Word: lippmann
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...around his life? The eyewitnesses in the movie Reds, men and women who knew either John Reed or his wife, give a sensuous picture of what life must have meant to a man who graduated from Harvard and died a Russian patriot. But it's almost a shame Walter Lippmann himself couldn't be there to tell all interested about the life of his college friend. One can only think that Walter Lippmann himself might have been the best eyewitnesses for Reed's life from the day both of them walked into Harvard Yard until his interment in the Kremlin...
Graveside reflections or ruminations rarely make it into biographers' transcripts. Only imagination let loose could gather all of Lippmann's thoughts at the tomb of John Reed. There would have been memories, certainly--Lippmann had known Reed during their Harvard days when both wrote for student publications. Later, they belonged to the same circle of Greenwich Village friends, the crowd that steered Reed away from the dreamy indulgence of poetry and humor to the even dreamier of radical politics. Emotion--Lippmann watched Reed rapidly lose touch with the reality of politics and stood by as his friend played himself into...
...projects--becomes less and less impressive the closer one looks. Turn to Holworthy or Hollis, and you're likely to detect the sounds (and perhaps a whiff) of the 1980s, spoiling the sense of placidity. And it's doubtful that much besides taste has changed since the days when Lippmann and Reed attended classes in the Yard. Harvard loses its glory when it goes from general to specific. Not the individual students--but the path set out for them--is the measure of Harvard's glory...
Many students--like Lippmann--who had similarly undistinguished backgrounds went through four years only vaguely aware of the elaborate club system that had evolved to secure the most important social distinctions. Yet Reed was acutely aware of the entire machine, the process that channelled the young "punchees" through the Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 into the various waiting clubs, and ultimately the final clubs...
...find his niche at Harvard: publications. Although dropped--along with Lippmann--from the socially conscious Crimson, Reed, with much writing and publishing experience, found little difficulty gaining staff positions on the Harvard Monthly and The Lampoon. Both served as an outlet for quick imagination and facile wit. The writing was fun, but rarely serious. Too much was written seriously, without revision or even serious editing. Yet, largely for his contributions to these publications, Reed's name became a familiar one to the undergraduate community. Achieving the position of Ibis on the Lampoon, Jack could boast to his mother in Portland...