Honorary Degrees
Devoted sons and new members of the family
Kenneth Montgomery '25
Lawyer, philanthropist, warm human being.... You graduated from Dartmouth in 1925, went on to Harvard Law School, and have been with the same distinguished Chicago law firm for 50 years, except for your military service...
. . . The effect the College had on you was eloquently described by you at an occasion here on campus last year. You spoke movingly of how as a student you had arrived without any values "except to sort of keep going." Slowly, under the influence of some key members of the faculty, you started asking disturbing questions. And you developed a deep love for the liberal arts that has influenced your entire life.
In addition to your notable career as an attorney, you have been a trustee of Lake Forest College and of Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama. You have also devoted endless energy to a variety of other educational, civic, and charitable causes. You summed up your philosophy in remarks you once made at Miles College: "... in all that you do, strive to make a lasting and constructive contribution to all mankind and the society in which we live."
That same philosophy is shown in your many benefactions to the College; in establishing a human relations laboratory, in making our dormitories more civilized by the provision of commons rooms, and by bringing the best minds in contact with our undergraduates through your new visiting professorship. We are especially pleased that you and your wonderful wife Harle will have a permanent tie to Dartmouth through Montgomery House.
You exemplify the best human qualities for which Dartmouth stands....
Vernon Jordan Jr.
... You came to national attention when you escorted, through an angry mob, the first black student to enter the University of Georgia. You next served as field secretary of the NAACP. During your term as director of the Voter Education Project, the number of elected black officials in the South increased eightfold. You served as executive director of the United Negro College Fund, and in 1972 you succeeded Whitney Young as executive director of the National Urban League, the oldest major black-oriented social organization in the country.
Through a wide variety of voluntary organizations, through effective use of the media, and through your friendship with those in high places, your eloquent voice has become a force to be reckoned with. One of the ablest spokesmen for blacks, you have in recent years broadened your role to become an advocate for all those who are downtrodden. Your philosophy is summarized in your own words:'"... to deal with the problems of black Americans, we are forced... to deal with other similarly disadvantaged minorities and with the white poor. For all share the condition of deprivation in the midst of plenty; all share the need for services and advocacy; and all share the unquenchable thirst for equality."
Dartmouth College is pleased to recognize one of America's most important advocates for human rights....
Sarah Caldwell
... You had an early career choice to make since you were a child prodigy in both music and mathematics.... Your true call came when you decided to restore opera to the City of Boston just as that city was tearing down its Opera House.
Your company opened 20 years ago this month, with a memorable performance of Offenbach's Voyage to the Moon. Ever short of funds, you have performed a series of miracles in the intervening years. A strong believer that opera must be a harmonious blend of theater and music, you make your performances masterpieces of staging whether you hold them in an old vaudeville house or an athletic cage. And you have attracted some of the greatest stars, because they find that under your direction even their favorite roles take on new meaning.
You are a tireless scholar who will spend months to enhance the authenticity of a production. And yet as stage-manager you have introduced some of the most unorthodox touches, whether you create the illusion of a gigantic Trojan horse by filling it with midgets, or have cooking brandy delivered on stage by a St. Bernard.
Producer, director, conductor, stage-hand, fund-raiser, everpresent genius, you are the Opera Company of Boston....
[Sarah Caldwell was ill, and the degree Doctor of Humane Letters was awarded in absentia.]
Hanna Gray
You were born in Heidelberg, Germany. You were only four years old when the Hitler regime ousted your father, who emigrated to Yale to teach history for 35 years. For yourself you pictured a glamorous career in journalism or even as a radio comedienne. Fortunately, you failed to achieve these goals.
... A brilliant scholar of European intellectual history... you have successfully combined scholarship with remarkable administrative service. You headed the undergraduate history staff at Chicago, became dean at Northwestern and provost at Yale. For the past year, one of the most trying in Yale's history, you served with distinction as Yale's acting president. Your serving both as provost and as acting president set up, by your own description, a scenario worthy of Gilbert and Sullivan, since the rules of the faculty specify that a decision of the provost can only be overruled by the president. It creates a splendid image of darting from office to office trying to decide whether to overrule yourself!
We shall miss your wise counsel among the Ivy presidents and as a member of the visiting committee of the Dartmouth History Department. But we wish you God-speed as you assume the helm of one of America's outstanding universities, as the tenth president of the University of Chicago.
Dartmouth College is honored to welcome into her family a distinguished scholar and courageous administrator....
Ivan Albright
Son of a Chicago painter, you and your twin brother served as models for your father through your childhood, making it inevitable that you both became artists. You began drawing at age eight, studied at many schools, worked as a hospital artist near the front in World War I, and graduated from the Chicago Art institute. In spite of this abundance of teachers, your work resembles that of no school, your style is uniquely your own.
Winner of many of the coveted prizes in art, you have been described as having a "vision of a monstrous, tragic world [beyond] human comprehension." You approach your paintings with the precision of a scientist and the patience of a saint. Such masterpieces as "The Door" and "Poor Room" required a decade or even two to complete. You devote infinite attention to every detail, bringing us a vision of reality not accessible to the ordinary eye.... You have described your goal as: "I'm trying to lead the observer back, sideways, up or down into the picture, to make him feel tossed around in every direction, to make him realize that objects are at war, that between them there is constant movement, tension, and conflict."
You are a kind person and a scintillating conversationalist, so very different from that scene of horror you created for the climax of the movie The Picture of Dorian Gray. You have been observed applying your art to improving the aesthetic quality of the footing of a bridge that offended you, or to an unexpected stain on a rug in your home.
We had the good fortune that you moved to Woodstock in 1965, where you painted your latest masterpiece "The Vermonter." Hopkins Center has twice been permitted to show your works, and you continue to extend generous hospitality to student artists from the College. Dartmouth takes pleasure in honoring one of America's most distinguished painters, and a good neighbor....
Carleton Blunt '26
A man of strong loyalties, you have devoted your life, in addition to the practice of law, to a variety of charitable causes, to the advancement of sports in the United States, and to Dartmouth College.
You graduated from Dartmouth in 1926 and were elected to Phi Beta Kappa, going on to graduate from Northwestern Law School at the top of your class. You have strong loyalty to both institutions and have served as a trustee of Northwestern for over three decades. You have served Dartmouth in a wide variety of volunteer capacities; the College is in your debt for your unbounded energy and your generosity. Few people know just how extensive your service has been. For example, your early faith in the Dartmouth Institute, your encouragement and support, were vital to the survival of that program of continuing education.
Your love of sports goes back to your Dartmouth days, when you were New England diving champion. You have since championed the cause of equestrians and have been one of the foremost promoters of the game of golf....
You have served as a director for numerous corporations and have headed up the Community Fund of Chicago, but perhaps your most remarkable achievement has been the Evans Scholarship Foundation. Combining two of your major interests, golf and education, you have almost single-handedly built up this
remarkable program which has paid the full cost of college education for thousands of young men who started out as caddies.
Dartmouth College is pleased to recognize one of her most devoted sons....
Robert Noyce D.Sc.
Scientist, inventor, entrepreneur.... It could be said that you have been responsible for a covert "intelligence operation" that has infiltrated the homes of all of us. As co-inventor of the integrated circuit and co-developer of memory chips and microprocessors, you have revolutionized the computer industry. You have miniaturized the size, increased the speed, improved the reliability, and vastly lowered the cost of computer parts. Always a believer in letting the chips fall where they may, you have created one of the most spectacular growth industries in the world which seems to be totally non-polluting - and your microscopic bits of machine intelligence have the potential to make our lives better and more enjoyable.
As your research showed increasing promise, you became one of the founders of Fairchild Semiconductors, and when that organization grew too large for your taste, you and a co-worker formed your own company - Intel - whose spectacular success in the past decade is an example for all would-be entrepreneurs. For your achievements you were elected to the National Academy of Engineers and received the Stuart Ballentine Medal of the Franklin Institute....
Your first impression of Hanover was not a happy one, since it resulted from a skiing accident. We hope that that memory was erased by your son's four years at the College. And today we want you to follow in your son's footsteps by becoming a member of the Dartmouth family....
Kenneth Montgomery (Humane Letters), Vernon Jordan (Laws)
Hanna Gray (Laws)
Ivan Albright (Fine Arts)
Robert Noyce (Science) and Carleton Blunt (Laws)
