Stringfellow Barr

Stringfellow Barr (January 15, 1897-February 3, 1982) was an historian, an author, and a former president of St. Johns College in Annapolis, Maryland, where he, together with Scott Buchanan, instituted the Great Books curriculum. He established and was president of the Foundation for World Government from 1948 to 1958.

Related Topics:
January 15 - 1897 - February 3 - 1982 - Historian - Author - St. Johns College - Annapolis, Maryland - Scott Buchanan - Great Books - Foundation for World Government - 1948 - 1958

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a 1951 New York Post column, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. mocked Barr as belonging to the "solve-the-Russian-problem-by-giving-them-money school," and said, of him and two others, "None of these gentlemen is a Communist, but none of them objects very much to Communism. They are the Typhoid Marys of the left, bearing the germs of the infection even if not suffering obvously from the disease."{{ref|navasky}}

Related Topics:
1951 - New York Post - Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. - Typhoid Mary

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1958, Barr said (ironically):

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Many observers here and abroad note a kind of higher illiteracy in our college graduates. But we like it that way. In our cars we like horsepower; in our studies we like slow-motion and low-gear. In education the intellectually second-rate does not shock us. To insist on the first-rate would be arrogant. Anyhow, if we are so second-rate, how come we are the richest nation in recorded history and the fattest people on earth?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New York Times reviewer Edmund Fuller called his 1958 novel, Purely Academic, "bitterly hilarious," "sadistically satirical," and "funny and appalling."{{ref|fuller}}

Related Topics:
New York Times - Edmund Fuller - 1958

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1959, Barr was one of a number of signatories to a petition asking the U. S. Congress to abolish the House Committee on Unamerican Activities. Other notable signatories included Eleanor Roosevelt and Reinhold Niebuhr.

Related Topics:
1959 - House Committee on Unamerican Activities - Eleanor Roosevelt - Reinhold Niebuhr

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was born in Suffolk, Virginia and died in Alexandria, Virginia.

Related Topics:
Suffolk, Virginia - Alexandria, Virginia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~