History Celebrated
I wanted to thank DAM and the researchers involved for presenting their enlightened perspective on the historic events surrounding Hanover and nearby areas before and after the Declaration of Independence was signed [“Independence Comes to the Green,” July/August].
I grew up in Houston, Texas, and was not privileged to be raised in one of the original 13 colonies. However, I was privileged to have “grown up” during my four years at Dartmouth. I cannot describe how delighted I was to read the story. It instilled in me a deep-seated devotion to our country. It was stirring and made my celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday special and enduring.
STEWART BRADEN ’77
Placitas, New Mexico
What a terrific article. It reminded me that our namesake, Lord Dartmouth, was the secretary of state for the colonies from 1772 to 1775. He regularly received requests for support from the British military in North America and issued specific directives to them.
It is interesting that Lord Dartmouth never made a contribution to Dartmouth College, only to Moor’s Charity School established by Eleazar Wheelock in Lebanon, Connecticut.
We certainly can remain proud of our name, but we perhaps have a more unique relationship with the British during the American Revolution than any other colonial university in America.
DAVID RUTLEN ’69
Portland, Oregon
I enjoyed your article about Dartmouth during the Revolutionary War. In this context, your readers may be interested in Kenneth Roberts’ 1933 novel Rabble in Arms, set in the North Country during this period. Dartmouth comes in for several positive mentions, and Joseph Marie Verrieul, who attended Dartmouth and was a protégé of Eleazar Wheelock, is an important character in the novel.
At one point, Verrieul is introduced to the (prelapsarian) Gen. Benedict Arnold: “His name’s Joseph Marie Verrieul, and he went to Dartmouth College. He speaks French, Iroquois, Abenaki, and Chippeway and can make orations in all of ’em.”
“Not Dartmouth College!” Arnold protested. “Why, it was only ten years ago that I contributed the profits of a sea-venture toward the establishment of that institution. Surely such an investment can’t be showing a return!”
Roberts received an honorary degree from Dartmouth in 1934, one year after the publication of Rabble in Arms. Coincidence? I think not!
SEAN CLARKIN ’76
New York City
I cannot describe how delighted I was to read the story. It instilled in me a deep-seated devotion to our country. It was stirring and made my celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday special and enduring."
—STEWART BRADEN ’77
Heroic Legal Work
Thank you for publishing the profile of Neal Katyal ’91 by David Silverberg [“Full Court Press,” July/August]. Mr. Katyal is an American hero for his legal work defending the U.S. Constitution. He has done so at a time when our nation has faced peril based upon strenuous efforts to undermine our constitutional democracy. Mr. Katyal’s expert legal work, dedication to what is good and right in this country, and impeccable ethics and integrity are to be greatly admired. That is a Dartmouth graduate who can make us all proud.
AMELIA CRAIG CRAMER ’82
Tucson, Arizona
Movies and Money
It’s all well and good that DAM chose to recognize Dartmouth alumni whose movies have achieved great financial success [“From Hanover to Hollywood,” July/August]. However, I would submit that financial success is not the sole or even the most important measure of a film’s significance. Dartmouth has also produced numerous filmmakers whose work achieved great critical and artistic acclaim. Among them, Joseph Losey, class of 1929, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation (Accident, The Servant, The Go-Between), and Matthew Heineman ’05, an Oscar-nominated director known for Cartel Land, City of Ghosts, The First Wave, and American Symphony.
The article’s relentless focus on money (not to mention the cover illustration of popcorn wrapped in a hundred-dollar bill) is a bit discouraging to those of us who were exposed to the films of Fellini, Godard, and Kubrick through the Dartmouth Film Society and encouraged by our film professors—including Mr. Losey—to make movies that, first and foremost, endeavored to explore and elevate the human condition.
TOM SEIDMAN ’71
Oak Park, California
Wit and Principles
Regarding [“In Harm’s Way: A Foreign Correspondent’s Story” [DAM online], Chris Wren ’57 and I made The New York Times Moscow bureau an all-Dartmouth operation when we were correspondents together from 1975 to 1977. His delicious wit kept us sane. He once mocked a famous Soviet TV propagandist by saying loudly to the KGB microphones in our office ceiling that he loved the jokes the guy told in private about Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Not true, of course, but the mics couldn’t pick up Chris’ wry smile.
He also told Soviet apparatchiks on occasion that they reminded him of the Southern segregationists he’d covered for Look magazine during the civil rights movement. There was no sharper stiletto; it really skewered them.
He held high principles. When Andrei Sakharov, the great democracy advocate, insisted that his answers to Chris’ questions be printed by the Times as a full text, Chris said the paper didn’t ever do that. “But I’m not an ordinary person,” Sakharov said. “And I’m not a Soviet journalist,” Chris replied.
DAVID K. SHIPLER ’64
Chevy Chase, Maryland
I enjoyed reading the article about Christopher Wren—such an amazing life. I was saddened to read of his recent passing at nearly 90. I will avail myself of his books The Cat Who Covered the World and Walking to Vermont for my summer reading.
I would add that in a PBS interview with him, he was confident physical newspapers would never be replaced by digital format on computers, because one could not carry or conveniently read a laptop everywhere or tear out an ad or article for future reference. He did not foresee the ubiquitous use of smartphones and tablets.
STUART B. PECHTER ’73
Delray Beach, Florida
Trailblazers
Excerpt from a text thread to my undergraduate best friends for life: “These first D alumnae were all at reunion this year! It would have been epic to meet them! We’d like their autographs” [“The Pioneering Women of ’76,” DAM online and Sept./Oct,]. When my friends and I arrived on campus in 1986, coeducation seemed a fait accompli and the days of the all-male school seemed ancient history. The numbers were more or less 50-50, and I had no idea that a mere 10 years earlier, these women blazed the trail for us.
At our 35th reunion in 2024, my friends and I toured the coeducation exhibit in Dartmouth Hall—the renovation having been funded by the generosity of more than 1,700 alumnae who raised more than $25 million. Suddenly, the 10 years between those pioneers and our arrival seemed shockingly brief, and it helped explain some of the sharp remnants of the all-male institution that we crashed into as unsuspecting and naïve first-years. To those alumnae, we say: We are grateful for your service! We admire your grit. We want to meet you, and we want your autographs.
KYRIE ROBINSON ’90
Palo Alto, California
JENNY (GOLDBERG) WOOD ’90
Chatham, Massachusetts
LIZ (ALLEN) EDGAR ’90
Delmar, New York
TRACY GLEASON ’90
Natick, Massachusetts
Thank you for the excellent article on women at Dartmouth in the 1970s. I interviewed numerous students from this era for College Radio Days, my book on the history of radio at Dartmouth, and many of them mentioned the importance of activities such as WDCR in welcoming women to the College. Margaret Busch ’76, Pamela Gile ’76, Kathy DeGioia ’76, and Lonna Slaby (an adopted ’74) were among those prominent at the station in the first year. (The Dartmouth also welcomed women.)
One woman told a rather touching story about how hard it had been her first term and that she might not have returned in the winter had it not been for how welcome the station staff made her feel. Some remarked that as “firsts” they knew they needed thick skins. Two hung a banner in their dorm room reading, “When better men are made, Dartmouth women will make them.”
It should be noted that 1972 was not the first time there were female students on campus. Nearly a decade earlier, in 1963, the College began undergraduate summer sessions with nondegree courses open to both women and men. In 1968 it staged the first Coed Week, in which women from numerous colleges exchanged rooms with Dartmouth men (who went to their schools) and attended classes and social events. Also in 1968, the drama department (followed by other departments) began admitting women on a limited basis.
TIM BROOKS ’64
Greenwich, Connecticut
Beatlemania
I enjoyed with sweet sadness the announcement of the retirement of Sean Plottner [“Dear Fellow Alumni,” March/April 2025]. Sean as editor was kind enough to accept as an article for DAM my story of how I met the Beatles at a press conference on September 12, 1964, before a concert at Boston Garden. I pretended I was a member of the press by showing the guard my Dartmouth freshman ID card and telling him it was my press card [“Meet the Beatles!” July/August 2019].
Sean was delightful and caring and deliberate during the crafting and rewrite process in shepherding the article from first draft to finished product ready for publication. His professionalism combined with sense of humor and encouragement were what made the process and project a complete joy.
Thank you, Sean, and best wishes in your next ventures.
RICHARD HERSHENSON ’67
New York City
Testing the Waters
Read letters in response to the end of the swim test [“Sink or Swim,” July/August].
Oops, What About The Sting?
In our eagerness to celebrate blockbuster movies made by alumni, we omitted films by two important producers with Dartmouth ties in both the July/August print and online versions of “From Hanover to Hollywood: Spotlighting Our All-Time Box Office Champs.”
Michael Phillips ’65 produced The Sting, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman, in 1973. The film grossed $159.6 million in the United States alone and won him the Academy Award for Best Picture that year. Adjusted for inflation, The Sting earned more than The Graduate by Buck Henry ’52, making it the most lucrative Dartmouth-connected movie ever. (Phillips also produced Steven Spielberg’s mega-hit Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which earned $169.1 million in the United States in 1977.)
We also omitted films by David V. Picker ’53, who produced Steve Martin’s The Jerk in 1979, grossing $73.6 million in U.S. box office.
We have apologized to Phillips for leaving his blockbusters out of our story. Sadly, Picker died in 2019. We regret the omissions of their remarkable work from our list.
