There's a reason why they are called The Greatest Generation. They were. All other generational groupings could learn from them. During his senior year at the University of Oklahoma, Pearl Harbor happened. With one semester to go, Mr. Clark dropped out and joined the Army Air Corps and served in the Pacific. After the war was over, he heard about the G.I. Bill and wrote a letter to Harvard Law School on the back of an envelope asking for admittance. The reply is above. Mr. Clark graduated with an LL.B. in 1949 [law degrees were bachelor of law degrees then. In the 1960s it was converted to the present day J.D. Juris Doctor degree]. Eventually, he took night classes and then got his B.A. in 1951, heeding the advice given in the letter.
By the way, you can play the Harvard Law School, intellectual genealogy game too. Warren A. Seavey, was taught by both Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter who were in turn taught by Oliver Wendell Holmes. That's just three degrees of separation.
What a wonderful letter - and great story to go with it! Thanks for sharing!
Keep these ancestor stories coming!
Bill ;-)
http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
Author of "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories"
Posted by: Bill Smith | 03/04/2010 at 06:34 PM