Impact of Activism

Effects of Continuing Presence in Washington on Dartmouth and on Congress

Continuing Presence in Washington was present in the work of many Congresspeople. New Hampshire Republican Representative James C. Cleveland referenced a visit to Washington CPW during a speech to the house on August 14th, 1970 (“HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-Friday, August 14, 1970” 1970). An archive of the Senate Campaign Files of Hubert H. Humphries includes correspondence with CPW as well as press releases and a newsletter (Minnesota Historical Society 1973). A New York Times article mentions Continuing Presence in Washington as a prominent coordinator of the lobbying effort and highlights its access to a computer (Wicker 1970), and an article in the magazine Seventeen highlighted CPW volunteers as exemplars of student activism (Seventeen 1970). 

CPW was also very impactful at Dartmouth and represented a prominent outlet for anti-war activism at the College. During a May 1970 speech to the families of Dartmouth Students, President John Kemeny credited CPW as one of the central three ways that students were engaging in responsible anti-war work, crediting CPW with “[enabling] individuals from this campus, or any other, to communicate effectively with their representatives in Congress.” Further, he cites “testimony from Congressional staffs that these students have been working in an orderly, intelligent fashion, which has earned them — and all of us — high respect” (Kemeny 1970).

Finally, former student volunteers of CPW as memorable Dartmouth experiences. Bidwell recalled that “I also agreed with the sort of fundamental concept of CPW […] I totally bought into the premise of it, and got involved, and I think there was one period where I was probably there for about a couple-week period of time […] I was not in the core of it, not in the leadership of it, but happy to be a part of it.” Charles B. Schudson ’72, while answering the aspects of Dartmouth that formed his passions, remembered the “Committee for Continuing Presence in Washington, through which I lobbied as part of Dartmouth’s unique involvement in the 1970 national student strike” (Class of 1972 Executive Board 2018). 

Alumni at the time had more varied reactions to CPW and to Dartmouth-branded anti-war activism, many of which were captured in the July 1970 Letters to the Editor of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. One alumnus believed “CPW means business… I plan to help them in every way possible.” Another criticized Kemeny’s allowance of the computer and Dartmouth name to CPW and other anti-war organizations, posing “Is the president of a college entitled to use his institution for political purposes? My answer is an emphatic NO” (“Letters to the Editor, July 1970” 1970).

Post-Vietnam Regrets

Charlotte Albright spoke about her regrets after the Vietnam War ended and how she wished she could have done more to actually make an impact:

"I think there was a lot of people who were quite proud of themselves, and then didn't keep– didn't– how can I put this? I think I mentioned this earlier, I think there was a false sense of, well, job well done with a lot of jobs left to do when still there. I mean, I think we tried to raise our kids in ways that were more inclusive. And I think we've tried on an individual basis as parents to change things from inside out a little bit by the way we talk to our kids, but in terms of policies, I don't see a very big difference from the 1950s."

Furthermore, Albright felt that many people, including herself, were merely followers in anti-war protests:

"I'm not proud of what I did. I mean, I think I was a follower. I wasn't a leader at all in that. I think it was very peer pressured. I’m fine with it. I mean, I think it was. I certainly wouldn't have been proud if I'd sat it out. But I don't take any credit."

Career Inspiration

Many of the narrator's career paths were impacted and influenced by their involvement in anti-war protests.

Charlotte Albright:

The Vietnam War had a positive impact of Albright in terms of her career trajectory:

"The Pentagon Papers. And that was a big moment, for a lot of us I mean, we idolized Woodward and Bernstein. And that's brought a lot of us into journalism, because we thought, okay, so we already did the street thing. And now, you know, there's this thing called journalism and people can get rid of presidents that way, because we didn't get rid of Nixon by being in the streets. As a matter of fact, he sent his National Guard after us, but the Woodward and Bernstein things suddenly that I thought, Oh, not that I became, you know, Woodward and Bernstein. But that was a big moment, the Pentagon Papers moment because, yes, the images had been telling the truth, but now we had it in writing, that they knew they were losing the war, and that they were keeping it secret and lying. I mean, it was all written."

Charlotte Albright is now a writer for Dartmouth Communications but has spent a majority of her career within public radio, as a reporter for Vermont Public Radio and Maine Public Radio.

"I was anti-war, because I am somebody who needs explanations. That's why I'm a journalist." - Charlotte Albright

Joan Rachlin:

Rachlin's career trajectory was influened by being raised and educated in a time of such radical change. After participating heavily in anti-war protests while at Boston University and Dartmouth College, Rachlin became involed at the Tucker Center at Dartmouth during her junior summer and senior year. She was active in community organizing work, anti poverty work, anti racism work primarily in Jersey City, New Jersey. 

After leaving Dartmouth, Rachlin took classes at Stanford University before deciding to come back to New England for law school. 

"And what I decided to do was to go to law school, because I always had this ‘change the world’.. streak"

Rachlin's apparent love for education, learning, and activism compelled her to seek out yet another degree:

"Then I went to Harvard and got a degree in public health because I was still very much interested in psychology and law, and adolescence and law, and increasingly in women's health and law. That's where I landed–a career that included criminal law, juvenile delinquency law or juvenile law, and women's health law. And then I eventually landed in a nonprofit organization that I was the first executive director [of] that was involved in the interface between medical ethics, law and regulation, and research and clinical medicine. So it was a really good place for me to land."

Dennis P. Bidwell '71:

Bidwell's career led him through social work, community organizing, and activism, a far cry from the engineering path he set out for during his freshman year.

While exploring the social sciences at Dartmouth, he took a class called "Computers and the Social Sciences" with then-College-President John Kemeny. He reminisces,

"even way back then, that was the sweet spot, where quantitative sciences and social sciences come together."

Combining social and quantitative sciences would become a thread throughout Bidwell's career, such as in his work in real estate philanthropy consulting.

Perhaps a greater influence was Bidwell's Conscientious Objector status. His draft number was 167, which placed him within the projected threshold of being called to service. He had been accepted to NYU Law School, but as a CO, he was concerned that he may be called for alternative service. He wanted to avoid beginning law school and needing to drop out if he was drafted, so he deferred his enrollment to work in jobs that would qualify for his alternative service. As he began this work, he remembers

"somewhere along in there, I realized that 'there are things that I want to try out and pursue here in Boston, and I think I'll defer again.’"

He never ended up enrolling, remaining instead in his line of work teaching daycare at Head Start, working within the Boston Community Schools program, and eventually studying for an MBA. When asked if he could change anything about his trajectory, Bidwell declined, replying

"in retrospect, it makes some sense how the pieces fit together."