THE DARTMOUTH CONVOCATION ON GREAT ISSUES IN THE . ANGLO – CANADIAN – AMERICAN COMMUNITY

LIKE a hostess after a successful weekend, the Dartmouth College family "" sighed with relief Monday, September 8. Its party, the Dartmouth Convocation on Great Issues in the Anglo-Canadian-American Community, September 5-7, had been a resounding success — beyond the hopes of even the most optimistic. The sigh, though, came not to speed the departing guests, but in realization that nothing could now arise to mar its success.

The three days had been filled with good talk - some profound, some witty, some blunt, but all of it stimulating. The guests had been congenial; the weather, if not perfect, at least pleasant; and the thought persisted that the convocation's aims had been accomplished.

Bringing together leaders in government, industry, education, and communications from the three nations for panel discussions and addresses on the ACA, as the alliance quickly came to be called, could do little more on the spot than inform those gathered at Hanover. None of the "great issues" discussed could be resolved in Webster Hall or Alumni Gymnasium. Only legislation, executive orders, action by governments and industry could translate the results of the discussions into policy.

This may happen.

But equally important is the fact that the convocation provided a sounding board that reached down to the ultimate power in these three democratic nations - the people. In all, 54 newsmen, representing newspapers, magazines, wire services, radio, television, and newsreels from the three nations were on hand to report the convocation to the world. The Columbia Broadcasting System carried two of the major speeches on nationwide hookups. The National Broadcasting Company interviewed many of the participants for its weekend program, Monitor. The British Broadcasting Corporation tape-recorded the discussions for later broadcast in the United Kingdom.

In the words of an editorial in TheToronto Globe and, Mail, one of Canada's foremost papers, Canadian Prime Minister John C. Diefenbaker "won press, radio, and television attention of a kind never before accorded a Canadian political leader."

The convocation also provided the scene of an another newsworthy international event. Dr. Sidney E. Smith, president of the University of Toronto, conferred with the Prime Minister in Hanover and said that he would accept an invitation to become Canada's Minister for External Affairs. The appointment was announced in Ottawa a few days later.

For the alumni, friends of Dartmouth, and visitors, too, the convocation provided an extension for three days of the Great Issues Course, whose tenth anniversary it marked. Some 624 alumni and their families registered for rooms and meals. They were housed in dormitory rooms opened for the occasion and Thayer Hall provided meals. An estimated 200 other alumni stayed with friends or relatives in the Hanover area. In all, more than 3,000 persons attended all or part of the meetings. That was the number of badges printed initially and the supply had to be supplemented during the event.

The men who created the stir at Hanover, and what they said, are covered in pictures and text in this issue and its special supplement, but let's review the names here. They were:

From Canada - Prime Minister Diefenbaker; James S. Duncan, chairman of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario; Edgar W. McInnis, president of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs; and Sidney E. Smith.

From Great Britain - Sir Harold Caccia, British Ambassador to the United States; Sir Geoffrey Crowther, managing director of The Economist of London; Arthur L. Gooahart, the Master, University College, Oxford; and Sir William Haley, editor of The Times of London.

From the United States - Sherman Adams '20, Assistant to President Eisenhower; Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Repre- sentative to the United Nations; Hanson W. Baldwin, military-affairs editor of TheNew York Times; Lewis W. Douglas, former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James'; Paul G. Hoffman, U.S. delegate to the United Nations General As- sembly; Allan Nevins, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian from Columbia University; Clarence B. Randall, retired board chairman of the Inland Steel Company; and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher and board chairman of The New York Times.

These were the men. The issues were more difficult to pinpoint, but Sir Geoffrey Crowther tried. As chairman of a panel discussion Saturday morning, he listed the issues as:

1. Agreed policies for both the Middle East and the Far East.

2. A strong mutual-defense policy.

3. An improved attitude toward colonial and underdeveloped nations.

4. Economic problems growing out of Canada's desire for fuller participation in the development of her natural resources and out of U.S. policies of agriculturalsurplus disposal, particularly wheat.

5. Economic problems between the dollar and the pound sterling.

The discussions produced some sharp exchanges, some wit, and a great deal of food for thought. Here are some short excerpts:

Panel Members . . .

Sir William Haley: "I define politics as that area of human affairs in which nothing is decided on its merits."

Former Ambassador Douglas: "The supreme question is whether we can each learn to subordinate, at appropriate times, our own interest to those of our friends."

Mr. Duncan: "The policy of nonrecognition and trade embargo of Red China is simply driving China into Russia's arms. The Russians will guide all Chinese economic development and we'll never get them out."

Mr. Randall: "The key log in the economic log-jam of the future is this pressure for the payment of wages that are not represented by productivity and added wealth in the nation. To pay such wages is exactly like printing greenbacks, in terms of its effect, and it will get all of us in our generation unless we stop it."

Sir William: "It is a mistake to think of the ACA Community as existing to oppose communism. If we are to lead the uncommitted nations, we must be in a position to prove we are promoting peace, stability, and freedom throughout the world. And if we mean this, we have to accept the right of these uncommitted nations to have their own kinds of government."

had a large and receptive audience

Sir Geoffrey: "We owe our alliance neither to wartime experience, nor to rational analysis; we owe it to fear and to anger. What restored the wartime mechanisms in 1947 and the years afterward was fear of Soviet aggression. The great architect of the alliance was Joseph Stalin."

Mr. Hoffman: "The supreme issue is peace and the need for a common strategy to achieve it. The chance to achieve peace depends on forcing or persuading Russia to abandon Communist imperialism."

These remarks were made during the three tightly timed panel discussions Friday morning and afternoon and Saturday morning.

The evening sessions started Thursday night when President Dickey welcomed to the convocation "the evergreen natives, the alumni perennials, and the rare new seeds from here and abroad." He urged them to put down their roots for three days in the work and fellowship of the liberating arts. He was followed by the convocation chairman, Mr. Douglas, who ticked off the issues one by one, then urged the panelists and speakers to discuss them with candor and vigor.

Alumni and their wives . . .

Friday morning the Charles Ransom Miller Public Affairs Laboratory was dedicated by Arthur Hays Sulzberger. At the Friday evening session, Alumni Awards were presented to seventeen Dartmouth graduates for their service to the College, their communities and the nation. Then Sherman Adams, one of the award win- ners, told the assemblage that if the world "needs to learn any single lesson it is that peaceful means can be found for resolving differences. We of the AngloCanadian-American Community can live this lesson if anyone can."

Saturday afternoon in the Bema honorary degrees were presented to the eight British and Canadian participants, and Sir William Haley bespoke his admiration for Dartmouth's Great Issues Course. "There is only one way to keep this cancer on freedom of thought [apathy] at bay," he said. "It must be done by education and by the realization that education is endless. Your Great Issues Course springs from this conviction."

The climactic session Saturday night featured Prime Minister Diefenbaker, Ambassador Caccia, and Mr. Lodge. The Prime Minister's speech was moderate but firm. He listed Canada's grievances - trade imbalances, U.S. ownership of Canadian industries, and surplus-disposal programs. After the address, President Dickey called the address "the straightes: and frankest statement made by a chief of government, in peace or wartime, to another friendly nation." And The NewYork Times said in a lead editorial: "We in this country will do well to ponder deeply and seriously the warning given us by Prime Minister Diefenbaker at. Dartmouth College."

Ambassador Caccia described Britain's economy, its politics, and defense structure, then called for greater cooperation between the nations. Mr. Lodge called for a "dynamic doctrine that peoples in the uncommitted countries can follow. We cannot expect these nations to share our view of the Communist threat if we remain constantly on the defensive."

The settings in which the convocation meetings took place gave just the right air to the international gathering. In the west wing of Alumni Gymnasium the flags of 81 of the United Nations hung overhead. Behind the speaker's stand, the convocation emblem (on this month's cover), designed by John R. Scotford Jr. '38, reminded the audience and speakers of the essential unity of the three nations. The convocation emblem also dominated the Webster Hall scene of the panel discussions. Wentworth Street in front of Baker Library was lined with the flags of the three nations, while the Bema, scene of the honorary-degree ceremonies, was colored by the beginnings of autumn.

On Sunday morning a special union service was held in Rollins Chapel, signaling the end of the three-day convocation, and by Sunday afternoon the streets of Hanover again offered plenty of parking space.

And so the Dartmouth family, on that September 8, remembered the convocation with a warm glow as it began preparing for another convocation - the one that would open College on September 18.

Lewis W. Douglas, the Convocation chairman, and Dean Arthur E. Jensen, steering committee chairman, seated on the Webster Hall stage at the opening session, September 5.

President Dickey delivering the Convocation's welcoming address.

Flags of the three nations decorated College Hall headquarters

and the long stretch of lawn in front of Baker Memorial Library.

Military Affairs Editor of The New York Times Managing Director of The Economist President of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs.

Former board chairman of Inland Steel Company, now adviser to President Eisenhower.

Former industrialist, now Chairman of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario.

Dr. Smith, President of the University of Toronto when he spoke, accepted in Hanover the invitation of the Prime Minister to become Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs.

Former U. S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James' - the Editor of The Times of London.

Master of University College, Oxford, and member of British government commissions.

Followed the discussions intently

inspected the Convocation exhibits

and enjoyed the intellectual stimulation and "back to college" atmosphere of the three-day program.

The Pipers o' Ben Dhu, from towns near Hanover, lead the academic procession to the Bema for the honorary degree ceremony.

The "Anglo" group who received honorary degrees: Sir Geoffrey Crowther, Sir William Haley, Sir Harold Caccia and Professor Arthur L. Goodhart.

Prime Minister and Mrs. DieCenbaker are met at the airport by Presidential Aide Sherman Adams and President and Mrs. Dickey.

The climactic meeting in Alumni Gymnasium on the final night produced the Convocation's largest audience.

"Two minutes until broadcast time" whispers President Dickey to Chairman Lewis Douglas.

Sherman Adams congratulates Prime Minister Diefenbaker following his forceful address.

Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of the U.N. delivering the principal address tor the United States.

Later Mr. Lodge rises with the audience to applaud the Prime Minister of Canada.