Wastebasket Journalism

In 1969 student activists furnished The Crimson and the local press with a steady stream of private administration documents. With the advent of the New Mood on Campus in recent days, The Crimson is reduced to generating its own internal memoranda--this, from the office of Charles U. Daly, vice-president for government and community affairs.

MEMORANDUM

TO: Derek

FROM: Chuck

RE: Kennedy Library Debacle

CHRIST, HOW HUMILIATING. A state college. I'm sorry, Derek, I thought we had it all wrapped up. If only Jackie hadn't been there: she never did fit in. But Columbia Point--even the cab drivers don't know where it is. If it had been Tufts, or even B.U., I might have understand. Maybe. But a state college...

Well, anyway. We still have those twelve acres to deal with and now that we're down, we've got to show right away that we're not out. What I mean is, I've already heard rumors about some neighborhood groups lining up behind low or middle-income housing, with a park thrown in, and I think they're serious. If that happened, someone would certainly suggest that we put up the cash, and that would be just the issue some of those kids are waiting for. So we better get moving.

I should tell you, a few other ideas have been floating around. Steiner told me--and I don't think he was pulling my leg--that someone called him from Camp Pendleton wondering whether we would take a few hundred refugees. Something about their wanting to see where it all began. Uncle Sam would build the Quonset huts (I can just see it--Bundy House, Rostow House) if we would provide some kind of training. I told Dan to refer the guy to Bob Wood. But you can see why we need to move fast.

Rosovsky has made a couple of suggestions about the land. His first idea was to let Pei build his pyramid after all, entirely out of glass, and then move the Afro-American Department in. But that would cost too much. Now Henry says we ought to find some way to use the land to erase his deficit. I suggested an amusement park--I thought we could use the streetcar tracks for some of the rides, and get teaching fellows and grad students to sell tickets, manage the concession stands, etc.--but Henry said we'd just get into more trouble with the unions. Henry thought maybe we could invest in a couple of fast-food franchises right there on Boylston St. He says that some colleges have made a lot of money on those (although from what I hear, it's just been state schools so far). He says we could get that granola group--you know, those kids who were pushing the fast-for-world-hunger the night you and S. were over for dinner? --to sponsor a fast every two or three weeks, and our restaurants would clean up. It all sounds a bit far-fetched to me and not quite Ivy League.

Riesman called me yesterday to ask would it be feasible to move the Quad down to the car barn? (The "Quad," I'm sure you remember, refers to the three Radcliffe houses up near the Observatory.) Riesman kept going on about letting "the boys in Eliot House" keep an eye on some "tyrannous minority." I didn't quite catch the whole thing, but I promised to pass his suggestion on to you.

A few fellows from the Fly Club asked if we could set aside a small lot for them to use as a six or nine-hole golf course. I told them they shouldn't expect us to buy the golf carts.

One other thing. James Q. Wilson told me that Henry Kissinger had called the day of the announcement and that it hadn't been his usual call--you did hear, didn't you! that Henry has started again on his weekly can-I-still-be-a-professor telephone calls? Anyway, Wilson told me that this call started out the same way--you know, have you found anyone for my chair yet, keep up the good work, etc.,--but that what Henry really wanted to say was, he still hadn't decided what to do with his archives, and he'd be happy to talk about it with you. Apparently, he's accumulated quite a load of papers, tape recordings, bombing charts, etc., and he thinks it might do wonders in terms of our recouping some prestige. He says he'll be in D.C. for a couple of days next week, if you want to reach him.

So that's where the situation stands right now. One other thought occurred to me. We might be able to use the land to get this Quad athletic-arts-millstone off our backs. You know, we could build something small at the car yard, and tell them we'd increase shuttle bus service, or something like that. I'm sure Matina would understand.

In any case, please get back to me soon if you want me to do anything. If we procrastinate much longer, we'll find we've slid from a Kennedy Library to a Roosevelt Towers, and I shudder to think what would happen to property values then.