Washington and Lee University - Calyx Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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Upon Lee ' s death his son, General George Washington Custis Lee, was called from a professorship at V. M. L to succeed his father. After twenty-seven years of dis- tinguished service Custis Lee retired in 1897 and Wil- liam Lyne Wilson, former postmaster-general of the United States, was made president. He died in office after three brief years, and the trustees chose to succeed h ' m George Hutcheson Denny, professor of Latin in the University, who bent his efforts towards the increase of endowment and student body. His conspicuous suc- cess in these endeavors brought him to the attention of trustees of the nascent LJniversitv of Alabama, who called him to the presidency of that institution. His successor was Henry Louis Smith, member of a distin- guished Southern fami ' y, who left the presidency of Davidson College to come to Lexington. In the seven- teen years he guided the University ' s destinies, he proved a remarkable scholar and educator with a continuing insistence upon high standards of academic performance. On December 31, 1928, Dr. Smith retired from the presidency, and for over a year Robert H. Ti ' cker, dean of the University, was acting president. His service in that transition period was typical of the splendid work the Tucker and Campbell families have performed for the University. Henry St. George Tucker had served as acting president in 1900, and John L. and Henry D. Campbell had jointly fulfilled a similar office in 1911. Samuel L. Campbell, their great-great-grandfather, was acting president from 1796 to 1798, between the Gra- ham and Baxter administration. After considering a large number of possible successors to Dr. Smith the trustees of the University in 1930 chose Francis Pendleton Gaines, then president of Wake Forest College, for the office. Today, after a seven-year tenure of that office, Dr. Gaines is regarded as one of the outstanding college presidents of the country. For the first time in its nearly 200 years of existence the University is developing the plant and approaching the endowment necessary for full realization of its possi- bilities. Under Dr. Gaines ' administration the schools, departments, and courses of the University have been integrated and a ba ' anced curriculum has been achieved. In years to come there are doubtless other ideals to be attained, but those familiar with him and his work are convinced there is no abler man to secure their realiza- tion than Francis Pendleton Gaines.

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yiaAhnicjtcn and J eeA jl tcMAeni . . . MEN WHO HAVE SHAPED OUR DESTINY i IN the course of its corporate history, Washington Y and Lee has had twelve presidents, twelve men of widely disparate antecedents but singularly unified aim. One of them came to Washington College after serving as commander of the Confederate armies in the Civil War. Another had sat in the cabinet of the United States. Others were chosen from the presiden- cies of other colleges, or from the faculty of the Uni- versity itself. Yet whatever their previous environment or profession, they have proven men of fine character, broad educational philosophy, and whole-hearted devo- tion to Washington and Lee. Of the seven principals of Augusta Academy and Lib- erty Hall prior to its incorporation, little is known to- day except the name. Beginning with its incorporation by act of the Virginia legislature in 1782, however. Liberty Hall Academy was administered by the Rev- erend William Graham, who served fourteen years. After graduation from Princeton, Graham came to Lib- erty Hall in 1776, bringing with him the carefully- recorded notes taken in his classes at Nassua Hall as a model for the Academy ' s courses. In 1796 he resigned to enter the Presbyterian ministry, and after a two-year inter-regnum, the trustees elected as president George Addison Baxter. This alumnus of Liberty Hall served until 1829, when he resigned to devote his declining years to the teaching of theology at the Union The- ological Seminary, in Richmond. In 1830 Louis Marshall, brother of John Marshall, and a native of Kentucky, assumed the presidency, bringing with him an advanced educational theory embodying features since adopted by various progressive institutions in this country. The innovations proved too advanced for the times, and Marshall gave up in 1834, to be suc- ceeded by Henry Vethake. Dr. Vethake, a native of British Guiana, found administrative work less to his taste than teaching and two years later resigned to accept a professorship at the University of Pennsylvania, where he later became provost. The same year Dr. Henry Ruffner, one of the greatest men in the history of the University, was inaugurated president. He served the college for twelve years and among other intelligent services began a history of the institution, today a valuable source of information. Ruff- ner was succeeded upon his resignation in 1848 by George Junkin, another remarkable personality. Dr. Junkin was a native of Pennsylvania, founder of Miami University and Lafayette College, and like his predeces- sor was opposed to the institution of slavery. An in- creasing divergence of sympathy between the president and the students over the issue of secession came to a climax in 1861, when the flag of the seceding state of South Carolina was raised by a group of students on the college flag staff. The incident was repeated, and before dusk Dr. Junkin was driving out of Lex- ington towards Philadelphia, never to return. Never in its history had Washington College been more destitute or forlorn than it was at the close of Civil War hostilities. Not only did it lack equipment, endowment, president, and part of its faculty, but students were few in the impoverished South. Those professors who re- mamed, however, had sufficient faith in the school to urge Robert E. Lee to accept its presidency. In the renascence which followed students hastened from the North as well as the South, endowment was trebled, and Washington College, with 400 students, became one of the significant schools of the nation. George AoDtsoN Baxter Louis Marshall Sdho%K,lu by Cha,h WiUon PreU Henry Vethake

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emotiai4 WILTON WADE SAMPLE Class of 1937 ROBERT JOSEPH SflTT Class of 193 8 WILLIAM FREDERICK LATUS Class of 1939 JOHN ADAM McNEIL Instructor