The 1953 Commencement

FOR a good many years to come, perhaps for as long as there are two members left to get together, the Class of 1953 will boast of its Commencement. And those who were privileged to be present at that extraordinarily fine occasion will concede 1953's right to boast; for Sunday, June 14, was one of Dartmouth's great days.

The fact that the President of the United States was present to receive an honorary degree and to speak to the graduating class lifted the exercises to an uncommon pitch, but there was more to the successful morning than that. The College was called upon to stage a Commencement that would do honor to the eminence of its chief guest, and this it fully succeeded in doing, without any sign of strain, and even to the extent of providing a north country June day that hardly could have been improved upon.

The graduation ceremonies were excellent in all their parts — the seniors' valedictory delivered by John H. Sigler '53; President Dickey's brief but profound farewell to the graduating class; the unusually graceful and significant Commencement Address delivered by Lester B. Pearson, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs and President of the General Assembly of the United Nations; the felicitous honorary degree citations and the distinction of the men honored; and finally, the extemporaneous but forceful little talk of President Eisenhower's, which unexpectedly developed into a block-buster of national and international importance when he denounced "the book-burners. The full texts of all these will be found in this issue.

The advance word to the press had been that the President would say nothing of major importance just a few informal remarks to the graduating class. Instead he delivered an impressive address, sincere, 100% Eisenhower, and, as it turned out, extremely newsworthy. It sent one re- porter rushing to the wire to flash his editors the word that the President's Dartmouth speech was a "bell-ringer." In the words of George H. Hall, veteran reporter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The full impact of the speech, given extemporaneously, cannot be realized fully by studying the text. . . . Although it does not read too well, it was one of the best speeches the President has delivered. It was a haymaker, starting a long way off and ending with a smash. This reporter, who covered Eisenhower for six weeks during the election campaign and has heard him speak many other times, never listened to anything quite like it." Something of the aftermath of the President's talk is reported, along with the full transcript, elsewhere in this issue. At the time of delivery, the audience warmly applauded the President and fully under- stood his stand, but it is doubtful that very many then realized the full import of what they had heard.

Not only at the time of his address but also earlier as he received his honorary Doctorate of Laws, President Eisenhower received a rousing tribute from the 10,000 persons in the audience. It was by far the largest Commencement crowd in Dartmouth's history, and to accommodate all those who wished to be present the College had decided, at the very outset of its planning, to shift the exercises from the Bema to the Baker Library lawn. Saturday evening a sea of empty chairs, trucked in from several points, covered the entire library lawn and stretched back on to the campus; on Sunday morning all but a few were occupied, making an impressive sight for those seated on the green and white, canopied platform that had been constructed across the main entrance to the Library and just below Baker's shining white tower.

In accordance with Dartmouth's graduation custom of many years' standing, each senior filed across this platform to receive his own inscribed diploma. This was one of several instances during Commencement morning that belied the fears of some that the Class of 1953 would be almost forgotten amidst the attention given to the President. Actually, one of the "just right" things about Commencement was the place that the 563 graduating men held in the forefront of the entire ceremony. This month's cover picture preserves one of the happiest and most fitting moments of the program that of the President, after he had been made an honorary Doctor of Laws, receiving from Francis A. L'Esperance Jr., the 1953 class president, a senior cane in token of the respect and friendship of his 1953 "classmates."

That the Commencement exercises had a "just right" atmosphere in this and all other respects was due to many weeks of careful planning by the college staff. The regular College Committee on Commencement, headed by Sidney C. Hayward '26 and including Dean Joseph L. McDonald and Prof. Allen R. Foley '20, senior class officer, had responsibilities as usual for the entire weekend program. For the visit of President Eisenhower, however, the multitude of details to be attended to called for a larger group, and a central committee was formed, headed by President Dickey as chairman and Vice President John F. Meek '33 as vice chairman. The central committee of which Mr. Hayward, Edward T. Chamberlain '36, Richard W. Olmsted '32, Frank A. Pemberton, Robert L. Allen '45 and Clifford L. Jordan '45 were also members was aided in turn by sub committees with duties under seventeen different categories of responsibility.

Any account of Dartmouth's memorable Commencement of 1953 would lack its underpinning if it did not give some inkling of the tremendous job that was done in advance.

Class Day

The Commencement weekend was ushered in Friday with one of those shining June days that nostalgic alumni are likely to think of as Hanover's steady lot. While enjoying it to the full, the seniors and all others were saying, "Why couldn't we save this kind of a day for Sunday?" As it turned out, the weatherman's Class Day present was only a first installment. Sunday was just as fine, maybe a little finer.

While the reuning alumni were arriving and getting settled, the seniors, all capped and gowned, assembled on the campus at 3:30 Friday afternoon to march to the Bema, where Class Day exercises were held this year. This setting, with the speakers using the old stone platform on the north bank, proved to be ideal.

Words of welcome to parents and other guests were spoken by Mr. L'Esperance, the class president. "We extend the hope," he said, "that you will discover more of the tangibles and sense the intangibles that are Dartmouth and are part of the invaluable experience she has offered to us here engaged in the quest for learning and in preparation for life."

In the Address to the College, Charles B. Buchanan '53 punctured the stereotypes that are held about the Dartmouth Man and about Dartmouth itself, praising the College instead for being a community of varied individuals who learn from each other. "A good college, like a wise individual," he concluded, "also has a set of values. As you have heard before, in a course with which we are all familiar, the ultimate value of a liberal arts college is to human society. Other institutions exist primarily to produce scholars, or scientists, or technicians, but Dartmouth aims to make its men into citizens."

The Class Poem, There Is a Sound Now, was read by Brock H. Brower '53. Varied and sometimes satiric, it took its title from the verse ending "It is our time/ it is our war/ there is a sound now/ let us turn/ and listen."

The principal Class Day Oration was delivered by William G. Beutel '53, who urged his classmates to strive to be uncommon men. "It is easy to be common; it is safe to be common," he said. "Certainly, we all want security; that security can be very easily reached by an acceptance of, and a satisfaction with mediocrity.... It is important for us to see that the tendencies, daily becoming more powerful in our nation, in our society, which offer the individual security and safety at the pyrrhic price of individuality and integrity, are tendencies which, if allowed to go on, will ultimately destroy all that America and Dartmouth have come to stand for. . . . We must, therefore, as men dedicated to the deepest meaning of Dartmouth College, carry high, with courage, with faith, and with hope, the traditions and ideals which built not only Dartmouth, but America itself. It is our right, and our duty, to continually strive to be uncommon in this Century of the Common Man."

At the conclusion of the speaking in the Bema, the seniors marched behind the Band to the stump of the Old Pine, where clouds of smoke rose in the June air as the seniors made a brave show of puffing on their white clay pipes. Donald E. McMichael '53 arrived on horseback to deliver the Sachem Oration, and John B. Rice '53 then gave the concluding Address to the Old Pine. As the march back to the campus began, each senior filed past the Old Pine and smashed his pipe as a sign of everlasting friendship with his fellow '53's. The reassembling of family groups was delayed while the class met in Webster Hall to receive more instructions about graduation day, but finally everyone was free and ahead stretched Friday evening, promising June perfection, and all day Saturday, promising excitement with the arrival of the President, before formality again took over with the climactic events of Commencement morning.

The Class of '79 Trumpeters and the Baker chimes sounded the start of the first evening's events, which included a Band concert on the campus at 7:30 and the President's Reception at 8:15. The throng of seniors, parents, alumni and faculty members at the garden reception at the President's House was the largest ever to attend this occasion. More than 1700 persons went through the receiving line, and President Dickey finished up with his right hand swollen. From the reception many went on to Webster Hall for the concert by the Dartmouth Glee Club. At 10 that night the Commencement Dance in Dartmouth House was the center of interest for the seniors and a few of the alumni.

On Saturday morning, Phi Beta Kappa members assembled for their annual Commencement meeting, while others relaxed and strolled about leisurely until noon when the Commencement Luncheon took place at the gym. This was the second year that the mothers of seniors and the wives of alumni and faculty members were invited to the luncheon along with the men; and the total of approximately 3,000 persons at the luncheon set another record for Commencement weekend. Mothers and wives were invited also to attend the 87th meeting of the General Alumni Association held on the top floor of the gym immediately after the luncheon.

Alumni Meeting

Myles J. Lane '28 of New York, president of the General Association, presided at the meeting: and other speakers included Sidney C. Hayward '26, Secretary of the College; Edward F. Boyle '53, secretary-chairman of the senior class; Edward H. Kenerson '03, who delivered the traditional Fifty-Year Address; and President Dickey. Mr. Kenerson's address is printed, in major part, in this issue.

In speaking for the graduating class, Mr. Boyle discussed the privilege and obligation of joining "as loyal and active an alumni organization as any college or university in this land can claim," and then, turning to President Dickey, said: "For the past four years this class has been part of the stuff of the College. It is with no hesitation that I say that we as alumni will be part of an even greater Dartmouth."

President Dickey spoke of the meeting as an occasion of both joy and importance -joyous because of the quality of the Dartmouth fellowship, and important because it gave tangible proof that "the work of the College, the capacity for a liberating life, is not the work of four years but of a lifetime." As he has for the past three years, he then addressed his remarks to the seniors and took the opportunity "now that your guard is down and you have given up the attitude of an adversary toward teachers and administration"-of talking about the Dartmouth Spirit.

Saturday afternoon was a time for picnics and drives into the countryside, and the evening also was an unhurried period, with Dartmouth movies, another Band concert, and The Players' production of Mister Roberts scheduled for diversion. The big event of the evening, however, did not appear on the program; it was the arrival of President Eisenhower from South Dakota. The announced arrival time of the Presidential plane, the Columbine, had been advanced from 8:25 to 6:45, and by 6 o'clock people began to assemble all along Main Street to await the motorcade from the airport. As it turned out, the President's plane had to slow down in order to allow the accompanying press plane to arrive first, and it was 8 o'clock before the Columbine actually made the landing that its crew had practiced at West Lebanon some weeks before.

President Dickey met the President at the airport, and for their ride to Hanover they were joined by Sherman Adams '20, the President's assistant and a member of the party that had been with him during the western trip. A special, over-sized Cadillac had been driven up from Washington, and with its top down during the drive from West Lebanon to Hanover, the President was easily seen by the cheering and applauding spectators all along the route. President Eisenhower frequently stood and waved, and it was in this fashion that he made his entrance into Hanover. As the crowds along Main Street pressed in from both sides, Secret Service men in the following car leaped out and cleared a path for the President's slowly moving car. The densest crowds were at the Inn corner and along Webster Avenue. Tanned and smiling broadly, the President repeatedly acknowledged the warm and friendly welcome given to him by Hanover. Reporters in the motorcade stated later that the enthusiasm was reminiscent of last fall's campaign.

At President Dickey's house, where he stayed during his Dartmouth visit, President Eisenhower spent a quiet and informal evening before retiring early. The President's party occupied the second floor of the house and the Dickeys moved to the third for Saturday night. Needless to report, the "Hanover White House" was well surrounded with Secret Service men throughout the President's stay.

The operations of the Secret Service men, whose total number in town was never really known, was one aspect of the President's visit that greatly intrigued everyone. This faithful corps of Presidential guardians worked with smooth and friendly efficiency, and far from trying to tell the College what could and couldn't be done, their general objective was to do their job within the normal framework of Commencement and with the least interference with what the College itself preferred to do. In a few instances the Secret Service pointed out how minor changes would avoid subjecting the President to needless risk.

Commencement Day

Bright and early Sunday morning President Eisenhower, Mr. Dickey and Mr. Adams emerged from the President's House for an unannounced tour of the College. Robert S. Monahan '29, who had planned the tour, went along to assist President Dickey as guide and rode in the front seat of the open car. The inevitable squad of Secret Service men trailed along in a second car. After a ride down Tuck Mall and a 15-minute stop at Baker Library, where the Stefansson Collection proved more interesting to the President than the Orozco murals, the party drove past Dartmouth Row, down East Wheelock Street, and out the Lyme Road to the ski jump, the first such elevated incline that the President had seen. Tommy Keane was waiting on the 15th fairway with two sets of golf clubs and two caddies in case President Eisenhower should want to try a hole or two, but the President contented himself with a look at the famous "ski jump hole" and a short chat with Tommy about golfing matters.

The party then drove back along Lyme Road, past the hospital, and around Oc-com Pond. More than once, it is reported, the President during the morning's trip said, "This is what a college ought to look like."

With a little time still available, Sherman Adams suggested that the party drop in on Dr. John F. Gile '16, Life Trustee, whose illness precluded his attending Commencement and meeting the President. It was a pleasantly surprised doctor on Sunday morning who had the President of the United States drop in on him to say hello and wish him well. After this stop the party headed back to the President's House to get ready for the Commencement exercises.

By this time it was apparent that Hanover was in for a splendid day, sunny with just a touch of fresh coolness in the air. Overcast skies the day before, and a prediction of rain by 11 on Sunday morning, would have induced college officials to settle for any sort of outdoor program. But the weatherman came through with the. second installment of his gift to the Class of 1953, and the graduation exercises had the added excellence of a made-to-order day.

With the academic procession scheduled to begin at 10:30, the Trustees and honored guests gathered in the President's office a little before 10 to be robed. They then descended to the Parkhurst lawn for a 10-minute barrage of press pictures. Where four or five photographers might normally be on hand for press pictures of the honorary degree recipients, this year a whole mob of still and movie photographers were waiting for President Eisenhower and the other distinguished guests to appear in academic garb. The press was very much in the picture throughout the Commencement program, but even though reporters clacked away on their typewriters in a special section to one side of the speaker's platform and cameramen darted out in front of the audience every so often in solid phalanx when it came time for President Eisenhower to receive his degree these necessary operations where the President of the United States is in volved soon blended into the heightened atmosphere of the morning and, in fact, contributed to it.

Precisely on time, the seniors emerged from Rollins Chapel, and with the Band leading the way, marched around the Library, down North Main Street to the Senior Fence, and then halfway across the campus before turning left and heading up the center aisle to Baker Library. Behind the seniors and then through their split ranks marched the Trustees and escorted guests, the faculty and the older alumni classes. Dean Joseph L. McDonald, as chief marshal, led the academic procession. President Dickey and the Governor followed, in their traditional places, and then President Emeritus Hopkins escorted President Eisenhower, with the Trustees and other honorary degree recipients immediately behind. The faculty this year went well beyond its usual Commencement attendance, and the large turnout in academic hoods of many hues provided a bright chain of color in the procession.

With the impressively large audience of 10,000 persons finally in place, the Commencement exercises began just before 11 -two minutes ahead of schedule with the singing of the National Anthem and then the invocation by Prof. Roy B. Chamberlin, chapel director. The happenings of the next hour and three-quarters have already been mentioned. Suffice it to say that, with the concluding benediction, everyone present had a vivid sense of having participated in an historic Dartmouth occasion and in one in which the greatness of the Nation merged with the aspirations of an institution that exists to serve it.

As the seniors were marching out, President Eisenhower and the other honored guests left by a stairway at the back of the speaker's platform and entered the Library. Cars waited at the west exit to drive them to the President's House, where President and Mrs. Dickey gave a luncheon to which the Trustees, a few college officials and their wives were also invited.

The President's departure from Hanover was scheduled for 2:05 Sunday afternoon, but the morning program had moved along so smoothly that it was possible to advance it by half an hour. The spectators had only begun to gather along Main Street and the press was still in Robinson Hall waiting for the last page of the Signal Corps transcript of the President's extemporaneous address when police sirens sounded and the President, again accompanied by President Dickey and Mr. Adams, drove past the campus in his open car. Holding his senior cane in one hand and waving his hat with the other, the President responded to the good-bye waves and shouts from the people along the street. Grinning and still exuding the warmth of his remarkable personality, the President disappeared down Main Street, while behind him the reporters and photographers rushed out of Robinson Hall and piled in to their special bus, intent on catching the press plane that always takes off with the President's.

It was hard for Hanover to realize that the exciting part of the weekend was over. A few formalities were yet to take place at the airport, and seniors, college officers and reuning alumni had lots of odds and ends to clean up; but the President's departure served more definitely than anything else to ring down the curtain on a great weekend.

The post-mortems would come later (in fact, they echoed around the world), but as the Columbine rose safely from the West Lebanon runway and headed for New York, those most deeply concerned with the 184th Commencement were entitied to their deep sigh of satisfaction that everything had gone so well.

WORLD LEADERS: The President of the United States and Lester B. Pearson, President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, have time for a chat before the Commencement procession. Both received the honorary Doctorate of Laws.

SENIOR CLASS MARSHALS for Class Day and Commencement were (I to r) William T. Chafee III of St. Louis, William N. Vitalis of Greenfield, Mass., and Donald E. McMichael of Denver.

THE-BEMA, NOT LARGE ENOUGH FOR THE FINAL COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES, WAS THE SCENE OF THE 1953 CLASS DAY PROGRAM

A VIEW FROM BAKER LIBRARY OF THE AUDIENCE OF 10,000 PERSONS WHO ATTENDED DARTMOUTH'S GRADUATION EXERCISES ON JUNE 14

THE SENIOR PROCESSION LEADS THE WAY TO BAKER ON COMMENCEMENT MORNING