With the corporation maintaining a tightlipped silence about their candidates, The Crimson could do little more than idly speculate as to whom the University's next president would be. With the secrecy stifling any extensive inquiry into the presidential selection process, the newspaper instead ran a series of cartoons of what the new president would look like.

This "cartoonist's-eye view," jokingly presented as a scientific inquiry, featured artwork by well-known cartoonists such as Chester Gould, the creator of Dick Tracy, and other artists from The New Yorker, The New York Times and Harper's.

As The Crimson offered its comic suggestions, the prominent candidates in the selection process each revealed distinct shortcomings.

Provost Paul H. Buck--the first to hold that position at Harvard--seemed like the obvious choice, but his reputation for being a natural second-in-command weakened his chances. And though they were popular at Harvard, government department prodigy McGeorge Bundy was only 34 years old and therefore considered too young, scientist Paul Doty came from the same academic background as Conant--and the Corporation viewed Finley as too much of a gentlemanly humanist.

A Midwesterner Considered

The Corporation, growing frustrated with the inadequacy of local candidates, greeted the eastern visit of a noted Wisconsin educator with enthusiasm.

Nathan M. Pusey '28 was a late addition to the selection process. Although he had been previously suggested by Brown President Henry Wriston and distinguished academic Victor Butterfield (both formerly of Lawrence College, where Pusey was president), but it was his visit to New York City in May 1953 that finally caught the Corporation's attention.

On May 11, Pusey met with the Corporation over lunch, ostensibly to discuss educational problems at Harvard and possible solutions. He hoped for little more than a grant of scholarship money to Lawrence College.