Houses also fostered a sense of community. The Lowell House opera production was of "'A' number one quality," recalls Sawhill. Sawhill also remembers Lowell's dramatic club, jazz quarters and high table, at which students joined the House Master and his wife in black tie and drank sherry. Interhouse rivalry abounded, in athletics, debating and chess.
Like the ties between students, professor-student relationships were close. Richard M. Bloch remembers playing bridge with his mathematics professor late into the night. The next morning, the professor arrived late for his 10 o'clock class, whispering to Bloch that he couldn't see straight and that he would never join the students again. Richard K. Winslow recalls that his philosophy and sociology professor, W. Ernest Hocking, invited the class for Sunday afternoon tea once per month.
Harvard President James Bryant Conant '14 was a respected president, but not extremely visible at Harvard. A chemist, he spent much of his time advising President Franklin Delano Roosevelt '04 on scientific issues. Whiteside, who became acquainted with Conant as a graduate student, said he was "indescribably remote" during Whiteside's undergraduate years.
But he qualified his statement. "I now understand how significant his remoteness was...he was interested in the country, the world, and the great structure of Harvard University," he says.
Classes varied in popularity and difficulty, much as they do today. History 1, taught by "Friskie" Merriman, described by Place as "a great big powerful guy," commanded the attention of many first-years, forcing them to poster their bedrooms with massive lists of significant historical dates. Also required of first-years was English A, an introduction to British and American literature. And the 1940's were not without their guts. Winslow remembers Music 1, which taught the recognition and appreciation of music, as "easy but fascinating."
Students enjoyed themselves as much as outside circumstances permitted. "We had an awfully good time...breaking parietal rules," recalls Place. "We had fun in Boston going to crazy places to learn about life."
After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Whiteside noted, student attitudes began to change. They began to concentrate on academics and socializing before the war claimed their futures. There was the need to "dot all the i's and cross all the t's before [we] leave this place never to return," says Whiteside.
But it is impossible to examine the lives of the members of the class of '43 without considering the war; the two will always be inextricably linked. The majority of the class invested themselves in the war effort, whether serving in the Army or Navy, or receiving medical training.
Many students were drafted or volunteered while those left behind debated the United States' role in the war and its policy toward Great Britain. "People spent a lot of time in bull sessions talking about intervention," says Whiteside. "It affected us so intimately." He says the majority of students favored doing everything necessary to defeat Hitler and that most would endorse all aid short of war.
ROTC's popularity was at its height, for it represented the ultimate desire to serve one's country. Sawhill says this desire reflected the overriding philanthropic philosophy of the time. "The whole program worked in those days...[Now] it's much more self than nation." The "pivot point," he says, was Vietnam.
Alumni agree that life was simpler in their day; there was less political activism and less competition for positions of rank and power. Occurrences of racism were negligible. "The same changes you notice in the rest of society have affected Harvard students...narcissism and almost neurotic idealism," says Whiteside. "There was far less social concern...political correctness was unthinkable...the politicals were a narrow cult, just as the jocks were."
Bloch agrees. "The pace was slower. Crime wasn't as rampant. There was relatively little racism that I noticed. What there was was a deep hatred of what Germany and Hitler were doing and what it was all about."
Perhaps Bloch best sums up the essence of the years during which the Class of '43 traversed the streets of Cambridge and the halls of Harvard.
"We were pretty serious about having a decent life and existence economically and educationally. I think that we had a lot of friendships built up and a lot of people getting together," he says. "To me it will never be quite the same. In many ways it's more modern and there are nicer facilities, but I always look back with longing at that time."