Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

A cartoon of lobster and other foods for Harvard reunions

Illustration by Mark Steele

1924 

The Harvard Athletic Committee confers an H on Robert Tyre (Bobby) Jones Jr. ’24, who never played on the College golf team but won the national golf tournament while still an undergraduate.

1954 

Half a year after defending Harvard against attacks by Senator Joseph McCarthy, President Nathan Pusey draws more than 500 people to the National Press Club’s luncheon in his honor; his speech on “Freedom, Loyalty, and the American University” and his willingness to answer all questions from the floor earn him a “remarkable ovation.”

1974 

About 125 Radcliffe seniors organize a Commencement week demonstration, wearing armbands, placards on their backs sporting equal signs, and yellow ribbons atop their caps. They demand equality in admissions, job opportunities, athletic facilities and finances, and distribution of fellowship funds.

1979

 Jim O’Leary of Luther Witham Inc., caterers, reports that for the 25th reunion and senior class events, the company provided 3,700 pounds of chicken, 3,100 pounds of potato salad, 2,616 pounds of tossed salad, 3,238 chicken lobsters, 3,000 hamburger patties, 4,210 hotdogs, and 2,450 split broilers.

2009 

Following the Great Recession, Harvard’s vice president for human resources announces in early May that 33 percent of the 1,628 staff members eligible for an early-retirement incentive have accepted the offer. Layoffs are expected in late June.

2014

Citing Ivy League faculty members’ 2012 campaign contributions (96 percent to Democrat Barack Obama, J.D. ’91), Commencement speaker Michael R. Bloomberg, M.B.A. ’66, LL.D. ’14, said, “[Y]ou have to wonder whether students are being exposed to the diversity of views that a university should offer….”

2019 

At the ROTC Commissioning Ceremony, General Mark A. Milley (nominated as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) told the new officers, “We…do not take an oath to a tribe, a person, a country, or a flag, or an individual. We take an oath to…the Constitution of the United States.”

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