"Any suggestion that we should employ here aprocedure comparable to that required by thenecessities of secret government work andinvestigate the loyalty of our staff is utterlyrepugnant to my concept of a university," hecontinued.

Although the statement made it clear that theFBI would not become a fixture on Harvard's campusas it already was on Yale's, some feared thepolicy clarification would not be enough to undothe damage of the EPC's original report.

For those devoted to intellectual freedom, thereport was a warning of the events to come.

Setting an Example

More so than any time before, world events hadshaped the political atmosphere at Harvard in thelate 1940s. As veterans returned from active duty,the student body as a whole was older and moreexperienced than prewar and postwar classes.

Harvard professors, many of whom wereworld-renowned experts on topics like Communism,nuclear weapons and U.S.-Soviet relations, alsoexposed the Class of '49 to an unusually highlevel of political debate.

Associate Professor of Government Payton S.Wild gave an alarmist lecture about the nuclearrace and the potential for what The Crimson calleda "Gestapo situation" in the United States inApril 1946.

Meanwhile, Professor of History C. CraneBrinton '19 warned students against a militaryalliance with England, whose motives in the ColdWar he called into question.

Arthur M. Schlesinger '37, then an associateprofessor of government, wrote and lecturedfrequently about the dangers of Communism and theneed to support the postwar European reliefeffort.

Harvard students and professors also becameinvolved when Massachusetts Attorney GeneralClarence A. Barnes proposed a bill that wouldprohibit Communists from teaching in Massachusettspublic schools.

Student groups organized letter-writingcampaigns, and in April 1948 Professor of GeologyKirtley F. Mather challenged the attorney generalto a debate at Harvard. The bill ultimatelypassed, albeit in a watered-down form.

A Campus Presence?

Although the conservative Chicago Tribunebranded Harvard a "hotbed of Communism" in January1948, the main Marxist organization forundergraduates in 1949-the John Reed Club-neverboasted more than 50 members.

Nevertheless, the society made its presencefelt on campus. John Reed members twice playedhost to the well-known German Communist GerhardEisler. On both occasions, capacity crowds turnedout to hear Eisler speak.

About 500 students attended a lecture on the"Marxist Theory of Social Change," and anadditional 200 were turned away from the door atthe second speech in February 1949.