June 9, 1958

Former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and winner of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize, historian and diplomat Lester B. Pearson told the 299 graduating members of the Class of 1958 that Canada was “a little touchy” about sometimes being overlooked by the United States. “You are citizens of a great nation,” the leader of Canada’s Liberal party said, “on whose leadership and power rests the fate of hundreds of millions outside your own borders.” That fact, he continued, “provides a test of the value of your education; in the wisdom and understanding you will show in reaching the judgments which are your minimum share in controlling national—and because of your country’s position—world policy.” Noting the “unbelievable capacity for destruction” of a nuclear power, he cautioned “one mistake—political, economic or strategic— by the colossus and the rest of us may be dangerously, and even fatally, affected.”

Frederica Pisek Barach ’25, chairman of the board of trustees, announced a gift from members of the graduating class and their parents of $26,082 would be used for faculty salaries.

The New York Times