A President Emeritus Leads a Busy Life
To THE LONG and diversified list of anniversaries which he has observed during his half-century of association with Dartmouth College, Ernest Martin Hopkins '01 added a new milestone on November 1. On that date he completed his first year as President Emeritus of the College.
That first year has found President Hopkins assiduously putting into practice his belief that the stage should be left clear for Dartmouth's new leader. With characteristic thoughtfulness and sincerity, he has held to his place in the wings; and although nothing definite can be proved, he has by strange coincidence been out of town or otherwise engaged at the time of those traditional occasions of the College when his presence would have been the perfect additional touch. The many Hanover friends of Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins see them frequently, however, as members of the community, and the alumni of the College need none of the former presidential activities in order to remember them warmly and constantly. It is primarily to meet the wishes of thousands of its alumni readers that the MAGAZINE presents this pictorial report and tries to show some of the things that a President Emeritus does on a typical busy day.
Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins are comfortably settled in their attractive new home at 29 Rope Ferry Road, where they plan to remain for the winter instead of making their usual southern trip. The summer and early fall were spent at their cottage on the Maine coast, and the Hopkins plan to continue to divide their time between their two favorite spots, Hanover and Manset.
As these pictures indicate, a President Emeritus leads a pretty busy life, and if it weren't for the joyous realization that he now has no speeches to make, Mr. Hopkins might find it hard to remember that he is out of presidential harness. When the MAGAZINE first broached the subject of this pictorial report, Mr. Hopkins laughingly suggested that we start off with two pictures showing him thumbing his nose at the alarm clock and then having his breakfast in bed. The Hopkins, we are happy to report, have no alarm clock; and the MAGAZINE, being an honest journal, would never give its readers any pictures so far from reality. Mr. Hopkins puts in a full and busy day. He still carries on a heavy volume of correspondence (much of which he turns out himself on his portable typewriter), keeps abreast of national and world affairs as much as ever, works in both his home study and his Baker Library office, has a goodly number of callers, keeps an eye on matters domestic, and travels to New York, Bos ton and other cities for directors' meetings of the six companies with which he is still associated or for other outside activities such as the World Trade Foundation of America, of which he is honorary chairman. For recreation he has been playing some golf, and of an evening, when he and Mrs. Hopkins are not entertaining, he continues his heavy reading schedule or listens to favorite radio programs.
Until recently Mr. Hopkins was cochairman of the World Trade Foundation of America and was busily absorbed in the educational projects designed to interest and inform the American people of their stake in world trade. One of the most interesting of these projects was a ten-week educational experiment conducted in New Brunswick, N. J., which clearly swung that community away from economic isolationism to support for an international trade policy by the United States. The work of the Foundation promised to occupy Mr. Hopkins too fully, however, and as honorary chairman he now plays a less active role.
EDUCATIONAL FILMS A PRIME INTEREST
His greatest outside interest at the present time is the educational work of Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, of which he is a director along with President Hutchins of Chicago and other prominent men. In addition to the extensive library of classroom films which it produces and distributes, Encyclopaedia Britannica Films is now engaged in an adult-education forum series on citizenship, designed "to assist community groups interested in the study and discussion of present, vital problems of American life." Each forum is opened by the viewing of films, and the discussion leader, aided by an EBF manual and outline for that specific topic, then takes over and stimulates discussion of all sides of the issue. Mr. Hopkins is enthusiastic about the possibilities which these forums have in the realm of adult education and citizenship, and he has long been interested in classroom films in general, having been one of the first ranking educators to support visual aids in college work.
In addition to Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc., the companies in which Mr. Hopkins is still an active director include the Boston and Maine Railroad, the National Life Insurance Company of Montpelier, Vt., the Continental Can Company of New York, the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, and the Rumford Press of Concord, N. H. He also is a trustee of the Brown Company of Berlin, N. H.
With so many educational and industrial interests beyond Hanover, and with a full program always awaiting him right at home, Mr. Hopkins so far has had little chance of experiencing that "retired" feeling. Bit by bit he is trying to cut down his busy schedule and simplify the life of President Emeritus. Meanwhile he undoubtedly echoes the sentiments of Mrs. Hopkins, who said, "Retirement doesn't seem to have deprived us of plenty of things in which to be interested."
COMFORTABLY AND SPORTILY ATTIRED for a Hanover fall day, President Emeritus Hopkins poses in the hallway of his home on Rope Ferry Road. Shown in the background is the painting of the Dartmouth campus by Paul Sample '20 which the undergraduates of the College presented to Mr. Hopkins last year on the eve of his retirement and which he greatly prizes.
A VISIT FROM AN ALUMNUS is always a pleasant interlude for Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins, shown chatting in their living room with Ford H. Whelden '25 of Detroit, former member of the Dartmouth Alumni Council, who spent several days in Hanover in November. A portrait of daughter Ann as a young girl can be seen.
TWO PARTS OF A FULL DAY. Left, Mr. Hopkins checks the situation over with Charlie Kendall, who looks after the grounds and heating. Right, he dictates in his Library study to Miss Dorothy Cleaveland. Secretary to the President for many years, who now assists President Dickey. The Trustees made special provision that Mr. Hopkins should have secretarial help whenever he needed it.
TWO STUDY SCENES at home (right) show Mr. Hopkins, above, tackling a sizable stack of mail which the postman dejivered that morning; and, below, catching up in some serious reading a little later in the day. Mr. Hopkins' desk is the one he used in the President's House for many years and Was a retirement gift from administrative officers, who knew how fond of it he had become.
A FACULTY CHAT with his long-time friend. Prof. Leon Burr Richardson '00, College historian, takes place on the Baker Library steps as Mr. Hopkins is on his way to his study in the Paul Room. Mr. Hopkins keeps in touch with many of his faculty friends and enjoys talks like this when he meets them.
