase again to its present size of over seventy. Under the capable leadership of the next two years, including Secretary George Heller '46, the Club returned to intercol- legiate competition and sponsored several meets of its own- with Dartmouth, with Yale and Amherst, and the Harvard midwinter Intercollegiate International at Bromley, and an increased program is planned for the future. The Crimson Yachtsmen Won a First Place in the 1948 Olympics Faced by the narrow, meandering Charles River, the casual visitor to Cambridge would not suspect Harvard of being a great nautical power among American colleges. Such has, however, been the fact ever since the founding of the Harvard Yacht Club in 1887 and Harvard supremacy reached its zenith during '46 members' stay at College. Harvard members controlled the Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Associa- tion, Dave Noyes '44 and George O'Day '45 held the presi- dency successively in 1943 and 1944, with O'Day and Douglas Danner '46 successive chairmen of the MacMillan Cup. Among the many honors falling to Harvard yachtsmen were the Greater Boston championship for four straight years, the Oberg Trophy for three, and the Wood, Danmark, and Schell Trophies. A Dinghy Fleet During the stress of wartime it was only these few experts who kept Harvard's name before the sailing world. Of Club equipment and finances there were none, and of mem- bers there were few. Paul van Buren '46, Commodore of the Club in 1945, and Owen C. Torrey '47 the following year began to widen Club membership again, seeking to attract inexperi- enced as well as seasoned yachtsmen and to provide a dinghy fleet for members not sailing racing craft of their own. Har- vard's name continues to appear among the winners in im- portant races-Torrey and Hilary H. Smart '47 carried off the Intercollegiate Star Class Championship two years running, and Smart achieved the greatest individual honor a yachtsman can attain in the summer of 1948, when he and his father, racing for the United States in Olympic competition, won the Star Class yachting event at Torquay, England. Hilary Smart '47 friglatj and his father Paul H. Smart '14, con- gratulate each other on winning the Star Class Olympic yachting championship off Torquay, England, August 6, 1948 in their boat, the Hilarius. 'iv