During the summer, the Harvard News Office, located in the basement of University Hall, emerged this fall a more centralised, if trimmer, bureau of enlightenment and propaganda.
Czar of all University news, Arthur Wild, former ace reporter of the Chicago Daily News, now presides over both the News Office and the H. A. A. publicity office, where he first took over last spring upon the departure of Thomas W. Stephenson '37.
Six years as director of the News Office have made Wild cognizant with all phases of the University's academic life, but have given him little experience as a Monday morning quarterback. Faced with the prospect of the football season's rush of press conferences at Dillon Field House, where he daily meets with the deans of American sports writers, the genial "Art" has hired, as his right hand athletic man, D. Donald Peddie '41, of Minneapolis, who for three years directed the CRIMSON sports coverage.
Though he was up one, he went down two, for this summer Wild received the resignation of John U. Monro '34, who for the past four years has been writing hand-outs for the News Office, preparing features for the Boston Transcript, and taking pictures for the Alumni Bulletin.
Monro Joins Navy
Last summer Monro turned in his suit and joined the Navy. In six weeks he was appointed a lieutenant, junior grade, and along with Hamilton P. Thornquist '32, former city editor of the Transcript, and several other reporters, began turning out releases in the first Naval district's publicity office.
Monro's resignation leaves Wild shorthanded in the News Office, for after his four years in College and his period of service under Wild, Munro knew more about the University than many a dean. Since his undergraduate days, when he served as editorial chairman of the CRIMSON and later as President of now defunct Harvard Journal, Munro has been engaged in journalism.
In the athletic department, Wild will leave much of his research to Peddie, who, as former sport's editor of the CRIMSON, is well acquainted with the Harvard sport situation.
Peddie, who would rather listen to his favorite Golden Gophers on the radio than watch Harvard trounce Yale, is no mean sportsman himself. He was a member of the Varsity golf team and worked up a College-wide reputation as a ping pong artist.
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