1932
This column will appear just about the time the election returns are coming in. I know one group who won't be disappointed if Dewey gets the palm: my classmates. I have 120 returns before me on the questionnaire that Don MacPhail sent out, and Truman's name appears as presidential choice on only one (mine). I suppose it's possible that some of the Stassen, Vandenberg and Eisenhower supporters of last June are now in the Tru- man camp, but not many. There is one ardent Wallace rooter (Sam Allen), and one vote each for Justice Douglas, Norman Thomas, Drew Pearson and Don MacPhail. Even con- sidering the backgrounds of the class and their present pursuits this is surprising to me. Some of the comments accompanying the vote are interesting. Al Gerould says he would like to vote for the Democrats, but they have no candidate: "H. T. doesn't count." Sam Allen said that "it is necessary to avoid the suicide of humanity by eliminat- ing war, and to eliminate war it is necessary first to eliminate the causes of war. Mr. Wal- lace has made the greatest contribution to- ward that objective, and I, therefore, am com- mitted to his election." There was quite a write-up of Sam in The Boston Herald of last July 2g, emphasizing his Yankee and Republi- can background, and his distinguished war record. Some of the comments made by our classmates about the Wallace party make me feel that Sam's full exposition of his attitude deserves to be brought to the attention of all of you, and I may put it in a later column when there is less material available. The vox clamantis deserves a hearing (mine, too).
Don and I are still compiling the returns, so I cannot, for this column, give you any composite pictures, except Cor the Republican complexion. A number commented on the absence of a place for your names. That was due to an error by the stencil cutter; as drafted by Don, there was a space. Very few came in anonymously, however.
One or two items stand out. The oldest car seems to be Rog Benezet's 1927 Franklin; the newest, Bob McGuire's 1949 Lincoln. The even 52 times that Frank McGuire reported attending church last year connoted a steadi- ness that, while not unexpected, was worthy of note in contrast to the records most of us made on this score. Chuck Riley has a 16 year old daughter, going to Colby in New London this year. He asks whether she may be the "class baby". The answer, of course, is that '32 decided it must have a male class baby (see cut) and thereby eliminated such girls as Barbara Jeffery, now 15. It is also assumed that the parents of a class baby must have been married after graduation. Chuck was married at Carnival in 1930, and left College tor the wide, wide world at the end of that year. He is now in the coal and oil business in Attleboro, Mass.
Other bits of news: Charles E. Odegaard is now Executive Director of the American Council of Learned Societies and has taken up residence in Washington, D. C Wil-liam E. Cole Jr., has been reassigned from Trieste to Quebec as U.S. Consul AlbertWilliam Levi has published a book entitled General Education in the Social Studies, part of a project by the American Council on Education to cover the field of General Edu- cation. A review in Education News last August indicates that it is a learned and thorough work The San Diego TribuneSun reports that Bob Ryan had a clause added to his contract prohibiting the use of a double in his next fight scenes. If there's anything interesting to say about Bob that does not come from the studio's releases, all of which seem to get to me in a syrupy stream, I wish someone would send it in Dick Cleaves has gone to Tokyo as a member of a textile mission to SCAP, charged with the job of marketing millions of yards of Japanese goods; he is on leave from his own business (textiles and export) and, with family, expects to be away about a year Jay Whitehair has moved to Scarsdale, N. Y., and is manager of procurement and traffic of Standard Brands, Inc. Married before we graduated, he has sons aged 16 and 13 Bob McGuire is a member of the Licensing Committee for Funeral Directors and Era- balmers for the District of Columbia: he has two sons, 10 years and 20 months, respec- tively Ken LaVine was eliminated from the West Side Tennis Club (Forest Hills, N. Y.) spring tournament by the incredible score of 0-6, 11-9, 6-0; looks as though 13 years practicing law in the canyons of N. Y. add nothing to your stamina Over a year ago the Governor of Michigan appointed Tom Lott to be one of the five members of the State Highways Commission charged with the duty of developing harbors of refuge and maritime facilities for small vessels. Last summer he was Captain of the starboard watch aboard the yacht "Escapade" in the Newport to Bermuda race. I wonder how he came out Dave Castleman is practicing law in Hawaii, 20 miles from Honolulu, is married and has a daughter U/2 and "pros- pects, come winter." He is strong for Hawaiian statehood arid "disappointed in the Senate's treatment of our bill some weeks ago." Dick Brooks, who is a cost account- ant in Gloversville, N. Y., married, no chil- dren, writes, "I heartily recommend a golf trip to Hanover for all hands within range. Tell them to look up at the pines, out over the river, swallow their frustration and take another shot at that postage stamp green."
The following report children born within the past year: Frank McGuire, second son, fourth child; Don Allen, second daughter; Bob Fendrich, third daughter; Al Gerould, second daughter; Amby Cram, second son; Ted Monell, fourth son; Joe Bennett, third son; Rog Benezet, son, first child; Joe Robin-son, second son, third child.
Some months ago I described some of Howie Sargeant's work as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. Here are some of Howie's own words on the work of getting Congressional backing for the inter- national information and educational ex- change program and the appropriations to support it:
"Both jobs threw me into daily contact with many of the key leaders of Congress and taught me sometimes the hard way—much more than I ever knew before about the functioning of the legislative branch, its relations to the Executive Branch, and what the daily chores and pressures are for most members of the Congress. It is more fun to look back on with a successful conclusion than it was to go through it. It also taught me that there are great gaps existing in current American political science on the theoretical side, and that there are fertile fields for political scientists of '32 to explore. To cite a couple—the relation of the institution of the presidency to the legislative branch; the role of the Department of State vis-a-vis other de- partments of the Federal Government in days when no important foreign policy can exist without a counterpart domestic* policy or program which is the responsibility of another federal department; the role of the Appropriations Committees of the Congress in terms of the will of the Congress as a whole. (On the latter score, the Smith-Mundt Act was passed by the Senate unanimously and by the House by a 3 to 1 majority, in which the Repub- licans were divided with 120 favoring and about 90 opposing. A major purpose of the Act was to initiate programs of exchange of students and specialists, and of development of cooperative tech- nical and scientific projects with other countries of the world. The House Appropriations Commit- tee refused even to give the request for five million dollars to start such programs a hearing; the Senate gave a hearing, but no funds were recommended by the two appropriations committees.)"
To revert to the election for a moment, those closing words of Howie's show why I am for the Democrats. Congressman Taber and Senator Bridges did some very unfortunate things to the ERP, too, and they are the really representative Republicans. I do not see how Dewey will be able to counteract their influence sufficiently to be assured of effective governmental administration and ex- ecution of his policies.
— That crack of Don's, in the questionnaire, about the "collapse of the Red Sox" was a little premature, wasn't it? But only by about four months.
1932'S CLASS "BABY" in a pose with dad John Swenson in Hanover last spring. Steve was 15 in May—how time does fly—and looks big enough to force the use of quotes around that word "baby."
Secretary, 3909 North sth St., Arlington, Va.
Treasurer, _ 607 Front Street, Hempstead, N. Y.
Memorial Fund Chairman, CHARLES D. DOERR 99 White Plains, Bronxvill, N.Y.
