Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Nathan Marsh PUSEY
Nathan Marsh Pusey, 94, a scholar of ancient history who led Harvard University during the turbulent campus protests of the 1960s, died Wednesday in New York City, where he lived.
Harvard spokeswoman Rebecca Rollins said Pusey had suffered a number of health problems in recent weeks. Pusey was president of Harvard from 1953 to 1971, a period when Harvard
transformed from a bastion of the elite to a diverse, national university that aggressively courted students from all backgrounds. But he left embittered over campus radicals, who he believed threatened academic freedom, which he had defended during the McCarthy era of the 1950s.
Pusey called for an end to campus turmoil and violence during the late 1960s, complaining that on many campuses learning had almost ceased because of the violent, revolutionary activities of a "small group of overeager young . . . who feel they have a special calling to redeem society
In 1969, Harvard's campus essentially shut down and portions were occupied by anti-Vietnam War protesters. When Cambridge police and state troopers violently broke up the demonstrations, even some moderate students blamed Pusey for the ensuing violence.
Pusey indicated in a 1989 Harvard Crimson retrospective that he had no regrets. "When I was against McCarthy and I was out in Wisconsin fighting against his election, and when I was calling in the police at Harvard, I was fighting for the same principles," he said.
After retiring from Harvard in 1971, Pusey served four years as president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. From 1979 to 1980, he was president of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia.
Pusey was born in 1907 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He earned an A.B. degree from Harvard in 1928, an M.A. in 1932, and a Ph.D. in 1937, specializing in ancient history with particular focus on Athenian legal development. Before becoming president of Harvard, he taught history at Lawrence College, Scripps College, and Wesleyan University, and served as president of Lawrence College.
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