B: The Colleague

Arthur A. Ekirch and I started teaching at The American University Department of History in 1947. Later we who were new that year called ourselves “the class of 1947” because of the numerous additions to the faculty to teach veterans. Arthur, however, was at what we referred to politely as “the downtown center” at 19th and F Streets while at that time I taught only undergraduates at the uptown campus on Nebraska Avenue. He taught undergraduates, too, but also began to guide the destinies of many graduate students some of whom went on to distinguished careers of their own. We saw each other only infrequently at department or faculty meetings.