Hopkins Anniversary Alumni Fund Campaign
Set apart from its twenty-six predecessors by its dedication to President Hopkins upon the 25th anniversary of his administration and by its promise of creating Fund history, the 1941 Alumni Fund campaign officially opened late in April with the mailing to all alumni of the Fund Committee's first appeal. This opening mailing piece was a testimonial booklet to President Hopkins, given over mostly to tributes from national leaders, among whom were President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Hull, Wendell Willkie, William S. Knudsen, John D. Rockefeller Jr., James Rowland Angell, Walter S. Gifford, Robert Sherwood, President Harold W. Dodds of Princeton, Lewis Douglas, Kenneth Roberts, President Ray Lyman Wilbur of Stanford, Claude Fuess, and Arthur Hays Sulzberger.
The decision to make this year's Alumni Fund a tribute to President Hopkins grew out of alumni proposals that a special anniversary fund be raised among Dartmouth and non-Dartmouth men. After careful consideration at meetings in Boston and New York it was decided not to seek separate capital gifts but to make the 1941 Alumni Fund campaign the Ernest Martin Hopkins 25th Anniversary Campaign of the Alumni Fund and to invite non-alumni friends of the College, including fathers of undergraduates and younger alumni, to participate in the tribute to President Hopkins.
In addition to the participation of Dartmouth friends outside the alumni body, this year's campaign will deviate from usual Fund procedure by dropping the no-pledge practice and giving alumni the option of pledging supplementary gifts to be paid before November 1. With no specific objectives set and "the sky as the limit," the efforts of class agents will be directed primarily to the increase of individual gifts. In view of the unusual character of this year's campaign and the expectation that alumni will want to make special gifts to the Anniversary Fund, the contributions of individual alumni will not be considered as setting a precedent for future Fund gifts. The Fund Committee is emphasizing the fact that everything about the Hopkins Campaign sets it apart from the campaigns which have preceded it and which will follow. As another deviation, the entire total received this year will be turned over to President Hopkins for such uses as he feels most vital to the College at this time.
The 1941 campaign is being directed for the Alumni Council by Harvey P. Hood II '18 of Boston, chairman; Albert I. Dickerson '30 of Hanover, executive secretary; and Parker F. Soule Jr. '31 of Hanover, Alumni Fund associate. Members of the Fund Committee of the Alumni Council are Prof. Francis L. Childs '06 of Hanover; Edward E. Martin '19 of New York; J. William Embree Jr. '21 of Chicago; and Thomas B. Curtis '32 of St. Louis.
To set the stage for the campaign, dinners for class agents and their assistants were held at Boston on April 3, New York on April 4, and Chicago on April 9. President Hopkins spoke at the first two dinners, along with Mr. Hood and Mr. Dickerson, who were the principal speakers at the Chicago meeting. The special character of the 1941 campaign was reflected in the enthusiasm of these gatherings, presaging the unprecedented results which the Fund Committee feels will be forthcoming as a fitting tribute to President Hopkins.
