The 1951 Commencement
A MONC American colleges of pre-Revo-lutionary origin, Dartmouth alone J- has continued its educational work without interruption since the time of its founding, sending out a graduating class every year since the first group of four men received degrees in 1771. This year, on Sunday, June 17, 523 black-gowned seniors filed across the stone platform of the Bema to receive degrees and become the 181 st consecutive class to leave Dartmouth's halls and take up its share of the world's work.
The program for the Commencement weekend followed the pattern that has become traditional -in recent years—even to the extent of having to cope with threatening weather. Commencements do vary, however, in their overtones and in their general spirit, and this year's weekend was judged especially successful by those in Hanover who have some basis for comparison. Like the graduation program of 1950, the exercises this year had a family warmth that blended with the customary color and ceremony, and with the June beauty of Hanover, to make the weekend memorable for the men of 1951 and for their parents and guests. For the final exercises, the outdoor amphitheatre of the Bema was filled with an audience of approximately 5,000 persons, among them some of the Dartmouth men of 1901 and 1926 whose highly successful class reunions, 50 years and 25 years after graduation, had been additional highlights of the weekend.
The sylvan setting of the Bema adds so much to the graduation exercises and enables so many more persons to attend them, that every effort is made to carry through with the outdoor program. This year, the large upstairs floor of the gym, rather than Webster Hall, was in readiness in case of rain, and for a while on Sunday morning it looked as if the exercises would have to be moved indoors. An hour before the academic procession was scheduled to start the rain was coming down in a steady drizzle. Having bested the weather with bold decisions on nearly every Commencement morning since he took office, President Dickey was unperturbed by "the shower" and to the faint of heart, already heading for the gym, the word went out that the exercises would be held in the Bema. From the West Lebanon airport came the report that the skies would clear in an hour, and although this forecast was never completely borne out, there was no rain to mar the final program. The overcast skies, in fact, made the Bema a lot more comfortable than would have been the case with a hot sun beating down.
The academic procession assembled amidst a light sprinkle. The seniors, headed by the Band and the two tallest members of the class bearing flags, emerged from Rollins Chapel, circled the campus and then split ranks along the walk from the campus to the Bema. Behind Dean Neidlinger as head marshal marched President Dickey and Governor Sherman Adams '2O of New Hampshire, and then President Emeritus Hopkins and the Trustees escorting the seven distinguished guests of the College who were to receive honorary degrees. The faculty, gathered at Sanborn English House and creating a bright splash of color with a variety of academic hoods, next fell in line and behind them came members of the Fifty-Year Class of 1901 and a few alumni of the older reunion classes. After these groups had passed through the double line of seniors, the graduating class closed ranks and marched into the Bema, where a large audience filled all of the seating area and most of the north and south banks.
Although considerably smaller than last year's record-breaking class of 613 men, the 1951 graduating class of 523 men was still one of the largest ever graduated by the College. In addition to the seniors upon whom President Dickey conferred the Bachelor of Arts degree, five men received the Master of Arts degree and 24 others the two-year diploma in medicine. In all three groups, the men mounted the Bema platform to receive their diplomas individually, in keeping with the Dartmouth tradition that this academic achievement shall be honored in a personal rather than a mass way. The audience laughed good-naturedly on two or three occasions when proud parents couldn't hold back their applause as sons reached the center of the stage and received diplomas.
The entire audience burst into,applause at the very start of the conferring of the Bachelor degrees when a blind senior, Edward L. Glaser of Chicago, and his Seeing-Eye dog, Pal, ascended the Bema platform. Blind graduates in the past have usually remained seated during the conferring of degrees, but Glaser had requested that both he and Pal be permitted to go up on the platform with the class. Not only did Glaser, a Phi Beta Kappa "Student, receive his degree in the normal way, but' Dean Neidlinger prepared a special certificate for Pal, who guided her master to classes for four years and went through the whole undergraduate course with him as an indispensable helper. Into the dog's harness the Dean tucked the certificate he had designed and which both he and President Dickey had signed. It read:
"Be it known by these present, that Pal, a graduate of the Seeing Eye Institute, has for four years faithfully attended the classes in which her master was enrolled and by her loyalty and unfailing devotion to duty has merited the respect and admiration of the Faculty and students of Dartmouth College. Therefore: we do hereby commend her as worthy of all the privileges, immunities and honors that may be afforded her in recognition of her honorable association with this institution. Given at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, on this 17th day of June, in the year 1951."
Glaser and Pal descended to their places amidst prolonged applause. That given to him by his classmates was prompted by more than feeling and tribute to a man who had won out over a serious handicap. They knew him as one of the really brilliant students in the class—a Senior Fellow, winner of the Thayer mathematics prize, and the first blind person to take the annual examinations of the Society of Actuaries.
Class Day
The three-day Commencement program formally opened Friday afternoon at 3:30 with Class Day exercises. The seniors, making their first appearance in caps and gowns, formed their line at the Senior Fence and marched to Dartmouth Hall behind head marshal Paul R. Staley '51, football captain last fall, and the other two marshals elected by the class, James C. Balderston '51 and Herman Christensen Jr. '51. At Dartmouth Hall the seniors found long strips of heavy paper spread on the damp lawn and, as evidenced by this month's cover picture, they therefore settled down in neat rows to hear the speeches comprising the first part of the program. A word of welcome to parents and friends was expressed by the class president, Richard C. Pugh, who was fol- lowed by Berl I. Bernhard, Class Day Orator, James H. Wheatley, Class Poet, and Paul R. Staley, who gave the Address to the College.
The seniors again formed their double line and moved on to the stump of the Old Pine, where the traditional white clay pipes were distributed. Amidst clouds of pungent smoke and audible wondering whether the tobacco was part of Eleazar Wheelock's original import, the seniors settled down to hear Jeffrey O'Connell, in war paint, deliver the Sachem Oration. This frolicsome prophecy of future '51 achievements was followed by the Address to the Old Pine, delivered by Michael lovenko and enlivened by the unscheduled antics of the Hanover dog pack. At the conclusion of lovenko's address, the seniors smashed their clay pipes on the stump of the Old Pine and then marched back to the campus, to be reclaimed by families and dates.
Despite the doubtful weather that evening, the Band concert was held in front of Webster Hall as planned, but the reception by President and Mrs. Dickey was transferred from their garden to Baker Library, where seniors, their parents, faculty members, alumni and guests mingled in the main lobby and adjoining rooms. Nothing like a 21-gun salute to the President, fired off by 1925 men at last year's garden reception, took place to signalize the reunion side of the weekend, but class caps and badges were very much in evidence among the large crowd. From the reception many went to the concert by the Glee Club, and starting at 10 the senior dance held sway in Dartmouth House.
Saturday's program was launched by the morning meeting of Phi Beta Kappa in Carpenter Hall. The big event of the second day was the annual Commencement luncheon given by the College for seniors, their fathers, alumni and faculty. This was held indoors in the west wing of the gym, with Mrs. Hayward of the Dart- mouth Dining Association supervising one of the last big events of this kind before her retirement. Luncheon was followed by the annual Alumni Association meeting on the top floor of the gym. There the gathering heard talks by Carleton Blunt '26, president of the Association; Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College; David M. Leslie '51, secretary-chairman of the senior class; Robert F. Leavens '01, for the Fifty-Year Class; and President Dickey. The talk by Mr. Leavens will be found printed in full in this issue. As is customary at this meeting, Mr. Hayward announced the winners of the attendance cups for the first weekend of reunions. The Class of 1901 received the Class of 1894 Cup with 66% of its living members present, and for its performance in bringing 149 men back to Hanover for reunion 1926 received the Class of 1930 Cup.
As he did at the Commencement meeting last year, President Dickey spoke pri- niarily to the seniors and spelled out for them some of the ingredients of the Dartmouth Spirit, which he declared the men of 1951 would be better able to appreciate in their new role as alumni. In addition to citing the place loyalty to Hanover, the adventurous beginning of the College, the fight for independence represented in the Dartmouth College Case, and the rededication under President Tucker, Mr. Dickey spoke of the fashioning of a unique and invaluable alumni strength during President Hopkins' administration. President Emeritus Hopkins was present as a member of the Fifty-Year Class of 1901, and early in the meeting the entire audience arose and applauded when he was introduced by the presiding officer.
Those who went to the Dartmouth-Bos- ton College baseball game after the Alumni Association meeting put in a full afternoon. What must have been one of the longest games ever played in Hanover finally resulted in a 12-11 victory for the Big Green, which was behind 10-3 in the fourth inning and 11-10 in the ninth. Dartmouth movies and fraternity reunions were also part of the Saturday afternoon program, and that evening the movies were repeated, a second Band concert was held on the campus, and the Dartmouth Players presented The Royal Family in Webster Hall. The reunion class dinners Saturday night were highlighted by the 1926 banquet in Thayer Hall, where the 25-Year Class turned over to President Dickey the record-breaking sum of $126,000 as its Class Memorial Fund.
Commencement Day
If Sunday morning did not arrive in all the brightness hoped for, at least Hanover was green and glistening in the soft rain that began early and threatened to bring about the novelty of holding graduation exercises on the large upstairs floor of the gym. When at 10:15 the Class of '79 Trumpeters appeared on the balcony of Baker Library, for the third time that weekend, and sent their brassy notes ringing across the campus, there was still a widespread assumption that the Bema exercises had been rained out. But in Parkhurst Hall, where everyone was saying "It's only a shower" and looking a little doubtful even while saying it, there was no such idea. The Trustees and honorary degree recipients were being robed in the President's office, while President Dickey, closeted in the Webster Room, was busy going over his valedictory and citations for one last time before donning his Doctor's gown, purple hood, and gold Presidential medallion.
There was only the merest sprinkle as the President and honorary degree guests descended to the lawn of Parkhurst for the inevitable press pictures. That bit of business out of the way, the dignitaries took their appointed places at the head of the academic procession and the Faculty emerged from Sanborn House, ready to fall in behind the President, Trustees, Governor, guests, and Deans. After the seniors had made their swing of the campus and formed a double line, the procession began its stately march to the Bema. Only a little behind schedule, the final exercises were successfully launched outdoors after all.
The Bema ceremonies opened with an invocation by the Rev. Roy B. Chamberlin, college chaplain, and the traditional singing of Milton's Paraphrase of Psalm 136—"Let us with a gladsome mind praise the Lord for He is kind." Then followed in order the Valedictory to the College by Richard C. Pugh '51, the conferring of Bachelor degrees, President Dickey's farewell to the class, the conferring of advanced degrees, and the climactic awarding of honorary degrees. Honored with the LL.D. degree were Amos Noyes Blandin Jr. '18, Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court; Ralph Edward Flanders, United States Senator from Vermont; Frank Pace Jr., Secretary of the Army; and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times. Upon Frederick Lewis Allen, editor of Harper'sMagazine, President Dickey conferred the honorary Doctorate of Letters; upon Russell Cowles '09, New York artist, the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters; and upon Reinhold Niebuhr, Professor of Applied Christianity at Union Theological Seminary, the honorary Doctorate of Divinity. The honorary degree citations and the texts of the two valedictory addresses are printed in full in this issue.
Dr. Niebuhr, the principal speaker at the Commencement exercises, delivered his Baccalaureate Address at the conclusion of the conferring of honorary degrees. His vigorously delivered address, "The Self in Its Expanding World," was recorded and a full transcript is printed in this issue.
With the traditional singing of Men ofDartmouth and a final benediction, the graduation program came to its close. The seniors, diplomas firmly in hand and mortar board tassels now swinging on the right, marched out of the Bema—the 181 st consecutive class to carry away Dartmouth's academic credentials and to head out into a world which they hoped to make better by their work and ideals.
A VIEW OF FINAL EXERCISES IN THE OUTDOOR AMPHITHEATRE OF THE BEMA
CLASS DAY: Seniors at the Old Pine light up their clay pipes, adding to the general overcast.
SENIOR CLASS MARSHALS: Elected to lead their classmates through Class Day and Commencement cere- monies were (I to r) James C. Balderston '5l of Meadowbrook, Pa.; Paul R. Staley '5l of Scarsdale, N. Y., head marshal, last fall's football captain; and Herman Christensen Jr. '5l of San Mateo, Calif.
A HEART-WARMING MOMENT in the graduation exercises occurred when Edward L. Glaser '5l of Chi- cago, blind Phi Beta Kappa student and Senior Fellow, and his Seeing-Eye dog, Pal, were honored to- gether at the completion of their four years at Dartmouth. Glaser received his diploma and Pal was given a special certificate devised by Dean Neidlinger, who is shown tucking it in her harness.
