Campus & Community

This month in Harvard history

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  • March 6, 1945 – The last spring term under the wartime trimester schedule begins. Final figures University-wide show an enrollment of 1,817 civilians, and 4,100 Army and Navy officer specialists.
  • March 17-19, 1954 – Huge crowds flock to hear former Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson (a 1952 U.S. presidential candidate) deliver his three 1954 Godkin Lectures on “A Troubled World.” In Memorial Hall, an overflow audience of 1,400 jams Sanders Theatre and the Great Hall (now Annenberg), while an additional group fills the New (Lowell) Lecture Hall, with loudspeakers relaying the talk beyond Sanders. Broadcasting the event are local radio stations WHRB and WGBH, and Amherst College station WAMF.”His lectures, running to some 25,000 words, were largely an exposition of the historical forces that have produced the problems which the world faces, together with a plea for approaching these problems with intelligence, patience, and Christian humility.” (Quote: “Harvard Alumni Bulletin,” April 3, 1954)Stevenson also answers questions from the floor.

    – From the Harvard Historical Calendar, a database compiled by Marvin Hightower