From a speech given by a Native American near a tree branch, a false bomb scare during a presidential visit, and Mr. Rogers, the commencement ceremonies has consistently been an exciting time, even if the look has changed over the years.
The first ceremony was held in 1771 by the Lone Pine for four graduates, all of whom were transfers from Yale and had only spent a year in Hanover. Approximately 60 people attended the somewhat informal event, which included horse races, vendors hawking a variety of wares, and jugglers. Legend also holds that a Native American student gave a graduation speech from one of the Lone Pine's branches.
The sole notable character in attendance was John Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire. Wentworth provided rum and an ox for a banquet, but the chefs responsible for preparing the feast supposedly failed their duties by becoming too intoxicated, in fine Dartmouth tradition, from drinking too much rum.
Commencement frequently changed over the years. The ceremony continued in an unorthodox fashion under the leadership of College President Nathan Lord, who required that all graduating student give 10 minute speeches from 1839 to 1863 and also did away with class rankings and awards in an effort to reduce "immoral ambition."
"Ambition and emulation are selfish principles," Lord said at the time.
During this time period, student graduation speeches were frequently given in languages such as Latin, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and French as well as English.
However, when poet Walt Whitman gave a speech at the 1872 ceremony, he noted that the ceremony's ambience was beginning to feel more similar to the majority of commencements around the country. Yet, Whitman violated a commencement tradition himself by forsaking the usual cap and gown in favor of an open necked flannel shirt that exposed his hairy chest, according to one observer. Whitman stated that he enjoyed visiting Hanover, describing it as "a beautiful New England village," but said that it was a little too Yankee for his tastes.
Whitman has been followed by a series of similarly-impressive keynote speakers, including the likes of Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton.
Other well-known figures such as former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, writers Robert Frost and Ralph Waldo Emerson, composer Leonard Bernstein, anchorman Walter Cronkite, and children's entertainer Mr. Rogers spoke over the years.
Eisenhower's speech in 1953, which he used to describe the dangers of McCarthyism as well class, drew an estimated 10,000 people.
"We have got to fight [Communism] with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people," Eisenhower said. "[Communists] are part of America, and even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them and their right to have them in places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned or it's not America."
"Don't join the book burners. Don't think that you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed."
Security at the event was tight, with Secret Ser vice agents disguised under caps and gowns and armed agents patrolling Baker Tower.
The FBI also ran background checks on an Eastern European immigrant couple who worked at President Dickey's house, noting that they had been "born in a country behind the Iron Curtain."
Despite all the precautions, there were two near-breaches of security.
"A German Shepard dog came running out of the library and headed for the platform," history professor Jere Daniell '55 told The Dartmouth. "Without flinching a muscle -- I mean these guys must have had eyes in the back of the head -- one of them lifted the dog right off the ground. That was one surprised dog."
A second, more serious event was the discover y of a false bomb planted under the graduation platform. The bomb went unnoticed by all, including the Secret Ser vice, until an electrician laying loudspeaker wire discovered it. A subsequent report concluded that the guilty party was "some prankster, or a member of The Dartmouth who hoped to suggest that it might have been a bomb and, if not found, would show the inadequacy of the Secret Service."
Clinton's visit in 1995 was initially less eventful, though the ceremony did have to be moved to the football stadium to accommodate the throngs of people who flocked to Hanover to hear him speak. One brief scare occurred after the event when Peter Hecht '95 fell ill with meningitis just a day after shaking Clinton's hand, but Clinton turned out to be healthy.
However, not all of the speeches have been successful. Nelson Rockefeller gave an infamously bad speech in 1969, described by Daniell as "either the wrong speech ... or some dumb thing about finance in the state of New York."
This year, '05s will carry on the commencement tradition for its 235th year. With heavy afternoon thunderstorms frequenting Senior Week, graduates hope for a clear Sunday. Commencement has not had an alternate indoor location since 1996, when poor weather forced the ceremony inside.
