1932
Continuing the discussion begun last month regarding members of the class who have been involved in politics and the quest for public office, the Alumni Records Office supplied a print-out of those Dartmouth people with a current interest in elective office. The total came to 31 "government elected" individuals not exactly an impressive number.
Not wishing to go too far from home with my inquiries, at least to start with, I called Dick Mallary '49, a former U.S. Representative from Vermont who is now a public utility executive in Rutland. Dick told me he had never even thought of getting into politics when he was a college undergraduate. He said it all came about as a result of attending town meeting upon returning home after graduation at age 21. He was immediately drafted to fill a position on the board of selectmen that no one else wanted.
His mother was in the Vermont House of Representatives, which may have helped give him the idea of running for the legislature. He became speaker of the house and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1956. After serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, he got a good taste of the executive branch of government as state secretary of administration.
Dick's political career was interrupted when he campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 1974 and was defeated by the Democratic candidate in the backwash of the Watergate scandal. His conclusion now is that it was all "a great experience having been through it from both the elective and appointive sides." He has no regrets. "I don't like losing, but feel fortunate in doing it all without compromising my principles."
A faithful reader of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. Harris P. Dawson Jr. '35, has written for more information on the picture and story in the January/February issue about Whip Walser and his nine passports. Harris, a retired Foreign Service officer, couldn't understand how Whip had got so many passports. He inquired what kind they were and said he thought they looked much too large to be U.S. credentials. He noted that now you can't get a passport from another country unless you give up U.S. citizenship, although there used to be something called dual citizenship. He couldn't figure out how Whip had got so many passports within a period of about 50 years. Harris said he got his first passport in 1934 and has had 11 in all, two of which were diplomatic and had to be returned to the State Department. He was able to keep three of the diplomatic variety.
Whip replied with a list of passports, with dates, which he has been saving since 1946. They were pictured in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE and displayed by Whip during a panel discussion in Dartmouth Hall at our 45th reunion.
Whip became interested in the most-traveled question when he noted in The GuinnessBook of World Records in 1976 that J. Hart Rosdall of Elmhurst, Ill., was listed as "the world's most traveled man" and that he had six passports with some 1,200 entry and exit stamps. Rosdall had visited 154 sovereign countries and 67 non-sovereign territories, making a total of 221 localities.
At that time in 1976, Whip had seven passports, had traveled in about 107 countries, and had stopped counting the number of entry and exit stamps when he reached 1,500. This led him to believe that perhaps he had the longest passport in the world. Issued June 7, 1962, the passport has four extensions, measures seven feet, four inches, and has 68 pages of visas and hundreds of entry and exit stamps. While developing his export business on five continents. Whip carried that passport for five years. "You can imagine the chore and embarrassment it was to me to hold up the line of other travelers while the authorities in foreign countries looked for the proper visa or entry stamp. I ended up using a marker to facilitate the search among 68 pages."
Morry Hubbard, who apparently knows someone connected with The Guinness Book. tried unsuccessfully to have Whip recognized as having the longest passport in the world. The Florida newspaper article about Whip was mis taken in reporting that he claimed to have the most passports, only the longest extension of them.
Dick Clarke, who suffered a heart attack after reunion last year and underwent by-pass surgery last fall, has made a good recovery at his temporary home in Hanover during the past winter. Unfortunately, he and June are plan ning to return to their old haunts in California later this year.' We wish them well.
An announcement was received of the marriage of Mrs. Jean B. Gilmartin and Chuck Adkins March 25 at the First Church, Naples, Fla. They will be at home at 2327 Gulf Shore Boulevard North, Naples. Fla. 33940.
58 Temple Street Rutland, Vt. 05701
