Running

In March of 1976, when we last spoke about his work, Frank Smallwood '51 promised to return to teaching full time only "until the next bizarre twist" in his already labyrinthine career came along. Well, it has come along and he hasn't even had to give up his government and policy studies courses to manipulate its curves. The job? Candidate for vice president of the United States on the Anderson ticket in Vermont.

Smallwood, a former Vermont state senator and still prominent in state Republican circles, agreed to serve as Anderson's running mate for the purpose of circulating the petitions necessary to get his man on the November ballot. The job, which lasted until late August when the Illinois congressman named Patrick Lucey as his national campaign partner, meant a lot of picnics and radio shows for Smallwood, the Orvil Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs here.

At one time or another a bus boy, bureaucrat, administrator, committee chairman, program director, faculty member, and Norwich fenceviewer (to settle boundary disputes), Smallwood claims he didn't spend an inordinate amount of time campaigning. He wouldn't, for instance, shake hands at local shopping centers. He did do a lot of talking, however. Occasionally, though, a strategic retreat in the oratory department was required: At a nearby farm recently, a newborn lamb's incessant bleating chased him indoors. But, Smallwood claims, he was willing to abide such behavior because Vermont could be an important state for the Anderson campaign. Anderson "did very well in the primary," Smallwood explained. "This was the state that helped him get out of the blocks; it really gave him some national visibility." While the national campaign concluded its search for Anderson's permanent running mate a crucial test, according to Smallwood Vermont's local version of veep planned to shift gears from signature solicitation to fund-raising. Smallwood has no fears of asking infamously frugal Yankees for their hardearned cash. Harking back to his days in Parkhurst Hall as vice president and dean for student affairs, he said, "Academic politics is a pretty rough game. It's a tough testing ground."

Switching hats, which he does with remarkable celerity, Smallwood the political scientist opined, "I think we are quite possibly in the eighties entering a watershed period; is there going to be a major shift to one of the major parties, or are we going to see a realignment of parties? The parties aren't really producing attractive candidates. Maybe Anderson is the forerunner of the future candidate — creative, with new ideas."

As for teaching this summer he offered "Urban Government and Politics" while preparing for the three-year review of his Policy Studies Program Smallwood said, "I think teaching and practice do reinforce each other. You do benefit from this kind of experience and bring it back to the classroom. Students enjoy hearing about some of these things." On that note, Professor, or Candidate, Smallwood reminded himself of a waiting department meeting. "It's been a busy summer," he said, cheerfully enough. "I'm looking forward to the fall."

The Dartmouth: schism behind closed doors.

ANDERSON PRESIDENT SMALLWOOD VICE PRESIDENT VERMONT 1980