Commencement Closes 172nd Year

500 Seniors Receive Bachelor of Arts Degrees at Impressive Exercises in the Bema, Where Wendell Willkie, Secretary Knox and Eight Others Get Honorary Degrees

DARTMOUTH'S 172 ND ACADEMIC YEAR came to its close on Sunday, June 15, with Commencement exercises at which a class of exactly 500 men graduated into the alumni ranks. Although rainspattered, the program successfully continued through three days, culminating in the Bema ceremonies honoring Wendell Willkie, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, and eight other distinguished honorarydegree recipients.

As was the case a year ago, the world crisis hovered in the background of Commencement, emerging now and again in Class Day addresses, the Alumni Association meeting, the Baccalaureate service, and the valedictory addresses at the final exercises. Despite the serious overtone, Commencement's traditional, faintly sentimental air prevailed, and to it this year was added the warm note of affectionate tribute to President Hopkins as he marked the 25th anniversary of his election as head of the College. Missing from the Commencement week-end were the color and prankishness of the younger reunion classes, which gathered in Hanover the following week; but to offset this, the seniors more completely held the center of the stage, making Commencement largely a family occasion for mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and "best girls."

Family groups began to fill the town early Friday morning, but the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Council had assembled the night before to open the weekend program with their annual Commencement meetings. With President Hopkins presiding on the eve of his 25th anniversary, the Trustees gathered in Parkhurst Hall for the all-important granting of bachelor degrees and for the usual docket of year's-end affairs. Its first important business of the evening, however, was the reelection of Dr. Arthur H. Ruggles '02 of Providence, R. I., as Alumni Trustee for a second term of five years. Dr. Ruggles, superintendent of Butler Hospital in Providence and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Mental Hygiene at the Yale Medical School, has long been an outstanding figure in Dartmouth alumni affairs, leading to his election in 1936 to his first five-year term as Trustee.

Important among the Trustee actions was the election to the Dartmouth faculty of John Pelenyi, recent Hungarian Minister to the United States, and Dr. Bernard Brodie of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, both of whom will teach special defense courses next year. Mr. Pelenyi, who voluntarily resigned his diplo- matic post last year when Hungary entered the Axis orbit, will be Visiting Lecturer in Political Science, with full professorial rank, and will give a course in "Power Politics." Dr. Brodie, whose book on SeaPower in the Machine Age was recently published, will be Instructor in Political Science and will teach "Modern War Strategy and National Policy." In announcing the establishment of these new defense courses and of a third entitled "Components of Democratic Thought," President Hopkins made known the fact that the $150,000 development fund given to the College by the Carnegie Foundation of New York in November, 1939, would be used to finance any additional costs involved in the College's growing defense program.

The Trustees also gave approval to the special arrangement whereby Gordon Ferrie Hull, Appleton Professor of Physics, Emeritus, will return to active teaching next fall to take over Physics 21-22 in place of Prof. Malcolm C. Henderson, who has been granted leave of absence to fill a defense post in California. Emeritus rank was voted to Professors Frank Maloy Anderson, Howard Nelson Kingsford, and John Moffatt Mecklin, and eight additions to the faculty were made as follows: Clyde Ira Millard, Professor of Industrial Engineering in the Thayer School; John Emerson Eldridge, Instructor in Chemistry; Vernon Hall Jr., Instructor in English: David Austin Shand, Instructor in Music; James Franklin Crow, Instructor in Zoology; Irving Sanborn Fisher, Assistant in Geology; Gwyn Bulwer Lytton, Assistant in Geology; and Richard Kenneth Muller, Assistant in Engineering in the Thayer School. The Board gave Prof. William P. Kimball '28 the title of Assistant Dean of the Thayer School and voted full professorial rank to two members of the Medical School faculty: Dr. Ralph E. Miller '34, Professor of Pathology, and Frank H. Connell '28, Professor of Parasitology.

The Trustees also voted a Senior Fellowship to Robert O. Blood Jr. '42, son of the New Hampshire Governor, increasing to six the number of undergraduates who will enjoy complete freedom from academic routines next year. This unusual addition to the senior group was made in order to enable Blood to prepare for the social service career which he has only recently decided upon in preference to medicine. He has been chairman of the Dartmouth Social Service Commission and has a near-perfect scholastic record.

While the Trustees were tackling their June docket, the Alumni Council was assembled in Thayer Hall devoting its first session to a full discussion of admissions problems under the leadership of Dean Robert C. Strong '24. At this meeting, presided over by Harold P. Hinman '10 of Canaan, N. H., it was announced that six new Council members had been elected as follows: Robert P. Booth '22 of Manchester, N. H., New England States District: Philip H. Case '07 of Philadelphia, Middle Atlantic States District; Robert M. Stecher '19 of Cleveland, Central States District; Voyle D. Rector '15 of Omaha, Middlewestern States District; Edward Stafford '11 of Washington, D. C., Southern States District; and Walter D. Douglas II '31 of Los Angeles, Rocky Mountain and Pacific States District. Prof. Francis L. Childs '06 of Hanover was reelected as faculty representative on the Council.

The Alumni Council reassembled on Friday morning and heard informal talks by President Hopkins, Prof. William Stuart Messer, vice-chairman of the Committee on Defense Instruction, and John Pearson '11, executive director of the Dartmouth Eye Institute. It then elected its officers for 1941-42, naming Sigurd S. Larmon '14 of New York City, president; Thomas B. Curtis '32 of St. Louis, vice president; and Sidney C. Hayward '26 of Hanover, secretary. The executive committee for the coming year will consist of these officers and two other members, Karl R. Maerker '10 of Pittsburgh and Dr. Thomas A. Foster '10 of Portland, Me. Harvey P. Hood II '18 and Bill Cunningham '19, both of Boston, were reelected members-at-large for three years, and Carl F. Woods 'O4 of Boston was reelected an alumni member of the Dartmouth Athletic Council for three years. John R. "McLane '07 of Manchester, N. H., was named alumni representative on the Board of Trustees of the Dartmouth Outing Club and James M. Langley 'l8 of Concord, N. H., was chosen alumni representative on the Board of Proprietors of TheDartmouth. Following these elections the Alumni Council adjourned to the Hovey Grill for its annual Commencement luncheon with the Board of Trustees.

Hanover meanwhile was rapidly being filled with senior guests and alumni reuning with the Classes of 1891, 1896, 1901, 1906, 1911, and 1916, and at 4 o'clock Fri- day afternoon the black-gowned seniors assembled under threatening skies to hold their Class Day program. "I believe in my own growth and development because at Dartmouth I have experienced them," the audience heard Charles B. McLane '41 assert in the Address to the College. "I believe in a life that is built on and includes all of these—not necessarily in the success of that life, but simply in my being able to live it. That to me is implied in democracy. I shall fight to keep the possibility of that life a reality. And as far as I can see, the strength and assurance of democracy lies in your being able to believe in and being willing to fight for such things too."

The Class Poem and other addresses repeated this keynote—"we stand ready." After the smashing of clay pipes on the stump of the Old Pine, the exercises ended as the rain began to fall. Inclement weather did not hinder the Medical School graduation and alumni dinner in Stell Hall, but President and Mrs. Hopkins were forced to cancel their annual garden reception before the Glee Club concert and Commence- ment Ball which rounded out Friday night's program.

With the Dartmouth Band at their head, alumni, faculty, seniors and their fathers paraded to Alumni Gymnasium on Saturday morning for the annual meeting of the General Alumni Association. There George M. Morris '11 of Washington, D. C, presided over the business session with dispatch and then introduced in turn the speakers of the morning—President Louis A. Young '41 of the graduating class; Edward T. S. Lord '91, speaking for the Fifty Year Class; Harvey P. Hood II 'l8, Alumni Fund chairman; Roswell Magill '16, speaking for the Twenty-Five Year Class; and finally President Hopkins, to whom Mr. Morris read the Association's resolution of congratulation and good wishes upon the occasion of the President's anniversary.

Basil O'Connor '12 of New York City was elected president of the General Association for the coming year; Samuel L. Barnes '07 of Seattle, Wash., and Eugene D. Towler '17 of New York City were chosen vice presidents; and Sidney C. Hayward

'26 of Hanover was reelected secretarytreasurer. John M. Comstock '77 of Chelsea, Vt., was returned to the post of statistical secretary and the Association's executive committee of seven was named as follows: George G. Clark '99 of Plymouth, N. H., chairman; Arthur M. Strong '92, Boston; Arthur S. Houghton '02, Worcester, Mass.; Conrad E. Snow '12, Rochester, N. H.; Andrew Marshall '22, Bethlehem, Pa.; Doane Arnold '27, Boston; and Edward B. Marks Jr. '32, New York City.

The General Association meeting disbanded shortly after 1 o'clock, and a buffet luncheon awaited everyone downstairs in the west wing of the gymnasium. From there the crowd moved to Memorial Field for the baseball game with Cornell and got one of the big thrills of the week-end when Dartmouth revenged its defeat of the day before by defeating the Ithacans, 3 to 2, and erasing their last chance to tie Princeton for Eastern Intercollegiate League honors.. The remainder of Saturday afternoon was given over to alumni activities and fraternity reunions, and the evening program was filled out by the Players' presentation of The Male Animal and an-other concert by the Dartmouth Band.

A perfect Sunday morning greeted the Commencement throng which gathered at Rollins Chapel to hear President William Alfred Eddy of Hobart College deliver the Baccalaureate Address (printed in full in this issue). An overflow crowd was accommodated on the Chapel lawn, where the service was heard over an amplifier. Shortly after Baccalaureate was over the rainclouds collected again over Hanover Plain and an afternoon drizzle set in. The ticklish problem of whether or not the Commencement exercises should be transferred to Webster Hall was solved by the weather itself, which suddenly resumed its pleasant ways. The rain-freshened Bema provided a superlative setting for the final ceremonies, witnessed by one of the largest audiences ever assembled in the central section and around the banks of the outdoor amphitheatre.

The feelings of Dartmouth seniors embarking upon a critical and uncertain future were put into touching yet courageous words by Peter M. Keir of Hanover, who had been chosen to deliver the valedictory of his class. Bachelor degrees were then conferred by President Hopkins, who immediately after delivered his traditional Valedictory Address, this year a somewhat longer statement since he had not addressed the graduating class at Baccalaureate. This address, as well as Keir's valedictory, is printed in full in the MAGAZINE. Among the 500 men in the graduating class, Timothy Takaro of Flushing, N. Y., finished his course with valedictory honors and Lawrence E. Thompson of San Marino, Calif., graduated with salutatory rank.

In the awarding of honorary degrees near the close of the exercises, great ovations were given to Mr. Willkie and Secretary Knox as they received Dartmouth's highest academic honor—the Doctorate of Laws. Two other honorary LL.D. decrees were conferred upon Joseph Bartlett Eastman, chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and Justice Stanley Elroy Qua '01 of the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. The honorary Doctorate of Letters was bestowed upon Carl Sandburg and Van Wyck Brooks, and the Doctorate of Science upon Dr. Howard Merrill Clute '11, Boston surgeon and teacher. Recipients of the honorary degree of Master of Arts were Governor Robert Oscar Blood '13m of New Hampshire; David William Armstrong of Worcester, Mass., acting executive director of the Boys' Clubs of America; and Benjamin Warren Couch '96, Concord, N. H., lawyer and for many years a leader in Dartmouth alumni affairs. The citations made by President Hopkins in conferring the honorary degrees are printed in full elsewhere in the MAGAZINE.

President and Mrs. Hopkins were able to hold on Sunday evening the garden reception which had been rained out on Friday. Mr. Willkie, who had been a supper guest at the President's House, stood in the receiving line for a while and later was the center of admiring groups—an almost constant state of affairs during the full day which he spent in Hanover. From the President's reception some went to the final Band concert and others to the final showing of Dartmouth movies. For many, however, Sunday evening was packing time preparatory to an early start home in the morning. Hanover did not seem to empty so abruptly this year, as if seniors were reluctant to go, and with the arrival of the vanguard of Hanover Holiday's recordbreaking enrollment the transition was easily made into the second week of alumni activity and reunions.

HONORARY DEGREE GUESTS READY FOR PROCESSION TO THE BEMA At the head of the procession were, seated left to right, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox,Wendell Willkie, Governor Blood, Trustee Lewis Parkhurst '78, and President Hopkins,Colonel Knox, Mr. Willkie, and Governor Blood were among the ten recipients of honorary degrees June I5.

REELECTED TRUSTEE Dr. Arthur H. Ruggles '02 of Providence,R. I., who begins a second five-year termas Alumni Trustee.