Conart, James Bryant, 1893-1978

ports.

Envelope 4/138 ; microfilm reel 056 ; Frames 1092 - 1119

17 newspaper clippings and 2 p. of biographical information

biographical information in digital form

James Bryant Conant was an American chemist, educational administrator, and government official. As the President of Harvard University he reformed it as a research institution. Between 1941 and 1946, he also served as chairman of the National Defense Research Committee; from that position he played a key role, along with his close friend and MIT vice president Vannevar Bush, in ramping up the Manhattan Project which developed the first nuclear weapons. After World War II he was an adviser to both the National Science Foundation and the Atomic Energy Commission. Conant served as U.S. High Commissioner (1953–1955) and United States Ambassador to Germany (1955–1957). In 1960 he served on President Eisenhower's Commission on National Goals. As the university's president, Conant was instrumental in transforming Harvard, until then still somewhat parochial, into an increasingly 'diverse' and world-class research university. He introduced aptitude tests into the undergraduate admissions system so that students would be chosen for their intellectual promise and merit, rather than their social connections. Many American colleges followed Conant's lead. Conant became an advocate for educational reform in society generally, and this campaign led eventually to the adoption of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). As the president of Harvard, Conant led the administration in welcoming the Hitler regime. He had high ranking Nazi officials visit the campus and give speeches, including the 1934 commencement address by Ernst Hanfstaengl, while he restricted admission of Jewish students and hiring of Jewish faculty. He was also known for his rejection of Afro-American students who applied for admission to Harvard -- (Wikipedia)