For a small college situated in the New Hampshire wilderness, Dartmouth has attracted many non-academic celebrities to campus, ranging from talented musical artists to sports legends and high-ranking politicians.
Popular occasions for celebrities to visit campus include Commencement and Reunion period, when keynote speakers address the graduating class and other prominent figures receive honorary degrees from the College.
Hall-of-fame baseball player Hank Aaron, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and the author of the "Harry Potter" series of children's books J. K. Rowling received such degrees during graduation ceremonies this past June.
President Bill Clinton's Commencement address in 1995 marked another occasion of a renowned public figure descending upon the Hanover plain. He garnered a huge audience, leading to a change to a bigger location on campus for the graduation ceremonies. Clinton praised the merits and importance of education in today's society in his address to the outgoing seniors.
"If you live in a wealthy country and you don't have an education, you are in trouble," he said. "We cannot walk away from our obligation to invest in the education of every American at every age."
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ralph Waldo Emmerson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Leonard Bernstein and Walter Cronkite are other examples of the long list of prominent speakers who have graced Commencement platforms.
As for the arts, the Programming Board tries to bring at least one band to campus every term. Recent examples include the Indigo Girls, the Roots, Blues Traveler and rap artists like Busta Rhymes and Run-DMC.
Five-time Grammy Award-winner Sheryl Crow was the first speaker in the Montgomery Endowment's popular culture series. Crow answered questions and talked about the lyrics of the songs as she performed in front of approximately 800 students last winter. The first of this year's Montgomery Fellows, Crow came to Dartmouth as part of a series of lectures and performances entitled "Making Movies, Making Music" that will continue over the next year-and-a-half.
In the primary spotlight
Located in a state rooted in political tradition, Dartmouth has often been the host for political figures hoping to win their party's nomination by winning the New Hampshire primary.
New Hampshire has been so critical to candidates' success that prior to Clinton's 1992 victory, no candidate had won the presidency without triumphing in the "First in the Nation" primary.
Past candidates have delivered many a campaign promise at the College, and this election year has been no exception.
For the 2000 election, political activity peaked last October when media besieged Hanover to nationally televise two partisan presidential town meetings featuring Bill Bradely and Al Gore, along with all the prominent Republican candidates except for Governor George W. Bush.
The campus was abuzz with political activity as student supporters staged rallies at Hanover intersections from dawn till dusk, bombarding on-coming traffic and pedestrians with homemade signs and vocal enthusiasm touting their candidate.
The Green was temporarily transformed into an international media frenzy, as 18 satellite trucks representing all the major news organizations parked along its periphery, and reporters delivered their commentary against the picturesque background of Baker Library and Dartmouth Row.
Arizona Senator and landslide victor of the New Hampshire Republican primary John McCain spoke at the College on numerous occasions in addition to the presidential debates.
Politicians frequent Dartmouth
Being in the spotlight during last fall's town meetings was not an unprecedented event in the College's political history.
Democratic candidates assembled in Spaulding auditorium to voice opposition to President Reagan in January of 1984, marking the first presidential debate at the College. Reagan, however, made his first appearance at the College in 1976 when students held anti-Reagan placards and grilled him about his beliefs in foreign aid and support for the South African government.
More recently, in 1992, Democrats Bill Clinton and Paul Tsongas, a Dartmouth graduate from the Class of 1962, made visits to the Upper Valley. Hundreds assembled in Alumni Hall to hear Clinton promise to become the "Education President," cut middle-class taxes, fight unyielding trade laws and introduce a comprehensive healthcare plan.
Students derided Republican candidate Pat Buchanan upon his 1992 visit by chanting anti-Buchanan slogans. Protesters sang a re-worded version of "This Old Man," which in one verse threatened Buchanan's life and in another charged, "Pat Buchanan he played three, he'll teach us to be Nazi."
Although his thoughts were on Dartmouth, Richard Nixon got only as close as Lebanon during the 1968 race. In the introduction to a speech on foreign policy he remarked, "I was told that usually Dartmouth students didn't get over here [to Lebanon] except for the state liquor store ... I can assure you it's a lot more fun to get stoned in Lebanon than Caracas."
Senator John F. Kennedy discussed foreign policy in his 1960 campaign stop in Hanover. A publicity director said Kennedy was "looking forward to being at Dartmouth and meeting students and townspeople even though he is a Harvard man."
Jimmy Carter, Eugene McCarthy -- the line-up of past political all-stars appearing in Hanover stretches back into the past -- and will continue in the future thanks to Dartmouth's being one of the intellectual capitals of New England.
