THE HOOVER INSTITUTION: Two perspectives
The second article, in the Stanford Daily (11/14/01), entitled "Hoover Tower bells to ring in spring", recalls
the Tower in President Hoover's time. It is quite different in spirit. Two years ago, the 35 bells of the carillon
were taken to the Netherlands for restoration. They will be returned and installed in the spring of 2002.
Originally the tower was to be topped with a reading room, but former President Hoover wanted the bells
there to ring out their message of peace, the message of the Hoover Institute. When I came to Stanford, they
rang every hour, and I loved their sound wafting across the campus. Then some objected to their "noise", so
they thenceforth rang only on special occasions. Who objected? Probably the same people who applaud the
crude Stanford band. Why, instead of their antics, often offensive, do we not hear more frequently the
beautiful Stanford anthem? The message of the Hoover bells is the same as that of those in Tennyson's
famous poem from "In Memoriam". Again, we are indebted to John Heelan for locating it on line. My guess
is that President Hoover loved Tennyson and this poem, Can anyone confirm this? I think I will use this poem
on my Christmas cards. You may wish to do the same:
MISSING SUBJECT: By coincidence, two articles about the Hoover Institution appeared simultaneously.
The first, about the Hoover Institution today, is a full-page advertisement Hoover placed in the New Republic
(11/12/01) commending its publication The Hoover Digest. The heading runs: "The Legacy of Class
Hatred". Quoting figures about Nazi Germany, and Communist China, it concludes that "Class hatred may,
in some ways, be even more pernicious than racial hatred".
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
Ronald Hilton - 11/15/01
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