Word: letter
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Alumni Association's Committee to Nominate Candidates for Overseers met in Boston and worked out a ten man slate that included the name of United Nations Under-Secretary Ralphe Bunche. Three months later, when the list had been published, Archibald B. Roosevelt '17 (son of T.R.) dispatched a long letter (see box) to President Pusey, expressing his horror at reading of Bunche's candidacy for the Board of Overseers, and urging Pusey to "find means to quash this most inappropriate nomination...
Faced with an unsympathetic reply from Massachusetts Hall, an organization called the Veritas Foundation--of which Roosevelt is President--decided to take the case to the voters. Forty-five thousand copies of the letter were printed and recently mailed to every living College alumnus. His fellow Trustees--Arthur Brooks Harlow '25 and William A. Robertson '33--joined Roosevelt in signing a covering letter which outlined the "general objective" of their Foundation...
Veritas members nevertheless sent out hundreds of letters to classmates and alumni acquaintances, urging protest against the appointment. Kenneth D. Robertson, Jr. '29 wrote to the Hon. Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr. '27 (then Chairman of the Board of Overseers), asking "whether or not you now approve of the Oppenheimer appointment as William James lecturer," and "your views as to Dr. Oppenheimer's moral qualifications to lecture on the subject of ethics and philosophy." Though Robertson's letter began with some valid questions (the second never answered), it ended with a polemic...
...this letter makes you angry by speaking too plainly, please don't take it out on me. After all, I didn't have a Communist as a an intimate 'girl friend,' didn't contribute money to the Communist party, didn't associate with Communists and employ them in secret Government work or fail to pass security tests. Nor have I lied about the forgoing when questioned thereon. Finally, don't blame me for appointing...
...with intellectuals in general, one suspects, dates back to the 1930's when the University provided a fair proportion of "brain-trusters" for FDR's New Deal. Yet, the sincerity of Veritas members cannot be questioned. Only strong conviction and deep concern explain the printing of Roosevelt's letter to Pusey, or his writing it in the first place; only a firm sense of patriotism can account for the large amounts of time and money spent on mailings and preparation of the 49-page documentation on Bunche's past activities...