Friday, September 29, 2006
Reviving a shameful Ivy League legacy
In May 1934, the Harvard administration played host to Nazi Germany’s U.S. ambassador, Hans Luther. He visited Harvard’s Germanic Museum and Widener Library. The following month, Harvard president James Conant rolled out the red carpet for Hitler’s foreign press chief, Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstangl. A graduate of the class of 1909, Hanfstangl came for the June 1934 commencement and his 25-year class reunion. He had been a close ally of Hitler’s since the early 1920s, and in his new position was responsible for spreading Nazi propaganda abroad.
President Conant received the Nazi official at a tea for the Class of ‘09 in his home. The student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, even urged the administration to award Hanfstangl an honorary degree “as a mark of honor appropriate to his high position in the government of a friendly country.”
Later that year, the Harvard administration hosted Germany’s Boston consul-general, Baron Kurt von Tippelskirch, at a ceremony honoring Harvard graduates who had died while fighting in the German army in World War I. The consul’s wreath included the infamous Nazi swastika.
Meanwhile, at Columbia, president Nicholas Murray Butler in 1933 invited Nazi ambassador Hans Luther to speak on campus, and also hosted a reception for him. Luther represented “the government of a friendly people,” Butler insisted. He was “entitled to be received … with the greatest courtesy and respect.” Ambassador Luther’s speech focused on what he characterized as Hitler’s peaceful intentions.
Three years later, the Columbia administration announced it would send a delegate to Nazi Germany to take part in the 550th anniversary celebration of the University of Heidelberg. (Harvard did likewise.) This, despite the fact that Heidelberg already had been purged of Jewish faculty members, instituted a Nazi curriculum and hosted a burning of books by Jewish authors...
...Universities are uniquely positioned to shape public attitudes. As the pillars of America’s educational system, they are looked upon as exemplars for our society. But what example did they set in the 1930s, by hosting officials of the Hitler regime and expelling a student for the ‘crime’ of leading an anti-Nazi rally? What message do they send today by welcoming leaders of a regime that sponsors international terrorism and threatens to annihilate five million Israeli Jews?
2 Comments
Leave a comment to: Everything old is new again in the Ivy
Comment Info and Policy:
1) You must have Javascript enabled in your browser in order to comment (blame the spammers). If you don't know what that is, you're probably fine.
2) HTML is on, so basic html should work. Raw links will be made auto-clickable, too, so even if you don't know html you can just paste in the link and it should work fine. Keep the "http://" in it.
3) Comments are generally unmoderated, which means I don't necessarily agree with the tone and tenor of everything posted. In fact, sometimes people post things they don't really mean just to make other people look bad. The internet is an anonymous place for the most part. That said...
4) I welcome you to post here. I'd love to have your input, agree, disagree or just offer a different data point, really. If I didn't want any participation, I'd turn off comments. Be aware, however, that this blog and the comments section exist for my entertainment. Therefore, I reserve ALL RIGHTS here, including the right to remove any or all comments on nothing more than a whim. Please don't even bother complaining. I'm the one providing the space and the free news and thought buffet. I don't owe anyone anything.
Anyone who posts here will be treated as my guest. That means I'm happy to be polite as a default, but if anyone is rude to the host they'll be unceremoniously shown the door.
It may pay to recall a famous line from the Tom Selleck magnum opus, Mr. Baseball: "Jack-san, you want Yoji's advice about the babes, you come to Yoji with respect."
5) Enjoy your stay!
There are other aspects to this, for example one relevant to the Roosevelt administration and the British government, one which transpired later, '38-40. The German army, led by General Beck, was planning a coup to topple Hitler and they sought confirmation from Britain that they would aid the coup and not fight against it (this prior to the Sudetenland crisis and Krystallnacht in 1938). A diplomat representing the coup leaders, an Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, was dispatched to secure such an agreement with the British govt. but Chamberlain dismissed Kleist's request, suggesting Kleist and the coup leaders were German traitors. Kleist also met with Churchill at that same time and was not able to achieve anything. Theo Kordt, another German resistance emissary, was sent to reaffirm Kleist's request, but Kordt also was not able to achieve anything.
Later, in 1940 and still prior to formal hostilities, Adam von Trott, another German resistance emissary, was sent to Washington D.C. in an attempt to meet with Roosevelt and was met with a similar refusal, one originating directly from Roosevelt himself.
Conant was, in my opinion, as evil as Hitler. You should read Nicholas Lehman's story about the development of the SATs at Harvard during World War II. I'm not surprised to hear about this connection. Lehman maintains that the SATs, arising from the IQ tests, was born of Naziism. Now I can see how that connection came about. Unbelievable.