Jim Guy Tucker at Harvard

 

Football, Harvard-Style!

In the fall of 1961, Jim Guy Tucker enrolled in Harvard University. Tucker had attended Hall High School in Little Rock before moving to Massachusetts to pursue his bachelor's degree. On October 1 of that year, he wrote to his parents about his experiences:

Dear Mom and Dad:

Well, after a week of school, I feel that I can say that Harvard is everything that it is cracked up to be. This is the hardest schoolwork that I have ever seen in my life, but it is a lot of fun too. . . . I wasn't able to stay out for football for numerous reasons. First, and the major reason, I have lab sessions three times a week that interfere with practice. Second, it takes up more time than I can afford, and third, it is the worst football that I have ever seen in my life. They are really bad! I watched the varsity play a school called Lehigh yesterday, and I sincerely believe Hall could have beat either team.

While its football team might have been no match for the Razorbacks or even Hall High School, Harvard had a first-rate academic reputation. And the university was affordable. Tuition for the 1962-1963 academic year was $1,520.

"The Swinging Sixties"

While the phrase "Swinging Sixties" hadn't come into vogue when Jim Guy was there, Harvard occasionally received bad press because of "wild parties." In November 1963, a dean's report discussed a "sex scandal" at the school, though the incidents reported are considered common now at American universities. And however shocked people might have been, the story would be overshadowed by the Kennedy assassination three weeks later.

No Time Wasted

Jim Guy Tucker wasted no time at Harvard. He graduated early, in 1964, by which time he was already involved in the Marine Corps. That same year, he worked for the Democrats for Rockefeller to help elect Winthrop Rockefeller to the governorship in his race against Orval Faubus.