University Mobilized Rapidly in '42, Was Naval Training Camp by '43

Less than ten years ago, the University faced the same problems of war mobilization it has today. However, after Pearl Harbor the United States was in all all-out war, and changes came more rapidly than they have this year.

Today seven months after the outbreak of the Korean War, the University is nowhere near a wartime footing. But in January 1942, within a month of Pearl Harbor, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences had voted a three-term year for the College and G.S.A.S. The Navy took over the Yard dorms in July of 1942, and by July '43, undergraduates lived only in Dunster, Adams, and Lowell Houses.

Service Schools

At that time the ratio of servicemen--mostly naval--to students was about five to one; this figure remained approximately constant throughout the war. The Navy conducted a communications and an indoctrination school, the Army a quartermaster and field artillery ROTC as well as a chaplain's school, and the Air Force a statisticians school here during the war. These were gradually established from June, 1941 through the summer of '43.

As for the student body, Pearl Harbor shook them out of their complacency. From the outbreak of the European War in September of 1939 down through December, 1941, the majority of students were more interested in Yale weekends than in the Battle of Britain. Pressure groups were working for both for and against intervention, but to relatively little avail.

Before Selective Service appeared in October of 1940, the College had heard President Conant and Archibald MacLeish, then Librarian of Congress, tell the students to continue with their studies and prepare for the future by doing their best now.

President Conant did say late in 1940 that it is the duty of the United States to save democracy. He urged that this country be "fully armed ... and prepared to fight if necessary."

The fall of 1940 also saw a student resign under pressure from the Verein Trumwechter because of his outspoken support of the Third Reich. Three College students and an Economics A instructor who had been an American citizen for only three weeks were inducted in the first draft call under Selective Service.

Rally Picketed

Five teachers including William Y. Elliott, professor of Government addressed a pro-interventionist rally in Emerson Hall while 400 members of the Committee for Militant Peace picketed the meeting. Only a contingent of Yard Police prevented a serious incident.

In February of 1941, President Conant went to Washington to support the pending Lend Lease bill before a Senate committee. He favored any and all measures necessary to defeat the Axis powers, saying that "there can be no peace" with the powers of totalitarianism as strong and power-hungry as they are. Before the bill was passed, 68 faculty members sent a resolution to Congress denouncing the measure as a needless curtailing of popular government. Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology, and Frederick Merk, professor of History, were among the signers.

The spring term saw a gradual increase in student interest in the world situation. students burned Hitler in effigy on the Anderson Bridge. In a more serious vein, the Student Council repeatedly urged that senior draftees be awarded early degrees, which the Faculty approved for honor students that May.

Reversing the situation of the previous fall, 600 anti-interventionists held a peace rally at the College. The late F. O. Matthiessen, then associate professor of History and Literature, told the rally that war was not inevitable if the people did not demand it, which they "obviously" don't.

Conant Urges Intervention

President Conant told the nation in a cost-to-coast radio broadcast on May 4 that "strategy ... honor, and self-interest" demand that the United States enter the war as an active belligerent at once.

After commencement in '41, the first step toward the future military setup at the University was taken, as the Army started a quartermaster ROTC unit at the Business School.

When the College came back in the fall of 1941, it found the ranks of its faculty depleted. William K. Langer '15, Coolidge Professor of History, John K. Fairbank '29, now professor of History, had been called to Washington along with many others. Enrollments, especially in graduate schools, dropped seriously. The Law School suffered a loss of over 400 students, the G.S.A.S. enrollment fell 200, while 70 dropped from the College.

On October 6, President Conant appointed a committee to work with Cambridge authorities on integrating the University's and the city's defense plans, especially against a possible air attack. A course on air-raid precautions was instituted, open to all connected with the University.

Sanders Theatre Meeting

Immediately after Pearl Harbor the University announced that is was delaying all immediate plans for changes, saying that it would await Washington developments. President Conant, in an address to an overflow crowd in Sanders Theatre on December 8, pledged full University co-operation in the war effort, and urged calmness and deliberation in advising all students to "examine the situation carefully and then decide how best they can serve their country."

A mock air raid came off perfectly the next day and P.B.H. expanded its civilian defense facilities greatly, urging all students to volunteer for part-time work.

But measures to meet the war situation were soon forthcoming. On January 7, 1942, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to admit freshmen in February and July as well as in September, thus putting the College on a three-term year basis. The Summer School course was extended to 12 weeks and was put on a par with the fall and spring terms.

Compulsory Exercise

The faculty also voted compulsory exercise including military drill for all students for four hours per week, commencing after the Spring vacation. The administration decided that for the duration of the war, freshmen beginning with the Class of '46, would live in the Houses instead of the Yard.

Late that Spring, the Navy announced it would occupy the vacated Yard dorms. Between 500 and 1,000 sailors, in one of the Navy's three schools of communications, would be housed in the Yard and fed in the Union.

During the summer term of 1942, the largest in the University's history, 8,700 students and close to 1,000 sailors both attended classes in the Yard.

Graduate In Fall

Without benefit of commencement exercises, about 125 College students left in the fall of '42 with their degrees in their pockets. They had rushed through their theses, divisional exams, and finals during the summer in order to receive degrees before being drafted.

Six-hundred and eighty freshmen registered on September 25, 1942, swelling the ranks of the class of '46 to almost 1,400 an all-time high. Total undergraduate enrollment was 3,580, but the Graduate Schools lost a total of 1,055 men to the services and other vital occupations.

The '42 season found the football team sadly lacking in both material and coaches. The varsity combined partially with the freshmen and the season record was two won, six lost and one tied.

On October 7, President Conant urged that all colleges be put on a war-time basis, saying that it would be only a mat- ter of time before the draft age would be lowered to 18.

In December, the government released its master plan for the colleges' part in the war effort. It called for the continuation of some reserve programs and for the full utilization of all college facilities for the war effort.

On January 7, 1943, the Business School announced that it would accept to more candidates for degrees for the duration of the war. The Busy School thus became the first part of the University to move onto a full wartime basis.

Harvard's enlisted reserve corps was called to active duty in January of 1943. Men continued to leave the University throughout the Spring of 1943. Most student activities, such as the CRIMSON, gradually stopped for the duration. By that time, the military was fully established at Harvard and civilian enrollment was little more than 1,000.

Not until late 1945 was the trend to reverse itself and Harvard once more start on the path towards regaining its peacetime atmosphere