Reserve Officers' Training Corps records

Collection

Identifier: A038

Scope and Content Note

The collection documents, mainly through correspondence, the administration of the ROTC program at Northeastern University. Topics covered include changes in course content, the accreditation process, and enrollment. Of particular interest is information documenting the debate at Northeastern in the late 1960s and early 1970s concerning ROTC on campus. Newspaper articles and correspondence represent both the pro and anti-ROTC positions.

The collection contains publications, some generated for the general public and others for members and administrators, describing ROTC and its purpose and a report from the United States Office of the Secretary of Defense, dated 1969, that examines ROTC in America. Much of the information discusses ROTC at a national level, but some information is specific to Northeastern.

ROTC events and organizations at Northeastern, such as The National Society of Scabbard and Blade and the annual convocation, are also documented.

Dates

Creation: 1949-1981
Creation: Majority of material found within 1951-1969

Creator

Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.). Reserve Officers' Training Corps (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access:

Records are closed for 25 years from the date of their creation, unless researchers have written permission from the creating office.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use:

Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the University Archivist.

Historical Note

Northeastern's Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) division was formed in January 1951 with two units, the Corps of Engineers and the Signal Corps. Actual instruction began the following September. ROTC trained young men (and later young women) to become officers in the United States Army by providing both academic instruction and physical training. A military presence was not a novelty; in both 1918 and 1943-1944 the United States government implemented military training programs at Northeastern. The Student Army Training Corps (1918) and the Army Specialized Training Program (1943-1944), however, disbanded once the wars ended.

ROTC enrolled 886 men in its inaugural year, and at the end of the decade membership reached 2,800. By the early 1960s, the University's ROTC program had become the largest in the country. The creation of numerous ROTC-related clubs throughout the 1950s, such as the ROTC Band, the Military Affiliate Radio System Radio Club, the Society of Military Engineers, and the Student Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, attested to its growing popularity. By the mid-1960s, however, enrollment began to decline. Only 200 students participated in ROTC in 1975, and at the end of the 1990s approximately 120 were involved. Partially to blame for this decrease in enrollment throughout the 1960s and early 1970s was anti-war sentiment held by a segment of the student body and University faculty. Protesting ROTC on campus during this time became part of an overall anti-Vietnam War campaign. Although both student and faculty groups tried repeatedly, through demonstrations and formal complaints, to dissolve the ROTC at Northeastern, a majority of the campus population supported the organization, allowing it to survive.

Chronology

Jan 1951
: NU receives approval for an Army ROTC program.
Sep 1951
: ROTC instruction begins.
1959
: ROTC receives a "Certificate of Achievement" from Secretary of the Army William M. Brucker.
1964
: ROTC Vitalization Act passed. The Corps of Engineers and the Signal Corps become the General Military Science program.
1967
: Anti-ROTC sentiment begins to appear.
1973
: Women allowed to join.

Chairmen

1951-1953
: Col. Howard Price
1953-1958
: Col. Murray D. Harris
1958-1960
: Col. Sidney S. Davis
1960-1961
: Lt. Col. Arthur E. Cotter
1961-1963
: Col. John David Evans Jr.
1963-1965
: Col. Donald L. Adams
1965-1969
: Col. Frederick H. Palmbland
1969-1972
: Col. Richard C. Moran
1972-1973
: Lt. Col. Robert D. Sullivan
1973-1976
: Lt. Col. Clifford J. Fralen
1976-1980
: Lt. Col. John W. Peters
1980-1985
: Lt. Col. Richard A. James
1985-1988
: Lt. Col. Thomas J. Griffin III
1988-1993
: Lt. Col. Anthony J. Hoss
1993-1997
: Lt. Col. Marion M. Ferguson
1997-1998
: Lt. Col. Richard W. Lacroix
1998-2000
: Lt. Col. Richard D. Bourgault
2000-2005
: Lt. Col. Thomas Crea
2005-
: Lt. Col. David C. Nadeau

Extent

1.00 cubic feet (1 container)

Language

English

Additional Description

Overview

Northeastern University's (NU) Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) division was formed in January 1951 with two units, the Corps of Engineers and the Signal Corps. ROTC trained young men (and later young women) to become officers in the United States Army by providing both academic instruction and physical training. ROTC enrolled 886 men in its inaugural year, and by the end of the decade, membership had reached 2,800. By the early 1960s, the NU ROTC program had become the largest in the country. By the mid-1960s, however, enrollment began to decline. Although student and faculty groups lodged formal complaints and demonstrated against the organization during the late 1960s and 1970s, a majority of the campus population supported it, allowing it to survive until the present day.

Overview

The collection documents, mainly through correspondence, the administration of the ROTC program at Northeastern University (NU) between 1949 and 1981. Records relate to curricular changes, the accreditation process, and enrollment. Of particular interest is documentation of the debate at NU in the late 1960s and early 1970s concerning ROTC on campus.

System of Arrangement:

Arranged in one alphabetical sequence.

Physical Location

29/3

Bibliography

Frederick, Antoinette. Northeastern University - An Emerging Giant: 1959-1975. Boston, Massachusetts: Northeastern University, 1982.
Marston, Everett C. Origin and Development of Northeastern University 1898-1960. Boston, Massachusetts: Northeastern University, 1961.
Northeastern University Colleges General Information. Northeastern University ROTC website (http://www.rotc.neu.edu/).