Saturday, January 30, 2010

First year in office


I have now completed the biography through Pell's election to the Senate in 1960, a year in which he stunned the Democratic establishment by winning a three-way primary and then went on to bury his Republican opponent in the general election. I am currently writing what will be Chapter Four, about Pell's first term, during which he led the effort to create the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, which rank with the Pell Grants among his greatest achievements. Here is the freshman senator in the summer of 1961 in Washington, the Senate Building, speaking to some people from Rhode Island.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Ordered to Italy for war duty


In 1943, the Vice chief of Naval Operations ordered Coast Guard lieutenant Claiborne Pell to Italy, where Pell, a recent graduate of a military-administration course at Columbia University, would help in rebuilding the war-torn Italian fishing fleet. This is the confidential memo that sent him on his way.
Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Rhode Island Library.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Princeton girlfriend


Claiborne was a handsome young man, with no shortage of opportunities for dates. Here he is with "Missy," a girlfriend in 1940, the year he graduated from Princeton. His scrapbook has more photos of Missy, whose last name I have been unable to learn. Anyone out there know?
I found this photo while writing Chapter Two, which begins with ancestor Pells and ends with Claiborne entering the Coast Guard in 1941. It's a long and (hopefully) fascinating chapter, but I am nearly done.The photo is contained in Pell's personal scrapbook, Volume 2, which covers mostly his college years.
Isn't this another great one? I get lost in time, literally, going through Pell's early life...
Image courtesy of Nuala Pell.