Hesburgh: A Biography by Michael O'Brien

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS673 Hesburgh: A Biography. By Michael O'Brien. (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University ofAmerica Press. 1998. Pp. xii, 354. $34.95.) Michael O'Brien, a professor of history in the University of Wisconsin, has chosen for the subject of his biography one of the outstanding players on the field of American higher education in the twentieth century. Theodore M. Hesburgh , C.S.C., has been a leader not only in Catholic higher education but in the broader academic community, occupying at various times the chair of such diverse groups as the American Council on Education and the Board of Overseers of Harvard University. In addition to his contribution to education, Hesburgh played a significant role in several civic and social organizations, including his work as Ambassador and Head of the United States delegation to the U.N. Conference on Science and Technology held in Vienna in 1979. Consequently, there exists an enormous body of material concerning Hesburgh 's activities. The author has had access to written sources, both published and unpublished, as well as having benefited from interviews with many persons who knew and worked with his subject in a variety of environments. O'Brien successfully keeps his focus on Hesburgh's central mission—making Notre Dame into a "great Catholic University." His love for students, with its display of "tough love" on occasion, was a key to the decisions he made on many occasions, although as the university grew and became more complex and his national and international obligations multiplied, his firsthand encounters with students diminished. The history of the Hesburgh years, as recorded by O'Brien, suggests that his greatest leadership role, both within and outside the university, was exercised in the decades of the sixties and seventies. His early and continual defense of American Catholic higher education is recounted in chapters 3, 4, and 5 and includes his convening of the Land O'Lakes meeting in 1967, a response to Roman attempts to limit academic freedom and institutional autonomy, areas which Hesburgh saw as foundational to American higher education. He was often protected by Pope Paul VI from Curia personnel who attempted to curtail these prerogatives. His own Father General and his Provincial Superiors strongly supported his work, especially the transfer of governing authority over the university to an independent board of trustees in 1967. This board was composed of both lay and religious members; it provided for significant lay leadership while also making a strong commitment to the Holy Cross presence and influence. Notre Dame's example was followed by many other Catholic colleges and universities although without identical structures . A weakness of O'Brien's book, however, is his over-dependence on Hesburgh 's own recollection of many of the events discussed. In chapter 1 alone there are thirty footnotes citing God, Country, andNotre Dame, Hesburgh's autobiography , and this reliance on a single source is obvious in many of the other chapters. It is also disconcerting to have several sources cited in a single note 674BOOK REVIEWS without any clear indication of the specific location where the reader could find the direct quotation. An example of this is note 30 of chapter 4, where seven articles and three interviews are mentioned. In chapter 8, footnote 45 it would have been helpful to cite the actual text of Land O'Lakes and where it could be found. The quotation from Philip Gleason on page 275 includes a quotation from President Leo McLaughlin, SJ., of Fordham University, "pay any price, break any mold" but no identification of the speaker is given. On the whole, O'Brien has given us an interesting book, one that will inform and please many of Father Ted's admirers. What it lacks in terms of objectivity and scholarly preciseness will probably be remedied in a later definitive biography where the views of his critics will also be considered. In the meantime, the Notre Dame story, of which Hesburgh is such a large part, will continue to arouse admiration among his peers inAmerican higher education. His influence on the rest of Catholic higher education is another important story that needs to be told in more detail, and perhaps O'Brien...