Word: conantã
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Times do change, and progress in human affairs is indeed possible. Surely we can take these happy messages from President Drew G. Faust’s inauguration ceremony a couple of weeks ago. She brought smiles to every face by reading from President James B. Conant??s ’14 1951 letter to his unknown successor. It began, “Dear Sir”—a stunning reminder that in 50 years, even at Harvard, we can transcend our unacknowledged prejudices...
...real significance for us in Conant??s letter is the immediacy of the threats to both kinds of freedom and the connection between them...
...letter written 50 years ago and marked for the University President at the outset of the 21st century “and not before.”Faust said in the interview that she approached the letter both as one of Conant??s successors and as a historian.“This is my life. My life has been, as a historian, the voices across generations, the voices from the past that have spoken to me in primary sources,” Faust said. “To have something directed this way, to me, at this moment...
...Conant??s letter, like our gathering here, marks a dramatic intersection of the past with the future. This is a ceremony in which I pledge—with keys and seal and charter—my accountability to the traditions that his voice from the past invokes. At the same time, I affirm, in compact with all of you, my accountability to and for Harvard’s future. As in Conant??s day, we face uncertainties in a world that gives us sound reason for disquiet. But we too maintain an unwavering belief...
...School had tried to keep Conant out—his mother said he couldn’t spell—Harvard invited him in. Until 1953, the chemist and self-made man would promote the sciences, standardization, and academic scholarships, and often worked off-campus on the Manhattan Project. Conant??s successor Nathan M. Pusey ’28, had a strong presence at Harvard, and not just for academic reasons. An August 8, 1953 headline from the Boston Globe stated that, according to the “girls,” Pusey...