Fifty years ago, on Saturday October, 20, 1962, 1,200 banquet diners attended a celebration at the Wisconsin Field House.
Popular history professor Fred Harvey Harrington was inaugurated as the 14th President of the University of Wisconsin-Madison that day. The occasion also observed the centennial anniversary of the Morrill Land-Grant Act, which was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
To celebrate Dr. Harrington’s new role within University administration, 16 former Ph.D. students surprised their influential adviser with a Rand McNally globe for his new executive office. History department professor William Appleman Williams (right in photo) explained that the gift “was one of appreciation for President Harrington’s teaching efforts, and also was to serve as a reminder of his many years on the history faculty at Wisconsin.”
As University President from 1962-1970, Harrington presided over one of the most expansive and tumultuous periods in the history of the University. Harrington was praised for his efforts in elevating the University’s academic prestige, overseeing the completion of two new campuses (Green Bay and Parkside) and working to extend the University’s services into the inner cities. He also was at the helm as fierce campus protests and student rebellions ignited by criticism of U.S. involvement in Vietnam embroiled the University.