Yale Class of '52
Artists & Authors

The Yale class of 1952 is pleased to present this exhibit of art and literature to commemorate its 50th reunion. It demonstrates an eclectic array of artistic expression, scholarship and achievement of some of our classmates over the course of the past fifty years.

One of the primary goals of this exhibit is to highlight a few of the achievements of friends that we might never have known existed, and to introduce us to people in our class whom we may never have known at all.

Committee Lawrence A. Norton, Chairman Mr., Mark Potter (Bobbie) David S. Powell Ellis L. Rolett John A.H. Sweeney

Library Staff Carolyn Claflin Danelle Moon Richard Szary AYA Jennifer Julier

As a journalist Tony wrote for many publications, including the Washington Post and the New York Times. He was Senior Editor for GEO magazine and his works appeared in many other magazines. He contributed to many books including the one in this exhibit, My Harvard, My Yale (Random House 1982). Shortly before he died he had started a novel that began in pre-glasnost Moscow. How Men Feel (Doubleday, 1986) occupied a number of years of his life, a book that received deserved high praise and respect. He set out to explore his own and other men's complex feelings towards the women's movement and its implications for both intimate and public life. He was lead to this exploration because of his understanding of his mother's frustrations when she was forced to stop working when he was born. The difficulties he and his second wife, Susan Jacoby, also a Washington Post journalist, encountered when he was sent to Moscow as the Washington Post's foreign correspondent also contributed to his interest in the impact of the women's movement on men's feelings.

He came to believe that only when child rearing would be equally shared by both parents would it be possible for children, but specifically male children, to grow up non-sexist and able to participate fully in egalitarian relationships, both publicly and privately. He also recognized how difficult such a shift in our culture this would be. The women's movement has hit hard times since the book's publication as seen in Susan Faludi's Backlash in which Tony's work is cited.

Sam’s last overseas tour was Ambassador to Israel where he played a substantial role in negotiating the 1978-79 Camp David peace treaty with Egypt. This international background offered him ample subjects to pursue his interest in photography. Two years ago he added oil painting, mostly of stylized landscapes, to his artistic repertoire.

On exhibit is his painting of a building in Isfahan in Iran and photograph taken from a ski lift in northern Iran.

Michael Blow
Yale 1952

The profession of editing, which I pursued for most of my working life, is basically one of enhancing the efforts of others. From time to time, however, I was fortunate to switch seats and pick up a pencil myself. I hope these exhibits show that the proposition that editors can’t write is not always true. At least these books were generally well received.

Men of Science and Invention, (American Heritage Publishing Company 1962) was done as part of a series of readable and educational books for young readers. Like the American Heritage Magazine, they were illustrated with contemporary art and photographs. If the book had a message for the kids it was that inventors become famous and often wealthy, while the scientists who provided the basic knowledge for the gadgets do not. (Example:  Samuel Morse was instructed in the physics of telegraphy by Joseph Henry.)

The History of the Atomic Bomb, freelanced for the same series, explained the physics of the bomb (thank God for Science I !), why it was dropped and highlighted the heroes who made it and the villains who stole the secrets.

As Editor in Chief of The American Heritage History of the Thirteen Colonies (1967), my major task was editing the narrative copy and splicing it to the vast quantity of artwork.However, when the author got shingles, the caption writer fell ill and the picture editor took a sabbatical, I ended up writing more than my share of blurbs, captions, introductory material, text blocks and the like- a busy ten months!

A Ship to Remember: The Maine and the Spanish American War (1992) My grandfather was a deck officer on the ill fated ship Maine, which blew up in the Havana Harbor in February 1898 during the Spanish American War. I had always been intrigued by “The Crime of the Century”. I didn’t solve it -nobody has- but one of my suspects, a fanatic believer in Cuba libre, may well have been involved. This book was well received and almost found a niche on TV. It, like the other three in the exhibit, are no longer in print.”