President Comments on Magazine Proposal
A letter from President Hopkins to Everett H. Hymen '33, editor of The Dartmouth, referring to an editorial which Hymen wrote seconding the ALUMNI MAGAZINE editorial "A Proposal for Leadership," was printed in the sixth issue of the Bulletin, which went out from Hanover under date of November 2. The letter to Hymen, which was quoted in the Bulletin with appreciation for his permission that it be printed, made it clear that President Hopkins had no intention of leaving Dartmouth.
The letter, as quoted in the Bulletin, follows:
"Dear Mr. Hymen: "On my return to Hanover this morning I read the editorial in The ALUMNI MAGAZINE and your kindly comment concerning this. It would be the height of affectation to attempt to disguise the extent to which I am touched by the friendly confidence expressed. I am not willing to withhold from thanking you, even in these hours when my sense of humility is almost oppressive in recognition of the fact that credit is given to me for what is the joint accomplishment of a great group working together for a common end. Among this group I should prominently place TheDartmouth, with its understanding and sympathetic editorial boards working under the direction of men like yourself. It is not only in football that advancement of the ball is made possible only by those who block and clean out for the carrier.
"To make public disavowal of desire for public office would, I fear, seem to bespeak desire. On the other hand, I would not for anything seem to underestimate the distinction or honor of public service. As far as public duty is concerned, however, I believe that I am meeting the demands of this as definitely in remaining in the educational field as I could meet it by any transfer of my personal or official interests.
"Therefore, for your personal information in regard to what I believe to be my innermost state of mind and for your guidance in any follow-up of the editorials you may think desirable, I would like you to know the fact that I have no desires or aspirations beyond rendering the best service possible to Dartmouth and making its influence as potent as may be for producing intelligent leaders and discriminating followers. This effort I think to be as important as any I could render in any other field. Certainly for me it is a far more agreeable form of effort than any other I could make, so long as I can feel that I am making my contribution to Dartmouth's prestige. These things I have said occasionally in the past, when other opportunities have seemed available, and these I should feel must determine my course of action again were a specific question to be raised.
"If, in what seems to be the necessity of discussing the matter at all, I may hide under flippancy my embarrassment in regard to suggestions of my seeking public office, I feel much as Gelett Burgess did in his rime on the purple cow, 'I'd rather see than be one.'
"Appreciatively and very sincerely, " (Signed) Ernest M. Hopkins."
