Quaker History

58Quaker History fiction. William Penn does not come out as heroic as one might like, nor does the Friendly Association. Economic and political forces affect them, too. The "disinterested benevolence" of Quakers towards the Indians is shown to have some self-interest after all. The Quaker reader will also look in vain for mention ofJohn Woolman and Anthony Benezet, two mythic heroes whose encounters with Native Americans and subsequent sympathetic writing would appear to offer another view than that of pecuniary interest and political gain. But the author's primary sources are German Moravian records, and Woolman' s and Benezet's significant contributions to the discussion come after the time period examined in Merritt's book. This omission, and some rather difficult passages as the author labors through theory ofkinship circles, may detract from the book for some; it is a very valuable resource for those seeking a comprehensive understanding ofIndian/white relations in early American history. And for those looking for some hint ofoptimism in parallel situations today: at the end ofthe day, there was no room in Pennsylvania for the Indian—no matter what they did to appease Euramericans. Merritt offers a sobering analysis of the ultimate impact of power and privilege over what might appear to be justice and right. Max L. Carter, directorFriends Center at Guilford Dignity, Discourse, and Destiny: The Life of Courtney C. Smith. By Darwin H. Stapleton and Donna Heckman Stapleton. Newark: University ofDelaware Press, 2004. 253 pp. Illustrations, notes, and index. Perhaps nowhere does the diversity of contemporary Quakerism manifest itself so clearly as in the various Quaker colleges. Some see themselves as part ofa larger Christian college movement (Malone or Barclay). Some see themselves as serving their local communities (Friends). Some see their identity as still embraced in some vision of Quaker distinctiveness (Earlham or Guilford). And some have become elite institutions that compete with the oldest and wealthiest colleges in the United States while grappling with what it means to be a Quaker college. Swarthmore College, founded by Hicksite Friends in 1 864, embodies this tension between trying to remain rooted in sectarian identity and being a world-class institution of higher education. And Courtney C. Smith, Swarthmore's president from 1953 to 1969, is an excellent vehicle for understanding that history. The Hicksite Friends who founded Swarthmore in the 1860s would have considered Smith an unlikely leader of their institution. Born in Book Reviews59 Winterset, Iowa, in 1916, Smith, although he came from an area in which pastoral Friends were numerous, had no Quaker ties. The death of his banker father and the onset ofthe Great Depression in 1929 devastated the family fortunes, but Smith, a stellar student, won several college scholarships . He chose Harvard because he was assured ofa part-timejob there as well. An outstanding record there led to a year at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, then return to Harvard for a Ph.D. in English literature. A navy officer during World War II, Smith afterwards took a teaching post at Princeton. There he both taught and assumed major administrative duties with the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Program and the Rhodes Trust. The latter was headed by former Swarthmore president Frank Aydelotte, and Aydelotte's recommendation was key in Smith being offered the Swarthmore presidency in 1953. The Stapletons' work takes up Smith's presidency topically. Thus we learn about Smith's relations with faculty and students, his commitment to the liberal arts college, his work with a variety offoundations, his administrators , his fight against loyalty oaths tied to scholarships and fellowships, and his relations with Philadelphia Quakers. One of the most interesting chapters concerns Smith's long struggle to divert the "Blue Route," interstate highway 476, away from the heart of the Swarthmore campus. The portrait that emerges is of a college president who was exceedingly capable , articulate, and dedicated, at home in society and in the rarified atmosphere of the Ivy League and Rhodes Scholars, well connected with foundations and other elite institutions ofhigher education. Like so many other college presidents, however, Smith fell victim to the student activism of 'the Sixties." Swarthmore students, at least the most active and articulate, tended to be left...