1956

According to a year-end news release, three new members have been elected to the board of directors of the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute: James R. Galbraith, senior vice president of Hilton Hotels Corp., Edwin L. Harper, former executive vice president of the Campbell Soup Cos., and our own John K. Van de Kamp.

The Eisenhower Institute, an affiliate of Gettysburg College, is a non-partisan organization that seeks to strengthen democratic institutions, economic and political, in the United States and abroad. Founded in 1983, the Institute pursues its mission and highlights Dwight Eisenhower's legacy of leadership through scholarship, public-affairs forums, and leadership-study programs. To the organization, as its president has said, "Jim Galbraith, Ed Harper, and John Van de Kamp bring a wealth of experience, particularly in public service."

For those who have not kept up with John's career since graduation, he received his law degree from the Stanford University School of Law and went to work immediately in the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles. In 1971 he became the first federal public defender in the central district of California, and, in 1975, district attorney for the County of Los Angeles. From 1983 until 1991 John served as attorney general for the State of California, leaving that post for a valiant but fruitless run for the governorship of the state. Currently he serves as a partner in the firm of Dewey Ballentine and chairs that firm's litigation department in the Los Angeles office.

Recipient of honorary degrees from Pepperdine University, the Whittier College of Law, and Southwestern Law School, John received the Wyman Award as the nation's outstanding attorney general in 1989, and in the same year he won the Grizzly Bear Award from the League of Conservation Voters.

As the president of the Eisenhower Institute points out, in seeking to bolster "democratic institutions at home and throughout an interdependent world that is opening up rapidly, we have to look ahead and help tomorrow's leaders. We're assembling a terrific team to make it happen." We can be proud that one of our own is a member of that team.

This may come too late to save anyone from grief, but a letter just received from ClemMalin indicates that at the class meeting in January Wally Pugh submitted a non-report from the nominating committee, having received no volunteers for any of the class offices or other positions that must be filled by the time of our reunion. Sounding more than a little threatening, Clem recommended that if anyone planned to volunteer, he should "do so before April 1 or Wally will have to take matters into his own hands." I wonder if the deadline of April Fool's Day provides some sort of coincidental commentary on those who might volunteer.

Tom Harper reports that all is on track for a terrific reunion. Plan to be there. If you are not there, there's no telling what you may be nominated for and elected to. That's it for now. Till next time.

51 Tradd Street, Charleston, SC 29401

Class of '56 June 15-18 35th 1992 Come Bury the Hatchet