Harriman, Lowell Get Honorary Degrees; Gardner, Rock, Schweitzer, Cabot Cited

The University today conferred honorary degrees on 14 men and one woman, including W. Averell Harriman, U.S. ambassador-at large, who received a Doctor of Laws.

John W. Gardner, Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, also received an honorary LL.D., and poet Robert Lowell, visiting professor of English, received a Doctor of Letters.

The presentation of the honoraria's climaxed Harvard's 315th Commencement exercises.

The University also honored three prominent scientists: John Rock '15, Clinical Professor of Gynecology, Emeritus and a pioneer in birth control (LL.D.); John H. Van Vleck, former dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics and a forerunner in discoveries in quantum theory, who received a Doctor of Science; and chemist Manfred Eigen, division director at Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry at Goettingen, Germany, a pioneer in perfecting techniques to measure chemical reactions to a minute fraction of a second, who also received a Doctor of Science.

Also honored were Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who received an LL.D.; and the president-elect of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Howard W. Johnson, who also received a Doctor of Laws degree.

Three men who have helped govern Harvard for the past two decades received degrees: Charles A. Coolidge '17, former Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation, who received an LL.D.; Paul C. Cabot '21, the former treasurer of the University, another Doctor of Laws; and David W. Bailey '21, the former Secretary to the Corporation and Secretary of the Harvard Board of Overseers, who received a Doctor of Humane Letters.

Only Woman

The only woman to receive an honorary degree was Martha Graham, the dancer and choreographer, who was honored with a Doctor of Arts. Alexander Calder, the sculptor, also received a Doctor of Arts, and poet-critic Mark Van Doren, Professor of English, Emeritus, at Columbia University received a Doctor of Letters. Also honored was Saul Lieberman, professor of Palestinian Literature and Institutions and Dean of the Graduate Department and of the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, who received a Doctor of Letters.

Harriman is expected to speak this afternoon at the alumni exercises. A former governor of New York, Harriman, during a diplomatic career that stretches over more than two decades, has served as ambassador to both the Soviet Union and Great Britain. He has been ambassador-at-large under both President Kennedy and President Johnson.

Gardner was appointed Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare last year. Now on leave as President of both the Carneigie Corporation and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Gardner was cited as "an informed and articulate champion of education." Last summer, he was chairman of the White House Conference on Education.

Lowell has won both the Pulitzer and the National Book Awards for his poetry. Recently, he received wide-spread publicity for his opposition to the war in Vietnam. Last summer he declined to attend a White House arts festival, because he said his attendance might be construed as an endorsement of Pres. Johnson's policy. His citation read: "With anguished heart this powerful poet compassionately confronts the tragic complexities of human existence."

Rock did significant research in the development of oral contraceptives and is an articulate Catholic spokesman for birth control and family planning. His degree read; "To thousands of grateful patients he has given the joy of children; to million of families the potentialities of a happier life."