Letters to the Editor

For What He Was

TO THE EDITOR:

It was with great sadness that I read of the death of Tuss McLaughry.

Having served as Director of Athletic Publicity for the DCAC in 1948, 1949 and 1950, I had the opportunity and privilege of working with this wonderful gentleman.

There were many years when Dartmouth's football material was neither talented nor numerous, and the defeats outnumbered the victories. But Tuss never made excuses for anything. And when he had the material, he turned out some beautiful teams. No one who ever saw the 1948 and 1949 teams featuring Johnny Clayton, Joe Sullivan, Herb Carey, Bill Dey, Dale Armstrong, Red Rowe, Hal Fitkin, Stew Young and many other wonderful players will ever forget them.

But win or lose, Tuss was beloved by his players, the press, and his fellow coaches. One good indication of the man's hold on those who knew him well was the loyalty of the members of his staff. Elmer Lampe, John Dell Isola and Milt Piepul, despite tempting offers to take other positions, remained with Tuss throughout his career at Dartmouth.

His devoted wife Florence and his sons John and Bob are joined in their grief by the legions of admirers and friends who loved Tuss for what he was - a steadfast friend, a true sportsman, and a leader whose personal conduct was an inspiration to all who ever knew him.

Coronado, Calif.

(Tuss McLaughry's obituary appears in thisissue. Ed.)

Honoris Causa

TO THE EDITOR:

The choice of William O. Douglas to be honored by the College with an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws last June was quite a shock to me as a very recent alumnus ('73) and a present law student (Harvard '76). I admit that I was both pleased and satisfied by the choice of the Council on Honorary Degrees to bestow such an honor on the dean of the present high court.

But I was even more shocked and somewhat saddened by the comments of two of my older brethren in the October edition of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. Messrs. Tobin and Hardy ('22s) seem to have allowed their normative judgments concerning Mr. Justice Douglas' political and social views to cloud their better judgment. I'm sure Mr. Justice Douglas was awarded this degree on the basis of his work as a jurist and not upon his outside activities!

While one may find many Douglas opinions lacking somewhat in the analytical finesse or eloquence of some past members of our highest court, no one could deny that he is a man of strong convictions and a sense of moral an ethical right and wrong (qualities found to be lacking in recent occupants of the executive branch), and certainly no one could ask for more from a fellow human being.

As a future member of the bar, and as a Dartmouth alumnus, I take the selection of Mr. Justice Douglas by the Council on Honorary Degrees to receive this very coveted degree with a sense of honor.

Cambridge, Mass.

Honeymoon at Yale

TO THE EDITOR:

I was interested in Jim Reid's account in the November issue of having helped to squire Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas to the Dartmouth-Yale football game in 1935. I was also at that game along with roughly 60,000 others, but under somewhat special cir- cumstances. I had been married in Caxton Hall, London, England to Pauline de Cubas on October 16, just a couple of weeks before the game. Pauline and I arrived in New York on the s/s Hamburg only a few days before the game en route to Mexico where I had been assigned by the overseas division of General Motors.

My boss at that time was Edward C. Riley (Dartmouth '16), then the general manager of the GM overseas division. I had been on Ed's staff in Europe before he came to New York. He had two tickets to the Yale game and insisted that I take them as he "was tired of seeing Dartmouth the victim of the Yale jinx" and because he thought that Pauline, a European who had set foot upon our shores for the first time only a few days before, would perhaps enjoy it.

We went up to New Haven by train. The day was one of the great successes in our rambling honeymoon from London to Mexico City. As the fourth quarter of the game began, it became obvious that Dartmouth had an excellent chance of winning. I explained the plays to Pauline who had no concept of American football, and eagerly explained that a win on our part would break the jinx that had followed Dartmouth since they began to play football with Yale years and years ago. Remember that harrowing 14-14 tie in 1924? As the fourth quarter clicked along, things looked better and better for Dartmouth and there arose such cheering and jubilation in the Dartmouth stands as rarely seen or heard. Big men on one side of Pauline and in the row behind us who were perfect strangers except for being on the Dartmouth side began to hug her and to pound on her back. Her comment was, "Is this America? How nice and friendly! I don't think that they meant any harm."

When it was all over we had seen a great game and a lot of "Americana" in a festive mood. Ed Riley protested loudly that he had made an error in judgment in giving away his tickets, but he knew that he had done a young friend and his bride a great favor and had indeed given her an insight into "college America" of those days.

New York, N.Y.

High Crime

TO THE EDITOR:

While I'll readily admit to being no more than an insignificant part of the proceedings, I was, for the crucial six months 2/74-8/74, counsel on the special impeachment inquiry of the House Judiciary Committee (vide the [House of Representatives] stationery I purloined). So far as I understand the matter, I was also a Dartmouth graduate - Class of 1970 (vide the Alumni Fund request sitting on my desk).

Thank you for the inclusion (this mind you is a snide line).

Washington, D.C.

(Vide "Watergate: Our Crowd," issue ofDecember 1974. Ed.)

Misdemeanor

TO THE EDITOR:

To your December honor roll on Watergate ("Our Crowd," December 1974). please lose no time in adding the name of Judge Carl E. McGowan '32 of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

He and most of his colleagues have backed Judge Sirica's and the grand jury's efforts indispensably and effectively from the start on the question of access to the tapes and much more. As this is written, it's to this court we're now looking to see if the jury verdict on Messrs. Mitchell, Haldeman, Erlichman, and Mardian is to stand, subject then only to possible Supreme Court review.

Green Farms, Conn.

Ivy Swap

TO THE EDITOR:

The November 1974 issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE was the best I have ever read. Entertaining, informative, thoughtful - a delightful, well put together issue that will be kept for a long time in our home.

I swap articles often with other "Ivies" and it will be with pleasure that I show this entire issue.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Family Pierce

TO THE EDITOR:

Your December cover is great. Its change of pace from the usual winter-scene-of-Dartmouth-row somnolence is well worth all the flak you are bound to receive from your traditionalist readers. Brace yourself, but stick with it. Your magazine is vibrant, excitingly so - content, layout, and headline type.

And nostalgically Pierce Arrow grabbed me. For a look at the College back in '30, my Dad and I drove to Hanover in our family Pierce, a four-door convertible, bright yellow mind you. with a huge black trunk on its rear, and those unique forward reaching headlights on its fenders. Ah memories. You know I enjoyed this feature.

Bronxville, N.Y.

Ripping Cover

TO THE EDITOR:

I am moved to take pen in hand to write to the editor of my college alumni magazine, which doubtless is proof positive of creeping middle age.

When I got my December 1974 issue I immediately ripped the cover from the magazine. I keep a file of visually appealing materials and was strongly taken by the elegant cover illustration. I made a mental note to drop you a line to say something like "Keep it up, and please continue to ward off the livter-spot fringe that demands that all covers be woodcuts of Dartmouth Hall printed in green ink," and I leaned against the doorjam to give the rest of the issue my customary skim-the-class-notes-and-into-the-recycling-bin treatment.

I do that, I must admit, and I do it because I view the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE largely as a publicity and fund-raising adjunct to the College rather than as a vehicle for the presentation of interesting material. Perhaps one day I shall become a philanthropist (a philanthropist being "a rich and usually bald old gentleman who has trained himself to grin while his conscience is picking his pocket" according to Ambrose Bierce) and shall then be interested in being wooed by the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. But probably not, if I continue to digress like this.

The cover article by Robert L. McGrath ("Chartres in a Chevrolet") was the most engrossing, stimulating and altogether worthwhile ALUMNI MAGAZINE piece that I have seen in a very long while. I was surprised and delighted to find it, and promptly ripped out those pages to file along with the cover.

Dartmouth College has long educated persons who have gone on to become good at whatever it is that they do, have become knowledgeable, accomplished. I think that the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE has a real obligation to present the works and thoughts of alumni, students, faculty members and others and to present them in satisfying depth in a visually stimulating format.

Were articles with the genuine substance of "Chartres in a Chevrolet" more frequent, I might be able to stop ripping and to save entire issues.

Cornish Flat, N.H.

(As to purposes and obligations, see the backpage. Ed.)

The Symbol (cont.)

TO THE EDITOR:

I never cease to be amused by the letters to the editor which appear every issue concerning the Indian symbol. I thought I would balance out the mail with a handkerchief for those sentimental Men of Dartmouth who suffer from "post-symbol-drop" or some other such malady.

Marshall Newton's letter in the November issue was a typical one. He argues that "history is surer, more stubborn ... than academia" (or any committee decision). Indeed, history is stubborn, stubborn in its inevitable penchant for change, evolution, and unpredictability. If the years that saw the so-called Indian symbol retreat from the Hanover Plain were "like the passing of the wind," then what is to prevent other winds from blowing symbols, people, institutions in still further directions? Who could have predicted the gust that blew the symbol to its original prominence during Mr. Newton's tenure at Hanover?

Mr. Newton's conclusion actually provides the most telling evidence for the only true permanent symbol which is Dartmouth's: memories of wilderness New England. What better embodiment of strength, beauty, and evergreen vitality, than the PINE TREE! It is the only lasting and unique symbol for Dartmouth College.

Ann Arbor, Mich.

(An editorial on "change" in the September 19,1884, issue of The Dartmouth makes severalreferences to the Old Pine as the "emblem"and "seal of our alumni and students." Ed.)