In this week’s installment of our recurring series, Lyndon B. Johnson asks Princeton intellectuals to “cool it,” students mourn the death of a classmate, and more.

May 9, 1807—The New York Weekly Inspector identifies the recent rebellion at Princeton as part of larger trends in American society:

The conduct of students on this occasion, although extremely reprehensible, is perfectly consistent with the tenets of our quack politicians, our sticklers for human perfectibility. The same mental epidemic which has crazed Europe, and is extending its baleful ravages throughout the civilized world, has contaminated these young rights-of-boy politicians.

May 11, 1966—After receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws at a special ceremony at Princeton University’s new Woodrow Wilson School building, Lyndon B. Johnson asks an audience of over 3,000 for support of his policies in Vietnam while antiwar protesters carry placards outside. “The responsible intellectual,” Johnson says, should “‘cool it’, to bring what my generation called ‘not heat but light’ to public affairs.”

May 13, 1977—The Daily Princetonian reports that the mathematics department has admitted a 15-year-old Ph.D. student, Eric R. Jablow *83.

May 15, 1870—The sudden death of George Wilson Pillow, Class of 1871, has “cast a deep gloom over the college.”

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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