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Headed for Hell. For 184 years, strong rulers have built Andover. The pious John Adams (a relative of both Presidents) forbade dancing as well as Shakespeare, and regularly climbed a ladder to wind the clock in Bulfinch Hall, discoursing on its motto, "Youth is the seedtime of life," as the boys vainly awaited his fall. The zealous "Uncle Sam" Taylor (1837-71) was a total believer in "total depravity." "Robinson," he warned one 14-year-old, "you're on the direct road to hell. You're reading too many novels." Still, Taylor's boys, partly inspired by Faculty Wife Harriet Beecher (Uncle Tom's Cabin) Stowe, flocked to the Civil War, one of them becoming a major general at 25.
Shrewd, bearded Cecil F. P. Bancroft lifted Andover out of its classical rut, gave it a good faculty versed in modern science. In his time (1873-1901) Andover drew 9,600 boys from all over, including its first Negroes. "Banty's" boys began Andover's athletic rivalry with Exeter in 1878, winning in football 22-0. Andover has dominated since (42 games to 32 in all), even using halfbacks who charged the Exeter line singing Palestrina motets.
Fabled Rages. Living alumni still shiver at the memory of lean, eagle-beaked Alfred E. Stearns, the devout, athletic zealot who ruled Andover for 30 years prior to 1933. Stearns hired the fabled Latinist Georgie Hinman, who jabbed penknives into his wooden leg, chewed pencils in half, caromed erasers off thick skulls, and made students flush bad translations down the toilets. Yet it was also Stearns who steered Andover toward opulence. In 1908 he took over the seminary's buildings when that institution fell on bad times and slunk off to Harvard. He raised $1,000,000 for teachers' salaries, and in the 1920s guided Thomas Cochran ('90), a Morgan partner, in spending more millions for new Georgian buildings that made Andover a showcase. "We're beaten," cried one Exeter teacher. "Exeter can never catch up."
But in the early 1930s, Philanthropist Edward S. Harkness crashed through with $5,840,000 for Exeter. The money brought in 25 new teachers for small round-table seminars under the famed "Harkness Plan." Exeter's remodeled plant outshone Andover's for years.
Andover could not redress the balance in the Depression and war years of Headmaster Claude Moore Fuess, the veteran English teacher who preceded John Kemper. Instead, the scholarly Fuess (rhymes with peace) strengthened the curriculum, notably in science, history and fine arts, and lured brilliant scholars such as Classicist Dudley Fitts.
Get the Colonel. When Fuess retired, the trustees saw that Andover needed even better administration. Trustee James Baxter III, then president of Williams College, had an inspiration. Like hundreds of other historians, Baxter had helped the wartime Army write its combat history. When the huge project began, the scholars were appalled to find themselves under the command of a handsome young Regular Army light-colonel, who looked 18 and was only 30. As it turned out, Colonel John Kemper handled his irregulars so adroitly that Baxter & Co. never forgot his "tact, courage, imagination and rare administrative skill."