At the beginning of the last school year neither the Faculty nor the student interventionist group would admit that it wanted immediate American participation. Both came out simply for "All Aid to Britain." It was not until President Conant had declared in March of this year that the time had come to enter the war that the Harvard Group and the Student Defense League actually advocated military intervention.
There was still a strong student isolationist opposition. The CRIMSON took up an "aid short of war policy" but shifted at Thanksgiving time to a "no aid" policy, only to change back to "short of war" when a new board took over in January. The Student Union split on the question of aid and half the organization split off to form the Liberal Union, which started life as an "aid short of war" organization and ended the year as an affiliate of the Student Defense League. The H.S.U. maintained its line of "no aid; no involvement."
The war was forgotten in the early months of the fall thanks to the political campaign. A strong Willkie Club gathered so much money that it had to appeal to its supporters to stop donating. The Roosevelt group, less numerous by a 60-40 ratio, was also organized and held two extremely well-attended meetings.
After November 8 attention turned back to England. Professors Elliott and McLaughlin were the center of the most prominent disturbance when they addressed a meeting of one of the new organizations, the Committee for Military Intervention. The peace groups combined to form a picket line around Emerson Hall where the meeting was to be held early in December and the interventionists formed a picket line to break the peace picket line. There was no actual disturbance except for a rendition of "There'll Always Be an England" by a group of Cambridge High School youths.
Early in February the CRIMSON polled the College on its war sentiment and discovered an almost even split between those who were willing to go to war if necessary to defeat the Axis and those who said they would not fight in Europe in any case. Only a small minority were opposed to sending aid and to declaring war immediately.
The battle went on all spring. When one side held a meeting the other picketed it or attended and booed. When President Conant went to England on a scientific mission for the Government, the H.S.U. picketed his office. At Commencement more peace sympathizers picketed the gates to the Yard, wearing their caps and gowns.
What College sympathies will be this year there is no telling. The Student Union, most violent of the isolationist groups, has always been accused of Communistic leanings, but whether it will adopt the Daily Worker switch remains to be seen.