Divine Fire politician John Alsop articulated this most explicitly when he wrote that “Groton was indeed a competitive place. … For this is a competitive world, and it is helpful … in the formative years to be trained to extend ourselves to the utmost.” 7 The School became the training ground for the men who would comprise the nation’s leadership class. Upon leaving the Circle, graduates were not merely talented men who had happened to attend Groton; these were Grotonians who shared a set of ideas, values, and goals.
Kenneth Ballato ’11 delivered the first half of the Chapel Talk, and Theodore Leonhardt ’11 the second half, beginning here.
The Grotonians in the CIA were known as the “Bold Easterners” for their audacious plans.
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hen asked why he had wanted to join the Central Intelligence Agency, future CIA Director of Plans Richard Bissell responded that he felt the men there were “doers.” The same could be said for most Groton graduates. That spirit of action arose directly out of Peabody’s educational vision and the characteristics it fostered, namely creativity, confidence, a willingness to take risks, and an understanding of a greater purpose in the service of the United States. Grotonians were naturally independent and individualistic men who favored decisive action through outside channels. They were not afraid to act unconventionally in both their public and private lives. Bissell sailed dangerously far off the coast of Maine and climbed hazardous mountains and cliffs. On one climb, he fell 50 feet and broke his collarbone. After his recovery, he secretly returned to the site of his fall and summited the cliff. Joseph Grew was a respected diplomat who served as undersecretary of state, ambassador to Turkey, and ambassador to Japan. In this last post, he was interned in the embassy for several months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Grew owed his start in the Foreign Service to his sense of adventure. On a hunting trip in China after college, Grew killed a tiger while it leapt over him as he lay on his back in a dark cave. Word of the feat spread to President Theodore Roosevelt, who offered Grew a diplomatic post. In later years when he administered the Foreign Service entrance examination, Grew would tell applicants that they only had to pass a test to gain an appointment; he had needed to kill a tiger. To more conservative contemporaries, this behavior must have seemed eccentric and reckless. But the willingness to face obstacles and take risks alone, outside of societal norms and organizations, rendered Grotonians unique. This creative spirit positioned Grotonians to be the modernizers of America. They shaped the dominant institutions of the 20th- and 21st-century American power structure. Diplomat and lawyer George Rublee, Groton’s first graduate, was one of the inventors of the modern Washington power law firm that takes an active role in public affairs. With Dean Acheson, he established the notion of the “revolving door” for smooth transitions between the public and private sectors. Joseph Grew pioneered the professionalization of the Foreign Service. Though he first entered diplomacy in part through the influence of family friends, Grew, the nation’s first career diplomat, became a major advocate for entrance examinations and an opponent of the spoils system of appointments. Along with Walter Lippmann and others, brothers Joseph and Stewart Alsop advanced the role and influence of the modern newspaper columnist. Finally, Richard Bissell oversaw the development of high-altitude reconnaissance airplanes and, in doing so, created a major new factor in post-World War II strategic defense. Aggressive policymaking was another product of the confidence and resourcefulness that defined Grotonians. Franklin Roosevelt’s famous optimism was rooted in his own belief in his ability to solve problems. Acheson and Harriman favored bold action as they rebuilt Europe and contained Communism. CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt, a grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, had the audacity to engineer the successful 1953 coup in Iran,
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Views from the Circle
Quarterly Winter 2013
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