Word: fifths
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Thus, whereas only a twelfth of Harvard's undergraduates, describe their political temperament as "radical" --judging from the questionnaire--over a seventh support "full socialization of all industries," more than a fifth favor socialization of the medical profession, and nearly a third believe that the Federal government should own and operate all basic industries, such as steel and railroads. In a society that accepts such phrases as "free competition" and "private enterprise" as its conventional rhetoric, it is curious to find extensive support--even among students--for socialization and similar radical proposals...
...Fully a fifth of the undergraduates, however, support such "conservative" stands as reducing the current inflation, even at the price of unrelieved unemployment, and barring government wage and price controls except in time of national emergency...
Although a fifth still describe themselves as "conservative" in temperament, over half prefer the safe and evasive category of "moderate liberal." In addition, a sixth of the students appear willing to admit that they remain "politically indifferent." Neither Hoffa nor the "missile-gap" can arouse them from their lethargy. Apparently ignoring the dictum that "knowledge is power," these Political Indifferents fervently hope that "ignorance is bliss...
Just as three-fifths read Time and call themselves "moderate liberals," about two-thirds believe that America's two-party system is "satisfactory on the whole and should be essentially retained." In contrast, only one-fifth (extremists of both Right and Left) favor an alteration of the present party structure "so that sharper lines could be drawn" between the two parties--the G.O.P. presumably returning to its conservatism of a by-gone era, and the Democrats moving even further to the Left and becoming, in name as well as in fact, the party of the Respectable Radicals...
However, it is too early for '59 to predict its success in its chosen professions. The Class of '59 will be in a good position to evaluate such judgments at its twenty-fifth reunion when it returns to the Harvard of 1984. Until it can, the Class can rest content with the judgments of two of the University's top administrators. Dean Bender has said that the Class of '59 contains "an extraordinary number of extraordinary characters." And Dean Monro thought that '59 will prove itself "one heck of a good class." The Class of 1959 can reserve...