Indecent Exposures

Revealing moments in the lives of Big Greeners

1798

Stephen Burroughs, class of 1786, is an imposter, counterfeiter, convict, jail breaker, and seducer. The College's greatest rapscallion eventually writes a best seller. His Memoirs of the Notorious StephenBurroughs of New Hampshire reprints 20 times.

1851

An editorial cartoon depicts Daniel Webster 1800, hounds, and a slave owner chasing down a runaway slave and her child. The caption for the cartoon reads "Fulfilling a Constitutional duty with Alacrity."

1855

President Nathan Lord 1851 publishes the first of four tracts justifying slavery on Biblical grounds. To counteract the ensuing bad publicity, the Trustees pass a resolution condemning slavery.

1860

Salmon P. Chase 1826 makes a bid for the Presidency. Cartoonist Thomas Nast caricatures Chase as a small boy chasing a duck. Chase is one step away from taking a header into the duck pond.

1884

New York alumni and President Bartlett 1867 battle over the direction of the College. In less-than-subtle commentary, the Aegis grafts mug shots of the combatants onto dog bodies.

1951

Film producer Walter Wanger '15 makes national headlines for shooting wife Joan Bennett's lover in the groin.

1976

Vice-presidential nominee Bob Dole and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller '30 are met by protesters during a tour of upstate New York. Rocky upstages Dole by extending an upturned fist to the crowd and raising his middle finger. The photo appears in papers across the country.

1994

When the Ledyard Canoe Club's annual Trip to the Sea hits Hartford the coed flotilla becomes the traditional, and revealing, "Strip to the Sea." Work stoppages at a bridge under construction cost the city an estimated $2,000.

1995

Shannon Smith '96 and Xantha Bruso '97 appear in Playboy's "Women of the Ivy League" section. The Dartmouth Bookstore reports a quadrupling of sales.

When sleepless Bob Sullivan '75 appeared onthe pages of Life magazine in his Red Sox boxers,he wasn't the first alum publicly exposed.