[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           HOOVER, HONNOLD, AND MUDD: DAVID KUHNER'S ARTICLE

 Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, it has been 15 years since the 
U.S. Senate commemorated the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of 
Herbert Hoover. A testimony to the appropriateness of this event 
crossed my desk not long ago. While 40 years have passed since our 31st 
President's death, we are still discovering new ways that he, and 
others like him, perennially affect our Nation and the world.
  This testimony takes the form of an article written by a diligent and 
gifted researcher and writer from the Claremont Colleges in southern 
California, David Kuhner. I ask that this article be placed in the 
Record following my remarks.
  What is of greater importance today than the education of our 
Nation's youth? While each year brings with it new challenges, this 
question is hardly novel. On February 7, 1936, three men, who shared 
much in common, were among a gathering to celebrate the convocation of 
the Claremont Colleges: Herbert Hoover, William Honnold, and Harvey 
Mudd. Each man, a giant in the area of mining engineering, each a 
humanitarian, in one way or another, and each dedicated to answer that 
rhetorical question with their lives.
  That warm, winter day in southern California, Hoover spoke out on the 
importance of young men and women studying to find national solutions. 
Honnold and Mudd, as guiding members of the college consortium's 
steering committee, watched and listened as their work drove miles 
closer to fruition. What did these engineers have? They had a vision. A 
vision for this small yet powerful piece of American higher education. 
From Hoover's De Re Metallica Library to Harvey Mudd College, their 
vision remains today--no less powerful than it was in 1936, only more 
tangible.
  The article follows:

                   [From the Tempo Journal, May 1994]

       When the Three Musketeers of Engineering Came to Claremont

                           (By David Kuhner)

       It was a small California event in the year 1936, while 
     much bigger headlines clamored for world attention. ``King 
     Edward VIII To Wed Mrs. Wallis Simpson''--``Spanish Civil War 
     Begins''--``Germans Occupy Rhineland''--``Joe Louis On Way To 
     Heavyweight Championship.''
       But the meeting on a college platform in Claremont of three 
     internationally famous mining engineers, who were also close 
     friends--Herbert Hoover, William Honnold, and Harvey Mudd--
     set in motion forces that still stir the currents of 
     university and college life in southern California today.
       Hoover, Honnold and Harvey Mudd--it almost reads like an 
     advertising slogan--were among several guests of honor when 
     they were invited to attend the Claremont Colleges 
     convocation and celebration of February 7, 1936.
       Hoover had managed mining enterprises in Australia, China 
     and London, to name just a few of his residences as a young 
     man. Honnold had helped to develop the legendary gold fields 
     of the Far Eastern Rand in South Africa. And Harvey Mudd, 
     along with his father Seeley Wintersmith Mudd, another 
     engineer, had found `the lost copper mines of the Romans' on 
     the island of Cyprus, a real-life adventure story that 
     rivaled the fictions of King Solomon's Mines. So here they 
     were in 1936, one an ex-President of the U.S. and all three 
     globetrotters, wending their way to a college function at the 
     foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.
       They had been told the primary purpose of the event was to 
     honor Dr. James A. Blaisdell, the man behind the plan to 
     group several colleges together in Claremont. Another purpose 
     was to salute the three schools already in the plan: Pomona 
     College, Scripps College, and the Graduate School for their 
     just completed ten years of close association.
       This was the program and this was the plan. There was first 
     a grand gathering of faculty and families at Bridges 
     Auditorium at 10:30 in the morning, then a luncheon at Frary 
     Hall at Pomona College where several distinguished guests 
     would speak, and finally a big alumni dinner in the evening.
       The combined Pomona Glee Clubs provided great music; the 
     consuls of Japan, Mexico and China were present, and names 
     such as Robert Gordon Sproul, president of the University of 
     California; Rufus B. von Kleinschmid, president of USC; and 
     Robert A. Millikan, President of the California Institute of 
     Technology added sparkle to the mix. More than 70 
     universities sent representatives.
       In his talk at the luncheon, Hoover provided one of the 
     highlights of the day according to Los Angeles Times reporter 
     Ed Ainsworth, who said that the former President ``helped the 
     Claremont Colleges look through a telescope at their own 
     bright future.'' Hoover said that the young men and women in 
     colleges such as these must play a role in the solution of 
     ``the great national problem'' and he praised President 
     Blaisdell and his fellow engineer, Mr. Honnold, for leading 
     the way to this goal. Blaisdell had spent the summer of 1925 
     in England and returned with a concept new to America. ``My 
     own deep hope,'' he said, ``is that instead of one great 
     differentiated university we might form a group of small 
     colleges somewhat on the Oxford type.''
       This pattern was now set in Claremont and during those 
     halcyon years both Honnold and Harvey Mudd played key roles 
     in steering the project through their service on the Board of 
     Fellows, the overall governing body. Mr. Mudd's father, 
     Seeley W. Mudd, had passed on before this time but his spirit 
     was mighty strong in the board rooms.
       Another important announcement at the luncheon was made by 
     Harvey Mudd when he said that a third college would be added 
     to the group ``within a very few years.'' This was to be 
     Claremont Men's College, now known as Claremont McKenna 
     College, which came aboard in 1946.
       What was it about these engineers that made them loom so 
     large among the Claremont movers and shakers? Although there 
     were certainly other brilliant occupations and leaders 
     present, the threesome of this story were destined to leave 
     an extraordinary legacy of their lives to this college scene, 
     one that was totally unpredictable in 1936. Here is how it 
     happened.
       Hoover, out of the turmoil of the White House at last, went 
     back to Palo Alto and lost himself in causes close to his 
     heart: the Boys Clubs of America and directorships of a dozen 
     scientific and educational institutions. Then came the day in 
     1945 when President Truman called him into the Oval Office 
     and said, ``Mr. President, there are a lot of hungry people 
     in the world (World War II had left millions starving in 22 
     countries) and I want you to head up a world-wide emergency 
     famine committee.''
       Truman later stated, ``Well, I looked at him. He was 
     sitting there and there were great big tears running down his 
     cheeks. It was the first time in 13 years that anybody had 
     paid attention to him.''
       Hoover traveled 35,000 miles on that assignment--a bit of 
     deja vu for him as he had done very much the same thing 
     before his presidential term, following the First World War, 
     a quarter century earlier. Later he proceeded to direct the 
     `Hoover Commissions' for streamlining the Executive Branch of 
     the U.S. Two-thirds of his Commission's proposals were 
     adopted.
       When death closed his career in 1964 at the age of 90, 
     there was one last legacy of his to give. His family, 
     represented by his grandson Herbert Hoover III, decided in 
     1970 to give his famous rare book library on mining and 
     metallurgy to the Claremont Colleges. This treasure still 
     guides students and faculty interested in the history of 
     science. Its printed catalogue, called the De Re Metallica 
     Library, has been distributed to research libraries around 
     the world.
       William Lincoln Honnold, who at that convocation of 1936 
     was given the first honorary Doctor of Science degree ever 
     awarded by The Colleges, was called a ``citizen of the 
     world'' by his friends and colleagues. Over many years he and 
     his wife, Caroline, had a particular faith in Claremont as a 
     center of learning. Shortly after Honnold's death in 1950, 
     his wife announced that their gift of $1,000,000 would be 
     used to construct and endow a centrally located library. The 
     Hannold Library, the main library of the college group now 
     with over 1,000,000 volumes on its shelves, was dedicated on 
     October 23, 1952 and serves as the spectacular centerpiece of 
     the combined campuses.
       Harvey Seeley Mudd had a career that stretched from 
     Leadville, Colorado, to Cyprus and to California. A friend 
     has described him as ``one of the most humble, most 
     fortunate, and most successful men of modern times . . . a 
     thinker, a patient builder and a self-reliant scholar.'' He 
     served with distinction as president of the American 
     Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and in 1935 
     was cited as the Los Angeles citizen who had given the 
     community the most valuable and unselfish service.
       Shortly after his death in 1955, his family and admirers 
     made possible the formation of a new college, Harvey Mudd 
     College, which is situated along Foothill Boulevard in the 
     northern tier of the present Claremont collegiate complex. 
     This college of science and engineering has been consistently 
     ranked the number one school of its kind in the country.
       So the years ran on from that convocation of 1936 when 
     three old friends stood on a platform and nodded and accepted 
     applause, to the present day when libraries and buildings 
     bear their names and tell their story. What a change from the 
     days when ``engineers'' were not quite considered the 
     professionals they are today.
       One of Hoover's favorite stories was about his trans-
     Atlantic crossing by ship in the early 1900s. He was in the 
     dining salon when a vary proper British lady at his table 
     suddenly looked at him and said ``What is your occupation, 
     Mr. Hoover?'' Hoover replied, ``I'm an engineer.'' ``Oh my,'' 
     exclaimed the lady, her eyes opening wide, ``I thought you 
     were a gentleman!''

                          ____________________