The Crimson provided comprehensive coverage ofthe Senator's three-ring circus.

In the face of academic which-hunts, TheCrimson offered the best editorial advice it couldgive:

"The alarmists are right only in that there ismuch to fear today. But if the academic world wereto grant the conclusion that there is little or nohope, the baleful predictions might well cometrue. When more universities reject self pity andtake instead a forthright stand against eachunfounded attack, the education can match in itsown defense that spirit of progress and initiativewhich has marked its advance in every otherintellectual endeavor."

Although it began its opposition to theWisconsin Senator uncertainly, the paper soonpicked up steam in its defense of academicfreedom, and served as a forum for renownedMcCarthy foes. In bringing the truth to theHarvard community, and in showing that others werestanding up to the threat, The Crimson saved themorale of a University under siege.

McCarthy ranted, and students were arrested andbeaten by the carload in the "Pogo riots," whencartoonist Walt Kelly arrived in Cambridge for a1952 speech about his creation. A number ofCrimson editors landed in jail, in what would bethe first of several times in the next two decadeswhen the Middlesex County Jail would serve as amotel for Harvard students.

Relations with Massachusetts Hall were strainedby the 1958 controversy over Memorial Church, whenThe Crimson ran a campaign to have the edificeopened for services of every denomination, andFaculty members took up the banner and marchedwith it to the President's door. In the end, thechurch dropped its Christians-only policy.

President Pusey and The Crimson were back onspeaking terms by 1959, when the President madehis decision to suspend Harvard's use of fundsauthorized by the National Defense Education Act.The government monies, which provided a largeamount of loan funds and outright grants everyyear, came with long and binding strings attached.Every recipient was required not only to sign aloyalty oath but also to sign a document attestingthat the beneficiary had not been a member of anumber of subversive organizations.

As the 50s ended, Harvard and the nation werecalm. With McCarthy in the background, theUniversity pursued cultural exchange.

The paper continued to devote itself to theinnocent and carefree matters of Collegelife--where "College" finally began to includeRadcliffe. During this period, some of the firstwomen were elected to the executive board.

The Sixties

By the early 1960s, the politics of the paperhad shifted from conservative to liberal. Nolonger did Crimson editors support the Republicanticket. John F. Kennedy '40 was a former Crimsoneditor, but his connection with the paper wastenuous at best. Still, the paper felt asentimental attachment to him, and in comparisonwith the other candidates, he seemed the onlylogical choice for President in 1960.

After the Kennedy administration deprivedHarvard of its senior Dean of the Faculty,McGeorge Bundy, Pusey decided to assume the dean'soffice himself. After almost a year of Pusey'smultiple office-holding, the paper began aweek-long series of editorials criticizing hisstewardship.

Shortly after the pieces appeared, Puseyappointed a new dean.

As drugs began to assume a new importance insociety, two denizens of William James Hall,Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, were using the"mind-expanding" drug pscilocybin in experimentson students. Andrew T. Weil '64 was The Crimson'sdrug expert at the time-although he was also aPoonster-and did the bright, relentlesscomprehensive reporting that led to the eventualbanning of the experiments and termination ofLeary and Alpert.

As involvement in Vietnam increased withoutconsent of Congress or the people, studentsprotests more frequent and highly militant. TheCollege was entering a dark period.