THE LAST NORMAL CLASS

Jane Newmyer Rice was editor-in-chief of The Radcliffe News in 1941-42.

The night of December 6, 1941, stands out sharply in my memory. It was the night when Fred A. Rice '40 asked me for my hand in marriage. It was also the eve of one of the greatest tragedies America has ever known.

The morning after my engagement became official, radios across the country came alive with the news of the Japanese destruction of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

That night Fred phoned me at Edmands House at Radcliffe with news of his own: "I feel like fighting." He did fight, and was eventually stationed on Guam.

The United States, which had been vacillating between isolation and intervention, suddenly grew solidly united as President Franklin D. Roosevelt '04 and Congress declared war against the Axis powers.

Back at Radcliffe, the grim reality of warbegan to seep into our lives.

One by one, outside events brought the warnear. Eleanor Roosevelt, who had been scheduled tospeak on "Women: Nazi, Fascist and Democratic" tothe Radcliffe Phi Beta Kappa, canceled her visitto Cambridge after the Pearl Harbor bombings.

A young man from Leverett House who I had datedthe year before was reported killed at PearlHarbor. And all of a sudden all window blinds intrains and houses on the coast had to be carefullyclosed at night, as a precaution against airraids.

College Life as Usual

Yet the routine at Radcliffe continued normallythrough graduation.

On the Monday after Pearl Harbor, RadcliffePresident Ada L. Comstock gathered the studentbody in Agassiz Theater and urged all of us torealize that the bombings were not the end of theworld, and that the greater part of our liveswould come after the war.

She asserted with great strength that thelonger the war lasted, the greater would be thevalue of the "knowledge, imagination and trainedskill" we were acquiring at Radcliffe.

During the spring of our senior year atRadcliffe, honors theses and final exams tookprecedence. I was absorbed in my research onoriginal copies of J. Poe's BroadwayJournal for my thesis, "Edgar Poe As EditorPublisher."

Our Commencement was the last gala until theclose of the war. Although we knew that our dateswould soon be in uniform, on Class Night we dancedin fashionabe floor-length formal dresses to themusic of Ruby Newman's orchestra.

The big name band era was coming to a close,and the Radcliffe Yard was magic, lit with pastelpaper lanterns. Delicious food was abundant, forrationing had not yet begun.

I remember sitting before Pearl Harbor with afriend on the steps of the Radcliffe Library--nowthe Schlesinger--pondering an editorial thatadvocated U.S. intervention in the war. At thattime, the Nazi submarines were sinking U.S.convoys carrying supplies to Great Britain.

Throughout that fall, The Crimson was busywriting heated editorials supporting one side orthe other of the isolation/interventioncontroversy.

The News, however, was primarily a campusnewspaper covering events at Radcliffe andHarvard. It came out less frequently than TheCrimson, and our readership was much smaller--ourgraduating class in 1942 numbered 208 women,compared to the 816 men in my husband's 1940 classat Harvard.

In fact, by my senior year I had begun to fearthat my editorship of The News was a somewhatsilly undertaking.

During our subscription drive, a classmatereminded me that she could buy a New York Timesfor the same money. Why should anyone read TheRadcliffe News? One Radcliffe dean told me therewas nothing of "real importance" on our insidepages.

Fifty years later I am sure that these criticswere dead wrong.What is more important to the education of youngpeople than learning to assemble facts and commenthonestly upon them?

A Fledgling Feminism

I am proud that our staff of women wasimplementing the democratic process. After all,when Radcliffe was founded in 1879, women'ssuffrage did not exist.

And I was delighted when a female senior editorat The Crimson telephoned last week to ask me toformulate my reactions to Radcliffe 50 yearslater.

President Comstock spoke wisely in 1941 whenshe said that the intellect and the discipline wewere developing would serve us well in maturity.Many members of our class became part of thewomen's movement in the 1950s and later.

In the words of our Alma Mater: "Radcliffe, nowwe rise to greet thee."Photo courtesy of the Radcliffe CollegeArchivesBig band music and floor-length formaldresses at an All-College Dance in the 1940s.

Back at Radcliffe, the grim reality of warbegan to seep into our lives.

One by one, outside events brought the warnear. Eleanor Roosevelt, who had been scheduled tospeak on "Women: Nazi, Fascist and Democratic" tothe Radcliffe Phi Beta Kappa, canceled her visitto Cambridge after the Pearl Harbor bombings.

A young man from Leverett House who I had datedthe year before was reported killed at PearlHarbor. And all of a sudden all window blinds intrains and houses on the coast had to be carefullyclosed at night, as a precaution against airraids.

College Life as Usual

Yet the routine at Radcliffe continued normallythrough graduation.

On the Monday after Pearl Harbor, RadcliffePresident Ada L. Comstock gathered the studentbody in Agassiz Theater and urged all of us torealize that the bombings were not the end of theworld, and that the greater part of our liveswould come after the war.

She asserted with great strength that thelonger the war lasted, the greater would be thevalue of the "knowledge, imagination and trainedskill" we were acquiring at Radcliffe.

During the spring of our senior year atRadcliffe, honors theses and final exams tookprecedence. I was absorbed in my research onoriginal copies of J. Poe's BroadwayJournal for my thesis, "Edgar Poe As EditorPublisher."

Our Commencement was the last gala until theclose of the war. Although we knew that our dateswould soon be in uniform, on Class Night we dancedin fashionabe floor-length formal dresses to themusic of Ruby Newman's orchestra.

The big name band era was coming to a close,and the Radcliffe Yard was magic, lit with pastelpaper lanterns. Delicious food was abundant, forrationing had not yet begun.

I remember sitting before Pearl Harbor with afriend on the steps of the Radcliffe Library--nowthe Schlesinger--pondering an editorial thatadvocated U.S. intervention in the war. At thattime, the Nazi submarines were sinking U.S.convoys carrying supplies to Great Britain.

Throughout that fall, The Crimson was busywriting heated editorials supporting one side orthe other of the isolation/interventioncontroversy.

The News, however, was primarily a campusnewspaper covering events at Radcliffe andHarvard. It came out less frequently than TheCrimson, and our readership was much smaller--ourgraduating class in 1942 numbered 208 women,compared to the 816 men in my husband's 1940 classat Harvard.

In fact, by my senior year I had begun to fearthat my editorship of The News was a somewhatsilly undertaking.

During our subscription drive, a classmatereminded me that she could buy a New York Timesfor the same money. Why should anyone read TheRadcliffe News? One Radcliffe dean told me therewas nothing of "real importance" on our insidepages.

Fifty years later I am sure that these criticswere dead wrong.What is more important to the education of youngpeople than learning to assemble facts and commenthonestly upon them?

A Fledgling Feminism

I am proud that our staff of women wasimplementing the democratic process. After all,when Radcliffe was founded in 1879, women'ssuffrage did not exist.

And I was delighted when a female senior editorat The Crimson telephoned last week to ask me toformulate my reactions to Radcliffe 50 yearslater.

President Comstock spoke wisely in 1941 whenshe said that the intellect and the discipline wewere developing would serve us well in maturity.Many members of our class became part of thewomen's movement in the 1950s and later.

In the words of our Alma Mater: "Radcliffe, nowwe rise to greet thee."Photo courtesy of the Radcliffe CollegeArchivesBig band music and floor-length formaldresses at an All-College Dance in the 1940s.