Word: latham
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...troubled times is the breed of college professors who, against the somber stereotype of their profession, are, nevertheless, capable of achieving the rare combination of a sense of humor with a sober pursuit of knowledge. One man who has discovered the recipe for just such a blending is Earl Latham, Visiting Professor of Government from Amherst, who regularly presides at the gathering of Government 135 where he dispenses his collected does of cynicism on party politics in America...
Perhaps some of that cynicism developed when Latham was himself an undergraduate at Harvard almost thirty years ago. "The sweater still fits," he admits, "but I would hesitate to display the numerals. (Class of 1930). Coming from Brockton High School, "where everybody knew everybody," Latham entered the cold, impersonal atmosphere of Harvard during the lingering days of the Gold Coast...
When, in 1935, as a teaching assistant in the Government department, Latham was offered a grant from the Social Science Research Council, he accepted it because it provided him with an opportunity to travel. "I was born in Massachusetts (New Bedford) and at the time I had never been as far west as the Connecticut River." As for the grant itself, he explains, "You know, it was one of those grants where you travel around the United States and sort of study the rotundity of the earth...
...Latham returned to Harvard as an instructor and tutor, received his doctorate, and left in 1940 to accept a teaching position at the University of Minnesota...
After the war years, during which Latham had spent most of his time working for the Bureau of the Budget, he had to make what he has called the "key decision" of his life, of whether to remain in government service or to return to teaching. He decided on an academic career and returned to the University of Minnesota, but retained his interest in politics...