THE KEMENY INAUGURATION

IN his first two official acts as President of Dartmouth College, President Kemeny sprang surprises on John and Christina Dickey. He conferred honorary degrees on both - the Doctorate of Laws on retiring President Dickey and the Doctorate of Humane Letters on Mrs. Dickey, who as Dartmouth's First Lady for nearly 25 years played a gracious and essential role in the life of the College.

The awarding of the honorary degrees provided the warmest and most emotional portion of the inaugural ceremonies in Alumni Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon, March 1. Mr. Dickey, who had received a prolonged ovation when he finished his remarks after transmitting the symbols of office to President Kemeny, received another and greater one when his degree was conferred. And that the spirit of the occasion was anything but solemn was demonstrated when President Kemeny planted a kiss on Mrs. Dickey's cheek, to be followed by the same affectionate salute from Mr. Dickey, Provost Rieser, and Dean Brewster.

The citations read by President Kemeny in conferring the degrees were as follows:

JOHN SLOAN DICKEY

A quarter of a century ago you, as your first official act, awarded an honorary degree to the eleventh President of Dartmouth College. That quarter century marked the greatest progress for this institution in its entire history.

Trained in the law, public official turned educator, you brought to the presidency of the College convictions about the responsibilities of an educated man. Your first priority was to awaken Dartmouth students to the Great Issues of our society. While students initially disappointed you by their lack of commitment, you finally met a generation whose commitment to great issues is, to say the least, overwhelming.

Aware that the quality of the Dartmouth experience depends primarily on the quality of its faculty, you set out to recruit a group of outstanding teacher-scholars. You succeeded in building an undergraduate faculty second to none, committed to undergraduate education and to the continuing growth of their disciplines.

Realizing the historical importance of the professional schools of medicine, business and engineering, you strengthened them and built ties to the arts and sciences. Under your leadership we have seen the completion of the university functions through the introduction of Ph.D. programs, carefully balanced to supplement but not dilute the College's primary commitment to undergraduate excellence.

Master of the art of infusing others with your own enthusiasm, you set the course for reassessment of the "liberating arts." We have seen a long series of sweeping revisions moving towards greater diversity and independence in learning for all students.

You saw the College through its first two major capital fund drives and you will leave a significant number of new physical facilities that will serve Dartmouth throughout its Third Century. Most notable among these was your bold plan to house the creative arts in a splendid building that serves as a memorial to your predecessor.

In addition, you found the time to lend your counsel to causes beyond the Hanover community. You fought for educational institutions, you lent your counsel to great foundations, your voice was influential in the conduct of your country's foreign relations, and you championed the cause of your beloved North Country.

Beyond these achievements we must note your constant concern for human rights. In 1946 you served as a member of the President's Committee on Civil Rights. Later your courageous action to remove all traces of discrimination from the Dartmouth campus made an impact on the Nation. You were also one of the first voices to call for an effective program to help with the education of disadvantaged students. Your call of conscience to the educational world was answered with the creation of A Better Chance, that set the pattern for a significant social break-through. Both literally and figuratively, yours has been a booming voice "of one crying in the wilderness."

Dartmouth College owes you a debt that can only be paid by the historian. But this debt, even if unpayable, must be acknowledged. Therefore, as a token of our indebtedness, it is my rare privilege on behalf of the Trustees and Faculty of Dartmouth College, to bestow upon you the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoriscausa.

CHRISTINA MARGARET DICKEY

Outgoing husbands make for incoming guests. Mistress of a household to which people tend to present themselves in bulk, your life as the wife of Dartmouth's twelfth President has scarcely been seclusive. Yet your interest in the welfare of the individual has never waned.

Your childhood was spent in Exeter, New Hampshire, where your father taught classics at the Academy. After majoring in English at Wellesley you paused in the Boston area long enough for a degree in library science at Simmons College. Accepting a position in the Dartmouth College Library, you there encountered a tall and gregarious student from Pennsylvania. To you it must have been apparent even then that the future had something important in store for him.

You waited patiently 'til he finished law school and then were at his side during fourteen years in the practice of law in Boston and in the State Department in Washington. Your experiences as a Washington hostess were not without their value in preparing you for that which was to come.

You returned to Hanover in 1945 as the First Lady of the College. Supremely at home in an educational setting as daughter, sister, wife and mother of teachers, you warmed the hearts of the Dartmouth family with a gentle presence, a quiet competence, and an unfailing sensitivity to the feelings of others. Never tiring, you divided your energies between the needs of the College and the needs of the community. It has long been evident that you have a green thumb for human beings as well as for flowers.

Because you have made Dartmouth a better place to live, it is fitting that we bestow upon you, with gratitude and affection, the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

President Kemeny's inaugural address was printed in full in last month's issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. The other principal speakers at the March 1 installation were Mr. Dickey, Governor Walter R. Peterson Jr. '47 of New Hampshire, and Lloyd D. Brace '25, chairman of the Board of Trustees. Their remarks, in the sequence in which they were given, were as follows:

Remarks by Walter R. Peterson Jr. '47 Governor of New Hampshire

As I stand here before this 200-year-old document - The Charter of the College - lam very conscious of the fact that it bears the signature of my predecessor, John Wentworth, who was Governor of New Hampshire even before it became a state. For me, that signature is symbolic both of the long relationship between New Hampshire and the College and of my role at this moment as a part of that historic community.

As Governor of New Hampshire I am honored to extend to Dartmouth College the greetings of the people of this State on the occasion of the inauguration of the thirteenth President of the College.

As Governor, and as an alumnus of Dartmouth who graduated in one of the early years of John Dickey's presidency and who has seen the College grow in stature as an educational institution under his guidance these past 25 years, I want to express to him the very real appreciation of the people of New Hampshire for what the College has meant to them during those years, as well as my personal thanks and best wishes for an active and rewarding "retirement."

Finally, as Governor, alumnus, and as a Trustee of the College, I want to extend to Dartmouth's new President, John Kemeny, warmest best wishes for success in his task of leading this College with wisdom, judgment, and sensitivity in the years ahead.

Remarks by Lloyd D. Brace '25 Chairman of the Board of Trustees

A few months ago, on December 13, many of us here this afternoon were gathered in Leverone Field House on the memorable occasion of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Dartmouth College. It was right and fitting that Charter Day should have been the key date in our Bicentennial Year, for that document is symbolic of both the history and the purpose of this institution.

Today, on the solemn occasion of the inauguration of the thirteenth President of Dartmouth, it is entirely appropriate that we remind ourselves of that history and purpose, and of the amazing spirit of those who - with this instrument - created in this special place an institution that has endured and prospered for 200 years.

As Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College and on their behalf, I therefore deliver to you, John Kemeny, the original Charter of the College and I charge you to keep and defend all of the rights therein granted and confirmed. We place the Charter in your keeping with confidence in your understanding of its importance and with full faith in the quality of leadership you are about to give this institution entering its third century.

Remarks by President Dickey

The excitement of any fresh start is one of the good moments of life and the start of a new presidency in the life of the College is such a time.

The continuity of the presidency is an essential aspect of the institution's enduring quality; it is the heart of the office's strength. Here at Dartmouth the continuity of the Wheelock Succession has had abiding significance for both the institution and for each of its occupants.

The tangible testimony of this continuity is enshrined in two objects which since the earliest days of the College have been entrusted to the care of each President to be held by him during his presidency and passed on by him to his successor.

The first of these symbols is this beautiful silver monteith known in the history of the College as the Wentworth Bowl from the fact that it was presented by the Royal Governor, John Wentworth, to President Eleazar Wheelock to mark the first Commencement in 1771. The beauty of the bowl is made forever meaningful by its inscription:

His Excellency, John Wentworth, Esq., Governor of the Province of New Hampshire and those Friends who accompanied him to Dartmouth College the first Commencement 1771 in testimony of their gratitude and good wishes present this to the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock D.D. President and to his Successors in that office.

The second historic symbol of the Dartmouth presidency is this medallion known as the Flude Medal which is customarily worn at official ceremonial occasions of the College by the President. The inscription on the medal reads:

The Gift of John Flude, Broker, Gracechurch Street, London, 5th April 1785. To the President of Dartmouth College, for the time being at Hanover in the State of New Hampshire.

To you, John G. Kemeny, as the duly installed thirteenth President of Dartmouth College I now entrust the custody of these symbols of the presidency.

It would seem fitting as the presidency changes hands in this Bicentennial year that Dartmouth's entry into her third century should be marked by having these two historic symbols of continuity joined by a third. On Dartmouth's two hundredth Charter Day, December 13, 1969, the Trustees of the College presented to me as the retiring twelfth President this gold Bicentennial Medal, the twin of the medal presented to the Ninth Earl of Dartmouth at the 1969 Commencement. It is now my special pleasure to present to the College this convincing witness of Dartmouth continuity and as such to entrust it to the custody of the thirteenth occupant of the presidency and to his successors.

I have no weighty words of wisdom or prediction with which to conclude my twenty-five years of this high privilege. In candor, however, I perhaps ought to say to a successor that I hand over a job of unlimited responsibilities with, shall we say, contrary to appearances, something less than a corrupting measure of authority. And yet, good friend and esteemed successor, be not dismayed; as a wise man once said: "Nothing succeeds like successors." John, may your presidency render that happy prospect self-evident from this day forward.

President Kemeny is applauded after the delivery of his inaugural address on March 1. Standing (I to r) areDean Carroll Brewster, Mrs. Dickey, Provost Leonard M. Rieser '44, President Dickey, and Lloyd D.Brace '25, chairman of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees.

President Dickey, honored with the Doctorateof Laws, is hooded by Prof. Frank Smallwood'51 and Librarian Edward C. Lathem '51.

Mrs. Dickey, receiving the honorary Doctorateof Humane Letters, was cited as having agreen thumb for both humans and flowers.

Watching their mother receive her surprisedegree, with obvious pleasure, are John Jr.,Christina, and Sylvia, the Dickey children.

President Kemeny at the inaugural reception with his wife Jean and his mother,Mrs. Lucy Kemeny of Levittown, Long Island, New York.

Governor Peterson extends the greetingsof New Hampshire to the new President.

Prof. Albert W. Tucker, representingPrinceton, presents official greetingsfrom the university to Pres. Kemeny.

President McConnell of the Universityof New Hampshire (l) and PresidenArmstrong of Middlebury College wereamong special guests at the inaugural.