[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 150 (Wednesday, September 18, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1167-E1169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE MODERN ASSOCIATION OF GRADUATES TAKES SHAPE AOG HISTORY PART III
(1946-1995) SECTION A
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HON. JOHN SHIMKUS
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise to include in the Record section A
of the third installment of an article by Keith J. Hamel honoring the
150th Anniversary of the West Point Association of Graduates:
``For the first 30 or so years of its existence (1869-
1900), the Association of the Graduates of the U.S. Military
Academy barely resembled the WPAOG that West Point graduates
know today. Back then, its mission was ``. . . to cherish the
memories of our Alma Mater, and to promote the social
intercourse and fraternal fellowship of its graduates;'' its
activities consisted of an annual meeting and the publishing
of an annual report (dominated by a ``Necrology'' section of
obituaries for those graduates who died the previous year);
and its finances primarily relied on an estate gift from
George Cullum, Class of 1833, who bequeathed $250,000 to
build the Memorial Hall that bears his name and left $10,000
to fund ``the current and necessary expenses'' of the nascent
Association. In its second stage of existence (1901-45),
changes to AOG's mission, governance, and operations signaled
its desire to become more like a contemporary alumni
association. Some of the initiatives from that era included
``Alumni Day,'' featuring a wreath-laying ceremony at Thayer
Statue that is still practiced nearly 100 years later; the
``Stained Glass Windows'' project, a precursor to Class
Giving, where classes purchased windows in the Cadet Chapel
(with some classes also purchasing a panel for a class that
graduated 100 years earlier which had no living members); and
the introduction of ASSEMBLY magazine, which replaced the
Annual Report with a quarterly publication chronicling news
involving West Point cadets, faculty, and alumni. The third
part of WPAOG's history (1946-95) begins with the founding of
the West Point Alumni Foundation and continues through the
opening of Herbert Alumni Center, the current home of the
West Point Association of Graduates, the modern alumni
association with which all graduates are familiar today.
west point alumni foundation
The West Point Alumni Foundation, Inc. (WPAF) was founded
on December 26, 1945 by trustees of the much older
Association of Graduates. In the years immediately preceding
WPAF's founding, the financial condition of AOG was
dangerously close to running in the red. Other than the
annual yield from an $100,000 endowment, AOG's only income
source was the one-time $15 initiation fee it charged for
membership, which included a lifetime subscription to the
recently launched ASSEMBLY magazine (April 1942).
Unfortunately, printing and mailing costs had escalated to
such an extent during World War II that it was impossible to
continue issuing ASSEMBLY on the support of membership fees
alone. Looking at ways to increase revenues for the
organization and save its new alumni magazine, the AOG Board
of Trustees considered publishing a ``Register of Graduates''
similar to the one the U.S. Naval Academy's graduate
association had been publishing since the mid-1930s. Not only
would it raise funds through subscriptions, this new annual
Register (different than the decennially published
Biographical Register that Cullum had started in 1868 and
that AOG had continued through Volume IX [1940-50]) would
generate revenue from advertisements in the new publication.
As AOG President Robert M. Danford, Class of 1904, noted in
his letter for the July 1946 issue of ASSEMBLY, ``The
publication of this Register, if we may judge by that of the
Naval Academy, should give us an additional, material, and
much needed source of revenue for the Association.'' There
was, however, one rather larger sticking point to the AOG's
plan.
At this point in time, AOG's Secretary and Treasurer (who
was also the Editor of ASSEMBLY) was an active duty officer
who also served in the Office of the Superintendent as the
Academy's Alumni Secretary. According to the provisions of
the annual Army appropriations bill, ``No appropriation for
the pay of the Army shall be available for the pay of any
officer or enlisted on the active list of the Army who is
engaged in any manner with any publication . . . which
carries paid advertising of firms doing business with the War
Department.'' AOG was, in essence, a quasi-government staff
section of USMA, and, as long as AOG had an active duty
officer on its staff, it was prohibited from soliciting
advertisers for its publications.
To solve this dilemma, Danford and Chauncey Fenton, also
from the Class of 1904, who were members of the AOG Board of
Trustees, pushed for the formation of a separate corporation,
that became the West Point Alumni Foundation (WPAF), which
was to be operated entirely by persons not on the active list
of the Army. According to Michael Krisman, WPAF's last
Executive Manager, the purpose of WPAF was multifold: ``To
acquire and disseminate information on the history,
activities, objectives and methods of the United States
Military Academy, and its place in the National Defense
organization of the United States; to acquire, preserve, and
disseminate historical materials relating to it and the Armed
Forces of the Nation; to encourage and foster the study of
military and naval science; to promote the advancement and
diffusion of knowledge among worthy [youths] in preparation
for entrance to West Point or other military or naval
schools; to receive, provide, and maintain funds and apply
the income therefrom in furtherance of these purposes.''
WPAF was first established as a Maryland corporation, but
on August 6, 1946, New York authorized its request to do
business in the state as a foreign corporation--with a
governing board of nine officers and directors, no membership
other than its Board, a paid staff of civilians and retired
military, and a
[[Page E1168]]
headquarters in New York City (with a satellite office in
Cullum Hall). The first Register, with Danford as its editor,
was published shortly thereafter. It contained short
biographical briefs of 16,161 graduates and listed 7,847
former cadets. It also contained well over 100
advertisements, everything from full-page spreads by Curtiss-
Wright Corporation and Coca-Cola to one-eighth-page,
classified-type ads by Mall Portable Power Tools and The
Loesch & Green Construction Company. What's more, in the
``Acknowledgements'' section of the inaugural Register, the
officers and directors of WPAF recognized, ``with grateful
appreciation,'' all the advertisers who published in the
Register and ``urge[d] their patronage upon our
subscribers.'' The 1946 Register also placed a half-page, in-
house ad on page 338 that said, ``The West Point Alumni
Foundation, Inc., wishes to take this opportunity to express
its sincere appreciation to the advertisers in this, the 1946
Register of Graduates of the United States Military Academy,
for their part in making possible the production of this
volume.''
WPAF was evidently staking its fortunes, and those of AOG,
on advertising, now and in the future. According to a report
in the January 18, 1946 edition of ASSEMBLY, AOG expected
that the advertising included in the Register would provide
``a greatly desired and needed source of revenue,'' and, in
that first year, funds received through WPAF increased AOG's
income sheet $5,807.64, nearly a 40 percent rise from 1946's
number. Yet, despite this apparent surge in revenue, the
continually rising costs of paper, printing, labor and
shipping threatened the solvency of the Association and
forced the AOG Board of Trustees to end the lifetime
membership benefit and to institute subscription rates for
ASSEMBLY, starting with the October 1947 issue. Even with
this move, the balance sheet was still bleak. In July 1948,
Fenton, now AOG President, remarked, ``A subscription for
both ASSEMBLY and the Register at $3 gives the Association a
profit of 74 cents; a subscription to ASSEMBLY alone at $1.50
gives a deficit of 46 cents.''
tax-exempt donations
Help came from an unexpected source: the Internal Revenue
Service. In a letter dated December 1, 1948, the Commissioner
of the IRS granted tax-exempt status to the Association,
confirming that gifts to AOG for operational purposes could
now be deducted from the income tax of the donor.
Interestingly, it was WPAF's purpose statement, which AOG
later adopted in modified form at its June 1949 annual
meeting, that allowed AOG to receive its IRS privilege. AOG's
new mission now stated, ``The objects of the Association
shall be to acquire and disseminate information on the
history, activities, objectives and methods of the United
States Military Academy; to acquire, and preserve historical
materials relating to that institution; and to encourage and
foster the study of military science there by worthy
[youths].'' Not being religious, charitable, or scientific,
AOG needed to alter the Association's purpose to emphasize
the ``acquiring and disseminating information on USMA'' to
ensure tax-exempt status as an ``educational society.''
Just one month after receiving its good news, AOG put out
an appeal in the January 1949 issue of ASSEMBLY with an
article titled ``All West Pointers, Attention!'' asking
graduates for financial assistance, claiming that the ``war
classes have greatly increased the size of the Association,
new activities have been undertaken, and the cost of labor
and materials and everything else has skyrocketed.'' The
second paragraph of that appeal reads, ``Contributions, gifts
and bequests to the Association of Graduates are now tax-
deductible under the Federal Income Tax, Gift Tax, and Estate
Tax laws.'' According to the article, greater income was
needed for ``Expansion in office facilities, equipment and
number of personnel for the office of the Association at West
Point.'' While the primary focus was AOG, the article
ended by noting that, ultimately, ``Your gifts . . . will
be of great benefit to West Point.'' This last point was
reinforced in a January 1950 letter by Fenton, written
from his role as Chairman of the Association's Fund
Raising [sic] Committee, in which he explained AOG's needs
but also stated that giving to the Association provides
``an opportunity to invest in our Alma Mater.''
Granted, AOG already benefited the Academy by maintaining
graduate records for USMA's reference, by providing
information to local West Point Societies about USMA
activities so that it could recruit prospective cadets
through graduates, and by recent initiatives such as the
Thayer Award (first given in March 1958), but could the '49
fundraising appeal unconsciously have been suggesting
something more? Major General Garrison ``Gar'' Davidson '27,
the 44th West Point Superintendent, seemed to think so and
envisioned a future in which AOG could directly assist West
Point financially. In a speech before West Point Society
members on September 26, 1958, Davidson said, ``There are
quite a few facilities that are necessary at the Military
Academy for which it is probable that appropriated funds will
not be available in the foreseeable future.'' Earlier, he had
asked the AOG Board of Trustees to hire a Kansas City survey
firm to conduct a fundraising campaign feasibility study. The
Fall 1958 issue of ASSEMBLY briefly references the survey
stating, ``At press time there was little information
available except the fact that generally the alumni strongly
favor such a campaign.'' Indeed, the firm later recommended
that West Point, through AOG, conduct a 19-month, $3 million
campaign for facilities at the Academy. Yet, Anthony
McAuliffe, Class of 1919, President of the Association,
rejected the proposal, fearing that such a fundraising effort
would put AOG's relatively recent tax-exempt status in
jeopardy.
West Point Superintendent's Fund
Davidson's successor, Major General William C. Westmoreland
'36, also saw opportunities in asking graduates to
financially support the Academy, but instead of approaching
AOG he turned to WPAF as the organization best able to assist
him. After all, the last sentence of WPAF's mission statement
read, ``. . . to receive, provide, and maintain funds and
apply the income therefrom in furtherance of [the United
States Military Academy].'' In the spring of 1961, shortly
before June Week, a group of senior graduates, headed by
Lucius D. Clay, Class of 1918 June, and George Olmsted '22,
met in New York City to hear from Westmoreland what special
needs the Military Academy had that could not be met from
appropriated or other fund sources.
The result of this meeting was the establishment of the
West Point Superintendent's Fund. During the formative stages
of the Fund, Westmoreland visited Congress and discussed the
proposed endowment with leaders of the Armed Services and
Appropriations Committees, who reacted positively to the idea
of soliciting private donations for what Westmoreland called,
``nice-to-have facilities for the Academy and for use by the
Corps of Cadets,'' later defined by Major General James B.
Lampert '36, West Point's 46th Superintendent, as
``worthwhile projects which have a direct bearing on cadet
welfare.'' In a WPAF brochure outlining the goals of the Fund
and addressing questions raised by graduates, Clay wrote the
following: ``Today, the alumni of other schools and colleges,
including state-supported schools, give heavily and gladly to
their schools and in doing so become more deeply interested
than ever . . . Become a part of West Point's development and
future.''
General Robert E. Wood, Class of 1900, one of four
``Honorary Advisors'' of the West Point Superintendent's Fund
Committee (along with Douglas MacArthur, Class of 1903;
Dwight Eisenhower, and Omar Bradley, both Class of 1915) made
the initial contribution to the Fund. After one year, the
Fund raised nearly $100,000 toward its $1 million goal from
92 graduate donors, 29 of whom gave more than $1,000.
According to the minutes of AOG's 93rd Annual Meeting, some
of this early money went to install a ski lift, to partially
pay for work being done on the First Class Club (the old
Ordnance Compound), to improve the echo division of the Cadet
Chapel organ, and to meet the expenses of three cadets who
were selected to take part in Operations Crossroads-Africa (a
practice that continues today in the form of AIADs). Clay,
Chairman of the Fund Committee, publicly suggested that
graduates give an annual contribution of one dollar for every
year since their graduation. True to form, at a birthday
party celebrating his 102nd birthday in the spring of 1962,
Henry Hodges Jr., Class of 1881, West Point's oldest living
graduate, presented Charles N. Branham '22, Secretary-
Treasurer of the Fund, with a gift of $81, while Lieutenant
John F. McLaughlin '61, the Long Gray Line's youngest
graduate, gave $1.
Early publicity for the West Point Superintendent's Fund
went to great lengths to establish that this new fund should
be viewed as separate from AOG's annual request. ``The
Association of Graduates is alumni-oriented and its fund-
raising [sic] efforts are generally directed toward awards
and other alumni activities in the fields of education and
history,'' stated an article in the Summer 1961 issue of
ASSEMBLY. Nine months earlier, in the Fall 1961 issue,
Westmoreland addressed the matter in his regular
Superintendent's letter, writing, ``The Superintendent's
Fund, on the other hand, provides a development fund which,
through its listing of specific additional educational and
extracurricular projects, will stimulate interest, guide
donors into giving for useful purposes, provide an organized
approach to such giving, and thus encourage contributions.''
Coincidentally, just as the Superintendent's Fund was being
established, AOG received the sum of $1 million from the will
of Agnes Pierce, widow of Palmer Pierce, Class of 1891, who
served as AOG Treasurer (1905-07), President (1931-34), and
Trustee (1938 until his death in 1940). Listed in AOG
financial report as the ``Palmer E. Pierce Memorial Fund,''
the terms of the gift simply stated that ``the Trustees of
the Association shall in due course establish a suitable
memorial in memory of my late husband. . . .'' With no
restrictions on the gift, AOG invested the money in U.S.
Treasury bills, earning $18,479 in interest in the first
year, and eventually used it to build the semi-circular
dining room extension of the West Point Club. In 1962,
another graduate, Gilbert Youngberg, Class of 1900, left
$50,000 for AOG in his will, which the Association also
deposited in its Endowment Fund.
By the mid-1960s, both AOG and WPAF were humming along,
each doing what it did best. According to the report ``Two
Decades of Change,'' written in 1992 by AOG's first Executive
Vice President, Robert Lamb Jr. '46, ``WPAF, acting through
is its fundraising committee, annually conducted a relatively
low-key private fundraising program for the
[[Page E1169]]
Academy (which was renamed ``The West Point Fund'' in 1969)
and served as the publisher of two alumni publications
(ASSEMBLY and the Register of Graduates), while AOG conducted
alumni events (such as class reunions), operated a catalogue
gift shop, maintained historical and biographical records on
graduates, solicited funds for its annual appeal
(supplemental AOG operating funds), and exercised editorial
responsibility for ASSEMBLY.'' While separate entities, the
relationship between AOG and WPAF was actually synergistic:
AOG represented the graduates from which most of the funds
raised WPAF came, and WPAF solicited advertising for AOG's
publications, which the Association could not do given the
active duty officer serving as its Secretary-Treasurer.''
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