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Speaker Frank Shea talked on South America and the Middle East. He was in the psychological warfare branch of OWI in the Middle East during the war, later went into the Balkans as a State Department coordinator for the U.S. Information Service ("As if anyone could coordinate the Balkans"). He was later TIME Bureau Chief in Buenos Aires, where he spent two days "in one of Juan Peron's jails for his stories on the confiscation of La Prensa (TIME, March 12, £951). In his talks the thing that impressed him most, said Shea, was how well informed his listeners were. Said he: "They are certainly more savvy than when I was in school. There is a healthy interest in, and curiosity about, foreign affairs. This is due, I suppose, to the tensions of our times and an awareness on the part of the men, at least, that most of them will soon be projected into this uncertain world — in uniform. This was clearly reflected in the well-considered questions put to me after the sessions."
By the time the last speaking engagement of the year had been filled, the team of McNaughton, Scott & Shea had traveled through the 48 states and the District of Columbia. They had visited 256 colleges and universities, where they made a total of 700 talks, in addition to other speeches before various clubs, conventions and public forums.
The end of any experimental program always raises the question: Did it work? Enthusiastic response from both students and faculty proved that it did. For TIME, it was an opportunity to talk to old readers and meet new ones. And TIME'S speakers also returned with renewed appreciation of today's students — tomorrow's newsmakers.