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EXTENDED CLUB HISTORY The following essay on the history of the Harvard Republican Club was
written by HRC Membership Director ('03-'04) Stephanie Kendall '05. *** The Honorable Theodore Roosevelt and soon to be president of the United
States wrote to Harvard Republicans in 1888: “I am now engaged
every night to speak in New York, and so am unable to come over as you
request. I am really extremely sorry, for I should particularly like
to be present at a meeting of the Republicans under the auspices of dear
old alma mater. I am more than glad to see Harvard College Republicans
keeping Harvard where she belongs.”(1) Unfortunately, Teddy Roosevelt
was unable to attend to the founding meeting of the Harvard Republican
Club, but 4,500 came to Tremont Temple in Boston on November 2, 1888
for the club’s public meeting. Filling not only Tremont Temple,
but also an additional overflow hall, the meeting’s turnout exceeded
the organizers’ expectations. The event drew prominent national
Republicans to speak and marked the beginning of collegiate Republican
organizations. Students decided to organize the club when they felt actions
by some “put the university in a false position, namely as being
largely in favor of the democratic party.”(2) Republican students
took a stand in the fall semester of 1888 against such actions. The founding
of the Harvard Republican Club was a grassroots movement by students
to address what they saw as a violation of university principles. The
grand founding served three purposes: to express the political opinion
of the majority of students – what they saw as Harvard’s
true political colors, to protest the breach of academic freedom, and
to campaign for Republican presidential candidate Benjamin Harrison.
The club is now 115 years strong, and its student-driven enthusiastic
spirit continues into modern times. The 1888 presidential campaign had captured the interest and energy
of Harvard. The contest was between President Grover Cleveland, the Democrat
incumbent, who
favored tariff reform in the direction of free trade and Republican challenger
Benjamin Harrison, who vowed to continue to protect American industry from
competition from foreign goods. Ten days prior to the public meeting
of the Republican Club,
a very different gathering was held at Tremont Temple. A newspaper article
headlined “The
Real Harvard” explains that after the “tremendous” meeting
of the Republican club, the earlier meeting, which was “designed to show
that the old university had joined hands with the party of Gorman, Cleveland,
Barnum, Cunniff and Maguire,” will soon be forgotten.(3) The Harvard
tariff reform meeting had come across as a Harvard endorsement for free trade
and
a Cleveland presidency, which upset Republicans and sparked them to respond.
William
C. Boyden, the first President of the Harvard Republican Club, said, “Our
club had its beginning in an organization to answer the impression which went
forth from the Harvard tariff reform meeting. You all heard extensively after
that meeting, that the educated sentiment of the country was away from Republicanism.”(4) The
Republican students of Harvard did not wish for this to be the impression of
Harvard’s politics. In fact, they did not wish for there to an “official” position
of the University at all, which violated a long-standing principle of Harvard
not taking sides in national politics. However, they believed “if it
was necessary for Harvard to go into politics, she should be fairly represented.”(5) The
former Governor of Massachusetts, George D. Robinson, who spoke at the founding
meeting agreed, “A short time since, less than two weeks, gentlemen from
this platform assumed to speak for the educated people of the country. They
pretended that from themselves came the utterance for our old alma mater. But
we have found,
as we investigated, that it was only a trifling minority that spoke.”(6)
One major purpose of the meeting was to show that not only did the tariff reform
meeting speak not speak for Harvard, but also a majority of Harvard students
took the opposite stance. The Republican proponents of Protectionism took no small
steps to correct the impression of Harvard, but instead they held an impressive
meeting that left
few in attendance with doubts “as to the party to which the great bulk
of Harvard influence given.”(7) The original hall Tremont Temple and
the overflow hall the Meionaon were both quickly filled to capacity, and the
Boston
Daily
Advertiser reported that “a line of policeman had to be stretched along
the sidewalk to prevent overcrowding.”(8) The enthusiastic crowd stood
and waved flags while they sang “Fair Harvard” with the accompaniment
of Baldwin’s Cadet Band as the speakers rose to the platform and each
speaker was greeted with the Harvard Rah! Rah! Rah! before he spoke. The spirit
of the
meeting was apparent: “It was emphatically a students’ meeting.”(9) The
crowd remained enthusiastic through the three and a quarter hour long meeting
for which even the ladies gallery was full, prompting the Advertiser to remark, “It
was the most attractive meeting of the campaign.”(10) Republican Club
President Boyden reported at the meeting: “The poll of Harvard College
gave a Republican plurality of 160, and this magnificent meeting shows where
the educated sentiment
of Harvard is.”(11) The meeting showed that contrary to the earlier declaration
of the tariff reform group, most of Harvard students were Republican, not Democratic.
This was a clear intention of the meeting. The Advertiser reported of the tone
of the meeting, “It was the reply, the indignant response to a slur,
the declaration that a great body of men had been misrepresented. It was a
retort,
a retort courteous but unmistakable.”(12) Senate Leader Honorable George
F. Hoar began his speech to the intensely enthusiastic students, “One
of the speakers at a meeting held here ten days ago told his audience that
Harvard welcomed
them that night to stand with her for Grover Cleveland. You and I are here
to deny that proposition. [Laughter and Applause]”(13) Senator Hoar wanted
to make it clear that the majority of Harvard students did not support President
Cleveland in his re-election bid. He was concerned that some thought that the
country ought be governed by a “partnership, consisting of the Solid
South, Tammany Hall, the liquor saloons and criminal places of the great cities,
and
Harvard College.”(14) Hoar and other speakers at the meeting made it
emphatically clear that those who represented Harvard as leaning Democratic
were misrepresenting
the majority of undergraduates and graduate students. They were misrepresenting
the alumni who were involved in speaking at and organizing the meeting. Harvard
did not belong in dirty politics or the company of Democrats. Hoar continues, “Our
venerable and beloved mother will be found in no such company. [Laughter] That
discreet matron never goes to such places. She never will go there, unless
it be to reclaim and rescue some of her wandering sons who have gone astray.”(15) Perhaps
more importantly than making the political opinions of the majority of the
students heard, a purpose of the meeting was to reprimand and correct
a violation
of the college’s tradition of academic freedom. The students and speakers
believed they were involved in an important mission to stop Harvard’s
meddling in taking political stances. For the sake of Harvard’s future
and for the separation of academia from national politics, the students and
the speakers
make their collective voice heard. Harvard graduate and Congressman Henry Cabot
Lodge spoke most eloquently and extensively against the College supporting
one particular party: Mr. Chairman and Ladies and gentlemen: a meeting in
the name of Harvard was held in this hall a few days ago to advocate
the election of
Grover Cleveland…..We
do not gather here to assert that we are the sole and only representatives
of the college. All that we lay claim to is the right, common to all
her sons, to
serve honor, and defend her with loyalty and truth. [Applause] We do not come
to give out to the world that Harvard College supports the party to which we
belong. Were such the purpose of this meeting I for one would have no part
or lot in it. We gather here to protest in the only way open to us against
the attempt
which has been made to drag the college into politics, and to use her honored
name as a make-weight in party strife. [Applause and Cheers] We are not here
to declare that the college is Republican, but to stamp as utterly false the
assumption that our beloved alma mater is bound to the wheels of the chariot
which carries the political fortunes of Grover Cleveland.(16) Lodge felt it extremely important to point out that this meeting, although
enthusiastically Republican, was not to lay claim that the college’s
official position was on the Republican side. Instead, he was protesting
the actions of the other side that did make such a claim. Granted, in
order to protest the violation of college tradition, the organizers made
quite a scene of their Republicanism and went to great lengths to declare
that the student body was more Republican. It was more important than
the results of this one election, for Lodge at least, to make certain
that Harvard did not get into the business
of supporting presidential candidates and becoming unnecessarily involved
in national politics. A newspaper account reports that organizers were
careful to make clear that they were protesting the involvement of
the college in politics: “Last night’s speakers were scrupulous
to disclaim any purpose to represent their alma mater as an attachment
to either party…”(17) The Republican Club did not attempt
to speak on behalf of the college, but did make go to great lengths
to show
that the student body was more Republican. The students felt obligated
to take action after the actions of the tariff reform supporters seemed
to suggest that Harvard was taking a Democratic stance. It was not,
however, the Republicans desire to bring the college into politics.
One newspaper
reports, “The students who are active in the matter would have
much preferred not to take any action as students of the university,
but inasmuch as the action of the Harvard Tariff Reform Association
has put the university in a false position” the students felt
they had no choice but to voice their distaste for the Association’s
declaration.(18) The students wanted to protect the school from taking
sides and involving itself in politics. Harvard President Derek Bok, many years
later, wrote about the need to protect academic freedom at universities.
He writes that in the appointments
process it is important to examine the ability of candidates to perform
academic and administrative functions, but “the problem is to
reconcile such scrutiny with the historic reluctance to endanger academic
freedom
and risk the errors, the controversies, and the external pressures
that can so easily result whenever we begin to assess the qualifications
of
candidates by judging their opinions on controversial issues of a political,
economic, or moral nature.”(19) Bok’s desire to protect
the university from taking political or moral stances against certain
potential
faculty
appointments is based in the tradition of the university being separate
from being mired in politics. The basis for academic freedom is the
desire to build the best university possible without harming free inquiry.
This
can only be achieved when the university stays out of political debates.
The students involved in the founding of the Republican Club believed
they were acting with this noble purpose in mind. They did not want
the university to get into the habit of taking strong political stances,
which would endanger the tradition of a university focused on learning
and excellence not on politics. Though this was not the only reason
for
which they acted, it was the most important one. The third purpose of
the founding of the Republican Club and its public meeting was to campaign
in the close presidential election for General
Benjamin Harrison. The issues in the election were divided sharply
along North/South lines. Loosening tariffs was opposed in the more industrial
North, but supported in the more agricultural South. Another major
issue
for some Republicans was the South’s repression of African-American
votes. Republicans felt that elections were not honest when the votes
of one race were not being included in the South. The public meeting
of the Republican Club was a platform for these campaign issues and
an opportunity to cheer on the candidate of those in attendance – Ben
Harrison. The importance of the meeting as a campaign event may come
as no surprise considering the closeness of the election and impressiveness
of the founding meeting. One newspaper went so far as to say, “The
Harvard College Republican meeting at Tremont Temple last evening was
one of the greatest successes of the campaign.”(20) The prominence
of Harvard in the election speaks to the even greater reason why the
opinion of the university and the student body mattered in the national
scene. Several speakers spoke out of the two important issues in the
campaign. Colonel Nathaniel P. Hallowell, who was a companion of Colonel
Robert Gould Shaw in leading the 54th regiment during the Civil War,
spoke about the need for the Republicans in the North to reach out
to the South. He said, “The New South, with her factories and
railways, is a child of the North. She will not submit to free trade,
nor will
she permit her laborers to be cheated out of their political rights
by any party.”(21) Reverend Edward Everett Hale also spoke on
the issue of political rights in the South and the prominence of Harvard
men in
the fight for liberty. He speaks of Harvard, “She ought to say,
as I think she will say to-night to this country, that while the elegance
of her accomplishments was never so finished as it is now, while the
range of her studies was never more broad, the instincts of her sons
were as true to freedom as they were in the days of the stamp act or
Fort Wagner.”(22) Though it is difficult to say whether this
meeting made a difference in the election, Ben Harrison was the eventual
electoral
victor, though Cleveland won the popular vote. The country was largely
divided in half between North and South upon the highly regional issues
decided by the campaign. The following map shows the final results
of the election. Harrison is shown in red and Cleveland in green.(23) 
The Republican
Club’s conflict with the university continued beyond
its original founding act. In 1894 the club was blocked from reserving
Sander’s
Theater for a speech by now Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. The club, which the
Boston Journal described as “a gingerly and active body ” and
all other political groups were no longer allowed to use any college hall
or room
for political purposes by vote of the corporation (this included Sever Hall,
where the club routinely held meetings).(24) This rule only applied to the
Republican Club, however, because all other political clubs had disbanded.
President
Eliot was largely blamed for the move, and some believed he may have been
acting
to keep the university completely non-partisan. A member of the Harvard Republican
Club when presented with this possibility responded, “There are a great
many more men, however, that think a less frequent expression of his own
partisan sympathies would accomplish more toward such a result.”(25) Despite
the setback this move caused, the club vowed to find another off-campus location
to conduct
their activities. They would not let conflicts with the university and the
disappearance of other political clubs on campus dampen their spirit and
resolve. Though
the issues of the Republican Party changed through the years, the Harvard
Republican Club has continued for 115 years. More often than not, it
has had
strained relations with the university and has sustained itself as a counter-opinion
through times of majority student support and when they existed in the minority.
In more modern times, the proportion of Republican students has shrunk, but
the same grassroots enthusiasm has remained strong. In 1892, the Republican
Club met Harvard Square in Parade Cap and Gown to watch the election returns.(26)
In 1952, watching election returns was slightly modernized with an event
that boasted dancing and free beer.(27) The club in the 1950’s
continued to hold big speaking events just like the original club, but
it seems
that social events
expanded slightly including one particularly interesting flyer that spoke
of a mixer with the “Lovely Lonely Ladies of Wellesley.”(28) Faced
with an increasingly liberal campus Crimson, the Republican Club published
its own
weekly newspaper with a more conservative bent, The Harvard Times-Republican.
The Harvard Times-Republican reported in September of 1956 that the Republican
Club was largest of the political groups on campus.(29) As Harvard became
occupied with more Democrats, the Republican Club remained active and
continued to
provide an alternative opinion on campus. The image of Harvard to the
outside world
was increasingly liberal, which prompted students and alumni of the Harvard
Republican Club to have a rally in Washington to prove that there is a strong
and enthusiastic group of Republicans at Harvard. In a move eerily similar
to the club’s founding, the Republicans organized to “dispel
the impression that Harvard produces only Democrats.”(30) On June 11th,
students and alumni gathered in Washington, DC to prove their alma mater
bipartisan
with a luncheon sponsored by Republican Senator Leverett Saltonstall in the
Senate reception hall. In 2004, the club remains an active and enthusiastic
grassroots student effort to provide a counter-opinion on Harvard’s
campus. The club continues to hold speaking events and debates. Its founders
would likely be proud to
hear that for two years running the Harvard Republican Club has even held
the time-honored Republican tradition of a Lincoln Day Dinner in Eliot
Dining Hall.
Interestingly, the Harvard Republican Club recently debated the Harvard
Democrats on the very issue that sparked the founding of the organization – trade.
This time, Republicans fought vehemently on the side of free trade with
no regulations whatsoever. It seems that while the specific issues for
which
the Republicans at Harvard fight are dramatically different, the reasons
for which
they continue to raise their voices remain the same. It is likely the enthusiastic
student spirit that has sustained the club for 115 years. In first words
of the first President William C. Boyden at the first meeting of the Harvard
Republican
Club, for these 115 years, they’ve just tried to show: “There
are some Republicans at Harvard.”(31)
1. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to T.H. Gage, Jr., November 1, 1888, “Harvard
Republican Club” Harvard University Archives: HUD.
2. Newspaper article “Harvard Republicans.” October 24, 1888, “Harvard
Republican Club” Harvard University Archives: HUD.
3. Newspaper Article, “The Real Harvard” November 3, 1888, “Harvard
Republican Club,” Harvard University Archives: HUD.
4. Address of W.C. Boyden. Report of the Proceedings of the Harvard Republican
Meeting held at Tremont Temple, Boston Friday evening
November 2, 1888. William
H. Wheeler,
Printer: Cambridge, 1889. “Harvard Republican Club,” Harvard
University Archives: HUD.
5. Introduction. Ibid.
6. Address of the Hon. George D. Robinson. Report of the Proceedings of the Harvard
Republican Meeting held at Tremont Temple, Boston Friday evening November 2,
1888.
7. “The Real Harvard.”
8. “What Harvard Says.” Boston Daily Advertiser. November 3, 1888. “Harvard
Republican Club” Harvard University Archives: HUD.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Boyden.
12. Advertiser.
13. George F. Hoar, Report of the Proceedings of the Harvard Republican Meeting
held
at Tremont Temple.
14. Ibid.
15. Hoar.
16. Henry Cabot Lodge, Report of the Proceedings of the Harvard Republican Meeting
held at Tremont Temple.
17. “The Real Harvard.”
18. “Harvard Republicans” October 24, 1888.
19. Derek Bok. “Reflections on Academic Freedom: An Open Letter to the
Harvard
Community.” Supplement to the Harvard University Gazette. April 11,
1980.
20. “The Real Harvard.”
21. Nathaniel P. Hallowell, Report of the Proceedings of the Harvard Republican
Meeting
held at Tremont Temple.
22. Edward Everett Hale, Report of the Proceedings of the Harvard Republican
Meeting
held at Tremont Temple.
23. Map of the Presidential Election of 1888. Department of the Interior
24. “Gagged.” Boston Journal. May 4, 1894, “Harvard Republican
Club” Harvard University Archives: HUD.
25. Boston Journal.
26. Flyer. “Harvard Republican Club” Harvard University Archives:
HUD.
27. Flyer. “Harvard Young Republicans Club” Harvard University
Archives: HUD.
28. Ibid.
29. The Harvard Times-Republican. September 1956. “Harvard Times-Republican” Harvard
University Archives: HUD.
30. “Harvard GOP’s To Hold Rally in Washington.” The Boston
Globe,
Thursday April 5, 1962. “Harvard Young Republican Club” Harvard
University Archives: HUD.
31. Boyden.
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