1951

I look forward to seeing you ALL in Hanover next month. It's not too late to sign up for Reunion; in fact, I suspect that we might even be able to accommodate a few more at the very last moment if some last minute change in your schedule makes possible what now seems out of the question.

With a New York City transit strike just aborted as I write this column, let's get as far away from that mess as possible with some news on classmates abroad. Tokyo resident Dick Halloran hopes to make it to Hanover for the 25th to cop the award for the classmate who has travelled the longest distance to come back

If you read The New York limes, you frequently see Dick's byline as he reports on Japan and Korea, and occasionally Taiwan, Guam, and the Trust Territory (those islands spread over a large expanse of the Pacific near Guam). He moonlights with some radio work for the BBC. (Query whether the British consider his "flat American accent" pollution of the air waves.)

"As he creeps into middle age, Dick has become an exercize [British spelling?] nut — running in the morning, Softball on a press club team in the spring and summer, hockey with a Canadian team in the fall and winter." Dick's children, Christopher, 16; Laurie, 14; and Catherine, 11, are in the Washington, D.C., area. "An occasional '51 drifts through Tokyo and more would be welcome."

Franz Pick suggests moving Reunion to Munich, where he holds forth as executive in charge of the local office of Hornblower & Weeks-Hempshil, Noyes GmbH, securities and commodity futures dealers. Franz was with Merrill Lynch in Frankfurt, which city he describes as "awful, not worth talking about!" When Merrill Lynch opened a Munich office, Franz volunteered to go.

When Merrill Lynch closed its Munich office, Franz was among the 85 per cent of the staff who stayed and changed firms. He would like to see visiting '51s but constrains his description of the delights of Mu (umlaut) nchen for fear too many classmates will descend at once. He and wife Irmgard (who, in spite of her Wagnerian name, was Scarsdale, N.Y., born) have two sons: Noel, 15, and Stephen, 13.

So much for the present! What was happening 25 years ago as reported in the Daily D? Among the highlights were our last Green Key Weekend and a Wet Down when we weren't running the gauntlet. That ordeal was replaced by comprehensives, which ran May 28 to June 2, the day the "D" suspended publication for exams.

Green Key: There were still "big bands" then, and Ray Anthony's played for the Saturday night dance in Alumni Gym. Dress was formal; and the Coop was happy to sell you "a superb white rayon dinner jacket, single or double breasted model with shawl collar and pearl buttons" for only $28.50 and "black tropical worsted matching trousers" for only $12.50!

Noted theologian Reinhold Neibuhr preached in Rollins Chapel the Sunday "morning after." The Players' production was Royal Family, which recently reopened on Broadway, with Warren Pfaff heading a cast which included Jeff O'Connell.

The Korean War was still very much with us, and the draft deferment exam was given Saturday, May 26. Army ROTC would start in the fall; but the proposed summer term was canceled because of low enrollment. Congress was investigating President Truman's firing of General Mac Arthur. The Manchester UnionLeader conducted a coupon clip out and return poll which showed the majority of those who responded favoring the resignations of both President Truman and Secretary of State Acheson.

The Chicago Tribune dispatched a roving reporter East to investigate subversion in the Ivy League. He spent three days in Hanover, was appalled to see a United Nations flag flying on the green upon arrival, and no doubt enraged to find in the exhibit cases of Baker Library a Great Issues presentation on journalistic distortio featuring the "Trib" and the "Daily Worker" as polar examples.

His report included two columns on Dartmouth. The first installment was accompanied by one of those color cartoons with which the "Trib" then graced its front page. There were two panels; one showing Eleazar arriving in Hanover with his 500 gallons of New England rum; the other portraying President Dickey dispensing punch from a bowl labeled (if my memory is correct) "Pinkish Internationalism."

A somewhat anomalous footnote to the political climate of the times was the fact that Alexander Kerensky spoke in Hanover in May 1951. (I am recommending that those who can, without reading further, identify him, be awarded honorary A.B.'s cum laude at our 25th — provided that they come.)

Immediately following the Russian Revolution, Kerensky was the "White" Russian president. Before very long, he was overthrown by a "Red" Russian named Lenin. If the drink existed in 1951, I am certain that the "Chi Trib" and the "Manchester UL" considered the "Black Russian" subversive.

As for classmates, Bob Matthews (whom I neglected to mention last month) captained the baseball team. Les Viereck led the Big Green chubbers to victory in the Fifth Annual Woodsmen's Weekend. "Whitey" Hand conducted Theta Chi to victory in the Interfraternity Hum.

The ads of 25 years ago are either fun or painful to read. Tanzis suggested shipping home a large jug of "Pure Vermont Maple Syrup as a Mother's Day gift. Teddy's - "White River's Newest Grill!!" repeatedly advertised "Full Course Dinners... 70 to $1.00."

Cigarette ads, now banned, were then big business for college newspapers. Lucky Strike's slogan was "Be Happy - Go Lucky ; Philip Morris', "No Cigarette Hangover." A Campion sale included khaki or grey chino slacks for $3.95 and tennis shoes for $2.95. Serry's offered suits at $29.50 and $39.50, dress shirts at $2.95.

The only item of note in the first two days of June 1951 was the Undergraduate Council Judiciary Committee announcement that fines for entertaining women guests in dormitory rooms after hours and for possessing prohibited electrical appliances were increased from $5 to $lO violation.

Secretary, 45 E. 89th St., Apt. 32-A New York, N.Y. 10028

Class Agent, Reader's Digest Pleasantville, N.Y. 10570