A Lowell Atones for Lowell

'Harvard Scandal' Flashback on Bigoted College Head

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Life Magazine's most revealing
article about Robert Traill Spence
Lowell Jr., ("Applause for a Prize
Poet," Feb. 19, 1965) revives in-
terest in an historic case in which
one of this poet's famous relatives,
t h e late A. Lawrence Lowell,
president of Harvard, played an
ignominious role.
The recollection about the in-
famous A. Lawrence Lowell case
is especially intriguing because
the Life article quotes the poet
Robert T. S. Lowell Jr. asserting
himself as follows about Jews and
Jewishness:
"Jewishness, and not just of the
New York variety, is the theme
of today's literature as the Middle
West was the theme of Veblen's
time and the South in the '30s.
These regions have burned out, and
now we're lucky to have the Jew-
ish influence. It's what keeps New
York alive; not only writers and
painters but also the good bour-
geois who support the arts. Con-
sider the list of patrons and bene-
factors of any cultural enterprise.
"Do I feel left out in a Jewish
age? Not at all. Fortunately, I'm
one-eighth Jewish myself, which
I do feel is a saving grace. It's
not a lot of Jewish blood, but I
think it would have been enough
to come under the Nuremberg
laws. My Jewish ancestors, oddly
enough, were named Moses Mor-
decai and Mordecai Moses."
* *
A. Lawrence Lowell might turn
over in his grave over such a
credo by a relative who considers
a few drops of Jewish blood in his
veins to be "a saving grace." The
late president of Harvard not only
felt otherwise but acted the role
of a bigot.
A. Lawrence Lowell died Jan. 6,
1943. On Feb. 26, 1943, Congress
Weekly published an article of
mine under the title "Recalling
the 'Harvard Scandal' — Lowell's
False Prophecy 20 Years Ago,"
in which the Lowell case was
presented as follows:
The death of Lawrence Lowell,
president emeritus of Harvard Uni-
versity, coincides with the twen-
tieth anniversary of an incident
which shocked the conscience of
Americans and which equaled in
intensity of feeling among Jews
the Ford anti-Semitic outbursts and
the late Coughlinite campaign of
bigotry.
This incident which occurred in
October, 1922, was so shocking in
its extreme departure from the
accepted American policies of non-
discrimination that it was given
the title of the "Harvard Scandal"
and revolved around the revealed
attempt to limit the number of
Jewish students attending Harvard
University. It reached its climax on
January 14, 1923, when it was re-
ported at a meeting in New York
that President Lowell himself had
initiated the plan to limit the num-
ber of Jews at Harvard and he was
quoted as having made the follow-
ing predictions:
1. That within 20 years the
United States would see the same
conditions as existed in Central
Europe at that time, with blood
being spilled as a result of anti-
Semitism.
2. That the time will come when
the Jews will be treated in the
same way as the Negro in the
South.
The man who reported this was
Victor Kramer, a Harvard grad-
uate, who charged that the then
President of Harvard not only
made these predictions but that
he advised Jews to drop their
faith, asserting that Jews cannot
be Americans as long as they re-
tained their faith.
It is interesting to note that
Lowell not only denied his attack
upon the Jews but attempts were
even made to disprove that Mr.

.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
40—Friday, March 5, 1965

Kramer was a Harvard graduate.
But Kramer's record at Harvard
was definitely established.
This incident has many interest-
ing sidelights which have a bearing
on our own experiences in this
year when the Lowell predictions
of pogroms in America were sup-
posed to materialize. Kramer was
on a New Haven train which was
delayed for six hours on its way
to New York. He occupied a seat
next to Lowell and the conversa-
tion which filled the time of train
delay was animated by a discussion
of the Jewish problem. Lowell at-
tacked the Jews for remaining
apart and for not inter-marrying
and he warned that unless they
merged with the non-Jews, preju-
dice would increase. Lowell even
went so far as to state that the fact
that the Jews no longer tried to
proselytize Christians indicated
that the Jewish religion no longer
was necessary.
A careful re-reading of the
record of this incident leaves one
bewildered. Kramer revealed that
Lowell's bitterness against the Jews
"which gnawed at his very heart"
left him shocked, especially in
view of the eminent educator's
frankness. A Brown University
graduate, a naval officer, entered
the discussion and apparently sup-
ported Dr. Lowell. Kramer made
this statement, "When the last
words were exchanged near the In-
formation Tower at Grand Central
Station, I stood bewildered. It was
inconceivable that the President of
Harvard University had just left
my side."
The Ford incident, the rise of a
new type of anti-Semitism under
the guidance of a Coughlin, have
caused us to forget the Lowell in-
cident. Nevertheless, this occur-
rence was so distressing a part of
the more widespread movement to
limit Jews in American univer-
sities that it is well for us to look
into the background of it in order
that we may better understand
similar situations which have
plagued our students in American
colleges.
Back in 1923 Kramer quoted
Lowell as making assertions which
also included the following:
1. A concentration of Jews at a
college is an evil to the college,
the nation and the Jews. He in-
sisted that the problem can be
solved not by improving the quality
of the Jewish students but by cut-
ting down their quantity.
2. The only way out for Jews is
to assimilate completely and ra-
pidly.
3. The Harvard Menorah Society
should be abandoned and the Jew-
ish fraternities abolished. He in-
sisted that Jewish students should
not herd together but should seek
companionship in Gentile circles.
4. The Jewish faith should be
gradually abandoned and Jewish
graduates should marry Christian
girls.
5. The Jewish press—Lowell re-
ferred to it as "Jew press" —
should not claim pride in the
achievements of distinguished
Jews.
6. Enrollment of Jews in the
university should be limited to
15 per cent and he resented Jew-
ish protests which seemed to in-
terfere with carrying this program
into effect at that time.
7. Judaism and Americanism are
mutually exclusive, Lowell claimed.
When this program of an emin-
ent college professor is examined
20 years later in the light of what
now appears to be false prophesy,
we are compelled nevertheless to
recognize therein a condition
which materialized in great meas-
ure in many universities and
which is to date part of the un-
written numerous clausus that is
in force in numerous colleges and
universities in this country.
If there are those who today will
resent the unearthing of this inci-
dent involving a man who has
passed away only a few weeks

ago, let them recall the fact that
Lowell was among the leading
Massachusetts citizens who op-
posed the appointment of Louis D.
Brandeis to the United States Su-
preme Court. To Lowell is attrib-
uted the story of the recommenda-
tion of an able Jewish lawyer for
appointment to the faculty of the
Law School of Harvard University
of which Roscoe Pound was the
dean and under whom Felix
Frankfurter served as professor.
When Lowell learned that the per-
son recommended was a Jew he
asserted, "one Frankfurter to the
pound is sufficient"
An incident has just taken place
at the University of Michigan
which unfortunately proves that
even today we have on the faculty
of some universities men who are
not free of prejudices. It is charged
that a Jewish candidate for the
editorship of the University of
Michigan Daily was refused the
appointment because he is a Jew.
The University of Michigan Daily,
let it be recorded to the credit of
its courageous editors, carried an
editorial in its issue of January
16, 1943, of which we quote in
part:
"We always believed that hard
work, initiative and competence
were the criteria for promotion on
The Michigan Daily and that your
student newspaper, in the best in-
terests of the University, was to
be run for and by the students.
"Yesterday a faculty-dominated
Board in Control showed us once
again that this is not true.
"They refused to appoint to a
senior position one of the most de-
serving applicants on the staff. . .
He was not appointed because he
believed in telling the truth, be-
cause he believed that The Daily
should be an active, constructive
student newspaper unhampered by
the whims of individual Board
members, and, we believe, because
of his religion.
"The fact that Leon Gordenker
did not receive an appointment is
not all-important. The reasons why
he did not . . . are important."
The shades of Lowell are in evi-
dence in the action of the mem-
bers of the faculty, but the spirit
of America is reflected in the un-
fulfilled prophecies of A. Lawr-
ence Lowell and in the courage of
students who defy introduction of
extreme prejudices in their univer-
sities. The question is which spirit
shall survive? Lowell and the
numerous clausus or the brave
University of Michigan student
journalists and the traditions of
America which they so staunchly
uphold?
*
*
The "Harvard scandal" attracted
nationwide attention and there
were some Harvard men who re-
sented the issue being raised. They
wanted it hushed up. One of the
graduates, Victor Kramer, accused
Lowell of making very vile accusa-
tions against Jews, of warning them
that Central European conditions
might find a repetition in this
country; that a Jew could not be
an American and a Jew at the
same time. Kramer was accused
of falsifying facts and of not being
a Harvard graduate, but he reiter-
ated his accusations against Low-
ell and proved he was a 1918 grad-
uate.
Whereupon the Secretary of the
Harvard Corporation at Cam-
bridge, Mass., issued a statement,
on Jan. 15, 1923, declaring:
"President Lowell denied having
said the things attributed to him.
. . . His earnest desire is to see
anti-Semitic prejudice and Semitic
segregation abolished in this coun-
try, and he believes that Jews and
Gentiles should work together to
this end, not shutting their eyes to
the fact of mutual prejudice where
it exists, but seeking to eliminate
it."
But the charges against Lowell
stuck, and it has been believed
that his views continued to domin-
ate Harvard procedures for at

least another 20 years. It was as
late as March 1945 that Prof. Al-
bert Sprague Coolidge, testifying
at a hearing on proposed legisla-
tion to outlaw employment dis-
crimination in Massachusetts, said:
"We know perfectly well that
names ending in 'berg' and 'stein'
have to be skipped by the board
of selection of students for schol-
arships (at Harvard)."
Conditions have altered entirely,
but that was the case then. And
on Jan. 13, 1923, Dr. Percy S.
Grant, a Harvard graduate, said in
a speech that the trouble with
Harvard is that it has always been
ruled by "State Street," the
financial district of Boston, and he
pointed out that prior to the ap-
pointment of Supreme Court Jus-
tice Louis D. Brandeis, himself a
Harvard graduate, influential Bos-
tonians went to Washington to
fight the nomination. One of the
saddest blots on Harvard's record
is that Lowell led the fight against
Brandeis. But the Dean of the
Harvard Law School, Roscoe
Pound, emerged among the leaders
who strongly supported Brandeis.
* * *
As a follow-up to my article of
Feb. 26, 1943, Congress Weekly
printed the following letter of
mine in the issue of March 19,
1943:
Sir:
Readers of the Congress Weekly
will undoubtedly be interested in
a follow-up to my article "Recall-
ing the Harvard Scandal" while
appeared in the issue of Feb. 26.
Leon Gordenker, of Mt. Clem-
ens, Mich., whose rejection for a
senior position on the editorial
staff of the Michigan Daily, Uni-
versity of Michigan official publi-
cation, occasioned the formal. pro-
test by the editors of the paper,
has just been appointed city editor
of the Daily.
This action by the University of
Michigan Board of Control of Stu-
dent Publications is significant not
only as an about-face, but also for
other reasons.
In the first place, able Jewish
newspapermen can no longer be
ignored when important positions
are available, with so many young
people beirig inducted into active
military service. More important,
however, is the fact that formal
protests against discriminating
practices bring results. This is as

true of the Gordenker incident as
it is of the effect of the American
Jewish Congress public demonstra-
tion in Madison Square Garden
a week ago.
The moral is clear: voices speak-
ing for causes of justice must
never be silenced.
*
*
*
Now another Lowell emerges to
make his family's name again
stand for honor.
Cicero might again have said:
`0 tempora ! 0 mores !"
But an even better lesson from
this historic experience might be
derived from Charles A. Beard.
This eminent historian was asked:
"What lessons have you learned
from all the history you have
known?" And he replied:
"When it gets darkest, the stars
come out.
"When a bee steals from a flow-
er it also fertilizes it.
"Whom the God would destroy
they first make mad with power.
"Though the mills of God grind
slowly, yet they grind exceedingly
small."
The mills of God have ground
into dust ancient canards of a uni-
versity professor, whose destruc-
tion resulted from madness; the
stars have come out and what has
been stolen from the flower of
decency has once again fertilized
humanity's better nature.

Hebrew Corner

Some Ilerzl Dicta

The program of the Jewish state,
is very simple: that we be granted a
portion of land sufficient for our needs.
All the rest we shall do ourselves . . .
Yes. We have the strength to set up
a state. A model state. We have all the
means, all the people and the deeds
required for such. The Jewish state is
a world need and therefore it is bound
to arise.
Should one person come along and
wish to perform this deed—it would be
madness. But if many Jews will begin
to take action—there will be sense in it.
If this generation is not ready, then
another gereration will come along, a
better one. The Jews who desire it will
achieye their state.
Many imagine that the path to the
state will be a long and very distant
one. Even if the idea were to work—it
will take many years for the state to
emerge. And in the meantime Jews will
suffer in a thousand places. But it will
not turn out like that. First when we
begin to implement our program —
anti-Semitism will cease everywhere.
The program of the Jewish state will
be a covenant of peace between us and
the nations.
I believe that a new and wonderful
generation of Jews will arise in the
homeland. The Maccabees will be reborn.
If you wish it—it will be no legend.
Translation of Hebrew Column.
Published by Brit Ivrit Olamit Jerusalem.

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