Class of 1937
Hi Alumni! Di-ja-have a good summer? I'm in the middle of mine now and won't be able to read my mail until the middle of September—hence all of this is "a capello," as A 1 Bryant and his glee club of the morning of June 14 might put it. Let's not forget to have them sing at the "ferocious fifth" (remember the boys of the "tremendous twentieth").
None of us are superstitious, but it must have been a lucky omen on "the fourteenth" when the rain stayed just long enough to hold us in the Chapel for an extra half hour and so give us a taste of class unity which will grow from now on. Dartmouth first, of course, but we can best be loyal to her by sticking up for '37.
On a certain week-end three months ago it did not take a very keen observer to notice that many of the seniors, as they left Hanover, looked back along the street as though perhaps they would never see her again—at least not in the way that they had learned to know her. We will never again be undergraduates but there are ahead of us many happy meetings back on the campus. Some may have returned during the summer and probably were reassured that Dartmouth is still Dartmouth —there doesn't seem to be much change when one cares very much for something.
One job is done; a four year enterprise whose influence will always be felt. Each of us in the class of '37, however, must really begin all over again with a new start. Some may have done better than others during the last half decade but there are few who can rest successfully on past laurels. The next five years are a big part of the story. I wonder what we are going; to see at our first big reunion?
A lot of the fellows are going into the professions, law and medicine; some will be teachers; and I understand that more than thirty are expected back for a second year at Tuck School.
Before this rambling wreck goes too far it might be well to give you gentlemen some idea of the plans for the next five years.
They are very simple: You and I both, write letters and I distort all the news, which is received. Each month a very dull article is manufactured from this hodgepodge and I hope all will want to tell me how bad it is because then there will be more material for next month.
No one will want to read month after month about the activities of the boys in only one or two sections. No partiality will be shown in writing the articles but if news doesn't come in it will be rather difficult.
A close account of letters received will be kept and when the class begins to fall into natural geographical groups we can see which part is falling behind. The graduate schools will undoubtedly serve as further centers for the class and it is hoped that the men in them will let us know what they are doing. The whole plan would be greatly improved if a few men in each school and in each state would feel themselves responsible to keep up their end of things. There won't be much labor attached to such a response, just a few letters now and then with perhaps a sectional dinner to arrange for during the year.
Where the phrase "sectional dinner" has been used there has been the thought that the Class of '37 might have annual or bi-annual get-togethers all over the country at the various central points. They might develop into miniature "Dartmouth Nights"—nothing could be finer to work for.
The groups would be smaller but more intimate as most of us know more men in our own class than we do in all the rest of the Dartmouth Family. All this is only in the form of a suggestion and I would be very happy to hear what you think of it.
College is mostly behind us but we continue as students—our studies are different and our methods are mostly new for us. Some were idealists but will soon be pessimists; others have merely tempered their ideals; while there are many who won't know for a long time to come just what they are. Many of the things that we learn during the past four years seem already to be contradicted as we meet new people and see new things. Much salt needs to be sprinkled about as we go through the world—there are so many influences that affect peoples' thinking.
How many of you can honestly say that your ideas of three months ago have remained completely the same? It makes a big difference when one is really beginning his life's work. The new contacts and the new experiences are looked at in another light. Some of you have spent the summer traveling, either in America or abroad, and have been able to see and to hear for yourself what is going on. Some perhaps have worked in places and in fields that are strange to the majority of the people. Our homes are scattered throughout thirty states and four or five countries—quite a comparison to a year ago when we all lived and worked in one little town up in New England.
Perhaps we tended to narrow our outlook and at times thought only of Dartmouth and never of her place in the very large world. Now we are "Dartmouth Men" outside of Hanover and our views must broaden accordingly. Let's not hesitate to use this chance each month to discuss the ever vital world problems of government, medicine, and science. After three months out of school what do you think of dictatorships, infantile paralysis, and the use of helium in the zeppelin "Adolf Hitler?"
For four years we talked and associated with educated people. The great majority of the class had a pretty fair idea where their next meal was coming from and also when it was coming—some had to work for their board, either directly or indirectly, but the fact was then, and still is, that most of us know nothing, except what we are told or what we read, about how 90% of the people live, or even about what they believe.
Hanover is a secluded spot and we were able to spend most of our time with our friends and with our work, unaffected largely by what went on outside.
It's somewhat different now—we are a very few among millions and are forced more and more to look out for ourselves. Our background is the same, our futures and our experiences will be varied. Thus the outlook seems rich and fruitful for this one means of contact that will remain a certainty as long as there is someone living to put it together.
We all have our beliefs and we all have our ears. Why not make a habit at least once a month of sharing our knowledge, whether personal or public, political or economic, professional or otherwise?
"Nuff said—you know the address."
Secretary, 10314 South Hoyne Ave., Chicago
1937 CLASS LETTER
