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This file contains:
Copy of a letter from unknown to Rose Mary Woods regarding an enclosed item. 1 pg. [Letter], 5/11/1970
From Miller Upton of Beloit College to RN regarding the national state of education. 4 pgs. [Letter], 5/11/1970
From Miller Upton to the editor of The Round Table regarding support for Upton's recent letter to RN. 2 pgs. [Memo], 5/9/1970
Handwritten note from Miller Upton of Beloit College to Rose Mary Woods RE: Request to forward an enclosed letter to the President. 1 pg. Duplicate - Not Scanned. [Letter], 5/11/1970
Letter from Miller Upton of Beloit College to RN RE: The state of higher education. 4 pgs. Duplicate - Not Scanned. [Letter], 5/11/1970
Memo from Miller Upton of Beloit University to the Editor of The Round Table RE: Upcoming round table on the state of higher education. 2 pgs. Duplicate - Not Scanned. [Memo], 5/9/1970
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26125922
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WHSF: Returned, 2-15
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1
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26125922
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document
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WHSF: Returned, 2-15
description
This file contains:
Copy of a letter from unknown to Rose Mary Woods regarding an enclosed item. 1 pg. [Letter], 5/11/1970
From Miller Upton of Beloit College to RN regarding the national state of education. 4 pgs. [Letter], 5/11/1970
From Miller Upton to the editor of The Round Table regarding support for Upton's recent letter to RN. 2 pgs. [Memo], 5/9/1970
Handwritten note from Miller Upton of Beloit College to Rose Mary Woods RE: Request to forward an enclosed letter to the President. 1 pg. Duplicate - Not Scanned. [Letter], 5/11/1970
Letter from Miller Upton of Beloit College to RN RE: The state of higher education. 4 pgs. Duplicate - Not Scanned. [Letter], 5/11/1970
Memo from Miller Upton of Beloit University to the Editor of The Round Table RE: Upcoming round table on the state of higher education. 2 pgs. Duplicate - Not Scanned. [Memo], 5/9/1970
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Richard M. Nixon's Returned Materials Collection
Returned White House Special Files
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26125922
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9dda32535a16b182
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library
White House Special Files Collection
Folder List
Box Number
Folder Number
Document Date
Document Type
Document Description
2
15
05/11/1970
Letter
Handwritten note from Miller Upton of
Beloit College to Rose Mary Woods RE:
Request to forward an enclosed letter to the
President. 1 pg. Duplicate - Not Scanned.
2
15
05/11/1970
Letter
Letter from Miller Upton of Beloit College
to RN RE: The state of higher education. 4
pgs. Duplicate - Not Scanned.
2
15
05/09/1970
Memo
Memo from Miller Upton of Beloit
University to the Editor of The Round Table
RE: Upcoming round table on the state of
higher education. 2 pgs. Duplicate - Not
Scanned.
2
15
05/11/1970
Letter
Copy of a letter from unknown to Rose Mary
Woods regarding an enclosed item. 1 pg.
2
15
05/11/1970
Letter
From Miller Upton of Beloit College to RN
regarding the national state of education. 4
pgs.
2
15
05/09/1970
Memo
From Miller Upton to the editor of The
Round Table regarding support for Upton's
recent letter to RN. 2 pgs.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Page 1 of 1
BELOIT COLLEGE
BELOIT, WISCONSIN
OFFICE OF
THE PRESIDENT
may 11, 1970
Miss Words,
I send the enclosed with the
strught A might he 8 provider interest
to The President
BELOIT
COLLEGE
FULL
U.S.
BELOIT, WISCONSIN
53511
FFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
May 11, 1970
An Open Letter to President Richard M. Nixon
Dear Mr. President:
As a college president, a past scholar-teacher, and one who has con-
sciously devoted his whole life to the cause of higher education in the
conviction that it offers the greatest hope for social progress and
the elevation of man to his highest potential, I wish to apologize to
you and the nation for the grotesque failure of the academic community
at this hour of national trial and turmoil.
I am fully aware of how extremely presumptuous it is for one to
represent himself to apologize for the many, but I am constrained to do
so nonetheler for the shame I feel for the community with which I have
been so intimately related for so long and in which I have placed so
much confidence in the past. Those who do not agree with me will, of
course, be able and willing to speak for themselves.
Let me establish a point about myself at the outset so that my position
can be more accurately interpreted. I was a conscientious objector
during World War II, and were I of draft age now I would be a conscientious
objector again. But my moral opposition to war, however deeply and con-
scientiously held, does not entitle me on any ethical or moral grounds
to take violent action against those who disagree. I must bear witness
to truth as I see it, but I must also respect the right of the other
person to do the same. Certainly, I must never hurt or demean another
simply because he won't go along with my own conviction.
This commitment to respect for the individual, intellectual openness,
and freedom of inquiry is the transcendent value to which an academic
community must be subservient. In fact, it is the only value to which
the academy can pledge allegiance if it is to be consistent with itself.
To elevate any other value is to break faith with this transcendent value
and it is at this point that we have violated our public trust as profes-
sional educators: we have given in to violence and threats of violence
in support of a particular point of view, and in doing so we have allowed
the academic integrity of our individual institutions and the academic
community at large to be violated.
Public Enrichment through Private Endowment
Open Letter to President Richard M. Nixon - 5/11/70
Page 2
Being a conscientious objector to war and one who would issue such an
open letter as this, I clearly am not opposed to dissent and protest.
But I am vigorously opposed to violence in any form and for any reason,
and most of all I am opposed to would-be leaders capitulating to in-
timidation and violence. Those who respect violence when used against
them will inevitably employ violence when it suits their cause.
We in the colleges and universities have tolerated unspeakable intimida-
tion and thought control on the part of radical students, faculty and
others, and yet when Vice President Agnew speaks out forcefully against
such the only voices that are heard from the academy are those who
castigate him and you for repressing dissent. There are few college
campuses, if any, where Vice President Agnew, or any member of your
cabinet for that matter, could speak without disruption and even
physical abuse and intimidation. But a convicted murderer, dope peddler,
or one committed to the forceful overthrow of the government will receive
not only a respectful hearing, but will be paid a handsome honorarium
in addition. In the light of his high position, I have been embarrassed
by some of the Vice President's intemperate language. But surely he has
as much right to dissent and to be given a respectful hearing as any of
the criminal elcment of our society.
Much of the academic community is now telling you how to settle the
war in Vietnam and being critical of your effort to protect lives and
shorten the war by moving troops into Cambodia. I find it highly un-
becoming of us to presume to tell you how to fight the war in Vietnam
when we aren't even able to settle the wars on our own campuses. Nor
do I use the word war in this context lightly. The throwing of missiles
to do physical harm, the throwing of firebombs to burn buildings, the
use of guerrilla tactics via arson and vandalism, the shooting and kill-
ing of combatants and noncombatants is every bit as much war as that
which prevails in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Near East. I have often
wondered sardonically how many protestors of napalm have themselves
thrown fire bombs or engaged in arson.
I have also been appalled by a certain arrogance and inconsistency on
our part with regard to the way we are free to tell you and others how
to handle your jobs but become deeply resentful, insulted, and even hostile
when there is any suggestion of your intrusion into "our" domain. I am
quite sure that I am able to run Beloit College better than you, but by
the same token I am sure that you are able to deal with the issues of
the Presidency of the United States, including fighting the war in Vietnam,
better than I. The widespread propensity of members of the "intellectual"
community to make judgments without benefit of facts is one of my greatest
disillusionments and embarrassments.
Open Letter to President Richard M. Nixon - 5/11/70
Page 3
As a matter of fact, my early naivete led me to embrace the academic
life because of my belief that members therein were committed to intel-
lectual honesty, rational behavior and humanistic concern and compas-
sion. Recent incidents have merely confirmed all the more what my
life's experiences have suggested. Academic man is as much motivated
by vested interest, is as much controlled by base emotion, and reasons
as much from prejudice as any other mortal. My readings of Ecclesiastes,
the New Testament and the life of Mahatma Gandhi should have prepared
me for this, but they didn't.
We who work closely with young people and should know and understand
them best have not been very helpful to them or to you and others of the
adult community in serving as a vehicle of communication. We have too
often taken sides ourselves and been critical of one group or the other
and not been sufficiently discriminating in our communicative role.
Maybe we can be forgiven on the grounds that the task is such a difficult
one. I know that the great bulk of college students are genuinely con-
cerned about the inhumanity and futility of war and deeply question the
legitimacy of a life that sanctions and even glorifies indiscriminate kill-
ing and maiming. I also know that the great bulk of adults and members of
the establishment are sincere, dedicated individuals with the same hopes
and aspirations as the young. But I also know that in each group there
are examples that support the worst stereotype of each. The great frustra-
tion of the day is that despite this great community of interest and
concern there is a growing separation based upon the sinful tendency
to judge by stereotype and preconception. We in the academic community
are frequently party to this sin even t¹ hugh our training should particu-
larly help us to know better.
Although my own sentiments are basically with the young people, I must
admit that there is a general pandering to the young at the present time
that is both disgusting and irresponsible. Disgusting because it
prostitutes normal respect and affection. Irresponsible because it is
creating an unrealistic cleavage between age groups.
Of course, young people on the whole are wonderful, but what's new about
that? The great reward of college work is the opportunity it affords
to associate regularly with this age group. The idealism, absolutism,
intellectual honesty and great aspiration of the young are the eternal
attributes of this age group upon which society is dependent to preserve
its vital, dynamic quality. These attributes are the standards of
behavior to be e pected, not glorified as unique in any narrow time span
of human history.
Young people are first and foremost people. Those who are young today
will be old tomorrow and having to relate to those who are younger then.
As people they represent all types, some taller than others, some fatter
Open Letter to President Richard M. Nixon - 5/11/70
Page 4.
than others, some with higher IQs than others, some more criminally in-
clined than others, some more saintly than others, some more hostile than
others, some more vocal than others, etc. There is no general virtue
attributable to youth any more than there is general evil. We have done
all young people a great disservice in recent years by suggesting to
them that they are of a different breed from the rest of us and beyond
reproach. They are nothing more than the fresh blood being pumped into
the human society, just as we were in the past and their children will
be in the future. We in Academe should have known this better than
anyone else and not have failed them and you in your common need for
understanding.
We have been quick to tell you that you are alienating the youth of
America, but we seem to pay little attention to the way we are alienating
our own constituencies by our failure to protect the authentic academic
integrity of our institutions. Implicatly we are also alienating the
youth of America over the long run by our failure to be faithful to our
leadership responsibilities.
The pain that hurts most of all is the realization that I bear partial
responsibility for the unnecessary deaths of four young people on the
campus of Kent State University. The National Guard troops should
never have been there in the first place, because we should never have
permitted the conditions to develop which necessit the presence of
troops. Once this die was cast, it was simply a matter of time before
tragedy would strike. If fault lies anywhere for the Kent State deaths
it lies not with you and the Vietnam War but with the radical acts and
excesses we have tolerated in the name of dissent.
I am sure you know, Mr. President, that I do not say these things with
tongue in cheek to placate others, to curry favor, to advance partisan
interest, or to defend your war policies Last fall I joined with a
number of other college presidents to urge your rapid withdrawal of troops
from Vietnam. I reaffirm this plea. But when I consider the whole matter
fully and objectively, I have to concede that you have been more faithful
to your leadership responsibilities than we in Academe have been to our own.
With respect for the tremendous burdens you must bear for the rest of
us and the conscientious way you are bearing them and with apology for
the cruel injustices that have been foisted upon you by the professional
community of which I am a part, I remain,
Respectfully yours,
Miller Upton
President Richard M. Nixon
The White House
Washington, D. C.
May 11, 1970
BELOIT
COLLEGE
THE
BELOIT, WISCONSIN
53511
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
May 9, 1970
TO:
The Editor of The Round Table
FROM: Miller Upton, President
I want to congratulate you on your plan to get as many members of the
community as possible to express their own genuine concern for the cur-
rent conditions that plague us all. I trust you will get widespread
participation. I can think of nothing that would be more salutary than
for every student, faculty member, staff member and trustee to express
himself openly and honestly about our common concern.
Institutions of higher learning exist because truth is uncertain and
because different individuals with different perceptions of truth can
help one another develop to a higher truth. Such a community of learn-
ing, therefore, can never become a community of advocacy without destroy-
ing the reason and essence of its own being. But without prejudging
truth eve y such community can share a common CO cern with equivalent
depth and sincerity among its members without expecting all members to
agree as to solution. I am immensely proud of the way our own community
has responded in this regard to the terrible tensions and turmoils of
the day. The students, faculty and administrative personnel are to be
congratulated. Let us not relax in our common concern for what is best
for the country. And let us not forsake our rational and mutually
respectful approach.
As for me, I have not felt so depressed and torn asunder since the
darkest days of World War II. I have always been opposed to the
Vietnam War, not in any selective sense but because of my moral op-
position to war as an instrument of foreign policy. But my greatest
torment now arises not from the Vietnam War but from the conditions
within our country. I wonder why responsible members of our society want
to incite to feelings of hostility and meanness with the inevitable con-
sequence of violence. We cannot hope to make any contribution to the
elimination of violence in Vietnam, in Israel and on our streets and
campuses until we individually are successful in eliminating the impulse
to hatred and violence that is within each of US.
As a matter of fact, my profound depression mainly arises from my dis-
appointment with the academic community at large. A disappoi Ement that
Public Enrichment through Private Endowment
To the Editor of The Round Table - 5/9/70
Page 2
is all the more intense for my having invested so much of my life and
my hopes in it.
This is why I have chosen to express myself in the form of a penance by
way of an open letter of apology to President Nixon. We have had too
much of buck passing, of throwing darts at others, of closing our eyes
to our own sins while hostilely accusing others. The lessons of the
past have been pounding through my mind: "Let him who has not sinned
cast the first stone." "Judge not that you be not judged.' "You can-
not remove the speck from your brother's eye until you have removed
the plank from your own."
Instead of pointing fingers at others we all need to start being honestly
critical of ourselves. As we have learned from hideous experience over
the last few years, to take any other approach, to arrogantly place.
blame on others simply results in inflaming passions more and leading
to conditions of war at home that we are so critical of abroad. We must
not fall into the emotional trap of being so opposed to war that we are
willing to fight and kill for it.
Let me hasize finally that I issue this statement as a deeply troubled
and concerned human being, citizen and professional educator. In address-
ing an open letter to President Nixon I am addressing it to the nation
and to my academic colleagues at large, not to Beloit College in my ad-
ministrative capacity as President.
If anyone disagrees with or resents my position, I hope he will take
it up with me. No one should vent his feelings on the College, the
town, President Nixon, or any other innocent. I alone should bear
the burden of my position. And any differences that exist between me
and others can only be resolved by open, honest and respectful dialogue
between ourselves in the best tradition of the academic community.
Millis
Miller Upton
MU:dk