City Debates Renaming Street

Almost six decades ago, Peter G. Palches ’55 served as a reporter for The Harvard Crimson covering Cambridge City Hall politics, alongside sports editor and future Pulitzer Prize winner David L. Halberstam ’55.

Last night, Palches returned to City Hall for the first time in 57 years to voice his support for a proposal drafted by another classmate, Francis H. Duehay ’55, that would rename Plympton St. after Halberstam. Killed in a car accident in 2007, the former Crimson managing editor was acclaimed for his fearless on-the-ground coverage of the Vietnam War for The New York Times and his criticism of institutional racism in the United States.

The meeting last night marked the first public hearing on the issue since the measure was proposed in April, held by the city’s Government Operations and Rules Committee.

City Council members voiced support for a compromise measure that would add “Halberstam” as an honorary name to the street but would leave the official designation as Plympton St.

“The compromise of not renaming but creating an honorific sign system is a good one,” said councillor Henrietta Davis. “It allows us to keep the past in the present and to honor people of later generations as well.”

But councillor David P. Maher said the council needed to examine this proposal more closely with the Cambridge Historical Commission and the local postmaster.

For much of the meeting, public speakers—who included several of Halberstam’s classmates—emphasized his journalistic clout and integrity in arguing for the proposal’s adoption.

“I think a great characteristic of David is that he would not be bullied and was willing to stand up to power,” Palches said. “We know our own government... from time to time lies to the people, and it takes a lot of courage to say no. But that’s what David always did.”

Current Crimson president Malcom A. Glenn ’09 and managing editor Paras D. Bhayani ’09 voiced opposition to the proposal. Philip M. Cronin ’53, one of the three trustees of the Crimson who own the property and the building, also objected.

“I worked with [David] over the years in a variety of matters,” said Cronin, a former Crimson president. “I can assure the City Council, truly, that the last thing in the world David Halberstam would have wanted is to have a street named after him.”

Glenn said a renaming of Plympton St. would detract from the street’s sentimental value to generations of Crimson editors and also lead to material costs and difficulties, and Bhayani questioned the idea of honoring only one particular individual.

When the proposal was first presented last spring, Dan J. Wuensche, the manager of Plympton landmark Grolier Poetry Book Shop, said that the logistical changes from the renaming would be costly.

In addition to The Crimson, other Harvard buildings that would be affected by the renaming of the street include Adams House and Quincy House.

Duehay said that while he may have underestimated the opposition to his proposal, his aim is still to honor Halberstam. While he said he would be content naming another Cambridge street after Halberstam, he said he did not like the compromise.

“I’m not terribly impressed with some of the opposition that was presented,” Duehay said. “In some of the cases, it was really quite petty.”

—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.