Man of the Hour
Page 75
“present danger”: Ibid.
“a good chance of avoiding . . .”: WP, February 11, 1951.
“What we had to guard against . . .”: MSL, 519.
“10 1/2 years . . .”: JBC diary, June 1, 1952, JBCPP.
“My mind was focused . . . ,” “in the not too . . . give me a second chance”: MSL, 533–35.
“Foster, don’t you want to talk . . . ,” “Well, we don’t have to agree . . .”: Ibid.
“The Day! Oh Boy! . . .”: JBC diary, December 22 and 23, 1952, JBCPP.
“You are hooked”: MSL, 68.
“all lesser” problems . . .”: Deborah Kisatsky, The United States and the European Right, 51.
“hanging fire,” “rush through”: Ibid., 536, 538.
“readiness to help . . . in this regard”: DDE to JBC, December 24 and 27, 1952, CFP.
“long enough to serve . . .”: JBC to George Kistiakowsky, January 6, 1953, CFP.
“lengthy farewells”: HC, January 22, 1953.
“tired of exercising . . .”: Smith, The Harvard Century, 186.
“firing without warning”: Bethell, Harvard Observed, 191.
“hooky”: Paul Buck as quoted in Keller, Making Harvard Modern, 163.
“being a seer . . .”: “U.S. Education’s No. 1 Man,” Newsweek, September 22, 1952, 73.
“thunderous silence”: JBC diary, January 1, 1953, JBCPP.
“I shall be leaving . . .”: Smith, The Harvard Century, 186.
“Even in a period . . .”: BDG, January 1953, CFP.
“It seemed ten steps down . . .”: Smith, The Harvard Century, 186.
“Conant reached greatness . . . Harvard students”: Crimson farewell, reprinted in Harvard Bulletin, January 24, 1953.
“You alone could . . .”: Agnes E. Meyer to JBC, January 14, 1953, CFP.
“The next time I see you . . .”: VB to JBC, January 9, 1953, CFP.
“Typical of the physical scientist! . . .”: Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 648.
“I would like to be frank . . .”: JBC to Percy Bridgman, January 1, 1953, CFP.
CHAPTER 21: MAN OF THE HOUR
“Germany has been a thread . . . ,” “little blockade,” “symmetry”: Robert Shaplen, “Sabbatical,” 142, 138, 151.
“soft on Communism,” “complete redistribution . . . ,” “pull the wool”: MSL, 539–41. “President Conant Testifies,” Harvard Alumni Bulletin, February 21, 1953.
“much opposed to Conant . . . make a row”: Jean Edward Smith, Eisenhower, 585.
“loaded down with information . . . ,” “such rapid changes . . . controversial figure”: MSL, 545.
“how many Nazis . . . ,” “Germany as a bulwark”: Shaplen, “Sabbatical,” 152.
“disastrous”: JBC interview with Gordon Craig, August 9, 1965, John Foster Dulles Oral History Project, PUOH.
“from pariah to partner”: Kisatsky, The United States and the European Right, 27.
“staggering numbers,” “danger of epidemics . . . discontent or Communists”: JBC to JFD, February 27 and March 5, 1953, as quoted in Christian Ostermann, “The United States, the East German Uprising of 1953, and the Limits of Rollback,” Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, December 1994, 10.
“outpost of freedom”: MSL, 556–57.
“fantastic, grim picture”: Ibid.
“the frontiers of freedom. . . ,” “voting with their feet,” “a slow death . . .”: NYT, February 13, 1953.
“When will the Russians . . . course of events”: MSL, 557.
“headaches”: Ibid., 551.
psychological warfare, “the pressure on . . . for defense only,” “to keep the pot simmering . . .”: Ostermann, “The United States, the East German Uprising of 1953,” 13.
“big lie,” “calm aloofness,” “free hand,” “security risk”: MSL, 561, 563–64.
“Something approaching . . . spinning counterclockwise”: Ibid.
deshelved, “If there was one subject . . .”: O’Donnell, “Professor in a Hot Spot,” 32–33.
“Well, the HICOG . . .”: JBC diary, May 31, 1953, JBCPP.
“to play ball with . . .”: MSL, 576.
“glorified messenger”: A. A. Berle Sr. to JBC, January 18, 1953, CFP.
“book burner”: MSL, 555–56.
“kindly old professor . . .”: O’Donnell, “Professor in a Hot Spot,” 32.
“good graces,” “reign of stupidity . . .”: MSL, 578.
“but with different ideas”: Smith, The Harvard Century, 190.
“sympathy and asylum”: Thomas Powers, The Man Who Kept Secrets: Richard Helms and the CIA (New York: Pocket Books, 1979), 55–56.
“irreconcilable hostility”: Monk, Robert Oppenheimer, 619.
“had virtually run . . . ,” “Westintegration,” “no single party . . . ,” “personal influence . . .” “triumph of democracy . . .”: Kisatsky, United States and the European Right, 55–56.
“German problem”: MSL, 603.
“the resources of which the United States . . .”: Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 672.
“off-chance”: MSL, 603.
“national army . . . thoroughly alarmed”: JBC to JFD, November 13, 1953, JFD Papers, DDEL.
“What growling dogs . . .”: JBC diary, March 2, 1954, JBCPP, HUA.
“little European countries,” “No reaction from Washington . . .”: JBC diary, April 1, 1954.
“atmosphere of fear . . .”: MSL, 562.
“top administration officials . . .”: Polenberg, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, xvii.
“notorious senator”: MSL, 566.
“Some of the ‘boys’ . . . ,” “dirty words”: Monk, Robert Oppenheimer, 579.
“blank wall”: Polenberg, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, xvii.
“I have no apologies . . . ,” “pass judgment . . .”: JBC to VB, March 26 and April 1, 1954, JBCPP.
“factors unknown to you”: Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 679.
“covered Germany in 15 min . . . I was through”: JBC diary, April 19, 1954, JBCPP.
“aggressive mood,” “carelessly drafted”: MSL, 501. JBC’s testimony is quoted in the full transcript of the hearings in Polenberg, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
“not very happy”: JBC diary, April 19, 1954, JBCPP.
“belligerent corporal”: JBC as quoted in John C. Landers, “An introduction to an interview with James B. Conant: The Manhattan Project as seen by Dr. Conant, and Commentary on the unprecedented and what it has left us,” March 8, 1974, Harvard University, HUA (henceforth JBC OH/Landers).
“prayed it would come out . . .”: JBC diary, April 26, 1954, JBCPP. Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 680.
“No criticism . . .”: DDE to JBC, unmailed draft, April 26, 1954. See Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 680. Also see Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower the President. Vol. 2 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), 167.
“Washington very tense! . . . scientists in the other camp”: JBC diary, May 23, 1954, JBCPP.
“first-class mess”: JBC to Bill Marbury, as quoted in Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 681.
“loyal citizen . . . interests of security,” “to deny him clearance . . .”: Polenberg, In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, xxv, xxviii.
“tissue of lies”: Ibid., xxviii.
“It was an outrageous business . . .”: JBC OH/Landers.
“fatal day,” “the free world . . . ,” “D-day or Defeat Day”: JBC diary, July 29, July 10, and August 30, 1954, JBCPP.
“shattered”: JBC interview with Gordon Craig.
“gone up in oratorical smoke . . .”: MSL, 588.
“What will happen? . . .”: JBC diary, August 31, 1954, JBCPP.
“agonizing reappraisal,” “a crisis of almost terrifying . . .”: Townsend Hoopes, The Devil and John Foster Dulles: The Diplomacy of the Eisenhower Era (Boston: Little, Brown, 1973), 249.
“threateni
ng attitude . . .”: JBC interview with Gordon Craig.
“Oh, you are the high commissioner . . .”: MSL, 588–89. JBC diary, March 27, 1955, JBCPP.
“incredibly torturous,” “So it seems that at long last . . .”: Ibid.
“boiled over,” “diplomatically naked”: MSL, 590.
“tantamount to a tribute . . .”: DBG, May 6, 1955. MSL, 593.
“open skies,” “to give each other . . .”: Smith, Eisenhower, 667.
“spirit of Geneva”: Hoopes, The Devil and John Foster Dulles, 300.
“fraud, from beginning to end”: JBC interview with Gordon Craig.
“Professor atom,” “goodwill tours,” “accentuate the positive”: O’Donnell, “Professor in a Hot Spot,” 141–42.
“commandos of the Cold War,” “abomination,” “monstrous aberration,” “the spirit of free Germany . . . given half a chance”: Ibid., 140–42.
“on its way”: Ibid.
“effective crystallizer”: John W. Gardner, “Reminiscences,” CCR.
“blank check,” “He was absolutely clear . . . goes off half-cocked”: Ibid. MSL, 615.
“very favorably inclined . . .”: JBC interview with Gordon Craig.
“tantamount to blackmail”: NYT, May 6, 1955.
“German hands”: MSL, 604.
“grossly discourteous . . . ,” “visible proof”: BH, December 5, 1955.
“decisions could only be made . . .”: MSL, 608.
New Look Doctrine, “maximum protection . . . ,” “massive retaliation”: Hoopes, The Devil and John Foster Dulles, 198–99.
“Somebody in Bonn . . . only thing that could be used”: JBC interview with Gordon Craig.
“What irony . . .”: JBC diary, July 3, 1955, JBCPP.
“textbook,” “political touch”: Kisatsky, United States and the European Right.
“I prefer to appoint Conant,” “probably would not operate . . .”: Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 695.
“major catastrophe,” “The president and I would like. . . ,” “tramped the mountain trails,” “pushed out”: MSL, 615.
“How to cut Nasser down . . .”: JBC diary, September 7, 1956, JBCPP.
“What sounded like a herald . . .”: Ibid., November 5–7, 1956.
“a difference of opinion . . .”: MSL, 617–18.
“deep personal regret . . . drew so frequently”: DDE to JBC, reprinted in NYT, January 29, 1957.
“quite a heart-rending business”: GRC to MTR, February 27, 1957, CFP.
CHAPTER 22: WARRIOR EDUCATOR
“what will be needed . . .”: JBC to Sherman Adams for DDE, November 10, 1957, JBCPP.
Murrow visit: Interview with Theodore R. Conant.
“who could indeed be called . . .”: WP, January 14, 1954.
“as long as I can write . . .”: Amster, “Meritocracy Ascendant,” 193.
“vast engine of democracy,” “logistical support”: JBC, “A Guide to Public Education for the Conscientious Citizen,” foreword, unpublished manuscript, CCR.
“strong prejudice . . .”: JBC, “Notes on Writing an Autobiography,” unpublished manuscript, May 22, 1969, 1, CCR.
“brave and wise . . . boys”: GRC to MTR, December (undated), 1953, CFP.
“an attractive, intelligent . . . ,” “possessed of a great deal . . .”: As quoted by GRC to MTR, August 27 and 30, 1957, CFP.
“My mother suffered . . . fairly normal!”: GRC to Jean Demos, February 22, 1968, CFP.
“domestic minded”: GRC to Jean Demos, fall 1957, CFP.
“master of the two-minute . . .”: JBC to GRC, October 22, 1957, CFP.
“live like a monk”: GRC to Jean Demos, fall 1957, CFP.
“unless you force me . . . Ditto for cocktails”: JBC to GRC, October 2, 1957, CFP.
“a battle more important . . . ,” “tough competitive race”: Isaacs and Downing, Cold War, 155.
“softness”: Ibid.
“Those now in college”: JBC to Sherman Adams for DDE, November 10, 1957, JBCPP.
“qualified citizen . . .”: BG, November 5, 1957.
“He displayed no interest . . .”: Interview with William Golden.
“on the arbitrary assumption . . .”: William Golden’s private notes on conversation with JBC, courtesy of William Golden.
“tough”: “The Inspector General,” Time, September 14, 1959, 74.
“timing was perfect”: MSL, 621.
“a rare record,” “who has done more . . .”: “A Letter from the Publisher,” Time, September 14, 1959.
“radical changes,” “sorting-out process”: “The Inspector General,” 70–79. Amster, “Meritocracy Ascendant,” 223.
“equality of esteem,” “Each honest calling . . .”: Ibid.
“a melting pot,” “A modern industrial nation . . .”: Ibid.
“intensely focused . . . the old one”: Lemann, The Big Test, 47.
“Conant believed that admissions . . .”: Louis Menand, American Studies, 92.
“free city,” “Berlin is the testicles . . .”: Smith, Eisenhower, 744.
“low-level”: Ambrose, Eisenhower, 502.
“I am still firmly . . . supplied as at present”: JBC to JFD, December 10, 1958, as quoted in Hershberg, Harvard to Hiroshima, 715.
“Open letter to America’s Grandchildren . . . supineness from belligerency”: “A Stirring Message for Independence Day,” Parade, July 5, 1959, 4–5.
“fearful world,” “there is one essential . . . utterly destroyed”: JBC, “The Defense of Freedom,” November 12, 1959, JBCPP.
“What emerged from Conant’s . . .”: Warner, Province of Reason, 234.
“It is easy to be defeatest . . .”: BDG, September 6, 1951.
“released in fragile health . . .”: Gregory Henderson, “For Jim Conant,” typed transcript of memorial remarks, August 29, 1981, CFP.
“went to pieces,” “He was more concerned . . .”: Interview with Theodore R. Conant.
“After that, he washed his hands . . .”: Ibid.
“manic side”: JBC diary, January 1–4, and scattered mentions throughout spring 1962, JBCPP.
“He tried to slug it out . . . any real home”: Henderson, “For Jim Conant.”
“It’s all very well . . . objectively anymore”: GRC to JBC, November 9, 1964, CFP.
“go the same way,” “I wondered what the hell . . .”: Interview with Ellen Conant.
“The tragedy of Ted’s life . . .”: EC as quoted by GRC to JBC, October 27, 1958, CFP.
“educational statesman,” “cruel pace”: NYT, October 17, 1961.
“written in wrath,” “social dynamite . . . these young people?”: Ibid.
“These situations call for action . . .”: JBC, Slums and Suburbs, 21.
“For the first time . . .”: Fred M. Hechinger, “Conant: A New Report by the Schools’ Mr. Fixit,” a review of JBC’s The Comprehensive High School: A Second Report to Interested Citizens, NYT, March 5, 1967.
“token integration,” “separate but equal”: MSL, 622–23.
“to bring the schools closer . . . marketable skills,” “army of shoeshine boys”: Hechinger, “Conant: A New Report by the Schools’ Mr. Fixit.”
“not racial integration . . .”: Atlanta Daily World, October 26, 1961.
“seem as nothing”: JBC, “A Guide to Public Education for the Conscientious Citizen,” foreword, unpublished manuscript, CCR. MSL, 624.
“hornets’ nest”: JBC to GRC, September 12, 1963, CFP.
“scandalously remiss”: NYT, September 15, 1963.
“bankrupt,” “Mickey Mouse,” “opium smokers”: Ibid. Also JBC, The Education of American Teachers (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963).
“unequaled impact,” “missionary zeal”: NYT, September 15, 1963.
“burning faith in the American . . .”: Frank Keppel, as quoted in Torsten Husen, “Encounters with James B. Conant—Harvard President and Defender of Public School,” Project Muse, 87.
; “Behold the turtle . . .”: Los Angeles Examiner, March 16, 1960.
“transparent,” “The armed East German . . .”: MSL, 624.
“There are many people . . . Ich bin ein Berliner”: Isaacs and Downing, Cold War, 155.
“The president went very far . . . claim to have anticipated”: JBC diary, June 26, 1963, JBCPP.
“with a despairing gesture”: JBC Planner, November 22 and 23, JBCPP.
“full of sorrow and worry”: JBC Diary, November 22, JBCPP.
“spirit of optimism,” “new spirit,” “went right through our hearts”: JBC, “Report to President of the Ford Foundation” (Report on two years in Berlin) 5, CCR.
“I found myself asking . . .”: JBC to Tracy Voorhees, November 29, 1963, JBCPP.
“sadness and festivity”: JBC diary, December 6, 1963, JBCPP.
“Scientist and educator . . .”: BG, December 7, 1963.
“politely but firmly . . . unnoticed,” “fleet in being”: MSL, 628–29.
“leisurely reflection . . . as we were then”: Ibid.
“lone wolf existence,” “picking ourselves up . . .”: GRC to Jean Demos, January 25, 1968, CFP.
“uninterruptedly . . . too many visitors”: Ibid., December 5, 1965, CFP.
“He can’t bear to look . . .”: Ibid., October 16, 1967.
“an autobiography . . .”: JBC to E. Alden Dunham, April 17, 1967, CCR.
“Good Man, Dull Book”: John Leonard, review of My Several Lives: Memoirs of a Social Inventor, NYT, March 4, 1970.
“Mr. Conant called his book . . .”: Harold Taylor, review of My Several Lives: Memoirs of a Social Inventor, NYT Book Review, March 22, 1970.
“The White Knight . . . ,” “under the sign . . .”: JBC, My Several Lives, xvi.
“triage”: Interview with Theodore Conant.
“flickers of bitterness,” “What Jim would have liked . . .”: Henderson, “For Jim Conant,” typed transcript of memorial remarks, August 29, 1981, CFP.
“Were you all convinced . . . ,” “Oh no,” “These two gentlemen . . .”: Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1970.
“With grateful memories . . .”: Inside page of Groves’s copy, generously given to the author by a reader.
“I do not look back . . . my own research”: “James Bryant Conant,” Douglas P. Cooper Distinguished Contemporaries Collection, WNYC. January 1, 1970.