THE READINESS IS ALL

THE TED STERN STORY

Jack Alterman

ROBERT R. MACDONALD
To the College of Charlestons alumni, current, and future students who look

to Ted Stern as a model of integrity and public service

1
 nOTE

Ted Stern was one of the most consequential figures in the recent history of
Charleston. In 2011, I urged the College of Charleston Foundation to support the
preparation of a professional biography of Ted. With Teds approval, the Foundation
engaged me to write a biography that would capture Ted as a person and honor his
contributions to the College and Charleston. I worked with Ted in the last fourteen
months of his life composing a biography worthy of Ted. I completed my extensive
research and writing in two years. My manuscript was edited and praised by
professional editors at Kirkus, the noted New York book review and editing firm.

In the fall of 2015, the College of Charleston Foundation and Home House
Press published a censored and abridged version of my biography under the title, Ted
Stern & The Making of Modern Charleston: The Readiness is All. The account of
how my manuscript was bowdlerized and my disassociation from the resultant
publication is found in The Hijacking of Ted Sterns Biography, the Epilogue at the end
of this biography. Because Ted Sterns story is important to the history of Charleston
and the College of Charleston, I rewrote my biography of Ted in light of the
Foundations decision to publish an expurgated account that diminishes Ted Stern and
his legacy.

Robert R. Macdonald

2
 This is the true joy of life, the being used for a purpose recognized by

yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish,

selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world

will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community,

and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to

be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.

I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a

sort of splendid torch, which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want

to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future

generations.

George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, dedicatory letter

3
 Contents

Preface 5
Introduction 8
Chapter I: Foundations 21
Chapter II: The Baltimore Bachelor, 1930-1940 47
Chapter III: The Navy Years, 1940-1968 64
Chapter IV: Captain Stern Comes to Charleston 110
Chapter V: President Ted Stern 133
Chapter VI: The College of Charleston Reinvented 193
Chapter VII: Spoleto 251
Chapter VIII: The Second Retirement 281
Chapter IX: Saving Spoleto a Second Time 310
Chapter X: Always the College 321
Coda 346
Epilogue: The Hijacking of Ted Sterns Biography 350
Acknowledgements 365
Appendix 367
Selected Bibliography 371
Endnotes 373

4
 Preface

Alex Sanders, the College of Charlestons president from 1992 to 2001, once
said, If you crossed Ted Sterns path, you were likely to become his friend. This
was certainly true for me. In the twelve years I knew Ted, especially during the last
year of his life that we worked together on his biography, I became a friend of this
remarkable man who changed lives and helped to transform a city.
I first met Ted at a meeting of the South Carolina Aquarium Board in 2003,

when he walked up to welcome me with, Do you know who I am?

I answered, I believe Dr. Stern.

Ted replied, Thats right, but I am also Robert Mosess cousin.

Being the director of the Museum of the City of New York for seventeen years

before my wife and I retired to Charleston, South Carolina, I was familiar with Robert

Moses, the most consequential unelected individual in the history of modern-day New

York City. As head of the New York Port Authority, Moses transformed New York

physically by building highways, bridges, parks, and public housing. As I came to

know Charleston, I discovered that Ted Stern was a similarly transitional figure in

Charlestons most recent past. However, Ted Stern did not build bridges, parks, public

housing, or parks. He built institutions, organizations, and people.

I soon grasped how Teds story for the last forty-eight years of his life

converged with the history of Charleston and the College of Charleston. I also became

aware of a remarkable consistency in descriptions of Teds character. During his years

at New Yorks Columbia Grammar School in the 1920s, his time at Johns Hopkins

University from 1930 to 1934, his twenty-eight year naval career, and his almost half-

century in Charleston, words such as energetic, loyal, engaging, enthusiastic, joyful,

5
and remarkable were repeatedly used to describe Ted. It is noteworthy that in more

than two years of research that included seventy interviews with those who admired

Ted as well as those who clashed with him, I heard only one negative comment. It was

a former professor at the College of Charleston who said that he had nothing nice to

say about Ted Stern and, in any case, I wouldnt use anything he did say. My repeated

requests for an interview with the disgruntled professor were declined or ignored.

As Teds biography took form, it became apparent that Ted Stern was

universally admired even by those who disagreed with him. The uniformity of acclaim

from friends and adversaries is an extraordinary tribute to a man who was an

instrument of change, was not afraid to go against the tide, and who did so much.

Ted was bright, determined, generous, irrepressible, and kind. He was keenly

proud of his accomplishments and craved recognition. However, unlike many

successful people, he lacked conceit. He was approachable and encouraging. His

identity was in the way he made other people feel. Ted Stern made you feel good.

Meeting and interviewing Ted almost weekly for fourteen months at the

college or his Bishop Gadsden apartment, get-togethers described by Charlestons

Mayor Joe Riley as Tuesdays with Ted, was a rare privilege and personally

rewarding. Ted would greet me on these visits with his legendary Hows my boy? I

like to think that in writing his biography I became one of Teds boys.

In his eulogy delivered at Teds funeral on the College of Charlestons

Cistern Yard, Charlestons Mayor Joe Riley, Jr., who knew Ted for almost half a

century, asked, who was this man? The Mayor answered:

Ted was joyous, positive, optimistic, courageous, and empathetic.

Anger and bitterness had no place in his soul. Ted gave two

6
 treasures to this city. The first are the buildings and institutions
that he made possible, and that will enrich this city for
generations to come. The other, and perhaps even more
extraordinary, was that he changed the kind of people and
community we are. He came to a city more focused on its past
conservative about change and seeing our differences as barriers,
not gifts, not ready to believe in our collective capacities to excel.
Perhaps we were more likely to see things as obstacles not just
wonderful challenges. Ted touched us, led us, and loved us. He
changed us. He made us want to be like Ted. He put us on a new
course; reset the needle of our community compass. The new
heading was Ted Sterns way. He will be guiding us in all the
years to come.

It is my hope the Readiness Is All; The Ted Stern Story will prompt fond

memories and heightened admiration among those who knew Ted Stern. For those

meeting him for the first time in the following pages, I trust you will come to know

Ted as an exceptional human being who left a lasting mark on Charleston, the college,

and the people he touched.

RRM

7
 Introduction

Everything Ted touched in Charleston blossomed.1

Senator Ernest F. Hollings

Tuesday, September 3, 1968, marked a new chapter in fifty-eight-year-old Ted Sterns

life. Four days earlier he had retired after a sterling twenty-eight-year Navy career.

Now, on that late summer morning, he was to be introduced as the sixteenth president

of the College of Charleston. Dr. Edward Towell, the colleges acting president,

gathered the colleges small faculty in the chapel on the second floor of the schools

Main Building. As the faculty took their places, Towell called on F. Mitchell Cussie

Johnson, soon to be chair of the private schools board, to introduce Theodore Sanders

Stern. Those who were there remember Johnson praising Teds management skills and

patriotism. One faculty member recalled that the colleges stocky new president

reminded him of the then-popular comedian Don Rickles.2 Ted addressed the

dispirited faculty with buoyant and reassuring encouragement declaring that the school

had a great future. It was classic Ted Stern. However, Johnsons introduction and

Teds remarks elicited little reaction from the faculty. One professor fumed as he

walked out of the room in disgust, Thats all we need, a sailor to run the college!3

The inauspicious launching of Teds presidency in the colleges threadbare

assembly room before a dejected faculty would have discouraged most. But not Ted

Stern. Ted knew that he was taking over a minuscule operation compared with the

Naval Supply Center he had commanded for the previous three years. As the Supply

Center commander, Ted led an organization with fourteen hundred employees and

8
assets of more than a billion dollars. Still, Ted knew little about the school he was

about to save and reinvent beyond the fact that the college had a staff of fewer than

fifty and an annual budget of three-quarters of a million dollars. Ted had been on

campus only once, two years earlier when his wife, Alva, represented her alma mater

Hood College at Teds recently fired predecessor Walter Coppedges inauguration.

Ted could see the colleges Main Building was in disrepair. The presidents office,

adjacent to the chapel, lacked furniture, save for a few chairs and a single desk

illuminated by a shaded light bulb at the end of an electrical wire hanging from the

ceiling. Ted knew the private schools determination to avoid integration had led it to

the verge of bankruptcy. The small endowment was depleted, and there was an

anticipated $50,000 shortfall for the coming year.

These were challenging enough. But the most serious issue facing Ted was that

the College of Charleston was in danger of losing its accreditation from the Southern

Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Ted appreciated that the loss of

accreditation would be justified considering the schools shortcomings. Fewer than half

of the underpaid faculty of twenty-seven had PhDs. The schools curriculum was

limited. The library lacked resources and study space. Classrooms, equipment, and

dormitory rooms were scant, even for the small student body of 482. Deferred

maintenance had left the colleges few buildings in deplorable condition. Ted realized

that the loss of accreditation would be the death knell for the almost two-hundred-year-

old school.

In many ways, the College of Charleston in 1968 mirrored Charleston itself.

Visitors arriving from the North over the antiquated Cooper River Bridge were greeted

9
by a billboard reading, Welcome to Charleston, Americas Most Historic City. Like

Charleston, the college claimed importance because of its past.4 The majority of its

students were local and living at home. They, their parents, the schools faculty, and

most of Charlestons white citizens were socially and politically conservative.

Charlestons African-Americans lived under Jim Crow customs separating

Charlestons whites from blacks, socially and physically. The tacit boundary between

African-Americans and the domain of white Charleston was Calhoun Street, the major

east-west thoroughfare across Charlestons peninsula. Calhoun also served as the

colleges northern boundary. South of Calhoun Street was largely reserved for whites.

Blacks were expected to live and shop north of Calhoun.

Charleston economically and emotionally had not fully recovered from the Civil

War. Decay characterized the central business district. King Street, the major shopping

venue, was a mixture of dated retail shops and vacant storefronts. Market and East Bay

streets were run-down as well. A leading Charleston businessman drolly recalled that in

the mid-1960s, you could throw a football down the length of King and Market streets

and there would be no one to catch it.5 However, the preservation and restoration of

historic homes sponsored by the Historic Charleston Foundation and the Preservation

Society were rehabilitating several neighborhoods stimulating growth in tourism. The

citys largest employers were the Navy base and the port. The College of Charleston,

covering one square block in the heart of the city, had little or no economic impact.

The colleges chapel, located on the second floor of the Main Building, was the

schools sole assembly room. Each student had an assigned seat: boys in coats and ties

10
on the right, girls in their blouses and skirts on the left. The freshman rats, identified

by their maroon and white beanies, were consigned to the back rows.

A lectern holding an open Bible stood center stage. Student assemblies

concluded with the colleges president reading a random passage from scripture. The

students then did an about face turning their backs to the stage to face south. The

gesture symbolized the lingering, bitter legacy of The Civil War and the belief that

there was no God in the North.6 The students then recited the following prayer:

Bless all those who have contributed to the College, and raise up, we
pray Thee, a never-failing succession of benefactors whose names may
be perpetuated through all generations as a blessed memory, and may
their good deeds be rewarded, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.7

In 1978, when Ted stepped down after ten years as the colleges president, it

was obvious to everyone the students prayer had been answered. The small, private,

proud, financially insolvent school that Ted inherited was transformed. The remarkable

metamorphosis was also key to Charlestons renaissance. Describing Teds ten-year

tenure, Mitchell Cussie Johnson declared, Look in any direction and see a college

renewed, rebuilt, lively, growing, and with a new confidence and a new vision of its

future.8

The private school was saved from closing two years after Teds appointment

when he successfully lobbied to have it join South Carolinas state system of higher

education. It was the beginning of Teds reinvention of the school. The student body

grew from 482 students in 1968, the majority from Charleston, to 5,193 students in

1978, 96 percent from South Carolina, representing every county in the state. By 1978,

there were also students from thirty-one states and thirty-five foreign countries. In

1968, only 66 percent of the student body ranked in the upper half of their high school

11
graduating class. By 1978, it was 83 percent. In ten years, the faculty had grown six

times, and 82 percent of the 181 faculty members had a Ph.D. or terminal degree. When

Ted became president, the school granted undergraduate majors in eleven fields of

study. The year Ted retired, the school offered twenty-one undergraduate majors and

two graduate degrees.

Ted appreciated that the schools Achilles heel was its library, housed in a

small, 1856 building. The library held only 40,647 volumes and four hundred

periodicals. SACS accreditation would hinge on a new library with expanded resources

and capacity. Building a new library topped Teds to-do list. The Robert Scott Small

Library, the first new academic building added to the campus in a hundred years, was

dedicated in the summer of 1972. Enlarged in 1975, the library by 1978 held 184,587

volumes and 1,884 periodicals.

In 1968, the college housed only two hundred students. In ten years that number

had grown to twelve hundred, accommodated in a new mens dormitory, four new

womens residences, and several restored historic houses. Under Ted, the colleges

intercollegiate sports teams grew from three to ten and their nickname changed from

the Maroons to the Cougars.

When the college became a state school in 1970, Ted created the College of

Charleston Foundation. The foundation supported student scholarships and faculty

research. But, its primary function was to act as a revolving fund supporting the

expanding schools acquisition of property unhindered by the states cumbersome

purchasing regulations. During Teds tenure, the foundation bought 120 buildings. Of

these, twenty non-historic structures were demolished to make way for new

12
construction. The foundation purchased and renovated seventy-five of the historic

buildings and adapted them for the colleges use as faculty and administrative offices,

classrooms, dormitories, and faculty homes. The foundation sold the restored and

adapted buildings to the state and used the income to buy and renovate additional

properties.

Among the major restorations during Teds presidency were the Main Building,

renamed Harrison Randolph Hall, the Sottile and Lesesne houses north of Randolph

Hall, and the Blacklock House, a national historic landmark on Bull Street. The

Blacklock House was not sold to the state and remained the foundations property.

The wave of new construction was heralded by the sounds of bulldozers and

pile drivers and the sight of large cranes hoisting steel beams into place. The expanding

campus at times looked like a battleground crisscrossed by utility line trenches.

In addition to the Robert Scott Small Library, the new construction included the

Burnet Rhett Maybank Hall, the Science Center later named for Rita Liddy Hollings,

the Physicians Memorial Auditorium, the Grice Marine Laboratory at Fort Johnson on

James Island, the Botanical Greenhouse Complex, the Albert Simons Center for the

Arts, the Theodore S. Stern Student Center, Rutledge Rivers and Buist Rivers residence

halls, and the Central Energy Facility. The Craig Union was also renovated and

expanded.

The colleges makeover was more than physical and echoed throughout

Charleston and the region. Ted introduced the Spotlight Series of cultural activities a

year after his appointment. It was followed by the Community Series in 1973 that

included concerts, operas, dance, lecture series, exhibitions, and recitals. The series

13
enhanced Charlestons quality of life fostering the citys appeal as a place to live and

visit thereby fueling citys economic revitalization. College-related spending in 1977

amounted to more than $15 million, with a $34 million impact on the regions

economy. The $38 million capital outlay during Teds presidency brought additional

money and jobs to Charleston. Property values grew, and new business opened reviving

lower King Street and Harleston Village, the neighborhoods bordering the college. The

Governors School was one of Teds many innovations. Inaugurated in 1975 and

modeled after a comparable program in North Carolina, the school was held in the

summer and brought 275 talented high school juniors and seniors to the college for six

weeks of concentrated, college-level courses and included a variety of cultural and

recreational activities

The Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC), established in 1974, was

one of Teds proudest accomplishments. The ECDC served the children, ages six

months to six years, of the colleges faculty and students providing them with

diversified learning experiences. Looking back on his tenure as president, Ted viewed

the collaborative program he established with the largely African-American

Memminger public school adjacent to the college as his most important contribution to

the college and community. The faculty and students of the colleges Department of

Education worked with the Memminger teachers to create a model of inner-city

elementary education. When Ted retired in 1978, the program was annually serving 525

students with individualized and small group learning that stressed the students

mastery of the basic skills of reading, language, and mathematics.

14
 The Memminger program is an example of Teds goal to provide opportunities

for young people who historically couldnt aspire to attend college. It is not surprising

that one of Teds first initiatives as president was sponsoring Upward Bound, a

federally funded program to help academically motivated high school juniors and

seniors from disadvantaged backgrounds gain the skills necessary for college.

Another illustration of Teds sensitivity to the often forgotten was his

introduction of an early-intervention program for challenged children. Created in

collaboration with the Parent Training Project of the South Carolina Department of

Mental Retardation in the spring of 1976, PTP provided youngsters ranging from

infancy to six years with timely diagnostic and rehabilitative services, enabling them to

realize their maximum potential.

If saving and reinventing the College of Charleston were Ted Sterns only gifts

to his adopted town, he would rank among Charlestons most important benefactors.

But the college was only one of Teds contributions. First and foremost, there was

Spoleto Festival USA, the international music and performing arts fete that opened at

the college on May 25, 1977. Spoletos effect on the College, Charleston, and South

Carolina has been extraordinary. There would be no Spoleto if it were not for Ted

Stern.

But there is more. The list of organizations and projects Ted helped during and

after his time as the colleges president is breathtaking. They include the United Way,

the Boy Scouts, the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, Goodwill Industries, the

Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, the South Carolina Aquarium,

15
Charlestons Waterfront Park, the Trident Chamber of Commerce, the Charleston

Rotary, and the First Scots Presbyterian Church.

Ted did more than save, energize, and help create institutions and organizations

that transformed Charleston. He also transformed people. He was a mentor to elected

and appointed public officials, civic leaders, businessmen and women, nonprofit

executives, community activists, ordinary citizens, teachers, and students. Teds impact

is illustrated in the following letter from a college alumnus that Ted received only a few

months before his death. Olivia Guest White, vice president for student life and dean of

students at Hood College, Alva Sterns alma mater, wrote:

Dear President Stern,

I often think of you and the impact you have had on my life. As one of the
few African-Americans at the College of Charleston in 1969, you made me feel
welcome. I know these were challenging times for our community and the
world. But you embraced diversity as a natural expectation and not as a
mandate. Thank you! You may not know it, but you were instrumental in
starting me on my career in higher education. Your outreach to students and the
community and to me, in particular, helped to shape many of the values I
embrace. I have been at Hood for 19 years. Many of the stories I share with the
students have come from lessons I learned from you while a student at the
college. Your compassion, empathy, in addition to your honesty, vision,
interpersonal skills, and integrity are greatly respected by me and all who know
you.

Thank you,

Olivia Guest White!9

Who was Theodore Sanders Stern and how did he become a seminal figure in

the modern history of Charleston? Growing up in New York City, Ted was surrounded

by gifted and socially active relatives and their friends. They gave Ted a progressive

perspective that guided him throughout hs life. Ted struggled academically at New

Yorks Columbia Grammar School and Johns Hopkins University. He compensated for

16
his academic shortcomings by enthusiastically involving himself in athletics and

extracurricular activities. Following college, Ted enjoyed but tired of the high life as a

socially active bachelor in Baltimore. As a young adult, Ted suffered periods of self-

doubt and feared he was a disappointment to his parents. He matured and gained self-

confidence during an outstanding twenty-eight-year Navy career. He was a progressive

in one of the Souths most historically conservative citiesa community whose natives

rarely accepted people from Off. How did Ted Stern help change an historic Southern

city tied to its past?

Part of the answer is found in Teds selection of the phrase from Hamlet, The

Readiness is All, as the motto for Charlestons Naval Supply Center he commanded

from 1965 to 1968. Shakespeares protagonist declares, in a moment of confident

clarity, There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, tis not to

come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The

readiness is all.10

Looking back on his long and full life, Ted was amazed how fate played a key

role in his hundred-year journey. So many strange things happened to me that I just

cant understand. It cant be a coincidence.11 His fathers sudden death in 1929

brought the sixteen-year-old Teddy Stern under the wing of George Alexander

Kohut, the noted Jewish scholar whose Columbia Grammar School instilled ideals of

individualism and community service and prepared boys for the preferred Ivy League

schools of Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Princeton. Instead, Ted attended Johns

Hopkins University in Baltimore.

17
 At Johns Hopkins, as at Columbia Grammar, Ted was a student leader. I got in

every activity at Johns Hopkins except academics.12 His wholehearted involvement in

undergraduate activities brought him to the attention of schools administration. Joseph

Ames, the universitys president, selected Ted to serve on the Singewald Committee,

charged with determining the future of undergraduate studies at the school.

Isaiah Bowman, Amess successor, asked Ted to review his speeches and help

with the universitys alumni affairs. Charity work in Baltimore and tenure as president

of Marylands Young Democrats in the late 1930s deepened Teds social consciousness

and honed his political skills.

With the winds of war blowing hot in Europe and Asia, Ted joined the

Maryland Naval Reserves on October 16, 1940. To Teds and everyones surprise, his

unit was called to active service the next day and ordered to the Panama Canal. After a

few months in the Navy, Ted changed his mind about applying for a commission in the

Naval Reserves. His application was approved, and he went from a second-class

seaman to Ensign. On December 7, 1941, as Officer of the Day at Coco Solo at the

Gulf entrance to the Canal, Ted receive an urgent teletype reporting that the Japanese

had attacked Pearl Harbor. Before he could notify his superiors, Ted answered the

commanding admirals telephone call and responded as an eager ensign to the

admirals request for officers to direct the construction of advanced air patrol bases to

protect the Pacific approaches to the Canal.13 Ted was promoted to Lieutenant Junior

Grade and assigned to lead a group of four hundred navy personnel to build a PBY base

on the Ecuadorian coast. Fate brought Vice Admiral Paul Foster, President Franklin

Roosevelts personal inspector, to the patrol base Ted was building at Salinas, Ecuador.

18
The meeting lasted only a few hours but launched Teds remarkable Navy career that

would eventually bring him to Charleston. Teds four years in the Pacific during World

War II gave him the organizational and management skills he would use a quarter

century later to reinvent the College of Charleston.

One of Teds first jobs, after he failed to graduate from Johns Hopkins, was

with the Lord Baltimore gas stations. Ted was incredulous when this experience led

to his posting to Virginias Norfolk Navy Base and one of the navys major fuel depots.

His evolving reputation as one of the Navys oil authorities brought him to the attention

of South Carolina Congressman L. Mendel Rivers, the powerful chairman of the House

Armed Services Committee. Rivers sanctioned Teds appointment as commander of the

newly formed Charleston Naval Supply Center. Among the first to welcome Ted and

his family to Charleston was Joseph P. Riley Sr., one of Charlestons most influential

citizens and for thirty years finance chair for Mendel Rivers election campaigns. Big

Joe, became Teds closest friend. That relationship and Mendel Rivers admiration of

Ted led to Teds appointment as the College of Charlestons fourteenth president.

Rivers and Big Joe introduced Ted to Solomon Blatt, the powerful longtime

speaker of the South Carolina House and the key to the College of Charleston

becoming a state school. Blatt resisted but eventually he and Ted became close, and the

College joined the state two years after Ted was appointed president. At a critical

moment in Spoletos difficult birth Big Joes son, Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr turned to

Ted and asked him to make the dream of a cultural festival in Charleston a reality. Ted

said yes and the rest is history.

19
 Throughout his life. Ted was prepared to take advantage of what fate brought.

Like Hamlet, Ted believed that the readiness was all. Ted saw challenges as

opportunities. His confidence in his abilities and determination to succeed equipped

Ted to revive the College of Charleston and play a critical role in Charlestons

reawakening.

20
 Chapter I

FOUNDATIONS

Everything a young teenager would do, I did.14

Ted Stern

Theodore Simon15 Stern was born on December 25, 1912, to Bertha Sanders

Stern and Hugo Stern. The eight-pound, six-ounce Teddy, as he was called for most

of his youth, was Hugo and Bertha Sterns second child. Teddys sister Bettina

(Betty) was born the previous year. A second boy following Teddy would die in

childbirth. Like his sister, Teddy was delivered at home, Apartment 4A in the

Rockfall Apartments, 545 West 111th Street in New Yorks Morningside Heights.

Teds uncle, Theodore Michael Sanders, thrilled with the birth of the familys

first grandson, wanted to toast the new arrival. However, being Christmas, all the

stores were closed. Undaunted, Uncle Ted walked three blocks from the Rockfall to

the Lion Brewery at 108th Street and Columbus Avenue where he bought several

bottles of its famous Lion Sparkling Ale.

Teddys first home, the Rockfall, was new in 1912. It was part of a

construction boom in an area of New Yorks Upper West Side that until recently had

been farmland. A contemporary advertisement described the Rockfall.

Ten-story absolutely fireproof apartment house represents the foremost

methods in apartment house construction. Conveniently located one block
from the subway express station and a block from Riverside Drive. The
apartments are arranged in suites of six, seven, eight and nine rooms with

21
 extra-large foyers. The six and seven room apartments have two baths
and the eight and nine-room apartments three baths.16

The Sterns and Sanders were part of a wave of German Jews who immigrated

to New York in the last half of the nineteenth century to escape military service and

rising anti-Semitism. Many of these families prospered and, as they rose in New

Yorks burgeoning middle class, they moved to places like Morningside Heights, a

neighborhood home to several of the citys well-known institutions and landmarks,

including Columbia University, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Union

Theological Seminary, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Ulysses S. Grants

Tomb.

Teds father, forty-year-old Hugo Stern, was a sturdy man of five feet, nine

inches with green eyes, a fair complexion, a mustache, and receding brown hair.

Hugo was born on December 21, 1872, in Frankfort-am-Main, Germany, the third of

Leopold and Betty Bendheim Sterns seven children. Hugos mother was related to

the Bendheim family in New York City, a link that would play a consequential role in

the Sterns family fortunes.

Ted Sterns cousin, Robert L. Stern, the familys genealogist, concluded the

Blenheim's descended from Sephardic Jews who escaped to Northern Europe during

the fifteenth-century Spanish Inquisition. The family settled in Frankfort by the

beginning of the eighteenth century. About this time, the government ordered

everyone to adopt surnames for tax collection purposes. Abraham ben Chaim

Germanized his name to Bendheim. Hugos ancestors selected Stern, the German

22
word for star. It is probable the Stern side of the family was Ashkenazi or Jews

from Middle and Eastern Europe.17

Leopold and Betty Bendheim Sterns five sons and one of their two daughters

immigrated to the United States. The oldest, Heinrich, born in 1868, was the first to

arrive. He came at the age of twenty to attend St. Louis College of Physicians and

Surgeons in Missouri. Seven years later, Heinrich was a naturalized citizen living in

New York City where he became a noted physician specializing in internal diseases,

particularly diabetes. Heinrich wrote a dozen medical books in both English and

German. He also authored numerous articles on internal diseases. He founded the

publication Archives of Medicine and was instrumental in organizing the American

College of Physicians, and the American College of Internal Medicine. Among

Heinrichs patients were the chewing gum tycoon William Wrigley Jr., King Gillette

of razor fame, and James Buchanan Duke, the founder of the American Tobacco

Company. Heinrichs association with these three moguls became critical to the Stern

and Bendheim families financial wellbeing.

Heinrich was also the Stern familys American paterfamilias. In 1887, he

brought his brother Arthur to New York. Two years later, Hugo, Teds future father,

arrived. The next brother to leave Germany for New York was Ludwig, who came in

February 1893. Julius immigrated to New York in March 1895, and in 1898, the

youngest of the males, Otto, joined his brothers.18 Ted Sterns aunt, Lena Stern,

followed her brothers to the United States years later, escaping the Nazis in the late

1930s. Rosa Stern, the familys second girl, died in 1914 in Germany.

23
 In 1900, brothers Arthur and Hugo Stern were living together on Brooklyns

Fulton Street. Arthur was working as a cigar dealer and Hugo, a cigar maker. That

same year, Ludwig, a manager of smoking pipes, was living with the oldest brother

Heinrich on Manhattans East Seventy-Sixth Street. Ten years later the bachelors

Hugo, Arthur, and Ludwig were all living with Heinrich. Except for Dr. Heinrich

Stern, all the Stern brothers pursued tobacco-related careers. Their connection to the

trade was through their mother Bertha Bendheim Sterns American relatives. Adolph

D. Bendheim, the Stern brothers cousin, immigrated in 1866 to Savannah, Georgia,

where he and his brother Henry established a cigar shop. Ten years later, they were

operating a similar store in New York City.

On January 21, 1899, Adolph Bendheim, his brother Henry, their cousin,

Arthur Stern, Hugos older brother, and several other investors incorporated the

Metropolitan Tobacco Company in New York City. Initially capitalized at $1million,

the Metropolitan, was the exclusive distributor of Wrigley Gum, Gillette razors,

and Dukes American Tobacco Company cigarettes in the New York City area and

along the New Jersey shore. Dr. Heinrich Sterns patients orchestrated the

Metropolitans lucrative monopoly. The cartel lasted for twelve years, ending in 1911

because of antitrust litigation. The Sterns and Bendheims profitable tobacco-related

business was one source of the familys financial security. The other was Teds

mother and her family, the Sanders.

Simon Sanders, Teds maternal grandfather, was born in New York City

around 1848 to Theodore and Jeanette Nusbaum Sanders, who immigrated to New

York from Cologne, Germany, about the time of Simons birth. Theodore and

24
Jeanette Sanderss journey to America was part of the upsurge in the Jewish exodus

from Europe following the bloody turmoil known collectively as the Revolution of

1848. The largely urban, middle-class, populist uprisings in Austria, Hungary, and the

German states were crushed by the aristocracy and their armies. Many in the ruling

class blamed Jews for the rebellion. This triggered a marked increase in Europes

historic anti-Semitism and the resulting sharp rise in Jewish departures for America.

Nine years after their arrival in New York, the city directory listed Theodore

Sanders as a butcher at 175 Suffolk Street on New Yorks Lower East Side. Three

years later, New York Citys Federal Census enumerated Theodore Sanders, butcher,

with a wife and five children and a personal wealth of nine hundred dollars

impressive for a recent immigrant. In 1880, Theodore and Jeanette Sanders and their

eight children were living at 356 East Sixty-Fifth Street, a relatively new area of

Manhattan. Their oldest child, twenty-nine-year-old Simon, was living with them and

working with his father as a butcher.

On March 24, 1884, young Simon Sanders married Caroline (Carrie) Levy.

Carrie Levy was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Leopold and Henrietta Levy on

June 4, 1860. Leopold Levy, like Theodore Sanders, came from Cologne, Germany.

In 1850, Leopold married Henrietta Mandel, born in England in 1820. The couple

immigrated to the United States about 1852, settling in Brooklyn, which was an

independent city at the time. The 1860 Federal Census recorded Leopold Levy as a

newsagent, likely a newspaper distributor. Simon and Carrie Sanders had three

children. Their oldest child Bertha, Ted Sterns mother, called, Birdie, was born on

25
June 7, 1885. The Sanders also had two sons: Leo, born in 1886, and Theodore

Michael, born on January 7, 1890.

In the early 1890s, Theodore Sanders and his son Simon established the New

York Veal and Mutton Company. The companys stockyards were located at New

Yorks First Avenue and Forty-Third Street, today the site of the United Nations. It

was a large business processing three thousand sheep and lambs and twenty-five

hundred calves weekly.19 Ted recalled accompanying his grandfather, Simon Sanders,

to the New York Veal and Mutton Companys yards, where the eight-year-old Teddy

watched his seventy-year-old grandfather vaulting from stall to stall holding the

lambs and calves waiting for slaughter.20

Birdie Sanders grew up on New Yorks East Sixty-Ninth Street. She attended

public schools and matriculated at Hunter Normal School, today Hunter College,

where she trained to be a teacher. Birdie graduated from Hunter in 1905. As a

graduation present, she accompanied her Aunt Johanna (Annie) and Uncle Michael

Elias to Europe. Upon her returned, Birdie taught in New Yorks public schools for

five years. Early in 1910, Annie and Michael Elias introduced Birdie to thirty-

eight-year-old Hugo Stern. After a brief courtship, Birdie and Hugo were married on

April 10, 1910. The New York Times Society Here and There column described

the wedding:

Miss Birdie Sanders and Hugo Stern were married on Tuesday evening at
Delmonicos. The bride is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Simon Sanders of 562
W. 113th St. Her attendants were Miss Jeanette Sanders, maid of honor, and
the Misses Amy Jaeger, Amanda Jaeger, Florence Jackson, Elise
Schwarzkopf, Elizabeth Smith, and Amy Strasburger, bridesmaids. Arthur
Stern was best man. The ushers, Leo J. Levy, Leo Sanders, Alfred Bendheim,
T. M. Sanders, Ludwig Stern, and J. Aumann. There were two flower girls,
Miss Gladys, and Miss Elsie Bendheim. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Schulman read

26
 the ceremony, which was followed by a dinner dance. Mr. & Mrs. Stern
sailed yesterday to Europe to be gone some weeks.21

At the time, Delmonicos, at Fifth Avenue and Forty-Second Street, was New Yorks

most fashionable restaurant. The Reverend Dr. Samuel Shulman, who officiated at

the wedding, was the chief rabbi of Beth El Synagogue, the impressive Reformed

Temple on upper Fifth Avenue where Ted Stern would take religious instruction and

be confirmed.

The wedding party reflected the close ties between the Sterns and their cousins, the

Blenheim's. Other links would come from the wedding. Amy Strasburger married

Hugos older brother, Arthur, and Elsie Schwarzkopf married Hugos younger

brother, Ludwig.

Following their European honeymoon, Hugo and Birdie returned to New York

and moved into the Rockfall Apartments, two blocks from Birdies parents. The

following year, Hugo, and his brother Ludwig, who had been working for the

Metropolitan Tobacco Company, founded the L&H Stern Pipe Manufacturing

Company. The companys first home was on East Tenth Street on Manhattans Lower

East Side. In 1920, Hugo and Ludwig purchased a six-story brick building on

Brooklyns Pearl Street below the Manhattan Bridge. L&H Stern continued to

manufacture quality pipes and tobacco-related products into the 1950s. Among the

companys best-known products was the Zeus Cigarette Holder, made famous by

President Franklin Roosevelt. Teds first job was packing pipes at L&H Stern. He

saved his first weeks pay of $6.00 for the rest of his life.

27
 Ted lived where he was born, Apartment 4A at the Rockfall until he was

seven. Among his earliest recollections was when he was around eighteen months

old. His Hungarian nurse, Fraulein Rosie Zordich, was walking Ted in his pram on

111th Street at Amsterdam Avenue, near the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Rosie

parked the carriage but neglected to engage the brake. The baby carriage rolled down

111th Street toward Morningside Park before hitting a tree and depositing Teddy on

the sidewalk. Fortunately, the only mark it left was in Teds memory. Another

incident at age three or four captures the youngsters impishness. Birdie was giving

Teds sister Betty piano lessons in the apartments library behind glass-paneled

French doors. Teddy, wishing to join his mother and sister, proceeded to break

through the glass and cut himself. Ted remembered crying out, Look at the

bleeds.22 From his earliest days, Teddy was a terror. Birdie often called her son

kapores monkalb,23 a Yiddish expression typically translated as good-for-nothing

monster.24 Teds cousin Robert Stern recalled Birdie reacting to her sons mischief

by hissing under her breath, you fiend.25

Young Teds New York contained the wonders and excitement for which the

city is famous. He vividly remembered at the age of six sitting on an iron balcony

watching the grand parade saluting General John Black Jack Pershing and the

troops returning from World War I. It was September 10, 1919. The five-hour parade

included ten thousand soldiers in full gear, marching twenty abreast down Fifth

Avenue. There were more than five thousand horses in the five-mile parade witnessed

by more than three million euphoric New Yorkers.

28
 Soon after the parade the Sterns moved from the Rockfall Apartments eleven

blocks south to the more fashionable address of 305 Riverside Drive at West 103rd

Street. Riverside Drive and the park of the same name stretch seven miles along the

Hudson River. They were the creation of Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of

New Yorks Central Park. The 1939 Works Progress Administrations Guide to New

York described Teds new neighborhood:

Riverside Drive, like Wall Street, is a national symbol of wealth, but

unlike Wall Street, it has never quite deserved the reputation. From
the 1890s until after the World War, to be sure it was popular with the
newly rich, whose ornate gray and battlemented brownstone houses
bore witness to economic success; however, lacking an old family
tradition, it never rivaled streets like Fifth Avenue in the esteem of
fashionable society. In its location, however, with its fine parks and
impressive buildings and monuments, Riverside Drive is unsurpassed
by any street in New York.26

The Sterns eleventh-floor, three-bedroom apartment overlooking the Hudson

River would be Teds home for a decade, until September 1930, when he left to enter

Johns Hopkins University.

Teds world growing up was a constellation of the Sterns and Sanders,

brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, and their friends living in Morningside

Heights and New Yorks Upper West Side. It was an urban village, a community

inhabited by prominent personalities in the fields of medicine, law, business, and

politics. Ted interacted daily with accomplished villagers. Second only to his

mother Birdie, the most important person in young Teddys village was his maternal

grandmother, Carrie Levy Sanders. Small in stature, with clear blue eyes and a full

face, Grandmother Sanders was the opposite of her daughter, Birdie. Carrie Sanders

was a petite, quiet woman who often acted as Teddys protector, particularly after she

29
moved in with the Sterns following Teds grandfather Simons death in 1922. She

spoiled Ted with sponge cakes, sweet bread, and floating islands, the soft vanilla

custard with clouds of meringue.

Grandmother Sanders once caught the twelve-year-old Teddy in a stairwell

with friends smoking corn silk cigarettes. She told him that she would not tell his

parents on condition the wayward boy promised never to smoke again. It was a

promise that the future, chain-smoking Ted did not keep. Carries older sister,

Johanna Elias, Aunt Annie, who lived in the neighborhood, was also close to

Teddy, who remained the familys sole grandson for almost twenty years.

Ted idolized his uncle, Dr. Theodore Michael Sanders, a graduate of

Columbia University, where he was a champion baseball player, editor of the student

newspaper, the Columbian, and a member of the Student Board. He became a noted

physician at Beth David and Gouverneur hospitals in New York City. Progressive in

his politics, Theodore Sanders was an early member of the NAACP and, in the 1950s,

testified before Congress as a member of the Committee for the Nations Health,

promoting universal health insurance. His wife, Marion Klein Sanders, began her

career working for the New York Port Authority. She went on to edit Amerika, the

United States Information Agency Russian language publication. In 1953, Teds aunt

Marion ran unsuccessfully for Congress from New York. Between 1958 and 1970, as

senior editor of Harpers Magazine, she wrote articles on women, medicine, politics,

social welfare, and urban affairs. She also penned several books, including The Crisis

in American Medicine and The Professional Radical: Conversations with Saul

Alinsky. Ted rarely revealed his political preferences. However, his progressive

30
leanings were framed and nurtured by his mother and her family, rather than the more

conservative, business-oriented politics of his fathers family, the Sterns.

Another family in Teds village was Grandmother Carrie Sanderss cousin,

Rebecca Cohen Elsberg, and her three sons, Herman, Charles, and Nathaniel. Herman

Elsberg, the oldest, was an expert in textiles and a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum

of Art. Charles was a noted neurosurgeon, president of the American Medical

Association, vice president of the New York Academy of Medicine, and professor of

neurological surgery at Columbia University. In 1922, Dr. Elsberg removed the nine-

year-old Teddys appendix in what was the last operation at New Yorks original

Mount Sinai Hospital on 100th Street and Fifth Avenue. During his postoperative

recuperation, Teddy was moved to become the first patient at the new Mount Sinai

pavilion a block away. Nathaniel Elsberg, Rebeccas youngest son, was an attorney

and a New York state senator. Nathaniel gave a nominating speech for Teddy

Roosevelts unsuccessful 1912 presidential run. He did the same for Calvin

Coolidges successful attempt in 1924. Ted remembers the three brothers arriving at

the Stern apartment every Sunday with bouquets of roses for his Grandmother

Sanders.

The Elsbergs provided an important link for Ted. Rebecca Cohen Elsbergs

sister, Bella Silverman Cohen-Moses, was the mother of Robert Moses, making

Robert Moses Teds second cousin once removed. As head of the New York Port

Authority, Moses spearheaded the construction of 416 miles of highways, thirteen

bridges, 2.5 million acres of parkland,, 658 playgrounds, many public housing

projects, tunnels, beaches, zoos, museums, civic centers, exhibition halls, and the

31
1939 and 1964 New York Worlds Fairs. For his leading role in physically molding

modern New York City, his biographer Robert Caro gave Moses the title, The Power

Broker.27

Ted recalled sitting on Robert Moses lap looking out on Riverside Drive

from the Sterns apartment. As the two looked down on the New York Central

Railroad tracks that paralleled the Hudson River, the thirty-year-old Moses turned to

ten-year-old Teddy and said, I can see a road covering the railroad tracks around the

whole island of Manhattan.28 Forty-seven years later, in 1969, Robert Moses would

be the principal speaker at President Ted Sterns first commencement at the College

of Charleston.

Something was always happening outside Teddy Sterns bedroom window.

Through the portal he saw Civil War veterans marching in their distinct Zouave

uniforms to the nearby Soldiers and Sailors Monument and Grants Tomb. On May

23, 1921, a fire engulfed the USS Granite State, a Civil Warera ship berthed at the

Hudson Rivers Ninety-Sixth Street Wharf, seven blocks south of the Stern

apartment. Before abandoning the ship, the crew flooded the magazines to prevent an

explosion of the ships ammunition, which would have devastated the area. Teddy

could see the black smoke billowing from the burning hulk for more than two

months. Equally exciting for Teddy was seeing the navys battleships that

periodically anchored in the Hudson. At night, their lights illuminated the walls of

Teddys bedroom.

Fueled by Birdies kinetic energy, the Stern home was constantly in motion.

While Birdie was gregarious, Ted described his father Hugo as reserved, soft-spoken,

32
and understated. Rarely ruffled, Hugo was reliable and steady.29 He loved to travel,

was an avid reader, and a Republican. If Hugo was understated, Birdie was the

familys larger-than-life grand dame. Ted described his mother as a strong,

dignified, handsome woman.30 Birdie ran the household and was the arbiter of taste

for the entire family. A gracious host, she was meticulous about the silver and linens

at her table. Birdie demanded and accepted only the best. She loved the theater,

opera, symphony, and art exhibitions.

Ted would later say that he learned to love the arts by ear. His parents

would drag him by the ear to the innumerable art and cultural events that were one

of the privileges of living in New York City. These included Ernest Shelling and

Walter Damroschs Young Peoples Concerts at the New York Philharmonic. The

Sterns also attended performances at the Metropolitan Opera, where they sat in a box

beside the Mets manager, Giulio Gatti Casazza. Ted and his sister enjoyed plays at

the Schubert Theater and exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.31 At home,

Birdie played the piano and sang duets with friends. She entertained as a member of a

trio: Birdie on the piano, her brother Ted playing the viola, and her brother Leo, the

violin. She also derived great pleasure from painting ceramics. Teds parents were

dedicated bridge players and often attended bridge camps. Birdie loved to read and

play solitaire. She had strong likes and dislikes, which she did not hesitate to share

with her family and others.

The Sterns Jewish identity was ethnic rather than religious. Like many

immigrant men wishing to assimilate into the American cultural values, of tolerance,

charity, community service, integrity and honesty, Hugo joined the Masons. He and

33
Birdie instilled these values and other Judeo-Christian principles in Ted and his sister

Betty. They expected Ted to be gentlemanly, sympathetic, understanding, generous, a

believer in God, helpful to others, loyal to family, and respectful of all. Ted knew that

lying, cheating, stealing, and bigotry were unacceptable.32 Birdie, the Stern familys

disciplinarian, required her children to live by these high standards. Hugo was more

forgiving than Birdie. However, he kept a wooden paddle he called Billy on the

shelf as a warning to the mischievous Teddy. Hugo never used it.

Ted had only happy memories of his childhood. He spent his formative years

in an upper-middle-class, culturally Jewish home. He would recall, I have never

known poverty.33 However, he did know prejudice. Ted later described his

childhood as like living in a pod where different ethnic and religious groups would

stick to their own. This included divisions within the Jewish community between

German Jews and Jews from Russia and Poland. Implicit and open anti-Semitism

were part of Teds world. He would experience it in his neighborhood, at Johns

Hopkins, and later in the Navy. Prejudice bewildered and upset him. However, he

never allowed it to hold him back.34

Teds formal education began at the Riverside School a block from his home,

where he attended from kindergarten through second grade. Ted changed schools in

third grade when he began his ten years at the Columbia Grammar School for Boys

on West Ninety-Third Street, today Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School.

When Ted entered in 1920, the school was under the new ownership of George

Alexander Kohut, the renowned Jewish scholar, author, and poet. Kohuts father was

the legendary Rabbi Alexander Kohut. In 1915, George Kohut donated his fathers

34
library of five thousand books and manuscripts to form the foundation of Yale

Universitys distinguished Judaic Collection. Besides being the owner of the

Columbia Grammar School for Boys, George Kohut ran a summer camp in Maine,

which Ted also attended.

Columbia Grammar prepared boys for college, particularly Ivy League

schools. The school had a reputation for scholarship and for striking a balance

between discipline and self-expression. The goal was to produce graduates with a

sense of social responsibility coupled with rugged individualism.35 Kohut improved

the school by adding a swimming pool at the cost of $100,000. It was in the new pool

that Ted trained to become a champion swimmer. Ted remembered Kohut as a caring

father figure, a role that took on special meaning following Hugo Sterns death.36 In

1986, the seventy-four-year-old Ted cited Kohut as one of the most influential people

in his life. The others were Teds wife Alva, his parents, and his grandmother Carrie

Levy Sanders.37

Beginning in the fourth grade at Columbia, Teddy attended Mr. Healys

Saturday Camp. Using the bus that transported Teddy to school during the week,

Healy took the youngsters to such places as the American Museum of Natural

History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and on hikes through Central Park and Van

Courtland Park in northern Manhattan. At home, Birdie encouraged her son to read.

His favorite books were James Fenimore Coopers Leatherstocking Tales and the

Tom Swift series, relaying tales of an inquisitive, inventive, and ambitious teenager

exploring the world.

35
 By seventh grade, Teddy walked seven blocks to and from school or took the

streetcar. While walking home one day, he witnessed a group of Irish toughs, part

of the fabric of New Yorks West Side, try to grab a womans purse and bully her

three-year-old son. I saw red, and I went after them. The leader of the gang clipped

me right square on the jaw and knocked me out. The kids mother came rushing down

and said, Are you hurt? I responded, No, Im just humiliated.38

In 1924, twelve-year-old Teddy took his first trip to Europe. It was a month-

long, guided educational excursion. The group left New York on the SS Chicago.

When the ship reached the mid-Atlantic, its rudder broke, and it was towed into the

port of Vigo, Spain. Ted and his companions then traveled by train from Spain to

France, where they visited the walled city of Carcassonne. They went on to Bordeaux

and Marseilles. The tour included visits to Morocco and Tunisia. Ted and the group

also visited Switzerland. Ted later recalled: My great remembrance in Switzerland

was when we went to Lugano and several of my fellow students said, Lets take a

ride in the Alps to the border of Italy. I had never been on a bicycle before, but here I

was with my first experience, bicycling through the Alps to Italy. When we got to the

border, the Italian authorities would not let us cross because we did not have the

necessary papers. Heading back, my brakes failed going down a hill. I hit an

embankment and went head over heels. I walked the remaining ten miles back to

Lugano with the ruined bike under my arm.39

When Teddy returned to New York, his parents met the ship at the dock. As

he walked down the ships gangplank wearing spats and sporting a cane, his mother

rolled her eyes and said, Only my son!40

36
 Teds spats and cane were in tune with New York City at the height of the

Jazz Age. Ted was growing up in the Roaring Twenties. It was a time of modern

girls called flappers and an uninhibited dance called the Charleston. Terms for young

women such as broad, dame, doll, and cats meow were part of the patois. Harry

Houdini was making his great escapes, and Al Capone, Dutch Schultz, and other

gangsters were profiting from Prohibition. Vaudeville featured such stars as Al

Jolson, Eddie Cantor, and Fanny Brice. Popular songs of the day included Ill Be

with You in Apple Blossom Time, Im Just Wild about Harry, I Wish I Could

Shimmy Like My Sister Kate, and Puttin on the Ritz. Commercial radio brought

these stars, songs, and new young idols such as Bing Crosby into the nations homes.

Popular novels of the age included F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby and works

by emerging writers such as Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and William

Faulkner. On Broadway, audiences enjoyed George Gershwins An American in

Paris and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammersteins fabled musical Showboat. Eugene

ONeill, Americas greatest playwright, created such dramas as Strange Interlude and

Desire Under the Elms. The Harlem Renaissance was evolving only a few blocks

from Teds home. In Harlem, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Count Basie, and Cab

Calloway entertained white audiences. On the gridiron, Red Grange of Illinois was

setting records, and Notre Dames Four Horsemen were football icons. In May of

Teds junior year at Columbia Grammar, Charles Lindberg made the first solo flight

across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis.

During his years at Columbia Ted became a strikingly handsome young man

with a full head of wavy brown hair. He also displayed the temperament that

37
characterized him throughout his life. Unbounded energy and irrepressible

enthusiasm radiated in everything he did. He was a leader in the schools

extracurricular, social, and athletic pursuits. He was the star of the schools

swimming team, and he set several New York City scholastic records in the

breaststroke. A March 1928 newspaper account noted:

Teddy Stern, sensational Columbia Grammar School swimmer,

undefeated in the fifty-yard breaststroke this season, was elected
captain of the swim team at Columbia Grammar School. Stern is the
first sophomore ever to be elected Captain and is the champion of the
breaststroke of the Athletic Association of Private Schools.41

Newspaper headlines such as Stern Sets New Marks in Horace Mann School 42

and Stern Continues to Smash Records; Teddy Stern Reduces Tank Record Twice in

Three Weeks of Competition 43 are testaments to young Teds athletic talents. In

January of his sophomore year, he competed in Philadelphia at the University of

Pennsylvania National Interscholastic Championships in the hundred-yard

breaststroke.

Teds accomplishments went beyond athletics. In his sophomore year, he won

first place in French Composition, and in his junior year, he took second place. In

1929, he was a prizewinner in The New York Times National Oratorical Contest with

his presentation, Abraham Lincoln and the War Powers of the President. For the

Oratorical Contests final, citywide competition at the Horace Mann School, Ted

forgot to bring his presentation, requiring him to ad-lib his speech. He came in second

place. The Columbia News reported:

Theodore Sterns victory was not only a great honor to himself, but
also to the school; for besides being only the second time that Ted has
competed in such a competition, it is the first time in many years of

38
 Columbia Grammars participation in the Oratorical Contest that its
representative has proceeded further than the first round.44

Waldo Nolan, The New York Times oratorical contest manager, wrote to the schools

principal, Frederick Alden:

The outstanding success Theodore S. Stern has gained at your school

in the study and discussion of the Constitution in connection with the
National Oratorical Contest entitles him to the prize check enclosed
and to our hearty congratulations. We sincerely hope the intelligent
interest he has thus shown in the principles of our government now
will initiate an even broadening acquaintance and support later as a
citizen.45

Among Ted Sterns most enjoyable times during his school days were

attending New York Giants baseball games at the Polo Grounds. He often was taken

to games by his uncles Ted and Leo Sanders and a family friend, Emil Dreyfus.

Sometimes Ted played hooky from Columbia Grammar and snuck off to a game by

himself. Teds Idol was the Giants famous first baseman, Long George Kelly, who

starred in the teams 1921 and 1922 World Series victories. Ted had little use for the

New York Yankees. However, he did admire Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as well as

the great Yankee third baseman Jumping Joe Dugan.46 Ted and his cousins from

Brooklyn played stickball, New Yorks quintessential street game that used

broomsticks as bats, spaldings (the rubber core of a tennis ball) as balls, and

manhole covers as bases.

The handsome, outgoing Ted Stern had a bevy of girlfriends, some of whom

did not meet with his mothers approval. Birdie wanted Ted to focus his attentions on

Eleanor Dreyfus, the daughter of family friend Emil Dreyfus. Ted resisted. Instead,

he dated many girls, including Evelyn Danzig. Evie would marry Walter Haas Jr.,

39
the CEO of Levi Strauss & Company. Fifty years later, Ted used his connections with

the Straus Foundation to energize what became the Coastal Community Foundation

of South Carolina. Another of Teds girlfriends was Teddy Bear, whose father

Joseph was a founding partner of the Bear Sterns investment house.

Ted realized that some of his adventures displeased his parents. In 1927, at the

age of fifteen he wrote his father:

The days you sighed and the days you cried about your son are over;
for promises and resolutions of mine are now in order. Its no use
saying Ill be good and never will be bad. But I remark upon my word
Ill never make you sad. I think about the years gone by and wonder at
my failure, but never will it come again this day or ever after. The
days and years that follow will show all how I have won. And my
parents both will glory in the honor of their son.47

Throughout his long and accomplished life, Ted was driven by the desire to

make his parents proud of him.

In the summer of 1929, between his junior and senior year at the Columbia

Grammar School, Ted traveled to Europe for the second time. On this trip, he toured

with an entourage of eleven that included his parents and his closest high school

friend, Bobby Mack. To pay for the adventure, Birdie cashed in her fifty-six shares of

Bank of America stock for $30,000 and told her family, Lets enjoy it.48 In later

years, Ted recalled that everything about the trip was first-class. Birdie spared no

expense.

The Sterns sailed to Europe in two waves. Birdie led the first group, joined by

her mother, Carrie Sanders; Teds sister Betty; and Harold Dreyfus, the son of the

familys close friend. Harolds role was to serve as an escort for the women,

principally for the eighteen-year-old Betty. The party sailed in June 1929 for Italy on

40
the SS Vulcania. Ted, his father, and Bobby Mack followed in July on the SS

Leviathan. When they arrived in Hamburg, they joined Birdie, her group, and Teds

uncle Arthur Stern, his wife, Amy; and their children, Barbara, and Arthur Jr. In

Hamburg, they visited with Lena, Hugos surviving sister. From Hamburg, the party

traveled to Frankfort, Hugos birthplace. Both of Teds grandparents, Leopold, and

Betty Stern were no longer living. However, in Frankfort, Grandmother Carrie

Sanders discovered the original spelling of her married name was Sander, the s

added after the family had arrived in America. From Frankfort, the party went by

train to Basel, Switzerland, and then to Lucerne. There they visited Lucernes Glacier

Garden and took the cog railroad to the Alpine peaks that surrounded the city.

The party next traveled to Geneva and then on to Paris, where they stayed at

the Majestic Hotel, a few steps from the Champs-lyses. One night after the adults

had gone to bed, sixteen-year-old Ted, his sister Betty, Harold Dreyfus, cousin Arthur

Stern Jr., his sister Barbara, and Teds high school friend Bobby Mack stuffed pillows

in their beds and headed off to explore Pariss famous nightspots. After a night on the

town, the boys brought the girls back to the hotel and then went out on their own to

the House of All Nations, an infamous bordello. We partook of sexual exploits. I

mean you couldnt be in Paris and not, but I dont think any of us lost our

virginity.49

Following Paris, the Sterns journeyed to Italys Lake Como staying at the

luxurious Villa DEste Hotel. It was here that Ted tried his first cigar, which made

him violently ill. After Lake Como, the party went to Venice, Rome, Naples,

Brussels, and Amsterdam. They ended their tour in London and returned to New

41
York in late August aboard the SS Majestic, at the time the worlds largest ocean

liner. It was a trip to remember. It also marked the end of an era for the world and the

Stern family. They could not know it, but their lives were about to dramatically

change.

Soon after his return to New York, Ted began his senior year at Columbia

Grammar. On a late-October afternoon, he met his father walking home from the

subway stop at 103rd Street and Broadway. Ted was taking his sister Bettys laundry

to the cleaners. She was a student at Wellesley College and sent her laundry home

weekly. After asking Ted where he was going, Hugo reached into his pocket and gave

Ted some change to pay for the laundry. Later, the family dined on pot roast, potato

pancakes, sweet and sour beans, and red cabbage. Following dinner, Ted retired to

study in his room. Hugo sat down to read in the library across the hall. Ted heard his

father answer the phone in the hallway outside his room. After a brief conversation,

there was the sound of the phone crashing to the floor. Ted rushed out and caught his

collapsing father.

Ted helped carry Hugo to his bed. Teds uncle, Dr. Theodore Sanders, and a

doctor who lived in the building were summoned. The fifty-seven-year-old Hugo

Stern was dead of a heart attack. For some time, he had been taking nitroglycerin for

chest pains. His weakened heart could not take the stress triggered by what he had

heard over the phone. The day was Black Friday, October 29, 1929, the day the

stock market crashed. The call was from Uncle Ludwig, who advised Hugo that he

had to come up with $20,000 or forfeit the General Motors stock he had bought on

margin. It was the first-time Hugo had ever purchased stock on margin. As with many

42
others on that fateful day, speculation had exposed Hugo and his family to financial

ruin and disgrace. Hugos broker was eventually paid with money from Hugos life

insurance.

Ted recalled years later that when the morticians came for his father, they

stole his gold cuff links and a clip of money in his pocket.50 Hugo did not have a

Jewish funeral. As a Mason, he had stipulated that his service be a Scottish-rite

ceremony. Hugo was buried at Beth El Cemetery in the Ridgewood section of the

Borough of Queens. The November 2, 1929, edition of The Tobacco Leaf, a trade

publication, noted the passing of Teds father:

News of the sudden death was a shock to the hundreds who knew Mr.
Stern, and it was a feeling of sincere regret at the departure of a man
who was not only highly respected in a business capacity but as a
friend that prompted the many telegrams, letters and other
expressions of sorrow from the trade. Mr. Stern was one of those
businessmen, somewhat rare, who treated customers and salesmen
alike as friends. He was of a pleasant, smiling disposition, and these
traits in his character made him doubly valued to those who came in
contact with him. He took pleasure in associating with people and in
recreation. It is with the remembrance of a man quiet, friendly and
capable that the whole industry mourns Hugo Stern.51

Although his fathers death was a shock, Ted years later said that he did not

feel bereaved.52 Teds forty-four widowed mother was left with the responsibility of

raising a teenage son and daughter. She would have support from Hugos older

brother, Arthur, and her brother, Dr. Theodore Michael Sanders, who along with

herself, were executors of Hugo Sterns estate.

Following his fathers death, Ted returned to the Columbia School to

complete his senior year. George Alexander Kohut, the schools brilliant and gentle

owner, assumed the role as Teds male mentor. Kohuts influence played an

43
important role in young Teds formation. Ted would later say, I saw him as a father

figure.53 Ted continued as Columbias star breaststroke swimmer but was no longer

the teams captain. Seeking his mothers approval, Ted joined almost every

extracurricular activity offered by the school. This included the House Committee,

Traffic Squad, the Assembly Committee, the Debating Society, the Dance

Committee, and the Columbia News. Not surprisingly, Ted was also a member of

Columbias prestigious Kat Exochen Society, whose motto was To increase interest

in extracurricular activities.54 Ted ended his senior year serving as master of

ceremonies for the graduating class dinner, Senior Beefsteak. The dinner,

consisting of steaming steak sandwiches, foaming mugs of beer, and witty

anecdotes, took place at New Yorks famous Keens Chophouse in early April 1930.

The noisy and lubricated young men ended the evening singing, Stand Up and

Cheer, the Columbia University fight song.55

Stand up and cheer!

Stand up and cheer for old Columbia!
For today, we raise
The Blue and White above the rest.
Our boys are fighting
And they are bound to win the fray.
Weve got the team!
Weve got the steam!
For this is old Columbias day!

Presaging his first commencement at the College of Charleston almost forty years

later, Ted asked his cousin Robert Moses to speak at the Columbia Grammar

Schools 1930 commencement.

Earlier, in the fall of his junior year, Ted began looking at colleges. Many of

his classmates at Columbia Grammar would attend Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton, and

44
other Ivy League schools. But Ted, who would later joke that he never let academics

interfere with his extracurricular activities, 56 had a C average, which was

uncompetitive for the elite schools. Dartmouth, among others, turned him down. An

acquaintance of his schoolteacher aunt, Amy Jaeger, was a friend of the wife of a

noted Baltimore attorney, Harry B. Wolf. Aunt Amy suggested Ted consider Johns

Hopkins University.

Johns Hopkins was founded in 1876 with a $7 million gift, at the time the

largest bequest in the countrys history. The benefactor was Johns Hopkins, the

Baltimore, and Ohio Railroad mogul. Daniel Coit Gilman, Hopkins founding

president, set the Universitys course when he declared the schools purpose was to

prepare for the service of society a class of students who will be wise, thoughtful,

progressive guides in whatever department of work or thought they may be

engaged.57

On December 13, 1929, a little over a month after his fathers death, Ted

wrote Johns Hopkins Universitys Board of Admissions:

Dear Sirs:

Last year I asked to have my name considered for the Freshman Class
entering in September 1930. You advised me then to delay it until I had
entered the senior year at the preparatory school. I am now in that position, a
senior at Columbia Grammar School, New York City, and still most desirous
of entering Johns Hopkins. Will you please send me an application blank and
let me know what further is required of me.

Very sincerely,

Theodore S. Stern58

45
Ted had impressive references from prestigious members of his extended family,

including the Elsberg brothers. Dr. Frederick A. Alden, the schools headmaster, also

gave Ted a strong endorsement:

The student is one of the outstanding members of his class. As his

record shows, he has completed every subject with 75 percent or
better, which places him in the first third of his class. At the same
time, he has been a most influential member of the school body. He
was the Captain of the Varsity Swimming Team and for two years was
the interscholastic breaststroke champion. He reached the semifinals
in The New York Times Oratorical contest. He is a member of the
Honor Society of the school and has taken an active part in the
student government. He is a boy with a splendid background, all of his
people on both sides being professional men, for the most part,
physicians. He is earnest, ambitious, reliable in every way, and
exceedingly loyal. We take pleasure in recommending him for
admission to Johns Hopkins University.59

Ten days after Frederick Alden sent his letter, Ted received a letter from the John

Hopkins registrar:

My Dear Mr. Stern:

Your application for admission to the college of Arts and Sciences of

this University has been received. I am very glad to inform you that you will
be admitted in the fall without conditions.

The Registrar60

46
 Chapter II

The Baltimore Bachelor

1930-1940
These were wild times.61

Ted Stern

Looking back, Ted marveled at his acceptance by the premier institution. He

speculated that it was during the depth of the Depression, and the school was open to

promising students, even ones with a C average.62

At his mothers urging, Ted spent his four years at Hopkins as a premedical

student. Teds urban village included prominent physicians, and Birdie wanted her

son to continue the tradition exemplified by her brother, Dr. Theodore Michael

Sanders. Although he never told his mother, Ted knew that he didnt want to be a

doctor. His uncle once took him to the Beekman Street Hospital in New York to

witness an operation. Ted nearly fainted and had to leave the operating room.63

When Ted arrived on the Johns Hopkins campus in September 1930, the

undergraduate student body numbered fewer than eight hundred. Teds first home at

Hopkins was Alumni Memorial Hall. He described his new residence in an article

that appeared in the Baltimore Sun:

47
 The average man knows little of the dormitory located on the Homewood
Campus, Alumni Memorial Hall. Representatives from practically every
state in our land and foreigners representing 12 foreign countries
compose the residents of this building. Under the guidance of Dr. John
Rathbone Oliver, writer, Hopkins lecturer, and portrayer of interesting
stories of the underworld, the student is at ease to work or play at his
will. Graduates and undergraduates form relationships not afforded to
such a great extent elsewhere on campus. The building itself covers two
blocks with a Charles Street front. Containing 180 rooms,
accommodations are offered to 140 students who furnish their rooms to
suit their own tastes.64

Ted was elected secretary of the freshman class. It was the beginning of a

college career packed with an impressive list of extracurricular activities. After

joining the swimming team in early January 1931, Ted broke the Hopkins

breaststroke record in a meet against the University of Delaware. By his sophomore

year, Ted was the South Atlantic AAU breaststroke champion and captain of the

Johns Hopkins swimming team. In that same year, he gained his varsity H and earned

a place on the 1932 U.S. Olympic swimming team as an alternate. Ted tried out for

the Hopkins wrestling team and played, at least, one year as a guard on the Hopkins

football team. During his college years, he also participated in basketball and

baseball.

The affirmative persona Ted carried throughout his life is epitomized in a

letter he wrote to the News-Letter, the Hopkins student paper, a few months after he

arrived on campus.

At the present time, there is an unnecessary evil prevailing on the

Hopkins campus. This evil is represented by the presence of
knockers who are disturbing those who have the interest of Johns
Hopkins University at heart. The university of which we hope to make
a Utopia does not need knockers but on the contrary, boosters.
Let those critics bear in mind that no single individual is bigger than
an institution and that this establishment is not being benefited by
their presence in the university. In other words, for those radicals who
persist in attempting to defame Hopkins, I suggest that they either take

48
 the advice to withhold criticism or if they refuse and continue their
annoyances, be led to the door marked EXIT.65

Ted started out at Hopkins a diligent, but average, student. In his first year, he

took courses in English composition, mathematics, physics, French, and political

science. He earned a satisfactory in all but physics, which he had to repeat his

sophomore year. In his second year, in addition to repeating physics, Ted took

chemistry, biology, mathematics, history, political economy, German, and the history

of medicine. He dropped physics, which became his academic nemesis, and was

required to repeat German and the history of medicine. His junior year saw a further

decline in his academics. He passed chemistry, sociology, psychology, and the history

of medicine. However, he had to repeat elementary geometry, biology, and the

history of science. In the fall of his senior year, Ted focused on biology, taking four

courses, and passing each with a satisfactory. Teds academic work collapsed in his

final semester, the spring of 1934. He either failed or took incompletes in all his

courses except biology. Ted would look back at this time and say he was distracted

by love.66 However, romance was not the only explanation for his academic

troubles.

Teds increased participation in extracurriculars accompanied his academic

decline. Although he gave up swimming in his junior year, Teds involvement in

student publications and other nonacademic pursuits expanded. He was elected to Pi

Epsilon Pi, at the time considered Hopkinss premier Jewish social fraternity. He

joined the staff of Hullabaloo, the student yearbook, where he served as editor-in-

chief his senior year and was selected for Phi Delta Epsilon, the national journalism

honor society. He was elected president of the Student Activities Council (SAC) in

49
May of his junior year. As SAC president, Ted was responsible for most of Hopkinss

undergraduate social activities. When he took the lead of SAC, he inherited a

committee that was missing six hundred dollars from its accounts. Ted promised to

reorganize the SAC and take the first steps to regenerate the corpse which, if

unsuccessful, will mean the abolition of the council.67 Ted turned the SAC around

by consolidating all of Hopkinss undergraduate social activities under his committee.

In the spring of his senior year, the Hopkins News-Letter reported on the

SACs progress.

Perhaps the most outstanding achievement of the present council has

been the incorporation of the Cotillion Board into its ranks, bringing
this powerful body directly under its control. The Cotillion Board
immediately proved its sincerity and cooperation by turning over all
of its profits toward paying for a football training table, which had
previously been discontinued by the Athletic Association due to its
lack of funds.68

The SACs accounts were in the black by Teds final semester. The News-

Letter noted, Under the energetic leadership of Ted Stern, this body of delegates,

second only to the Student Council in importance, has been successfully guiding the

destiny of all the nonathletic extracurricular activities.69

Teds dedication and loyalty to Johns Hopkins led him to campaign for the

restoration of the Varsity Seal, recognizing graduating seniors with the schools

highest award for nonathletic achievements. Not surprisingly, Ted received a Varsity

Seal in 1934. Ted garnered popularity and success as a leader of his class despite

what he felt was an undercurrent of anti-Semitism. His closest friends at Johns

Hopkins were Jewish. He sometimes sensed edginess among his non-Jewish

classmates. The anti-Jewish attitudes were implicit rather than open.70 However, Ted

50
never allowed prejudice to hold him back. Asked why he was elected to so many

positions at Hopkins, Ted later quipped, I cornered the Jewish vote.71

Teds leadership roles brought him to the attention of the universitys

administration. In 1933, Johns Hopkins was experiencing a stark identity and fiscal

crisis. The schools original emphasis was as a graduate research institution and

medical school. The Depression had led to a fivefold increase in its deficit. To avoid

the schools bankruptcy, faculty members, and the administration voluntarily

contributed a portion of their salaries. The Baltimore Sun reported, The money itself

is extremely important to the university at this juncture; but we doubt that even the

money will be as important, in the long run, as this demonstration that the members

of its staff believe in it so strongly that they are willing to back their belief with hard

cash.72 Some proposed the school drop its undergraduate program for a six-year

course of study leading to a Ph.D.

Joseph Ames, the universitys president and noted physicist, appointed a

committee chaired by Joseph T. Singewald, the schools renowned professor of

geology, to study the matter and make a recommendation. The committee included

Walter Gifford, chairman and CEO of American Telephone and Telegraph; Daniel

Willard, chairman and CEO of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; David Luke Hopkins,

Baltimore banker and civic leader and a member of the Hopkins Medical School

Board; and Benjamin Griswold, III, a partner in a Baltimore investment firm.

Dean Edward W. Berry of the School of Arts and Sciences and one of Teds

mentors recommended Teds appointment to the committee as the undergraduate

student representative. In a portent of Teds focus on undergraduate teaching as

51
president of the College of Charleston, the twenty-two-year-old senior vigorously

advocated keeping Hopkinss undergraduate programs with members of the

committee, faculty, and students.

Ted later recalled, I felt very, very strongly that the value of an

undergraduate school to a university was very, very important and I still believe that

way. A liberal arts school is the basic building block to success in specialized things,

whether it be architecture or medicine, or law. The liberal arts give you the ability to

think.73 Ted pressed his case with Daniel Willard of the B&O Railroad, Walter

Gifford at AT&T and the committees other members. Eventually, the committee

recommended to the universitys trustees that the undergraduate program be retained,

a recommendation the trustees followed.

As the 1934 Hopkins commencement approached, Professor Shirleigh

Silverman again failed Ted in physics. Ted was also deficient in several other

courses. He never wanted to be a doctor, but to please his mother he had persisted in

taking pre-med courses, several of which he failed or did not complete. In retrospect,

Teds reluctance to pursue medicine, combined with his dread of displeasing his

mother, made his academic failures and frenetic involvement in student activities

understandable.

Ted remained conflicted even as he approached the end of his senior year. The

1934 Hullabaloo Ted edited was a lavish volume dedicated to the history of

medicine. It included full-page color plates of historic physicians. Donations from

Teds relatives, including his uncles, Dr. Theodore Michael Sanders, and Leo

Sanders, funded the yearbook. Ted hoped that his editorship of the Hullabaloo

52
dedicated to medicine would help him gain admittance to medical school.74 He

applied to John Hopkins and the University of Marylands medical schools. Both

rejected him. In the spring of his senior year, Ted realized that he would not graduate

with his class and go on to medical school. He knew his mother would be devastated,

but Ted had no place to hide. He was living with Birdie.

Following Hugos death and Teds departure for Johns Hopkins, Birdie

moved with her mother, Carrie Sanders, from the Riverside apartment to New Yorks

Westbury Hotel. When her mother died in 1932, Birdie moved again, this time to

Baltimore so she could be close to her children. Betty, a senior at William and Mary

College, was engaged to Dr. Frederick Wolf, son of the Baltimore attorney Harry B.

Wolf, who had been instrumental in Ted attending Johns Hopkins.

Birdie purchased a four-story brick house at 800 Cathedral Street. The house

was a block from Mt. Vernon Place, one of Baltimores fashionable neighborhoods

and the home of several of the citys distinguished families. H. L. Mencken, the

acerbic American satirist, lived around the corner from Birdie Sterns new home.

Birdie engaged a decorator who embellished the house in a manner worthy of the

neighborhood. She converted the ground floor into an office, with a separate entrance,

for her future son-in-law who was interning at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The second

floor included a sitting room, a library, and dining room with wood paneling. The

kitchen on the ground floor connected to the dining room by a dumbwaiter.

Bedrooms for Birdie, Ted, and the Wolfs were on the third floor. The houses

custom-made French crewel drapes would one day find their way to the College of

53
Charlestons Presidents House.75 Ted joined his mother at her new home on

Cathedral Street in the fall of his junior year.76 It was while he was living at home

that Teds academic decline accelerated.

Although he would not graduate, Ted ironically received the Alexander K.

Barton Cup, recognizing a Johns Hopkins undergraduate for loyalty and service to the

university and for displaying the highest Christian character.77 The honor was

named for a 1914 Johns Hopkins alumnus who, as an Episcopal minister at the

University of California at Berkeley, encouraged students to lead Christian lives. The

June 12, 1934, New York Times reported under the banner Wins High Honors at

Johns Hopkins: At the commencement exercises of Johns Hopkins University

tomorrow the highest honor which the University confers upon an undergraduate, the

Alexander K. Barton Cup, will be awarded to Theodore S. Stern of New York

City.78

Because Ted was not graduating and would not attend commencement,

Hopkins president Joseph Ames presented the cup at a dinner held at the Baltimore

Country Club the night before, on June 7, 1934. It was also Birdies forty-ninth

birthday. While Ted was proud to receive the Barton Cup, he was humiliated by his

failure to graduate. He tried to conceal the awful fact from his mother by concocting a

charade with his closest Hopkins friend, Eliot Levi, a Phi Beta Kappa pre-med senior.

Levi agreed not to attend the commencement and spend the day with Ted at Birdies

Cathedral Street home. Ted was never certain if his mother knew of his deception or

whether she chose to ignore the ruse. It would be twenty-seven years before Ted

finally received his Johns Hopkins degree.

54
 Following the commencement pretense, Ted fled Baltimore and spent three

months serving as co-director at Camp Sagamore in New Yorks Adirondacks. He

returned to his mothers Cathedral Street home in September and enrolled in several

public health courses to earn the credits he needed for a Hopkins degree and keep

alive the possibility of entering medical school. However, Ted either dropped out of

the courses or failed to make passing grades.

Living at home and supported by his mother, Ted realized he needed to find

employment and move on with his life. For the next six years, he tried to put the pain

and embarrassment of failing to graduate from Hopkins behind him. His antidote was

a succession of jobs, relentless charity work, political dabbling, and a whirlwind

social life.

Through a friend, Ted landed a job at the Baron C. Collier Company, selling

advertising on Baltimores streetcars. He next secured a marketing position at the

Lord Baltimore Filling Stations, an arm of the American Oil Company (later known

as Amoco). As he did throughout his life, Ted ingratiated himself with those in

charge. He became friends with the companys founder, Louis Blaustein, and

Blausteins son-in-law, Alvin Thalheimer. Ted worked for Amoco for two years,

ending his tenure as the assistant manager of the companys fuel oil department, a

position that would later prove important in advancing his naval career. During this

same period, Ted served as an adviser to Isaiah Bowman, the noted geographer and

new president of Johns Hopkins. Ted previewed President Bowmans speeches and

helped organize an active Hopkins alumni association. Several of Teds friends,

knowing of his failure to graduate, marveled at Teds association with the universitys

55
president. They asked, How could Ted Stern be an adviser to Dr. Bowman? Ted

responded, If I can understand his speeches, anyone can.79

Continuing his school days practice, Ted did not allow work to interfere with

his extracurricular activities. He headed the junior committees of several Jewish and

non-Jewish charities in Baltimore. These included the Community Fund, the Red

Cross, the YMCA, and the Jewish Educational Alliance, established to provide

housing for young Jewish women working in Baltimore. He joined the Variety Club,

where he interacted with local theater owners and national film executives. He

became a member of the predominately Jewish Suburban Club, a coed golf club

offering athletic and social activities. He also joined the Phoenix, the premier Jewish

social club on Baltimores Utah Avenue.

During his junior and senior years at Hopkins, Ted dated Lillian Hershler,

whose father owned a linen supply company in Baltimore. In 1936, Lillian and Ted

became engaged and planned their wedding for the spring of 1937. They sent

invitations and arranged to spend their honeymoon sailing to England on the Queen

Elizabeth and witness the coronation of King George VI. The wedding was canceled

at the last minute. The reasons are unclear. Looking back seventy years later, Ted

said, It was a low point in my life. I was dishonest with Lillian and her family.80

Teds potential marriage to Lillian faced an additional hurdle: there was no one good

enough for Birdies son.81 Lillian would later marry Henri Bendel, the famous fashion

retailer.

Throughout his life, Ted was a master of networking. In 1937, he joined the

Jerome Apple Insurance Company as a vice president. At Apple, Ted sold life

56
insurance to theater owners whom he had met in the Variety Club. One of the owners

was Frank H. Durkee, proprietor of twenty-nine theaters in Baltimore and Annapolis.

Durkee was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, on the Susquehanna River west of

Baltimore and was a close friend of Havre de Graces illustrious son, Millard

Tydings, Marylands powerful United States Senator. Through these connections,

Ted joined the Young Democrats of Maryland, a group that he eventually headed. In

that role, Ted worked on Herbert R. OConnors 1938 Maryland gubernatorial

campaign. OConnors opponent was Howard Jackson, the mayor of Baltimore. It

was a bitterly fought campaign. On election night, Ted and a carload of political

hacks drove from Baltimore to western Marylands rural Garrett County. The 170-

mile trip on two-lane highways took more than six hours. The mission was to ensure

Jacksons people did not steal the ballots. It was an enlightening experience for the

twenty-five-year-old Ted. I learned how to count ballots. You have got to be sure no

one handles them because they would put pieces of pencil lead under their nails, and

as they counted them, they would mark the ballot, requiring the ballot be discarded.

We finally won Garrett County by hook or by crook, mostly by crook.82 Herbert

OConnor won by a thin margin, likely by the votes from Garrett County.

In mid-July 1940, Ted was in Chicago attending the Democratic National

Convention as co-secretary of the Maryland delegation, responsible for counting

votes. Teds friend, Senator Millard Tydings, was running as Marylands favorite son.

At the same time, Ted was close to Marylands young state comptroller, Louis

Goldstein, who supported Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ted, displaying his inimitable skill

at avoiding confrontation, split the delegations sixteen votes between Roosevelt and

57
Tydings.83 Roosevelt won on the first ballot and went on to unprecedented third and

fourth terms. Teds involvement in what he described as dirty politics, cured him of

any political ambition. Ten years later, he promised his fiance, Alva Durkee, that he

would never run for public office.84 However, participating in Maryland politics gave

Ted the political skills that served him throughout his life, particularly in his

transformation of the College of Charleston.

The late 1930s was full of omens. It was the middle of the Great Depression at

home and heightened tensions around the world. For relief, Americans turned to the

radio, which dominated American popular culture. They sat in their homes listening

to Jack Benny, Fred Allen, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Amos and Andy, Fibber

McGee and Molly, and President Roosevelts Fireside Chats. There was also

boxing, featuring World Champion Joe Louis. In October 1938, the young Orson

Welles broadcast his famous hoax about Martians invading the earth that panicked

millions of gullible Americans.

New York hosted the 1939 Worlds Fair, facilitated by Teds cousin Robert

Moses, which introduced Americans to their possible futures, including television.

Concurrently, fascism was on the march in Europe. Adolph Hitler consolidated his

terror-based power in Germany and accelerated the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

Teds widowed aunt Lena Stern Cohen was still in Hamburg. Uncle Arthur Stern

arranged for Lena and her two married daughters, Ann and Gerta, and their husbands

to escape Germany and come to the United States a few months before war broke out

in Europe.85

58
 Ted spent the summers of 1938 and 1939 as a co-director at the newly

established Camp Belgrade, north of Portland, Maine. The mainly Jewish summer

camp was owned by the family of Elliot Levi, who had covered for Ted at the 1934

Hopkins commencement. Back in Baltimore, Ted enjoyed taking girls for a spin in

his yellow Chrysler convertible. He later recalled, I fell in and out of love daily.86

There were dances at the Phoenix Club, golf and swimming at the Suburban Club,

and weekly poker games with fellow Variety Club members at Baltimores exclusive

Belvedere Hotel. Frank Durkee, Teds insurance client, was a regular participant at

these smoke-filled gatherings. Durkees daughter Alva would one day become Teds

wife.

Alva Marie Durkee was born in Baltimore on October 6, 1912, to Frank

Hamilton and Florence Schilling Durkee. She grew up in the best neighborhoods of

Baltimore, and attended the Girls Latin School and later Hood College, in Frederick,

Maryland. Alva was initially homesick at Hood but soon adapted to being away from

her parents, her younger brother Ham, and sister Mary Jane. After conquering

homesickness, Alva became popular at Hood. She starred in several school plays and

her junior and senior years was elected class president. She spent summers at

Mulberry Acres, the familys vacation home on the Magothy River, located on the

Chesapeake Bay between Baltimore and Annapolis. Alva graduated from Hood in

1935.

The October following her graduation, twenty-three-year-old Alva Durkee

married William Jerome Schuele at Baltimores First English Lutheran Church near

59
the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus. Schuele was from Wisconsin and a year older

than Alva. He was related to the Schueles who operated a haberdashery in Annapolis

that supplied uniforms to the U.S. Naval Academys midshipmen. Following the

marriage, the couple moved to Annapolis, where Schuele managed several Durkee

theaters. The Schueles had a daughter, Frances Marie, in 1938. The marriage did not

last. In 1939, the couple divorced. Schuele was said to be embezzling money from

Alvas father. Alva and Frances moved back to Baltimore to live with her parents.

Eventually, she moved into her own home and worked in the Durkee office, helping

her father manage his movie theaters.

A friend of the recently divorced single mother told Alva that she had

someone she wanted Alva to meet. Alva showed little interest. However, at the

friends urging, she went with her younger sister Mary Jane to Baltimores Belvedere

Hotel where her father was playing his weekly poker game. After the game, Frank

Durkee and his cronies descended to the hotels bar. It was there Alva met her future

husband, Theodore S. Stern. Many years later, Alva would joke that Ted had won her

in a poker game.87

The young, energetic, outgoing couple immediately hit it off. The night they

met, Ted asked Alva out to dinner. They began dating, and Ted would often join Alva

at Mulberry Acres. These happy times for Alva and Ted took place against an

ominous backdrop of approaching war in Europe and Asia.

In September 1939, Germany abruptly invaded Poland. The following April, it

attacked Denmark and Norway. In May 1940, Hitler launched a massive military

assault on the Low Countries and France. World War II was underway. Keenly aware

60
of Hitlers mistreatment of the Jews, Ted enrolled in a Red Cross training course

preparing Americans to be American Field Service volunteers in military hospitals.

Created before World War I, the service was a way for Americans to help Britain and

France before the American entry into the war. It played the same role in the late

1930s as German armies rampaged through Europe. Ted completed his Red Cross

course and was arranging to travel to Europe when President Roosevelt, declaring a

state of emergency, blocked American enlistments in the Field Service.

By late May 1940, what was left of the defeated British Army evacuated

Dunkirk. In mid-June, the Nazis were goose-stepping down Pariss Champs-lyses.

Three and a half months later, in September 1940, the Nazis launched their Blitz of

London. Americans experienced the terror firsthand through Edward R. Murrows

London Calling broadcasts. That same month, Congress passed the Selective

Service Act, calling for the draft of males between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-

five. A few weeks later, Ted went to his mentor, Isaiah Bowman, and told him he

wanted to enlist. Bowman suggested that Ted seek a commission. Ted responded, I

dont want a commission. Id like to go in as an apprentice seaman and get out when

the war is over.88 Bowman recommended that Ted solicit Judge Alvin Rhynharts

advice. Ted knew Rhynhart through his work with the Young Maryland Democrats.

Rhynhart was associated with the Maryland Naval Reserve and facilitated Teds

joining the reserves as an apprentice seaman. The date was Wednesday, October 16,

1940, which was also the day 16.5 million men were required by the Selective

Service Act to sign up for the newly instituted draft.

61
 To apprentice seaman Stern and everyones surprise, President Roosevelt

called up Teds unit to active duty the next day to help defend the Panama Canal.

With the call-up, Ted automatically advanced to seaman second class. Two days later,

Ted and 150 Naval Reservists mustered at Baltimores Richmond Armory, received

their gear, and marched to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads Mt. Royal Station.

Birdie, Teds sister Betty, and Alva were at the station to say farewell. Ted and his

unit tossed their bags into the baggage car and boarded the 9:48 train for New York.

The Baltimore Sun described the scene:

Clerks and college students, office managers and laborers, United

States Naval Academy graduates and alumni of the local junior high
schools, all of them are turning from their civilian pursuits and, for as
long as the Government considers that the safety of the United States
is being threatened, will wear the uniform of the nations armed
forces on the sea.89

When Ted and the reservists arrived in Jersey City, they boarded buses for the

Brooklyn Navy Yard, where they received tropical white shorts and shirts and pith

helmets. They toured the naval yard and boarded the USS Seattle, an old training

ship, where they spent the night.90

In character, after waving good-bye in Baltimore, Birdie and Betty followed

Ted to New York. Before Teds embarkation for Panama, Birdie gave her son a

farewell cocktail party at New Yorks Madison Hotel, attended by the familys New

York relatives. The next morning Ted and the Baltimore reservists sailed to the

Panama Canal Zone aboard the converted ocean liner SS George Washington. Ted

remembered waving good-bye to Birdie and Betty from the ships deck. He would

62
not see his mother and sister again for two and a half years. One chapter of Teds life

was ending. Another was beginning: his twenty-eight-year Navy career.

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 Chapter III

THE NAVY YEARS, 19401968

Number one: I like it!91

Ted Stern

Ted Stern stood on the deck of the SS George Washington as it slipped out of

New York harbor on the unusually cold Sunday morning of October 20, 1940, He was

on his way to the Panama Canal and a new life. What were the thoughts of the twenty-

seven-year-old seaman second class as he watched the Statue of Liberty and the New

York City skyline fade in the distance? Ted had been adrift since his failure to graduate

from Johns Hopkins six years earlier. A broken engagement, dispiriting political

adventures, a bevy of girlfriends, a succession of unrewarding jobs and the belief that

he was a disappointment to his mother left Ted profoundly discontented. He later

described this period of his life as a time of spreading my wild oats.92 The Navy

might give him a second chance to be successful and make his mother proud.93

On its way to the Canal, the George Washington stopped at Norfolk, Virginia,

to board a thousand regular navy personnel for delivery to stations in California and

Hawaii. Little could Ted have imaged that in ten years, Commander Theodore Stern

would return to Norfolk as manager of the navys largest fuel depot.

Ted disembarked from the George Washington at Balboa, the Canals Pacific

gateway. He was assigned as a signalman on the USS Clemson, a World War I

64
destroyer converted to a seaplane support ship. Soon after coming aboard Ted was

given the job of cleaning the ships steering gear alley, connecting the wheelhouse to

the rudder. Ted spent the night scrubbing the oily gear and painting the passageways

floor and ladder. In the morning, the Clemsons Captain and Rear Admiral Frank H.

Sadler, Commandant of the 5th Naval District, inspected the ship. When the Admiral

observed Teds work, he professed it was the cleanest gear room he had ever seen. Ted

was grateful for the praise and relieved that the Admiral did not climb down the newly

painted, wet ladder.94 It was a promising beginning to Teds Navy career even though

the Clemsons regular navy personnel looked down scornfully on reservist seaman

second class Stern and his ill-trained compatriots, calling them the Baltimore

Preserves.95

As Ted was adjusting to his new navy life, he had two surprise visitorsAlva

and Mary Jane Durkee. After picking a winning horse at Floridas Hialeah Race Track,

Alva decided to use her winnings to visit her boyfriend in Panama. Alva and Mary

Jane flew to Havana, Cuba, where they booked passage to Panama on a banana boat.

Alva threw a cocktail party for the passengers on their first night out knowing that

hosting the first party guaranteed that the Durkee sisters would be entertained for the

rest of the voyage.96 Alva social skills presaged her role as a Navy officers wife and

later as the wife of a college president.

Alva, Mary Jane, and Ted spent several days exploring Balboa and Panama City

before Alva and Mary Jane returned to Florida. Years later Mary Jane recalled that

Alva and Ted became engaged during this visit. It was a memory that Ted did not

65
share.97 The succeeding twenty months before Alva and Ted would see each other

again were to be among the most consequential in Teds life.

Following Alvas and Mary Janes visit, Ted was reassigned to the USS PC

454, a patrol craft and sub chaser armed with depth charges to protect the Canals

Pacific approaches. As usual, Ted did not limit himself to his duties aboard the PC 454

as described in a February 21, 1941, Baltimore Sun report:

Two boys in the Second Division of the Baltimore Naval Reserves

have written a song, and it was played recently in the presence of
President Arnulfo Arias of the Republic of Panama. President Arias
was at the Balboa Gardens to select a queen of the Republic for the
pre-Lenten carnival in Panama and the Canal Zone. Ted Stern,
Seaman Second Class, arranged a party for the Second Division to
attend. A song, written by Ted Stern and Bill Dugdale, Seamen Second
Class, was played by the orchestra. The song has yet to be named, but
probably will be called Were in the Navy. According to all reports,
it was well received, and the boys got a big hand.98

In addition to engaging in extracurricular activates, Ted changed his mind

about his commitment to the Navy. When Ted joined the reserves, he was uninterested

in a commission. However, during his few months in Panama Ted was impresses by his

fellow reservist, several of whom applied for commissions. Ted decided to do the

same.99 In his application, Ted summarized his qualifications:

Active participation in sports; organization of athletic programs;

consultant in the development of athletic facilities; original sponsor of
the intramural athletic plan; participation in numerous recreational
and non-athletic activities; development of recreational programs at
various institutions. My association with Mr. Robert Moses, New York
Parks Commissioner, and Mr. Frank H. Durkee, President of the
Baltimore Park Board, has permitted me familiarity with playground
and park improvement. Both of these gentlemen have acquiesced to
my request for use of their names as a reference.

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 Ted also listed his mentor, Dr. Isaiah Bowman, president of Johns Hopkins;

Family Court Judge Allan Rhynhart, who arranged Teds appointment to the Naval

Reserves; Jerome Apple, a partner in Apple and Bond Insurance Company, Teds last

civilian employer; Alvin Thalheimer, son-in-law of Louis Blaustein, the founder of the

American Oil Company; Leonard Greif, owner of the Baltimore clothing manufacturer

L. Greif & Brothers; and Howard S. Cullman, the New York tobacco tycoon.100 The

references Ted used in the application reflected his flair for getting close to a range of

accomplished men.

The spring of 1941 was a frenzied time, as the United States prepared for what

many believed was an inevitable war with Germany and Japan. Hitlers armies were

advancing in Africa and would soon invade the Soviet Union. Tensions were rising in

Asia. The United States placed an embargo on the trade of certain goods with Japan.

Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act to supply arms to a struggling Britain. The draft

enlarged the Navy by more than two hundred thousand men in 1941 alone.

This rapid growth required addressing the draftees extracurricular,

nonmilitary activities. The Navy responded by creating a committee that included Gene

Tunney, former heavyweight boxing champion; Oliver Kessing, an All-American

Naval Academy quarterback; and another Navy All-American and the academys

football coach, Tom Hamilton. The committee plumbed Navy personnel records

looking for candidates who could serve as athletic and recreational officers. When the

committee came across the application of Naval Reservist Theodore S. Stern stationed

in the Panama Canal Zone, they found just the type of person they were seeking.

Although Ted had no formal naval training, his extracurriculars were exceptional.

67
Teds ambition to be a naval officer and the navys need for recreational officers

merged.

On July 16, 1941, seven months after he had joined the reserves, Ted was

commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Lieutenant Commander J. W.

Whitney, who had encouraged Ted to apply for a commission summoned Ted to the

Clemsons bridge and told him, You are no longer a signalman and quartermaster.

Youre Ensign Stern.101 Whitney gave Ted a fresh uniform and arranged to have the

new officer piped off the ship by a chief boatswain mate named Honeycutt, the same

man who had coined the mocking tag Baltimore Preserves for Ted and his fellow

reservists.102

Oscar Arthur Weller, the comander of the 15th Naval District, assigned the

newly minted Ensign Stern to be a recreational officer. Ted was not happy with the

assignment and told Weller that he wanted a more responsible position. Weller

responded that if Ted did a good job, he would find him a more challenging

assignment.103 Characteristically, Ted enthusiastically dove into his new duties. It was

the kind of work Ted did as an undergraduate at Hopkins, only now on a larger scale.

In October 1941, the Baltimore Sun reported the launch of an athletic and

recreational program for the Canal Zone:

The program has been worked out very thoroughly by Ted Stern and
fully approved by Rear Admiral F. H. Sadler, commandant of the 15th
Naval District. It will include the acquisition of a new athletic field
and attendant equipment located very close to the district. It will also
provide for the use by Naval personnel of gymnasiums at the Army
posts at Fort Clayton, Amador, Corozal, and at Albrook Field.
Besides which, according to Stern, much new athletic equipment is to
be made available to the teams of all kinds which are to be organized.
The program will also include events other than athletic activities and
already the formation of parties for sight-seeing trips and excursions

68
 into the interior has begun. A glee club and camera club will be
formed, and language courses will be started. The most important
non-athletic activity is the publication of an official 15th Naval
District paper for circulating news of interest to Naval personnel
located on the Pacific side of the Canal Zone. The first issue of the
paper put out by the enlisted personnel appeared on March 15 under
the title of The Crowsnest, with Ted Stern as acting editor. The
reception of the first issue was very favorable, and it looks as though
the paper will be a welcome addition to the 15th Naval District
activities.104
Weller was so pleased with Teds work as a reactional officer he kept his

promise to Ted about more responsible duties. Ted was transferred to the Naval Air

Station at Coco Solo at the Canals Gulf of Mexico entrance to serve as a personnel

officer. Weller wrote the following in Teds fitness report:

During the limited period that this officer has been attached to the
station, he has created a favorable impression in regard to his desire
and ability to learn and in regard to his character. He is dependable,
energetic, and ambitious in his duties and alert, courteous and
confident in manner and bearing. With added experience [he] should
develop into an above-average officer. Based on his present rate of
progress, he should be qualified for and is recommended for promotion
when eligible.105

Only a few weeks into his new assignment at Coco Solo, Teds life and the

history of the world dramatically and abruptly changed. On Sunday, December 7, 1941,

Ted was serving as Coco Solos officer of the day. It was a simple duty. The base

commanders were off playing golf while Ensign Stern manned the phones at base

headquarters. On that quiet Sunday afternoon, the teletype began to rattle out the news

that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. The dispatch that Ted recovered from the

teletype emphatically stated, This is not a drill!106

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 The headquarters phone rang. Ted answered. It was Rear Admiral Frank Sadler

who Ted had met a year earlier when the Admiral inspected USS Clemsons spotless

gear alley. Fifty-eight years later, Ted described the call.

Sadler asked who had answered the phone. This is Ensign Stern. Ted

informed Sadler that Commander Weller was on the golf course. Sadler said, Well,

you can tell me. I need three lieutenant commanders to set up advance air bases to

protect the Panama Canal on the Pacific side. One of them will go to La Union in

Nicaragua, one to the Galapagos Islands, and one to Salinas in Ecuador. Ted replied,

Admiral Sadler, we have only two lieutenant commanders, but we have an eager

ensign! Sadler replied that the lieutenant commanders would go to Nicaragua and the

Galapagos Islands and the eager Ensign to Salinas. Ted was spot promoted to

lieutenant junior grade and in a few weeks, twenty-eight-year-old Ted Stern was on his

way to Ecuador with four hundred men under his command.107

Ted had been in the Navy for only fourteen months and an ensign for only three.

He had no formal military training or experience in construction, and now he was

assigned to build an advanced naval air station to protect the Panama Canal. Teds

promotion to such a post was indicative of Americas frantic reaction to the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor. In the days following the attack rumors that Japanese carriers

were off the West Coast, German submarines were in New York harbor, the invasion of

Alaska had begun, and saboteurs were landing on the beaches of New Jersey and

California were rampant. Although the rumors were false, the Japanese were

advancing through the Pacific toward Australia. They would invade Alaska the

following June and German and Japanese submarines were sinking American merchant

70
and navy ships in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic, and Pacific. Panic even reached the

White House. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066

authorizing the roundup of 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were placed in

internment camps for the wars duration.

It was conventional wisdom that the Japanese would attack the Panama Canal.

The forty-seven-mile waterway linking the Atlantic and the Pacific was a crucial

military and commercial artery. Anticipating potential threats to the Canal, the United

States developed contingency plans for war with Japan in the late 1930s, collectively

code-named Rainbow. The defense of the Panama Canal was a priority. The plan

called for air patrols covering a wide area of the Pacific Ocean out to the Galapagos

Islands, eight hundred miles west of the canal. Preparations included the prepositioning

of supplies, called Galapagos Units, for building the bases serving the air patrols.

In the immediate wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy rushed a force of

thirty-six men aboard a British tramp steamer to the Galapagos Islands to block the

Japanese use of the islands as a base from which to attack the Canal. The Americans

constructed a refueling depot there for the PBYs, Catalina patrol planes. Concurrent

with this action and several weeks before the U.S. signed a formal agreement with

Ecuador, Ensign Ted Stern, officer in charge, and four hundred navy personnel arrived

off the Ecuadorian coast with supplies to build a seaplane base code-named GAMA,

described in a later report:

Salinas is on a peninsula on the western tip for Ecuador fronting Saint

Elena Bay. The seaplane base was constructed adjoining the new
Army air base, near a former summer resort town on the north shore
of a level tongue of sand, tipped by a promontory. The sheltered bay is
suitable for a seaplane landing area, its semi-circular beach being
protected somewhat by a line of rock, but the shallow water is stirred

71
 by a ten-foot tide and heavy breakers. Ships had to anchor more than
a mile offshore and transfer supplies in small boats.108

Ted later recalled that building GAMA at Salinas the greatest challenge of his

life.109 The Ecuadorians were unaware the Americans were coming, and when they saw

Ted and his men wading ashore, they thought it was an invasion. Ted and his men

unloaded supplies and began preparing a ramp and parking area for the PBYs. A radio

tower was erected on the hill overlooking the beach.110

Drawing on his political and people skills, Ted reached out to local leaders,

including Salinass Mayor Carlos Espinosa Larrea and Colonel Gonzales, the local

ranking Ecuadorian military officer. He also tried, with little success, to build positive

relationships with the Army Air Force 25th Bombardment Squadron, which was

building a B17 airfield nearby. A few weeks after the work on the base began, Ensign

Stern was in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, acting as a witness to an agreement between

the United States and Ecuador authorizing building the Salinas base that was already

under construction.

Soon after Ted returned to Salinas, he had a surprise visitor that he later

described as the coming of Jehovah.111 Vice Admiral Paul Frederick Foster, a 1911

graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and recipient of the Congressional Medal of

Honor for his heroism in the 1914 American intervention in the Mexican Revolution,

was on a personal inspection tour of the canal defenses for President Roosevelt. Foster

stepped out of a PBY onto the Salinas beach and into Teds life. Until his death in

1972, Foster served as a father figure for Ted mentoring, guiding, and facilitating his

naval career and afterward.112

72
 Foster stayed at Salinas for only a day. He returned to Washington by way of

the canal where he shared his favorable impression of Ensign Stern with Rear Admiral

Sadler, Teds immediate superior. A few weeks after Fosters visit, Admiral Sadler

wrote the following commendation:

Ensign T. S. Stern, U.S.N.R. is considered deserving of special credit

for his excellent work in establishing Advance Air Base GAMA. As
Officer in Charge of that base, he exhibited a high degree of initiative,
zeal, leadership, planning and organizing ability, and productive
capacity. This letter shall be attached to and made a part of his next
fitness report.113

Years later, Paul Foster wrote about his visit to Salinas and his admiration for Ted:

My attention was attracted to Ensign Sterns great energy and ability to

get things done with inadequate materials, supplies, and manpower. I
took occasion to commend Ensign Stern when I reported the results of
my inspection to the Navy Commandant in Panama and again when I
returned to Washington. I spoke most highly to many of my friends in the
Navy Department who were then organizing our great campaigns in the
South Pacific, and I recommended that Ensign Stern be transferred to
more important duties in a more active theater of the war. I am very
proud if I had in any way helped Captain Stern in obtaining a transfer
from an obscure post to the vortex of the war, where he more than made
good and where he more than lived up to all of the commendatory things
I had said of him in the Navy Department.114

Two months after Foster visited Ted, Salinas and the west coast of Ecuador

experienced a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, killing more than two hundred,

including the American consul and his wife in Guayaquil, Ecuador, eighty-five miles

east of Salinas. Salinas mayor Espinoza and Colonel Gonzales initially asked the

Army Air Corps headquartered adjacent to Teds navy patrol base for assistance. The

Army responded that it would have to await orders from Washington before it could

provide aid. Espinoza and Gonzales then turned to Ted and his smaller navy unit.

73
 As he would do throughout his career, Ted did not stand on protocal. He

grasped the situation and acted decisively. Without asking for permission from his

superiors, Ted directed his men to fan out to the towns and cities in the region,

including nearby La Libertad and Guayaquil.115 It was not the first time that Ted acted

instinctively. Weeks earlier, Mayor Espinoza had come to Ted when the mayors son

suffered an attack of appendicitis. Ted ordered the navy doctor under his command to

perform an appendectomy that saved the boys life.

Ted later explain that he was unaware of the rules and was making what he

considered common-sense decisions responding to obvious needs. Teds ability to

identify a problem, define solutions, and act, combined with his people skills, were

qualities he displayed throughout his life. In Salinas, these gifts were vital to American

interests and proved to be personally and professionally rewarding for Ted.

Teds quick response to the Ecuadorians request for aid was soon rewarded. At

the beginning of World War II, German spies were active in Ecuador, Peru, and several

other Latin American countries. A clandestine German radio was operating near

Salinas. The United States Army tried unsuccessfully to locate it. Teds actions in

helping the Ecuadorians after the earthquake prompted Colonel Gonzales to tell Ted

that he knew where the Germans were. The German radio equipment was seized, and

the Ecuadorian government expelled the spies.116 It seemed that Ted Stern Navy career

was blossoming. However, not everyone was happy with Teds unauthorized use of the

Navy personnel under his command.

Ted received a telegram ordering him to appear before a court-martial in

Panama for exceeding his authority, deserting the air patrol base, and for the

74
unauthorized expenditure of money. Ted assumed the court-martial was instigated by

John Lofton, a Naval Academy graduate and the U.S. naval attach stationed in Quito.

When Ted first arrived in Ecuador, Lofton visited him in Salinas. One night, a drunken

Lofton drew a pistol on Ted and advised the newly minted lieutenant junior grade,

You take orders from me.117 Ted believed that his failure to follow Loftons demand

led to the court-martial.

Ted feared his brief Navy career would end in disgrace. Just the opposite

happened. The court-martial was quashed by what Ted surmised was the intervention

of Vice Admiral Paul Foster.118 Then, the town of Salinas and the Ecuadorian

government recognized Ted for his rapid response to the earthquake. A month after the

earthquake Ted received the following letter from the mayor of Salinas:

To Lieutenant Theodore Stern:

Illustrious municipality of Salinas and the council of the canton in

session on the 29th day of May last past, taking into account your unswerving
devotion to the country and particularly for the canton of Salinas, for whose
progress and betterment you have collaborated from the important post of
commander of the Naval base of the United States in Ecuador, have voted to
render you homage of sympathy and gratitude authorizing a parchment and a
medal which will be presented at a solemn act at some future date of which you
will be informed in due time. I repeat to you my personal consideration and that
of the members of the council of the canton.

Yours very attentively,

Carlos Espinosa Larrea

President of the Council119

Commander Oscar Weller in Panama also gave Ted a qualified commendation

in his next fitness report:

Stern is a versatile, energetic, and resourceful young officer with an

exemplary personal and military character. He is alert, dignified and

75
 courteous in manner and bearing, and he presents a commendable
personal appearance. He is well qualified for any subordinate duties
commensurate with his rank and specialty, but he lacks the experience
requisite to discharge independent duty. He has adapted himself
readily to the Naval Services, and he gives definite promise of
satisfactory development. He is above-average material and is
recommended for promotion.

Weller gave Ted high marks for intelligence, judgment, leadership, and reactions to

emergencies.120 Ted promotion to lieutenant JG was confirmed and with Admiral

Foster's endorsement he was ordered to report to the Chief of Naval Operations in

Washington and assigned to Lion One, planning advanced naval bases in the

southwestern Pacific.121

When Ted reached Washington in late June, he received word of a second Ecuadorian

honor. On June 29, 1942, the Ecuadorian government awarded Ted the Abdon

Calderon. The award, named for an Ecuadorian naval hero, was the highest military

decoration given to a non-Ecuadorian. Among its American recipients were General

George C. Marshall, Admiral Chester Nimitz, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Before departing Washington for Lion Ones temporary headquarters at

Californias Moffett Field, Ted spent a weeks leave in Baltimore with his mother at

her new home at 2300 West Rodgers Avenue. It had been twenty-one months since Ted

waved farewell to his mother and sister from the deck of the SS George Washington

taking him to Panama. He left as a seaman second class and returned as a lieutenant

junior grade. He sailed for Panama as an immature twenty-seven-year-old fleeing from

what he felt was a fruitless life.122 His work building a base responsible for protecting a

keystone of Americans war effort had seasoned him. The Ted Stern who returned to

Baltimore was a changed man. The new Ted was a mature, self-confident, decorated

76
naval officer. Ted later recalled, My experience in Ecuador was a unique experience. I

could never find in academic life the opportunity to show your own initiative and can-

do.123

During his leave in Baltimore, Ted kept busy. With his friend, Billy Saxton,

manager of Baltimores Century Theater, Ted arranged an auction to raise money for

war bonds. Ted also spent time with Alva, whom he had not seen since they had said

good-bye in Panama twenty months earlier. Alva disliked what she saw in the new Ted.

She told her sister Mary Jane that Ted had changed, that he was married to the Navy,

and she was not sure she wanted to be a Navy wife.124 If there had been an

engagement, it was off. Ted left Baltimore for California and his new Lion One

assignment. It would be eight years before he and Alva would see each other again.

Ted arrived at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California in July 1942 and

reported to Commodore James Earl Boak a tough, old, crusty, Naval officer.125 Ted

would serve under Boak for the next five years. He later described Boak as a mentor

and father figure. He treated me like a son and delegated much authority to me as his

aid.126

Boak was a 1914 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served with

Paul Foster in the American occupation of Veracruz during the Mexican Revolution.

He commanded several naval ships in World War I, a submarine after the War, and

then returned to Annapolis as an engineering instructor. In May 1942, he was assigned

to the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington and charged with planning and

building advanced naval bases to support the war with Japan.

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 Following his orientation at Moffett Field, Ted flew in a DC3 to Hawaii. From

Pearl Harbor, he hopscotched the South Pacific islands from Johnson to Kwajalein, and

then to Noumea in New Caledonia. His destination was Brisbane, Australia, the

headquarters of the American commanders of the American forces in the Pacific,

General Douglas McArthur, and Admiral Chester Nimitz,

Ted first assignment was to scout potential sites for American naval bases to

support the battle for Guadalcanal and flank the Japanese stronghold of Rabul on New

Britain, a key to the Japanese strategy to isolate Australia. McArthurs plan was to cut

off and neutralize the fortified Japanese base by surrounding it with American naval

and air bases.

Espiritu Santo on the small island of Vanuatu in the New Hebrides was selected

as the site of the first base. The lush tropical island, eleven hundred miles east of

Brisbane, would become the setting for Rodgers and Hammersteins fabled musical,

South Pacific, based on James Micheners 1947 Pulitzer Prizewinning novel, Tales of

the South Pacific. Commodore Boak and Ted arrived on Espiritu Santo in

Febrruary1943 with the Navys 40th and 36th construction battalions, the CBs. The

Americans carved out an airfield from the dense jungle and hard coral from which to

attack the Japanese on Guadalcanal, six hundred miles north. They built a 6,800-foot

runway in 120 days. The CBs also constructed a 600-foot pontoon dock to simplify

unloading supplies. For twelve months, Ted represented Commodore Boak in almost

every aspect of Espiritu Santos transformation into a major base. He supervised the

erection of buildings for overhauling two hundred aviation engines a month, oversaw

the construction of housing for 250 officers and 1,800 enlisted men, and helped

78
supervise the building of tank farms for oil and water, warehouses, hospitals, hangars,

mess halls, and fifteen miles of roads. Ted was praised for upgrading the base hospitals

mess hall that served a thousand men. On July 12, 1943, only four months after Ted

had landed, the Espiritu Santo sanitary officer wrote the following:

Inspection this date revealed an unbelievable transformation since the

last inspection report. The previously existing lake of mud
surrounding the mess hall now presents a well-drained and graded
site. The entrances are well screened and protected from flies. Rats
have recently become a minor problem. All personnel involved in this
wise and timely remodeling are to be highly commended. This mess
hall has been changed from one of the worst on the island to the best,
and the officer who has achieved that is deserving of high praise.127

Boak also applauded Ted:

Since you are the officer responsible for the improvements in subject
mess hall, and since you merit high praise, the Commanding Officer
desires to add his commendation for the results achieved through your
determined efforts. A copy of this letter will be submitted in your next
fitness report.128

Supervising the CBs was not Teds only job. During his time on Espiritu Santo,

Ted joined several other Navy personnel to scout potential landing sites for the Marines

on Japanese-held Bougainville Island in the North Solomons, sixteen hundred miles

north of Noumea, at the time serving as the Navys Pacific headquarters. Ted, with his

usual self-effacement, later recounted, There really was not a whole lot to it. We took

a submarine up from Noumea, went ashore at night, found ourselves a tall tree, and sat

up in it for two days until they came back to pick us up.129 The Marines followed Ted

and his reconnaissance team, landing on Bougainville in November 1943.

At the end of Teds ten-month tour at Espiritu Santo in early 1944, Commodore

Boak wrote the following about his aid:

79
 Lieutenant Stern by his energy and ENTHUSIASM has contributed more
to the success of Lion Number One and subsequently to the operations of
this Naval Advance Base than any officer under my command. His true
understanding of the problems of advanced bases was of the greatest
assistance during the assembling and organizing period prior to leaving
the continental limits. In many instances, his performance of duty has
been beyond the normal call of duty. He has many times answered the
call for special duty involving twenty-four-hour continuous duty and has
thereby contributed to the early completion of many tasks such as
unloading cargo ships, loading ammunition for task forces, and clearing
of much confusion in all types of advanced base work. His personality,
resourcefulness, and energy have contributed greatly to the general
efficiency and hearty spirit of cooperation existing within this
command.130

For his service on Espiritu Santo, the Navy promoted Ted to lieutenant commander. His

next assignment in the South Pacific would be even more demanding.

In early 1944, Ted was back in Brisbane, Australia to participate in planning for

an advanced American naval base vital to the recapture of the Philippines. McArthurs

strategy was to leapfrog the Japanese base at Rabul and build a massive U.S. base on

Manus Island, the largest of the Admiralty Islands, 360 miles west of Rabul and two

hundred miles off New Guineas east coast. Manuss Seeadler Harbor was one of the

finest natural anchorages in the Pacific. It was said it could hold the entire 5th Fleet.131

When aerial reconnaissance indicated there were few Japanese on the island, McArthur

advanced the date of the planned invasion by a month. He ordered a reconnaissance-in-

force landing on Los Negros, the small island separated by a narrow inlet from Manus.

The invasion was code-named Operation Brewer.

On February 25, 1944, a thousand men of the 1st Cavalry Division with

elements of the Navys 40th Construction Battalion left Oro Bay in New Caledonia for

a four-day passage to Los Negros. Ted accompanied the Seabees as Commodore

Boaks representative. Ted prepared for his first combat by practicing firing his .45

80
caliber pistol from the fantail of one of the high-speed destroyer transports carrying the

invasion force.132

The Americans landed on Los Negros near the Japanese Momote Airfield on the

rainy morning of February 29. Because the Japanese had expected the Americans to

land on Manus, there was initially little resistance. However, the 1st Cavalry and CBs

soon learned Los Negros was teeming with Japanese. By the end of the second day, the

officers, and infantrymen of the 1st Cavalry and a hundred Seabees commanded by two

officers representing Commodore Boak, one of them, Lieutenant Commander Ted

Stern, were defending a small beachhead adjoining Momote Airfield. General

MacArthur ordered the Americans to hold the airstrip at all cost.133

Digging foxholes in the hard coral was difficult. Surprisingly, the invasion force

lacked barbed wire. For protection, the Americans cut down coconut trees and piled the

trunks in front of their positions for cover. Waiting for the anticipated major Japanese

night assault, the American infantrymen and CBs were ordered not to smoke. Lit

matches made them easy targets for the Japanese snipers hiding in the surrounding trees

and infiltrators breaching the American positions. However, there was no major attack

that night. Instead, under the cover of darkness, the Japanese penetrated the American

lines. Ted recalled that a soldier in the foxhole next to his ignored the warning about

smoking and was killed by a Japanese infiltrator.134 The Americans took control of Los

Negros the next day. The battle cost the Japanese a thousand men. The American losses

were sixty-one dead and 244 wounded, including nine dead and thirty-eight wounded

CBs. In seven days the Seabees had repaired and made Momote Airfield operational.

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 Following the capture of Los Negros, the Americans moved on to their primary

objective, the adjacent island of Manus, defended by twenty-seven hundred Japanese. It

was another three weeks before Manus was under American control.

Even as the battle for Manus raged, the Seabees began building what would be

the largest American naval base outside the continental United States. A description of

the base appeared in Time magazine a few months later:

The Pacific war flowed swiftly westward and a great Naval supply
system, monuments to U.S. speed and ingenuity was built and
implemented. The base was Manus in the Admiralty Islands, more than
6,000 miles southwest from San Francisco, a key supply and repair
point for the Philippine invasion. The story of Manus building was
typical. Seabees, trained on the Pacific coast for this specific job,
landed there six months ago on the heels of the invading Army. Their
boss was Commodore James E. Boak. Manus was a red, shell-pocked
beach, backed by impenetrable jungles. The Seabees carried with them
every item they needed from aerial photographs and bulldozers to
$15,000,000 in currency for the payroll and 50,000 cases of beer. They
threw together living quarters and mess halls. They hacked roads
through the jungles, tapped a waterfall, installed chlorination and
storage tanks and set up a system to produce 3,000,000 gallons a day.
In five months, with 16,000 men working eight-hour shifts around the
clock seven days a week, they built a base to supply, repair, and
maintain a Naval fleet on the southern flank of the Japanese Empire.
Boats, warships, cargo carriers, and combat transports crawl across
the Manus lagoon, which is big enough to shelter all the navies of the
world. Along the highway are blocks of warehouses for storing spare
parts; machine shops with facilities to repair or install medium-caliber
guns, acres of tank farms, acres of underground ammunition storage
depots; refrigerators for meat, vegetables, and fruit to supply the fleet.
A farm with 500 chickens, ducks, a technical library, an evening school
where navigation, mathematics, mechanics, history, English, and
foreign languages are taught; baseball fields, basketball and handball
courts, a beer garden and a bandstand. A signpost on Manus reads
Tokyo 2,000 miles; Manila, 1,670 miles.135

Ted served almost ten months on Manus as Commodore Boaks assistant chief of staff

and chief staff officer, a position that involved him in almost every aspect of the bases

construction.

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 Ted interrupted his time on Manus with what he later described as a memorable

two-week R&R leave in Sydney, Australia. Sydneys young women treated American

officers like royalty. Ted thought the girls were told to cater to the visiting Americans

every wish. Ted and a fellow officer from New Orleans billeted in a private home

where they enjoyed all the pleasures a young man could wish. Even for the former

high-flying bachelor from Baltimore, it was a remarkable two weeks.136 Ted returned to

Manus refreshed. The Pacific war was reaching its final phase, and Ted was reassigned

to Washington to help plan the invasion of the Japanese mainland.

In recognition of his exceptional service on Los Negros and Manus, Ted

received a Bronze Star Medal with a Combat V for valor. The citation read:

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the

Bronze Star Medal to Lieutenant Commander Theodore Sanders Stern
United States Navy for service set for in the following: For meritorious
service as Base Planning Officer and as Assistant Chief of Staff Officer
at Manus, Admiralty Islands, from March 1944, January 1945.
Exhibiting outstanding skill in the performance of his duties,
Commander Stern inspected and advised on projects under construction
and operation and contributed materially to the early completion of the
facilities that enabled the base to serve the Fleet effectively in the
shortest possible time. His devotion to duty was in keeping with the
highest traditions of the United Navy Service.137

James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, signed the citation.

Teds experiences at Espiritu Santo and Manus honed his skills and boosted his

self-confidence. His participation in planning and completing complex construction and

logistics projects taught him techniques he would later use in the rapid physical

expansion of the College of Charleston twenty-six years later. His interpersonal skills

in corralling egos and interservice rivalries to achieve shared goals would also serve

him well in the future. Teds fitness reports during this period consistently used such

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superlatives as extremely energetic, determined, resolute, courageous, keen in

examining situations and reaching good decisions, exceptionally cool-headed, and

exceptionally successful in working with others to a common end.138 In Teds final

Manus fitness report, Commander Boak wrote, He has a most pleasant personality. He

is firm but fair and has respect for all officers and men. Has enthusiasm for any

assignment.139

By July 1945, Ted was back in the United States. His new assignment was as

executive officer for Cub 19, an advanced navy base to be built on the Japanese

mainland following what was anticipated to be a bloody American invasion planned for

1946. Cub 19 was headquartered at the Advanced Base Tactical Training headquarters

at Lido Beach near Hempstead, Long Island.

Ted reported for his new assignment the second week of August 1945. That

same week, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of

Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Five days following the annihilation of Nagasaki, Ted was

driving with his cousin, Arthur Stern Jr., to Arthurs home in Scarsdale, a few miles

north of New York City. Ted and Arthur were listening to the New York Giants

Cincinnati Reds baseball game on the car radio when an announcer broke in with the

bulletin that the Japanese had surrendered.140 The date was August 14, 1945. In an

instant, a heavy burden lifted from the shoulders of hundreds of thousands of American

service members scheduled to take part in the assault on the Japanese mainland. VJ-day

was a joyous occasion and a great relief for Ted. Cub 19 was canceled.

84


After the Japanese surrender, Commodore Boak, Teds boss for the previous

four years, was transferred from Manus to San Diego as commander of the Navys

third largest base, with a complement of more than fifty thousand men. With the

cancellation of Teds Cub 19 assignment, Boak invited Ted to join him in San Diego as

his chief of staff. Teds rank advanced to commander in the Naval Reserves, and in

mid-September 1945 he reported for his new assignment in San Diego. Ted welcomed

the added responsibility as Commodore Boaks chief of staff. He also loved his new

home in the beautiful Southern California city. Ted rented a house in Coronado

overlooking San Diego Bay and commuted to work by ferry. Birdie came out to visit

him and stayed for a month at San Diegos famed Coronado Hotel.

Although Ted enjoyed his new life in San Diego, he was in a quandary. At

thirty-three, he knew he needed to make decisions about his future. He considered

several alternatives. He could return to Johns Hopkins and work again with Dr. Isaiah

Bowman, who had suggested that he would like Ted to serve as the universitys

business manager. Alternatively, he could pursue a career in the Navy. A month after

arriving in San Diego, Ted, with Commodore Boaks encouragement, applied for a

transfer from the Naval Reserve to a position as a line officer in the regular Navy. (A

naval line officer has the authority to command a ship in combat.) On February 8, 1946,

Ted received the following in response to his transfer application: A careful review of

your application indicates that you exceed the permissible age limit for appointment in

the U.S. Navy in the line. Waiver of age is not permitted under existing regulations, and

this decision in your case must, therefore, be considered final.141 Teds birthday of

December 25, 1912, missed the age cutoff date by six days.

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 Disappointed, Ted began to think of life after the Navy. In early June 1946, he

took leave and flew to Baltimore to seek the advice of his old mentor, Dr. Bowman. He

also met with Jerome Apple, his last civilian boss; Judge Rhinehart, who had arranged

Teds enlistment in the Naval Reserve; and Alvin Thalheimer, Teds supervisor at the

Lord Baltimore Filling Stations. Ted asked all of them to write To Whom It May

Concern recommendations.

Although Ted was ineligible for transfer to the regular Navy as a line officer

because of his age, he was qualified to transfer to the regular Navy as a staff officer.

When Ted returned to San Diego, Commodore Boak suggested that he apply for

transfer to the Navy Supply Corps. Seven months later Ted was notified that his

application for a commission in the Supply Corps was approved. However, there was a

caveat. He would have to step back a rank, from commander to lieutenant commander.

Frustrated again, Ted was unsure what he should do. He called Isaiah Bowman for

advice. Bowman invited Ted to return to Baltimore to discuss the situation. On his

flight east, Ted reviewed the pros and cons of staying in the Navy. The cons included

that he was not a Naval Academy graduate and had entered the Navy as a Baltimore

Preserve. At lunch in the Johns Hopkins Faculty Club, Bowman asked Ted why he

would want to stay in the Navy. Ted responded, Number one, I like it! Bowman

replied, Dont tell me more. If you like it, do it!142

Ted returned to San Diego, accepted the commission as a staff officer in the

Supply Corps, packed his bags, and said goodbye to Commodore Boak. Following a

five-day leave in Baltimore, he reported to the Navy Supply School in Bayonne, New

Jersey. As Ted, would later say, where the debris meets the sea.143 Ted spent six

86
months in Bayonne. He was the old man of the class and soon became known as

Poppa. As he had done at the Columbia School and Johns Hopkins, Ted

enthusiastically applied his talents and energies to his new assignment. In a

Memorandum for All Concerned, C. L. Austin, the schools commanding officer

wrote:

If you want to have big parties get an American. If you want to have a
better party, ask a lady to help you. But if you want the biggest and best
party ask the Navy Supply Corps, Bayonne. It was fun last night, and
even those who did all the work had fun. Ted Stern and his assistants and
all members of this school are entitled to a feeling of satisfaction. It was
the best party of its kind I have ever seen.144

During Teds time at the Supply School, there were instances when the

younger officers got rowdy after spending too much time in the officers club.

On at least one occasion, Poppa had to go to the commanding officer to plead

leniency for the younger men. The Supply Schools commanding officers

fitness report for Ted evoked what Teds Columbia Grammar Schools

headmaster wrote twenty-eight years earlier:

Lieutenant Commander Stern is an officer of excellent personal and

military character. He is diligent, cooperative, and tactful and has
shown marked aptitude as a leader and an organizer. He has
demonstrated drive and initiative in carrying out not only his assigned
tasks, but many extracurricular activities, including yearbook, school
dances, plays, athletic organization, etc.

Thirty-four-year-old Ted Stern graduated from the Supply School in December 1947.

He ranked fifth in his class of seventeen with a grade-point average of 3.30 out of a

possible 4.145

87


Preparing to graduate from the Supply School, Ted specified his preference to

serve at sea aboard a heavy cruiser. Although not first in his class, Ted received a plum

assignment aboard the cruiser USS St. Paul, a ship Ted had first seen in San Diego. The

St. Paul, the flagship of the Western Pacific Fleet, was commanded by Admiral Oscar

Badger. Admiral Badger was a classmate and fellow Medal of Honor recipient with

Paul Foster. Ted did not know it at the time, but his guardian angel Paul Foster likely

was instrumental in his prize posting on the St. Paul. It also may explain why, after Ted

had reported aboard the St. Paul, Admiral Badger added to Teds duties by appointing

him the navys supply officer for the entire western Pacific. It was a tremendous

responsibility as well as an opportunity for Ted.

Ted later said that his seventeen months on the St. Paul were his most exciting

time in the Navy.146 Aboard the St. Paul, Ted engaged in several adventures that

brought him into contact with history-changing events. In 1948, Mao Zedongs

Peoples Liberation Army was routing Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalist Army pushing the

Nationalists to the coast of the Chinese mainland. When Ted joined the St. Paul, the

ships homeport was in Qingdao, on Chinas northeast coast. Qingdao, also known as

Tsingtao, had been a German concession in the late nineteenth century. In 1903, the

Germans established the world-renowned Tsingtao Brewery there. Qingdaos large,

protected harbor made it an ideal anchorage for the U.S. Navy. In late May 1949, as

Maos Red Army was approaching Qingdao, Admiral Badger ordered Lieutenant

Commander Stern with a shore party to rescue the oriental rugs, fine furniture, and

booze from Qingdaos U.S. Navys Officers Club.

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 Following the successful operation, the St. Paul proceeded to Shanghai. There,

Ted proceeded to salvage the contents at that citys U.S. Navy Officers Club. Trying to

protect the booty, Ted emptied one of the ships ammunition lockers, loaded cases of

gin, bourbon, vodka, and the other treasures, and welded the doors shut. When the St.

Paul arrived at Subic Bay naval base in the Philippines, Ted sold the haul to the local

officers club. However, one of the pieces of furniture Ted saved found its way twenty

years later to the College of Charleston Presidents House.

At the completion of Teds two-year tour on the St. Paul in late 1949, Admiral

Badger wrote that Lieutenant Stern displayed an extraordinary adeptness in leadership,

tactfulness, and inspiration to cooperative results.147 Captain Stanley Leith of the St.

Paul added, Lieutenant Commander STERN is an outstanding officer in all respects.

He possesses a fine personal and military character. His enthusiasm is unlimited and his

energies tireless. He inspires others to better performance. He has a most pleasing

personality and is well liked by officers and men.148 As he left the St., Paul, Ted

prepared a memorandum on how the navys supply departments should operate. The

document captures Teds attention to detail and a management style that permeated his

leadership in the Navy and at the College of Charleston:

The Supply Department is a service organization; we must have a positive

attitude; therefore, anyone in the Department can say Yes to a request, as

Supply Officer, I am the only one who can say Noand I never say No, or

I Cant.

The following are a few of Teds thirty-six recommendations:

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 Keep a card index of all personnel on board and bake and decorate

birthday cakes for them.

Try to decorate your pans in the mess linesometimes merely

parsley makes this pan look more attractive.

Visit your mess halls during meals at least once a day. Be seen

around the mess.

Maintain an appointment system in your barbershopno waiting in

line is a result.

In pressing uniforms of officers and chiefs be sure the cuffs are

rolled and not pressed flat.

In making ice cream suggest you add to the regular Bordens or

Krafts Drimix or a pint and one-half of Aroset whipping cream.

Dont be complacentknow whats going onstrive to improve in

everything you do.

Let your policy to your men and the ship personnel be Privileges

for AllSpecial Privileges for None. Be firm but fair in your

decisions.149

During his tour on the St. Paul, Ted decided to pursue a masters degree in

business administration. In June 1949, with the support of his St. Paul superiors, Ted

wrote to the chief of Navy personnel for permission to apply to Harvard and Stanford.

He planned to specialize in retail merchandising, procurement, or transportation.

If his request was granted, and if he was accepted by either school, Ted would commit

to four years of service in the Navy following his completion of an MBA.150 Ted had

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transferred to his new assignment in Norfolk, Virginia, by the time the Navy responded.

You are hereby advised that you were selected for the subject training. Although

selected, the Bureau regrets that you cannot be ordered at this time. Providing that you

are eligible, you are invited to submit an application for the subject course again.151

Ted would never achieve his dream of earning an MBA.

In November 1949, Ted arrived at Naval Station Norfolk, the large base at the

entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. A month later, he traveled to nearby Baltimore on

leave to celebrate his thirty-seventh birthday at his mothers West Rodgers Avenue

home. On Christmas Day, Ted received an unexpected phone call wishing him a happy

birthday. The call was from Alva Durkee, whom he had not seen or spoken to in eight

years. Ted was stunned and pleased that Alva had called.152 According to Alvas sister

Mary Jane, in the years of separation, Alva has never met anyone she cared for as much

as she cared for Ted. Alva had often questioned herself about breaking up with Ted

when he returned from Ecuador.153

Ted and Alva arranged to get together at Baltimores Belvedere Hotel, where

they had first met ten years earlier. They caught up over drinks and agreed that they

werent getting any younger. They were in their late thirties and looking for stability.

They needed to make decisions about their relationship. Alva invited Ted to her brother

Hams New Years Eve party. Ted accepted. The party turned out to be more than a

reunion. On New Years Eve 1949, Ted asked Alva to marry him.154

During the brief engagement, Ted commuted between Norfolk and Baltimore.

He and Alva planned their wedding, visited with family, and partied with mutual

91
friends. They also spent time at Mulberry Acres. The announcement of their

engagement appeared in The New York Times on May 4, 1950.

As the wedding approached, Ted asked Alva if she would mind having a rabbi

witness their marriage. Alva agreed. Since Ted had not been a practicing Jew for years,

he asked his sister Betty Wolf, who was active in Baltimores Jewish affairs, for a

recommendation. Ted contacted several Baltimore rabbis asking them to participate in

the wedding. All declined. Birdie even called a distant relative, a Reformed rabbi in

Scarsdale, New York. He also refused to participate in a mixed marriage. Ted finally

decided that being married by a Lutheran minister was fine. His incredulity and

frustration at being rejected by the religion of his youth were obvious when he later

recalled, If they dont want me, thats fine. From that time on, I sort of relegated my

religion to the background.155

Ted and Alva married on June 4, 1950. The Reverend Martin Luther Enders

presided. Twelve-year-old Frances Marie, Alvas daughter from her first marriage to

William Jerome Schuele, was the maid of honor. Ted later adopted Frances. Rick Wolf,

Teds nephew, was the best man. Birdie, Uncle Dr. Ted, and Marion Sanders, Aunt

Elsie, and Uncle Otto Stern attended. Following the wedding and a small reception, the

couple headed to Washingtons Statler Hotel before flying to California, where they

spent their two-week honeymoon.

Their first stop was San Diego, where Ted had served for two years following

his time in the Pacific. When they arrived, the cruiser USS St. Paul was in port. Ted

and Alva would run into the St. Paul several times, as they traveled north from San

92
Diego to San Francisco. Alva later described her honeymoon as a progressive reunion

with Teds old shipmates. Alva and Ted stayed four nights at San Diegos famous

Coronado Hotel, where Birdie had lived for a month when she visited Ted in 1947.

They wined and dined with Teds old friends and visited Tijuana, Mexico, where they

attended a Jai alai match. After five full days, the newlyweds drove north to Los

Angeles. On their way, they stopped at the Victor Hugo Inn, overlooking Laguna

Beach. While waiting for a table, Alva and Ted enjoyed half a dozen martinis at the

bar. Ted later confessed they got potted.156

As they drove to L.A., they passed Long Beach, where to their surprise, they

again encountered the USS St., Paul. They ended up at the Beverly Hills Hotel, staying

in Bungalow 17. The newlyweds had dinner at Ciros, Hollywoods famous Sunset

Strip nightclub. There they saw several celebrities, including Danny Kaye and Doris

Duke. The next morning, June 11, they returned to Long Beach and had another

reunion aboard the St., Paul. The following day, they visited 20th Century Fox Studios

and had lunch in the commissary where they brushed elbows with actors Clifton Webb

and Sterling Hayden. That night, they went to the Mocombo, Hollywoods other

famous nightclub, where they enjoyed a Charleston dance contest judged by Pearl

Bailey, Betty Hutton, and Pat OBrien. They saw more celebrities when they stopped

off at Romanoffs and the Sportsmans Lounge before heading back to the Beverly

Hills Hotel. It was a heady five days in Tinsel Town.

From Los Angles, Ted and Alva drove north on the Pacific Coast Highway to

San Francisco. On the way, they stopped at Pebble Beach, where they stayed overnight

at the Del Monte Lodge. The next morning, they headed to San Francisco by way of

93
Mountain View and Moffett Field, where Ted was stationed with Commodore Boak

planning Lion One eight years earlier. In San Francisco, they registered at the Mark

Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill. Ted and Alva toured the sites, including the Golden Gate

Bridge, Fishermans Wharf, and the Cliff House. They dined at the St. Francis and

Trader Vics. While sipping cocktails at the Mark Hopkinss famous Top of the

Mark, they looked out on San Francisco Bay and saw the USS St. Paul sailing into

port under the Golden Gate Bridge. Ted joked that his old ship was following them.

Looking back, Ted called the glamorous, fun-filled honeymoon one of the couples

happiest memories.

Ted and Alva flew back to Washington and took a train to Baltimore. After a

few days rest at Birdies house, they returned to Norfolk and moved into their new

home on Lakeshore Drive. Instead of taking out a mortgage from a bank, they

borrowed the money for the house from Alvas father. Back in Norfolk, Ted was

assigned a new job as petroleum supply officer for one of the largest fuel depots in the

world. He was responsible for eight fuel terminals, including Craney Island, Yorktown,

Cheatham, Little Creek, and Champers Field. As Ted assumed his new

responsibilities, Alva continued working for her father. The extra income from Durkee

Enterprises helped as Ted and Alva begin building a family.

On April 7, 1951, Ted and Alva celebrated the birth of Theodore Sanders

Sandy Stern Jr. The growing family often visited Birdie, Teds sister Betty, and her

family in Baltimore. Alva and Sandy also spent summer days with Alvas parents at

Mulberry Acres. Ted joined them when he could. During these visits, Ted and his

father-in-law became close.

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 In his nearly two years at Norfolk, Ted reorganized the navys largest fuel

storage and delivery system. Under his direction, the depot became a model used to

train Navy and civilian personnel managing similar fuel depots. The chief of the Navys

Bureau of Supplies and Accounts praised Teds work. It has been determined that

Navy Supply Center, Norfolk, has one of the most complete sets of POL (Petroleum Oil

Lubricants) System Operational Instructions in existence at any Navy activity. It is

desired to use the Naval Supply Center, Norfolk, instructions as a guide.157 Ted

regarded his success and praise from his superiors with wonder. The only previous

experience he had in oil was as an assistant manager of the fuel storage operation at the

Lord Baltimore Filling Stations. Ted marveled that his knowing how to pump gasoline

qualified him to manage the Navys largest fuel depot.158 He sarcastically recalled, For

the first time since I joined the Navy, I was starting in a job that I, at least, knew a little

something about.159

The military life is never static. In July 1952, Ted and Alva prepared to leave

Norfolk for their next assignment at Hawaiis Pearl Harbor. In Teds final fitness

report, Norfolks commander, Rear Admiral John Wood, wrote that besides his

management skills, Lieutenant Commander Stern possesses a high potential for public

relations.160

Before reporting for duty in Hawaii, Alva, and Ted, with eighteen-month-old

Sandy, traveled across the country by car. It was before interstate highways and motel

chains. The Sterns began their journey at Niagara Falls. From there they traveled the

northern route, through the Black Hills of North Dakota, then west to Yellowstone.

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When they arrived in Oakland, California, they stayed at the home of Teds Norfolk

boss and now head of the Oakland Navy Yard, Rear Admiral Thomas Earl Hipp and his

wife. The next morning Ted, Alva, and Sandy boarded a giant MARS seaplane for the

twelve-hour flight to Hawaii. The flight was grueling. Ted, Alva, and Sandy endured

the constant din of the planes four huge engines. They attempted to rest in sleeping

bags on the planes hard, cold, metal floor. Ted described the journey as, the most

harrowing trip Ive ever taken.161 After their exhausting journey, they arrived in

Hawaii to discover that post housing was unavailable. Instead, they moved into

temporary quarters at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Waikiki.

Teds post in Hawaii was as bulk accounts and statistical officer of the Service

Force Pacific Fleet, commanded by Rear Admiral Francis C. Denebrink. Denebrink

required all his new officers to tour the navys bases in the Pacific. This meant that Ted

had to leave Alva, Sandy, and Alvas fourteen-year-old daughter Frances, who had

flown out separately, in the noisy tourist hotel for several weeks as he toured Navy

stations from Japan to Guam. It was an inauspicious beginning of a two-year

assignment that proved to be Teds most difficult experience in the Navy.162

Soon after Ted returned from his tour of Pacific bases, Rear Admiral Burton B.

Biggs replaced Rear Admiral Denebrink. Biggs had made his mark during World War

II developing logistical plans to serve the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. He became the

Navys oil king and later served as the primary petroleum adviser to the Secretary of

Defense. Teds understanding about oil advanced considerably under Admiral Biggs.

Teds two years in Hawaii were framed by the Korean War and the birth of

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Elisabeth Jane Kapiolani Stern on January 3, 1954. Kapiolani was the name of the

hospital where Elisabeth was born. The hospital was also President Obamas birthplace.

Ted and Alva brought Elisabeth home to the house they rented on Kakela Drive,

overlooking Hawaiis famous Punahou School where Frances was enrolled.

In Hawaii, Ted joined Honolulus Masonic Lodge 409 as a Master Mason. His

father had been a Mason, and his father in law, Frank Durkee, was a 32nd Degree

Mason. Ted saw the Masons as an organization embodying the values he had learned as

a boy. They included a belief in a higher being and dedication to societys well-being.

When he returned to Washington, Ted joined the Lodge in Alexandria, Virginia, and

later became a member of the Chicora Lodge in Charleston.

Even though he was busy as bulk petroleum officer for the Pacific Fleet, Ted

found time to establish a swimming team he named the Packers. Composed of Navy

personnel, the Packers participated in meets with local teams and teams formed from

crews of visiting Navy ships. Teds Packers included Alan Stack, the 1947 U.S.

Olympian backstroke champion. Other Olympic swimmers on the Packers were Dick

Cleveland and Ford Kono. Although he had been a champion swimmer in high school

and college and had been an alternate on the 1932 U.S. Olympic swim team, forty-year-

old Ted decided he was too old to compete.

Ted and Alva made many friends in Hawaii. However, their time there was the

least enjoyable of Teds years in the Navy. Teds immediate supervisor was Captain

Quintin Violet. Ted later recalled, He was the most obnoxious person Ive ever met.

He made it miserable for us, and it was not a happy tenure. Ive never had a person who

was my superior who I couldnt get along with, but I certainly couldnt make it with

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him.163 Captain Violet was Teds opposite. He was slovenly in appearance and lacked

social skills. He did have the talent to give Ted what Alva called Violet Ulcers.164

Teds fitness reports reflected his unhappiness with the Hawaii posting. They were

modest compared to the other sterling reviews during his Navy career.

After two years in Hawaii, Ted was transferred to the Office of the Chief of

Naval Operations in Washington. As Ted and Alva were preparing to leave Hawaii,

Rear Admiral Biggs wrote Ted a highly flattering letter of appreciation.

As Bulk Petroleum Officer in the Pacific Command Petroleum Office,

you have performed your duties in an exemplary manner. You have
also demonstrated commendable tact and collegiality in working
harmoniously with civilians and personnel of the U.S. Army and the
U.S. Air Force. As Staff, Special Services Officer, your keen interest,
initiative, enthusiasm and willingness to devote many extra hours to
your many responsibilities have resulted in an extensive organized
program. The morale of those taking part in the program has
exhibited a marked rise.

Biggs also praised Ted for creating the Packers swimming team.165

Alva, Ted, Sandy, and Elisabeth returned to the United States in style. They

didnt repeat the onerous twelve-hour flight on the MARS cargo plane that brought

them to Hawaii. Frank Durham, a fellow Mason and leading Hawaiian business

executive, made arrangements for the Sterns to sail to San Francisco aboard the

Lurline, the finest ocean liner in the Pacific. Durham knew the ships owners and

secured the Sterns first-class passage. Alva and Ted were royally treated and given an

honored spot at the captains table.

Sixteen-year-old Frances, Alvas daughter, remained in Hawaii to finish her

high school education at Punahou. Francess independent and troubled nature thrived in

Hawaii. When she returned to Washington after her senior year, she was pretty much

98
her own person. She enrolled in Sullins, a junior college in Bristol, Virginia, where she

graduated. Frances married in her early twenties and had a son, Eric. It would be the

first of three marriages. In the following years, Alva and Ted tried to help Frances

through difficult times. Frances became emotionally and finically dependent on Ted

and Alva triggering episodes of turmoil within the Stern family. One of Teds closest

friends said, managing Frances was one of the few battles that Ted would lose.166

Teds new post in Washington was as director of the Fuel Division of the

Navys Bureau of Supply and Accounts. Ted and Alva decided that, with two toddlers

and a teenage daughter who would be returning from Hawaii, they needed to buy a

house. As he had done with their house in Norfolk, Alvas father acted as the banker.

They found a three-bedroom, stone Colonial Revival house on a tree-lined street in the

Belle Haven section of Alexandria, Virginia, a few miles from Teds Pentagon office.

The house was on a leafy lot close to the Belle Haven Country Club. As Alva was

unpacking, neighbors came by to greet the Sterns. One of the women in the welcoming

party told Alva that she and Ted would love the area. The country club had all the

amenities, including a swimming pool, tennis courts, and There were no Jews! Alva

retorted, Well, there are now!167 Ted and Alva were denied membership in the Belle

Haven Country Club. Ted angrily believed that it was because he was Jewish.168

During their time in Hawaii, Ted and Alva decided they wanted their children

raised in a religious environment. Soon after they returned to Washington, the

Reverend Enders, who had presided at Ted and Alvas wedding, christened Sandy, and

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Elisabeth at Mulberry Acres. Birdie and other members of the family attended what

Ted later described as an impressive ceremony.169

Ted and Alva asked four-year-old Sandy to help select a church the family

would attend. Alva was raised a Lutheran, and Ted and Alva were married by a

Lutheran minister. Therefore, the first church the Sterns tried was St. Johns Lutheran

Church in nearby Alexandria. Next was Christ Episcopal Church, the historic church in

Alexandria where George Washington had worshiped. The Catholic Church was passed

over as probably too different. With Sandys urging, they settled on the historic Old

Meeting House Presbyterian Church in Alexandrias Old Town. Asked why the

Presbyterian congregation was his choice, Sandy told his parents that it had the best

cookies and juice. Ted would later joke the Sterns were Juice and Cookie

Presbyterians.170

Ted and Alva became active in their church and new community. Ted

volunteered as a Sunday school teacher and eventually was elected a deacon at the Old

Meeting House. He also joined the Belle Haven Citizens Association, and Alva

volunteered with the Sandys Cub Scout troop. In the midst of their active lives, Ted

and Alva welcomed a new arrival to their family. On July 12, 1955, forty-two-year-old

Alva gave birth to Carol Lee, called Tippy after one of Teds Hopkins classmates,

Tip Russell.

As director of the Fuel Division in the Office of Supply Management, Ted soon

gained the respect of his superiors and colleagues for his management, organizational,

and interpersonal skills. He possesses an unusual ability to work well with others, is

consistently tactful and courteous, and extremely cooperative under all conditions.171

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He has very mature judgment and is a fine leader of men and gets the most out of his

people. He is an extremely fine manager.172 He is an excellent public speaker.173

Business acumen, coupled with a most pleasant personality and progressive attitude

has made it possible for Commander Stern to inspire work in his subordinates.174

Teds reputation and abilities were about to be tested.

Egypts president Gamal Abdel Nassers nationalization of the Suez Canal in

the summer of 1956 led to an attack by Israel, Britain, and France in late October.

During the Suez Crisis, as it came to be known, Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval

Operations, was the point man at the Pentagon. Burke was a 1923 graduate of the

United States Naval Academy. He distinguished himself in World War II and the

Korean War as a determined, hard-charging commander. President Eisenhower,

bypassing more senior officers, appointed Burke Chief of Naval Operations in the

summer of 1955.

In late October 1956, Admiral Burke called Commander Stern: I need a report

on the world oil situation, the military oil situation, and the world tanker situation. Id

like to have it every morning by 7:30 so I can go over and brief the President.175 It was

a heady assignment for the forty-three-year-old Ted. Eisenhower ordered governmental

agencies including the CIA, Department of the Interior, and the Treasury Department to

send Ted information on the state of the worlds oil daily by 2:30 a.m. Ted had four

hours to consolidate the mass of information and deliver his one-page report to Burke

by 7 a.m. Admiral Burke then took the information to the White House, where he

briefed Eisenhower. On three or four occasions, Ted accompanied Burke to the White

House briefings. To complete his assignment, Ted stayed up most of the night. He

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would rush to his Belle Haven home to shower and then return to the Pentagon. The

only way Alva knew that Ted had come home was the wet towels.176 In a memorandum

dated November 10, 1956, Admiral Burke described Teds reports as clear, concise

presentations. Please inform the author of this report that his report is excellent.177

During the Suez Crisis, Ted appeared before congressional committees to report

on the worlds oil. His testimony before the Houses Armed Services Committee

brought him to the attention of L. Mendel Rivers, the committees future chair. Rivers

would have a profound impact on Teds life.178

Ted was making a name for himself. Following the Suez Crisis, he helped

consolidate U.S. military oil logistic and storage management programs under the

Department of Defense. His fitness reports reflect his advancement. Herbert G.

Hopwood, at the time a vice admiral and deputy chief of naval operations, wrote:

Commander Stern is one of the finest officers in his field that I know.
Few, if any officers have this broad and intimate knowledge of
technical research, strategic resources, petroleum reserves and of the
day-to-day planning and operational complexities associated with
petroleum logistics. I constantly seek his advice and place implicit
confidence in it. So does Admiral Burke. His reputation is not
confined to the Navy but is known in Defense, other government
departments, and private industry. His judgment is universally
respected. He is a natural leader. His outstanding professional
competencies mark him for early promotion and eventual flag rank.
Commander Stern always approaches a problem or task with
enthusiastic imagination and practical attitude. Commander Stern is
one of the finest officers I have ever served with. He thinks on his feet.
He is extremely conscientious and tireless in following any project
through to a successful conclusion. He has been Admiral Burkes
direct representative in several highly sensitive problems. His
judgment on sensitive issues is often sought by Admiral Burke. By
logic, good sense, and sincere interest, he can carry his point of view
with others. He has a great potential. He is a tireless dynamo of
prompt, sound, and effective action. He has repeatedly tackled and
solved tough problems of high national and international
significance.179

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 With such accolades, it is not surprising that Ted was recommended for the

Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), located at Ft. McNair in southeast

Washington, D.C. The ICAF prepared military officers and civilians for important

policymaking, command, and staff assignments within the United States national and

international security agencies. Course work included the study of relationships

between economic, political, military, and psychological issues. There was also training

in joint logistic forecasting as well as linking planning to strategic and national policy

forecasting. Ted attended ICAF from September 1958 to June 1959. For his graduating

thesis, Ted prepared a 105-page paper with the arcane title The Use of Automatic Data

Processing Systems and Communications Networks to Strengthen Repair Parts

Control. Teds paper noted that modern weapons needed logistic support, especially

replacement parts. He suggested efficiency could be gained by applying automatic data

processing to the cataloging and delivery of these materials.180 Teds thesis would

foster and expedite the inevitable use of computers to replace what had been the

manual processing of parts for the military. Teds adviser praised Teds work as the

most thorough analysis of the subject.

The style of approach and presentation is indeed effective. Coverage

of the area is complete, and the subject matter is well selected and
presented. You have presented a most forceful argument for the need
for material managers to understand just what means of automation
can be applied effectively to their areas of activity. More importantly,
you have made that presentation in a manner which simplifies the
entire field of Automatic Data Processing. Your paper is an
outstanding piece of work.181

The ICAF Commandant, Lieutenant General George W. Mundy, also described

Teds work as outstanding and suggested that he would like Ted to return to the

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college as an instructor.182 The ICAF later published Teds paper. Teds ten-month

course of study at ICAF led to the equivalent of a masters degree and the credits that

would meet the requirements for the undergraduate diploma from Johns Hopkins

University that he had failed to receive twenty-five years earlier.

Following his graduation from ICAF in June 1959, Ted was promoted to the

rank of captain and appointed as operations officer of the Navys Electronic Supply

Office at the Great Lakes Naval Station, north of Chicago. Ted and Alva rented their

house on Belle Haven Road and with nine-year-old Sandy, five-year-old Elizabeth, and

four-year-old Tippy moved to a rented house at 227 West Washington Avenue in Lake

Bluff, Illinois, just south of the base. Frances followed Ted and Alva to Chicago and

lived for a time at the Washington Avenue house until she married in late 1961.

Ted was entering the prime of his Navy career. As operations officer, he was

responsible for the bases inventory control, technical, and support divisions. He also

organized conferences where he shared his expertise in the use of computers as

management tools. Teds first commanding officer, Captain Hershel J. Goldberg, was

promoted to rear admiral and head of the Navys Bureau of Supplies and Accounts at

the Pentagon a few months after Ted arrived. Goldberg later played a central role in

Teds Charleston posting six years later.

Teds primary responsibility was overseeing the supply services for the

countrys most advanced weapons, including the Fleet Ballistic Missile Polaris

submarines, the USS George Washington, Patrick Henry, Robert E. Lee, Theodore

Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Ethan Allen. It was no small task. Each submarine

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required more than eleven thousand electronic spare parts. During his thirty-four

months as Great Lakes operations officer from June 1959 to April 1962, Ted compiled

an impressive record. Goldbergs fitness reports for Ted used such superlatives as

outstanding, keen intellect, sound judgment, loyalty and devotion to duty,

conscientious, industrious and cooperative, a clear thinker, well-liked, and

respected.183 Commanders who followed Goldberg at Great Lakes echoed these

praises and added that Ted was an excellent public speaker whose presentations were

clear, comprehensive, and dramatic. They also noted Teds skill in advancing the bases

public relations.184

Teds commitment to public service blossomed during his years at Great Lakes.

He and Alva continued their involvement in the church, this time at the First

Presbyterian Church in Lake Forest. Ted again taught Sunday school and was

appointed the churchs Sunday school superintendent. To support Sandy, Ted became

involved in the Boy Scouts. He was soon asked to serve as district commissioner of the

Boy Scouts of Chicagos Gold Coast, which included Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, and

Evanston.

In January 1961, Ted spoke to an Eagle Scout recognition dinner at the historic

Moraine Hotel on the shores of Lake Michigan. Teds talk reflected his emerging world

view. He told the Eagle Scouts that time and space had become compressed since the

end of World War II. Jets, missiles, television, space research, and computers promised

even more rapid change. The country was in a struggle against an enemy that did not

value human life and viewed people as servants of the state. The enemy of which Ted

was speaking was the Soviet Union and its communist allies. Ted warned the Scouts

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that intolerance, complacency, materialism, laziness, neglect of our natural resources,

our dependence on imports, and our high divorce and delinquency rates threatened

Americas future. However, Ted, the eternal optimist, saw strengths. America was

militarily strong, exemplified by the Polaris submarine fleet that Ted knew well. The

country had significant natural resources and was free from famine. Ted viewed

religious traditions as strengths. He counseled the Eagle Scouts:

It is not the number of missiles, our nuclear stockpile, our atomic

capability, our great natural resources, or our huge economic wealth
that made this nation respected and admired by all the nations and
peoples of the world; rather it was the high ideals, our dedication to
human welfare, and our desire and support of freedom of the
individual and human dignity that have made us a great nation.

Ted urged his young audience to stand up for what was moral and right. He

encouraged them to study American history and learn about our communist adversary.

Finally, Ted admonished the scouts to place moral value above material wealth.185 It

was a message Ted often repeated in his public talks for the next fifty years.

In addition to the Boy Scouts, Ted spoke to community groups such as the

Rotary and the Kiwanis. He headed the bases United Fund drive, a volunteer task he

had first assumed in Norfolk. His navy superiors praised Teds extracurricular

activities in the community. Alva also enjoyed being involved in school and church

events. Not surprisingly, she and Ted acquired many friends at Great Lakes and Lake

Bluff.

Ted remembered his Great Lakes posting as a happy time for the family. The

pace was less hectic than at the Pentagon. The Sterns led more normal suburban lives,

enjoying dinner together and family outings that had been difficult at previous postings.

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However, the early 1960s were also the height of the Cold War. The possibility of a

nuclear attack was real, underscored by weekly air-raid drills. Ted even built a bomb

shelter in the basement of the Washington Avenue home. The small room lined with

lead to protect against the radiation of a nuclear bomb had cots and shelves holding

canned goods. The shelter was of course never used for its intended purpose. Instead, it

served as the setting for several Stern parties.186

A few months after arriving at Great Lakes, Ted achieved a milestone. He was

awarded his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. It came as a

complete surprise. Irene Davis, Teds longtime friend, and legendary Hopkins registrar

notified Ted he was receiving a diploma signed by Milton Eisenhower, the universitys

president. Davis was the same registrar who had written Ted in June 1930 informing

him of his acceptance as a Hopkins freshman. She and Ted had kept in contact over the

years, writing each other when Ted was in Panama and the Pacific. Davis watched

Teds advancement in the Navy and was aware of his graduation from the prestigious

Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She arranged for one of her boys to get his

belated undergraduate degree. The final entry in Teds official Johns Hopkins transcript

reads, ADVANCED STANDING: Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Recent and

Contemporary History 6 Points. Bachelor of Arts, May 11, 1961.187

In the spring of 1962, Ted, Alva, and the children prepared to return to

Washington. Great Lakes had been an eventful and enjoyable time for the Sterns. Teds

contributions to the community were illustrated in a letter the district director of the

Boy Scouts of America wrote to the commandant of the 9th Naval District,

headquartered at Great Lakes.

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 You have in your command, a very capable Captain, who will be leaving
soon for duty in the East. He is Captain Theodore S. Stern. He took
charge of an understaffed volunteer group responsible for programming
services to 44 units and 1,800 boys, and with phenomenal expedience,
completely staffed this organization and attended to their training. The
seven-man professional staff, we who are expected to give enthusiasm
and inspiration to volunteers, drew a renewal of strength instead, by our
association with this man of deep dedication and profound example. It is
with deep regret, and great respect that we say farewell to Captain
Theodore S. Stern.188

It was what Ted had done for the Johns Hopkins Student Activities Council eighteen

years earlier, and he would do in Charleston in years to come, Ted turned a troubled

organization around by the strength of his management skills and the power of his

personality. Captain W. H. Schleef wrote Teds final fitness report at Great Lakes.

Captain Sterns strongest attribute as a leader is his own example of effort, dedication,

and loyalty. These qualities, in his personal and professional life, make him an

outstanding leader.189

By April 1962, the Sterns were back in their Belle Haven home. Teds new post

at the Pentagon was as director of supply operations at the newly established Defense

Petroleum Supply Center. One of Teds primary responsibilities was organizing fuel

inventory management for the Defense Departments inter-service agency. Still

pursuing his dream of an MBA, Ted took classes at George Washington University in

Washington. However, his duties at the Pentagon soon made it impossible for him to

meet both his school and work obligations. Teds protracted effort to earn an MBA

ended.190

After a year at the Defense Department Petroleum Supply Center, Ted was

appointed the head of the Inventory Control Division at the navys Bureau of Supplies

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and Accounts, headed by his friend from Great Lakes, Admiral Hershel Goldberg. Ted

led a task force charged with developing inventory systems using electronic data

processing. It was the most advanced application of computers for the management of

supplies in either the governmental or the private sector.191 Ted had gone from being an

oil king to becoming a computer expert.

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 Chapter IV

CAPTAIN STERN COMES TO

CHARLESTON

The friendly impact you have made and your broad understanding and wealth

of patriotic knowledge will leave a lasting impression on our community.192

Congressman L. Mendel Rivers

Ted received a call in early 1965 from Rear Admiral Goldberg asking him if he

would be interested in the post to head a supply center the Navy was establishing in

Charleston, South Carolina. Ted was familiar with the Charleston Naval Base. He and

Goldberg had visited there when Ted was at Great Lakes as part of an inspection tour of

the supply systems serving the Polaris submarines stationed in Charleston. Teds job in

Charleston would be to create and manage the principal support system for the

intercontinental missilecarrying submarines. There was one caveat in Rear Admiral

Goldbergs offer: every officer nominated for appointment to the Charleston Naval

Base needed the approval of the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, South

Carolina Congressman L. Mendel Rivers.

Rivers had known Ted Stern for almost a decade, from the time Ted testified on

oil matters before congressional committees during the Suez crisis. Following protocol,

Ted went to Capitol Hill for his interview. Rivers told Ted, I dont know why they

sent you over here. I know you. You have done a good job wherever you have been,

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and I would love to have you come to my Charleston.193 Rivers quickly approved

Teds appointment.

The timing of Teds posting as commander of the Naval Supply Center was

serendipitous. Ted wanted out of Washington. He felt he had been there too long.194 In

Charleston Ted would assume the challenge of running the navys second largest

supply depot on the East Coast. The Charleston supply center also served Polaris

submarines in Rota, Spain, and Holy Loch, Scotland. Ted never backed away from a

challenge. He also liked the idea that he would practically be his own boss.

Alva traveled from Washington to Charleston by train to prepare for the move

and scout schools for the children. She arrived at the citys timeworn station early on a

humid June morning. It was an inauspicious introduction to her new home. As she

stepped off the train, she was greeted by the Navy base commanders giddy wife,

Charlestons muggy heat, and the sulfuric stench billowing from the stacks of the

Westvaco paper mill a few miles away.195

The Charleston and South Carolina, the Sterns, were moving to in the summer

of 1965 were a city and a state in transition. South Carolinas population of 2.3 million

was predominately rural, occupied with cotton and tobacco farming. The Upstate and

its textile industry dominated South Carolinas manufacturing. However, cheaper

imports from Asia eventually led to the industrys demise. Lumber and paper

manufacturing were also important to the states economy, with large paper mills in

Georgetown and on the Cooper River near the Charleston Navy Base. There was

commercial fishing along the coast and a budding tourist industry, mainly in the

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Lowcountry. The mid-1960s also saw the development of gated retirement

communities along the coast with golf courses catering to Yankees.

The city of Charleston itself had a population of only 65,925, and Charleston

County, 216,382. Negroes accounted for 36 percent of the countys population and

50 percent of the citys residents. The median income for Charleston County was

$4,518. Only 10 percent of the population had annual incomes over $10,000.196 In

1965, the largest employer in the area was the Charleston Navy Base, the homeport for

eighty-six ships with a complement of almost twenty thousand officers and men. The

bases eleven thousand employees represented 40 percent of the regions workforce

with an annual payroll of $318 million. Charleston was developing into a major

container port on the East Coast. The local economy was also benefiting from the

construction of interstate highways. These improvements and the upgrade of rail

connections to Charleston linked the city and its port to other areas of the Southeast and

beyond.

However, even with these promising possibilities, Charleston was struggling

with a historic racial divide. Jim Crow traditions reducing blacks to second-class

citizenship remained. Two years before Ted and his family arrived, Charlestons

African-American community held a series of demonstrations protesting segregation in

Charlestons theaters, restaurants, and shops. They also marched and boycotted,

objecting to the discriminatory hiring practices of Charlestons businesses. The protests

were part of the Charleston Movement, the citys burgeoning Civil Rights crusade.

The editor of a local newspaper, who would become one of Teds friends and

supporters, accused the protesters and the local NAACP of being communists. His

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harsh words and a series of inflammatory editorials led to a near riot on Charlestons

normally tranquil streets. The strained race relations were aggravated in 1961 when the

South Carolina House and Senate, in a gesture supporting segregation, approved a

concurrent resolution authorizing the display of the Confederate flag atop the state

capitol building in Columbia.

Called the Holy City because of its many churches, Charleston was home to

three institutions of higher learning. The all-male Military College of South Carolina,

the Citadel, founded in 1842, had a storied history as a bastion of southern pride that

developed over time into a cult-like archetype of Southern manliness. The Medical

College of South Carolina, founded in 1823, was also located in Charleston. The

college became a public institution in 1913. By 1969, it was a major regional medical

center renamed the Medical University of South Carolina. The College of Charleston,

located in the heart of the citys historic district, was the citys third institution of

higher learning and the thirteenth oldest college in the country. Chartered in 1785, it

had remained a private institution until 1837, when it became the countrys first

municipal college. In 1959, to avoid admitting African-Americans, the school returned

to its private status.

The year that Ted became commander of Charlestons Naval Supply Center,

George D. Grice, the colleges longtime president, affirmed his goal to have the

College of Charleston be the last segregated college in the country.197 Grices objective

for the school of fewer than five hundred students led to the colleges brush with

bankruptcy, its potential loss of accreditation, and the hiring of Theodore Sanders Stern

as its fourteenth president.

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 Ted described the Charleston he and Alva moved to as too poor to paint, and

too proud to whitewash.198 Charleston had few good restaurants. Meeting and King

Streets were run-down and dotted with antiquated shops, empty storefronts, and vacant

lots. The local quip declared that, on East Bay and Market streets, In one block and in

a half-hour and for less than ten dollars you could get a bowl of chili, a tattoo, and a

social disease.199

Retail areas along these streets, by custom, were racially partitioned. Shopping

south of Calhoun Street, which bisected the Charleston peninsula, was primarily for

white customers. Stores north of Calhoun catered to blacks.200 The restoration of

Charlestons historic neighborhoods was underway, most noticeable in the area south of

Calhoun Street. North of Calhoun, however, consisted mostly of humble houses of

peeling paint, rotting weatherboard, and listing porches. Many white Charlestonians

were content with their citys genteel shabbiness and traditional customs.

Yet, Charleston and the region in 1965 were on the cusp of transformative

economic, political, and social change. Less conservative urban elites were

attempting to drag South Carolina into the twentieth century by challenging the rural

politicians who historically controlled the state. Although traditionalists in racial

matters, the urban elites realized the states economic survival required new

approaches. Leaders of the effort included banker Hugh Lane Sr.; John Charles J. C.

Long, a major real estate developer; and Joseph P. Riley Sr., the politically connected

realtor and insurance broker. Within three years of his arrival in Charleston, Ted would

join them and others in transforming the city.

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 Ted, Alva, Sandy, Elisabeth, Tippy, and Heidi, the Sterns Great Dane, drove in

two separate cars from Washington to Charleston in mid-August 1965. Their first few

weeks in Charleston were difficult. The two adults, three children, and Heidi stayed in a

motel near the Navy base while their new home, the bases Quarters F was being

prepared for them. It must have reminded Alva of her unhappy six weeks at the

Edgewater Beach Hotel in Hawaii, where she, Sandy, and Frances stayed while Ted

was inspecting the Navys Pacific bases.

Captain Ted Stern began his official duties as commander of the Naval Supply

Center on September 1, 1965. The principal speaker at the formal ceremony was

Congressman Mendel Rivers. Ted remembered it as one of the happiest days of his life.

Birdie, Teds eighty-year-old mother, had traveled from her home in Baltimore to be

with her son on his day. Ted had always greatly admired his mother and felt he was a

disappointment to her. He had failed to graduate from Johns Hopkins and fulfill his

mothers dream that he become a prominent physician like her brother Michael. Sitting

on the stage at the change of command ceremony and listening to Congressman Rivers

and other speakers extol him as the new commander of the Naval Supply Center stirred

Teds memories of fleeing to the navy to escape his careless life in Baltimore in the

years after his non-graduation from Hopkins. It had been a quarter-century since he had

waved good-bye to his mother and sister from the deck of the George Washington as it

sailed to Panama. He had achieved much since then. Finally, on that warm September

day in Charleston, Ted sensed his mothers pride in what he had accomplished. The

poem he had written as a boy of fifteen to his father was coming true. The days and

years that follow will show all how I have won, and my parents both will glory in the

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honor of their son. Ted remembered that his mother did not verbally express delight

with his success. The two of them, mother, and son, silently shared their joy.201 It was a

poignant moment for Ted and one he cherished for the rest of his life. Birdie would die

four months later, on December 15, 1965, while visiting Alva and Ted for the holidays

and her sons fifty-third birthday.

Teds new command included fourteen hundred civilian and naval employees

with an annual payroll of $8 million. The supply center covered more than two hundred

acres and ninety-two buildings, forty-four of which were warehouses with a combined

million square feet of storage space. It was the navys third largest supply center, after

ones in Norfolk and Oakland. The center provided stores ranging from beans to

barometers for customers around the world. It received and dispersed more than $3

billion worth of materials annually.202 Teds task was to organize the new center with

automated inventory and delivery schemes that served the other divisions on the base,

especially the Polaris weapons system.

Ted ended the centers Jim Crow practices early in his tenure when he

introduced an Equal Employment Opportunity Program and appointed the Reverend

Harrison Capers, who worked in the supply centers storage department, as the centers

Equal Employment officer. The pastor of Charlestons Charity Baptist Church, the

Reverend Benjamin Whipper, also worked for Ted and helped him remove long-

standing racial barriers at the Navy base.203 Ted would later hire Lucille Whipper, the

reverends wife, to head the College of Charlestons Affirmative Action Office. While

Ted took charge at the supply center, Alva settled the family in Quarters F, placed

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Sandy in the private Porter-Gaud School, and Elisabeth in the prestigious Ashley Hall

School for girls. Tippy enrolled in a public school near the base.

Ted quickly became involved in his new home. Robert Zip Zipper, the

supervisor of the supply centers Planning Department, chaired Charlestons North

Area Rotary Club, representing businesses in the bases neighborhood. Zip

recommended the newly arrived Captain Stern join the more prestigious Rotary Club

on Charlestons peninsula. Ted followed Zips advice and quickly became one of the

Charleston Rotarys most active members. At Rotary, Ted mingled with Charlestons

business leaders and they, in turn, acquainted themselves with the enthusiastic,

personable, and talented Captain Ted Stern.

Teds association with the Boy Scouts in Alexandria, and most recently in Lake

Bluff, brought him to the attention of the Coastal Carolina Council of Boy Scouts. The

council soon asked Ted to help the Boy Scouts expand membership throughout the

Lowcountry. This association introduced Ted to several members of the College of

Charlestons Board of Trustees: Richardson Sonny Hanckel, owner of Charlestons

Coburg Dairy; Beverly Bevo Howard, legendary aviator and stunt pilot; and Paul

Belknap, inventor, and president of the Charleston Rubber Company.

The Boy Scouts were not the only community activity burnishing Teds

reputation and drawing the attention of Charlestons leading citizens. Ted became

active with the local Community Fund, later renamed the United Way. He had led the

navys Community Fund campaign fifteen years earlier in Norfolk, later in Hawaii, and

most recently at Great Lakes. It was natural for him to head the effort at the Charleston

Navy Base. In his first year, Ted raised a record fifty thousand dollars.

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 Ted and Alva joined the First Scots Presbyterian Church on Charlestons

Meeting Street where Ted eventually was elected a deacon and later chair of the

historic churchs board and honored as a church elder. Ted also joined the local

Masonic Chicora Lodge and twenty years later, in 1985 would be named a Knight

Commander of the Court of Honor, one rank below the Masons highest designation.

Teds enthusiastic commitment to Charleston helped him build a network of influential

individuals he would call on as he transformed the College of Charleston.

When Ted began his assignment at the Naval Supply Center, he was personally

welcomed by Joseph P. Riley Sr. Riley headed Charlestons Navy League and chaired

the Chamber of Commerces Military Affairs Committee. For forty years, he headed

Mendel Rivers election finance committee. Riley was considered Rivers alter ego.204

Big Joe and his wife Helen became Ted and Alvas closest Charleston friends. For

the next twenty-seven years, Big Joe served as Teds comrade, mentor, advisor, and

facilitator. Joe and Ted were the same age; they were kindred spirits, gregarious and

outgoing. The couples traveled together on official and personal trips. They partied and

planned political strategy. The German Jew/Presbyterian from New York and the Irish

Catholic from Charleston were civic-minded visionaries.

The mid-1960s was an era of tremendous social and cultural agitation. The

Vietnam War, urban riots, and the new drug and sexual cultures fueled the turmoil. It

was a confusing time for Ted. He was not averse to change. However, his formative

years and his Navy experiences framed his evolving view of the world first expressed in

his talk to the Boy Scouts while he was at Great Lakes. Teds shared his anxiety at what

he perceived as a threat to the nation in an article he wrote for the Enessey News, a

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publication he started after he arrived at the supply center. The piece later appeared in

Charlestons News and Courier.

Things are happening throughout our land, which greatly disturb me

things, which I feel, must also be of real concern to every citizen. On
every hand, there are signs that the moral strength of our nation is
decreasing alarmingly. The principles upon which our country was
founded are being eroded slowly but surely. We are substituting
materialistic values for spiritual onesthe old moral standards of what
is right and whats wrong are being discarded and, in their stead, we are
establishing codes of ethics that, if followed, can only render us impotent
as a people and as a nation.

Ted asked, What can we do? His answer:

One of the very first things we can do is to make the most of every opportunity
that presents itself to help bring self-discipline and decency back into style.
Lets support our law enforcement officers. Lets stop going to see filthy movies
and dirty stage shows. Lets get prayer and a trust in and reverence for a
Supreme Being back into our national life.205

The article was a rare glimpse into Teds strongly held views that he seldom voiced. He

abhorred preaching and controversy, preferring to lead by example.

Charlestons introduction to Ted harkened back his years at the Columbia

Grammar School and Johns Hopkins University and his life in Baltimore before he

entered the Navy. The word energetic inadequately captures the vigor he brought to his

latest assignment and his new community. While he was diving into Charleston, Ted

was at the same time organizing the Naval Supply Center as a model for the similar

centers in Norfolk and Long Beach. In his first eight months in Charleston, Ted

introduced innovative data processing and management systems, a scheme he named

the Rapid Automated Material Movement System (RAMMS).

Teds new supply delivery structure was the first of its kind in the United

States.206 Everything was done by conveyor belts. Robot arms retrieved the ordered

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items and placing them in a basket, going all the way on conveyors through to shipping.

However, RAAMS success was more than machine-driven. What made the new

system work was Teds capacity to reach out personally to the supply centers clients,

the navy departments the center served. It was what he had done as the supply officer

on the St. Paul. Teds can do, imaginative, forceful, and professionally

knowledgeable direction of the center led his superiors to recommend him for

promotion to rear admiral.207 Among those endorsing Ted for promotion was his friend

Rear Admiral Herschel J. Goldberg, the chief of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts

at the Pentagon. By early 1967, there was a growing chorus for Teds promotion from

officers in the 6th Naval District and the Bureau of Supply and Accounts in

Washington.208

Because of the success of Teds innovations, the Navy designated the

Charleston Naval Supply Center a flag officers billet. Captain Ted Stern would either

advance to rear admiral or be required to retire. One does not apply to be a naval flag

officer.209 Your name comes before the promotion board automatically along with your

running mates, officers of the same rank. Rear Admiral Vincent P. Healey, the

commander of the navys cruiser and destroyer forces in the Atlantic, placed Teds

name before the navys Flag Section Board. Rear Admiral Bernhard H. Bieri Jr., the

new commander of Navy Supply Systems Command, seconded Teds nomination.210

In early June, Ted learned that the board had denied his promotion to rear

admiral, effectively ending Teds Navy career. One of his running mates; forty-six-

year-old Captain Wallace R. Dowd Jr., was promoted to rear admiral and assigned to

replace Ted at Charlestons Naval Supply Center on August 30.211 The Flag Selection

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Boards decision did not surprise Ted. He had no illusions that his advancement was a

long shot. At age fifty-five, he was the oldest by ten years of his running mates. He

would be eligible for retirement in two years. There were fixed rules that not even his

superiors who recommended him for promotion or Congressman Rivers could break.

Some questioned why the board denied Ted the promotion to rear admiral after

what, by all measures, was a notable Navy career. A few of Teds relatives believed it

was because he was Jewish.212 Other friends thought that, in his twenty-eight-year

career, he had crossed important navy people.213 The actual reason was Teds age,

which once again trumped his advancement, as it had in 1949 when he applied to

transfer from the Naval Reserve to the position of line officer in the regular Navy.

Ted was keenly disappointed, but realistic. It was a great deflator, but in the

long run, it was positive.214 The end of his Navy career meant that he and Alva faced

important decisions. Their son, seventeen-year-old Sandy, would be a senior at

Charlestons Porter Gaud School. Elisabeth was a fourteen-year-old sophomore at

Charlestons prestigious Ashley Hall. Tippy was thirteen and attending the private

Grier School in central Pennsylvania.

Although Ted was frustrated with the end of his long Navy career, Alva was

pleased. She had grown tired of the Navy life that required moving every couple of

years. She had made friends in Charleston but never felt the Holy City was her home.

She now could move back to Virginia.215 However, fate would steer the Stern family on

a different course.

Paul Foster, who had been instrumental in Teds career since they first met on

the beach in Salinas, Ecuador in 1942 introduced Ted to Elmer B. Staats, the

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comptroller general of the United States. Staats directed the Government

Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington. In May 1966, Staats had inspected Teds

Naval Supply Center, which was becoming a model inventory and supply system.

Following his visit, Staats wrote Admiral Goldberg, commander of the Naval Supply

Systems Command, I particularly was impressed with the work which Captain Stern

had done in the Navy. I was very much impressed with the innovations which he has

developed and the obvious interest and imagination which he has displayed. Staats

went on to tell Goldberg that he planned to send the GAO staff to Charleston to study

Teds management systems.216 When Staats learned of Teds retirement, he invited Ted

to Washington to discuss the possibility of Ted becoming the GAOs deputy

comptroller. GAO staff greeted Ted when he arrived at Washingtons National Airport

and whisked him off in a Cadillac limousine to Staatss office. Ted later described

being wined and dined by Staats. Before he returned to Charleston, Staats offered Ted

the position as deputy comptroller general of the United States.217

When Ted returned to Charleston, he received a second offer from Joseph T.

Mergen, the general manager at the AVCO Lycoming plant in Charleston that produced

military engines. The two knew each other through the Boy Scouts, having both served

on the local Boy Scouts Executive Committee. Mergen offered Ted the position as his

executive vice president. As Ted and Alva pondered these promising possibilities, Ted

was made another offerone that he couldnt refuse.

The summer of 1968 was also a transitional time for the College of Charleston.

George Grice, the schools president since 1945, was determined to keep the college an

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all-white school. Grices refusal to sign the compliance clause, required by the Federal

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights

Act, had brought the school to the verge of bankruptcy. The practical effect of Grices

resolve was to deny students and faculty federal loans and grants. Grice, with the

approval of the colleges board of trustees, was also using the schools restricted funds

to cover general operating costs.

The colleges alumni were watching what was happening to their alma mater

with increasing concern. Members of the alumni associations executive committee met

with the colleges board to express their alarm and ask why the college continued to

refuse to sign the compliance clause, signed by South Carolinas other institutions of

higher learning. It was apparent to most that the college had lost its battle against

integration. Under pressure, Grice announced his retirement in the fall of 1964.

The colleges board formed a search committee composed of the board

president, retired South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Lionel Legge, and trustees

Mitchell Cussie Johnson, a successful investment broker; Richardson Sonny

Hanckel, President & CEO of Charlestons Coburg Dairy; and Thaddeus Thad Street,

a prominent local businessman. Although not a member of the search committee, Grice

played a dominant role in the selection of his successor, Walter Raleigh Coppedge the

thirty-five-year-old headmaster of the Lausanne School for Girls in Memphis,

Tennessee.218

Coppedge earned his undergraduate degree in English from the University of

Mississippi. He studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and was completing his

dissertation for a Ph.D. in English at Indiana University. The young academic had no

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administrative experience in higher education. However, Coppedges faux British

accent, impeccable grooming, and courtly manner lulled Grice and the selection

committee into choosing him without the participation of the entire board. Coppedge

officially began his duties as the fifteenth president of the College of Charleston on

February 1, 1966. It soon became apparent that the college had made a disastrous

choice.

Coppedge was ill-equipped in ability and personality to lead the College of

Charleston back from the edge of the abyss. His artlessness was exposed early in his

tenure when he announced that the College of Charleston was no longer a hard school

and the preserve of the unconcerned elite.219 Coppedge pressured the reluctant

trustees, now desperate to avoid bankruptcy, to comply with the Civil Rights Act. He

also made the radical decision for a school steeped in tradition to create a bachelor of

arts degree without requiring the study of Greek or Latin and initiated politically nave

discussions with state officials about merging the college with the Medical College to

form the University of Charleston.

Coppedges plans for his inauguration only added to the recognition by many

that he was ill-suited to be the colleges president. For his induction, Coppedge planned

to wear his Oxford hood and a specially designed hat copied from the official cap worn

by the Lord Mayor of London. The ensemble included a new wooden mace carved with

symbols of the office of the colleges president. However, reality soon caught up with

the youthful President and the Colleges board. The flash point happened at the

September 1966 board meeting when Coppedge announced that the college had

admitted its first African-American student.220 A month later Coppedge was officially

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installed as president. In attendance were faculty, students, and visiting dignitaries,

including Captain and Mrs. Theodore S. Stern. Alva was representing her alma mater,

Hood College. It was the first-time Ted had been on the College of Charlestons

campus.221

The colleges growing operating deficits, which by 1967 came to $133,000,

approaching 25 percent of the total annual budget, only aggravated the clash of cultures

and Coppedges undiplomatic introduction of change. The colleges trustees blamed

Coppedge for the deficit. Without board approval, one of the more conservative board

members hired a family friend to work as the colleges business manager. The choice

of Harold Shafron, who had little administrative or business experience himself, only

added to the crisis. A clear sign of trouble came when Shafron proceeded to spend

college funds refurbishing college-owned furniture for his private home. In another

mark of their lack of confidence in Coppedge, the board created a personnel committee,

effectively removing the power of hiring and dismissal from their youthful president.

A year and a half on the job, on August 23, 1967, Coppedge hand-delivered

An Unofficial Report to the colleges board chair, Thaddeus Street. In his paper,

titled Thoughts in a Dry Season: Directions for the College of Charleston, the soon-

to-be-departing Coppedge advised the board that the question before them was whether

the College of Charleston could survive as an independent college supported solely by

tuition revenue. Coppedge noted that within a year, the college would exhaust its

unrestricted endowment that was being used to cover shortfalls. He saw little hope for

support from individuals and foundations: Private, local support, as is evident from the

last capital funds campaign, is very disappointing. The college had already raised

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tuition to a counterproductive level while faculty salaries averaged five thousand

dollars annually below comparable institutions in the region. Coppedge concluded his

assessment: It is very doubtful that increased costs will permit the continuation of the

College as a quality liberal arts college. He added that he did not believe the school

wished to survive as a general college offering semi-vocational instruction. To the

question, How will the college survive? Coppedge answered, The only course

remaining is public support, municipal, county, or state. With the caveat that the

college needed to be the architect of its own destiny, Coppedge counseled the board

that quality and public support were compatible; however, impoverished resources and

quality were not. Coppedge urged the board to address these issues and begin

discussions with the suitable authorities.222

A succession of frantic attempts to save the school followed Coppedges

gloomy assessment. At the January 3, 1968, board meeting, the colleges trustees voted

ten to three to offer the college to the state. The following March, Thaddeus Street was

in Columbia delivering the offer to John Cauthen, chair of the South Carolina

Commission on Higher Education. Next, Coppedge submitted his resignation to the

board, which the board rejected. In May, Thaddeus Street resigned as the boards chair

for health reasons and Sonny Hanckel temporarily assumed the board leadership.

The board considered taking a loan against its Fort Johnson property on James

Island or selling it to cover the mounting deficit. The Citadel, the colleges crosstown

rival, was asked about temporarily taking over the colleges administration. At the

beginning of July, a group of private citizens offered to raise money to save the school

and thwart a state takeover. The board rejected the offer as unrealistic. Harry Freemen,

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a professor of chemistry and graduate of the College, led a group of fellow alumni to

Columbia seeking Governor Robert McNairs help. The governor made no promises.

Sonny Hanckel approached the city and Charleston County, seeking seventy-

five thousand dollars from each. Two board members opposed to a state takeover

resigned. Julius Burges, a banker and college trustee, repeatedly reminded the board of

the schools perilous state. The trustees realized that the College of Charleston could

not survive without significant tax-based support. In other words, to stay alive, the

College of Charleston would have to affiliate itself with either the City of Charleston,

Charleston County, or the State of South Carolina.

Amid the colleges chaos, Governor McNair received a report from Moodys

Investment Services titled Opportunity and Growth in South Carolina. Commonly

known as the Moody Report. The study became the mechanism that would save the

College of Charleston. Following its analysis of higher education in South Carolina, the

Moody Report recommended the state establish new public colleges in Columbia, the

Pee Dee and Piedmont regions, and Charleston. The proposed schools would

complement the University of South Carolina and Clemson University, the states

major universities, as well as the two existing colleges of Winthrop and the historically

black South Carolina State, in Orangeburg. The Moody Report recommended the

appointment of a statewide board to govern the new colleges. Addressing the

establishment of a state-supported school in Charleston, the report stated:

This important area of the state is sadly under-endowed with public

higher education facilities. The initial concept is that this four-year
college should start in rented quarters while planning and building its
permanent campus. The plight of the College of Charleston, and the
possibility of a takeover of that institution by the state, may modify
that concept. If the state does assume responsibility, then the facilities

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 of the College of Charleston can be used for the start-up of the
program. They will in any event, very quickly prove inadequate for the
size of the task a 4-year public college will have to undertake, and a
permanent campus must be built.

The analysis cautioned, Those interested in the College of Charleston should be

informed unmistakably that there is no guaranteeor even an expectationof

continuation of its tradition, program or faculty. The decisions on these and other

matters (admissions qualifications) must be made from the totally new position of state

responsibility.223

The colleges May 1968 commencement was Walter Coppedges final duty as

president. The trustees appointed Edward Towell, a longtime professor of chemistry at

the college, as the acting president. With the earlier resignation for health reasons of

Thaddeus Street as chair of the board of trustees, the college began the summer of 1968

with both an acting president and an acting board chair. As they prepared for their

summer vacations, the colleges faculty was summoned to a meeting at which the

acting board chair, Sonny Hanckel, advised them, I am willing to bet $5 that youll

have your jobs in the fall. He added, however, that several known homosexuals on

the faculty would be fired.224

While the College of Charleston was confronting its demise, Alva and Ted

Stern were facing important decisions of their own. There were two possibilities before

them: Ted, Alva, and the children could return to Washington, where Ted would

become the deputy comptroller general of the United States. Ted wanted the job. It was

prestigious and national in scope, offered a substantial salary, and would allow the

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family to return to Washington, which had served as their home base since 1954. Alva

and Ted inquired about re-enrolling Elisabeth and Tippy in Alexandrias St. Agnes

Episcopal School for Girls, which Elisabeth and Tippy had attended before the move to

Charleston three years earlier.225 There was also the alternative of remaining in

Charleston and accepting Joe Mergers offer to be the executive vice president of the

local AVCO plant.

A few weeks before his official retirement from the Navy on August 30, Ted

received a call from Congressman Mendel Rivers. The congressman asked whether Ted

would consider becoming the president of the College of Charleston.226 Rivers' call

was not a total surprise. Sonny Hanckel had discussed the possibility with Ted earlier in

the spring. However, Ted knew nothing about the college and had been on the campus

only once.

Ted recalled that he and Alva struggled to come to a decision. Their preference

was to accept Staatss offer at the GAO. On the other hand, the job at the college would

allow Ted to be his own man. From what Ted had heard, the only place for the College

of Charleston to go was up.227 Tom Waring, editor of the Charleston News and

Courier; Arthur Wilcox, editor of the Charleston Evening Post; and John Rivers Sr.,

owner of WCSC, Charlestons first television station, all urged Ted to take the College

of Charleston job.228 Ted was still unsure about which offer to accept when the decision

was taken out of his and Alvas hands. Congressman Rivers, who went by the moniker

Rivers Delivers, reminded Ted that the position of deputy comptroller general

required congressional approval. Rivers wanted Ted to be the fourteenth president of

the College of Charleston. Ted understood.229

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 There remained the formality of an interview and the official selection by the

colleges board of trustees. On Tuesday, August 17, 1968, the board met to discuss

recruiting a new president, The consensus was that the colleges new head would need

to be a proven manager of business affairs, capable of dealing with the state legislature

in an effort to have the College of Charleston join the States educational system; a

proven leader, an individual with experience in public relations, with imagination, and

with background in education.230 The qualifications matched the resume of retiring

Navy Captain Ted Stern. In fact, a committee of the board had secretly met with Ted a

few days earlier to evaluate his credentials.231 The board voted to meet with Ted for

dinner at the Colony House Restaurant the following Tuesday.

On Tuesday, August 27, only three days before Teds official Navy retirement,

he sat down for dinner with the colleges trustees. Present was acting chair Sonny

Hanckel, acting vice chair F. Mitchell Cussie Johnson, Rufus Barkley, Paul Belknap,

Dr. Louis Jenkins, Teddy Guerard, Charles H. Gibbs, Julius Burges, O. J. Johnny

Small, F. McNaughton Ball, and Beverly Bevo Howard. Dr. Bernard Mendelsohn

served as the boards secretary.

Ted remembered the first question put to him: What would you do if a nigger

applied to the college? Ted responded, I dont look at the color of their skin. I look at

their record or interview them and see whether they are qualified for the college. Ted

pointed out that the colleges admissions requirements did not specify that a candidate

had to be any particular race.232 Ted recounted the evening nineteen years later in an

interview with Mendel Rivers wife, Margaret Middleton Rivers, and daughter Marion

Rivers Ravenel.

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 The trustees were a pretty tough bunch. They were all friends of Mendels, but

they did not like some of my liberal ideas. They said to me, We cant understand you.

Are you liberal, conservative, are you progressive, are you a reactionary? What are

you? My response was, I believe in the Pure Food and Drug Act. Dr. Louie Jenkins

replied, What kind of answer is that to a simple question? I responded, That is not a

simple question and it deserves a little thought. What I meant by the Pure Food and

Drug Act was that, if I tell you what I believe in you will put the label on me.233

The minutes of the board meeting record that, following the interview, Ted was

asked to leave the room.

Mr. Gibbs moved the Board defer selecting a President now. The
motion was seconded by Dr. Jenkins but defeated. Mr. Johnson moved
the board ask Captain Stern to be President of the College of
Charleston with the details of his contract to be decided by a
committee approved by the Board. The motion was seconded by Mr.
Small and unanimously passed.234

Ted knew there were board members who opposed the selection of a retired liberal

Navy captain as the colleges new president. He described what happened that night at

the Colony House with the fable of a hospitalized college president receiving a card

with the following note, The Board of Trustees at their regular meeting voted seven to

six to send you this get-well card.235 Mendel Rivers had delivered.

A committee comprised of Sonny Hanckel, Cussie Johnson, Julius Burges,

Bevo Howard, and Paul Belknap was charged with finalizing a contract with Ted.

Teds beginning salary was twelve thousand dollars a year, two thousand less than the

college had paid Coppedge.

Before Ted took the helm of the college, there was one more duty. It was the

Change of Command ceremony at the Navy Supply Center on Friday, August 30. It

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was both a happy and poignant occasion for Ted. He was leaving the navy he had

joined at the age twenty-eight in the fall of 1940. On his retirement, Ted received the

Legion of Merit, the United States sixth-highest honor for exceptional military service.

Congressman Mendel, addressed Ted directly, I cannot tell you how much you have

meant to Charleston and how much your friendship has meant to me. I consider you

one of the greatest Naval Officers ever to serve in Charleston. The friendly impact you

have made and your broad understanding and wealth of patriotic knowledge will leave

a lasting impression on our community.236

In Teds final fitness report, Rear Admiral Bieri wrote, It is regretted that

Captain Stern is retiring after many years of dedicated service to the U.S. Navy. With

his retirement, the Supply Corps, and the Navy loses an officer of great ability and an

outstanding leader.237

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 Chapter V

President Ted Stern

What you achieved in our community is unparalleled.238

Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.

News of the rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago the

previous week dominated Charlestons 1968 Labor Day weekend papers. Locally, the

big news was the appointment of John Francis Conroy as Charlestons new police

chief. The other local story was Ted Sterns transition from Navy captain to college

president. The first report appeared in the Charleston Evening Post on Friday, August

30.239 An editorial published in the next mornings Charleston News and Courier

praised Teds appointment.

The College of Charleston has obtained the services of an efficient,

energetic, and above all dedicated man of proved capacity. The News
and Courier greets with enthusiasm news of his adoption of Charleston
as a permanent home and his assumption of an honored community
post. The College needs more than ever before just the kind of
leadership which Capt. Stern can supply.240

The paper said that Ted was so excited with his new position, he wanted to

begin work immediately. One of his reasons for accepting the college post is his

interest in young people and the opportunity it presents to serve the community while

getting over to youth the important facets of our life. In an assertion, reminiscent of

the fervent Johns Hopkins undergraduate of thirty-eight years earlier, hyperbolic Ted

declared, I understand too, there is a real enthusiasm among the students and faculty

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members. In going over the curriculum and teachers, I dont think there is a finer

college in the South.241

The rented colleges Presidents House at 6 Glebe Street wouldnt be available

until the following spring. So, Alva spent Labor Day weekend moving the family from

the Navy bases Quarters F to the familys beach house at 3308 Palm Boulevard on the

Isle of Palms, which she and Ted had purchased the summer of 1966. The Stern

children were continuing their education at Charlestons private schools. Seventeen-

year-old Sandy was starting his senior year at Porter Gaud as a boarding student.

Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth was boarding at Ashley Hall. Thirteen-year-old Tippy, who

had been attending Miss Masons School in Charleston, became a day student at

Charlestons College Preparatory, founded in 1964 by the colleges former president

George Grice. Alvas thirty-year-old daughter Frances Marie was by this time

divorced and living in Oregon with her son, Eric.

The College of Charleston Ted was to lead was an antiquated institution. The

small, insular academic staff loved teaching, chatting books, and sipping coffee in the

faculty lounge on the main buildings ground floor. Their naivete shielded them from

the reality that their beloved school was at a defining moment. That this was a critical

juncture in the colleges history was laid bare in a Charleston Evening Post editorial

published on Teds first day as president. Under the headline Time to Wake Up, the

papers editor noted that Ted came to the college at a perilous time and that the school:

May have difficulty surviving without extensive salvage efforts from

outside. While wishing Mr. Stern the best of luck as he moves into the
presidents chair, and giving him full credit for talents of leadership
and management, it would be idle to predict smooth sailing ahead for
him. If heor anybody else is to save the College or keep it alive until

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 new arrangements can be made for its preservation, more than luck
will be needed.

The editorial criticized the college for its obduracy. The Colleges austere

program appealed to some old supporters, but it lacked the glamor to attract new

students in the space age. Sticking to its old ways, the College lost the dominant

position it once enjoyed in the local field of liberal arts. The schools sleepiness,

the editorial continued, didnt attract the interest of bright young college-bound men

and women.

From its new presidentif it wants tothe College should be able to

draw the glitter and glamor it sorely needs. Mr. Stern is a space age
product himself. He will be looking for ways to shake new life into a
drowsy and old institution. Rather than sleep away a distinguished life,
we hope the College will listen carefully for the reveille call we believe
is about to be blown.242

Ted was ready to sound the trumpet at a school one distinguished alumnus described

as having two hundred years of history unmarked by progress.243

Signs of the challenges facing Ted came three days later in a letter to the

Evening Post in which Teds predecessor, Walter Coppedge, described the possibility

of the college becoming a state school as an Act of Cultural Barbarism. Referencing

the Moody Report, Coppedge, now vice president for academic affairs at Virginia

Commonwealth University, in Richmond, wrote, The proposed transformation of the

College of Charleston into a characterless college of indifferent standards and of no

distinction should be protested. He went on, Should a college of unique and tested

value be destroyedphysically and ideologicallysimply to create one more mass

institution with mass standards? He described the authors of the Moody Report as

some Chicago efficiency engineers, and urged the colleges trustees and the new

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administration to choose a different direction.244 Although inconsistent with his earlier

statements, Coppedges views reflected the concerns of many of the schools faculty,

alumni, and several of the trustees.

Ted ignored Coppedges lament and quickly moved to change the colleges

culture, its public image, and to counter rumors about who was in charge. Two weeks

after his appointment, Ted hosted a lunch in the schools Craig Union faculty dining

room for the local press. He used the gathering to explain the schools situation and

present his vision for its future. Under the banner Stern Clarifies Colleges Status

the News and Courier reported, The president of the College of Charleston issued a

statement yesterday emphasizing the College is in no way affiliated with either The

Citadel or the State of South Carolina. Ted was quoted:

The College of Charleston continues to be operated as an independent

institution in accordance with the policies promulgated by its Board of
Trustees. The College is operated and administered by the Colleges
president who is directly responsible to the Board of Trustees.

Ted went on to described his vision for the school.

To teach students to acquire knowledge of themselves and the world in

which they live, to reason independently, to use imagination in order to
see things in perspective and to evaluate them. To learn how to verify
facts and how to select what is relevant and best. To teach students to
present their ideas and beliefs clearly and forcefully, and to defend them
with equal clarity and force. To enable an interested student to select
some studies that will prepare him to carry on professional studies at
the graduate level if he so desires.

Upbeat Ted also said the college was on sound financial footing. There is no financial

crisis.245

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 Three days after the luncheon, Tom Waring, the News and Couriers editor,

described Teds statement as good news for Charlestonians who cherished the school

and recognized its significance to the state. The presidents clarifying statement

should serve as an occasion for a new rallying of alumni and community support.

Waring urged the public to give tangible backing to the college and suggested that a

guest speaker program, for instance, would be a valuable addition to the opportunities

available to students and faculty.246

Ted followed Warings recommendation and energetically set out to expand

the colleges presence in Charleston and the region. A few weeks into the job, he

spoke to students from local high schools at College Day, held at Charlestons

Rivers High School. Ted urged the juniors and seniors to attend college. The nation

faces serious challenges from abroad and at home. The strength of the nation is not

dependent on our nuclear stockpile or our natural resources, but rather it is going to

depend on the moral strength, intelligence, and education of our young people.247

While Ted was promoting the school in the community, he also addressed the

colleges internal challenges. A week after reporting for duty, he attended the College

Boards regular monthly meeting. It was Teds first meeting with the Trustees as

president. The minutes reflect a business as usual atmosphere.

There was a report of the committee assigned to select a gift for Thaddeus

Street, the retired board chair. The Finance Committee conveyed a donors wish that

his thousand-dollar gift be transferred from the college to the Alumni Association. The

Alumni Association asked the college to pay half of the utility bills of the Sottile

House since, besides the Alumni office, students were now housed there. Rent on a

137
leased parking lot was reduced for lack of business. Julius Burges, the boards

treasurer, gave a preliminary report on the 196768 fiscal year audit, which noted the

college was not collecting payments from three students under the National Student

Loan Fund. Burges also told the trustees the college had a $7,000 surplus the previous

year. However, when factoring in the $30,000 taken from the endowment, the deficit

came to $22,100 instead of the forecasted $61,000. Cussie Johnson reported the

colleges Marshland House on James Island was not rented, and the school had not

received a response to its inquiry about the states possible purchase of the Ft. Johnson

property, also on James Island. It appeared that nothing had changed. The trustees

were still managing the college. As almost an afterthought before adjourning, the

trustees turned to their new president:

At this point, Mr. Stern reported to the Board his unofficial impressions
of the College. He stated the physical plant needs a lot of maintenance.
He also reported the administrative staff was a competent group of
dedicated and interested individuals, but the arrangement of the
administrative staff was unclear, and there was no delineation of
responsibilities. Mr. Stern also reported that he did not particularly
care for a coronation affair, but that official announcements would be
sent to the appropriate people.

Ted then shared his appraisal of the Moody Report recommendation for creating a

general state college in Charleston. The trustees asked Ted to prepare an analysis and

recommendations on the Moody Report for each board member.248 The meeting

adjourned. It would be the last meeting of its type in the colleges history.

A month later, at the boards October 14 meeting, Ted had moved to the top of

the agenda. He addressed the schools haphazard management by presenting the board

a hand-drawn organizational diagram accompanied by a narrative description of

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responsibilities and roles. It was a hierarchical plan headed by the board of trustees

and an executive committee with a direct line to the president. Under the president

were boxes for the positions of academic dean, administrative vice president, director

of alumni and student affairs, director of admissions, and director of development. In

Teds new order, the board was no longer involved in the schools management. Ted

described the new structure:

The board of trustees of the College of Charleston would be responsible

for shaping policies and furthering the programs of the college. The
trustees would decide the objectives, review progress, select the
colleges president, assure the colleges efficient operation, establish
broad policies, and secure adequate financial resources. The president
of the college would be the operating executive of the institution. He
would direct the activities of the college within the broad guidelines
established by the board of trustees, serving as a liaison between the
board and all elements of the college.

Ted then outlined the duties of the schools officers working under the President.

The board adopted Ted's organizational plan and narrative of responsibilities without

discussion or objection.249 Ted Stern had taken charge.

Ted next presented a policy statement on the Moody Report and outlined his

goals for the 196869 school year. The statement congratulated Governor McNair for

the Moody Report and the governors linking the states industrial growth to education.

However, Ted noted, Education is more than a means to assure industrial strength.

Educational policies and programs must also include facilities to stimulate and support

social, political, and moral growth. Ted affirmed his view that the states private

schools played a pivotal role in this regard. He then outlined ten objectives to assure

the Colleges continued academic growth and financial stability:

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 1. Rigorously pursue a program of academic excellence, quality student input,

and intellectual growth.

2. Improve communications and the colleges image within the institution and

the community.

3. Initiate an aggressive alumni annual giving program and plan for a major

bicentennial capital funds campaign for 1970.

4. Expand the college curriculum to be more responsive to student and

community needs.

5. Upgrade faculty and administrative staff, both in quality and in the required

numbers, maintaining the present student/teacher ratio.

6. Improve student services.

7. Operate the college in the most efficient and economical manner.

8. Renovate and modernize existing facilities, including the acquisition of new

training aids and equipment.

9. Develop fund sources to construct and maintain a new library and a new

science building.

10. Develop programs to acquire public fund support.

The board of trustees unanimously approved Teds program.250

Initially, the faculty, alumni, and students gave Ted a mixed reception. Many

of the parochial faculty had never heard of their new president and were wary of his

military background. Professor George Heltai, head of the History Department and one

of the facultys academic leaders, was unhappy the board had replaced Coppedge with

a nonacademic.251 Another member of the colleges administration remarked that he

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was not surprised at the boards selection of Ted Stern. The Trustees knew nothing

about education. They had not made many good decisions. Now they get a sailor.252

Future South Carolina Governor Jim Edwards of the class of 1950 worried what the

former Navy captain would do to his school.253

Some of the students were also unhappy. Only a few weeks after Ted arrived

on campus the student newspaper, The Meteor, published a students letter criticizing

the colleges new president after an anticommunist article Ted had written for a Navy

publication was tacked to the schools bulletin board. The writer faulted Ted for

suggesting the communists were trying to corrupt Americans by getting them

interested in sex. The author also derided Teds belief that patriotism and sports went

hand in hand. Besides being untrue, the writer declared, Teds statements displayed his

lack of historical knowledge. However, the Meteors editor came to Teds defense in

the same issue.

Since he has assumed his position at the College, President Stern has
not at any time injected his personal views into any statement of College
policy, nor is there any sign that he will. His aim is always to do what is
best for the whole college community, not to force his views upon
anyone.254

Ted also had the support of several of the most influential faculty members and

staff. These included former acting president Edward Towell, class of 1934. There was

also Dr. Harry Freeman, class of 1943, professor of biology and president of the

colleges Alumni Association. Freeman missed Teds introduction to the faculty but

sent Ted a telegram the following day: Welcome to the College of Charleston. The

Alumni Association stands ready to assist you in any way we can to assure the margin

of excellence at the College of Charleston.255 Dr. Maggie Pennington, another

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biology professor, Dean of Women, and the first female tenure-track faculty member

was also in Teds corner. Dean of Students Willard Silcox Sr., class of 1933, ex-

Navy man and the colleges celebrated tennis star, backed Ted, as did Fredrick

Daniels, the young, progressive Director of Admissions and basketball coach. More

importantly, Ted had the support of two of Charlestons most influential leaders,

Congressman L. Mendel Rivers and Big Joe Riley Sr. Rivers made his support

public when he rose before the House of Representatives in Washington a month

after Teds appointment to proclaim:

Mr. Speaker, one of the most dynamic and enthusiastic officers in the
U.S. Navy recently retired at the end of a brilliant 28-year career. He is
Captain Theodore Sanders Stern. That was a sad day for the Navy, but
the Navys loss is Charlestons gain. After just one weekend in
retirement, Ted Stern assumed the role as president of the College of
Charleston. He is the kind of man who has no problemsonly
challenges. He is not the negative type. In the surrounding communities,
this transplanted Charlestonian has become a symbol of the can do
spirit. He is a man who proves it takes a busy man to get things done.
He has always been busy, and he does get things done.256

The many congratulatory and encouraging letters Ted received in the weeks

after he took office also fortified him. Irene Davis, now Irene Corwin, the Johns

Hopkins registrar whose 1930 letter had notified Ted of his acceptance at the

Baltimore school and who had arranged Teds belated Hopkins degree in 1961 wrote,

You gave us a real good surprise. I am very pleased to learn of your new job, which

is bound to be challenging. You will do well, and you certainly have our

congratulations and best wishes.257

Ruth and Daniel Ravenel, whose son would be president of the colleges

Student Government Association two years later wrote, Charleston and the College of

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Charleston are lucky to keep you here. We are delighted and wish you the very best in

leading the College into a brighter future.258 Janie Thornhill, one of Charlestons

leading preservationists, wrote, A finer person could not have been found. If anyone

can save this institution, you can. Your winning smile and enthusiasm, the ability to

get along with the small man as well as the great, and your way of remembering names

have made you one of the most popular men in the United States Navy as well as in

the City of Charleston. Charleston yearns for people like you.259 Mrs. Thornhill

followed up with a letter to the editor that appeared in the News and Courier.

It is marvelous that Theodore S. Stern has consented to be the new

president of the College of Charleston. With his vim, vigor, and
vitality, the college should rise to great heights. If anybody can do it,
he can. He is a born leader who has the ability to get along with any
personality. I have watched him operate with the United Community
Services, the Rotary Club, and the United States Navy. No job is too
large for him. Last May 23, when he was chairman of the Rotary Club
dinner and brought Admiral Arleigh Burke here, it was Ted Sterns
night. The turnout was tremendous and all because of this great
man.260

Barbara Belknap, the wife of the Colleges board member Paul Belknap, wrote

Ted, We are as sure of your success as we are of the rising of tomorrows sun. I can

exclaim truly, Thank God; Ted Stern will be in the Presidents office Tuesday

morning! May he never regret his decision!261

Then there was the letter from the Very Reverend Jude Cleary, OSB, president

of Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina. I hasten to congratulate you and

welcome you into the fraternity of College Presidents. The administration of a college,

at its very best, is a grueling experience; when it is merely normal it is excruciating;

most of the time it will be a crucifixion.262 Ted framed and hung in his office a letter

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from Admiral Arleigh Burke, his old boss at the Pentagon. It offered wise counsel Ted

followed throughout his tenure at the college.

Dear Ted,

I dont quite know how to address youwhether its President Stern, or

Mr. Stern, or what. You are entering a hazardous field, but it is a field in
which good men of high integrity and good administrative ability are
greatly needed. The College of Charleston is very fortunate to have had
the wisdom to select you as their new President. You will have troubles,
plenty of them, but Ill bet that you have less troubles than most
university presidents, because you will met them sooner and take proper
action instead of vacillating. I have a lot of experience with university
presidents in the last few years. Most of them are wonderful men, but
not very good administrators. Some of them are good men that simply
dont want to make a decision, and some of them are men who dont
want any trouble. So they let little troubles grow into great big ones, and
they are the very ones who have the most trouble. Theres a very fine
line youll have to cut between making decisions early enough and
listening to all the people who have an interest in decisions before you
make it.263

Ted also had the official support of the City of Charleston. Two weeks after his

appointment, Charlestons Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard and the City Council passed a

resolution offering their cooperation with reorganizing the College of Charleston.264

Restructuring the schools administrative scheme and maintaining SACS

accreditation were only two of the challenges Ted faced. He quickly realized the

college could only survive if it became the Lowcountry's general-purpose state school

recommended in the Moody Report. As a private school, the colleges tuition would be

uncompetitive.265 However, to achieve a state takeover, Ted had to maneuver around

the fears of many trustees and alumni.

Ted bought time for achieving his goal of a state takeover by pursuing the

option of the school reverting to being a municipal college funded mainly by the city

of Charleston. Five weeks into his presidency, Ted, F. Mitchell Cussie Johnson, and

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several of the colleges trustees met with members of the Charleston City Council to

explore a city takeover. The delegation expressed its concern with the idea that the

college be the state school recommended in the Moody Report. Ted said joining the

state would reduce the college to a second-class school, and this would not be in the

schools or the citys best interest. Ted told the city officials he would rather see the

college a quality municipal institution than a low- quality state school governed by

trustees with little interest in the school.266 He added, The college wants to maintain

its traditions and standards, and we cant do this if we go state. He said he would

prefer local governance of the college rather than by people from all over the state.267

Ted also proposed a survey be undertaken to identify how the school could best serve

Charleston. He added the college was prepared to broaden its curriculum and provide

graduate courses in areas that would attract new industries to the region. Ted knew the

city and county lacked the resources to fund the school. His public statements were

meant to gain the moral support of Charlestons political and business leaders he

would need as he focused on his goal of the school joining the states system of higher

education.268

Ted, Cussie Johnson, Rufus Barkley, and Sonny Hanckel next traveled to

Columbia to meet with Governor Robert McNair. They wanted to explore with the

Governor the possibility of the College of Charleston becoming the school

recommended for the Lowcountry in the Moody Report. At the meeting, Ted reported

on the colleges improved finances and expanding student body. He told the governor

of plans to tackle deferred maintenance and projections for the colleges physical

development. Ted stated that the school planned to build a new library and science

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center, and restore the main building to accommodate an expanding curriculum. He

also addressed the need to equalize faculty salaries. Ted told McNair the school would

meet these essentials by calling on the local community, the colleges alumni, friends,

and supporters for financial support. Ted concluded his presentation to the Governor

by arguing that if the college did not become the regional, general-purpose state school

recommended in the Moody Report, it would likely be its death knell.269 Ted and the

delegation returned to Charleston and reported to the colleges board that McNair was

receptive to the idea of the state takeover. However, his priority was establishing a

new state school in Florence, South Carolina.270

Throughout the fall of 1968, Ted vigorously worked to secure what he believed

was the schools only viable future. He met with James Rodgers, director of the South

Carolina Commission on Higher Education, and with representatives of the consulting

firm of Cresap, McCormick and Paget, whose study of the states educational

resources concluded the College of Charleston could provide the nucleus of a general-

purpose college or university to serve the Lowcountry.271 Ted backed efforts of the

South Carolina College Council, representing the states independent schools, to enact

legislation providing tuition subsidies to students attending the states independent

colleges. If successful, the legislation would bring the College of Charlestons tuition

in line with the state schools.272

Ted balanced these efforts with a hectic public-speaking schedule. He emceed

a Trident Fund honors program where he addressed the turmoil gripping the nations

young people. He told his audience, If we adults demonstrated to the youth our faith

in them we would be repaid many times. They are going to be the contributing

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members of society trained to accept the responsibilities of citizenship. They are trying

in some way to tell us something. When we tune them out, then they resort to other

methods.273 In addition to listening to the youth, Ted knew a key to the schools

survival was serving the community. It was a synergism that personified Teds ten-

year presidency. From the beginning of his tenure, Ted repeatedly stressed the

colleges responsibility to offer courses and training that would make Charleston more

competitive in attracting business and industry.274

Ted delivered his messages to any group that would have him as a speaker. In

October and November 1968 alone, he spoke at the North Charleston Exchange Club,

North Charleston High school, several American Legion posts, Burke High school,

Murray Vocational School, Clemson University, the Retired Officers Association,

Bishop England High School, American Businesswomens Association, the

Charleston Board of Insurance Women, the Board of Issuance Underwriters, the

Charleston Manufactures Club, and the Lake City Chamber of Commerce.

As Ted was meeting with officials and making public appearances, he was also

creating a new culture on campus. He became a visible presence to faculty and

students. He was often seen walking around the Cistern greeting students and picking

up cigarette butts and trash. It soon was clear that Ted Stern was a students

president. His capacity to remember names and personal information about

individuals soon endeared him to most of the student body. Also, unlike his

predecessor, Walter Coppedge, Ted had an open-door policy. He listened to students

and their concerns. Glenn F. McConnell, the head of the Student Government

Association during Teds first year and later South Carolinas lieutenant governor and

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the colleges twenty-second president, recalled, Ted included us in everything. We

would meet in his office, and he would listen. We did not always agree with him, but

he always gave us a fair hearing. He had the special ability to introduce change as

natural and unthreatening.275 The new presidents presence on campus and open door

policy connected him to the young. His position on student demonstrations gained Ted

the confidence of Charlestons conservative adults. Teds skill of juggling differing

agendas and interests, allowed him to navigate the rough seas of a school, community,

and a country in turbulent transition.

The nation, including South Carolina, was experiencing what many feared was

a revolution. Eight months before Ted became the College of Charlestons president,

members of the South Carolina Highway Patrol had killed three black students at

South Carolina State University in what became known as the Orangeburg

Massacre. Martin Luther King Jr. assassination in Memphis in April and. Robert F.

Kennedys two months later in Los Angeles put the country on edge. There was urban

rioting in the countrys major cities and on college campuses students were seizing

buildings. Harvard, Columbia, Berkeley, and even the University of South Carolina

experienced student unrest. The Woodstock Festival, the three-day rock concert in the

small, upstate New York hamlet of Bethel, in the summer of 1969 became a defining

symbol of the time. The countrys trauma would crest in May 1970 when the Ohio

National Guard fired on Kent State students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four

and wounding nine. As a conservative community closely tied to the military,

Charleston was mostly immune to the chaos. However, Ted declared that

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demonstrations and uncivilized behavior would not be tolerated at the College of

Charleston.

Ted announced his policy toward student activism in a speech before the North

Charleston Sertoma Club in mid-February 1969. I have the responsibility at the

College of Charleston to provide education to the young people who desire it. I will

not stand for any disruption of those students who want to study by those who do not

want to study. When Ted was asked if he would resort to force to quiet the campus he

responded, If I cant handle it myself, I will call in local authorities. But I have no

doubt that I can handle it myself.276

The college had no major antiwar demonstrations. However, it did have at least

one almost riot. It occurred when Ted and Alva were hosting Clark Kerr, the former

president of the University of California at Berkeley. Kerr was having dinner with Ted

and Alva at the Presidents House on Glebe Street when a commotion occurred a

block away at the corner of Glebe and George Streets. Ted, Alva, and Kerr walked

over to see what was happening. The ruckus was not about to the Vietnam War. The

students had gathered to witness the latest rage sweeping the countrys campuses,

streaking. Local television crews were capturing the event for the nightly news. A

reporter on the scene asked a coed why she and her comrades were cheering streaking

rather than protesting the war. She turned and pointed at Ted and said, Because he

would kill us! Alva remarked, Oh, his children feel the same way!277

Streaking, civil, and student unrest were backdrops to the possibility the

college would lose its accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and

Schools. SACS had expressed its growing unease about the colleges situation even

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before Teds appointment. The school was placed on probation following the SACS

1965 review which identified three concerns: the precarious state of the schools

finances, the inadequacy of the library, and the lack of doctoral degrees among the

faculty.278 Teds appointment as president magnified these deficiencies. Gordon

Sweet, SACSs longtime, imperious executive director, believed Teds lack of

academic credentials disqualified him from leading the college.279

Two months after taking office, Ted received a letter from Sweet summoning

him to appear before the SACSs Committee on Standards and Reports for Senior

Colleges at 9:40 a.m. on Monday, December 2 in the Rembrandt Room of the Regency

Hyatt House in Atlanta.280 At that critical meeting, Ted told the committee the

colleges finances were stable, applications for admissions were ahead of the previous

years, and plans were underway to broaden the curriculum, add more qualified

faculty, increase faculty salaries, and buy more books for the library. Ted said the

proposed new construction included an adequate library at an estimated cost of

$350,000, a science building, a womens dormitory, added classroom space, and a new

administration building.281 He also reported that the Decade of Development, the

schools capital plan that had remained dormant since 1960, was about to be revived

and added the college would soon launch a $2 million Bicentennial Capital Fund

drive, and that the school was aggressively seeking city and county financial support.

Ted knew that it would take more than words to satisfy Sweet. Besides

addressing SACSs specific concerns and painting a bright picture of the colleges

future, Ted applied his political skills to stave off the loss of accreditation. He did this

by securing the support of the colleges distinguished alumnus, Dr. Edward McCrady,

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vice chancellor and president of the University of the South at Sewanee. McCrady

introduced Ted to the presidents of other colleges and universities with ties to SACS.

These included Herbert Longenecker at Tulane, Frederick Davidson at Georgia,

George Modlin of the University of Richmond, Thomas Graves of William and Mary,

William Tate of Southern Methodist University, David Matthews of the University of

Alabama, and David Martin at Davidson College. McCradys support and Teds

ability to identify and engage important allies coupled with his interpersonal skills

blunted Gordon Sweets efforts to withdraw the colleges accreditation. Ten days after

the critical meeting in Atlanta, Ted was notified of the extension of the colleges

accreditation. However, the school was required to prepare periodic progress reports

for the associations review.282

Back in Charleston, Ted spoke to a gathering of the College of Charleston

Alumni Association, a group Ted needed on his side. Four hundred alumni attended

the meeting at the Navy bases Officers Club. Ted used his first meeting with the

alumni to calm their concerns about the college and its future. These included rumors

the Citadel was now running the school, the college was being taken over by the state,

the Fort Johnson property was sold, and the colleges accreditation was revoked.

Ted enthusiastically told the alumni the colleges position was stable and its

future bright. Hinting at his thinking, Ted said the schools curriculum would be

expanded to include a business administration department. He anticipated creating a

masters degree program in elementary education. He shared his confidence the

college could serve as a nucleus of a university and described his goal of building a

new library and science center. He reiterated his position that student disruptions on

151
campus would not be tolerated, a policy that was applauded by the conservative

alumni.

The College of Charleston Alumni Newsletter reported, Students and alumni

of the College and citizens of the community have been impressed with the Presidents

plans and ideas. They give every indication of rallying to his leadership, and have been

infected with his optimistic outlook for the College.283 The Ted Stern effect was

taking hold. He also was taking charge. Teds first report to the trustees was relegated

to the end of the boards meeting. By the January 1969 board meeting, President

Stern presided.284

The board gave Ted financial control and by the end of the first half of the

fiscal year, the schools $685,000 budget was in balance. Expenses were kept to a

minimum with Ted setting the example of forgoing the pomp of a presidential

inauguration. Other costs were controlled by using available resources to make

cosmetic improvements to the campus. Mimicking what he had done in Norfolk

twenty years earlier, Ted installed a 120-foot white picket fence along the mall

between the main building and Calhoun Street, using our own labor and material.285

Ted purchased surplus government property including over twenty dormitory desks at

eighty-two cents each, 250 metal chairs at forty cents each, and 150 classroom desks at

a dollar each.286

Ted began 1969 with big goals for his school. He repeatedly emphasized the

schools contributions to the community. He affirmed the school needed to be practical

and avoid clinging to traditions that were neither valuable to the community nor cost-

effective. Ted used the example of the schools nine classics courses with an

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enrollment of only fifteen students.287 The classics and the granting of an AB degree

had historically branded the College of Charleston. Latin and Greek might be good for

the soul, but offering them was not cost-effective, and did not attract students. Ted

advanced his goal of creating courses in business administration and introducing a

Masters program in elementary education. The business courses started in the fall of

1969. He introduced the graduate program in elementary education in 1971. Another

sign of change was Teds announcement that the college was adding a night school,

and that Spanish would again be offered.288 These decisions were made without

consultation or approval of the faculty, signaling a dramatic adjustment in the schools

culture. It was a management style for which many of the faculty never forgave

Ted.289

Ted recognized the schools short-term survival depended on increasing the

size of the student body. The economy of scale needed a minimum of six hundred

undergraduates to make the school financially viable. To achieve this goal, Ted

promoted the college with his frenetic speaking schedule, which included high school

college nights. He also asked relatives and friends in Baltimore and New York to

contact schools in those areas to promote the College of Charleston to potential

students. Working with Frederick Daniels, the schools director of admissions, Ted

enlisted the schools alumni in recruiting. He even sought the students help. In his

1968 Christmas letter to the student body, Ted asked them to be recruiters for the

school. I would be most grateful if, during this holiday, you would visit your former

high school. Discuss the advantages of the College of Charleston with guidance

counselors, principals, and above all with your high school friends.290

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 Ted and Fred Daniels actively recruited African-American students. For a

school that until recently had excluded blacks and in a community struggling to

overcome the vestiges of Jim Crow, Teds vigorous efforts to integrate the College of

Charleston were revolutionary. As he did with many of his initiatives, Ted made

integration at the college appear as a normal transition. Complaints from white

students, faculty, alumni, and Charlestonians were muted. Whites associated with the

college, like many educated white Southerners, shunned the image of the Confederate

flag-waving redneck. For many, integration was jarring and difficult to accept, but it

was inevitable.

The African-American community trusted Ted because of his work ending Jim

Crow at the Naval Supply Center and his creation of an Equal Opportunity

Employment Committee there.291 Fred Daniels, who also served as the Maroons

basketball coach, visited local high schools, most of which by then were integrating, to

recruit African-American student-athletes. Rufus Harper from North Charlestons

Bonds-Wilson High School and Otto German from Mt. Pleasants Moultrie High

School were the first black players in the schools history. Olivia Guest, known as

Big O, became an outstanding womens basketball star and later dean of students at

Hood College, Alva Sterns alma mater.

Not all the African-Americans who responded to the schools recruiting efforts

were athletes. Edward (Eddie) Ganaway entered the college in January 1968, nine

months before Ted became president. Ganaway grew up in North Charlestons Daniel

Jenkins Project. When he was six he wandered downtown and first saw the colleges

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main building. He recalled there was an unwritten rule that blacks were not supposed

to cross the campus.

After graduating from Bonds-Wilson High School, Ganaway attended the all-

black Benedict College in Columbia for one year. When he exhausted his tuition

money, he joined the Navy and served in Vietnam as a corpsman. After four years in

the Navy, Ganaway returned to Charleston and got a job at the Charleston Rubber

Company. He was twenty-three when he entered the college as a freshman.

Years later, Ganaway recalled that he found the school forbidding. It was

overwhelmingly white and elitist. There were only two other blacks in a student body

of 482. Ganaway felt isolated. Although he had spent two years in combat in Vietnam,

he was fearful, afraid he could not compete with the more privileged white students.

Several of the faculty believed that blacks were unqualified to be at the school.292

Ganaway remembered he would hide out in Fred Daniels office. He also recalled

that many of the professors were hostile to Ted and what he was doing to their

school. Teds lack of a Ph.D. and his focus on teaching over research alienated many

of the faculty. However, for Eddie Ganaway:

Stern was a comforting presence. He was in charge. He was supportive

of what we were doing. He was a strong parental figure. He was there
to help us define what we wanted to do. He helped to contain some of
our enthusiasm. Stern was not an elitist. He was a fixture on campus
and, among most of the students there was a real sense that he was good
for the college. He had an open door and committed himself to
expanding the African-American presence at the college.

Following graduation, Ganaway went on to Duke to work toward a Ph.D. in

history. Although he never earned the Ph.D., he taught at Illinois State University and

South Carolina State. He retired after working for many years for All State Insurance.

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In 2007, he received an honorary degree from the college. Ted, who had handed Eddie

Ganaway his diploma thirty-six years earlier, took part in the ceremony.293

It was easier for black athletes such as Otto German, who lived with the

basketball players in the schools gymnasium. But even for the schools African-

American stars, open and covert racism on campus, in classrooms, in town, and on the

road continued.294 However, the black students knew that they had a friend in Ted

Stern. In addition to proactive recruitment, Ted took practical steps to make it possible

for blacks to attend the college. Early in 1969, he involved the college in the Upward

Bound program created by the federal Higher Education Act of 1965. Ted reported to

the schools trustees:

It is clear that many students in both urban and rural areas have such
poor secondary school preparation that merely providing financial aid
does not give them the opportunity for higher education. For such
students, the so-called Upward Bound program has provided a valuable
aide to traditional forms of student assistance. Under this program, it is
possible to identify promising young people in the middle years of high
school and provide them with the necessary remedial work.295

In another sign of his commitment and fearlessness, Ted met in May

1969 with Ann Hyde, Judge Julius Waties Warings stepdaughter. Judge

Waring was a 1900 graduate of the College of Charleston. He became notorious

in the eyes of many white Charlestonians for his proCivil Rights activism

while a federal judge on Charlestons U.S. district court. His dissent in the 1950

Briggs v. Elliot case, coined the phrase, Separate educational facilities are

inherently unequal. Warings rationale was later adopted by the United States

Supreme Court in its historic Brown v. Board of Education decision ending

segregation the nations public schools. Waring and his second wife Elizabeth,

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also a Civil Rights activist, were shunned by white Charlestonians and

eventually hounded out of town. Waring died in New York in 1968. At Teds

request, Ann Hyde created a scholarship in the name of Elizabeth and J. Waties

Waring, For a needy black student from the City of Charleston.296 Teds ten-

year presidency witnessed a remarkable increase in the African-American

presence at the school. When Ted retired in 1978, African-Americans made up

14.8 percent of the student body, a level that remains the highest in the schools

history.297

Ted began 1969 with the ultimate objective of the college becoming part of the

state system of higher education. If there is to be a state-supported institution in

Charleston, the college should be the nucleus for that institution. He also said the

college needed to grow physically if it was to meet the educational needs of the area

and added the colleges expansion would significantly contribute to Charlestons

renewal.298

Advancing his goal to make the college a state school, Ted met with James

Morris, Executive Secretary of the State Higher Education Commission. Morris

expressed his willingness to cooperate with Ted as he pursued state support.299 Ted

advised Morris and announced publicly his intention to build a new library. Ted said

the college was seeking private funding and exploring the possibility of naming the

new library after Robert S. Small, an alumnus and head of Dan River Mills in

Greenville.300 He also affirmed that he would build a new science building. Teds

public commitment to build a new library and science building signaled a dramatic

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change at the old school. The press enthusiastically greeted the news. The News and

Courier editorialized:

Announcement of plans for two new buildings at the College of

Charleston for a library and for instruction in science is another
welcome sign of vitality and progress. President Stern has made an
encouraging start in reviving the College of Charleston. We are
convinced of the need as well as the merit of the institution. We rejoice
at the prospects raised by constructive developments.301

The citys other newspaper, the Evening Post, viewed the notice of a new

library as: A sign which we read as both significant and encouraging. Movement

toward studied academic expansion is a refreshing indicator that those in control

envision brighter and exciting days ahead. Announcement of the building plans is

significant, too, because it conveys the impression of improvement in the posture and

climate at the College. Last year was a shaky year, financially. Now, says President

Stern, the College is operating in the black. The outlook is rosier. Ted said the

building of the library was the keystone to the colleges future. On the provision of

proper library facilities hinges accreditation. An adequate library is a hallmark of high

academic standing.302

Two days after it reported on the colleges building plans the Evening Post

editorialized:

The buoyant enthusiasm of President Theodore S. Stern for the future of

the College of Charleston is stimulating and, we hope, infectious. Only
a few months ago, last rites were being formulated for the College. Now
is seems to have a new lease on life. Mr. Stern visualizes the college
breaking away forever from the narrow pattern of its past, eventually
becoming a university of the Lowcountry. He may be just the man to do
the trick. Like President Stern, we are thinking big.303

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 While the press and many in the community were applauding the colleges new

president, there were others expressing concern with the changes taking place at the

school. One of Teds initiatives, the Spotlight Series designed as a forum to expose the

students to lively speakers and subjects became a flash point. To the chagrin of some

of the more conservative alumni, the series first program featured the poet-songwriter

Ric Masten. Masten was an existentialist who expressed thoughts about himself and

life in verse and song. He had recently performed at the Joan Baez Festival in Big Sur,

California. If that were not enough to raise Charlestonian eyebrows, Masten made his

living as a day laborer. When the program became public, Ted heard from James B.

Edwards, a local dentist and 1950 graduate of the college. Edwards would later

become South Carolinas first Republican governor since Reconstruction. In a Dear

Ted letter, Edwards wrote:

Enclosed is some information which was passed on to me by some of my

ultra-conservative friends who have children as students at the College
of Charleston. It seems that they are somewhat concerned that Ric
Masten is your first Spotlight Series presentation. They are equally
concerned that the next speaker will be a member of the Fabian
Socialist Society. They feel that these folks would only create trouble
among the SDS, which they understand is already present on the
campus.

The SDS Edwards referred to was the Students for a Democratic Society, a left-

leaning group that at the time was wreaking havoc on campuses across the country.

The speaker Edwards described as a member of the Fabian Socialist Society was Alma

Lillian Birk, who was not a socialist but a member of the British Labor Party. The

subject of her talk at the college was Youth in Britain.

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 Although Edwards was expressing the concern of people who Ted later

described as Right of Attila the Hun, the future governor ended his letter by praising

Ted for his initiatives at My College and promised to increase his contributions.304

Teds thoughtful response to Edwards epitomized his non-confrontational style.

I am certain as you are that one can find fault with any speaker, and I
can assure you that this College does not necessarily espouse the cause
of any of its speakers. As a liberal arts college, however, it is essential
that the students be exposed to all speakers. I do draw the line and will
not permit, so long as I am President, any speaker to address the
students who speaks to violence, to the overthrow of our country or to
the anarchistic expressions of the extremists. I feel that my record is
clear on this subject as an individual dedicated to the security of our
country and the principles for which it stands. I appreciate your
kindness in apprising me of the comments of the public, and yet, I am
duty-bound to not only bring knowledge to the students of this College
but wisdom as well.305

In Columbia Governor McNair was moving ahead to implement the Moody

Reports recommendations by introducing legislation to establish a State College

Board to govern all the state schools. When the Citadel, Clemson, and the University

of South Carolina (USC) strenuously objected, McNairs amended his plan to exclude

these schools and the Medical College. They would retain their boards. The state

legislature in June 1969 created theThe State College Board to govern only schools

created in response to the Moody Report.

The messy politics spawned by the Moody Report included the idea of creating

a university in the Lowcountry formed around the College of Charleston and the

Medical College. Ted expressed support for the concept.306 However, Governor

McNair was against establishing a Lowcountry university, which USC and Clemson

also opposed. Ted gave up the goal of the college being the core of a university. He

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instead focused his energies on having the college become the general-purpose state

school proposed in the Moody Report. Achieving that goal would require all of Teds

personal and political skills.

Governor McNair was inclined to have the state assume control of the college.

However, South Carolinas major public institutions of higher learning, Clemson, and

the University of South Carolina, were vigorously against it. Two of the states most

powerful politicians were also against itSol Blatt, the seventy-three-year-old

longtime speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and Edgar Brown,

the president pro tempore of the South Carolina Senate and chairman of the Senates

Finance Committee. Blatt and Brown both came from Barnwell, South Carolina, a

small, upstate county seat 112 miles west of Charleston. The politically powerful duo

was called the Barnwell Ring. Brown was a Clemson man. Blatt was a diehard fan

of the University of South Carolina.

Ted had the seemingly impossible task of securing the Barnwell Rings support

to have the South Carolina legislature approve the college becoming a state school. To

help him secure the necessary backing, Ted sought the advice of his two most

influential patrons, Joe Riley Sr., and L. Mendel Rivers. Rivers counseled Ted, Take

a bottle of Old Crow whiskey down to Barnwell and meet with Sol Blatt.307

In January 1969, Ted, Rivers, and Riley flew to Barnwell on Rivers friend,

Bill France, head of NASCARs, plane. Blatt met the trio when they arrived at the

Barnwell County Airport. As Congressman Rivers stepped off the plane, his chin

dropped to his chest in despair when he saw the expression on Blatts face. Rivers

believed the mission would end in failure.

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 Blatt drove the delegation to his law office next to the county courthouse. The

office was decorated with the University of South Carolina memorabilia, including a

stuffed Gamecock, a photograph of Frank McGuire, the Gamecocks famed basketball

coach, and a basketball autographed by one of the USCs championship teams. The

conversation began with Blatt regaling his visitors with the greatness of the University

of South Carolina and why the state did not need another institution to compete with it.

He ended by informing his guests that they had come on a fools errand. There was no

way he would approve making the College of Charleston a state school.308 Ted

recalled that at that moment, Mendel Rivers winked. Ted pulled out the bottle of Old

Crow and turned to Blatt, suggesting the four of them go over to Blatts house for a

drink. Blatt thought it was a grand idea. The men surprised Sol Blatts wife, Ethel,

who graciously prepared a meal that was accompanied by a couple of bourbons.309

Whether it was Ethel Blatts cooking, the Old Crow or both, Ted, Rivers, and

Riley flew back to Charleston that evening with Blatts promise. While he opposed the

college becoming a state school, he would not actively work against it in the

legislature. Equally remarkable, the former Navy captain who grew up on New Yorks

Upper West Side and the country politician from Barnwell eventually became warm,

personal friends.310 It was a significant victory for Ted. Fortunately, Edgar Brown, the

other member of the Barnwell Ring and Clemson supporter, was not as adamant as

Blatt about the college joining the state.

Even with this promising outlook, the prospect of the college becoming a state

school was not assured. There remained the task of convincing the legislatures

Lowcountry delegation and a majority of representatives and senators from around

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South Carolina of the proposals wisdom. For the next year, Ted shuttled between

Charleston and Columbia, personally lobbying, and testifying before legislative

committees while addressing the colleges continuing precarious finances. Tuition

from an expanding student body would help. A fifty-thousand-dollar commitment

from the city would also be important.

Teds efforts to save the college werent taking place in a vacuum. As he

gathered support for the college becoming a state school, a major crisis in Charlestons

history was occurring on the colleges doorstep. On March 20, 1969, twelve black

female hospital workers at the Medical University of South Carolina, located only a

few blocks from the college, were summarily fired for trying to form a union,

challenging South Carolinas strong anti-union bias.

Although Charleston faced varying degrees of racial tension beginning in the

early 1960s, the reaction of the black community to the firing came as a shock to both

whites and more conservative blacks. The clash drew national attention. The Southern

Christian Leadership Conference, now headed by the Reverend Ralph Abernathy after

the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. a year earlier, became involved, Abernathy

and Coretta Scott King led protest marches through Charleston streets. Charlestons

black and white citizens feared racial trouble. Local 1199, representing healthcare

workers in New York City, came to the defense of the fired workers. By April,

Governor McNair, who supported the Medical Universitys intransigence, sent South

Carolina National Guard troops to Charleston. A dusk to dawn curfew was announced.

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 Since his arrival four years earlier as commander of the Naval Supply Center,

Ted had been viewed as a progressive in racial matters. His ending Jim Crow practices

at the base, his work for equal employment opportunity, and his active recruitment of

black students for the college gained him the trust of Charlestons African-Americans.

His military career and energetic participation in the community and efforts to save the

college drew the respect of white Charlestonians. It was therefore not surprising when

Ted was asked to join the Chamber of Commerces Community Relations Committee,

formed to help Charleston avoid racial violence.

Leading white and black Charlestonians made up the committee. Its white

members included the banker Hugh Lane Sr.; Rufus Barkley, leading businessman and

a member of the private College of Charleston Board; Edward Kronsberg, owner of a

variety store on King Street; and the prominent Charleston attorney, Gedney Howe.

Representing the African-American community was William Bill Saunders, radio

personality and founder of COBRA (Committee on Better Racial Assurance),

Charlestons most aggressive Civil Rights organization. Other black members of the

committee were Reverend Zedekiah Grady, pastor of Charlestons Morris Brown

AME Church, and Reverend Henry Grant of St. Stephens Episcopal Church.

Bill Saunders, looking back on that difficult time, described Teds role. If

there were a particular individual who needed to be calmed down, they would be taken

to Ted Stern for calming. He would walk them around the Cistern, and when they had

taken one or two circuits, the firebrands had calmed down.311 We dont know what

Ted told them. However, those who have had the Ted Stern treatment will recognize

the experiences positive effect.

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 Twenty-eight years after the strike, Ted recalled his work on the Community

Relations Committee in a talk he gave celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.:

As I reflect on the events of the late 1960s I recall with respect and
affection those distinguished Charlestonians whose dedication to the
principles of Civil Rights provided a forum for discussion and problem
solving. Each, in their own way contributed to the understanding,
discourse, and tranquility in our community. I was fortunate to
participate with these distinguished citizens in the formation and
deliberations of the Charleston Community Relations Committee. In our
meetings, we sought solutions to racial misunderstandings and
problems; we would not let them overheat, fester, or explode. We sought
solutions in an atmosphere of mutual respect and confidence. No hurdle
was too high, no road too narrow for this group to overcome. What Dr.
King preached, this group practiced.312

In the first months of 1969, Ted, Alva, and Tippy were still living at the

Sterns Isle of Palms beach house while the Presidents House on Glebe Street

was freshened. Alva was unhappy living on the Isle of Palms. The vacation

atmosphere of living by the ocean felt transient. The roller-coaster drive over

the rickety two-lane 1926 Cooper River Bridge was hair-raising. Ted had

always been a workaholic, but his focus on transforming the college was

consuming him. His frequent absences placed the weight of raising the children

squarely on Alva. Ted seemed to be everywhere but home. In time, his

absences placed a strain on their marriage and led to Teds estrangment from

his children. Ted later blamed himself for this distancing which continued until

after Alvas passing when Ted and his adult children reconciled.313

Alva adjusted to Teds absences and her new life as the wife of a college

president by focusing on decorating the Presidents House that would soon be her

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home. Named for Robert Smith, the colleges first president, the houses main floor

was on the second level. A parlor, living room, den, and dining room flanked a

spacious center hall. Most of the furnishings were college property including an

oriental rug that had once graced the office of the colleges longtime president

Harrison Randolph. However, the crewel draperies from Teds mothers house in

Baltimore graced the living room windows. There were other personal touches such as

Alvas porcelain bird collection. Mementos from Teds Navy career hung on the walls

beside oil portraits of bygone South Carolina dignitaries. The familys private living

room and bedrooms were on the third level. Caesar, the familys Saint Bernard puppy,

Alva, Ted, and the children were not the houses only residents. There was also The

Ghost of Six Glebe Street. Alva described an encounter with the ancient occupant: I

was alone at the time and awakened at four a.m. to hear footsteps leisurely strolling

through the third-floor rooms. I remembered the rumored ghost of Bishop Smith and

was not too frightened. Besides, they sounded like such friendly steps.314

Ted was hard at work moving the college toward a state takeover. His

persuasive powers were turning Sol Blatt into a friend and ally. The local legislative

delegation was on his side. But many alumni and trustees remained reluctant. At first,

board chair Cussie Johnson, who had fought integration, was resistant to the idea of

state control. Johnson, however, soon concluded that it was both integration and state

control or the colleges gates would close. He later recalled:

The Board of Trustees of the old College of Charleston were alumni of

the College and were pretty well set in their ways and had fought
integration bitterly. Sooner or later, a board would have to be selected
reflecting the social and political changes that were taking place.

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 Becoming a state institution resulted in one with a broader
representational base and one more attuned to the times.315

In April 1969, Ted and Cussie Johnson met with James Morris, head of the

states Commission on Higher Education (CHE). The purpose of the meeting was to

craft a phased program for the orderly transition of the college from independent,

private institution to state control. At the meeting a confidential Joint Letter of Intent

was drafted. In part, it stated:

It is considered in the best interest of the State, the community, the

College of Charleston, and the Commission of Higher Education that,
beginning in the academic year 1970, or soon after that as enabling
legislation is approved, the state acquire the properties of the College of
Charleston and provide the required financial support to permit the
expansion of the curriculum, faculty, and physical plant to meet the
needs of the Coastal Carolina region.316

The letter included two assumptions. The first was that the college would remain in its

historic location in downtown Charleston. The second expectation that the board of the

private school would continue to be the board of the state school, did not happen.

Governor McNair had already put in place the State College Board, comprised of

statewide representatives with gender and racial diversity.

When Ted became the colleges president, he reconnected with his cousin

Robert Moses, who became an important source of wisdom and contacts. Moses was

at the end of a remarkable career physically transforming New York City and

environs. His record of building bridges, highways, public housing, parks, and beaches

remains unrivaled. A few months after arriving at the college, Ted invited Johns

Hopkins President Milton Eisenhower to speak at the colleges 1969 commencement,

Teds first. When Eisenhower declined because of a scheduling conflict, Ted turned to

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Moses, who had spoken at Teds high school graduation. Ted wrote his cousin,

Directing my first commencement exercise would be greatly facilitated if my ideal

was by my side on this occasion.317

Moses accepted and assured Ted, I shall not speak at length or embarrass you

at Commencement, but shall be brief and try to be frank about a few of our present

problems without being overly controversial. Moses asked Ted for a confidential

briefing on the local atmosphere, including the attitude of the alumni, faculty,

students, and Charlestonians on such subjects as the Far East, Civil Rights, recent

riots, federal and state welfare, housing, and related domestic issues.318 Teds response

provides insight into his thinking at the time. As for the Vietnam War, Ted noted that

Charleston was the home district of Mendel Rivers, custodian of the Hawk nest. The

locals supported the congressmans position of ending the war with a military victory.

On Civil Rights, Ted wrote Moses:

Charleston is the cradle of WASPS and conservatism. An excellent

rapport exists between the black and white communities; token
integration prevails. A large segment of the community is what I like to
term hillbillies who are exerting a great influence at the polls. They
drink wet and vote dry. They are against school improvements, urban
development, and any other community actions which might raise their
taxes or cost them a buck.

Charlestonians detested rioters and those who would rattle the status quo. They

applauded my recent statements which echoed the sentiments expressed by Father

Hessberg [sic]. Theodore Hesburgh, president of the University of Notre Dame, had

declared that uncivil protests would not be tolerated on his campus.

Ted described the locals attitude toward the federal government as mostly

negative. Washington, D.C. was a place to avoid. It was where crime flourished and

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was the home of wasteful bureaucrats. Welfare and public housing were also sore

subjects with the natives. All of this might appear to paint a rather dismal picture.

However, I hasten to add that this is the finest community in which I have ever

resided. The city has unique charms, and its people have been most generous to me

and my family. Ted shared two of his favorite folktales with Moses. Charleston is

located at that point on the East Coast of the United States where the Ashley and

Cooper Rivers join to form the Atlantic Ocean. He added, Charlestonians and the

Chinese are much alike; they eat rice, worship their ancestors, and speak an

unintelligible dialect.

Ted closed his letter by capsulizing his first months as the colleges president.

My job has been to influence the community to think big and look ahead. Our plans

include the construction of a new library and a science center in the immediate future.

We have changed directionwe are here to serve the community instead of the

community being here to serve the college. We anticipate a rapid increase in

enrollment, at the same time maintaining our established goals of academic

excellence.319

Commencement Day, Tuesday, May 20, 1969, broke with partially cloudy

skies and temperatures in the upper seventies. The chance of rain was 30 percent. Rain

falling on commencement was considered an ill omen. It had rained the previous year

on Walter Coppedges last commencement. Within a few weeks of commencement,

Coppedge was gone. Some wondered whether the same fate awaited Ted Stern. The

faculty considered it prophetic that rain did not disrupt Teds first commencement.

Seventy-seven graduating seniors followed Ted, the faculty, Robert Moses, and the

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two other honorary degree recipients through the arched portal of the schools historic

Lodge into the Cistern. Besides Robert Moses, honorary degrees were presented to the

local artist Elizabeth ONeill Verner, and the longtime superintendent of the

Charleston Public Schools, Gordon H. Garrett. However, the main attraction was New

Yorks Robert Moses.

Moses began his address, titled What Next? by lamenting the loss of values

and the stripping off clothes and inhibitions. He quickly moved to the question of

Civil Rights and the changes taking place in the South. He told his conservative

audience, The South has learned that it cant live on legends. Moses then moved to

the so-called revolt of youth, and declared, The world is not yet ready to be run by

adolescents. Describing protesting students as skunks, red ants, and stink

bombs, Moses stated, These hell-raising pests must be firmly controlled. Their

number has been grossly exaggerated. They are bluffing. If their bluff is not called,

there will be no more independent colleges. He left his audience with the optimistic

note that the current troubles the country was facing were not new. They had been

faced and confronted by previous generations. Moses closed his address with, Dont

assume you are going where no one has been before. He wished the graduates well

and expressed the hope that their school would grow and flourish with the New

South.320

An indication the address was well received by at least the adults was an

editorial the arch-conservative Tom Waring wrote in the News and Courier headed

Happy Graduation:

Crusty as ever, Robert Moses at 80 is more than a match for combative

elements among todays campus insurgents. When Mr. Moses refers to

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 the over-advertised revolution in human conduct and thinking, he
speaks as a combat veteran of countless civic upheavals. This one, he
assures the world, after a few more spasms, will be dying not spreading.

Waring praised Mosess call for the graduates to unveil another Renaissance to usher in

a new era of scholarship, arts, and letters and lift idealism from the mud into which it has

been cast. Waring ended his praise of Mosess address, Thats telling them Mr.

Moses.321

Nine days after his first commencement, the multitasking Ted was in

Washington, D.C., testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and

Monopoly chaired by Philip Hart, the Democratic senator from Michigan. Teds

reputation as one of the navys oil kings, and his role as adviser to Chief of Naval

Operations Arleigh Burke and President Eisenhower during the 1956 Suez Crisis had

brought him to the attention of those concerned about the United States increased

dependence on foreign oil.

Teds testimony was insightful and prophetic. Napoleon is supposed to have

said: An army marches on its stomach. In his time, that might have been true. But,

from my own experience, Id say that the modern military travels on oil. Whatever form

it takesgasoline, aviation fuel, rocket fuel, lubricants, petroleum is vital to military

operations. Ted believed the United States should not depend on foreign crude to the

extent the country could be blackmailed. He urged the country not to mothball its

domestic sources to conserve them. Ted pointed to the Russians who were feverously

developing their oil industry. He concluded his testimony with the statement, Foreign

governments have the power to extort political and economic concessions from the

United States in direct proportion to the United States

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dependence on those countries for crude oil supplies. Ted urged Congress to keep

that dependency to a minimum.322

After his congressional testimony, Ted returned to Charleston for a meeting

of the colleges trustees at which he reviewed his first year as president. It was an

impressive summary. Ted outlined how he had strengthened the colleges

management and fiscal operations. He had introduced centralized purchasing as well

as cost accounting and inventory control systems. He had expanded the curriculum

and recruited new faculty.

His hectic speaking schedule was cultivating the colleges public image,

potential students, and elected officials. A 37 percent increase in applications to the

freshman class represented positive results. Ted anticipated the 196970

enrollments would exceed five hundred students. He told the board the thirteen

disadvantaged students admitted to the college had performed adequately, and only

one was dropped for academic deficiency.

The school had dodged the loss of SACS accreditation. Ted would continue to

communicate the schools progress with the association to ensure that the college kept

its certification. To serve students, he had established financial aid program, a

placement office, and created the positions of dean of men and dean of women. He

had hired Harold Butt, the prominent retired local business leader, as the colleges

director of development. He had initiated monthly faculty meetings and increased

faculty salaries. Using Johns Hopkins as a model, Ted introduced the annual Alumni

Roll Call fund-raising initiative.

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 Second only in importance to preserving the schools accreditation, was

stabilizing its finances. Under Ted, the school ended the 196869 academic years with a

surplus of $13,347.21. Although small, the surplus was the first in many years.

Fundraising had accelerated, and the school was liquidating its bank loans. The federal

Department of Housing and Urban Development had approved a $160,000 grant to add

a third floor to the Craig Union. Plans had been drafted for a new library to serve a

thousand students, expandable to two thousand, and eventually five thousand. The

faculty was also working on details for a new science center.323 Ted closed his report to

the board with, In 196869 we achieved stability and confidence. In 19691970 we

look to a year of transition and progress.324 By any measure, Teds first year was

extraordinary. But it was only a forecast of more to come.

Reorganizing the school also meant publishing the colleges first student

handbook. A committee of students and faculty led by Willard Silcox, Dean of Students,

prepared the guide, outlining the rules governing the student body. The committees six

months effort was published in the summer of 1969. The Student Handbook was, in

many ways, a summary of Teds hopes for the school and his efforts to bring order to

what had been a chaotic institution. The guide reaffirmed the schools historic goal to

provide the students with the best possible liberal arts education by offering a well-

balanced series of courses that uncovered the students scholarly aptitude and

encouraged the serious students to continue their education with graduate work. Ted

wanted to keep the curriculum flexible. It should also be sound and relevant. There

was little doubt about Teds vision. This institution, with its

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great traditions and progressive ideas, operates for the benefit of the students and the

community.325

The manual forecasted Teds new direction for the college. The changes would

be evolutionary and not revolutionary. Ted kept the traditional rat system, endured

by the freshman, for at least another year. The ordeal required the incoming students to

buy maroon and white beanies and wear them from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for the first

month of school. Freshmen were also not permitted to walk across the Cistern for their

first month. Violators appeared before the entire student body at the weekly chapel.

The 196970 Handbook covered a range of issues and outlined rules and

prescriptions for violations. There were now rules governing invitations to campus

speakers. The sponsoring student organization had to submit the speakers name and

biography to the Dean of Students three weeks before the event. The sponsoring

organizations faculty adviser had to approve. Final authorization rested with Ted.

Under the new regulations, creating campus organizations required Teds prior

approval. The directive was in response to an attempt by some students to establish a

chapter of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) that was disrupting campuses

throughout the country. Students who disturbed the campus would be disciplined. The

exact nature of the punishment was not detailed. However, everyone knew Ted would

not tolerate uncivil behavior.

In addition to conduct, the Handbook addressed personal appearance. Students

could be denied entrance to class, the library, and dining room if a member of the

faculty or administration objected to their dress or grooming. Shoes are to be worn at

all times. However, women were now allowed to wear shorts and slacks if they were

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in good taste. Female students were prohibited from wearing hair curlers in public.

Possession or use of illegal drugs meant expulsion.

A committee with authority over all infractions of the new rules, except the

honor code, was created. Violations of the honor code were to be handled by a board

of nine, composed of three faculty members, three students, and three administrators.

Students elected their representatives. Ted appointed the administration and faculty

members. Penalties for violating the honor code could include fines, probation,

suspension, and expulsion. All final decisions on these matters rested with Ted. The

Evening Post reported, Stern feels that writing down rules for decorum and orderly

action and disciplinary action is a wise move. Unwritten laws without provision for

punishment of their infraction are not effective.326 The Student Government

Association unanimously approved the new handbook. However, two of the new

guidelines drew immediate fire from local conservatives:

Visiting in Dormitory Rooms: Visiting the opposite sex in dormitory

rooms is strictly prohibited except for the Craig Union Mens
Dormitory when open house will be held on Sunday afternoon
between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. or at such other times as may be
authorized by the administration.

The second rule to draw objections concerned alcoholic beverages:

There will be no drinking of alcoholic beverages on College

property except beer and wine which will be sold and MUST be
consumed at the Snack Bar in Craig Union at designated hours.
NOTE: This is an experimental innovation, and the permissible
use of alcoholic beverages will be closely observed by the College
authorities to determine whether it will be continued, enlarged, or
restricted.327

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 The response to what some saw as the liberalization of visitation and the

introduction of alcohol on campus was harsh. Charleston County Councilman W.

Lloyd Fleming, from West Ashley, led the charge by moving that the County Council

withdraw its fifty-thousand-dollar annual grant to the college. Fleming tore into the

college, accusing it of throwing out the Bible, replacing it with the birds and bees.

He considered the new rules terrible temptations for the young. In a vote of 4 to 3,

Flemings motion passed the Council.328 A local businessman with historic ties to the

College wrote Ted:

Being a father of five children, one to enter college in two years, I am

very much concerned that he go to a college where the training we have
been giving him in home is not abruptly and totally disregarded as
inconsequential by the authorities in the college he attends. I still want
my children to know that beer drinking, especially in their teens, and the
new morality are not good and are, in fact, detrimental to health and
character. When I entrust my children to you in your capacity as college
President, I expect you to see not only that they get a good college
education but also more important than that, I expect you to provide at
the college a wholesome moral atmosphere in which they can work.329

Ted responded to the criticism by noting the students who have been for years

drinking beer and said they did not like the atmosphere of most of the taverns near the

College, had asked for the rule changes. Students reported, dope was available in

most of these places. Ted advised upset alumni that no hippies participated in the

Handbooks preparation. I have faith in the students and believe they are mature

enough to handle the situation. As for women visiting the mens dormitory on

restricted hours, We do not feel hanky-panky would go on under the open door and

adult supervision. Those desiring privacy would most certainly find plenty of

opportunities elsewhere.330

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The Evening Post headlined, College Beer Cost: Countys $50,000. Ted publicly

regretted the council had not discussed their concerns with him before it acted.

However, he also announced the colleges board of trustees would revisit the matter.

Pushback to the outcry came from the students and faculty. T. J. Worthington,

a senior, said he thought the withdrawal of the money was foolish. Id be for the

school keeping the beer and losing the money just on principle. I dont think that the

beer makes any difference, but since they [county councilmen] are going to make an

issue of it, Ill stand up for the beer.331

An Evening Post editorial gave Ted and the colleges trustees the benefit of the

doubt.332 The News and Courier chimed in that the Charleston County Council had

more important issues it needed to address.333 The dustup was settled when Teds

friend, council chair J. Mitchel Graham, who had been absent when the council vote

was taken, advised Fleming the vote was procedurally incorrect. At the next council

meeting, Fleming offered a new motion, which failed. However, the episode displayed

the choppy political and social waters Ted was navigating.

Beer and wine on campus and women visiting the mens dorm were

distractions to Teds primary focus of preparing the college for the state takeover.

However, he needed to secure bridge financing to support the transfer. At Mendel

Rivers suggestion, Ted sought a two-millage addition to the Charleston County tax. If

successful, the effort would provide more than $200,000 to the college as it awaited

legislative action in Columbia. Using the letter of intent between the Commission on

Higher Education and the college as leverage, Ted met with Charlestons legislative

delegation seeking their backing for the millage change. Ted also had to convince

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anxious alumni the financial support was necessary without revealing his larger

objective of state control, a goal many of the alumni opposed. He told the alumni, I

am firmly convinced that today higher education in the Lowcountry is at the

crossroads. Your Alma Mater is committed to upgrading the curriculum and facilities

to permit our citizens opportunities to pursue their higher education needs locally.

Faculty salaries needed to be upgraded, as did the library and its holdings. We are on

the move; Im sure you will continue to be proud of this, one or our nations oldest and

finest institutions of learning. I appreciate your indulgence.334

The alumni were not alone in questioning a county tax hike for the college. A

group of citizens sued to block the millage increase for the college as unconstitutional.

When it appeared the courts were going to rule against the college, Ted deftly forged

an agreement that the collected tax would be held in escrow until its constitutionality

was decided. The legislation creating the tax was also amended, so the money raised

from the increased millage was restricted to assist the schools transition to state

control.

Ted had been the colleges president for only a year. In that time, the college

had undergone dramatic changes. These included establishing a night school, planning

a graduate program in elementary education, and creating courses in business

administration. Designs for the new library and science center were prepared. Federal

money was secured to expand the mens dormitory, and work-study and Upward

Bound programs introduced. Recruiting African-American students was energized; the

schools finances stabilized, and the idea of the college becoming a state school had

progressed from a possibility to a goal. Recognizing Teds leadership in advancing the

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school in his brief tenure, the colleges board of trustees voted to increase his annual

salary by three thousand dollars to fifteen thousand.335

On another front, Governor McNairs bill setting up a state college board to

govern the schools recommended in the Moody Report passed the legislature on June

15, 1969. However, the question of the College of Charleston being one of those

schools was not settled. Only Frances Marion College in Florence, South Carolina,

was included in the legislation. As a sign of McNairs intent, Cussie Johnson,

chairman of the board of the private College of Charleston, was appointed vice chair

of the new state board. He would serve under and later succeed the boards first chair,

James A. Rogers, editor of the Florence Morning News, who had advocated for

Francis Marion College.

Teds and Cussies goal was to have the College of Charleston included in

legislation the following spring transferring the school to the state on July 1, 1970. In

the ensuing months, Ted would spend much of his time in Columbia lobbying elected

and appointed officials. He and Alva would also travel several times to Barnwell

where Ted continued nurturing Speaker Sol Blatt.

Ted was optimistic the plan to turn the college over to the state would succeed.

Governor McNair told Ted and Cussie on three separate occasions that it was his wish

the college become part of the state system. McNairs appointment of Cussie as vice

chair of the newly created State College Board was a sign of his support. The South

Carolina legislature had authorized the Commission on Higher Education to negotiate

with the colleges private board of trustees to plan the transfer. James Morris, head of

the Commission on Higher Education, was a keen supporter of the plan. The states

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Budget and Control Board, with power over the purse strings, requested $1.5 million

to manage the college for the year following its transfer to the state. State Senator

Rembert Dennis of Monks Corner, one of the South Carolinas most influential elected

officials, agreed to introduce the transfer legislation in the spring of 1970.336

Assembling the pieces for the takeover required that Ted emphasize the

colleges value to the state. He was pleased to announce that the fall 1969 enrollment

of 548 was the largest in the schools history. The freshmen class was 21 percent

larger than the previous year. Also, for the first time in the schools history, the college

had more applicants than it could accept.337 Ted announced the colleges cultural

offerings would begin on October 4, with a performance of The Tempest by the

National Shakespeare Company. In September, the college introduced its Division of

Community Services, offering evening courses in the fields of business administration

and education. Ted said that additional courses offered by the night school would

depend on the desires of the community. He already had a list of twenty possible

subject areas, including, cultural courses, literature, astronomy, computer

programming, and various academic subjects.338

Ted garnered community support in other ways. As the schools fall 1969

semester began, Ted gave the opening address at the Annual Convention of the South

Carolina Association of Realtors. He titled his talk Pioneer Anew. Using his

trademark themes, Ted told the realtors, Our national strength does not lie in weapons

of war. It does not lie in national recourses or in numbers. Our national strength is the

moral character of our youth and their understanding and appreciation of the greatness

of our nation. We have had the prophets of doom and gloom before. Ted, with his

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contagious optimism, urged his audience to look on the positive, rather than the

negative. For the president of the College of Charleston, the United States was on the

threshold of the greatest era in the history of mankind.339

By the September 8, 1969, meeting of the colleges private board, it was clear

state control was in the schools future. Ted reported James Morris, the higher

education commissioner, had contracted a study to identify the best location for the

states general-purpose college in Charleston. The Spartanburg firm of Lockwood and

Green considered potential sites on James Island, West Ashley, Mt. Pleasant, as well

as the colleges historic setting on Charlestons peninsula. Morris asked Ted to delay

the start of fund-raising for the new librarys construction until the Lockwood and

Green completed their study. Ted and the trustees, wishing the school to remain in its

historic location, ignored Morriss request and continued to actively explore sources

for funding the library. Morris relented and asked Ted to present the plans for the

library and the expansion the Craig Union mens dormitory to the State College Board.

In late October 1969, Lockwood Green recommended the college remain at its

historic location. The consulting firm recognized the challenges of expanding the

college in the middle of a historic city.

We conclude that the positive factors in favor of the downtown site for
an urban college outweigh its limitations. In fact, with careful planning
and budgeting, some of these limitations may become assets and give
character and tradition to the expanding college while at the same time
providing a needed economic and social uplift for a depressed area of
the city.340

Charleston's leadership enthusiastically received the recommendation. Thomas

Waring of the News and Courier editorialized, With President Theodore S. Stern

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giving fresh and able leadership, we are confident the college is on the threshold of a

healthy advance without encountering the dangers of gigantism.341 Frank B. Gilbreth

Jr., who wrote a regular column, Doing the Charleston, for the News and Courier

under the pen name Ashley Cooper, echoed Warings words.

The proposed expansion of the College of Charleston is exciting

indeed. It is great news that the expanded college would remain
where it is in downtown Charleston. This was an excellent
decision both for the college and for downtown Charleston itself.
Downtown Charleston has needed an industry to revitalize
business. And there is no better industry for a city than a
college.342

Even with this good news, some of the private colleges trustees continued to

resist change. At the same board meeting reporting progress on the state

takeover, there was a motion to do away with the boards hiring authority

created when Walter Coppedge was president. The motion to give Ted the

power to hire and fire was defeated 5 to 3.

The simmering antagonism of Gordon Sweet, executive director of the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, also persisted. Cussie Johnson

advised the board of Sweets ongoing unhappiness with Teds appointment as

president. Sweet was also said to dislike South Carolina and its governor,

Robert McNair.343 Sweets hostility was not the only difficulty Ted was facing.

Several students asked Ted to declare a moratorium of classes on October 16 in

support of a planned antiwar protest. The board unanimously supported Teds

categorical denial of the petition.344

The increased public awareness that the college would become a state

school was beginning to have a positive effect. Fred Daniels, the schools

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director of admissions, was recruiting in schools throughout the state, reported

to Ted:

The enthusiasm among students and especially parents is most

encouraging. Virtually all the parents praised the decision regarding
affiliation with the state. Every parent was ecstatic over the tuition.
Students were very pleased and excited, except for one who said ever
since Mr. Grice left we have become too liberal. However, he said he
would have to attend at those prices.345

The colleges projected expansion was astonishing. A school of fewer than six

hundred students was forecasted to expand to five thousand over ten years. The

physical growth to serve this student body would cost an estimated $27 million. The

expanded faculty of three hundred would mean an annual payroll of $4.5 million. Ted

noted, That, plus administrative salaries and student spending would mean a

tremendous boost to the economy of the city.346 The precocious and hyperactive

Teddy Stern of the Columbia Grammar School and Johns Hopkins a half-century

earlier was now the visionary and synergistically thinking the president of the College

of Charleston.

As he plotted and campaigned for the state takeover, Teds community

involvement was also on display. He agreed to chair the School Night for Scouting of

the Coastal Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It was no small task. The

program called for Scouts and their leaders to recruit youngsters to join the Cub Scouts

and Boy Scouts. They would accomplish this through presentations at 115 schools in

Charleston, Beaufort, Berkeley, Colleton, Georgetown, and Dorchester counties.

Under Teds leadership, the effort was a grand success. In one night 2,488 boys

signed up, and five hundred adults volunteered. Teds motivation was clear.

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 The success of School Night for Scouting provides visible and
positive evidence of the strength of our nation and belief in American
principles. This exhibit of loyalty and devotion to the principles that
made America great overshadows the handful of dissidents whose
mission is to destroy rather than to build. Building a strong America
depends on manpower. Manpower begins with boy power.347

At the same time, Ted was helping the Boy Scouts; he was heading the Trident Forum

for the Handicapped. The forum was a platform to discuss what the community could

do to develop programs and facilities for the mentally challenged so they could

function as productive members of the community rather than institutionalized.

Adding to his hectic schedule, Ted accepted an appointment to the Charleston

Tercentennial Committee, formed to plan the citys three hundredth birthday

celebration in 1970. The committees chair was Thomas Thornhill, the husband of the

prominent Charleston preservationist and Ted supporter, Jane Thornhill. Its

membership included other noted Charlestonians, among them General Mark Clark,

the retired president of the Citadel; Charlestons Mayor Palmer Gaillard; and County

Council Chair J. Mitchell Graham. These distinguished citizens became part of the

network Ted called on for help in advancing the college. If this flurry of activity in the

fall of 1969 was not enough, Governor McNair appointed Ted and Alva to South

Carolinas promotional mission to South America. The group of eminent South

Carolinians spent two weeks in early December visiting Venezuela and Argentina. The

delegation included Helen and Joe Riley Sr., John M. Rivers Sr. and his wife, and Lt.

Governor John West.

After returning to Charleston, Ted received news that the South Carolina

General Assembly had approved releasing $214,000 to the college from the two

millage increase in the Charleston County taxes. Senator Y. W. Scarborough, head of

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the Charleston delegation, announced the funds were a one-time grant that would help

with the state takeover of the school the following June. Ted responded that he was

delighted, and added the funding would be used to rehabilitate the colleges main

building, buy additional books for the library, augment faculty salaries, and subsidize

the purchase of new laboratory equipment.348

The first Christmas that Ted, Alva, and the children spent in the Presidents

House on Glebe Street was also Teds fifty-seventh birthday. On New Years Day, he

called each of the colleges faculty members and administrative staff to wish them a

Happy New Year. He cherished personally connecting with students, professors, and

staff a practice the schools rapid expansion would soon make impossible.

As Ted celebrated his birthday and the 1970 New Year, he was entering the

most intensive six months of his life. The course for the college becoming a state

school by July 1, 1970, was set. However, prevailing winds and rough seas didnt

make it a sure thing. It would take a wise and determined helmsman to bring the ship

into port. Ted would have to use all his considerable political and personal skills to

guide the college to its new mooring.

Early in the year, doubts were raised about the timing of the state takeover.

Would it be July 1970 or July 1971? The central issue was money. Governor McNair

had publicly stated that he favored the college becoming a state school. However, his

timetable differed with Teds by twelve months, posing a major problem for the

college. The $214,000 raised from the special millage on Charleston County taxpayers

was approved and released to the college on condition that it be a one-time grant to

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help the college until the projected state takeover date of July 1, 1970. It was doubtful

the legislators or taxpayers would repeat the special millage increase. If the transfer to

the state was delayed by a year, the college would face a 25 percent shortfall in its

operating budget. Governor McNairs position on the schools Ft. Johnson property

added another hurdle. McNair was coupling his support for the school inclusion in the

state system with his insistence that the college sell its Ft. Johnson property on James

Island to the state. Accordingly, during the summer of 1969, Ted had begun

negotiating with the state for the sale of Ft. Johnson. The transaction was part of Teds

vision of creating a multimillion-dollar marine laboratory. Ted boasted the project

would create the biggest marine science center on the east coast. It will attract a great

many people including students and industries.349 It was a vision Governor McNair

shared.

Ted discussed the project with Robert Moses, who encouraged Ted to move

forward. Moses introduced Ted to several prominent New Yorkers involved in the

marine sciences. However, there was opposition to the sale among the trustees. Cussie

Johnson, who with Ted was negotiating with McNair, convinced the doubters it was in

the schools interest to proceed with the sale. In the end, the board agreed to sell thirty-

two acres to the state on the condition the college would be part of the marine biology

program along with the South Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Cussie

Johnson later told McNair, You got the most beautiful piece of property in South

Carolina for ninety thousand dollars, but we got a ten-million-dollar operating budget

for the College of Charleston, and I guess thats fair.350

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 The states takeover of the college had the support of two of South Carolinas

most powerful elected officials. Senator Rembert Dennis, from Moncks Corner, chair

of the Senate Finance Committee, was steadfast in his advocacy for the college

becoming a state school. Lt. Governor John C. West, who Ted and Alva had

accompanied on the South American trade mission, publicly praised Teds abilities

and described the college as much too valuable an institution to let flounder and die

on the vine.351 Ted had the backing of Senator Y. W. Scarborough, head of the

Charleston County delegation. There was also support from Representative F. Julian

Goat LeaMond, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Teds relationship

with boisterous and salty LeaMond began when Ted was commander of the Naval

Supply Center. LeaMond worked for the Regis Milk Company. As commander of the

Charleston Naval Supply Center, Ted was also the supply officer of the 6th Naval

District. In that position, Ted arranged for the Regis Milk Company to have the

exclusive contract to supply milk to the Charleston and Norfolk Navy bases.352 Ted

relationship with the Regis Milk Companys would help secure funding for the

schools Addlestone Library twenty-five years later.

Sol Blatt was also coming around. He told Ted that, while he would not vote

for the state takeover, he would not vote against it. Equally important, Blatt promised

Ted that he would not urge legislators under his influence to vote against the college

becoming a state school. A sign of the growing friendship between Ted and Speaker

Blatt was Blatts invitation for Ted to make the Speakers office in the state capitol

building Teds Columbia headquarters. Ted used the office during the spring of 1970

when he was in Columbia appearing before legislative committees and lobbying for

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the college. Blatt also introduced Ted to Patrick Smith, the states most powerful

bureaucrat. Smith was the veteran head of the South Carolina Budget and Control

Commission, the bureaucracy that regulated the states money. Sol Blatt and Rembert

Dennis were members of the commission. However, they relied on Smith to advise

them on opening the states coffers. Smith and Ted became friends. Ted later

acknowledged Smith as his secret weapon in securing money for the college.353

In late January 1970, with support from the South Carolina Commission on

Higher Education, the Charleston delegation introduced a bill providing for the

College of Charleston to become a state school. Ted presented a plan to the delegation

calling for $400,000 in state operating funds for the schools first year as a state

institution. He told the legislators that he was energetically moving ahead to recruit

quality faculty that would preserve the schools high standards as it expanded under

the state. The most important of these new hires was Dr. Cecil H. Womble Jr.

On January 20, 1970, five months before the projected state takeover, Ted

announced Wombles appointment as the schools first Vice President for Academic

Affairs and Academic Dean. Hill, as he was popularly known, would be the schools

primary academic officer and head of the faculty. Ted noted, The creation of this new

position of Vice President for Academic Affairs will contribute greatly to maintaining

the colleges superior academic standards. This is especially true now as the college

enters a period when its growth will exceed anything it has experienced in its two-

hundred-year history.354 Hill Womble came from Duke University, where the

classicist headed undergraduate studies. He was a graduate of Johns Hopkins

University, where he also earned his masters and doctoral degrees and elected to Phi

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Beta Kappa. For the next five years, Womble was Teds right-hand man managing the

faculty and curriculum.

Ted hired four additional vice presidents later that spring to complete the

colleges new organizational structure. William L. Brinkley Jr. was appointed vice

president of student and community services. Brinkley came from Johns Hopkins,

where he had served as director of admissions. Willard A. Silcox, a 1933 alumnus of

the college and Mr. College of Charleston, was appointed vice president for alumni

affairs and development. At the suggestion of Pat Smith, head of the States Budget

and Control Board, Ted appointed J. Floyd Tyler vice president for business affairs.

Tyler came from the University of South Carolina, where he had served as director of

purchasing and supply since 1961. Tyler would remain at the College for twenty-three

years, until his retirement in 1993.

For vice president of institutional research, Ted hired Vernon G. Rivers, Teds

executive officer at the Naval Supply Center from 1965 to 1968. In his new position,

Rivers oversaw the colleges planning and data processing systems and conducted

internal audits to improve the schools efficiency and productivity. Ted brought other

former navy men into his administration. Tom Hamby, flag secretary to Rear Admiral

Douglas Plate, commander of the Navy Fleet Mine Force stationed in Charleston, was

hired as Teds executive assistant. Retired Navy officer Johnny Vinson was appointed

to supervise the physical plant. Jerry Nuss was brought in to head Administrative

Services, and Art Stalvey to oversee maintenance. Both were retired Navy officers.

Ted later described his preference for men who had served in the Navy. Military men

were not only loyal and disciplined, but they were excellent managers.355 Wombles

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and Brinkleys appointments also reflected Teds preference for individuals with Johns

Hopkins connections.

While Ted was building his staff, he was also making changes in the schools

athletic programs. In January 1970, the college withdrew from the Dixie

Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which the school had been a member of since

1963. The move allowed the college to offer basketball scholarships for the first time

in its history. Ted then hired Alan LeForce, an assistant basketball coach at Furman

University, as basketball coach, replacing Fred Daniels, the schools admissions

director who had been doing double duty. LeForces appointment and the schools

offering athletic scholarships worried some alumni. Ted stressed that the schools

academic standards would not be compromised.356

It was a new day for the colleges athletic program. LeForce actively recruited

throughout the state, region, and as far away as New York. The change resonated in

the colleges new nickname. For half a century, the school had been known as the

Maroons. By a vote of the student body and the approval of the colleges board, the

school was now the Cougars. The colors remained maroon and white, but the

addition of the aggressive Carolina cougar as a mascot added a new spirit to the

historically genteel school. As one junior commented, Were a whole new team, a

whole new school, and now we have a whole new look.357

It is revealing that as Ted lobbied for the state takeover, assembled his staff,

and prepared the school for a new life; he spent most of March 1970 in the hospital

addressing what had become a chronic back ailment. Despite this, Ted appeared in

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Columbia on Tuesday, March 17, before the South Carolina House Ways and Means

Committee to present the schools case.

The Charleston delegation had paved the way for Teds testimony by sending a

supportive letter to their fellow legislators. We are convinced that the college will be

a splendid addition to the states higher education program, providing the Lowcountry

with a much needed four-year state-supported institution.358 James A. Rogers, the

chair of the Board of Trustees of State Colleges, told the legislators the board

supported the colleges addition to the state system. Proponents of creating Francis

Marion College in Florence also backed the College of Charlestons simultaneous

entry into the states higher education structure. Ted assured the members of the

legislative committee that the college would be a great asset. Major repairs supported

by Federal grants and private donations were underway. Plans were moving ahead for

the new library, which had already received a Federal grant of $300,000 of an

increased estimated $1.2 million cost.

Ted told the committee that the college was not seeking a bailout. Instead, the

state was getting a valued institution. He noted that the school had ended the year with

a surplus and the College brought with it $7.5 million worth of buildings and property.

The state will be getting a vibrant institution serving a variety of community and state

needs and filling an acknowledged necessity for a four-year institution in the

Lowcountry.359

The members of the legislature were not the only ones Ted needed to convince.

The private board of trustees and the colleges alumni were suspicious of state control.

Ted told the alumni that it was critical the college be the state school in the

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Lowcountry recommended in the Moody Report. He repeated his admonition that the

private College of Charleston could not compete with the much lower tuition of a

state-supported institution.

State support also meant expanding physical resources, new academic courses,

additional faculty, and more programs to serve the community. Ted noted a larger, and

healthier College of Charleston would help attract new industries and business to the

Charleston area. He assured skeptics that academic standards would not be lowered, a

concern of many of the trustees and alumni. Instead, he accurately predicted the added

resources and course offerings would attract more quality students. The college would

also remain at its historic location and physically grow through what Ted called

positive preservation. Yes, the colleges governance was to change. The Board of

Trustees of State Colleges replaced the private board. To soften the private boards

demise, F. Mitchell Cussie Johnson, chair of the private board, was appointed by the

governor as the state boards vice chair.360

Not everyone was happy with these changes. Bevo Howard, a member of the

private board, resigned in protest. Several of the private board members, many alumni,

and even some of the faculty, also feared that state control meant more African-

American students. Ted and his director of admissions had been vigorously recruiting

blacks, and the new state board had several black members. The schools integration

would accelerate. Cussie Johnson himself had been against integrating the college. He

reluctantly accepted the need for change. He knew his beloved college could only

survive as a state institution.361

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 Chapter VI

The College of Charleston

Reinvented

Under President Theodore S. Sterns vigorous leadership, the college can build an

exciting future on its honorable past.362

Thomas Waring, editor of the News and Courier

The future of the College of Charleston was decided the week of March 16,

1970. The South Carolina Senate passed without opposition the state budget that

included the college. On Tuesday, the seventeenth, Ted appeared before Julian

LeaMonds House Ways and Means Committee. The vote in the House was scheduled

for the following morning. Speaker Sol Blatt, whom Ted had been courting for

months, announced that he would vote against the $300,000 appropriation for the

transfer of the college to the state:

The state cant afford to take on the college this year unless it raises taxes.
However, a visit from Joseph P. Riley, Sr., Congressman L. Mendel Rivers, and
college president Theodore S. Stern gave me some information I did not have
before. Based on that information, I have not changed my mind in one respect.
I will not take the floor of the House to speak against the appropriation nor
will I seek the support of my House colleagues to vote against it.

Even though he opposed the bill, Blatt praised Ted. He is as fine a college president

as I know, but I still have to oppose the appropriation, Blatt added that if and when

the college did become a state school, Ted should remain as its president.

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 The new information Blatt mentioned was that the college was operating in

the black, had no bonded indebtedness, and the schools projected five thousand

students would annually add $2 million to Charlestons economy.363 That Ted and

Blatt had become close since their Old Crow meeting in Barnwell was evident when

Blatt asked Ted to sit beside him on the Speakers podium during the debate on the

House floor.364

Assured the bill would pass, Ted returned to Charleston to lead a convocation

celebrating the schools bicentennial. Berkeley Grimball, the headmaster of

Charlestons Porter Gaud school, recommended to Ted the college celebrate its two-

hundredth anniversary with a special event. Founders Day was scheduled for the

morning of Thursday, March 19, in the Cistern. That same morning the South Carolina

House scheduled a vote to include the College of Charleston in the states higher

education system.

Ted asked Congressman Rivers to be the convocations main speaker.

However, Rivers, not fully trusting Sol Blatt, told Ted that instead of speaking at the

assembly, his time would be better spent sitting next to Blatt in the House Chamber,

just in case the Barnwell politician changed his mind.365

The Charleston delegation was not as sanguine as Ted about the outcome of the

vote. They were expecting a fight and were prepared to filibuster. The delegation

drove to Columbia the morning of the nineteenth with a stack of information on the

colleges history and assets. Their confidence grew on their way to Columbia when

Mendel Rivers car sped past them on Interstate 26. As the vote on the appropriations

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bill, that included $300,000 for the college, came to the floor of the House, Mendel

Rivers was seated on the Speakers podium beside Sol Blatt.

The Charleston delegation was amazed that not one of the 124 House

members objected to the colleges inclusion in the bill. Following the vote, Rivers was

quoted, I am happy as I can be. Julian LeaMond, chair of the delegation, said the

passage showed that The members of the delegation did their homework well with

the help of College President Ted Stern and Congressman Rivers.366

Back at the College, Founders Day began with Ted announcing the bill to

include the college in the state system had passed. Teds friend, Dr. Edward C.

McCrady, vice chancellor of the University of the South at Sewanee and 1927

graduate of the college, was the main speaker. McCrady urged the audience to

continue to value the colleges traditional dedication to the liberal arts. Six honorary

degrees were presented including one to Robert S. Small, for whom the new library

was named. Another went to Albert Simons, Teds architectural adviser, whose name

would grace the future home of the colleges School of the Arts.

A few weeks after Founders Day, the tireless Ted Stern was in Denver,

Colorado, receiving an award from the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America

for his outstanding leadership in developing the Boy Scouts Carolina Council. As the

South Carolina Councils president, Ted transformed the body by amending its

constitution, streamlining its governance, and changing its corporate status, allowing it

to raise money as a nonprofit educational organization.367

On May 27, 1970, the college held its 185th commencement on the Cistern.

Underscoring the schools new status, Governor Robert McNair was the main speaker.

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The National Guard shooting at Kent State University in Ohio three weeks earlier

killing four unarmed students had traumatized the nation. The governor spoke of the

tensions and disturbances polarizing college campuses and the country and urged the

graduates to be a generation of conscience who would help bridge the countrys

divisions. Honorary degrees went to two of the major figures in the colleges transition

to the state. James A. Morris, head of the State Commission on Higher Education and

Robert McCormick Figg Jr., who was instrumental in creating the College of

Charleston Foundation.

The week following the commencement, McNair signed the bill authorizing

the addition of the College of Charleston to South Carolinas state system. Most of the

colleges alumni and a majority of Charlestonians greeted the news of the college

becoming a state school enthusiastically. Tom Waring of the News and Courier

summarized the colleges history and editorialized,

During 1970, the colleges bicentennial and South Carolinas

Tercentennial, the college will mark another first. On July 1, it will
formally become the first state-supported liberal arts college in the
Lowcountry. Under President Theodore S. Sterns vigorous leadership,
the college can build an exciting future on its honorable past.368

The day before the college officially transferred to the state; Ted oversaw the

incorporation of the College of Charleston Foundation. The foundations officers

closely aligned with Ted. Robert McCormick Figg, the recently retired Dean of the

University of South Carolina Law School, who had suggested forming the foundation,

was elected its first president. O. J. Johnny Small, a prominent local accountant and

a 1941 alumnus, was elected vice president. Charleston banker, Richard Grimball, was

elected secretary. Floyd Tyler, the colleges recently appointed vice president for

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business affairs, served as treasurer. Theodore B. Teddy Guerard, class of 1950, a

distinguished local attorney and former state legislator with expertise in public

financing, was selected the foundations counsel. Other notables on the twenty-three-

member board included Mendel Rivers, Robert Small, Peter Manigault, Richardson

Sonny Hanckel, and Joe Riley Sr. Ted Stern, Hill Womble, Bill Brinkley, and

Willard Silcox from the college also served on the foundations board.

Creating the College of Charleston Foundation was vital to Teds strategy.

Figg outlined the foundations charge at its boards first meeting. It will enlarge the

mission of the college, and it will serve as a trustee of its traditions. There are many

activities forbidden by law to state-supported colleges. The foundation can handle

them. And in handling them, we can protect the two hundred years of tradition the

college has built up. Figg said he wanted to preserve good traditions and drop

stultifying ones. With burgeoning enrollments just around the corner, the

foundation can buy and hold for the college such property as is obviously going to

be needed before too long. We can also provide funds for supplementing faculty

pay, setting up special faculty chairs, bringing in visiting professors and for

generally enriching the faculty program. The foundation would also provide

scholarships for deserving students.369 Figg alluded to the foundations significant

role as a balance to the gubernatorial appointed state board.

Like Ted, he believed the foundation would help protect the colleges unique character

and provide for a level of independence.

The college officially transferred to the State of South Carolina on July 1,

1970. To mark the occasion a small ceremony took place on the portico of the main

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building with the audience sitting below on the Cistern. At 10:14 a.m., Cussie

Johnson, vice chair of the newly formed State College Board, gave a brief history of

the college and described the significance of what was taking place. James Rogers,

chairman of the State Board, accepted the college on behalf of the state and promised

to preserve the colleges traditions of excellence and service. He closed with a quote

from John Ruskin, the nineteenth-century British writer and art critic.

When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for
present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our
descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone,
that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our
hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the
labor and wrought substance of them, See! This our fathers did for
us.370

The assembly ended with the announcement that Ted had been appointed the president

of the new state College of Charleston.371

Ted was ready for his new assignment. At a meeting of the State College

Board three weeks later, he presented a detailed plan for the colleges future. Teds

blueprint had seven objectives:

1. Offer the highest quality academic programs to South Carolina citizens

2. Develop graduate programs

3. Expand academic offerings to support area adult educational needs

4. Develop expanded student services

5. Develop additional sources of support for college programs (federal grants,

private foundations, industrial and alumni giving)

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 6. Develop systems and procedures for the transition of the college to a fully

state-supported institution.

7. Place in operation research, planning, and management information systems

to assure effective and economical administration.372

Ted was echoing what he had done three years earlier when he was appointed to head

the private school. He let his new board know who was in charge. Ted also declined

his formal installation as the president of the state school, just as he had done when he

became president of the private College of Charleston.

It was a heady time for Ted and the college. Two weeks before the official

transfer to the state, the State College Boards Planning and Development Committee

recommended a five-year, $23 million capital expansion program for the school. The

plan called for the schools annual budget to grow to $8 million and the student body

to number 1,700 by 1975.373 Ted envisaged a ten-year plan that would lead to a

student body of 5,000. The two projections were too conservative. In five years, the

student body would be 5,000, five years ahead of Teds vision and twice that of the

state boards projection.

Ted didnt rest on his monumental achievement. He quickly engaged the

Columbia architectural firm of Geiger, McElveen & Kennedy to prepare a master plan

for the new College of Charleston. Ted had a general idea of what he wanted. He

would later say, I have always felt that when you hire a consultant or appoint a

committee, you have already made up your mind what you want to do. Their role was

to legitimize what I wanted.374

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 The colleges physical layout had barely changed in one hundred and fifty

years. The land adjacent to the school was jam-packed with buildings, both historic

and non-historic. They included private homes, many of which were in poor condition.

Teds goal was to keep the 1829 Main Building as the campuss center and preserve

the schools historic character and human scale while providing modern facilities to

serve the expanding student body. It would be no easy task in a community resistant to

change and dedicated to historic preservation. Again, Teds strategic thinking was at

play.

In early February 1970, five months before the college was transferred to the

state, Ted created a Presidents Advisory Committee on Area Preservation. Its chair

was Rufus Barkley, a member of the soon to be defunct private colleges board. More

importantly, the committee included the towns leading preservationists: Frances

Edmunds, the nationally recognized executive director of the Historic Charleston

Foundation, and Elizabeth Liz Young, president of the Charleston Preservation

Society. Young, dedicated to the cause of protecting Charlestons charm, would

deliver Ted one of his rare defeats in carrying out his plans for the college. Another

member of the committee was Peter Manigault, from one of Charlestons leading

families and Chair of the Evening Post Publishing Company. The committee also

included Albert Simons, prominent Charleston architect, and Teds chief architectural

adviser.

The decision to create the committee was astute. Ted wanted the citys leading

preservationists to be in his tent. Edward Pinckney, another of Teds architectural

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consultants, later said that Ted told him the committee had zero authority. Its purpose

was to support what Ted wanted to do.375

Ted was doing more than physically transforming the College of Charleston.

He was also instilling his own concepts of higher education. As Ted prepared to begin

his third year of his presidency, the News and Courier interviewed him. The article

was accompanied by a picture of Ted with the caption President Theodore S. Stern in

a rare relaxed moment at the College of Charleston. In the piece, Ted declared his

educational credo:

A colleges job is not merely to impart knowledge but to try and

stimulate wisdom. There is a great difference between the two. I dont
think it is important to know every minor fact. There are books and
references for the future availability of facts. To teach the ability to use
facts wisely for the benefit of ones fellows and community and
mankind, that is what I think education should be.376

It was a new mission for the old school that was about to be reinvented.

Hill Womble, Teds academic dean, was also moving swiftly. The 1970

enrollment was a record 810 students, almost twice as many as when Ted had become

president two years earlier. Two months after the transfer, Womble reported that 103

new courses were added to the curriculum, and the college now offered six new

academic majors. These included business administration, elementary education,

secondary education, psychology, sociology, and physics.377

Other changes were taking place. The chapel in the main building which

formally acted as an assembly room and where Ted had been introduced to the faculty

became a reception area and was renamed Alumni Memorial Hall. The redecorated

room included reproduction furniture and portraits of former presidents, professors,

and trustees.

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 The fabrics, as well as the styles of furniture, are in keeping with the
period of the main building. The Chippendale love seats have been
covered with gold damask, which is set off by the dark blue of the
Oriental rugs. More gold is used in the Queen Anne chairs and on the
stage where the piano first owned by President Harrison Randolph is
displayed. Maroon touches bring color to the decor.378

The chapel was gone, as was the tradition of student assemblies concluding with the

recitation of a prayer facing south. Another causality of the state takeover was the

ritual that required the freshmen rats to wear their maroon and white beanies.

An article that appeared in the Charlotte Observer captured the colleges new

optimism

Theodore S. Stern, a husky dynamo with the effervescence of ginger ale,

became president of the College of Charleston two years ago after
retiring from the Navy as a Captain. He is not a man giving to hiding
neither his talent nor the colleges under a proverbial bushel. The
College has no campus, as most colleges go. The uninitiated visitor is
likely to visualize the entire institution as no more than a block wide
faded and cracked three stories, post-Revolutionary administration
building facing 50 magnificent oaks in a two-acre lawn in the heart of
downtown Charleston. Top-side the structure is a red painted rusting
old observatory; so long unused few of the faculty and students know
when it was abandoned. The college sees its entry into the state system
as forecasting a brighter day ahead. But the brighter day actually began
dawning, many of the faculty members think when Stern took the
helm.379

Teds energy and range were highlighted in an article in the News and Courier

that appeared in mid-August, a month after he was selected president of the new state

college. Under a banner headline, From College President to United Way Worker,

the paper reported that Ted had volunteered to head the professional division of the

Charleston regions largest fund-raising drive. Ted, who was a member of the local

United Way board, led the solicitation of doctors, dentists, architects, attorneys,

accountants, the clergy, optometrists, veterinarians, and public and private agencies.

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The article went on to list Teds other community activities. These included president

of the Charleston Area College Presidents, chair of the Trident Forum for the

Handicapped, member of the Charleston Concert Association board, president of the

Coastal Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America, board member of the Carolina

Lowcountry Council of the Girl Scouts of the USA, a director of the Charleston Rotary

Club, a member of the Policy Advisory Committee of the Office of Economic

Opportunity, advisory board member of the Charleston Tercentennial Commission,

and member of the states Higher Education Committee of the Tri-Centennial

Commission.380

Ted had been working nonstop for three years. He was about to take a break.

He and Alva and their friends Joe Riley Sr. and his wife, Helen, left Charleston on

September 21, 1970, for a three-week official tour of Europe. Their itinerary began

in Vienna and Oberammergau. They then flew to Athens and a three-day cruise to the

Greek islands on the MTS Apollo. On October 8, they flew from Athens to Rome,

where they stayed at the Grand Hotel on the Via Veneto.

The highlight of their three-day Roman Holiday was a private audience with

Pope Paul VI. The trip became official when Ted and Riley presented the Pope with

a medal from Governor McNair commemorating South Carolinas Tercentennial. A

photograph of the South Carolinians and the Pope appeared in the News and Courier.

Ted later recalled that when they met the pope, Big Joe, Charlestons quintessential

Irish Catholic, became tongue-tied. It was left to Ted the Jewish- Presbyterian to

explain the medals meaning to the Pope.381 After Rome, the Sterns

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and Rileys traveled to Florence, Milan, and Paris, returning to Charleston on October

13.

A few days before he had left for Europe, Ted presented the schools master

plan prepared by Geiger, McElveen & Kennedy to his Advisory Committee on Area

Preservation. The plan, Now for Tomorrow, was a guide for the schools

development over the following ten years. It differed radically in philosophy, vision,

and scope from the schools 1960 Decade of Development blueprint. The earlier

proposal, revised in 1965 and renamed Forward to a Third Century, focused on

basic necessities such as updated equipment, modern laboratories and classrooms, a

womens dormitory, and adequate library and additional departments of instruction,

not luxuries in any sense of the word. The earlier plan rejected the use of

governmental money that would lead to political domination. Instead, it saw private

philanthropy as the only way forward.382

Forward to a Third Century represented the old, private College of

Charleston. The Geiger, McElveen & Kennedy proposal, Now for Tomorrow,

opened with a new thesis. The College of Charleston formally became a unit of the

higher education system of the State of South Carolina on July 1, 1970. Thus, the

sphere of its direct influence and its service opportunities will increase significantly in

the ensuing decade. For example, its present enrollment of approximately 700 students

is expected to swell to 5,000 students by 1980. The new plan would meet the physical

challenges of that seven-fold expansion while maintaining the traditions and historic

significance of the College. The goal was to create a new look for a historic

204
campus, integrating the old with the new. Oneness would be achieved by stressing

the interdependence of service, classroom, laboratory, library, and related educational

facilities. The new College of Charleston would, preserve the historical traditions of

the campus area and create a learning environment complementary to the physical

development of the City of Charleston.383

Ted and the consultants did not underestimate the challenges of creating an

expanded campus in an urban neighborhood with historic buildings. The strategy

required significant land acquisition, restoration, relocation, and adaptation of historic

properties, as well as demolition and new construction. The closing of several streets

would provide a cohesive and coordinated atmosphere.

Geiger, McElveen & Kennedy proposed a seven-phase implementation of the

plan. Phase I was the acquisition of property for the new library, faculty and

administrative offices, and classrooms. Ted called on his friend, Joe Riley Sr. to

appraise the desired properties. The College of Charleston Foundation was authorized

to purchase the properties up to 10 percent above the appraisal. The threat of eminent

domain was enough to convince most property owners to sell. The strategy included

the preservation or relocation of historic properties. The goal was:

To heighten the historic significance of the area of the City of

Charleston and to strengthen what we consider to be a significant asset
for this evolving urban campus: Preservation of tradition and heritage
amid an atmosphere of modern, forward-looking academic process and
facilities. Thus, we hope to create a significant and unique blending of
past heritage with an academic quest for new frontiers.384

To achieve these objectives required replacing streets with pedestrian malls.

Ted wanted to close College, Green, and George Streets and convert them into brick

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walkways. He was able to close College and Green. However, he was thwarted in

closing George Street between St. Philip and Coming Streets. Charles H. Woodward, a

wealthy Philadelphian, who wintered at his mansion on Wentworth Street, objected to

closing George Street. He complained it would block his direct access to stores on

King Street. Woodward offered a $100,000 gift to the college to keep George Street

open. Ted said he would agree to the request for a $200,000 donation. George Street

remained open.385

Geiger, McElveen & Kennedy projected the total cost of implementing the

plan over ten years at $29,390,000.386 The actual cost over the remaining eight years

of Teds tenure would be $34 million.

As remarkable as the plan was, Teds tactics to achieve it were equally

extraordinary. Working with his new friend Pat Smith, head of the states Budget and

Control Commission; Sol Blatt; and the local legislative delegation, Ted amalgamated

state appropriations, government bonding capacity, and private philanthropy to fund

the colleges expansion. As he had done when he built the advance air patrol base in

Salinas Ecuador, Ted didnt always follow the rules. Floyd Tyler, the colleges vice

president for business affairs, later recalled:

Teds management style was very aggressive. He was always on top of

the fence. Was it legal? Illegal? We did not have time to get everything
approved. We had to buy [the houses] before everything went too high.
Buy now, ask questions later. We bought over 100 houses in three years.
We bought them and sold them to the state. We [the College
Foundation] had $1 million lines of credit with five banks. We borrowed
the money to buy the houses. I feared it all would fall on me if it
failed.387

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 Ted was fearless. He also understood that the conservative state legislators

would be uneasy about what he was doing. Edward Pinckney, Teds adviser and the

landscape architect who had a leading role in the campuss expansion and appearance,

said Ted avoided specifying to the legislators what he wanted to do. Instead, he

described constructing buildings, malls, restoring historic properties, and landscaping

as campus improvements.388

Money for the new library was not coming from the state. Instead, Ted secured

a $100,000 gift from Robert Scott Small, head of the Dan River Mills in Greenville,

South Carolina, and a 1936 alumnus. The library was named for Small. Its architects

were from the Charleston firm of Simons, Lapham, Mitchell and Small. The architect

Small was James, Robert Smalls brother. With Mendel Rivers help, Ted secured the

balance of the librarys funding with grants totaling nearly $1 million from the federal

Department of Health Education and Welfare.

Ted was launching his master plan, raising money to fund it, and engaging his

new staff in the work of transforming the school. Simultaneously he was soliciting

gifts to the United Fund. He also continued a frenetic speaking schedule to promote

the school. In November, he spoke to the Medical Society of South Carolina, telling

his audience that his priorities for the school were establishing programs in marine

science, the fine arts, teacher education, and urban affairs. Ted assured everyone the

schools expansion would not lead to lower academic standards. The College of

Charleston is determined to maintain its academic integrity, keeping its academic

excellence at the same time that it increases the number of people it serves.389

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 Ted also addressed the Charleston Jaycees. As usual, his talk was upbeat. He

praised the younger generation and stressed that any problem the country was facing

resulted from its success, not its failures. He described education as an investment, not

an expense and pointed to the lack of educational opportunities as the reason for the

brain drain Charleston had experienced.390

The year 1970 had been a momentous one for Ted and the College of

Charleston. The colleges future was secured, and Ted had emerged as one of the

states most effective citizens. As he approached his fifty-ninth birthday, the energetic

college president was in good health, except for a troublesome back. The coming year

was to be even more promising as the school launched its physical expansion. Then,

on December 28, three days after Teds birthday, his mentor and supporter

Congressman L. Mendel Rivers died suddenly at the age of sixty-five from

complications of open-heart surgery. Rivers had been the central figure in Teds

appointment as the colleges president. He was also a major force in Teds success in

his first two years in office. Ted would miss him.

Ted had adroitly guided the transition of the college to the state, gathered an

impressive administrative staff, hired Hill Womble to build the faculty and curriculum,

secured money for a new library, and created the College Foundation. In retrospect,

Teds first two and half years as president had been smooth sailing. Early in 1971, as

the physical expansion began, a few swells rocked Teds ship.

The first storm was over demolishing the Wagener House, an 1815 landmark at

6 Green Street to make way for the new library. The West Indian style house had been

208
moved once before to create the mall between the colleges main building and

Calhoun Street. But its new location was partly on the site of the planned Robert Scott

Small Library. When Ted learned that it would cost $30,000 to move the house, and

there was no guarantee the house would survive the move, he decided it would be

more cost-effective to demolish the building. It seemed like a practical decision. But it

became a flash point for what was a smoldering fear among conservative

Charlestonians that the new College of Charleston would bring with it too many

changes.

On Monday, February 16, 1971. Floyd Tyler, the schools young vice president

of business affairs, was in his office when one of the schools security officers came in

to tell him that a Mrs. Joseph Young and Mrs. Van Noy Thornhill, of the Charleston

Preservation Society, were standing in front of the bulldozer that was about to knock

down the Wagener House. Liz Young and her cohort, Jane Thornhill, would not be

moved. The two indomitable women and Francis Edmunds were keystones of

Charlestons historic preservation movement. Liz Young was also a member of Teds

Presidents Advisory Committee on Area Preservation. She told reporters who had

gathered to cover the spectacle that she and other members of Teds committee knew

nothing about the demolition until it was in progress.

The point is, Young said, we were appointed to help figure out the best and

most feasible way of preserving as many historic structures as possible while the

college expanded. The committee was not consulted about the possibility of 6 Green

being demolished and was told it was to be moved to a site on Coming Street. Young

concluded her interview, Im certainly not going to serve on a committee that has no

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meaning whatsoever.391 Ted had overplayed his hand assuming that his committee

would routinely legitimize his plans for the colleges physical expansion. It was one

of Teds few miscalculations in his expansion of the college. Floyd Tyler called Ted

who was attending a meeting in New Orleans. Ted ordered Tyler to stop the

demolition and left the meeting to return to Charleston.

Back in Charleston, Ted called an emergency meeting of his Advisory

Committee. He told them that his failure to consult with them was a

procedural error. There were so many circumstances, and I was so caught

in a time schedule that I took the action based on information I had. Ted

pointed out the school received grants from the Department of Health,

Education, and Welfare to erect the library on the site that included 6 Green

and he believed the library could not be relocated. Additionally, the College

did not own another piece of property on which to build the library. Liz

Young was optimistic about finding a solution for 6 Green Street. She

realized that 6 Green could not stay in place, but also lamented the demolition

of three other properties on College Street.392

An Evening Post editorial titled The Old and the New captured the dilemma.

The paper regretted the loss of historic buildings, even if they were of minimal

significance. Preservation was one of Charlestons assets. However, the colleges

remaining in Charleston was also valuable to the city. Its takeover by the state

guaranteed its continual existence. With its new life, it needed to expand. It is

unfortunate that in this instance building for the future is not entirely compatible with

retaining reminders of the past. Charleston cant have it both ways, and those in charge

210
at the College have made a decision they believe is necessary to desirable

development.393 The News and Courier weighed in with sympathetic

editorial.

Like politics, historic preservation is the art of the possible. In the latest
conflict over demolition of some old houses by the College of
Charleston to make room for new buildings, misgivings have arisen
among some of our favorite allies in preservation. Fortunately, college
authorities are also concerned about preservation. They are determined
to maintain the time-honored atmosphere of the campus and its
surroundings. The college has embarked on a period of expansion.
Some observers still believe it is a mistake to expand the college at the
present site. They say it should have moved elsewhere from the
beginning. The News and Courier supports another view; to keep the
college where it is, both to preserve the old campus buildings and to
maintain activity in a section that has been steadily losing ground
through the years. If the college were moved, we suspect that this
neighborhoodincluding perhaps the heart of the King Street shopping
centerwould sicken and die. A college is not only an institution of
learning but an important business in a community. It has a payroll, the
students are customers of local tradesman, and it generates steady
commercial traffic. The College is an asset to the metropolitan
community. Most especially it is a promising and appropriate industry
to revive the mid-section of the peninsula.394

The controversy stirred the lingering resentment among those who believed

Ted and the college were destroying their city. The backlash came in the form of

passionate letters to the local papers. The fact that one of the citys handsome little

groups of buildings is to be razed by the College of Charleston and the firm of Simons

& Lapham is involved is the unkindest cut of all to preservationists. These are friends

who have worked with us. These are friends who have sat on the Board of

Architectural Review and stopped others from such actions. These are honorable men.

What can we expect of others, when the old structures and their desires clash? The

author went on to suggest the Colleges location should be revisited. He said he spoke

for many when he wrote that historic properties were not the only thing lost as the

211
college expanded. There would be a loss of taxes as the school gobbled up property.

Indeed, we have eyes, but we see not. Friends and they hear not. Tongues and they

are silent: and so these crimes against posterity go on and on and on. Our heritage is

on the dump.395 Ben Scott Whaley, the longtime president of the Historic Charleston

Foundation, added, That fellow from off, a Yankee, wants to destroy our town.396

Complaints against Ted and the colleges expansion were gaining momentum.

Another letter-writer suggested expanding the college at its present location was a

mistake. As more and more private property is taken over by the college, it will result

in higher taxes for each homeowner in Charleston County, since the college property

will be tax exempted. There was also the problem of parking for the expanded student

body and staff. The Baptist College was wise to locate outside the city limits where

there was much more land available at more reasonable prices. We also have a

precedent in the movement of the Citadel from Marion Square to its present

location.397

It was noted the college as a state institution was not subject to Charleston city

ordinances. Ted aggravated this fact when he wrote to the chair of Charlestons Board

of Architectural Review two weeks before the start of the demolition of 6 Green. Ted

intended his letter as a legalistic preemptive strike. It had the opposite effect. In his

letter, Ted noted, as a state institution the college was exempt from any regulations of

the City or County of Charleston. Ted attempted to soften the letters tenor:

As a matter of information and interest to your Board and as a gesture

of respect and courtesy, the Administration of the College proposes to
send to your Board certain visual data concerning the proposed
restoration of certain old dwellings. This will require no action from

212
 your Board but is tendered in the spirit of good community relations
and understanding which this Administration considers most
desirable.398

The Charlestons Architectural Review Board would not gain legal authority over the

college until 1976 when most of Teds physical transformation of the school was

completed. However, in early 1971 Teds actions and letter were hot buttons. The

colleges expansion plans were unraveling. Ted needed to act quickly, and he did.

At the Advisory Committees meeting on February 17 Ted apologized for not

seeking the committees advice. Liz Young responded that both Ted and the

committee shared blame for the lack of communication. Another committee member

said that he feared the committee would be a rubber stamp, and he did not want to

serve if that were the case. Ted used the excuse that the State College Board of

Trustees had approved the plans for the schools expansion including construction of

the library on the 6 Green Street site. Peter Manigault expressed his concern that the

lack of communication and the following controversy would hurt the college. He

recommended studying the cost of saving both Green and the library project.399

Within two days Ted framed a compromise. The library was moved twenty feet

north toward Calhoun Street, 6 Green would be moved to the plot made available by

demolishing 8 Green Street, and 10 Green Street would remain in place. A motion was

made and seconded by Liz Young to accept Teds compromise. It passed

unanimously, with Rufus Barkley abstaining.

Ted was not out of the woods yet. Francis Edmunds requested the committee

receive complete copies of Geiger, McElveen & Kennedys ten-year plan for its

review. The newspapers also wanted a copy of the plan. Ted responded it was

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premature to release details of the plan to the public and wanted his advisory

committee to complete its review of the plan and make recommendations to the State

College Board of Trustees. State Senator J. Kenneth Rentiers, an alumnus, warned.

The public is entitled to know the full extent of the expansion plans of the College of

Charleston. I hope that the college authorities see that those plans are published in full

as soon as possible. If they do not see fit to do this, then I would take steps to see that

its done for them.400 Rentiers also suggested the college should be subject to the

citys Board of Architectural Review. Gordon H. Garret, Superintendent of the North

Charleston School District, recently recognized by the College with an honorary

degree, also asked Ted to publish the plan and concurred that there should be some

local control over its implementation.401

Within a month of the bulldozer incident, Ted and the college changed course.

The minutes of the Advisory Committee meetings on March 3 and March 16 reflected

a new tone and a new approach. Ted was attentive in seeking the committees advice

and approval for specific actions implementing the colleges expansion including the

relocation of houses, the design of new buildings, and classroom color schemes. A few

months after the controversy receded:

President Stern expressed his appreciation to the Committee for the

many hours that they have contributed to the Colleges expansion
program. Through the Committees dedication to tradition and the
architects ingenuity, a truly wonderful and exciting phase is occurring
in the history of the College of Charleston.402

On Teds recommendation, the State College Board cancel plans for a sports complex

and parking garage scheduled for the west side of Coming Street. The Board also

restricted new construction to the four blocks bounded by George, Philip, Coming, and

214
Calhoun streets. However, they left open the possibility of future expansion beyond

the area.

Ted was a good listener. He had heard and responded to the concerns of a

community steeped in tradition and uncomfortable with rapid change. He took a step

back from knocking down 6 Green Street and bulldozing the committee which he

had created to endorse his decisions. He compromised while retaining his goals. Teds

ability to sense the moment, avoid confrontation, and engage those who did not share

his ideas came into play. They were skills he had used as a student leader at Johns

Hopkins and during his twenty-eight years in the Navy. Teds astute handling of his

Advisory Committee on Area Preservation, his support from the local press and the

business community who saw the economic benefits of a larger school in the heart of

the city, checked the passions that had the potential of derailing his plans for the

school.

The 6 Green Street controversy was not Teds only problem. While Ted was

calming the preservation dustup, about a hundred students decided to boycott the

colleges cafeteria. Asked by the press about it, Ted responded, Some of the students

dont like the food. One student described the food as monotonous. The menu had not

changed since he was a freshman. There were also complaints the cafeteria was selling

lunches to construction workers working on the schools new buildings and neglecting

the students. Usually, Ted would personally address the issue. But his plate was full.

Instead, he referred the grievance to the schools Food Service Committee.403

Bad food was a minor problem. As Ted was working out a compromise with

his advisory committee, the Student Government Association (SGA) created a

215
thousand-dollar loan fund available to the colleges coeds seeking abortions.

Simultaneously, the SGA established a committee, To study the availability of low-

cost contraceptives in the Charleston area.404 Ted initially defended the students

action. The fund is certainly not to encourage promiscuity, he added that

professional consultants would administer the fund, and it would be available for other

student emergencies.405 Recognizing the volatility of the students actions, Ted

worked quietly behind the scenes to block the SGAs initiatives. It took only two days

for the SGA to reverse course.406

Ted did not need protests against the schools expansion, bad food, abortions,

and contraceptives to distract his attention. The school was also facing a financial

crunch. In the fall of 1970, the school had 810 students. For the spring semester, there

were 1,009. Applications for the 197172 year nearly doubled from the year before.

To address the rapid expansion, Ted asked the Charleston delegation to add half a

million dollars to the schools state appropriation. Ted noted, The potential for

growth at the College of Charleston is the greatest of any institution in the state.

Money was needed to align the tuition with the other state schools, add books to the

library, and purchase new equipment for the schools laboratories. Ted noted that the

colleges physical plant and instructional tools were obsolete. The Smithsonian

Institution is anxious to have some of our laboratory equipment. The college had no

auditorium or lecture hall and was renting space for 276 classroom seats and twenty-

seven faculty offices. Plans were proceeding for a $3 million general classroom

building, a $1.6 million central energy building, and a $1.7 million extension to the

womens dormitory.407 It seemed that things were moving too quickly, even for Ted.

216


The symbolic beginning of the schools physical expansion took place on the

second Founders Day, March 19, 1971, a month after the flare-up of the 6 Green

Street controversy. James Dickey, the Pulitzer Prizewinning American poet, was the

principal speaker. The highlight of the day was groundbreaking for the Robert Scott

Small Library. At noon, under threatening skies, state college board chair, James

Rogers, addressed the gathering of dignitaries at the construction site. Rogers lauded

the significance of launching the schools physical expansion with a library that was at

the heart of the colleges mission. Ted spoke and said constructing the library was,

The first step in an extensive expansion plan which will permit the college to expand

its program of excellence in higher education to large numbers of South Carolinians.

The cornerstone laid today is the cornerstone of a multimillion-dollar construction

program for the college and for the city.408 Cussie Johnson later said the library

groundbreaking was when he finally realized the school that he loved would remain

where it had been for two hundred years.409

The library was only the beginning. The growth that was about to take place

included added classrooms and administrative offices, a new science building,

dormitories, and a student center. There was additional housing for faculty and

department offices, laboratories, and the new central energy plant to power and light

the enlarged school. The main building was restored, enlarged on its north side, and

renamed for Harrison Randolph, the colleges legendary president. The Small Library

itself would also expand with the addition of two wings. Brick pedestrian malls lined

with live oaks and azaleas would replace streets. Ted was guiding all of it. One student

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later remembered Ted in a hard hat riding up St. Philip Street in the back of a dump

truck with a group of state legislators. Ted was gesturing in all directions, regaling his

companions with descriptions of the new construction taking place all around them.410

As Ted led the schools transformation, he also worked to increase alumni

support. A series of alumni receptions took place in Atlanta, Spartanburg, and

Washington, D.C. The site of the Washington gathering was the Senate Office

Building Caucus Room. The hosts were Senator Fritz Hollings and his wife, Liddy, a

1957 graduate of the college.

No detail was too small for Teds attention. When Ted returned to Charleston

after the Washington reception, he recruited a star athlete for the renewed basketball

team. Kenneth Gus Gustafson was a high school basketball sensation from Islip,

Long Island. Gustafson and his mother visited the campus and were entertained by

Ted and Alva in the Presidents House. It was Teds persuasive personality and

Charlestons blossoming azaleas that convinced the Yankee to come south to the

college.

Gustafson would star for the Cougars basketball team during his four years

and would hold the teams scoring record for thirty-six years. Following graduation,

Gustafson settled in Charleston and served his school as chair of the College of

Charleston Foundation Board, the Alumni Board, and the Cougar Club Board. He was

a founding member of the schools 1770 Society, recognizing those who annually

contribute to the college one thousand dollars and above. The star athlete from Long

Island became the kind of public serviceinspired alumnus Ted had envisioned for the

new College of Charleston.

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 Recruiting a New York scholastic basketball star reflected the changes Ted was

bringing to the school. Another example occurred at the May 27, 1971,

commencement when Edward Eddie Ganaway became the colleges first African-

American graduate. That fall, Chandra Vick entered the college. She was a basketball

star and the schools first African-American cheerleader. Like Eddie Ganaway, Vick

found some white students and several professors hostile, believing that African-

Americans were not qualified to be at their school. Vick was not intimidated and,

although denied membership in the schools honor society, became secretary of the

Student Government Association. She recalled:

Ted Stern was hands-on with the students. He had an open door. We
could come and talk to him. You did not have to have an appointment.
He was upright, a straight shooter, accessible. He made things happen.
Ted Stern made the College a place where African Americans could
feel comfortable. He was a great mentor.

With Teds encouragement, Vick went on to receive an MBA from the University of

South Carolina and later a law degree from the University of Texas.411

Otto German was another student-athlete Ted helped recruit. He was a 1969

graduate of Moultrie High School in Mt. Pleasant, across the Cooper River from

Charleston. German remembers that at the time blacks were not welcomed by many at

the college, and some of the faculty slighted black students. However, Teds reputation

for ending Jim Crow traditions at the Charleston Navy Base gave the black community

the confidence to send their children to the previously all-white school. German

recalled the atmosphere on campus was mostly calm. Ted encouraged all the

students, black and white, to do better. He was stern and had little tolerance for

people who screwed up. Ted helped me be the person I am today.412 German

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returned after his graduation in 1973 to work for the college and in 1992 was

appointed the director of the schools NCAA compliance program. Leroy Ellis,

another African-American athlete at the time had different recollections of life on

campus. I never had a problem with the faculty or the white students. I liked to talk,

so I talked to everyone.413 Henrietta Golding served as president of the Student

Government Association in the early 1970s. She recalled that she had never met

anyone like Ted Stern.

Ted was a friend to all the students. He would entertain students at his
beach house on the Isle of Palms, cooking up steaks and hamburgers as
the young people swam in his pool or in the Atlantic a few steps away.
He was in charge. He was determined. He told me, as a woman I would
need a profession to be successful.

Golding, who one day would serve on the colleges board, remembered that when one

of the students family businesses ran into trouble, Ted cosigned a ten-thousand-dollar

loan to help the family recover.414

Dan Ravenel Jr., who headed the Student Government Association in 197172,

remembered Ted as generous, jovial, and visionary. Ted still knew most of the

students by name and was interested in what they were doing. When Ravenel asked

Ted if he could join an antiVietnam War protest, Ted responded that it was fine for

one day. However, if Ravenel missed two days, he would receive zeroes for all his

classes.415

Teds multitasking ability was one of his greatest strengths. Two weeks after

1971, commencement Ted announced he would chair the 197172 United Way

Campaign in Berkeley, Charleston, and Lower Dorchester counties. It was the regions

most important fund-raising effort and involved hundreds of volunteers. When asked

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why he accepted the assignment, Ted responded, It is the total tri-county

communitys largest effort and commitment to help all kinds of people with all kinds

of problems.416 A few months after Ted took on the United Way job, Charleston

Mayor Palmer Gaillard appointed him to a committee studying the feasibility of

building a convention center in Charleston. Ted was elected the chair at the

committees first meeting.417

Ted began his third year at the college with the wind at his back. He and Alva

had arrived in Charleston only six years earlier. In that time, Ted became one of

Charlestons most consequential citizens. He was guiding the colleges makeover

through stormy seas and overseeing a multimillion-dollar capital expansion that would

fuel Charlestons renaissance. In the fall of 1971, the College of Charleston

Foundation began buying properties on Calhoun, George, St. Philip, and Green streets

to make room for a new classroom building, a central energy facility, and a science

building. The $1.6 million classroom building was named for Senator Burnet R.

Maybank, class of 1919. Maybank had been mayor of Charleston and South Carolinas

governor. The 43,000-square foot building was to include thirty-three classrooms, a

lecture hall for 125, thirty-five faculty offices, and a faculty lounge. The 71,420-square

foot science building would house the schools mathematics, biology, chemistry,

biochemistry, geology, physics, and astronomy departments. It was later named for

Rita Liddy Peatsy Hollings, class of 1957, the beloved Charleston teacher and wife

of South Carolina Senator Ernest Fritz Hollings.

One of Teds aspirations was the creation of a cultural center on St. Philip

Street, to the east of Harrison Randolph Hall. The center would be the home of the

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schools fine arts department, a new, primary area of concentration. Teds dream was

not restricted to the schools fine art department. He envisioned the building also as

home to the citys Gibbes Museum of Art, and the Charleston Museum. The art

museum was in an antiquated beaux-arts building on Meeting Street. The Charleston

Museum, which claimed to be the oldest museum in the country, was in the

ramshackle Confederate Hall on Rutledge Avenue.

Ted was not seeking to acquire the museums collections for the college. Each

museum would retain ownership of its collection. Exhibiting their collections in a

college-owned building would permit the museums staffs to concentrate on

improving their holdings. A cooperative arrangement would give the college

educational resources which it would not otherwise have and provide the museums

with excellent facilities which would enhance their value to the community. It was the

type of win-win that Ted loved.418 Teds dream did not happen. Institutional pride

and trustee egos proved insurmountable. The Gibbes stayed in its Meeting Street

building, and the Charleston Museum eventually moved into a new building across the

street from the Charleston Visitors Center.

Although stymied in creating a new cultural center for Charleston on the

colleges campus, Ted made significant contributions to the preservation of the citys

most important cultural artifacts, its historic buildings. The Blacklock House on Bull

Street, just west of the campus, was given to the school by New York financier

Richard H. Jenrette. Ted had the three-story national historic landmark restored and

adapted for use as the Alumni Associations headquarters and as a faculty club. Plans

were underway to restore the Lesesne House on Green Street as a staff residence. The

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neighboring Sottile House was restored to serve as a student health center that

included examining rooms and a small pharmacy. Albert Simons, who was a member

of Teds Area Preservation Committee, was given the job of renovating the main

building. Simons added a wing on the building's plain north facade to complement

the design of the south frontage. The new wing housed an elevator providing access

to all three levels. Ted insisted the building remain the heart of the college, house

classrooms as well as administrative offices, and continue to be the schools tallest

building.

Edward Pinckney, a landscape architect from Clemson University, was hired to

advise Ted on the campus expansion and played a major role in creating what Ted

would one day describe as the countrys most beautiful urban campus.419 Pinckneys

important contribution was recommending ways to maintain the campuss scale,

building relationships, and providing herringbone brick malls to unite the colleges

center. Ted endorsed the brick walkways. He remembered the tar patchwork streets of

the New York City of his youth resulting from the constant excavations to access the

citys underground utilities. The colleges services branched out from the new central

energy building on Calhoun and Coming Streets under the bricks. When there was a

need to access the utility lines, the brick walkways could be easily dug up and re-laid.

The whirlwind of change that Ted was bringing to the old school continued to

be disparaged by a vocal minority. As the steel structures for the new library,

classroom building, and science center were erected, old buildings restored, land

cleared for new buildings, and the student body rapidly expanding, there was

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pushback. In the fall of 1971, the schools newspaper, The Meteor, published an

article, Expansion: Pros & Cons: What will Happen to C of C?

Those of us who have attended the College of Charleston for the past
three years have witnessed an amazing growth, not only in the number
of students but also in the physical plant of the College. The growth
has caused a number of changes, most of them for the better. Student
services have been increased; lines of communication widened between
students and the administration, and the curriculum has been greatly
broadened. There is, however, a limit to which a college can grow and
remain on a happy, personal basis with the students. One of the major
attractions of the College of Charleston is the personal attention paid
to the individual student. The fear is that this tradition of personal
attention may fall by the wayside in the rush to grow and expand the
college. This would be tragic to all who love this college.420

A letter from a student in The Meteors same edition was even blunter. The College

of Charleston is being slowly strangled. The writer went on to lament the new rules

governing class attendance.

Not only is this anti-individualistic (anti-thesis of C of C precepts) but it

smacks of a third grade, e.g. seating charts. The administrations
abolition of Rat Season and turning of the Chapel into a Presidential
anteroom are only last years additions. All realize we must grow, but if
one really wants to maintain C of Cs reputation, the College should not
have to grow rapidly this year. We have as many old as new, too many
to effectively integrate into the living standards of the College.

Echoing the misgivings of many of the students who entered as a freshman when Ted

was appointed president, the writer concluded, Its damn depressing.421

The rapidity and scale of the changes were also disconcerting to the faculty

from the earlier period as well as many newcomers. In October 1971, several of the

older faculty proposed creating a new committee.

We intend to ask ourselves and anyone else we can find about such
matters as the yearly calendar, grading, teaching methods, fields of
study and all the rest of the mechanics of higher education. We shall
ask also about the needs of the community for technical education and

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 about the essential principles of a liberal education, for we have
already agreed that we cannot sacrifice our commitment to education
for life as well as for living.422

The battle for the colleges soul would be played out in skirmishes during the

rest of Teds tenure. The principal battleground was the faculty meetings that Ted had

formalized in the spring of 1971.423 The faculty clashed with Ted and Dean Womble

over increased flexibility in the required course of study. New majors in business

administration, education, physics, and urban studies were viewed by some as the

professionalization of the curriculum. Scholarships were now offered for athletic

skill as well as academic achievement. Hill Womble soon became a lightning rod

attracting most of the facultys bolts. Ted remained largely above the fray, securing

money from the legislature for the schools rapidly expanding campus and faculty

salaries.

Ted, the former Navy captain, was used to being in command, and he

intimidated many of the professors. Some saw Ted as a capricious autocrat. They felt

Ted rarely asked for their opinions, even in academic matters. Still, most grudgingly

respected Ted for saving the school and giving it a new life. However, there were

those who believed as the college expanded, its quality diminished.424 They pointed

to Teds lowering of the schools admissions requirements as an example of his

negative impact.

Teds thinking on admission standards reflected that of the states Commission

on Higher Education (CHE). The CHE report Goals for Higher Education to 1980,

published in 1972, proposed a more democratic role for the states institutions of

higher learning, particularly for the College of Charleston, which CHE viewed as a

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general purpose school. The Commission considered Clemson and the University of

South Carolina the states premier institutions with higher admission standards. The

newly created state schools in Charleston and Florence were to provide an opportunity

for learning beyond high school for all those who need it and seek it. The

commission wished to lower the socio-economic barriers to higher education.425 The

State College Board of Trustees, which governed the College of Charleston, echoed

the CHEs position.

The Colleges practice in admissions must be guided by the obligation

to make itself as accessible as possible and to afford the opportunity to
demonstrate performance, rather than to extend its academic resources
only to those identified as sure winners on the basis of past
performance. The Colleges standards must, of course, be upheld, and
in affording their chance to a larger number, the College must
inevitably expect a higher attrition rate. Still, its institutional mission as
the areas general-purpose college will have been fulfilled in that the
opportunity has been made available.426

Ted announced that for the 197273 academic year the college would no

longer use an applicants Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score as the sole guide for

admission.427 He defended his decision. I personally feel that standards of a college

are not established by who you admit, but by the standards you employ in the

classrooms and by who you graduate.428 He saw the new admission policy as a shot

in the arm for his already dynamic expansion efforts. Altering admission standards

meant a larger pool of potential students would qualify for admittance to the college.

The changed standards led to an accelerated expansion of the student body, which in

turn impacted state appropriations for the colleges operations and capital programs.

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 The new admission standards fueled increasing uneasiness about the schools

direction among the faculty and alumni. Ted tried to calm these fears by declaring that

he had, Deep confidence in the academic integrity of its faculty. He added that he:

Scrupulously avoids any action that might be misinterpreted as

interference with the facultys responsibility of assigning ones grades
that reflect the level of the students accomplishment in the class. It is
the Colleges policy that the integrity of the institution is based on the
level of expectation of its faculty and that no instructor should feel
reluctant to report a large number of lower grades based upon his own
honest judgment.

Ted pointed to the upgraded library and the impressive increase in the number of PhDs

among the rapidly expanding faculty as measures of the schools academic strength.

In practice, the new admissions policy had little negative effectin fact, just

the opposite. There was a marked increase in the number of students entering the

college ranking in the upper 20 percent of their high school graduating class. The

number of high school valedictorians entering the college also increased.429 It was

classic Ted Stern focusing on the positive side of change rather than stoking the

anxiety that change sometimes brings to those with smaller visions.

These attributes were in evidence as Ted began his fourth year as president. He

was honored as Salesman of the Year by the Charleston Sales and Marketing

Executives International and elected president of the Charleston Rotary Club. Even as

the public acclaim grew Teds attention to detail and empathy for those in need, first

seen in his response to the earthquake in Salinas, Ecuador, thirty years earlier

remained. On February 7, 1972, Ted received a memorandum from Dean Womble

advising him that a student had missed one day of school because of a fire in which

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she lost all her books and clothes. She had no insurance. Ted wrote the young woman

the following:

I was shocked to hear that your home had been destroyed by fire last
week, and I am certain that I express the feelings of the entire College
community in saying that I share with you and your family the sorrow
and despair that always accompanies such a tragedy. I know the coming
months will be difficult for you, but I hope that you will turn to the
College for any assistance you might need. If there is any way that I can
personally help you at this time, please dont hesitate to call on me.430

The year 1972 would be another watershed for Ted and Alva. They would both

celebrate their sixtieth birthdays and their twenty-second wedding anniversary. As the

wife of the president, Alva entertained visiting legislators, faculty, and students at the

Presidents House and their home on the Isle of Palms. In many ways, it was what she

had done as the wife of a naval officer. However, while Ted seemed to be

inexhaustible, Alva was tiring. Her circle of close friends in Charleston was small. It

included Helen Riley and Helen Patla, the wife of Teds friend and Charleston antique

dealer Jack Patla. Alva was not enamored with Charleston society. Her strong spirit

and wit were markedly different from old Charleston, collectively labeled as being

from South of Broad. Living and entertaining in the Presidents House felt like

constantly being in the spotlight. Alva wanted to have a home she could call her own.

The house on the Isle of Palms was not the refuge she was seeking. She wanted to

escape to a place as distant from Charleston, if not in mileage, in character and style as

she could. She found her place in North Carolina.

In the summer of 1972, Alva saw an advertisement in the News and Courier

for a farm near Sparta, the seat of Allegheny County, North Carolina. The village,

228
located in the Blue Ridge Mountains just south of the North CarolinaVirginia border,

had a population of a little over a thousand. It was a hundred miles north of Charlotte

and three hundred miles from Charleston. The areas topography and character were as

different from Charleston as one could get. The available two-hundred-acre farm was

next to the Blue Ridge Parkway nine miles up a dirt mountain road from Sparta, Bob

Chambers, Big Joe Rileys son-in-law, handled the listing.

Chambers didnt respond to Alvas letter of inquiry, later telling her that he

didnt think she was serious. When Alva complained to Big Joe, Ted, Alva, and the

Rileys decided to drive up to see the farm. The interstate highways were not

completed, so the trip from Charleston took eight hours. The Sterns and Rileys

stayed overnight in Winston Salem and drove to Sparta the next morning. Ted recalled

that on their arrival the farmhouse was shrouded in fog. When Alva heard the gurgling

of a nearby brook, she was sold. Ted bought the farm for $94,000. Alva told Ted,

Charleston is your place, this is my place.431 Ted joked that he loved the beach, but

Alva loved the mountains, so they compromised.432 Sparta would be another important

chapter in their lives.

That same summer of 1972 Ted began his one-year term as president of the

Charleston Rotary. When Ted was elected, he received a congratulatory letter from

William Barnhart, a local dentist.

Our Rotary Club is to be heartily congratulated as well as yourself on

having you as its next president. As I remarked at the club, everyone
knows that since you were born on Christmas Day, you are Gods gift to
the Holy City of Charleston. I have often said that you did more for the
College of Charleston in a couple of years than all the other presidents
in a couple of hundred years. You are a nuclear dynamo in trousers.

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Barnhart observed Ted would be only the second damn Yankee to be

president of the Charleston Rotary Club which proves how exceptional you

are.433

When students arrived on campus in September 1972, they were greeted

with the Meteor headline BOOM U. Four new buildings were under

construction: Burnet Rhett Maybank Hall, an addition to the womens

dormitory, a central energy plant, and wings to the recently completed Robert

Scott Small Library. Demolition of buildings on the future sites of the unnamed

student center and science building was underway. Twenty-seven neighborhood

buildings purchased by the College of Charleston Foundation were being

renovated and converted for the colleges use. Equally unsettling for some was

the growth of the student body. Since becoming a state school two years earlier,

the number of students had grown from 499 to 2,590. The size of the faculty had

doubled, resulting in a much-expanded curriculum. The school now offered its

first graduate program leading to a Masters Degree in education.434

The 197273 academic year was the first with all four classes being Sterns.

The changes he was bringing to the college were creating challenges. He had taken

over a much smaller school four years earlier. It was a school where he knew the

students names and personally interacted with the small faculty. Intimate faculty

gatherings and meetings were in the past. So were Teds capacity to remember

everyones name and to have his hands on all the schools levers. Success was testing

Teds management style.

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 Ted described his managing philosophy as getting people to work together, do

whatever it takes to get the job done, and dont let structure get in the way of

progress.435 Betty Craig, Teds longtime secretary, described her boss as detail

oriented and a perfectionist. The atmosphere in Teds office was strictly business, no

personal chitchat. He was military. He expected the people that worked for him to

do their jobs. Ted answered all his correspondence and returned all calls. He had an

open-door policy and never turned away anyone who wanted to see him.

Ted was a micromanager. He wanted no surprises and required the faculty and

administrators to send him a yellow copy of all their correspondence and memos. If

he had a question about a particular memo, Ted would write in the memos upper

right-hand corner, See Me, TSS. If this was followed by three slashes, it meant that

it was serious. Every morning there was a line of faculty and administrators outside

Teds office responding to Teds summons.436 Faculty members during the period

recalled that Ted even decided what furniture would go into their offices. Some

believed he was destroying the culture of a historically elite school that had the

tradition, if not the reality, of high standards. Many resented Teds management style,

his application of business methods to the colleges operations, and objected to Teds

efforts to achieve an economy of scale by increasing class size and reducing

supplies.437

Ted usually was first to the office and went straight to work. As he arrived, he

often dumped the trash he had picked up on his walk from the Presidents House into

Betty Craigs wastebasket. At the end of the day, he carried a full briefcase home

where he worked late into the evening while watching television.438 Ted claimed he

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needed only four or five hours sleep. Beside his bed was a notepad ready for any new

idea that might occur to him in the middle of the night.439 Ted considered his many

lobbying trips on Interstate 26 to Columbia work opportunities. While Smity, his

driver, drove, Ted was in the backseat working alone or with Cussie Johnson, Robert

B. Bobby Scarborough, the head of the Charleston County legislative delegation, or

the brilliant Charleston attorney, Gedney Howe. Some described Teds car as

Charlestons brain trust on wheels.440

Ted preferred one-on-ones to staff meetings. It was important to come quickly

to the point. The meetings were brief, usually lasting no more than ten minutes.441

Floyd Tyler, the schools longtime vice president of business affairs, recalled, Ted

was always moving. He was tough, thick skinned. He was impatient. He operated from

a Navy culture but tried to adapt to the academics. He had a temper but controlled it.

He thought anything could get done. He did not want to hear no. We never stopped

working. He was always running the show. He listened to the faculty. However, the

final decision was his. He was strong but not vicious. Deep down he had a sympathetic

heart. He did not want to hurt anybody.442

Ted once described himself as a Lone Ranger manager.443 It was an astute

self-assessment. In management jargon, Lone Rangers are bright and articulate

impresarios. They view success as dependent on their energy and skills. They

sometimes dont take advice even when they solicit it. Their ability to avoid

confrontation helps them administer organization with complex constituencies. Lone

Rangers value personal loyalty. For some with this management style, success can

lead to feelings of invincibility. For people under them, it can lead to unhappiness

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accompanied by grudging respect. Lone Rangers understand that their success needs a

strong supporting staff.444 Ted had a significant additional asset. Alva didnt allow Ted

to think himself invincible or take himself too seriously. She often publicly and

privately brought him down to reality with a lively quip. Ted appreciated Alvas

deflating comments, which served as his rudder and stabilizer.445

As we have seen, Ted was a good listener. He asked the right questions and

was supportive of his staff. He told you if you screwed up. But Ted never ridiculed

staff in public and rarely fired people.446 In one of those rare incidents, Ted told a

young female faculty member that she did not fit in and would be let go. She

strenuously objected. Ted threw up his hands and told her to see Academic Dean

Womble. She continued to teach at the college for the next thirty-five years.447

As he did a quarter century earlier when he was building an advanced air patrol

base at Salinas, Ecuador, Ted focused on getting the job done. Floyd Tyler described

Ted as impatient. He believed he didnt have time to have everything approved by the

states bureaucracy. Teds motto was act now; ask questions later.448 Ted paid little

attention to criticism. He had taken his cousin Robert Mosess advice to have the skin

of a crocodile.

Teds biggest nemeses were members of the faculty who resented what they

saw as Teds lack of academic credentials and arbitrary management. Some of the

faculty viewed Ted as a tyrant. The strongest pushback came from the science faculty

who detested Teds concentration on teaching and what they viewed as his lack of

support for research.

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 Floyd Tyler recalled the day when all the schools department heads met with

Ted in his office to straighten him out. Ted listened as the professors told him he did

not understand the academic world and the need for collegiality in the schools

management. After listening for an hour, Ted asked if anyone else had something to

say. There was silence. Ted then advised the professors he appreciated their

comments. However, he was president of the college, and as long as he held the

position, he would make the rules and the decisions. If any of the faculty were

unhappy, he would be pleased to write them a letter of recommendation. There was

stunned silence, and the delegation meekly walked out. Tyler later recalled, after that,

the faculty knew where they and Ted stood.449

In preparation for reaccreditation by SACS due in 1975, the faculty prepared a

self-study, which included an evaluation of the schools leadership. It was an

opportunity for some faculty members to covertly vent their frustration with Ted.

History Professor Malcolm Clark, who chaired the self-study, summarized the

facultys view of Ted:

Although the President of the College received the most favorable of

evaluations, revealing faculty confidence, support, and a high rating of
overall performance, there were still some who observed that he ought to
delegate more responsibility, that he should involve the faculty more in
making decisions, and that he could use better methods of recruitment
for administrative positions. Communications between the faculty and
the administration are weak and must be improved. Two examples of this
failure in this regard are: the Faculty Committee on Athletics was not
consulted before the recent addition of two new intercollegiate sports.
Neither the Faculty Curriculum Committee nor the faculty as a whole
was consulted before a major in business administration was
established.450

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 Respectful unhappiness characterized many of the schools academic staff

during Teds tenure. However, most did not view Ted as mean-spirited. They

welcomed what he was doing for their school. As one faculty member recalled, He

presided over a faculty that lived in awe of his management and political skills and in

fear of his autocratic and unpredictable behavior.451

A 1974 graduate of the college who went on to Stanford and Harvard to teach

business administration and coach executives at major American corporations

described Ted as a leader who knew where he wanted to go and sought consensus to

achieve his vision.

Ted was the opposite of arrogant. His phenomenal electrifying smile captured
a room as did his metaphysical bigness. You knew when he was in a room. His
hugs and handshakes touched everyone. He would greet people with Hows
my boy, or Hows my girl. He made you feel you were his friend. He avoided
confrontation and moved like a bumper car maneuvering to get to the other
side. When opposed, he would say, Lets look at this differently. He was not
dogmatic. He was pragmatic and never took things personally or held a
grudge.452

Those who were at the college before Ted realized that he was saving the school. Ted

also astutely created a buffer between himself and the faculty. He allowed Dean Hill

Womble to spearhead academic changes. As a result, many of the faculty who

disagreed with Teds methods and academic initiatives focused their loathing on Hill

Womble. They would have their revenge when they later blocked Wombles selection

as Teds successor.453

The facultys antipathy peaked during the 197273 academic year. The issue

was tenure. The teaching staff, like the student body, was rapidly growing. More than

twenty new faculty members had arrived in the fall of 1972. The tight job market

made the college competitive in drawing the best and the brightest. The new

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academics came with doctoral degrees from Harvard, Duke, the University of

Virginia, Northwestern, Yale, Emory, the University of South Carolina, and Georgia.

These schools traditionally gave faculty parity with the administration. Ted Stern was

unlike any university or college president the new professors had known. Adding to

their disquiet was, what some viewed, as the arrogant and manipulative, Dean Hill

Womble.

The question of tenure became a flash point. Ted privately was against tenure.

He viewed it as a limit on his ability to manage the school and an unwarranted

protection for non-performing employees. Another factor in Teds thinking was that

the rapid increase in the faculty meant that many of the new hires were on parallel

tenure tracks. They would come up for tenure at roughly the same time, possible

leading to a fossilized faculty. Cussie Johnson, chair of the State College Board of

Trustees, shared Teds view. To avoid locking in the faculty, Ted favored a quota

system for tenure. However, both Ted and Cussie were careful not to express their

views publicly.

In November 1972, James W. Hagy, recently hired associate professor of

history and president of the colleges Chapter of the American Association of

University Professors (AAUP), wrote the faculty proposing new employment policies

and procedures for the college that followed the AAUP guidelines. Concurrently, the

Faculty Welfare Committee chaired by chemistry professor Carl Likes, a 1937

graduate of the College, addressed the same issues of employment and tenure.

The question of tenure came to a head four months later when the colleges

Welfare Committee, now headed by Sister Anne Francis of the History Department,

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delivered its report on the schools employment practices to the monthly faculty

meeting. Teds old adversary, the biology professor Norman Chamberlain, made a

motion, seconded by Professor Gerald Gibson, strongly opposing a quota based tenure

system.

It is the recommendation of the Faculty of the College of Charleston that

the State College Board of Trustees not establish a system of quotas for
promotion or for tenure. Nothing could be more demoralizing to the
faculty than the knowledge that for some tenure and promotion are
impossible regardless of excellence while for others tenure and
promotion are possible regardless of competence. Under such a system
the institution would surely suffer.

A lively discussion followed. Ted, who chaired all faculty meetings and normally let

Dean Womble represent his position, relinquished the chair to Womble. Ted stated a

system without fixed quotas would be difficult to manage. He described

Chamberlains motion as unhelpful to the faculty and the administration. However, to

avoid a confrontation, Ted told the faculty that he would not recommend fixed quotas

to the State College Board. Instead, he offered an extended period of tenure eligibility.

In place of four years, Ted suggested six years with notice if tenure was not to be

granted after seven years. Ted resumed the chair, and Dean Womble spoke to the heart

of the issue. He explained the schools expansion required the rapid employment of

faculty who would come up for tenure simultaneously. This posed a challenge for

future administrators by limiting the schools flexibility in hiring new blood.

Womble felt the up or out policy would do more harm than a discretionary policy.

Newly hired Assistant Professor of Political Science Neal S. Steinert responded

that Womble was suggesting a system of dismissal. Steinert defended a positive

tenure policy that would contribute to academic freedom and economic stability at the

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college. For his part, Steinert preferred the up or out tenure system to the vagaries of

what he viewed as an arbitrary method based on the colleges needs at any particular

time. The question was called and Norman Chamberlains motion against quotas

passed.454

Ted dutifully presented the facultys position to the State College Board. The

board decided that it would not make a comprehensive decision. Instead, it gave Ted

the responsibility of assuring that the faculty would not be tenured in. The board

kept for itself final decisions on specific cases of tenure when Ted recommended

them. However, they agreed with Ted on extending the probationary period from five

to seven years.455 The battle over tenure was hardly over. It simmered for the next

three years in a series of employment-related legal challenges from faculty that

required Ted to hire the schools first in-house legal counsel.

The issue again came to a boil in the fall of 1976. The spark was a new faculty

handbook. The schools 19761977 official manual replaced the tenure policy of the

American Association of University Professors with an innocuous statement on

academic freedom and responsibility from the American Association of State Colleges

and Universities. The faculty reacted immediately demanding that Ted withdraw the

manual:

RESOLVED: That the faculty of the College of Charleston believes that

the contents and tenor of the Faculty and Administration Manual 1976
77 encourage and legitimize the destruction of academic freedom and
tends to degrade the academic profession in the process.456

When the faculty threatened to take the matter to the American Association of

University Professors, Ted snapped, Go ahead.457 However, as he had done

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throughout his career, when Ted hit a stonewall, he compromised. He withdrew the

faculty handbook. Even with this concession, the confrontation over tenure and

promotion continued to fester. Ted later recalled:

There were, at least, twelve lawsuits filed against the trustees and me by
professors who didnt get tenure. They were also filed by professors who
werent promoted. I learned you never give a reason as to why you did
not get tenure or why you werent promoted. If you do, you will have to
go to court to prove the reason. So, I used to tell them that you do not fit
the needs of the College at this time, or there is no need for a professor
of your rank or at a higher rank.458

An equally contentious debate on the colleges mission accompanied the

dispute over tenure. In 1964, as part of the self-study for SACS accreditation, the

faculty declared, The liberal arts education is to be thought of as an end in itself, not

as a means to some further end. The importance of many of its disciplines cannot be

measured in economic terms or in terms of personal or social achievement.459

By 1973, the college was offering courses in business administration and a

Masters in Education. Ted saw these courses as a means to an end of serving the

community. A committee headed by Professor Norman Olsen Jr., chair of the

Department of English, was charged with drafting a new statement of purpose for the

school. The new mission was prepared in the context of a proposed merger between

Palmer College, a private two-year post high school institution located a few blocks

from the College of Charleston, and the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester (Trident)

Technical Center. Ted and his board feared the merger would adversely affect

enrollment at the College of Charleston, which, under Ted, had introduced practical

courses in business administration.

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 The State College Board engaged the consulting firm of Cresap, McCormick

and Paget to measure the impact of the potential merger on the College of Charleston.

Teds emphasis on the colleges service to the community and his introduction of

business administration courses without the facultys approval had been a sore spot

with many of the faculty. Olsens committee needed to balance the schools traditional

emphasis on a liberal education with Teds focus on community service. Olsens draft

mission statement read, To provide a comprehensive program in the arts and

sciences, and such complementary programs as education and business

administration. At the faculty meeting on January 14, 1973, Professor Norman

Chamberlain tried to remove the reference to business administration. His motions

were defeated.

The final mission statement for the college read, To provide a comprehensive

program of continuing education and cultural, social and recreational services for

residents of the Lowcountry and the state, insofar as these services are consistent with

the Colleges primary academic purpose. However, Chamberlain and his allies were

successful in adding the following to the statement, To encourage research and, as far

as possible, to provide an environment within which faculty members may make

contributions to the search for knowledge.460 The colleges tradition of liberal arts

was balanced with what some faculty viewed as vocational courses. Teds

considerable political skills again led to a compromise accommodating differing,

strongly held positions. The State College Board adopted the statement. Concurrently,

the Cresap, McCormick, and Paget analyses concluded that the merger of Palmer

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College with what became Trident Tech was not a threat to the College of

Charleston.461

Its illuminating that amid the sometimes rancorous debate over tenure and the

colleges mission, the faculty unanimously passed a resolution recognizing Teds

leadership and supported the naming of the new student center, then under

construction, for him. Malcolm Clark, the young history professor, moved the

resolution. It was seconded by George Heltai, often viewed as the schools academic

conscience.

The expansion of the College of Charleston is the direct result of

vigorous leadership by President Stern. We, the faculty, express our
gratitude to him not only for his success in preserving the very
existence of our institution but also for his enthusiastic acceptance of
the challenges associated with the transition from private to public
status. We endorse his philosophy of offering the advantages of higher
education to a wider constituency and we applaud his vital
contributions toward shaping the Colleges programs of community
service. During his administration, the number of courses and the
number of major fields have nearly doubled. In addition, two graduate
programs have been introduced, two new departments have been
created, and several other departments have been independently
established through their detachment from existing ones. This
expansion has not only strengthened our traditional curriculum in the
arts and sciences but also opened new areas of service in our
community. We also commend his vision of a renovated campus that
successfully combines essential new structures with the restoration
and adaptive use of historic buildings. To Mr. Sterns astonishing
energy and perseverance, we owe the existence of a new library, a
new classroom facility, a new womens dormitory, a new science
center, and a new student services building. To his appreciation for
the historic neighborhood, we owe his concern for the restoration of
the smaller structures that retain the charm and the human
dimensions of an earlier age. For these memorable and valuable
services, therefore, we warmly endorse the Trustees decision to name
the new student services building in honor of President Stern and
hereby express our continuing confidence in his leadership.462

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Henrietta Golding, president of the Student Government Association, advised the

State College Board of Trustees the SGA also passed a resolution supporting naming

the new student service center for Ted.463 It was one of Teds proudest moments

Appreciation for Teds leadership went beyond the college and Charleston. The

growing recognition of Teds contributions to South Carolina appeared in an editorial

in Columbias The State newspaper.

The decision by the S.C. General Assembly in 1970 to accept the College
of Charleston as a state-supported institution is proving to be a good
one. Today, less than two and a half years later, the old school is
changing the face of the historic area of Charleston with a $30 million
building program. Dilapidated houses are giving way to libraries,
classroom, dormitories, and energy facilities designed in a compatible
style for the old city. There are 471 courses offered, and the faculty has
increased from 28 in 1970 to 94. More importantly, though, is the steady
growth in enrollment. There are 3,023 students in the fall term, a six-fold
increase from 196970 academic year when the student body numbered
about 500. The enrollment rate is already ahead of projections, which
anticipate 5,000 students by 1980. The impressive development of the
College of Charleston is a credit to the State College Board of Trustees.
It is also a credit to the energetic and imaginative leadership of
Theodore S. Stern, president of the College of Charleston, who has
assembled the genuine ingredients of educationa capable faculty and
an interested student bodyinto the fourth largest higher education
institution in the state.464

As Ted guided the College of Charleston through the shifting tides of tenure,

mission, and rapid expansion, he continued and even increased his extensive

involvement in the community. The list of these extracurricular activities during his

years at the college is impressive. Ted served as chair of the United Way of Charleston

as well as the South Carolina United Way. In addition to his term as president of the

Charleston Rotary in 1972, he was elected the Rotary Governor of District 771 for

1977 and 1978. As district governor, Ted was required to visit the districts forty-one

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Rotary clubs in eastern South Carolina. He used these occasions to advocate the

inclusion of women and African-Americans in the previous all white, male bastion.

Adding to the United Way and Rotary commitments, Ted was a member of the

Advisory Committee of the Office of Economic Opportunity. He headed South

Carolinas Council of College Presidents and was elected president of the Charleston

Area Council of College Presidents. Ted served on the boards of the South Carolina

Federation of Museums, Charleston Concert Association, and was a member of the St.

Francis Hospital Steering Committee. He chaired the Trident Forum for the

Handicapped, and the Charleston County Substance Abuse Commission. During his

decade as college president, Ted also chaired the Charleston Area Human Services

Council, charged with coordinating the areas public and private agencies providing

social and health services. He headed a fund-raising effort for Porter Gaud, the private

school attended by his son Sandy. Ted found time to be the general chairman of a

fund-raising banquet for the Boy Scouts honoring retired General Mark Clark, who

had served in World War I, II and the Korean War and as president of the Citadel from

1954 to 1965.

Teds work ethic and commitment to public service were captured in a News

and Courier article under the banner Stern Cant Refuse to Lend a Helping Hand.

The reporter Jerry Sander began his piece:

The room is dark. Quiet. A large, athletically molded man rolls over in
the bed, picks up a pen off the nightstand. He scribbles a couple of words
on a notepad, turns over again for, perhaps, more sleep. In the light of
day, the notes might not be readable for anyone except Ted Stern, the
energetic president of the College of Charleston. Since retiring from the
Navy as a captain in 1968, Theodore S. Stern has been on a merry-go-
round of involvement in Charleston. Stern simply finds it difficult to say

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 no to any reasonable request on his time and thoughts. Therefore he
ranks high on the list of volunteers when a need arises.

Ted explained his approach to life and service: I have always been interested

in people and not things. I think everything should relate to the human, to the

individual and not to the financial benefits, the material benefits. Ted believed

serving the community benefited the college. You cant say no to some people [who

ask me to get involved] because Ive called on these same people for help.465

For Ted, the zenith of his tenure as president of the College of Charleston came

on March 22, 1975, with the dedication of the $3 million, 61,000 square foot Theodore

S. Stern Student Center. Dean Hill Womble presided over the dedication ceremony. It

was to be Wombles last official act at the college. Teds academic right hand, who

often deflecting the facultys resentment at some of Teds decisions, had accepted the

presidency of Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina.

The Reverend Z. L. Grady, of the Morris Brown AME Church, gave the

invocation. Rev. Grady had served with Ted on the Community Relations Committee

and would remain one of Teds closest friends for the next thirty-eight years. Gregory

Phelps, president of the Student Government Association, accepted the building on

behalf of the student body and praised Ted for being accessible to the students and

providing them with capable, intelligent, and responsive leadership.

Cussie Johnson, speaking as chair of the State College Board, described Ted as

remarkable. His enthusiasm for the great potential of the college excited others.

Johnson went on to dedicate the building to the students. I charge them to use this

building in the development of their hearts as well as their minds, in their growth as

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citizens, remembering to return generously to society the benefits that society has

given them. And let their model and their example be the man in whose honor we

name itthe Theodore Sanders Stern Student Center. Teds daughters, Tippy, and

Elisabeth unveiled a bronze bas-relief plaque of Ted by noted local sculptor, Willard

N. Hirsch.

Ted responded to the accolades by telling the audience he was overwhelmed.

Thank all of you for this great honor. I accept this with a deep sense of gratitude and

sincere humility. 466 He expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to serve the

college and acknowledged his debt to the faculty, trustees, and his family. Ted made

special note of the presence of his boyhood ideal, his cousin Robert Moses, who had

traveled from New York for the dedication.467

The Stern Center symbolized Teds focus on students. When it was in the early

planning stage, the students asked if it could include a swimming pool. Until then,

students were required to swim in an antiquated outdoor pool on Calhoun and Meeting

Streets. Ted went back to the state legislature to secure additional funds for the pool.

In a letter to the editor of the News and Courier, a graduate of the College wrote:

I would like to express my enthusiastic approval of naming the new

student services center at the college for President Theodore S. Stern. It
is particularly appropriate that this building is for the students, for
President Stern is also. While a student there, I found President Sterns
office door was always open. In several instances, he has personally
aided students by lending money to them to return home in family
emergencies. He has found part-time jobs for students and permanent
jobs for graduates. I can think of no other name that better deserves to
go over the student services center.468

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Two months after the Stern Center dedication, Ted was in Washington to

receive a Special Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The honor

was for the colleges sensitive harmonizing of expansion with historic preservation.

The college has achieved a humanistic ambiance for an urban college and further

enhanced the historic and architectural prominence of Charleston as an outstanding

example of historic preservation in the United States.

Ted and the college were nominated for the award by Frances Edmunds,

Charlestons renowned preservationist and a 1939 graduate of the college. Edmunds

also served on Teds Presidents Advisory Committee for Area Preservation.469 Under

Frances Edmunds direction the Historic Charleston Foundation, through its revolving

fund, had transformed Charlestons Ansonborough neighborhood from a run-down

six-block area to a national symbol of historic preservation. Ted accomplished the

same transformation in a ten-block area. One local commentator declared, Ted Stern

has done more to bring back respectability to midtown Charleston than anyone

else.470

Teds historic preservation contributions are not widely recognized. With

Frances Edmunds and Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., Ted help lead Charlestons

transformation to what has been proclaimed as both Americas and the worlds

favorite city.471 In the span of his ten-year presidency at the College of Charleston,

Ted effected the restoration of seventy historic properties, adapting them for use as

classrooms, dormitories, faculty offices, and laboratories. Four of the buildings, the

William Blacklock House, Harrison Randolph Hall, the Edward Towell Library, and

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the Gate Lodge, also known as Porters Lodge, were named National Historic

Landmarks. Southern Living Magazine described Teds work as extraordinary.

Instead of disrupting Charlestons special flavor, a rapidly growing school has

enhanced it. Old and new buildings sit together with mutual respect. With each

academic season, students are subtly educated to their citys unique sense of place.472

Landscape architect Edward Pinckney recalled that Ted was determined to

create a college campus that would receive national recognition as a superb

environment for higher education. He was deeply involved in most of the designs and

attended every design review. Throughout the complicated process, Ted contributed

with helpful ideas and suggestions that revealed his deep concern for his students

welfare as well as the schools role in advancing the city. The College is a landmark

and a symbol of Charleston. The Colleges neighborhood was in a terrible state of

decay. It is fair to say that the renovation and improvement of the Colleges campus in

the historic quarter and adjacent to the commercial district gave Mayor Joe Riley and

the city direction and inspiration.473 Hugh Newell Jacobsen, the renowned architect,

recognized for his restorations of the Smithsonians Arts and Industries Building and

Washingtons Renwick Gallery, called Teds work a triumph.474

B. Phinizy Spalding, a former professor of history at the College and

editor of the Georgia Historical Quarterly, wrote:

In Charleston, its venerable College has been at the forefront of

the preservation movement. Under the leadership of President
Theodore Stern, the College of Charleston has grown
dramatically in every way, but it has grown tastefully too. The
College of Charleston has, in fact, been the nations leader
among educational institutions in recycling and finding
appropriate adaptive uses for some of the fine structures that it
has purchased in the immediate neighborhood. Restoration and

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 renovation have been done properly. This work, although
performed for an academic institution, is not strictly academic
in nature. Rather it is practical. Each structure has been made an
integral part of what is becoming the most attractive and most
talked about urban campus in the country.

Spalding added that the fortuitous result of this recognition was the colleges

increased ability to attract students and faculty from all over the country and

garner financial support of national corporations. The College of Charleston, as

a result, has firmed up its support in the community and is finding new angels

it never dreamed of having before.475

Ted was preserving the past while looking to the future. In November 1975,

Ted and South Carolina Governor James B. Edwards announced the creation of the

Governors School. Patterned after a program instituted by North Carolina Governor

Terry Stanford in 1963, the College of Charlestons version was a six-week summer

course serving gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors nominated by

their school principals. Participants would stay in the colleges dormitories and, Have

opportunities for discussions with U.S. Senators, ambassadors, the governor, and other

public officials. The curriculum included subject concentrations and value

orientated training, career counseling, and enrichment activities including social,

recreational, and cultural events. Using statistics from the North Carolina Governors

School, Ted said the program would help counter South Carolinas brain drain.476

When he looked back many years later, former governor Edwards said:

The Governors School should be called the Ted Stern School. He

came to me before my inauguration and suggested we establish a school
to train future South Carolina leaders. He gave me all the credit. No one
knew that it was Teds idea. He always gives others credit for his idea
which was duplicated by future Governors. We now have three

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 Governors Schools. I wanted to be part of what Ted Stern was doing.
He was a transitional figure.477

By Teds seventh year as president, the college had been almost completely

transformed. It physically retained the character of the small, intimate school he had

inherited when he arrived in 1968. However, by 1975, it was a fundamentally different

institution. The change was not only in size. The college had discarded the mythology

of its academic grandeur that accompanied its decline over the years. By 1975, it was a

general-purpose school and South Carolinas third largest institution of higher

learning. The contrived family atmosphere of the old school was gone, replaced by a

more mature and less provincial culture. The traditionally all-white school was

integrated and by the 197475 academic year African-Americans were becoming a

noticeable and important part of the college. Wayne Carter was elected the first black

president of the Student Government Association, representing a student body that

numbered almost five thousand. Ted could no longer address most students by name

or phone each faculty member on New Years to wish them a happy holiday. Walking

the campus and picking up trash to set an example were in the past, as were the

cookouts for students at the Sterns Isle of Palms home.

In seven years Ted had accomplished much of what he had envisaged for the

college. The changes he had brought to the school had also altered the nature of his

presidency. Teds preference and skill for hands-on, personal management were

diminished. He now had to delegate more responsibility and authority. At sixty-three,

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he had not tired of being president of the college, but his relentless energy needed new

challenges. Fate, which had played such an important role in his life, was about to

intervene again. It came with the name Spoleto.

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 Chapter VII

Spoleto

Without Ted Stern, there would never have been a festival in 1977or any otheryear.478

Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr.

Joseph P. Riley Jr., the son of Teds best friend, was elected mayor of

Charleston in the fall of 1975. He would serve ten consecutive terms during which his

city was transformed. The new mayor, called by some Little Joe built a vacation

house next to Teds on the Isle of Palms. Teds cousin, Robert Moses, who had been a

swimming star at Yale, taught Rileys boys swimming in Teds pool. Ted would

become a mentor to the thirty-two-year-old mayor.

A year before Joe Rileys election, there was a meeting at the National

Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in Washington. Nancy Hanks, NEAs dynamic

founding chair, and Walter Anderson, the director of NEAs music program, met with

Christopher Keene, the new general director of the Spoleto Festival Foundation, and

Priscilla Morgan, well-known theatrical agent and friend of Gian Carlo Menotti, the

Italian composer, and librettist. The meetings subject was the creation of a

counterpart in the United States to the Festival of Two Worlds, which Menotti had

founded in Spoleto, Italy, in 1958. The meeting led to a $35,000 NEA grant to the

Spoleto Festival Foundation to study the viability of establishing a Spoleto USA and

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included travel money to consider possible festival locations. Menottis preference was

the Hudson River Valley. However, Nancy Hanks, a Floridian and graduate of Duke

University, encouraged Menotti to look in the South and preferably to a culturally

deprived area.479 Walter Anderson, Christopher Keene, and Priscilla Morgan scouted

possible locations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina. They

visited twelve cities including Atlanta, Winston-Salem, Houston, Raleigh-Durham,

Ashville and Charleston

Nella Barkley, the energetic and accomplished Charlestonian, and former head

of the Association of Junior Leagues International, hosted a dinner for Walter

Anderson at her home on Tradd Street. The purpose of the dinner was to discuss the

possibility of locating the festival in Charleston. Among the dinner guests were the

newly elected Mayor Riley, local entrepreneur Pug Ravenel, Christopher Keene, and

Ted.

Ted counseled the festival would need broad community support. He suggested

the festival be held in late May and early June between the colleges commencement

and the beginning of summer school so that the festival could have use of the colleges

dormitories for artists and performers.480 Keene later reported to the Festival

Foundation in New York that he preferred Charleston because of the citys beauty,

facilities, and the commitment of its civic leaders.

On May 21, three months after the dedication of the Stern Student Center,

Keene was back in Charleston having dinner at Nella Barkleys. Ted was again a guest

and repeated his offer of the college resources for the proposed festival. A month later,

Frances Edmunds was in Spoleto attending the Festival of the Two Worlds. She wrote

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Ted, This Spoleto Festival boggles the mind. It is fascinating but all-encompassing. If

we can persuade them to come, it will be super.481 By October Menotti was in

Charleston with Countess Alicia Paolozzi, heir to the United Fruit Company and a

member of the Festival Foundation Board. Born Alice Spaulding, Alicia married the

Italian architect and artist Count Lorenzo Paolozzi. Serendipitously, she also had been

a classmate of Frances Edmunds at St. Timothy, a private girls boarding school in

Maryland and had just bought Hoop Stick Island Plantation, outside of Charleston.

During Menottis visit, Ted again offered the colleges dormitories between

semesters to house the performers. Ted took Menotti to the Fort Sumter House on the

Charleston waterfront where, on a balcony overlooking White Point Garden and the

rooftops of historic Charleston, Menotti declared, This is it! This is perfect! I want

the festival to be in a city that is an art form with a top rate educational institution.

Charleston itself is a work of art.482 Countess Paolozzi gave ten thousand dollars to

the Festival Foundation to launch Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston. A month later

the foundation received a formal invitation from the city.

Nella Barkley was hired to be the general manager of the festival that was

planned to open in May 1977. A local committee was created. It included Ted, Hugh

Lane Sr., president of Charlestons Citizens and Southern Bank of South Carolina,

Thomas Thornhill, local civic leader and husband of Elizabeth Thornhill, who had

served on Teds Advisory Committee for Area Preservation, and David Rawle, a

young publicist who had recently moved to Charleston to help his Harvard classmate,

Charles D. Pug Ravenel, in his unsuccessful run for South Carolina governor.

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 Menotti held a press conference at the Italian Consulate in New York City on

March 24, 1976, to announce that Charleston would be the home of Spoleto USA. The

maestro described Charleston as a City culturally asleep and ready to be awakened.

Nella Barkley responded the local organizing committee, chaired by Hugh Lane, had

committed itself to raise $100,000 of the projected $700,000 needed. The balance of

the money was expected to come from NEA, corporations, and ticket sales.483

Following the New York press conference, Menotti, Barkley, and Keene flew

to Charleston for a reception at the Colleges Blacklock House and dinner at the Stern

Center. The next morning Menotti and Mayor Riley held a press conference at

Charlestons Mills Hyatt House Hotel. Riley described the festival as one of the most

important events in Charlestons history. Hugh Lane declared, It will show that our

state is concerned about the total quality of life of our residents and is contributing to

an environment attractive to our visitors. Nella Barkley predicted the festival would

bring seven thousand visitors to Charleston. Menotti avowed the Charleston festival

would complement the Spoleto Festival. Just as the composer, without being able to

define inspiration knows when he is inspired, I knew that Charleston would be the

town of my choice as soon as I set foot in it.484

The next day Menotti and Barkley drove to Columbia where they held a similar

press conference with Governor James Edwards. They then went on to Greenville and

Spartanburg for meetings with local arts groups.

While helping to launch Spoleto USA, Ted organized what he later described

as one of his most memorable times at the college. The 1976 Founders Day was held

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on Saturday, March 20. The celebration of the countrys two-hundredth anniversary

gave Ted the opportunity to invite the presidents of the sixteen original colonial

colleges. In addition to the College of Charleston, the schools included Harvard,

William and Mary, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University,

Brown, Dickinson, and Hampden-Sydney. Eight presidents accepted the invitation and

were presented honorary degrees. Alumni and distinguished professors represented the

remaining eight schools. Ted was delighted to be rubbing elbows with Thomas Graves

of William and Mary, Martin Meyerson of Penn, Edward Bloustein of Rutgers, and

Samuel Banks of Dickenson College.

The occasion also marked the dedication of the recently restored Harrison

Randolph Hall. Frank Blair, class of 1937, and for twenty-two years news anchor of

NBCs Today Show, gave an oration on Randolph and his contributions to the College.

Spoleto was proceeding. Hugh Lane and Nella Barkley traveled to Italy in late

June to see firsthand Menottis Festival of Two Worlds. What they saw and learned

during their time in Spoleto disturbed them. They were stunned by the Italian festivals

chaos. There appeared to be no financial controls. The nudity and homosexuality

troubled Hugh Lane.485 Menotti objected to the Americans disapproval of the

festivals Italian management, criticism which he considered an intrusion on his role as

artistic director. When she returned to Charleston, Nella Barkley told the Festival

Foundation Board that she required equal authority and pay with Menotti.486 Menotti

objected.

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 The confrontation between American management practices and Italian artistic

creativity came to a head when Barkley and Lane outlined their concerns about

authority and responsibility at the September 9 Festival Foundation Board meeting in

New York. Menotti responded by threatening to take his festival elsewhere. Frantic

calls were exchanged between Charleston and New York. A concerned Mayor Riley

asked Menotti to Keep the idea alive.487

On September 24, Hugh Lane resigned as chair of the organizing committee.

Lane explained that he could not endorse the festivals management and fiscal policies

and added that he left the meeting of the Festival Foundation Board in New York in

total disgust and disillusionment. The final straw for Lane was the Festival Boards

assumption that Charlestons box office receipts would be part of a common pool used

to cover the Italian festivals debt. Mayor Riley scrambled to save the Charleston

festival by saying the problems Hugh Lane cited could be overcome. He also

announced the proceeds of the Charleston festival would stay in Charleston and not

used to cover costs of the Festival of the Two Worlds in Spoleto.488 As with any large

undertaking such as this, the mayor said, involving a large cast of characters,

difficult problems arise. I think it is so very important for our community that every

attempt be made to resolve these problems, if possible.489 There was a danger that the

Charleston festival would be stillborn.

Menotti, Christopher Clark, director of the Festival Foundation Board, and

members of the board flew to Charleston on Sunday, September 26 for a meeting at

the colleges Presidents House. Attending the three-hour meeting in Teds dining

room were Menotti, Clark, Countess Alicia Paolozzi, and William Beadleston from the

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foundations board. The Charlestonians were Ted, Mayor Riley, David Rawle, Charles

D. Pug Ravenel, Frances Edmunds, C. Ronald Coward, president of the Trident

Chamber of Commerce, local civic leader Mrs. Meta Moore, and Herbert de Costa, a

Charleston African-American contractor. Bernard J. Olasov, owner of a local

insurance company, and a fellow classmate of Menotti at Philadelphias Curtis

Institute of Music in the early 1930s, also attended.

At one point Countess Paolozzi said she supported the idea of the

Charleston festival and recommended Charlestonians join the Foundation Board

headquartered in New York.490 Pug Ravenel recalled that Menotti was defensive

and feared that he would be controlled by a tight budget. He told the gathering

that Lane and Barkley knew nothing about the arts. Its always moving and

needs to be able to change without restriction. Ted and Mayor focused their

comments on the festivals economic impact on Charleston.

Pug Ravenel was asked how the concerns of the parties could be

resolved. Ravenel left the room and wrote out an agreement in longhand on a

legal pad. His draft called for the appointment of two to six Charlestonians to the

Festival Foundation Board. They would form a subcommittee with a treasurer

responsible for the funds raised and specifically earmarked for Spoleto USA. All

box office receipts from the Charleston would remain in Charleston. Christopher

Clark, the foundations director, would coordinate fundraising for both the

Spoleto USA and the Italian Festival.491 Menotti responded, Why of course!

He agreed to accept the budget approved by the Festival Board, which Menotti

frequently disregarded for the next seventeen years. But who would implement

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the agreement? Hugh Lane Sr. had resigned, and Nella Barkley was about to.

Mayor Riley and David Rawle took Ted to the library, across the hall from the

dining room. There the young mayor turned to Ted and asked him if he would

take over as chair of the local committee. To the question, Will you do this?

Ted answered, Yes! The mayor then asked Ted if he could raise $100,000.

Ted responded that he could raise $200,000.492 Alva Stern was standing outside

the Bishop Smith House with a gaggle of reporters. She asked one of the

reporters, Are you waiting for white smoke or black smoke? referring to

Vatican tradition during a Popes election.493 Alva later told Ted that if he were

a woman, he would always be pregnant because he could never say no.494

Menotti came out of the meeting describing the agreement as a huge step

ahead. He declared the 1977 festival would take place as originally planned between

May 25 and June 5.495 The next day, Nella Barkley officially resigned as the festivals

managing director. It is my considered opinion that the continued effort to produce a

Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston in 1977 is unwise given the present conditions. If I

thought it was workable, I would have stayed. The festival is too encumbered by

hazardous factors. Mayor Riley said he was surprised by Barkleys resignation, then

announced that Ted was the new festival chair.496 Riley said that Ted was selected

because he was a community leader with vision. Ted affirmed, I am convinced it will

go. In typical Stern fashion, he added, I am really enthusiastic and confident that we

are going to have the greatest festival this country has ever seen. Ted announced that

he would be forming a new, broad-based committee to organize the festival, which

was only eight months away.497

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 A News and Courier editorial commented on the public resignations and

rumors of a disaster, A significant step toward damage control has been taken by

naming Theodore S. Stern, the president of the College of Charleston, as chairman of

the coordinating committee. Anyone who knows Mr. Stern will admit that a better

choice could not have been made.498 The Evening Post added in its editorial:

Under the leadership of Mayor Joseph P. Riley, the local committee

appointed Theodore S. Stern, president of the College of Charleston, the
new chairman. Mr. Stern is well equipped for the assignment and has the
confidence of the community as a mover and shaker. Mayor Riley, Mr.
Stern and their associates who have decided to go through with the
festival next spring in Charleston as planned with their eyes wide
open.499

An article in Newsweek titled To the Rescue later described Spoleto USAs

painful birth.

The situation was saved by Theodore S. Stern, the president of the

College of Charleston. A twenty-year [sic] Navy career officer and a
cousin of former super builder Robert Moses, Stern is a dedicated
problem solver who integrated the college and increased its faculty from
28 to 200 and its student body from 500 to 5,000. Stern took over the
committee, met with Socialist Mayor, Mario Laureti of Spoleto in
Charleston, and ironed out all the problemsincluding convincing the
Spoletini that the income generated by the Charleston festival should
stay in Charleston. The tough, soft-spoken, 64-year-old Stern intends to
make the festival artistically successful, financially sound and most of
all, integrated into the community.500

Ted was ready for the new challenge that fate had presented. He had saved and

reinvented the college. He would now save Spoleto Festival USA. He did not hesitate

to say yes to the Mayor. He did not tell Riley that before accepting the chairmanship of

the Spoleto Festival USA or offering the colleges physical and personnel assets to

Spoleto USA, he would need the permission of the State College Board of Trustees.

Teds decisive action in Salinas thirty-four years earlier had led to the possibility of a

259
court-martial. Instead, it led to two Ecuadorian honors and launched Teds brilliant

twenty-eight-year Navy career. Accepting the chairmanship, Ted slighted Hugh Lane

Sr. and Nella Barkley, two of Charlestons most influential citizens. Ted didnt

second-guess his decision. He had other important supporters in Charleston. They

included the mayor and his father, Frances Edmunds, Governor James Edwards,

Countess Paolozzi, and David Rawle, who would play a central role in advising Ted

on the festivals organization and marketing.501

Nella Barkley years later talked about her estrangement from Ted over Spoleto.

In time, Barkley grew to admire Teds ability to gloss over the financial challenges

posed by Menotti and Teds skill in bringing people together. I give the man his due.

He did well. It was the art of the possible. I admire his energy, his ability to relate to

people and his enjoyment of life.502

The September 26, 1976, meeting at the Presidents House was a historic

moment in the history of Charleston. The torch passed from traditional Charleston,

represented by Hugh Lane Sr. and Nella Barkley to future Charlestons in the persons

of Ted Stern and Mayor Joe Riley. Looking back thirty-six years later, Mayor Riley

recalled, I was thirty-three. I did not have the expertise, capacity, or ability to do it. I

also did not have the credibility. Ted was the only person in Charleston who could do

it.503

Ted immediately took charge in the same way he did when he became

president of the college in September 1968. He began by bringing people together to

join in organizing the festival that was only eight months away. Ted called a meeting

of the members of the organizing committee who had not resigned. They included

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Countess Paolozzi, Pug Ravenel, Bernard Olasov, Ron Coward, local attorney Henry

Smythe, and David Rawle. He announced the Spoleto USA staff offices were now at

91 Wentworth Street, the home of the colleges Early Childhood Development Center.

The festivals actual headquarters were Teds office in Harrison Rudolph Hall.

Floyd Tyler, the colleges vice president for business affairs, was the festivals

business manager. The schools accountant was the festivals accountant. Mack Perry,

the colleges in-house legal counsel, was the festivals attorney.504

Governor Jim Edwards assured Ted that the state would provide financial

support. The National Endowment for the Arts soon expressed its confidence in the

festivals new leadership and direction. Ted nominated, as per the agreement signed

with Menotti, several South Carolinians to the foundations board in New York. In

addition to Ted, they included Francis Edmunds, Pug Ravenel, Charleston

businessman, Arthur C. Clement, and Henry J. Cauthen from Columbia, the General

Manager of South Carolina Educational Television. Christine Reed replaced Nella

Barkley as the festivals general manager. Reed was a professor of music at Louisiana

State University and Executive Director of the Baton Rouge Symphony Association.

She was associated with the Marlboro Music Festival, the annual gathering in southern

Vermont founded in 1951 by Rudolf Serkin, as well as the Festival Casals, the annual

classical event in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Teds extraordinary management skill and networking talent were in full force

when he expanded and structured the Festival around sixteen volunteer committees.

These included local fund-raising, housing, transportation, press and media, student

volunteers, food service, public health and safety, arts and organization participation,

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and office support.505 Within a month, the committees had grown to thirty-three, with

twenty-two subcommittees. Eventually, there were more than three hundred volunteers

and fifty organizations involved.506 Most of Charlestons civic leaders or their spouses

volunteered. John Conroy, Charlestons Chief of Police, was co-chair of the Health

and Safety Committee. Joe Riley Sr. headed statewide fund-raising. Helen, his wife,

co-chaired the General Entertainment Committee. Captain Richard Curtis, commander

of the Naval Supply Center that Ted once headed, chaired the Food Services

Committee. Bill Brinkley, the colleges vice president for student affairs, chaired the

Student Volunteer Committee. Teds longtime friend and former state legislator,

Bobby Scarborough, the South Carolina highway commissioner, supervised the

Transportation Committee.507

Ted and Joe Riley Sr. began fund-raising. They secured a $100,000

commitment from Governor Jim Edwards. The National Endowment for the Arts gave

$60,000. The Coastal Plains Regional Commission contributed $75,000 and Exxon

Corporation, $25,000. Major gifts also came from Mobil Oil, the South Carolina Arts

Commission, and the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and

Tourism.508

The festivals program was pretty well set by early spring 1977. It included

Menottis opera The Consul as well as The Queen of Spades, by Peter Ilyich

Tchaikovsky. The Westminster Choir from Princeton, New Jersey would perform.

The chamber music program, under the direction of classical music impresario Charles

Wadsworth, was slated. Wadsworth would stay with the festival for the next thirty-two

years. An entire day was dedicated to the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. The

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Eliot Field Ballet from Brooklyn and the Ohio Ballet would perform. Theater included

The Black Medea, or A Tangle of Serpents, by Ernest Ferlita, a Jesuit professor of

theater at Loyola University in New Orleans. Molly, by English playwright Simon

Gray, was also planned. The jazz program encompassed the famous jazz drummer

Louie Bellson, jazz trumpeter Johnny Helms, and noted jazz artists Phil Woods and

Urbie Green. The North Texas State Universitys One Oclock Lab Jazz Band would

be a highlight. The festivals finale was set for the lawn of Middleton Place, the

historic plantation, and stunning gardens a few miles up the Ashley River from

Charleston.

As the opening day of May 25 approached ticket sales were not going well.

Christine Reed reported the day before the opening that only half the tickets were sold.

To fill the seats, two hundred tickets were handed out to local teachers. The original

audience estimate of five thousand a day was lowered. Hotel occupancy was only at 15

to 20 percent. David Rawle told The New York Times that the low hotel occupancy rate

was because most of the festivals tickets were bought by Charlestonians.509

Maestro Menotti expressed little concern. People will come after they see that

things are being done excellently after they see what we can do.510 Privately, Menotti

expressed his doubts. Thinking that the festival would fall on its face, he bought a

plane ticket to escape Charleston on the day after the scheduled opening. He later

expressed his surprise at the festivals success511 Ted gambled a lot on the festival and

had worked hard to overcome the long odds. In the days before the opening, Ted

picked up the phone and made calls to individuals and companies to boost last-minute

ticket sales.512

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 Spoleto Festival's opening day, Wednesday, May 25, 1977, broke warm and

rainy. The Colleges Cistern where the opening ceremonies were scheduled to take

place was soggy. The News and Courier described the event:

About 3,000 people, toddlers and grandparents, Americans and Italians,

highbrows and lowbrows, clustered at the Colleges Cistern. It must
have been in the cards. After a morning of torrential rainfall that kept
Spoleto officials biting their nails, the downpour stopped. People, many
of whom still carried umbrellas in their hands and raincoats draped over
their arms, funneled onto the lawn at the College of Charleston and filled
the folding chairs. Garbed in sun dresses, Bermuda shorts, in suits and
shirtsleeves, the people covered the grassy expanse and glanced from
time to time at the darkening skies. Instead of rain, they sat back and
soaked up a bit of music, a bit of poetry, a bit of mime, a bit of juggling
and a lot of talk. Shortly before noon, the steady pounding of the pile
driver across the street gave way to the Spoleto Festival Brass Quintet
rendering a not-so-traditional version of The Star Spangled Banner that
was pretty well lost in the breeze. After that, they performed Fanfare
for Charleston, a special tribute to the festival written by festival
founder Gian Carlo Menotti. Menotti seated on the Cistern with the
other guest speakers, remained expressionless, but couldnt help keeping
time with his hand. At the conclusion of the music, he waved aside the
applause with a quick bow.

Mayor Riley, acting as the master of ceremonies, told the audience that they

were witnessing, One of the most significant days in our history, a tremendous

rendezvous with destiny. Riley linked the festival to the citys preCivil War heyday.

Once again our city is the site of the best the cultural worlds have to offer. Nancy

Hanks, head of the National Endowment for the Arts, spoke of the promise of what

was to take place over the following twelve days. After a standing ovation, Menotti

assured the assembly that he was giving Charleston a good festival.513 The only person

missing was Ted Stern. Ted was at the meeting of the Rotary International in Florida,

which he was required to attend as governor of Rotary District 777.514 The New York

Times reported:

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 Charleston has been out of the nations economic and artistic
mainstreams ever since (the Civil War), devoting much of its interest to
jealously maintained old bloodlines and exquisitely resorted old houses.
But suddenly with the coming of Spoleto USA, Charleston is talking as
much about the future as the past. It has seriously begun to ponder how
it might regain some of its former position and influence.

Mayor Riley was quoted: We think we are on the verge of some very big things.

There is a change in the air everywhere, artistically, economically, politically. Were

moving back to being a part of the cutting edge of this country.515

Charleston had never experienced anything quite like Spoleto Festival USA. It

was an artistic triumph and a remarkable organizational achievement. During the

Festivals twelve days run more than six hundred performers, musicians, dancers,

stagehands, and technicians presented a hundred programs in venues throughout the

city attended by an audience of more than sixty thousand. A paid staff in Charleston of

five and hundreds of volunteers accomplished what many said was the impossible.516

If Menotti was the festivals artistic director. Ted Stern was its ringmaster.

Spoleto USAs first edition was a rousing success. The News and Courier

front-page headline declared Spoleto Ends with a Bang. A crowd of six thousand

gathered on the beautiful grounds of Middleton Place for the finale. The extravaganza

included exploding fireworks over the old plantations historic rice fields,

accompanied by the Spoleto Festival Orchestra playing Handels Music for Royal

Fireworks Suite. Mayor Joe Riley said he was flabbergasted by the success. I am

overwhelmed by the response. Its far greater than I ever imagined. It meant working

against incredible odds and ignoring lots of long-faced people claiming from the

beginning that the thing would bomb.

265
Ted reported that ticket sales were close to $400,000, the majority sold to

Charlestonians. Christopher Keene, the festivals music director, described the festival

first year as a blockbuster and predicted even greater things for 1978.517

Robert T. Jones, the art critic engaged by the News and Courier to report on

the festival, described the twelve days of music and performing arts a huge success.

Joness words captured how the festival reflected the eternally optimistic and joyous

Ted Stern.

Everyone seems to have had a really super time; friendship, good will,
high spirits vibrated in the air, and everybody succumbed to Festival
fever. Inevitably, there must have been people who were pushed aside,
had their sensitivities bruised in some way or other, but there was little
evidence of it. There was joy in the streets and in the most unexpected
places you could see people suddenly leaping into the air and executing
little dance steps from sheer good humor.518

Teds capacity to bring multiple people and interests together to work for a common

cause was a key to Spoletos triumph. He instilled infectious optimism, energy, and

goodwill energizing Charlestons civic and business leaders, hundreds of volunteers,

and the people of Charleston to create a festival that gave promise to a city whose self-

identity was rooted in the past. A News and Courier editorial described the moment.

The conclusion of Spoleto Festival USA leaves the community with a

sense of cheerful fulfillment. Almost everybody seems to be pleased with
almost everybody else. Spoleto is the story of the year, the story of the
decade; maybe, as far as Charleston is concerned, the story of the
century.519

Ted would continue to head the Spoleto Festival USA for the next nine years

until 1986. During his tenure, he deftly handled Menottis delicate ego, hired several

managing directors, worked to cover annual deficits, and gobbled up the Festival

266
Foundation in New York, which reorganized as a new nonprofit corporation in

Charleston. Little could anyone have predicted that five years after stepping down as

Spoletos chairman, Ted would be called on by Mayor Riley to save Spoleto a second

time.

The first edition of the Spoleto Festival USA was a high-water mark for Ted

and the college. Alton C. Crews, Superintendent of Charleston County Public Schools,

noted the importance of the moment in a piece he wrote for the Spoleto Festival USA

official program. The College of Charleston has a tradition for being a good neighbor

that stretches back more than 200 years. At no time since its inception in 1770 has this

great institution been more active in the community than it is right now. Crews listed

a litany of what the college had accomplished under Teds leadership. These included

the colleges collaboration with the Charleston County Schools in the Memminger

School project that applied the colleges resources to enhancing the quality of

education in an urban school. There was also the Governors School that Ted launched

with Governor James Edwards at the same time he was organizing Spoleto. The

Community Series Ted introduced when he became president now offered seminars

and speakers programs throughout the year on a variety of subjects of interest to the

community. There were also concerts, ballet performances, opera and other cultural

programs offered by the college and opened to the public. The evening school initiated

by Ted in 1969 now had 125 credit-granting courses for anyone in the community.

There can be no question that the college contributes significantly to the economy of

the Charleston community. Its many employees and building projects bring funds into

the community and help stimulate the economy. Crews estimate that each of the

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colleges five thousand students spent on average four hundred dollars per year in

Charleston, amounting to almost $2 million annually.

One of the contributions that the College makes, which is most

difficult to measure, is the tremendous personal dedication of its
president, Theodore S. Stern. President Stern serves the community
on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce, as
Chairman of the Trident Forum for the Handicapped, as President
of the Substance Abuse Commission, Chairman of the Coordinating
Committee for Spoleto, and many other roles in the Charleston
area. Certainly, his work for the welfare of the community could
not be effectively pursued without the encouragement and support
of the institution he leads.520

What Crews did not know was that Teds community service, particularly his

leadership of Spoleto, was fueling increasing dissatisfaction among the members of

the State College Board of Trustees, particularly its chairman, Cussie Johnson. Ted

knew that the colleges trustees were upset with what he and the college had done for

Spoleto, particularly because he had not asked their permission to involve the school

so heavily in the Spoleto enterprise. The unhappiness vexed Ted. Why couldnt the

board appreciate the tremendous benefits the college derived from Spoleto? At the

same time, Ted realized the school he saved and reinvented was now too large for

what he did best. He no longer knew all the students or faculty by name. He later

recalled the need to delegate authority and responsibility had lessened his enthusiasm

for the presidency. His hands-on, personal touch was no longer possible.

The boards disaffection with him over Spoleto combined with his distancing

from the schools day-to-day management led Ted to conclude that it was time for him

to resign his presidency. As he contemplated the decision to step down, Ted recalled

the advice of Isaiah Bowman, his mentor at Johns Hopkins. It will take you five years

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to get any programs in order, and if you stay more than ten years, youre just treading

water. It was better to retire five years too early, than five seconds too late.521

On September 14, 1977, only four months after the Spoleto finale at Middleton

Place, Ted announced his retirement to the colleges trustees and faculty at a meeting

in the schools Physicians Memorial Auditorium. This academic year marks the

beginning of my tenth year as president of this distinguished college. These past years

have been challenging and enjoyable; made possible by the understanding and support

of the total college family. Ted thanked the board of trustees for giving him the

resources to transform the college. He thanked the faculty and staff for being:

Diligent and effective, competent and scholarly, reasonable and

understanding. The students have been dedicated, determined,
honorable, helpful and patient partners. If progress has been achieved,
it is a result of the cooperative efforts of all rather than the efforts of
any single individual or group. My keen interest in the college and its
programs will continue always. I shall enthusiastically serve and/or
assist the college when asked, and I express to each of you my heartfelt
thanks for the opportunity given me and for your friendship and
kindnesses. I express sincere gratitude and appreciation.522

The next days front page of the News and Courier featured a picture of Ted

and the headline Stern to Resign in June. The paper quoted Teds address to the

faculty the day before: The time has now come to pass the reins of authority of the

presidency of the College of Charleston to another. According to the article, Ted told

the faculty that he would remain active in the community and with the Spoleto

Festival, but wanted to spend more time with his wife and family. Ted cited the

Memminger program as the most important contribution to the community the

College of Charleston has made.523 He announced his retirement would be effective

on June 30, 1978.

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 Cussie Johnson said the State College Board had accepted Teds request to

retire with regret. All good things must come to an end. It will be a severe loss. We

will miss him.524 However, Ted felt that Cussie and the board were happy to see him

go.525 His remarkable tenure as president had overshadowed the board. Everyone

recognized that Ted, not the board, was the principal architect of the College of

Charlestons revival.

For his many contributions to the college, Ted was named president emeritus.

The Meteor editorialized:

More than anyone else, the students have benefited and will continue to
benefit because of Sterns vigorous administration. This too is part of
his master plan. For all of Sterns duties and responsibilities, he
considers the most important job (as college president) is the people,
the students.

When asked by the student newspaper what he thought his greatest accomplishment

was, Ted again cited the Memminger School Project. The effects of this program will

be felt twenty to fifty years from now. This is an example of how an institution of

higher learning can contribute to the local community. Ted told the paper he would

continue to work for Spoleto and to serve in any capacity to help my community

because I feel I am part of Charleston. I am going to stay here. When questioned if he

would seek political office, an option that many in Charleston felt was a distinct

possibility, Ted responded, Politics is definitely not part of my future plans. In fact,

one of my marriage vows was, Thou shalt not seek political office.526

The announcement of Teds retirement prompted an editorial in the News and

Courier under the headline A Tough Act to Follow. The paper praised Ted as an

energetic administrator, a visionary who appears to thrive on challenges, a steadying

270
and sometimes a pushing hand in an era of expansion that posed all sorts of problems

and inconveniences, a ramrod for a decade of development. The paper also hinted

that it was time for a change. The trustees task of finding Teds successor would not

be easy.

Indeed, it should not be. They ought to be looking for the best-
qualified candidate around, but not necessarily one exactly like
Theodore S. Stern. In the first place, it is highly unlikely they will
find another with his particular talents. In the second, they will want
to keep in mind the changing job demands of the presidency. When
Mr. Stern steps aside, the bricks and mortar program he has
overseen so effectively will be largely done. If a limit is kept on
enrollment, as it most certainly should be, the next decade will be a
time to channel attention and dollars inward, on faculty and
curriculum and books. All of which is not to say Mr. Stern at 65
couldnt handle that challenge in his usual dynamic fashion. It is to
say that he wont be available; believing as he does that every
organization or institution should change leadership after so long a
time.527

Others seconded the need for change. Marian Nettles, a junior at the college

from Lake City, South Carolina, expressed the hope that the next president would,

Continue the gains and expansion recently experienced by the College under
the exceptional leadership of President Stern [however] lead the College back
to the primary emphasis on superior educational standards, which might have
been slightly relaxed during the period of necessary expansion.

Dr. Sam Hines, a member of the political science department and a future dean

of the college spoke for many of the faculty:

I believe that the most important quality needed in Mr. Sterns

replacement is academic leadership. Under Presidents Sterns able
leadership, we have laid a solid foundation for our academic program.
Now the primary task is to develop, refine, and perfect our academic
programs. Above all, we need a new president who is an experienced
and respected educator.528

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 Cussie Johnsons annoyance with Ted over Spoleto and possible his frustration

over Teds resignation played out in the search for Teds successor. Johnson created a

search committee comprised of three board members and three faculty members. They

received more than two hundred applications from what Ted later described as

second tier candidates.529 C. Hill Womble, the former academic dean, now president

of Coker College, and Jack Bevin, who had replaced Womble as academic dean at the

College of Charleston, were among the candidates. Ted strongly favored Hill Womble.

Teds efforts to have Hill Womble succeed him started to unravel in early December

1977. W. Frank Kinard, an associate professor in the colleges chemistry department,

wrote Cussie Johnson a letter intended to torpedo Hill Wombles candidacy.

I am writing this letter on behalf of myself and several other Faculty

members who are deeply concerned over the selection of the next
President of the College of Charleston. The source of my concern is
over the application of Dr. C. H. Womble. Having served on the
committee that evaluated the performance of the various administrators
during the last ten-year self-study [the study prepared for SACS
accreditation], I am seriously concerned that Dr. Womble would be
considered at all.

Kinard advised Johnson that nearly 76 percent of the faculty rated Womble as poor

in nearly all categories.

A more objective view of Dr. Wombles ratings by the faculty would

probably attribute some of his problems to the administrative style of
President Stern, but in truth, his performance as the Academic Vice
President did not inspire admiration or confidence on the part of the
faculty.

Kinard minced no words when he alluded to the sad reality that many of the

states college presidents were preachers, retired military officers, textile executives,

salesmen, accountants, and the like. He also took a dig at Ted, accusing him of

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ignorance of the day-to-day problems of the faculty and Teds failure to inspire

confidence and respect from the faculty. Kinard, knowing of Teds preference for

Womble, suggested that Wombles appointment would smack of cronyism. Many

members of the faculty at the college are adamantly opposed to Dr. Womble and are

quite disturbed by the possibility that he might even be considered. Kinard concluded

his letter by threatening to go public with the facultys opposition and urged the

college board to consider the facultys opposition to Womble before irreversible

action might be taken.530

The facultys review of Womble in the self-study Kinard referred to was even

more personal and harsh:

There is resentment and distrust expressed by the faculty for this

administrative officer. In the areas of integrity and confidence, he was
rated substantially below all other Administrative Officers. Comments by
the faculty members indicate thirty believe that he treats them with
disdain and in a non-professional manner; he does not support his
department chairmen; he promotes dissension within departments. He is
believed to misrepresent positions of the faculty, Board of Trustees, and
the President to the detriment of mutual trust and cooperation.

Even with this disapproval, the faculty rated Womble high in efficiency, accessibility

to the faculty, qualification for his position, and initiative.531

Johnson immediately responded to Kinards letter and urged the chemistry

professor to share his views with faculty members of the search committee.532

Claiming he never saw the self-study report, Johnson wrote Ted a cool letter and

included a copy of Kinards criticism of Womble. I wish you would take particular

note of paragraph two as I think serious allegations have been made regarding the

performance of Dr. Hill Womble as Academic Dean of the College of Charleston. My

concern and I feel certain it would be the concern of the entire Board of Trustees, is

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that if these statements are correct, we should have been informed. It is, therefore, my

request as Chairman that you conduct a thorough investigation of these allegations and

report the findings to me.533 Johnson copied Kinard his letter to Ted.

The chemistry professor and the chairman of the board had sandbagged Ted.

His candidate, Hill Womble, would not be his successor. Ted attempted to get revenge

by denying Kinard tenure and terminating his contract with the college. However,

Teds efforts to fire Kinard were thwarted by the colleges attorney, and Kinard was

granted tenure three months after Ted retired. In later years, both Kinard and Teds

memory of their confrontation mellowed and when their paths crossed greeted each

other amicably.534

The other in-house candidate, Jack Bevin, lacked strong support and later

blamed Ted for not getting the job. However, it appears that after the Kinard incident,

Ted had little influence in the selection of his successor.

Johnson, working through his network and without advising the search

committee, invited Edward M. Collins, president of Millsaps College in Mississippi, to

come to Charleston for an interview. Ted and Alva were assigned to retrieve Collins

and his wife from a Kiawah Island condominium and deliver them to Johnson in

Charleston. Ted remembered when he met Collins and his wife it appeared that the

couple had had a rough night and required several cups coffee before their interview

with Johnson. Ted doubts about Collins were ignored. Johnson also snubbed the

boards search committee and announced Collinss appointment as the colleges next

president on May 24, 1978.535

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Ted did not let his inability to select his successor discourage him. Instead, his

final months as the colleges president were as energetic as the previous nine years.

The day he announced his resignation to the board and faculty, Ted laid the

cornerstone for the new 85,000 square foot fine arts building named for Albert

Simons, the dean of Charlestons architects and one of Teds closest advisors in the

schools physical expansion. A new 54,000 square foot building adjacent to the Craig

Union on St. Philip Street was under construction for the schools educational

department. Sixteen newly minted PhDs joined the faculty. Forty foreign students

from eighteen different countries entered as freshmen. Measured by Scholastic

Aptitude Test scores, the quality of the freshman class increased by an average of

twenty-five points over the 1976 freshmen class. Approximately 83 percent of the

freshmen were in the top half of their high school graduating classes.536 The belief that

the colleges standards declined during Teds tenure was a myth promulgated by those

who opposed Teds reinventing the school. The quality of the entering freshman class

confirmed Teds contribution to advancing the schools academic quality from a wish

to reality.

Although much had changed at the college since Ted took the reins in

September 1968, Ted himself had not. His message to the students as they began their

fall 1977 semester was pure Ted Stern:

I extend to each of you a warm and hearty welcome to the College of

Charleston. You are now a part of a close family and an institution that
takes pride in its warm personal relationships. I wanted you to know of
my personal interest in your progress while you are at this great
institution. The courses of instruction will be of the highest quality and
will offer you many challenges and opportunities, and I know you will

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 be prepared to meet them squarely. On the other hand, college is not
only classroom work, but it is also a place where life-long relationships
are developed, learning discovered, and mental capacity sharpened
through contact with your fellow students, the faculty, and staff. I would
encourage you to be active in college community life which also has a
distinctive role in your college education. Accept my best wishes.537

Teds final months as college president were a whirlwind of honors, dinners,

and personal letters of gratitude from the people he had touched during his ten years

leading the school. One of the first personal tributes came from Fred Daniels, the

colleges admissions director, and basketball coach when Ted arrived. Daniels helped

Ted recruit African-Americans to the previously all-white school.

I want to express my sincere congratulations on what you have

accomplished and what you have brought in leadership and dedication
to the institution, the students, and faculty; the integrity and compassion
that you have demonstrated in your dealings with all of us. There are
very few people who have had as positive an influence on my life as you
have. Maturity, stability, patience, and hopefully an open-mindedness
and compassion for others are just a few of the things that I have learned
through my association with you. I am a better person for having been
associated with you.538

In late February 1978, Ted was notified he was to receive an Honorary Doctor

of Laws Degree from the Citadel at its graduation exercises on May 13. The day after

the Citadel notice arrived, Ted heard from Stanley Blumberg, Director of Alumni

Relations at Johns Hopkins, that the Alumni Association of Teds alma mater was

presenting him its Distinguished Alumnus Award at the Associations Annual Dinner

on April 28.539

On March 11, 1978, the college held its annual Founders Day, the tradition

that Ted had inaugurated nine years earlier. Two of the honorary-degree recipients had

a special meaning for Ted: Milton Eisenhower, president emeritus of Johns Hopkins

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University (Eisenhower had signed Teds belated 1961 Johns Hopkins diploma.); and

Septima Poinsette Clark, the well-known South Carolina civil rights leader who had

mentored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ted selected Septima Clark for the honor to

underscore the colleges commitment to diversity. Ms. Clark later thanked Ted. My

degree has made a superb recognition of my worth among many groups. Letters have

come from people of my own race that I never thought they would ever think of me.

Thank you!540

In his Founders Day remarks, Ted thanked all those who had made his tenure

at the college, the most productive and satisfying years of my life. He cited Isaiah

Bowman and Milton Eisenhower as models who demonstrated that success in

academe could be achieved when there was a balance of effective leadership, prudent

management, scholarly interests, community involvement and acute sensitivity to the

needs of students. Teds values were on display when he concluded his brief address

with,

I cannot stress too heavily the need to strengthen the moral dimensions
of academic life. For administrators, it means constant alertness to see
that the highest ethical standards are adhered to in every facet of
institutional life. For faculty, it means a greater devotion to the welfare
of institutions that employ them, and to the best interests of the students,
as well as increased attention to moral values and ethical issues in their
teaching. For students, it means greater tolerance of the opinions and
mores of other groups in society.541

Following Teds remarks, Milton Eisenhower announced that Ted was selected

Johns Hopkins Alumnus of the Year. Governor James Edwards then presented Ted the

states highest honor, the Order of the Palmetto. The ceremonies concluded with the

Reverenced Benjamin J. Whipper, who had worked for Ted at the Naval Supply

277
Center and whose wife, Lucille, Ted had hired as the colleges first affirmative action

officer, giving the benediction.

Later that day the State College Board of Trustees held a reception and dinner

honoring Ted at the Stern Center. Cussie Johnson acted as master of ceremonies and

introduced the distinguished guests that included Governor James Edwards, Mayor Joe

Riley, and John Bourne, the mayor of North Charleston. The evenings speakers

included Sonny Hanckel, chair of the board that hired Ted; Eddie Towell, who had

served as the schools acting president between the time Walther Coppedge resigned

and Ted was hired; Gedney Howe Jr., one of Teds mentors; and Teddy Guerard, who

served as the president of the College of Charleston Foundation. The list of speakers

included James Rogers, chair of the State College Board of Trustees when the college

entered the state system.

Robert Figg, who had helped Ted create the College of Charleston Foundation

was unable to attend, sent Ted a handwritten note: I have just finished reading the

Presidents Report, 19681978 and I am filled with wonder and admiration when I

think of those years in the life of my Alma Mater and the magnificent and almost

unbelievable accomplishment which you brought about.542

Charlestons Sertoma Club honored Ted with its 197778 Service to Mankind

Award, and Francis Marion College in Florence designated Ted a Francis Marion

Patriot. One of the most heartfelt tributes came from the school's beloved professor

Harry Freeman.

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for these
past ten years of devoted and untiring service which you have rendered
to higher education in South Carolina. I further appreciate beyond
words of expression, your continuous and determined philosophy of

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 academic excellence. You are not just a master planner and architect
you are a determined and thoughtful person and a true supporter of the
academics. I admire your fortitude, energy, courage, and pleasant
personality. I shall miss you, Ted Stern; this is truly a sad time for me.
Thank you! You are the Greatest.543

Joe Riley Sr., Teds closest friend penned:

I take off my hat to you, my friend, and say, A job well done. The
challenges that you faced during the first years of expansion would have
been too much for anyone but you. Your leadership roles at the college,
in civic organizations, in your church, and in the community, are
especially significant. To make the contributions that you have in so
many diverse areas of living in ten short years is almost unbelievable.
Your friendship to the community and especially to Helen and me will
always be cherished.544

The 1978 Comet, the colleges yearbook, was dedicated to Ted with these words:

His emphasis as always is on people. Individually or collectively people

are his first concern. So, the lists of titles, chairmanships, and
accomplishments have been left out here. So have a lot of mushy words
that are traditionally rendered in praise of so accomplished a person.
Rather we will offer him now only two things that we feel are
appropriate; our friendship and respect. He deserves no less.545

Ted later said that of the complimentary letters he received one of the most meaningful

was from by J. C. Long, the former state senator and founder of the Beach Company, a

major real estate developer.

I like thousands of others regret your decision to retire as President of

the College of Charleston. Your promotion of the College of Charleston
from the small institution it was to the position it occupies today in the
educational world stands as a monument to your character and abilities.
It is, in my opinion, unprecedented in all America. Not only is this
community indebted to you for your efforts at the College, but if it had
not been for Ted Stern, the Spoleto Festival would never have been
accomplished. How you found time with all that was imposed upon you
as President of the College to give your abilities to other community
efforts, was nothing short of mystifying.546

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 The 1978 graduating class that gathered on the Cistern for the colleges 193rd

commencement on Sunday, May 14, 1978, was the largest in the schools history up

until that time. Sun poked through the clouds and the temperature hovered around

eighty degrees. The Cistern was still damp from the previous days rain. The girls,

clutching bouquets of red roses, wore their traditional white evening gowns. The boys

sported the customary white jackets and black trousers. Proud parents, grandparent,

siblings, relatives, and friends of the graduates filled the Cistern, and the bleachers

erected for the second Spoleto Festival USA that would begin in eleven days.

Ted was the principal speaker. He urged the graduates to reject mediocrity, be

creative, exhibit courage, and welcome responsibility, He called on them to help

restore credibility to the countrys institutions. Ted ended his address with words of

the Roman poet Catullus, Ave Atque Vale, I salute yougoodbye.547 Of course,

Ted was not saying goodbye to the college or Charleston. He would continue to serve

both in a variety of capacities for the next thirty-five years.

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 Chapter VIII

The Second Retirement

Rather than finishing something, this is the beginning.548

Ted Stern

Teds final day as the colleges president was June 30, 1978. He emptied his

desk in the office that had served as his command post for the previous ten years. He

greeted faculty, students, and friends who came by to wish him well. He signed

contracts, interviewed a librarian, awarded scholarships, and held a news conference.

When I woke up this morning my first thought was Well, this is my last day at the

college. Tomorrow is my first day as president emeritus. Rather than finishing

something, this is the beginning.

Ted called the governor and welcomed his successor, Dr. Edward M. Collins

Jr. I am going to help him, but Im not going to offer him any advice. One-way Ted

thought he could be helpful was by increasing the schools $3 million endowment to

$10 million. Ted wanted the money used to provide scholarships to minority students,

whose percentage of the student body was declining due to lack of financial aid. I

want to stay away from the campus until after the first of the year. If I could help the

[new] president, Id be here. But on the other hand, I think he should have a free rein

for whatever he wants to do. Ted told a local reporter that he was proud of what he

had accomplished at the school. However, he considered himself only a catalyst. I

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think that anyone who is successful has to have a lot of breaks. And I think Ive had all

the breaks.549

Ted and Alva moved from the Bishop Smith House to 16 Bull Street, a

dependence of the Blacklock House. The colleges foundation, in gratitude for Teds

service, gave Alva and Ted a lifetime lease on the small colonial brick building. It

would serve as their in-town residence for the next twenty-two years. The Sterns

primary residence became their North Carolina farm where they would stay for most

of the year. Alva considered the farm her home. Ted grew to love the place and thrive

in Sparta. However, he was wedded to Charleston and regularly made the 700-mile

round-trip commute between Sparta and Charleston to attend meetings related to his

multitude of civic activities.

Ted couldnt retire. He wasnt a golfer and didnt play tennis. My recreation

was work and being a participant.550 Teds friend and Spoleto supporter, Melvin

Solomon of Charlestons Saul Solomon Co., offered him a position on the retail

companys board. Another friend, Jack Kessler, the developer of Seabrook Island and

founder of Charlestons Liberty National Bank, gave Ted an office in the banks new

building on Meeting Street. Ted didnt slow down. His immersion in community

service would continue to the end of his life. However, his retirement from the college

marked a major change in Alvas life.

During Teds twenty-eight-year Navy career the Sterns moved every three or

four years. From Norfolk to Honolulu, then to Washington, D.C., to Lake Bluff north

of Chicago, back to Washington, and then to Charleston. Alva once described moving

as comparable to a house fire.551 Alva was the dutiful Navy wife and attentive

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presidents wife. She organized the officers wives at their different posts and the

faculty wives at the college. She was the perfect hostess, meticulously arranging

receptions and dinners at the Presidents House on Glebe Street. Alva shepherded

Sandy through Cub Scouts and directed the children in school plays. She watched over

Elisabeths years at Ashley Hall and later at Clemson University. She managed

Tippys public and private school education in Charleston, Pennsylvania, and North

Carolina. As Ted transformed the college and participated in countless community

activities, Alva served as the childrens principal parent.552

Over the years, Alva grew to resent sharing Ted with Charleston that required

his frequent absences from home and the children. She begrudged Teds popularity

and was weary of all the accolades he received. She rolled her eyes and made faces

when Ted showed off his many plaques and citations to family and visitors. Alvas

identity in Charleston was as Teds wife. With Teds retirement, she was no longer

the presidents wife. Alvas sister Mary Jane said Alva, Went into a shell when Ted

retired. Compared to Ted, Alva felt she was no longer important.553 She had several

close friends in Charleston, but never felt at home in the Holy City.554 She saw

Charleston as Teds place and the farm in Sparta as hers.555

Alva and Ted built a comfortable, two-bedroom cottage on the hill overlooking

the old farm house and rolling knolls of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Following Teds

retirement, Alva stayed as the cottage from April to January. Here she no longer

needed to be the public person she had been during the Navy years and at the college.

She centered her attention on her children and grandchildren. She spent her days

reading, and knitting, playing solitaire and watching her favorite soap opera, Days of

283
Our Lives. She seldom ventured out beyond her weekly visits to the beauty parlor. At

heart, Alva was reticent and naturally shy. It was a side of her that few knew or

appreciated. Ted built a small chalet a few yards from the cottage to use as his office

and get away. The cabin had a desk, a comfortable sofa, telephone, fax machine, a

kitchenette, and television. The cabin became his place. Here he could retreat to

communicate by phone and fax with Charleston and watch whatever sports event was

on television. As Alva became more reclusive, Ted did all the grocery shopping and

cooking. His favorite meals were meat and potato dishes. He was a regular at

Spartas Farmers Hardware, where he bought supplies and equipment for the farm.

He relaxed by working in the garden or tending to his cattle. He loved driving his

tractor at high speeds around the farm, often frightening those riding in the wagon he

was pulling. It was the same driving technique that Ted used dashing around

Charleston in his big Cadillacs.

Spoleto USA remained Teds primary focus in the years immediately

following his retirement. However, the festival was not alone in benefiting from Teds

attention. In the spring of 1979, Ted joined an effort to take control of the Charlestons

Preservation Society. The society was opposing Mayor Joe Rileys plan to build a

hotel and convention center on a vacant lot on Charlestons King Street. The

controversy was one of the most emotional and bitter disputes in Charlestons history.

It pitted friend against friend, preservationist against preservationist, and businesses

against businesses.

The battle began in 1975, soon after the thirty-three-year-old Riley was elected

mayor. The city that Little Joe was leading had never fully recovered from the Civil

284
War. Its central business district was run-down. An Atlanta magazine noted at the

time, Downtown Charleston in many ways epitomizes the decaying American city.

Unemployment in the city was hovering at 15 percent, and property values on sections

of King Street had fallen to pre-1949 levels. The enclosed suburban malls in West

Ashley and North Charleston had left many retail spaces on King and Meeting streets

empty. Marianna Hay, who managed her familys Croghans Jewel Box that stood on

King Street for more than a century said, We were dying. It [King Street] was just a

big blight. Downtown was really kind of a no mans land. The young mayor likened

the area to a poisoned ecosystem.556

Responding to local business leaders, Riley created the Charleston Commercial

Revitalization Program and engaged a Washington-based consulting firm to devise a

renewal plan for the central business district. The firm recommended the creation of

Charleston Center, a 350-room hotel with meeting space, on a vacant, trash-strewn

lot on King Street. In October 1977, Riley unveiled a more expansive plan that

included, in addition to the hotel, a conference center, and retail spaces. Robert Rosen,

the citys assistant corporation counsel and one of the plans vocal supporters said,

We need to provide things that a downtown offersrestaurants, shopping,

nightlifeand the Charleston Center will help do just that. The Charleston Center

reflects the view of the future, making Charleston into a lively, bustling city. Rosen

used Teds successful Spoleto Festival as an example of what the city could

become.557 Supporters said the development would provide jobs and a new economic

base for the old city.

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 Rileys expansive $34 million Charleston Center immediately drew fire. One

elderly resident said, What is at stake is more than a piece of land. It is our way of

life. Charleston is a national architectural treasure. It is like an exotic little country.

Some opponents pointed to New Orleans development of hotels and its catering to

tourists and conventions as an example to avoid. Others felt the grotesque size of the

proposed hotel and conference center was out of scale with the historic city.

Opponents of the plan envisioned tour buses and automobiles bringing more tourists to

the citys narrow streets, an outcome that will make parking spaces as valuable as the

antiques on lower King Street.558

The hostility to Charleston Center coalesced around the Charlestons

Preservation Society and its president, Dr. Norman Olsen. Olsen, an English professor

at the College of Charleston, was elected the societys president in 1978 and soon led

the charge against Riley and Charleston Center. I am convinced that the majority of

people are against the center, but some are afraid to speak out for fear of retribution.

People in real estate, business, and banking perhaps have something to fear from the

city. Me, now, Im safe. The long arm of the mayor doesnt reach into academia. The

thing is just too big, too massive. Imagine the impact it will have. Traffic will be

unreal. Henry Cauthen, the societys executive director, added, It will be the

beginning of the end of Charleston as a place to live.559 With high emotions came

lawsuits filed by the Preservation Society and several neighborhood groups. For three

years passions tore Charleston apart. Each side of the debate labeled their opponents,

liars. The suits and rancorous arguments were costing the city thousands of dollars

and threatening the entire endeavor.

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 In the spring of 1979, loyal to his best friends son, Ted jumped into the fray.

Encouraged by several local businesspeople, he agreed to lead a coup against Olsen

and run for the Preservation Societys presidency with a pro-Riley slate of officers.

Ted had earlier resigned his membership in the society because of its opposition to

Riley and the Charleston Center. He said he rejoined because It is unfortunate that

people put their feet in concrete and dont move. Weve got to move ahead in this

community.560

Ted and Rileys supporters succeeded in adding two hundred individuals to the

societys membership rolls in preparation for the annual election of officers. Olsen and

his supporters on the societys executive committee tried to block consideration of Ted

and the alternate slate. However, the societys sitting president, local attorney Tom

Tisdale, decided that Teds and the opposition slate could be considered at the full

membership meeting planned for historic Hibernian Hall on Meeting Street.

Tension was in the air as the societys members gathered at the Hibernian on

the evening of Thursday, March 8, 1979. But the expected fireworks never occurred.

Olsen and the slate proposed by the societys nominating committee easily defeated

Ted and the opposition by a vote of 442 to 225. Sensing the outcome, Ted left the

meeting before the final tally. He later said he was surprised by the size of the vote

adding that he hadnt sought the position as the Societys president, and only told the

members of the Society who nominated him he would be, Happy to serve if

elected.561 As it happened, Teds failed coup was a bump in the road. The following

year the final lawsuits against the project were dismissed. The newly named

Charleston Place opened in 1986 and over the years fulfilled its promise, along with

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the College of Charleston, of revitalizing King Street and Charlestons central business

district.

A few months after Teds unsuccessful attempt to take control of the

Preservation Society, South Carolina Senator Dewey Wise asked Ted to head a seven-

member Blue Ribbon Commission to recommend ways to improve Charleston

Countys public schools. The task was part of the ongoing effort to desegregate the

public school system. Consolidating the schools in 1968, originally intended to end

segregation, had the effect of blocking integration.562

Ted accepted the appointment as the commissions chair. Were not going to

change the course of the world, or find all the solutions to its problems. But we are

going to make an evaluation of our school system and [make] recommendations for its

improvement. Ted said the commissions first job was fact-finding and he hadn't

agreed to head the effort to whitewash the county schools shortcomings. The

commission will have to review the total organization of the constituent as well as the

consolidated school boards and the needs of both and the roles they play. Ted

declared, We will call the shots as we see them. If we let public education wither and

die, we are weakening the whole fabric of our national strength.563

The report Ted and his commission delivered six months later was brutally

frank. Schools in the Charleston County are governed through an unwieldy

combination of local [constituent] school boards and a central [consolidated] board;

the relationship between these authorities is confusing at best.

The scheme was a compromise when the districts consolidated. It was greatly

politicized, Becoming sometimes a platform for personal advancement, often a stage

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for acrimonious wrangling, and only seldom a forum for constructive debate on the

educational welfare of the students. The existing structure contributes toward an

unevenness which characterizes the County schools. Ted noted the unevenness

resulted from an inequitable distribution of funds by the consolidated board that

controlled the budget. Small schools and schools in poorer, largely African-American

neighborhoods received proportionately less funding than schools in wealthier, white

areas that had political clout. Inadequate staff, an inability to address special education

needs, dilapidated or nonexistent athletic facilities, and poor maintenance resulted. The

report added that inner-city schools suffered the most from the consolidated boards

favoritism.

Teds commission recommended restructuring the school system with a

consolidated board composed of the elected chairs of the constituent boards. Under the

new scheme, the constituent boards would have the primary responsibility for running

the schools. Ted believed that this would make the consolidated board more

responsive to the neighborhood schools. Expenses would be rationalized and dispersed

through the constituent boards rather than the central board. The plan needed a strong

manager if it was to succeed. The report proposed the Countys Superintendent of

Schools function as the executive officer of the consolidated board responsible for

implementing the policies of the board. It was a management approach that Ted had

introduced during his early days as president of the College of Charleston.564

Regrettably, the commissions recommendations were ignored. The unequal

distribution of funds favoring schools in affluent, white neighborhoods continued, as

did the historically poor performance of the countys public schools.565

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 It had been a busy year since Ted left the college. By the fall of 1979, it was

time to enjoy retirement. Ted and Alva were looking forward to joining their best

friends, Joe, and Helen Riley, on an around-the-world cruise aboard Queen Elisabeth

II. The grand ocean liner was celebrating its tenth anniversary. The trip was billed as

For once in your life, live! The two-and-a-half-month cruise was scheduled to visit

twenty-four ports in fourteen countries. Then fate struck. A few weeks before the

Sterns and Rileys were to sail from New York, Alva fainted in the living room of

their Bull Street home. She was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, a

congenital defect of the blood vessels in her brain.

Following her operation at Charlestons Roper Hospital, Alva spent two

months recuperating at a friends home on Seabrook Island, south of Charleston. The

Sterns sold their QE2 tickets to a couple from Columbia who joined the Rileys on the

cruise. Alva came away from the ordeal with a slight speech impediment, which Ted

felt led her to become even more reclusive. Friends and relatives admired Teds

attentiveness to Alva as her health declined over the following years. His devotion to

Alva, while energetically contributing to a host of organizations and projects in

Charleston and Sparta, illustrated Teds discipline, and capacity to compartmentalize

and prioritize.

During this same period, Ted made one of his most important contributions to

Charleston by helping create Goodwill Industries. Teds connection with Goodwill

was typical of how he became involved in many organizations.

Soon after becoming the colleges president, Ted was elected chairperson of

the Trident Forum for the Handicapped. He also created at the college an intervention

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program for children with developmental challenges in association with the South

Carolina Department of Mental Retardation. In 1973, he helped organize and was the

first chair of the Charleston Area Human Service Council, formed to suggest how the

regions private and public agencies could better coordinate their services. Through

these associations, Ted met Dr. Margaret Luszki and Dr. Vince Moseley. Dr. Luszki

was a clinical psychologist at the local veterans hospital, and Dr. Moseley headed the

South Carolina Department of Disabilities.

In the mid-1970s, Ted, Luszki, and Moseley began discussing upgrading

services to disabled veterans, the handicapped, and special needs individuals in the

Lowcountry. Their assessment took them to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they met

with the staff of that citys Goodwill Industries, considered one of the best Goodwill

franchises in the country. The process of securing a Goodwill charter for Charleston

and the money to open a store took almost four years. Ted was the efforts chief

crusader. Through his friend, Melvin Solomon of the Sol Solomon Company, Ted

procured a storefront on East Bay Street as Goodwills first Charleston home. It

opened in October 1979. Ted served as secretary of the local Goodwill board for four

years and continued to advise the organization for the following thirty years.

According to Robert Smith, president and CEO of Palmetto Goodwill, Ted was

instrumental in Goodwills impressive growth. Ted annually hosted Smiths

predecessor, Merrill J. Kinder, for lunch at one of Teds favorite places, the Mills

House on Meeting Street. There they discussed Goodwills progress and Ted made

recommendations for improving the operation. Ted also yearly gave financial support

as well as gifts of clothing. These luncheons continued with Smith after Smith

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succeeded Kinder as the organizations head in 1998. By then, Goodwill had three

stores in Charleston. At one of the luncheons, Smith lamented the organizations

financial difficulties. He said it needed to cut back and look for the cheapest places to

rent. Ted responded, You cant cut your way to prosperity. He noted Goodwills

practice of looking for the lowest rent meant locating stores in areas where people did

not want to shop or donate. You need to run Goodwill as a retail business, Ted told

Smith.

In 2001 Goodwill, with Teds guidance, opened a prototype of its new retail

outlet. The organizations phenomenal growth followed. By 2013, the renamed and

expanded Palmetto Goodwill had twenty-seven outlets covering eastern South

Carolina from Florence to Bluffton. Its thousand employees annually served thirty-five

thousand people. Smith credited Teds wise counsel, optimism, and ability to connect

people and energize them toward achieving shared goals as his greatest contribution to

Goodwill.566

It was the same story with the creation of what is today the Coastal Community

Foundation of South Carolina. Teds role in creating what by 2013 had blossomed into

the $147 million foundation began when Ted completed his term as Charleston

Rotarys president, and the club had a $9,000 surplus. Charlie Fruit, head of the local

United Way, suggested the surplus be used to launch a community foundation like

ones in Spartanburg, Greenville, and Charlotte.

In October 1973, Ted joined with fellow Rotarians Malcolm Haven, Howard

Edwards, and Wade Logan to explore the possibility. They addressed the question of

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what the proposed foundation could do for the community that was not already being

done. Their answer:

It will offer an opportunity for short-term or pilot projects in health, education,

basic science, and possible cultural fields in order that they may demonstrate
their usefulness to the community. It can be the seeding of new ideas and
concepts for the greater good of the community, which have never been given
the chance to bloom.

Ted suggested the new foundation be proactive, seeking projects to fund rather than

waiting for applications.567

With the Rotarys seed money, the Trident Area Community Foundation got

off to a slow and rocky start. The first task was to secure tax-exempt status, a

designation that took several years to obtain. Between 1974 and 1981, the all-

volunteer Foundation raised less than $30,000. Early in 1981 Ted, who at the time was

not a member of the foundation board, facilitated a planning grant from San

Franciscos Levi Strauss Foundation. As he frequently did during his retirement,

Ted activated his extensive network to secure the grant. In this case, the contact was

retired Rear Admiral Hershel J. Goldberg, Teds friend, and former boss at the Great

Lakes Navy Base. Later, as head of the Navy Supply Corps, Goldberg arranged Teds

assignment as commander of the Charleston Naval Supply Center. Following his

retirement in 1967, Goldberg became a special assistant to Walter J. Haas, Chairman

of Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco. As fate would have it, Haass wife was Evelyn

Evie Danzig, one of Teddy Sterns girlfriends when they were both growing up on

New Yorks Upper West Side.

In February 1981, Ted joined with Charleston community leaders and staff

from the Levi Strauss Foundation and company, the Mott Foundation, and the

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Southeast Council on Foundations to discuss the revitalization of the moribund Trident

Area Community Foundation. The group recommended the foundation develop a long-

range plan, restructure its board, and hire permanent staff. With Strauss Foundation

money and the counsel of Cummings Engine Foundation, the board reorganized and

hired Melinda Frierson as its first employee. Subsequently, Friersons husband

transferred from Charleston and Ruth Heffron, who had experience in several

community projects, was hired. Heffron identified four immediate goals for the

organization: to regain the tax-exempt status that had been inadvertently allowed to

lapse, educate the Charleston community about the role of a community foundation,

secure startup administrative expenses, and begin building the foundations funds.

Teds friend Jack Kessler, the Seabrook Island developer, and a member of the

Spoleto Festival USA board, suggested the Cleveland Community Foundation as a

model for the Charleston effort. By June 1981, the foundation applied for a challenge

grant from the Levi-Strauss, Mott, and Cummings Foundations totaling $75,000. At

the same time, the foundations name was changed to the Trident Community

Foundation.

In the fall of 1983, Ted was elected the foundations president. Just as he had

done at the college and Spoleto, Ted applied his management skills and energized an

organization that had lain largely dormant for almost seven years. Ruth Heffron

recalled that Ted gave the foundation credibility and connected it to important people

locally and nationally. His eternal optimism and big smile won skeptics over. They

included leaders of the African-American community, whose trust in Ted created

long-lasting relationships with the foundation.568

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 The organizations structure, policies, and procedures were strengthened

during Teds two-year tenure as the foundations president. Committees for finance

and accounting, fund-raising, public information, crime, grants, and nominating were

formed and given schedules. The foundations office moved into space next to Teds

office in the Liberty Bank Building on Meeting Street. With money from the Saul

Alexander Foundation, which Ted chaired, the foundation sponsored a crime

prevention program in Charlestons Eastside neighborhood. Ted also convinced Mayor

Riley to use the foundation as the private fund-raising fiscal agent for the development

of Charlestons Waterfront Park.569 When Ted completed his term as president he told

the foundations board, Always keep in mind the needs of the community first; keep

the budget austere, and spend not necessarily what the foundation can afford, but what

is really needed.570

Thirteen years after he stepped down as president, the now-named Coastal

Community Foundation honored Ted with its Malcolm D. Haven Award. In his

presentation of the award, Charlestons Mayor Riley captured the breadth of Teds

contributions to the community.

The 1998 recipient of the Award is a person I have been privileged to

know for a long time and who has without question made unselfish
contributions on behalf of this community. I would like to quote from
some of the letters that were submitted on behalf of his nomination. One
citizen wrote, Working with him had given me the opportunity to see
the strength he has in creating partnerships among different community
organizations. Another community leader said, His volunteer service
spans more than 30 years in areas as varied as higher education,
historic preservation, the arts, recreation, youth education, and race
relations. Another said, He leads by example and inspires many
through his own generosity of time and spirit.

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Riley went on to say, He has been the most generous-spirited and effective

civic leader and volunteer I have ever known. His leadership made a

tremendous difference in racial progress in Charleston. Then, of course, there is

Spoleto. Without him, it would never have happened. He more than anyone I

know has individually mentored people in all walks of life. There are people all

over the country for whom he has been a very special and meaningful

mentor.571

Charleston was not alone in benefiting from Teds energy and skill. As Ted

was transforming Charlestons community foundation, he was actively involved in the

civic affairs of his second home in Sparta, North Carolina. In a 1982 article titled

Theodore Stern Enjoys Life Down on the Farm, the Post and Courier wrote, In the

northwest corner of North Carolina on a piece of land bordering the Blue Ridge

Parkway, the mountain people know the community-minded Stern in a different way.

To them, he is a landowner, cattle raiser, and Christmas Tree grower.572

The reference to Christmas trees was another example of how fate had

intersected Teds life. Three years after Ted and Alva purchased the farm; the

Allegheny County agricultural agent selected it as the site to experiment cultivating

Fraser Fir trees, considered the Cadillac of Christmas trees because of their excellent

needle retention. About five thousand seedlings were planted on Teds farm. The

Fraser Firs proved a great success. By December 1982, a thousand were ready for

harvest. Ted said, It gives you a lot of satisfaction just to see them grow; you feel

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they are children growing up.573 Christmas tree cultivation grew into one of

Allegheny Countys most important industries.

As Ted harvested his first crop of Fraser Firs, he also helped Spartas Merchant

Association establish a chamber of commerce. Tom Burgiss, a Sparta pharmacist,

approached Ted and offered him a thousand-dollar fee if he would help set up a

chamber for Allegheny County. Ted said he would have to ask Alva. She quickly

approved. Ted went back to Burgiss and told him that he would do it for nothing.

Ted used the Charleston Chamber of Commerce he had been a member of

since 1965 as a model for the Sparta organization. He and the new chamber soon

proved their value when one of the areas largest employers, the Melville Shoe factory,

which produced shoes sold under the name Thom McAn, announced in 1984 that it

was closing its Sparta plant with the loss of three hundred jobs. The decision was a

major blow to a community with a population of fewer than two thousand. Ted was

called on to help.

Ruth Melville Berlin, art patron and philanthropist, whose family owned the

factory was a member of the Spoleto Festival USA board. Ted phoned Mrs. Berlin at

her Connecticut home to explain the seriousness of the plant closing. Within fifteen

minutes of concluding his conversation with Mrs. Berlin, Ted received a call from the

CEO of Melville Shoes. He invited Ted to meet at the companys headquarters in

Harrison, New York. At his expense, Ted flew to New Yorks La Guardia Airport

where he was whisked off in a limousine to meet with Melvilles senior officers. Ted

left the meeting with the corporations promise it would sell the Sparta factory

building to Allegheny County and contribute $50,000 toward the purchase. Phil

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Hanes, the Winston-Salem philanthropist, another of Teds friends and Spoleto board

member, who had a home in Roaring Gap, a wealthy enclave fourteen miles east of

Sparta, provided the county with the balance of the money needed to buy the

factory.574 The building was subsequently used for a variety of small industries and

businesses.

Saving jobs for Sparta was important. However, Teds most significant

contribution to Sparta was establishing a local bank. Again, Teds experience and

connections were crucial.

Soon after retiring from the college, Ted and his friend Herbert DeCosta, an

African-American Charleston contractor who had restored many of the colleges

buildings, and Teddy Guerard, prominent Charleston attorney and president of the

College of Charleston Foundation, attempted to found a bank in Charleston. The effort

failed. However, the exercise gave Ted the expertise to help establish a bank in Sparta.

Don W. Miles and George Sheets, two of Spartas leading entrepreneurs,

believed the little people of Sparta had difficulty securing loans from the towns two

existing banks, branches of First Citizens and First Union. They wanted a local bank

that could better address local needs. Miles and Sheets knew Ted through their

association with the Sparta Chamber of Commerce and believed Ted had the know-

how and connections to make their dream of a local bank a reality. When Ted was

asked to help, he told Miles and Sheets he would be happy to do so, on two conditions.

The bank board had to include at least one woman and one minority. It was a new

concept for the small North Carolina mountain town. However, Teds conditions were

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accepted. Ted then convinced Juanita Bryan, a prominent local, retired African-

American teacher, to join the board.

After several false starts, the Blue Ridge Bank opened in Sparta on October 14,

1987, with Ted as chairman of the board. Besides Juanita Bryan and Ted, the board

included twenty local business leaders, doctors, and lawyers. At the banks opening,

Ted told an audience of 250 who had gathered for the occasion, This is a most

significant occasion. This bank is only the second bank in the history of North

Carolina that has sold all its stock on its opening. We are very proud of that. Blue

Ridge Bank is your bank. Its not run by any one group. We all have made a pledge to

do our best to serve the citizens of Alleghany County and North Carolina.575

The venture was a phenomenal success. When the bank held its annual meeting

a year and a half later, Ted announced that assets had grown from $7.6 million to

$21.6 million. Deposits had increased from $13.7 million to $18.8 million, and the

bank had made loans of $11.9 million. Ted told the board:

In any organization, especially banking, you dont stand still. You either
move ahead or go backward. I am pleased to say we have moved ahead
at an unprecedented rate, and we intend to continue this progress for the
benefit of the community we serve and you our shareholders. Our
success is essentially the result of acceptance, support, and assistance of
the citizens of Alleghany County. The people deserve credit and praise
for the banks success.576

When Ted stepped down as chairman two years later, the bank had added two

branches. At Teds last meeting as board chair, the banks president and CEO Guy

Scott told Ted, Your contribution cant be measured. Reggie Joyner, the bank's

attorney, described Ted as the glue that held the bank project together during difficult

times.577

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 Ted continued to serve as the banks president emeritus until 1996 when the

bank was sold for $24 million to a West Virginia bank holding company. At the time,

the bank had assets of $103.2 million and an annual net profit of $292,000. In ten

years, the banks stock had gone from $5 a share to almost $20 a share. Ted held seven

thousand shares. He and the originators did well. However, what Juniata Bryan

remembers most about Ted Stern was not the shareholders profit. It was Teds visit to

her home following her mothers death. Ted brought a small tree that she planted in

her yard. It lived for eighteen years. Twenty-five years later, Juanita Bryants face lit

up when she described Ted as, Inspiring, interesting, responsive to others and highly

respected. He was not a pretender. He was real.578

Ted made other contributions to his second home, including raising money for

the local hospitals New Legacy Capital Campaign. Looking back on those years, Tom

Burgiss when asked to describe Ted, unfolded a piece of paper on which he had

written the following: Benevolent, committed, credible, dedicated, devoted, diligent,

displays kindness, great generosity, industrious, innovative, malleable, persistent,

pioneer, responsible, team player, tireless, tried-and-true, and trustworthy.579

Teds contributions to Sparta are not widely known in Sparta today and less so

in Charleston. However, his impact on the small rural mountain town was

extraordinary. As he had done in Charleston, Ted gave his time, expertise, and

contacts in service to his North Carolina home. However, Teds primary focus

remained Spoleto Festival USA. Under Teds leadership, the festival blossomed

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despite potentially debilitating deficits, staff changes, and logistical problems. Each

edition of Spoleto built on the success of the previous years offerings.

The importance of the festival to Charleston became obvious. At the

conclusion of the festivals second edition in June 1978, an article appeared in the New

York Times titled Confederate Citadel Backs into Future.

Charleston is cautiously backing into the future while keeping its eyes
fixed on a precious, glorious past. The second annual splash of
springtime excitement known as Spoleto USA, is giving Charleston a
chance to put its toe into the waters and see how change feels. So far it
feels fine.

The article reported that Ted and Mayor Riley were pleased with seeing

skeptics slowly turn into Spoletanos, now persuaded that the festival represents the

best kind of change that could happen to their beloved Charleston. The festival was

invigorating Charlestons artistic organizations. Under Mr. Stern, the College of

Charleston has been leading the citys changing attitude toward change, particularly in

the arts.580 The Charleston Symphony, until then a volunteer group of amateur

players, hired a manager and development director. The local opera group was

discussing expansion.

The highlight of Spoletos 1978 festival was the Phe Zulu Theater Company

from South Africa. The group consisted of forty dancers, musicians, actors, and

singers who presented an original drama based on a historic Zulu event that paralleled

Shakespeares Macbeth. Inviting the African performers was another example of Teds

fearlessness. As the Times reported:

Some of the towns hard-liners had a fit! First, they heard that some of
the Zulu were going to do topless dances. It confirmed their deepest
suspicions about the festival. Ted Stern and others explained the Zulu

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 company was taken seriously by audiences all over the world. It had the
patronage of the Royal Shakespeare Company. When it appeared in
London members of the Royal family attended. If the Zulus were good
enough for the British royal family, they were good enough for
Charleston.

Then there was the question of southern hospitality. No top Charleston family would

invite the Zulus into their home. There would be a scandal. However, many of the

Zulus were royalty in their own tribe. It was not a question of whether the Southern

ladies would receive them. It might come down to a question of whether they would

receive the Southern ladies.581 In the following years, Ted would proudly display the

spear and shield the Zulu performers presented him at the conclusion of their

Charleston visit.

The 1978 Festival extended for six days and drew nearly a hundred thousand,

almost doubling the first years attendance. The festival, like the college, was an

economic engine spurring Charlestons renaissance. Spoleto USA pumped millions

into the local economy. It burnished the citys image as a center of the arts and

enhanced the Lowcountry's quality of life, drawing new industries and retirees. Ted

was honored for his leadership of Spoleto with three awards. The first was the

Service Above Self Award presented by the Rotary Club of Charleston in 1983.

Speaking at the award lunch, Gian Carlo Menotti said, I had begun to lose my faith in

the decency of mankind when I met him. After I met him, I regained my faith in my

fellow man. Menotti gave Ted credit for Spoletos success. Mayor Riley read off a

list of Teds accomplishments. He said all cities need workers, But great communities

need a few people who not only work but who have the ability to make things happen

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to change directions; who not only make things move along but to move up. Sterns

service above self will make Charleston an even better place to live.582

Soon after receiving the Rotary honor, Ted was presented with South

Carolinas highest recognition for contributions to the arts, the Elizabeth ONeill

Verner Award, named for one of Charlestons legendary artists. The following year,

1984, Ted received the Distinguished Service to State Government Award from the

National Governors Association. The award was presented at the associations annual

meeting in Nashville.

That same year, President Ronald Reagan invited Ted and Alva to the White

House for a reception toasting those who were receiving the 1984 Kennedy Center

Honors, including Gian Carlo Menotti. Menotti was the first non-American to receive

the recognition. It was a heady evening for the Sterns as they rubbed elbows in the

East Room with Oscar de la Renta, Walter Cronkite, Secretary of State George Schulz,

and four hundred other guests. Years later Ted recalled how proud he was to meet

President Reagan. However, what Ted remembered most about the evening was

setting off the alarm when he passed through the White Houses metal detector. The

source was a back brace hidden under Teds tuxedo.583

In October 1985, Ted resigned as chairman of the Spoleto Festival USA, a

position he had held for nine years. During his tenure, the festivals annual budget had

grown from a few hundred thousand dollars to more than $3 million, and the annual

fete had become one of the worlds outstanding music and performing arts events.

Teds move from Spoletos chairman to chairman emeritus was celebrated with a

boisterous if bittersweet dinner at New Yorks Ritz Carlton Hotel. Charleston

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businessman Charlie Way, who succeeded Ted as chairman, announced Teds

elevation to chairman emeritus: But dont let that fool you. I have Teds word that he

will be involved with the festival until his dying day. Mayor Riley added, Without

Ted Stern, there would never have been a festival in 1977or any other year.584 Gian

Carlo Menotti declared, I think that everybody on the board will agree that, without

Sterns incredible energy, optimism, and leadership, there would be no festival today.

Hes been through many storms. He was always able to inspire the board, keep us

looking ahead, rather than just be dismayed by what was happening at the moment. I

must say that I am sad that he is no longer chairman, but I think that he remains a

power behind the throne.

When asked why he and Ted worked so well together, the maestro responded,

I think this is because we were able to argue. You know, the only real friends are

friends with whom you feel comfortable enough to be able to fight.585 Ted replied to

the tributes with his usual humility. I just dont know what to say, and that is the first

time that has happened. As I have said before, Spoleto is not the result of one persons

efforts. It is the effort of our wonderful staff and board.586 When asked how he had

steered Spoleto through many personnel changes, deficits, and logistical challenges

Ted responded,

Ive always had the philosophy the good Lord puts us here for a purpose
to do something good and help others. Ive always tried to do that. I
dont like to see feuds. I like for people to get together. My job at Spoleto
has been to keep the diverse factors from clashing, to try to keep them
working together for the ultimate goal.

Ted described his relationship with Menotti as one of mutual respect. Neither of us is

perfect. He knows that if he asks me a question hell get an honest answerand its

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the same the other way around.587 Neither Ted nor his admirers could conceive that in

six years Mayor Riley would ask Ted to save Spoleto for the second time.

During the years Ted was leading the Spoleto USA Festival he had helped

establish Goodwill Industries in Charleston, headed a blue-ribbon commission

studying Charleston Countys Public Schools, served as president and energized the

Trident Community Foundation that he help create, supported Mayor Rileys battle to

create Charleston Place, started a Christmas tree farm, organized a chamber of

commerce and founded a successful bank in Sparta, North Carolina.

While Ted was continuing to be an active contributor to causes in Charleston

and Sparta, he had minimal contact with hs successor at the College, Edward Collins.

Collinss troubled seven-year tenure saw the schools student body shrink and

minority representation decline. His relationship with the schools board,

administration, and student body grew toxic when questionable expenses became

public. Alarmed alumni and the states elected officials demanded a change at the top.

Collins resigned under pressure in 1985.

The State College Board of Trustees selected Harry Lightsey, dean of the

University of South Carolina Law School, as the sixteenth president of the College of

Charleston. Harry Lightsey and Ted Stern had much in common. Lightsey was

energetic, personable, confident, politically connected, and wise. He was also a

micromanager. Also, like Ted, Lightsey concentrated on the students and was

progressive in racial matters. He shared Teds view the school should serve the

community and become a university, which would help it address its continuing

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financial challenges through growth. Like Ted, Lightsey was unable to achieve that

goal.

Emulating Teds tenure, Lightsey wanted the school to be more accessible to

those who traditionally were academically underqualified. To the chagrin of some

faculty, Lightsey introduced special classes to help challenged students gain the skills

to help them meet the schools academic requirements. Lightsey also understood that

adapting to the eras new computer technology was vital. His inaugural theme in

March 1987 was From Cobblestones to Computers. With he and Ted having so

much in common, it is not surprising that soon after becoming the schools president,

Lightsey offered Ted office space on the ground floor of the Blacklock House,

adjacent to the Sterns residence at 16 Bull Street. Ted became Lightseys confidential

counselor. The relationship between the two became so close that they shared a

secretary.

The spring of 1986 was a wonderful time for Ted and Alva. Ted had

reconnected with the College and the day-to-day responsibilities overseeing Spoleto

were behind him. He and Alva were enjoying their grandchildren and the low-key

lifestyle of the small North Carolina community. Ted was busy organizing a new bank

for Sparta. On a beautiful late spring day at their mountain retreat on Air Bellows

Road next to the Blue Ridge Parkway Ted and Alvas tranquility was shattered. The

morning of June 3 they received a call from Baltimore notifying them that Frances,

Alvas forty-five-year-old daughter, was found murdered in her Baltimore apartment.

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 A few months earlier, Frances, divorced for the third time and living with her

twenty-two-year-old son Eric in Oregon, asked if she could join Ted and Alva in

Charleston. Ted said no. He didnt want his troubled stepdaughter to tarnish the

Sterns reputation in Charleston.588 Instead, Frances moved to Baltimore while Eric

remained in Oregon. Frances tried to start a new life in the place of her birth. She

attended a culinary school and for a time served as a cook for a group of retired

Catholic nuns. Soon after returning to Baltimore, Frances was honored by the

Baltimore County Police for rescuing an eleven-year-old boy from the icy waters of

Middle River near the duplex she was renting. Subsequently, she moved to an

apartment on West Madison Street in the citys Mount Vernon neighborhood. It was

there that Frances was stabbed twenty-five times by Bryant Belle, a twenty-one-year-

old East Baltimore man who was later discovered to have murdered a man two years

earlier.

Frances had lent her car to a friend who in turn had lent it to Belle. He had the

key to Francess apartment from the cars key ring copied. Belle entered Francess

apartment with the intention of robbery. Finding Frances there, he killed her. He then

filled several plastic bags with valuables and fled. Belle was soon captured, tried,

convicted, and sentenced to two, thirty-year jail terms for the two murders.589 A few

months after Francess death, Ted wrote in a Book of Memories that her death and

the deaths of his parents were the saddest and most difficult events of his life.590

A year after Francess death, Ted received the unexpected honor of having

another building named for him. This time, it was the T. S. Stern Computer Center at

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the Charleston Naval Supply Center he had commanded from 1965 to 1968. The four

story, 20,000 square foot building, constructed at the cost of $3 million, housed the

Navys most advanced computers, valued at $14 million. Rear Admiral Robert B.

Abele, vice commander of the Naval Supply System Command, speaking at the

buildings dedication, noted that the thesis Ted had written for his degree from the

Industrial College of the Armed Forces twenty-eight years earlier foreshowed the

application of computers to the Navys supply operations. In response, Ted told the

assembled dignitaries This is a memorable and emotional day for me. He thanked

his devoted family, my beloved country, and God Almighty.591

At age seventy-seven, Ted was still in demand. In February 1989, the Patriots

Point Development Authority, the state agency that managed a maritime museum,

hotel, and marina complex on the Mt. Pleasant side of Charlestons harbor, approached

Ted to be its CEO. The project, built around the historic aircraft carrier Yorktown, had

a troubled history since its beginning in the early 1970s. Significant public and private

funds were spent on the venture. Patriots Point had gone through $12 million of its

public bond money and, by some estimates, was facing a shortfall of $812 million.

By the late 1980s, Patriots Point was facing bankruptcy. When Ted was approached

about taking charge, the project was only 35 to 40 percent complete. R. Gordon Darby,

a local real estate developer and head of the authoritys personnel committee, said,

You got a lot of people looking at Patriots Point through a jaundiced eye. A guy like

Ted Stern is a good leader. He was in the Navy. Hes a good community-minded man.

We just feel like he would add a lot of credibility.

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 Teds transformation of the College of Charleston and chairmanship of Spoleto

USA were cited as examples of his capacity to solve difficult problems. Ted

responded, If I can help, I want to do it. But there are lot things dependent on that.

He said he would not consider the job until Im satisfied that everythings been done

on the up-and-up, and Id have the complete support of everyone involved. Ted also

said if he decided to take the job it would be only for ninety to 120 days and that he

would forgo a salary as long as the authority would cover his expenses. Teds caveats

appeared to diminish Patriots Points interest. Darby said he was unsure about the

outcome of discussions with Ted, and the authority had several individuals interested

in becoming the permanent executive director. He added that Patriots Point might

engage Ted as a consultant.592 Whether Ted was offered the position as temporary

executive director or a consultancy is unclear. Subsequent state investigations,

bankruptcy hearings, suits, and indictments warranted Teds hesitancy about

rescuing Patriots Point.

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 Chapter IX

Saving Spoleto a Second Time

You have brought Spoleto back from the brink.593

Robert Larson

Not long after being approached by the Patriots Point Development Authority

in its search for a CEO, Ted was asked to unravel another explosive situation. In early

June 1991, he was at the farm when he received an urgent call from Charlestons

Mayor Joe Riley. The Spoleto USA Festival was in trouble, and the mayor needed Ted

to help save itagain.

The unrest had been stewing for years. The impresario Gian Carlo Menotti,

like many artistic geniuses, was emotionally insecure and threatened by real and

perceived intrusions into what he considered his artistic prerogatives. Menottis 1976

battle with Nella Barkley, the festivals first manager, and Hugh Lane Sr., who chaired

the original local organizing committee, led to Teds accepting the festivals

leadership at the mayors request. During Teds nine years as the festivals chair, there

were three different general managers. When Ted became chairman emeritus in 1986,

the fourth general manager, Nigel Redden, was hired from the National Endowment

for the Arts, where he headed the dance program. Redden had worked as an intern in

the mid-1970s at Menottis Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto Italy. As general

manager of Spoleto USA, Redden stabilized the festivals unsteady finances and

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maneuvered around Menottis ego to broaden the festivals artistic reach. In the late

1980s. Menottis personal financial problems led him to take more of a backseat in

planning the festivals programs. This all changed in the fall of 1990 during the

planning for the 1991 festival.

Redden proposed an art exhibition titled Places with a Past: New Site-Specific

Art in Charleston. Believing that Redden couldnt raise the estimated $800,000 cost

for the exhibition, Menotti initially did not object. He told the festival board members

to vote their conscience. The board voted to proceed with the exhibition. When

Redden secured funds to support the show, Menotti had a change of heart. He

expressed his objections to the Spoleto Festival board now headed by Ross

Markwardt, a vice president of AT&T, and Edgar Foster Daniels, actor, philanthropist,

and heir to a newspaper fortune. At the festival board meeting in New York on Friday,

October 12, 1990, Menotti demanded the cancellation of the exhibition. Instead, the

board supported Redden. Furious, Menotti abruptly resigned as the festivals artistic

director. He accused the board of ignoring his role in setting the festivals artistic

policies and having the final say in the festivals programs. Menotti declared, They

treat the artist as sort of an employee; they sign him to do his job, and then they think

they have the right to tell him how to do it.

Markwardt declined to accept Menottis resignation saying, Frankly, Im

going to let the whole thing cool off for a few days. Then Ill speak with his agent and

try to open a dialogue that can result in some kind of an agreement. Menotti

responded that he might reconsider his resignation on the condition that I be given

carte blanch on artistic matters. The general manager [Redden] must accept my artistic

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decisions and cooperate with me; at least, he should do his job and let me do my job.

They [the board] consider the general manager should have equal power. It is my

festival; I started it, and they challenge my artistic decisions.594

In the days following his resignation, Menotti was on the phone with Mayor

Riley seeking his support. Menotti told Riley that Redden and the board had decided

against his wishes and that this was unacceptable. He demanded that Redden must

resign or change his attitude. Markwardt reiterated that the board had not accepted

Menottis resignation and was looking for a compromise.

The controversy simmered for the next eight months. The festival board

proffered Menotti a new contract with an annual salary of $115,000, a $50,000 yearly

expense account, and emeritus status with lifetime income. He rejected the offers.

Menotti, approaching his eightieth birthday, added to the dispute by suggesting that he

would bequeath his artistic legacy to his adopted son Francis Chip (Phelan)

Menotti.595 This volatile mix of insecurity, the hint of nepotism, money, control, and

legacy came to a head in the opening days of Spoleto USA 1991. One reporter

compared the unfolding drama of flaming passions and intrigue to Menottis opera

Maria Golovin, which was to open the 1991 festival.

Menotti, the ultimate showman, arrived in Charleston several weeks before the

festival began. He used the time to plan strategy and gather support for his position,

particularly from Mayor Riley.

The festival opened on Friday, May 25 in front of Charlestons City Hall at the

corner of Broad and Meeting Streets. The occasion was also a celebration of Gian

Carlos eightieth birthday, which would take place in two weeks. Mayor Riley

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announced to the crowd that two of Charlestons streets were renamed for Menotti and

the building that housed the offices of Spoleto, and the Charleston Symphony

Orchestra was now the Gian Carlo Menotti Arts Center.

Riley played his part in the unfolding melodrama by telling the crowd, While

I cant, nor should I change the name of Charleston or Charles Towne, make no

mistake about it that for the next seventeen days everybody knows that Charleston is

Menottis town. From behind the U.S. post office across the street marched

Charlestons Burke High School band. Flora and Mack, elephants for the Circus Flora,

lumbered up Meeting Street in front of the historic St. Michaels Church. Behind the

two pachyderms a crew rolled a four by six-foot cake with the inscription Buon

Compleanno (Happy Birthday) Gian Carlo, Charleston Loves You. The same

inscription was on banners hanging all over the city and on T-shirts worn by 450

students from the Ashley River Creative Arts School. Three of the students handed

Menotti a bouquet of flowers and one of the shirts.

Menotti waded through the crowd signing autographs, shaking hands, and

offering kisses on the cheeks to his many admirers, who repeatedly shouted out his

name. He emotionally told a reporter, I feel they love me. I am grateful for what they

have done, and I appreciate all their kindnesses. I am always greeted with great

affection. Referring to the looming controversy, he said, I only wish the whole

citizenry of Charleston would be part of my board of directors. When asked his

current position on the dispute, the cagey Menotti said he would make his thoughts

known at the festivals board meeting scheduled to take place in the city halls council

chambers in three days. Behind the scenes, Riley seeking a compromise asked Ted and

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Charles Pug Ravenel, who had helped negoatiated the agreement that saved the

festival at its birth fifteen years earlier, to explore possible scenarios. The effort failed.

Act 2 of the drama was about to open at city hall.

The Evening Post/News and Courier captured the moment with the banner

headline Menotti issues an ultimatum accompanied by a photograph of Menotti

delivering his speech to the festival board as Ross Markwardt, and Nigel Redden

looked on forlornly.

In his long and rambling address, printed in full in the paper, Menotti

recounted how he had felt betrayed by the board, its general manager, and chairman.

He said the whole idea of the festival and selecting Charleston was his, and that he had

been falsely accused of being autocratic and of trying to have his son Chip named his

successor. He said he had made mistakes in his selection of general managers. All of

them very clever, I admit, but all of them are waiting for me to kick the bucket so that

they might take my place. Alluding to his confrontation with Redden, Menotti

recounted, The only time something was presented in this festival against my wishes

is this show of conceptual art. Now please, take a walk and see for yourselves what

you fought me fornothing but silly, sophomoric stunts, justified by even sillier

explanations. Some of the displays are hardly worthy to be seen in a cheap

discothque. Menotti then listed his specific grievances.

What do I accuse the executive committee of? First of all, I accuse Mr.
Daniels, Mr. Markwardt, and the general manager, Mr. Redden, of old-
age discrimination. They have been spreading around rumors that I am
too old, too senile for the job and that I should be retired. Well, I have
news for them. I have no intention of retiring, or of letting myself be
kicked upstairs and made emeritus. I have never felt better, nor has my
head been clearer. I also accuse the executive committee and Mr.
Redden of plans to conspire and undermine my work. They harass me

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 with detail so as to make me appear cantankerous and difficult and
capricious. How much longer do I have to bear a chairman who keeps
challenging me on every request? And again, how can I do my work with
any amount of serenity when my general manager, Mr. Redden,
obviously doesnt like me and has poisoned the board against me? If you
must keep him, then release me from my contract and let me go. So what
is the conclusion? The secret plans of your executive committee are no
secret. Everybody knows them. They are planning to bear with me until
next year when my contract expires. At the end of the contract, they will
fire me. I am sorry, but I cannot wait until that blessed day.

Menotti concluded his well-rehearsed discourse accusing the board of trying to bribe

him with a new contract and a pension. They dont seem to understand that I am not

here to make money, but to work. Then came his ultimatum. As long as you keep

the general manager, Mr. Redden, the president, Mr. Daniels, and the chairman, Mr.

Markwardt, you make my work impossible. We have different ideas, different

standards, and different tastes, and unfortunately, I know of no sauce that would make

me swallow any one of them. Menottis message was clear: they go, or I go. He

stormed out of the meeting when a board member responded to his demands by

reading the New York Timess favorable review of Reddens exhibition.

Mayor Riley announced there would be no change in leadership during the

festival. However, he signaled his support for Menotti. Its his festival, his creation,

and its the most important thing to happen to Charleston in the twentieth century.

There is a lack of understanding of Gian Carlos centrality. He has grievances that are

real and substantial. And my job is to see that they never happen again. Our position is

four-square, one hundred percent, completely with Maestro Menotti. We want him

here, center stage. Not emeritus or as a figurehead. Nor do we ever want him to feel, as

he does now, that he is an alien presence. This city will not accept it.

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 The mayor announced that Ted had agreed to meet with himself and Menotti,

To work out a way to identify problems that exist in the current organization. Ted

confidentially told the mayor that he was willing to take Markwardts place as

chairman if the Spoleto board agreed.

Later, Menotti told a reporter, Let me tell you something. If I stay, it will be

for only one personMayor Riley. He has been such a loyal and honest friend, and I

hate to disappoint him. Im willing to try to help solve this situation. But, I will not

compromise. When he learned the mayor had asked Ted to help frame a solution,

Menotti said, I like Ted. He has always been a very faithful friend. I will certainly

meet with him, with great pleasure.596

A month after the festivals finale at Middleton Place, thirty-three of the forty-

six members of the Spoleto board signed a letter supporting Redden, Markwardt, and

Daniels. In August Nigel Redden, who had served as the festivals general manager for

five years, resigned. He agreed to stay on as a consultant to help plan the 1992 festival

program. The final act in the soap opera took place at the festivals board meeting in

New York on September 16. The mayor asked Ted to attend. Charlie Way, Mary

Ramsey, and Peter Manigault from Charleston also were there as well as Homer

Burrows, former chair of the Sun Belt Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and Alicia

Paolozzi, who had been critical to the festivals success from its beginning. All of

them were Riley and Menotti supporters.

At the meeting, Markwardt and Daniels resigned under pressure from Joe

Riley. Markwardt told the press, Riley told me in so many words, that if Menotti was

to leave the festival, we would no longer be allowed to use the citys facilities and that

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we could take our festival somewhere else while he and Menotti would present their

festival in Charleston. I have been placed in an untenable position; to stay on would

only further divide the cityand an organizationthat I love. In his letter of

resignation, Edgar Daniels wrote, I had no idea when it began that it would end this

way; for in no other arts organization that I have served as a board member would this

sort of nonsense have been allowed. The determination to follow the dictates of a

small-town politician in this matter is tasteless to me in the extreme.597

Nineteen other members of the forty-six-person board resigned or declined to

serve another term. Several described the mayors interference as strong-arming.

There were estimates that the resignations would cost the festival more than $300,000

in lost donations, $40,000 alone from AT&T. However, Riley calculated the loss of

Menotti would threaten the $50 million the festival annually brought to Charleston and

South Carolina. He had little choice but to back the maestro.

Following Markwardts resignation, the mayor turned to Ted, as he had done

sixteen years earlier, and asked if he would step in and serve as chair. I never said no

to the mayor in my life, and I said I would do it on a temporary basis, for one year

1992. My biggest job was to find my successor, but we had to find another general

manager immediately.598

Teds friend Giancarla Berti, from Winston-Salem, wife of a wealthy Italian

industrialist who manufactured commercial kitchen equipment in the United States,

was elected president. From his home in Scotland, Menotti said, As far as Im

concerned, the controversy is closed. Im busy preparing my next two festivals. The

New York Times banner read, Spoleto Festival Resolves Its DisputeMenotti Is

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Winner.599 Two days later it was reported that Menotti was recovering from fatigue

in a private Italian clinic. Back in Charleston, an editorial in the Evening Post lauded

Teds selection as the new chair under the headline Spoletos Future in Good Hands.

Those who want to see the festival survive must recognize the good fortune of having

former College of Charleston President Theodore S. Stern back in the chairmans

seat.600

Ted gathered the remaining members of the festival board two weeks after the

tumultuous meeting in New York. With his usual energy and optimism, he wasted no

time in addressing the issues and seeking solutions. Were proceeding to complete the

program for 1992, and I anticipate itll be an all-time, all-star performance. Im very

encouraged at the response the festival is receiving. Fourteen new board members

were elected to replace those who had resigned. Among the new directors was the

mayors father, Joseph P. Riley Sr. There was also Sothebys chairman Alfred

Taubman, who was the developer Ted had supported in building Charleston Place; Jim

Ferguson, former chairman of General Foods; and Anne Riley, wife of former South

Carolina Governor Dick Riley. The noted pianist and bandleader Peter Duchin joined

the board as well as Teds old friend Jack Kessler, the developer of Seabrook Island.

Mayor Riley was also elected to the board.

Sounding a familiar tune, Ted told his new board that stabilizing and advancing

the festival cannot be accomplished by one person or any group. It can only be

achieved by the energetic, cooperative efforts of everyone concerned.601

After assembling a new board, Ted hired a general manager to replace Nigel

Redden. With Menottis approval, Ted engaged forty-eight-year-old Marcus Overton

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to replace Redden. At the time, Overton was serving as the manager of the

Smithsonian Institutions performing arts programs. Overton announced that he did

not have a hidden artistic agenda. Menotti responded to the appointment, I could

not have wished myself a happier New Year.602 Ted addressed the fears of many that

the controversy had damaged the festivals ability to raise money. When you have

people of the caliber and experience of Marcus Overton coming forward to work with

us, and many of our donors giving increased gifts in a time of recession, it is clear

testament of support for Spoleto, Gian Carlo Menotti, and Charleston.603

The Washington Post reported, Theodore Stern, who was made board

chairman and chief executive officer late last year, has been practicing high-level

diplomacy; nobody in Charleston seems willing to say a critical word about him.

Teds skills were soon applied to addressing the Chip Menotti succession possibility.

Ted convinced Gian Carlo that Gians adopted son could not inherit his position as the

festivals artistic director, a major factor in the earlier dispute.604

However, even with Teds diplomatic abilities, drive, and confidence, the

festival couldnt instantly heal the wounds of the previous eighteen months. When the

1992 festival opened on May 21, it had shrunk. Its budget of $4.6 million was a

million less than the previous year. The program had contracted from 120

presentations to 103. There was also a looming $2.8 million deficit.

Even with these challenges, Ted was applauded for saving Spoleto a second

time. Following the 1992 festival, Bob Larson, who had represented the Tubman

Company in building Charleston Place and a past president of Spoleto USA, wrote

Ted, You not only have my thanks but my congratulations as well for the

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extraordinary job that you have done this past year. You have brought Spoleto back

from the brink. This may well have been the most meaningful year in your many years

of involvement with Spoleto.605

Teds second stint as Spoletos chairman lasted only nine months. Homer C.

Burrows succeeded him as chairman. Mark Overtons time as general manager,

characterized by continuing turmoil and mounting deficits, was also short-lived. By

the end of Overtons second season as managing director the festival, the event had

accumulated a $1.5 million deficit. Then on October 25, 1993, Menotti announced that

he was severing his ties with the Charleston festival. In spite of my recommendations

that the bickering and ineffectual board should reorganize itself into a more loyal and

responsible group, the present organization has failed to raise the money to cover the

budget it has approved, and to guarantee the funds necessary for another festival.606

Within a month, Overton was replaced by Milton Rhodes, the former director of the

American Council for the Arts. However, Rhodes was also ineffective and unable to

turn things around.

With the intervention of Charlie Way, Nigel Redden was lured back in October

1995 to replace Rhodes as general manager. For the next seventeen years, Ted

mentored Redden, and the two became close, regularly meeting for lunch and dinner,

and talking by phone. A month before Teds death, Redden called Ted to inform him

the city was naming the public square adjacent to the Memminger School in Teds

honor. Having a public space bordering the school pleased Ted, even more so because

he considered his work with the Memminger School thirty years earlier to be one of

his highest accomplishments.

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 Chapter X

Always the College

I suppose that when some people think of the College, they think of Bishop Smith or John

Rutledge, or somebody like that. But, most people think of Ted Stern. I know I do.607

Alex Sanders

While Ted was ending his second stint as Spoleto USA chair, Alex Sanders

chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals was appointed the colleges

nineteenth president, replacing the retiring Harry Lightsey. Before Sanders assumed

his new duties at the college, he met with Ted. The day after the meeting Sanders

wrote Ted:

I cant thank you enough for your kind words of encouragement and,
most especially, your willingness to give me the benefit of your wise
counsel and advice. As I told you, please do not ever hesitate to tell me
what I need to know, particularly where you think I am going wrong or
not moving in an area where I need to be active. I have already taken to
heart your advice that Zoe and I should be involved in the community.
We discussed this last night into the early morning hours. She also
greatly appreciates your interest in our success and your offer to help us
succeed. Finally, let me say how grateful I am for the gift you told me
about. Frankly, I was so overwhelmed when you told me I am afraid I
did not adequately respond to your tremendous generosity. I was so
shocked I could hardly speak. I can only say this gift is but another
example, in a long series of examples, of your unselfish devotion. Please
know that I will do everything possible to be a good steward of your gift
and your legacy as the savior and, for all practical purposes, the
Founding Father of the modern-day College of Charleston.608

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 The gift Sanders referred to in his letter was Teds anonymous donation of

$100,000 to establish The Presidents Fund. The money would allow the colleges

president to take advantage of special opportunities such as matching grants and

presenting distinguished lectures. The donation was in the form of a charitable

remainder unitrust. Under the arrangement, the College of Charleston Foundation

managed the money; Ted received a tax deduction and continued to receive the interest

from the funds investment. The principal would become available after Alva and

Teds passing.609 Ted would live another twenty-one years. However, his eventual

demise was on his mind. He asked Sanders if he could have his funeral on the college

Cistern.610 Sanders agreed and voiced the feeling of many when he said, If you

crossed Teds path you were likely to become his friend.611

Like Ted, Sanders focused on the students during his nine-year presidency and

significantly expanded the student body. Also like Ted, Sanders was a builder and an

advocate for the schools athletic programs. Under Sanders, the colleges student body

grew by 16 percent to nearly ten thousand. The expanding student population soon

made the Robert Small Library that Ted had built twenty-five years earlier for a

student body of five thousand manifestly inadequate. As the college faced this

challenge, Bishop England Catholic High School had outgrown its 1922 building at

the corner of Calhoun and Coming Streets adjacent to the campus. Bishop England

needed a new home, and the college needed property on which to build a new library.

Serendipitously, Daniel Island, a new Charleston neighborhood, needed a school that

would draw young families to the development.

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 Alex Sanders secured $9 million from the South Carolina legislature for the

college to buy Bishop Englands Calhoun Street property, and the Daniel Island

Development Corporation donated forty acres to relocate the school on Daniel Island.

Ted described the transactions: It was a win-win situation. Actually, a win, win, win.

Daniel Island gained, Bishop England gained, and the College of Charleston gained.

That to me was an ideal situation.612 Ted would soon play a central role in building

the colleges new library on the former Bishop England property.

Teds legacy to the college is also seen in the development of the schools

athletic fields at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant. In July 1977, shortly after Ted guided

Spoletos first finale at Middleton Place, the college bought seventeen acres at

Remleys Point on the east bank of the Cooper River, seven miles from the campus.

The $210,000 purchase provided much-needed playing fields for the colleges

expanding sports programs. By the 1990s, Remleys Point, like the Robert Scott Small

Library, had become inadequate for the larger student body. In the fall of 2000, the

Remleys Point playing fields were sold to a developer for $5.7 million. Money from

the sale funded building new soccer, baseball, tennis, and sailing facilities on thirty

acres provided to the college by the city of Mt. Pleasant at Patriots Point.

Ted was also instrumental in the colleges acquiring Dixie Plantation. Located

twenty miles south of Charleston on the Stono River, the eight-hundred-acre plantation

was owned by John Henry Dick, a noted ornithologist, and naturalist artist. Dick had

inherited the plantation from his mother, Madeline Force Astor Dick, the colorful New

York, and Palm Beach socialite who survived the 1912 Titanic sinking in which her

first husband, John Jacob Astor perished. In 1916, she married William K. Dick, a

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wealthy New York banker by which she had two sons, William Force Dick and John

Henry Dick. In 1933 Madeline divorced Dick and four months later married Enzo

Fiermonte, an Italian boxer sixteen years her junior. Two years later the couple bought

Dixie Plantation. In 1938, after an eccentric and turbulent marriage, the couple

divorced.

John Henry Dick inherited the property on his mothers death in 1940 and

moved to the plantation in 1947. Dicks passion for birds combined with two years at

the Yale Art School led to a career as a noted bird illustrator. He traveled the world

photographing and sketching birds. His work is found in wildlife books including

South Carolina Bird Life and Carolina Lowcountry Impressions. He published his

own book, Other Edens, in 1979.

Dick created an aviary at Dixie Plantation and collected rare natural history

works including the complete elephant folio edition of John James Audubons Birds of

America and Mark Catesby The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama

Islands. In 1972, he was elected to the board of the newly formed College of

Charleston Foundation.

In a letter he wrote Ted in September 1975, Dick thanked Ted for coming out

to the plantation for dinner and notified Ted that he was donating an ivory-billed

woodpecker Audubon print to hang in the main room of the new John Henry Dick

wing of the Robert Scott Small Library. Dick added, That would set the tone for the

final resting place of the Audubon Elephant Folio.613 The transfer of the Audubon

prints with an appraised value of $8.6 million came fifteen years later in December

1990. In the final years of his life, Dick lost his eyesight. Harry Freeman, the colleges

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professor emeritus of biology and Teds close friend and supporter, regularly traveled

to Dixie Plantation to read to Dick. Whether it was Ted or Harry Freemans attention,

or more likely both, Dick bequeathed Dixie Plantation and his entire collection of

books, photographs, prints and bird specimens to the College of Charleston

Foundation shortly before he died in September 1995. Ted viewed Dixie Plantation as

an opportunity for the college to address its expanding physical needs.614 Twenty years

later the college assimilated Dixie Plantation when Ted helped the school secure

funding that unlocked the unique resources of John Henry Dicks bequest for the

colleges faculty and students

Dixie Plantation and the playing fields at Patriots Point grew from seeds

planted by Ted during his ten-year presidency. However, Teds work for the college

was not done. In early 1997 Alex Sanders asked eighty-five-year-old Ted to lead the

campaign for a new library to replace the Robert Scott Small Library. The Small

Library was constructed and expanded to serve five thousand students, house 200,000

volumes, and provided seating for 450 students at a time. Since the librarys opening

in 1972, the student body had more than doubled. The librarys collection had also

expanded twofold. Besides providing more space for students and books, the new

library had to incorporate the latest advances in digital technology and information

systems. In addition to these functions, the library would address college libraries

new role as gathering places for students.

When Ted became the Library Steering Committees chair in January 1997, the

librarys projected cost was $20 million. Of that amount, $12 million was to come

from a state bond issue. The schools institutional bonds would provide additional

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monies. The anticipated balance of $3.7 million was to be raised privately by Teds

committee.

Teds success as chair of the Library Steering Committee was founded on the

same management skills and ability to bring people together he applied to so many

projects. He quickly activated his network assembled over the years from his work

with Spoleto, the Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, and the long list of civic

organizations he served from the time he arrived in Charleston. He enlisted the help

and advice of friends such as David Rawle, Charlie Way, John Rivers Jr., Peter

Manigault, and Bob Larson.

Five months after Ted assumed the steering committee chairmanship, Anne

Weston, the College Foundations director of major gifts, wrote Ted, I dont know

where the Library campaign would be today if we didnt have your leadership. In just

a few short months, you have made a tremendous difference in our efforts. Please

know how much I appreciate all of your time and wisdom.615 Weston also wrote

committee member Pierre Manigault, Ive found in my short time at the College that

almost no one says no to Ted Stern!616

By September 1997, Ted had a pledge of $1.5 million from Marlene and

Nathan Addlestone, for whom the new library was named. The eighty-four-year-old

Nathan Addlestone was head of the Addlestone International Corporation, engaged in

metal and scrap metal industries. He and his wife supported various Jewish causes,

including Charlestons Addlestone Hebrew Academy. Ted announced the Addlestone

gift at the steering committees September meeting. He also reported donations of

$100,000 from the Wachovia Bank, and $100,000 from SCANA, the electric and

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natural gas holding company with subsidiaries in South Carolina, Georgia, and North

Carolina. A $50,000 gift was received from the Daniel Foundation in Greenville and

$25,000 from the BB&T Bank. At the meetings conclusion, Ted disclosed his

personal gift of $25,000, which he hoped would encourage other members of the

steering committee to contribute. Ted asked that his gift remain anonymous except to

members of the committee.617

The contacts that Ted brought to the library funding effort were illustrated by

the $100,000 gift from Odell Hawkins. A member of the College of Charleston Board

at the time, Hawkins was the founder of Charlestons Regis Milk Company. When Ted

headed the Charleston Naval Supply Center thirty years earlier, he arranged a lucrative

contract for the Regis Milk Company to supply milk to the Charleston Navy Base and

the Norfolk naval station in Virginia.

In January 1998, Ted wrote Martha Rivers Ingram, chairman and CEO of the

Nashville-based Ingram Industries, one of Americas largest privately held companies.

She was the daughter of John M. Rivers Sr., the prominent Charleston businessman

and radio and television pioneer. Ted and the senior Rivers had become close soon

after Ted arrived in Charleston, and Ted had helped Rivers son, John Jr., get into the

Navy Supply Corps. The Rivers family had a long history with the College of

Charleston. During Teds tenure as the colleges president, a hall was named for the

senior John Rivers father, M. Rutledge Rivers. A second residence hall was named

for G. L. Buist Rivers, John Rivers Sr.s older brother. In his letter to Martha Rivers

Ingram, Ted wrote:

As loyal alumni, distinguished faculty, influential trustees and generous

benefactors, the Rivers family has played an integral role in leadership

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 at the College for nearly 200 years. In fact, your father was a major
influence in my decision to accept the role of president in the late 60s
and my first endeavor as president was to construct a new library
building. Martha, building a first-class library for the new millennium
will be the last big assignment that I accept, and it is one I believe is
vitally important for the future of the college and our city. I recall with
pleasure my association with your parents and, knowing of your familys
long history with the College, believe you will be interested to learn
about the library project, its needs, and its goals.618

Ted proposed the new librarys 13,500 square foot Reference and Media Center be

named for the Rivers family. Although Martha Ingram Rivers didnt respond to the

naming opportunity, Ted ultimately received a commitment of $150,000 from the John

and Katherine Rivers Foundation. The Rivers family would eventually contribute more

than $400,000 to the project.

Ted next wrote his friend Bob Larson, who chaired the Taubman Company

builder of Charleston Place, which Ted had publicly supported in the early 1980s.

Larson was a member of the Board of the Kresge Foundation, one of the few national

foundations supporting capital projects. After describing the plan to build the new

library, Ted penned, Here is where I need your help. In our research, we have

discovered that the Kresge Foundation has been a strong supporter of library projects

at various higher education academic institutions. To my delight, I found my friend,

Robert C. Larson, among the distinguished members of the Board of Trustees. Ted

sought Larsons advice in approaching Kresge for a grant and asked his friend to

contact him at the farm in Sparta.619

Seventeen days later, Larson called Ted. Ted reported on his conversation in a

handwritten fax to Anne Weston.

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 I received a telephone call from Bob Larson around 11:304-20-98.
Bob was positive about the K Fdn. He said that they look for good
brick and mortar projects and felt the new library fits extremely
well. He said that they look for projects like these and fund as a
matching fund basis, remarking that Kresge would not be the first check
but rather the last one. He thought a visit to the staff for advice on a
proposal submission would be wise and thought a call to the
(foundations) president would be to our benefit. The K Fdn president
he advised me was John Marshall and suggested that we use his name as
the one who suggested the call. Bob further commented that I keep him
informed of the progress and said if I needed assistance to let him know.
I think it wise for Judge Sanders to contact Mr. Marshall and seek advice
on if/when staff visits to the staff of K Fdn. would be appropriate. I
believe that should we be successful in eliciting a challenge grant that it
will be an effective method to get significant contributions from many of
our prospects.620

Five months after Larsons call, Ted and Sanders met with John Marshall at the

Kresge Foundations headquarters in Troy, Michigan. In a follow-up letter to

Marshall, Sanders wrote, I hope you could discern the great pressure I had

underperforming in the presence of our ultimately-esteemed President-Emeritus, Dr.

Stern. I play, with only faint approximation, the role he created at the College of

Charleston, and he thinks of me, I am sure, the same way Moses thinks of Charlton

Heston.621

Groundbreaking for the new library took place on a rainy March 30, 2000.

During the ceremony, Ted announced that a garden the size of a football field would

beautify the south side of the library. Ted had forcefully lobbied for the open space in

the area originally planned as a parking lot. A few days after the announcement, Anne

Weston wrote Ted, All too often I fear that I forget to say how much I appreciate all

that you do for the Library and for the College of Charleston. Realizing that I can

never express completely how much I have valued your kindness, conviction, and

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commitment over the past three years, I wanted to at least let you know that I am well

aware that the single reason that the event was so successful and indeed ever happened

is YOU!622

Three weeks after the groundbreaking, the college received word that it had

secured a $700,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. The school needed to

raise $2 million by December 2001 to match the grant. Ted was central to meeting the

challenge. He solicited $200,000 from the local developer Bill Murray and secured a

$250,000 additional gift from Marlene Addlestone, whose husband, Nathan, had

passed away a month earlier. Ted more than doubled his personal gift to $55,600.

Teds work for the library took place as the twentieth century was ending.

Throughout the country names of the most important individuals and events of the

previous one hundred years were selected. Charleston Magazines winter 1999 edition

included such a selection for the Lowcountry under the title The Magnificent Ten.

Among those selected were Septima Poinsette Clark, Queen of the American Civil

Rights Movement; L. Mendel Rivers, The Lowcountry's Cold War Warrior; Joseph

P. Riley, Jr. Citizen Riley, The Visionary Mayor; Ernest F. Hollings, The

Iconoclastic Fritz; and Ted, The Amazing Mr. Stern. The magazine wrote, Two

seminal forces in Charlestons late century revitalization, the Spoleto Festival USA

and the burgeoning College of Charleston campus, largely owe their success to Ted

Stern. Sterns innovative community programs in Charleston- public school tutoring,

fighting drug abuse, and assistance for the handicapped- are legendary. However, his

single greatest achievement was guiding the infant Spoleto Festival USA through its

birth pangs. The article quoted Mendel Rivers praise of Ted, This man deserves

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recognition as a truly great American. If the UnitiedStates had more men like Ted

Stern, it would not have the problems it faces today. 623

The beginning of the new millennium witnessed significant changes for Ted,

Alva, and the College of Charleston. In January 2000, Ted and Alva moved from 16

Bull Street, where they had lived since Ted stepped down as the colleges president

twenty-two years earlier in 1978, to an apartment at Bishop Gadsden, a retirement

community on James Island. They were both eighty-eight years old. Ted was in good

health, but Alvas vigor had declined over the years since her surgery for AV

malformation. She was operated on for colon cancer in 1985 and broke the second hip

at the Bull Street home in 1997. She had earlier fallen and broken a hip when they

were living at the Presidents House. The move from 16 Bull Street to Bishop Gadsden

was difficult for Ted. Alvas frailty increasingly required Teds attention, which meant

pulling back on in his civic and college commitments.624

A few weeks after Alva and Ted moved to Bishop Gadsden, Alex Sanders

announced his resignation as the College of Charlestons president. The resignation

was effective in the fall of 2000. Of all Teds successors, Sanders most epitomized

Ted in both focus and personality. Each served as president for a decade. Like Ted,

Sanders was a students president. His expansion of the colleges student body and

the growth of the schools physical plant mirrored Teds tenure. The Addlestone

Library, the athletic fields at Patriots Point, the addition to Simons Center of Art, and

planning for a new basketball arena, business school building, and a new science

center were all an extension of Teds legacy. Sanders had promoted diversity and

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worked to increase African-American presence on campus, as well as expanding the

number of international students. His Christmas parties for all the colleges employees

emulated Teds holiday telephone calls and best wishes to the faculty and staff in his

early years of his presidency. Like Ted, Sanders disliked large, lengthy meetings. He

preferred to work one-on-one. He was also a micromanager and impatient in getting

things done. Both Ted and Sanders oversaw a school going through great change.

They projected a sense of well-being and worked to preserve the schools historic

liberal arts tradition.625

In the fall of 2000, Ted was asked to serve on the search committee to select

Alex Sanderss successor. Ted described the type of individual he wanted to see head

the school. The remarkable handwritten document reflects Teds view of the position

and the type of person the college needed.

A President of the College is a full time 24 hours a day; 7 days a week

work in progress. It is not a resting place or a career closing experience.
It could be a stepping stone. It takes the full energy, the enthusiasm,
dedication, integrity, and loyalty of the incumbent to enhance and further
the programs and reputation of the College. As a member of the search
committee, I am committed to seek individuals who possess these
characteristics to recommend to the Board of Trustees. I will not
succumb to intimidation, threats, political pressure or personal gain in
the process. My primary goal is to recommend to the Trustees only those
individuals who can enhance the image and goals of the College. An
individuals age, tenure in past activity, expected tenure at the College
should not be a factor in the selection process. We should be seeking
individuals who on concluding their service at our college will be
considered a prime candidate for the Presidency of our most
distinguished Ivy League institutions.626

Leo I. Higdon Jr., the president of Babson College in Massachusetts, was

appointed the colleges twentieth president in July 2001. Lee Higdon met many of the

hopes Ted had for the schools new president. The two partnered to complete the

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Addlestone Library project. At Teds urging the Rivers Green adjoining the library

was doubled in size to 2.7 acres, and Higdon found the $1.5 million to make it

possible.627 Although separated in age by thirty-four years, Higdon like Ted

focused on the students. However, Higdons tenure at the college lasted only five

years and left to head Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.

When the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library opened in early January

2005, it received rave reviews. A report in the Charleston Post and Courier captured

the enthusiasm:

At 144,000 square feet; the new building is roughly the size of three
football fields. The state-of-the-art facility has 61 miles of technology
cable and about 600,000 books. Other highlights include Portuguese
cork floors, nearly 2,000 voice and data outlets, a Java City Caf on the
first floor, a special collections room for the librarys most valuable and
protected holdings. President Emeritus Theodore Stern predicted that
the students will use the library as a gathering place, I think it will be
the social center.628

Robert Smith, head of Palmetto Goodwill Industries of Lower South Carolina and one

of Teds Boys, recalled breathlessly trying to keep up with the ninety-three-year-old

Ted as he proudly gave a tour of the new library.629 Louis D. Rubin Jr., the

distinguished scholar of Southern literature, Charleston native, and a member of the

Library Steering Committee, said at the time:

My feeling about Ted Stern, which Ive been saying for some years, is
that theyd do well to remove the statue of John C. Calhoun from atop
the column in Marion Square and put one of Ted up there. Calhoun got
the city burnt down; Ted saved the College and the downtown city in that
order, then rescued the local economy with Spoleto. Ive been literary
window-dressing on the library development board. Its been Teds most
recent project and, as usual, a total success. The school is far superior

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 quantitatively and also qualitatively to what it was when I was there, and
Ted Stern is the one who did it.630

The final tally for the librarys private fund-raising was $6,592,027, nearly double the

original goal Ted inherited when assumed the chair of the steering committee.

Teds work for the College of Charleston was not finished. The year after the

library opened, Ted was instrumental in the colleges securing a $2.5 million grant

from the Freeman Charitable Trust to support the School of Languages, Cultures, and

World Affairs. The program offers courses in Jewish Studies; International Studies;

Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Classical Studies; French, Francophone, and

Italian Studies; German and Slavic Studies; and Hispanic Studies. Teds interest in

expanding the colleges international reach stretched back forty years when he, early

in his tenure as president, welcomed the schools first international students.

Ted was in the midst of the librarys fund-raising phase as he prepared to

celebrate his ninetieth birthday. A party in his honor was held at the Stern Student

Center on December 8. The invitation to the event included a picture of Ted doing his

famous pushups under the caption 90 And Still Going. An editorial in the Post and

Courier read:

Today, in celebration of his upcoming 90th birthday, a multitude of

friends will pay fitting tribute to Theodore S. Stern. Few citizens have
had such an enormous impact on this community. Consider the list of
party sponsors: The Friends of the College of Charleston Library, the
City of Charleston, Charleston Symphony, the SC Aquarium, Bishop
Gadsden, Crisis Ministries, Spoleto Festival USA, Trident United Way,
and the Community Foundation, which he helped found. As he once said,
I am emeritus to death. Im chairman emeritus of the Spoleto festival,
president emeritus of the College of Charleston, director emeritus of the
Trident Community Foundation, former district governor of Rotary Club.
Ive got to always be active and busy; I could never retire per se.631

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 A few months after accepting the chairmanship of the colleges Library

Steering Committee, eighty-five-year-old Ted was elected to the South Carolina

Aquarium Board. The aquarium was the vision of Mayor Joe Riley, a dream that

began in the early 1980s after the mayor visited Chicagos Shedd Aquarium. Although

not as intense as the Charleston Place controversy, the Aquarium became a

battleground. Opponents called it Rileys Folly. As he had done with so many

Charleston projects, Ted helped lead the way to the Aquariums success.632 Teds

participation gave the venture credibility in a community that had serious doubts about

the wisdom of building an aquarium. His network played a central role in securing the

private support. Before Ted became a member of the Aquarium board, the Kresge

Foundation turned down the Aquariums challenge grant application. But Teds

friendship with Bob Larson once again came into play.

On June 27, 2000, a month after the South Carolina Aquarium opened to the

public, the Kresge Foundation announced a $750,000 challenge grant. The Aquarium

had to match the grant by raising $1.4 million. Motivated by the Aquariums

educational mission, Ted worked quietly and diligently behind the scenes to raise the

money. He suggested potential donors to the staff and how to approach them.633

Kresges support of the Aquarium and the Addlestone Library, with the required

matches, amounted to more than $3.5 million, all because of Ted Stern.

In its early years, the Aquarium struggled to pay off its debt. Again, Ted came

to the Aquariums aid. In 2005, then ninety-three-year-old Ted was instrumental in

securing a $500,000 grant from the Spaulding Paolozzi Foundation on whose board he

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served. Because of an arrangement with the banks holding the debt, the grant

amounted to a $1 million reduction of the Aquariums obligation.

In the fall of 2005 age began catching up with Ted. He resigned from several

College of Charlestons advisory committees. I must limit my participation in various

activities. Now is the time to pass the torch to another generation. I will be happy to do

what I can to assist you on a limited basis.634 Ted also resigned as chair of the Saul

Alexander Foundation that he had headed for several years. The foundation was set up

by a Summerville, South Carolina, merchant in 1952. Besides supporting

Summervilles organizations, the foundation under Ted gave regional grants to aid

Jewish causes, public libraries, and educational scholarships.

Ted may have been slowing down, but he continued to go to his office at 16 A

Bull Street daily when he was in Charleston. There he met with the colleges

administrators, professors, students, and friends seeking advice and his company. He

was often seen at the local restaurants having lunch with civic and business leaders. At

Slightly North of Broad, the Mills House, and Charleston Place well-wishers and

admirers warmly greeted him. Among those who joined him for lunch were Ray

Greenberg, head of the Medical University of South Carolina, Mayor Joe Riley Jr., and

Rita Scott, vice president and general manager of Charlestons WCSC-TV, Jennet

Robinson Alterman, head of Charlestons Center for Women, and David Rawle, once

described as a local legend and the man behind the scenes for every major event in the

city from 1975.635

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 In the spring of 2006, Charleston Magazine again honored Ted as among

Charlestons 10 Most Beautiful People. Under the banner Wisdom, the magazine

lauded Ted for his acumen born of experience. Ted said, One of the most important

things Ive learned is that a group of people working together can accomplish

anything. The concept of community is key to so much. When we reach for common

goals we set for ourselves, everybody wins. One of my greatest joys has been the

ability to have a positive influence on the lives of others.636

In 2007, the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals

acclaimed Teds contributions to the community. George Stevens, head of the Coastal

Community Foundation (CCF), proposed Ted for recognition. In his letter of

nomination, Stevens noted Teds role as the foundations president and his ten years of

service as an active past president.

Dr. Stern has not only helped raise funds for CCF. He has also created
an endowment at the Foundation to support causes including human
needs, the arts, education, the environment, and health. Ted Stern leads
by example and inspires many through his own generosity of time and
spirit. Now in his 95th year, Dr. Stern continues to provide our community
with strong leadership, wise counsel, and generosity of time and spirit
that are rare in people half his age.637

Greg D. Padgett, president of the College of Charleston Foundation, another

organization Ted founded, and a college alumnus seconded Stevenss nomination.

Dr. Stern expressed a need for all of us to take leadership roles on

campus and encouraged us as future graduates to carry on the tradition
of giving time, talents, and treasures to this wonderful institution as well
as the community in which we live. It is difficult to measure the influence
he has had over the years on so many young people and organizations.
Ted Stern is a pillar of strength and optimism and an exemplary role
model for philanthropy in our community.638

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 Under the banner The Amazing Ted Stern, the Post and Courier

editorialized. The sellout luncheon crowd of 400 wanted to show Theodore S. Stern

how important he has been and still is to this community. They pinned on buttons with

his likeness, raised glasses of ice tea in tribute, and overwhelmed him with words of

praise and long applause. He responded by telling the audience, You feel good when

you do good. Ted explained his involvement in so many activities as, Being at the

right place at the right time. Dr. Sommer-Kresse, head of the colleges fund-raising,

described Ted as having, A golden touch and heart of gold.639

On October 6, 2008, Alvas ninety-sixths birthday, Ted was performing his

usual hundred morning push-ups in the bathroom of their Sparta home. When Ted got

to fifty push-ups, he felt faint, could not stand up, and bruised himself trying to get to

his feet. The housekeeper, who was fixing breakfast, found him on the floor. Ted had

suffered a stroke. He was rushed to the local hospital and then driven to the Medical

University Hospital in Charleston. The stroke was minor, leaving a weakness on Teds

right side.640 The daily hundred push-ups ended. However, a month later Ted suffered

a second stroke that blinded him in his right eye. Ted was no longer able to commute

regularly between Charleston and Sparta as he had done for almost thirty years. In

January 2009, Ted and Alva, both ninety-seven, moved into an apartment in Meyers

Hall, the assisted living wing at Bishop Gadsden. Two months later Alva passed away.

Ted and Alva were married forty-nine years. They knew each other for almost

seventy years. Both were nearing middle age when they married in 1950. Alvas first

marriage, directly out of college at the age of twenty-three, was an unhappy one and

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lasted only three years. A star thespian in school plays at Hood College and an

enjoyable dinner partner; Alva was shy and withdrawn. Despite her reticence, Alva

was an active Navy wife and loved her leading role as the wife of a college president.

Ted frequently acknowledged Alva as the parent most responsible for raising

Sandy, Elizabeth, and Tippy. Ted once said, I could have been a better parent. I had

an excessive devotion to work.641 Ted was often absent from the family, working on

projects and networks to help the college, Spoleto, and the many other causes and

organizations that benefited from his attention. Ted was everywhere but home causing

a strain on his relationship with Alva and his children which led to Teds estrangement

from his children for much of their adult lives. Alva endured Teds second love, the

city of Charleston. Everyone esteemed Ted, sang his praises, and valued his advice

and friendship. It was left to Alva to keep Ted from relishing in all the tributes,

awards, and honors and taking himself too seriously. One of Teds closest friends said

of Alva, She could have been a pantomime artist. She would roll her eyes and turn

her mouth at some things Ted would say blowing his own horn.642 Alva was Teds

partner, his ballast, and rudder.643 Ted described her as his stabilizer. She would lift

him up when he was down, as when he was passed over for Rear Admiral. Ted

discussed things with Alva, but she rarely gave advice.644 She told people she did not

believe in womens liberation because women were already superior to men. For some

Alva was a little bit of sugar and a little bit of spice.645 Alva once wrote, Do not take

yourself too seriously. Remember, for all the people who think you walk on water,

there are many more who would like to give you a sick fish. Ted once described Alva

with these words:

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 Alva was and is a very loyal, self-sufficient, intelligent, strong-willed and
loving partner. She has been a helpmate and supporter since our
marriage. While she is not an outgoing person, she never hesitated to
take charge of responsibilities thrust on her. Whether it was in the
church, Navy wives, the colleges first lady, or Spoleto, she would take
charge and do a singularly effective job. She is a wonderful wife, mother,
and mother-in-law.

Ted once said that his greatest achievement in life was becoming the husband

of Alva and being the father of three loving children. Ted counted his wedding

day and his honeymoon with Alva in California as the happiest time in his

life.646

After Alvas death, Ted traveled to the Sparta farm only once. He no

longer had the physical strength to trim the hedges, drive the tractor, or cut the

lawn. He quickly became bored and wanted to return to Charleston. On most

days in Charleston, he was driven from Bishop Gadsden to his 16A Bull Street

office in the morning. He had lunch at the Mills House, Charleston Place, or

Slightly North of Broad with friends, admirers, and those seeking his advice. He

would return to his Bishop Gadsden apartment in the afternoon. Before dinner,

Ted enjoyed one vodka tonic with Bishop Gadsden pals, particularly Leslie

Jervey, who lived down the hall. He often joined friends and guests for dinner

and lively conversation in the Bishop Gadsden dining room. Alvas death

brought Ted and his children closer. They visited him often at Bishop Gadsden

and Elizabeth phoned her father daily from Sparta.

When Ted was not enjoying family and friends, he was reading.

Although able to use only his left eye, Ted consumed biographies. Stacked by

his chair at Bishop Gadsden were accounts of the lives of Walter Cronkite,

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Thomas Jefferson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Steve Jobs. There was always the

local daily paper. He religiously read Charlestons newspapers from the time he

first arrived in 1965.

Approaching his hundredth birthday, Ted became increasingly frustrated with

his inability to do what use to come naturally. He said, When you get to be my age

you dont know if you are useful or useless.647 His spirits were lifted as he continued

to receive recognition for his many accomplishments and contributions. Seven months

before his hundredth birthday, Johns Hopkins University, which had honored Ted as

its 1978 Alumni of the Year, honored Ted for a second time. The Knowledge of the

World Award was presented on June 10, 2012, by Jill McGovern Muller, wife of the

retired Hopkins president, Steve Muller. Ted had hired young Jill McGovern forty

years earlier to head the colleges fledgling education department. Spoletos long time

general manager Nigel Redden, in his nomination of Ted for the award, quoted from

Shakespeares King Lear, The oldest hath borne most: we that are young shall never

see so much nor live so long.648

On December 8 Teds family and many of his friends gathered at Bishop

Gadsden to celebrate his forthcoming 100th birthday, only seventeen days away. Ted

sat in a chair before a large screen on which were projected photographs of Ted dating

back to his childhood. Ted greeted those who had come to celebrate with his

customary, Hows my boy! or Hows my girl! Ted sipped his favorite vodka tonic

and listened to Senator Fritz Hollings, Nigel Redden, and Alex Sanders sing his

praises. The celebration ended with Teds grandchildren and the assembled admirers

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serenading him with Happy Birthday. It was the last time many of them would see

Ted.

A week following the Bishop Gadsden fte, the College held its winter

commencement. Dr. Raymond Greenberg, at the time President of the Medical

University of South Carolina (MUSC), was the commencement speaker. In his address

A Stern Mentor, Greenberg described what he and many others considered Teds

most important legacy. That gift was Teds mentorship of countless men and women,

civic leaders, entrepreneurs, nonprofit CEOs, professors, and students. Ted, who could

not attend the ceremony, was shown a video of Greenbergs talk a few days later.

Uncharacteristically, Ted became misty-eyed as he watched Greenberg speak of how

Ted guided him since his appointment as president of MUSC twelve years earlier.

Greenberg told the graduates:

As you graduate, it is natural to assume that teachers will persist with

you only as memories. Nevertheless, even when you have gotten pretty
far along in life, its likely that someone around you has been further,
done more, can help to guide you. I want to tell you about one such
person who entered my life when I became the President of the Medical
University. So, let me tell you about my senior mentor, and when I say
senior, that is no joke. On Christmas, just ten days from now, my mentor
will be turning 100 years old! His name is Ted Stern. I suspect that many
of you may not know much about Ted Stern, except for the fact that the
College has a student center named after him. As you graduate from this
wonderful institution, it seems to me to be important that you know a
little bit more than that about the man.

After giving a Cliffs Notes version of Teds biography, Greenberg said, My

intent here is not to recite everything that Dr. Stern has done for the College and the

City of Charleston. The true measure of a persons life is not about constructing

buildings, or creating new programs, or running an efficient organization. At its very

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essence, the true measure of a life is how one uses it to help other people. Each of us

has a moral imperative to help repair the world, to work toward improving the human

condition.

Greenberg quoted from Ralph Waldo Emersons essay Compensation: In

the order of nature, we cannot render benefits from whom we receive them, or only

seldom, but the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for

deed, cent for cent to somebody. Ray Greenberg charged the graduates:

So, today is your daytake full measure of it, enjoy it, celebrate it. But
tomorrow, with your new degree in hand, remember that there are others
without such a degree and you have a responsibility to reach out to them.
Whether that is to help along a younger sibling or a friend, or a
complete strangersomebody needs you. Do for others what Ted Stern
did for mebe an inspiration, be an example, hand them along. That is
the legacy of President Stern; that is the legacy of the College of
Charleston, and I pray that it will be your legacy.649

A few days after commencement, the colleges President George Benson

hosted a lunch for Ted at the Presidents House where Ted and Alva had lived for ten

years. It would be Teds last public appearance. Several people stood and lauded Ted

for what he meant to the college and Charleston. The most poignant remarks came

from Erica Abetter, the colleges student body president. Referring to Teds

autobiography, the junior from Dallas Texas, said:

I do not know that anyone can write the tribute you so greatly deserve,
but after reading a book by the great Dr. Theodore Sanders Stern, Ive
realized that this is not a problemonly a challenge. Dr. Stern your
legacy is far beyond measure. It is not in the dollars raised, square feet
expanded, or students enrolled; nor is it about awards, honors, and
accolades. Rather, it is about the person. And you are the type of person
our students hope to become. From you, we learn it is not only who you
are and what you do; but also, the way that you do it. So please know,
that as we carry on your legacy, we are doing so with tenacity, with

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 excitement, and above all else, with the utmost respect. You deserve
nothing less.650

Ted celebrated his birthday on December 25 with his family. Three weeks

later, January 18, 2013, with his children by his bedside, Ted Stern died. The Post and

Couriers obituary led with, Ted Stern, Beloved College President and Community

Leader, Dies at 100.

The following day the paper editorialized, Whoever coined the phrase about

nice guys always finishing last didnt know Ted Stern. It was by the power of his

engaging personalityalong with a clear vision and a strong work ethicthat the

New York native earned a distinguished place in Charlestons history. Mayor Joe

Riley was quoted: He was one of the most amazing people I have ever known. He

was a warm, friendly, kind, generous person. People didnt just respect him. They

genuinely loved him too.651

As he had long wished, Teds funeral service took place on the colleges

beautiful Cistern yard. The Reverend Dr. Daniel W. Massie of Charlestons First Scots

Presbyterian Church presided. The speakers included Mayor Riley and Tippy Stern

Brinkman, Teds youngest daughter. The benediction was given by the Reverend Z. L.

Grady, who had served with Ted on Charlestons Community Relations Committee in

the late 1960s and had offered a blessing at the dedication of the Stern Student Center

in 1975. Ted is buried beside Alva at the Beaufort National Cemetery, located in the

South Carolina town between Charleston and Savannah, Georgia. His headstone

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lists his service to the country and includes the inscription The Readiness Is

All.

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 Coda

He done good.652

Ted Stern

A few months before he died, Ted was asked what he would like his epitaph to

read. He responded, He Done Good. It is a fitting caption to Teds life.

Ted had done well in all that he accomplished and contributed. But more than

that, his life exemplified doing good. Ted was not a religious person in the normal

sense of that term. As weve seen, he was raised in a reformed Jewish home that, while

not observant, held traditional values. Like his father, Ted joined the Masons because

he espoused their secular principles. Ted and Alva became Presbyterians because they

wanted their children to be brought up in a home that encouraged ethics and morality.

Ted taught Sunday school when he was at Naval Station Great Lakes outside of

Chicago and later chaired the board of deacons of Charlestons First Scots

Presbyterian Church.

Ted once said, Faith is an important thing, not organized religion. I believe in

the almighty, but dont like the show of organized religion. But faith was in my home.

I dont believe in the afterlife. Your deeds are your afterlife. When its over, its over.

However, I do believe in God. I pray every night. Prayer is a heavenly blanket. I

always tried to live by ethical and moral standards. But I always remember what I did

wrong and ask for forgiveness.653

When the Reverend Z. L. Grady was asked to describe his close friend Ted

Stern, he quoted from the Old Testament book of Micah, He has told you, O mortal,

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what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love

kindness and to walk humbly with the Lord. Reverend Grady saw Ted as an exemplar

of one who used the gifts that God gave him to do good.

Ted Stern amalgamated a well-developed ego, energetic ambition, with

humility. He was proud of his many accomplishments. He loved recognition. He

showed off his numerous awards and honors with pride. However, unlike many

successful individuals, Ted lacked arrogance. His primary motivation was to serve

others and make his family proud of him. In 1986, Ted wrote that his greatest regret

was that my parents, aunts, uncles and their friends did not know of my achievements

that I may have attained.654

Ted idealized his cousin Robert Moses, New York Citys physical transformer.

But whereas Moses used a bulldozer to make change, Ted used a feather duster. Ted

had a vision of what he wanted and when he could not follow one path to his goal, he

would find another. He tried to avoid controversy and confrontation in his public and

private life. There were those who openly and furtively opposed Ted. Few personally

disliked him. Even his adversaries gave him his due.

Ted was a pragmatist, not an ideologue. His closest friends included both

segregationists and leaders of the African-American community. He broke down

barriers for blacks and women. He was loyal to the people and causes he respected. He

had the ability to bring divergent people and views together to work for shared causes.

His energy and optimism were infectious. He was courageous in going against the tide

and doing what he thought was right.

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 Ted led by example in large and small ways. He ended Jim Crow practices at

the Charleston Naval Supply Center and worked for racial harmony. His practice of

picking up trash as he walked across the colleges campus was soon emulated by the

students. He used his personal financial resources to help students and their families.

He headed fund drives to which he contributed personally.

Alva was Teds closest friend. She was his partner for almost fifty years and

didnt allow Ted to wander too far off course. However, of all the influences that

shaped Ted, his mother Birdie was central. Ted once said, I think the foundations of

my philanthropy and community interest were inspired by my mother. She was

genuinely bright, understanding, unselfish, determined, progressive, and

aggressive.655 Teds description of his mother serves as an apt portrayal of himself.

For many who encountered him, Ted was larger than life. He seemed like a

force of nature, a force for good. Many believed that the public and private Ted Stern

were the same. What you saw was what you got. However, Ted had the capacity to

keep the private Ted hidden; it was a side he rarely revealed to family and friends.

Glimpses into the other Ted are seen in a prayer he composed and recited every

night before he went to bed during the last years of his life.

Thank you, dear Lord, for all the blessings that you have bestowed
upon me and my family. Thank you, dear Lord, for the blessings of good
health, happiness, and prosperity. Help me to help others.

Dear Lord give me the guidance, the strength, the power, the
intelligence and character to serve you and humankind.

Dear Lord, you have been so very good to me all my life you have
helped me in so many different ways so very many times. You have done so
much for me so often I cannot express adequately my gratitude for that which
you have done. Youve given me fortitude and support, courage and
encouragement, wisdom and understanding. Youve shown me cheerfulness

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and willingness, goodness and kindness, helpfulness and thoughtfulness. You
taught me generosity and philanthropy, dignity, and humility, empathy, and
sympathy. Youve provided me numerous abilities and talents for which I am
extremely grateful. Should I achieve any success in my lifetime, it will be due to
you. Your leadership and your direction. You have changed night into day,
darkness into light, danger into safety, despair into hope, failure into success,
evil into good, war into peace, ignorance into intellect.

Dear Lord, make me worthy of your constant and continued trust,

confidence, faith, respect, and affection.

Help me to be less critical and more considerate of the action, deeds,

expressions, thoughts, views and words of others and make me always aware
of my own deficiencies, disabilities, impatience, inabilities, inadequacies,
inaptitude, inconsistencies, inefficiencies, instabilities, intolerance, liabilities,
misdeeds, untruthfulness, weaknesses and wickedness.656

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 Epilogue

The Hijacking of Ted Sterns

Biography

Ted Stern was the most influential, non-elected individual in Charlestons

modern history. His cousin Robert Moses holds a similar place in the history of New York

City. Why would anyone, particularly the College of Charleston Foundation, which Ted

Stern founded, and Teds adult children want to censor, alter, and diminish the biography

that Ted and I collaborated on during the last year of his life? But that is what happened

when the College of Charleston Foundation paid Home House Press to bowdlerize,

abridge, and publish a hackneyed version of Teds biography in September 2015 under the

title, Ted Stern and the Making of Modern Charleston: The Readiness is All.

The sad tale of what happened to Teds biography would take, if not a book,

at least an intriguing short story. The following is a sketch. Subplots include censorship, a

disregard for standards of academic freedom, institutional insularity, inept management,

questionable stewardship, mendacity, and covert plagiarism. The major players in the story are

Hilton Smith, at the time Chair of the College of Charleston Foundation Board, George Watt,

Executive Vice President for Institutional Advancement of the College of Charleston and

Executive Director of the College of Charleston Foundation, David Cohen, former Dean of

The College of Charleston Libraries, Thomas Tisdale and Stephen Hoffius of Home House

Press, Teds three children, and me.

The saga began in 2010 when I first urged the College of Charleston Foundation

to support the preparation of a biography of Ted. I had come to know Ted as a friend when I

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retired after seventeen years as Director of the Museum of the City of New York in 2002 and

my wife and I moved to Charleston. The more I learned about Ted, the more I was convinced

that he deserved a biography worthy of the subject. I lobbied for someone to write Teds

biography for more than a year. Tiring of my pestering, several of Teds friends and the leaders

of the College of Charleston Foundation asked, Why dont you do it? With Teds approval, I

agreed. On November 5, 2011, I signed a contract with the College of Charleston Foundation

to write Teds biography. Under the contract, my work product would be the Foundations

property, and the Foundation would be responsible for having my work edited, indexed, and

published. The agreement also stipulated that, if changes were made to my work without my

approval, I could disassociate myself from the altered work.

Over the following twenty months I undertook extensive research that included

more than seventy hours of interviews with Ted, seventy additional interviews with Teds

extended family, colleagues, Navy mates, College of Charleston professors and administrative

staff, former CofC students and others ranging from Mayor Joe Riley to Betty Craig, Teds

longtime secretary at the College. The research included Teds complete official Navy record,

his Johns Hopkins transcripts, Alva Sterns honeymoon scrapbook, extensive newspaper

accounts, and Teds official and personal papers in the Special Collections at the College of

Charlestons Addlestone Library as well as materials in Teds personal possession.

Ted was an active participant in preparing his story. He provided leads of

individuals to be interviewed and sources to be researched. Ted fact checked the drafts of the

first chapters. He corrected errors. However, Ted carefully avoided suggesting changes to my

work or criticizing my interpretation of his life. Ted told me that he trusted me with his story.

On several occasions, Ted expressed his wish that my work not be an authorized biography.

Sadly, Ted passed away a few months before the final draft was completed.

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On July 25, 2013, I delivered my unedited manuscript to the two copy editors selected by the

Foundation. A few weeks later, I received a hard copy of an editing of the first chapter. When I

asked for the standard electronic markup (Word Markup) of their work, the editors told me that

they did not use Word Markup and, in any case, all those red marks would be disturbing.

Besides failing to use the standard professional editing methodology, the editors deleted

significant passages from my manuscript, misspelled Teds name (Tad), altered direct quotes,

and added their own text. I immediately informed the Foundation that this was unacceptable.

After a spirited debate, the Foundation relented and asked David Cohen to select

another editor. When I met with Cohens choice, she advised me she understood that her task

was to rewrite my manuscript. She added that she believed that Ted was a hypocrite for

rejecting his Jewish upbringing and joining the Presbyterian Church. I advised the Foundations

leadership that their third editorial selection was also not up to the task. David Cohen then

suggested that the Foundation would increase my professional fee if I accepted this editor. I

responded that it was not a question of money but the unprofessionalism of the editor. The next

editor David Cohen selected said that she did not like all those numbers required by the

manuscripts endnote citations. Additionally, she wanted to be paid $11,000 in advance to do

the work. I advised the Foundation that Cohens fourth editorial selection was also unqualified.

David Cohens inept five-month odyssey to engage a qualified editor ended in

January 2014 when the Foundation agreed that I would go to New York to interview

professional editors. As director of the Museum of the City of New York, I produced 26

books. The last, The Day Our World Changed, was featured on the front cover of the New

York Times Book Review on the first anniversary of 9-11. Over three days in New York, I

interviewed several potential editors, all with impressive credentials and a wealth of

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professional experience.

On my return to Charleston, I recommend that Kirkus, the internationally

respected book review, and editorial firm, be engaged in editing my work. On March 12,

2013, George Watt signed a contract with Kirkus for a fee of around $8,000. I dont know the

exact or final figure because Watt inexplicable declined to share the Kirkus contract with me.

However, I assume that Kirkus fee for collaborative editing, copy editing, and polishing was

markedly less than the up-front fee of the last unqualified editor previously recommended by

David Cohen. My insistence that my manuscript be professionally edited, David Cohens

resistance, and Watts refusal to share the Kirkus contract with me were the first signs of

trouble.

Over the following five months, I worked with three Kirkus editors to

reorganize my manuscript, reduce the word count, standardize the citations, etc. We worked

using the normal editing methodology, Word Markup. In addition to the electronic markup,

the Kirkus editors provided editorial letters explaining their recommendations and

commenting on the work. In his editorial letter one of the Kirkus editors, who I did not know

personally (Kirkus does not allow an author to know the last names of its editors), wrote,

This is really quite impressive! I approached this with the expectation that I would not be
particularly caught up in the story of an ex-Navy man who had turned around a small
college in South Carolina some decades ago. But happily it turns out to be quite an
extraordinary tale. Ted Stern was a remarkable individual indeed. And your determination
to tell Teds story to a wider public is admirable. It occurred to me after my first reading
that here in Robert Macdonald was yet another example of Ted Stern inspiring and
motivating someone to accomplish something he might not have thought possible. The
amount of research you have done, and the quality of it, is staggeringly impressive. But
what is, even more, impressive is the skill with which you have orchestrated this sprawl of
raw materials into a vivid, moving and compelling account.657

Another Kirkus editor described my narrative as engaging, the message in the book is

inspiring, I think youve created a superb biography of this important person and

353
congratulate you on your efforts! At the completion of the polishing phase of editing, Kirkus

advised me that the length of the biography was in the Goldilocks Zone, a publishing term

meaning, just about right.658

While Kirkus was editing my manuscript, I gave several individuals, including

Teds three children, the unedited version of the manuscript to fact check. Sandy Stern,

Elisabeth Stern Edwards, and Tippy Stern Brickman were helpful in fact checking and

supplying images in addition to those given to me by Ted and those in the Colleges

collections for possible inclusion in the book.

On July 11, 2014, I met with Teds daughter, Tippy Stern Brickman, to review

a selection of photographs for the book. Tippy again thanked me on behalf of her siblings for

what I had done for their father and gave me, over my objections, Teds last award, the

Knowledge for the World Award from Johns Hopkins University which I was instrumental

in securing for Ted. At our meeting, I told Tippy that I was dedicating the biography to Hilton

Smith, who had helped raise the money to prepare and publish the biography.

In a late-night email three days later, Tippy emotionally objected to my

dedicating the book to Hilton Smith. In her email, Tippy said that, although Hilton Smith

could buy a lot of things, he could not buy her fathers memory, and that she wanted to buy

the book. She also advised me that she and her siblings wanted me to delete the prayer Ted

wrote and said every night in the last years of his life.659 In the prayer, Ted thanked God for all

his blessings and expressed sorrow for not always being worthy of Gods favor. Ted told me

about the prayer during our interview on November 12, 2012, and Tippy had given me a

transcript of the prayer for inclusion in the biography a few weeks after Teds death. The

prayer was also in the draft of my manuscript Teds children fact checked five months earlier

without objection. I couldnt fathom why Teds children would now object to the use of their

354
fathers prayer that one of them had given me for inclusion in the book. Because Teds

children had not objected to my use of the prayer before I told Tippy that I was dedicating the

book to Hilton Smith, I assumed that the children objected to my dedication of the book to

Hilton Smith. It was a supposition I would later revisit.

I was dismayed by the childrens reaction to my dedication of the book to Hilton

Smith and their request that I delete their fathers prayer. I told Sandy, Elisabeth, and Tippy,

that, if I changed the dedication and removed the prayer it would call into question the integrity

of the entire biography. It could be legitimately asked; what other information did Macdonald

remove from the biography at the childrens or anyone elses request? I explained the prayer

was a key element in my study of their father and that I ended the biography with it because the

prayer captured the Judeo- Christian values Ted was taught as a boy and which guided him

through his long and fruitful life. The prayer also reflected Teds spiritual beliefs, a side of Ted

that he rarely shared with his family or friends.660 Unfortunately, Teds children did not respond

to my request to meet.661

On August 11, 2014, I submitted to the Foundation my 400 page, Kirkus edited

manuscript that included the dedication to Hilton Smith. Teds prayer, and a Foreword that

Mayor Joe Riley, Teds longtime friend, and admirer, had written at my request and which I

extensively edited, for which the Mayor thanked me.

A few days later I was dumbfounded when the Foundations leadership told me

that they wanted me to delete parts of the manuscript including Teds prayer. As with the

children, I declined to acquiesce to the demand because agreeing would call into question the

integrity of the entire biography and integrity was one of Ted Sterns values illustrated

throughout my work. A week later, on August 19, Hilton Smith suggested to me the issue of

355
the prayer would be resolved when Home House Publishing, the local vanity press the

Foundation had selected to publish the biography, re-edited my manuscript. I advised Smith

that removing Teds prayer in response to the childrens objections to my dedication of the

book to him would damage the veracity of my work and be a disservice to Ted and his legacy.

I noted the Foundation had already paid Kirkus professional editors to edit my work. To pay

Home House Press to re-edit my manuscript as a ploy to censor my manuscript would be a

questionable use of the funds contributed by Teds friends and admirers to support my research

and writing and the books publication.

On September 4, I met with David Cohen, Tom Tisdale, Home House Press

owner, and Steven Hoffius, Home House Press Managing Editor, to discuss next steps. At

the meeting, Tom Tisdale observed that the manuscript had been edited to death. However,

Stephen Hoffius, who ironically, had been dismissed as unqualified to be the books editor a

year earlier, countered there needed to be significant cuts in the narrative

The following day, after digesting what was discussed at the meeting and my

earlier discussions with Hilton Smith, I notified the Foundation and Home House Press that,

although I welcomed their suggestions regarding errors of fact, punctuation, grammar, etc., I

would not agree to significant cuts or the censoring of my narrative that had been

professionally edited and praised by Kirkus. I advised George Watt and Hilton Smith that

altering and censoring my work would lead to a train wreck embarrassing to Teds

children, the Foundation, and the College.662

Seeking a compromise that would preserve the integrity of my work, I made

several requests to Hilton Smith for me to meet with the Foundation Board to discuss the

issues. My requests went unanswered. However, when I shared the draft of a letter with Hilton

356
 Smith that I planned to send to the members of the Foundation Board detailing the controversy,

Smith asked me not to send the letter and to meet with Jeffery Kinard, the Foundation Boards

vice chair, to explore possible scenarios. At my meeting with Kinard, I agreed that I would

wait until I had an opportunity to review Hoffius reediting before making any decision

about my association with the reedited manuscript. I gave Kinard digital copies of the

agreements, emails, correspondence and related material documenting the history of the project

and the controversy.

Six months later, on February 4, 2015, I received a hard copy of Stephen

Hoffius copyedit of my manuscript. George Watts accompanying transmittal letter

quizzically advised me; In consideration of our sending this work product to you, it is our

understanding that you will not share this manuscript with any other party.663

What I received from the Foundation was not a copyedited manuscript, but a

defacement of my manuscript. Hoffius editing of my manuscript produced a bowdlerized

version of Teds life. A detailed analysis of Hoffius work is too lengthy to include here. In

synopsis, Hoffius slashed 109 pages, 16,000 words, and 129 endnote citations, removing

important information critical to understanding and appreciating Ted. He also added incorrect

and misleading information. Among the items the Foundation had Hoffius remove at the request

of Teds children was Teds prayer. Also, purged from my manuscript were Teds descriptions

of his youthful adventures, his self-doubts and disappointments, his regrets for being an absent

father and his estranged relationship with his adult children, his views on religion, personal and

public letters to and from Ted, newspaper accounts of Teds activities, Navy fitness reports, and

personal notes that give insight into Teds life and accomplishments. In effect, Hoffius

editing took Ted out of Ted. The addition of inaccurate text and incorrect citations, the

capricious deletions of important facts essential to an understanding Teds story, the significant

357
truncating and dissection of my manuscript into new chapters with inane titles, changes to my

Chicago Manual of Style formatting, as well as the censoring of material given to me by Ted and

others for inclusion in the book, was a great disservice to Ted and his legacy.

Insight into the mendacity that led to the hijacking of Teds biography is

illustrated in my email exchange with George Watt when I requested a digitized copy of the

altered manuscript so that I could compare it to my work, a normal request in professional

editing,

George,

I have not received a response to my request that you email me a digitized copy
of Stephen Hoffius copyedit. Standard professional editing methodology calls
for the editor to supply the author with a marked up, digitized copy of the edited
work and an editorial letter explaining the editors editing choices. This was
followed by the professional editors at Kirkus that the Foundation engaged in
editing my manuscript last year.

Please advise,

Bob664

Watt responded:

Bob,

Thank you for acknowledging receipt of the copyedited manuscript from Home House Press.
As to your request below, on advice of legal counsel the Foundation has provided you the
Work in the format in which you received it. This has been done in the spirit of the
Agreement and purely as a courtesy to you. I hope you will read the copyedited manuscript
in its entirety and provide any thoughts or feedback you have to Dr. David Cohen. I intend to
green light the next phase of the publishing process the week of February 16th. Thank you
again for your commitment and contribution to the extraordinary tribute to our friend Ted
Stern.

George665

Watts crass response reflected his unfamiliarity professional protocols and

academic standards. Here is the executive director of the College of Charleston Foundation

advising the author that he will not give the author a digitized copy of the authors altered

358
manuscript needed to track the changes to the work, that the author has eleven days to comment

on the revisions to the manuscript that took Stephen Hoffius six months to deface, that he

(Watt) intended to green light publishing the altered work, and This has been done in the

spirit of the Agreement and purely as a courtesy to you.

On February 16, 2015, I notified Watt and Hilton Smith that, as stipulated in my

contract, I was disassociating myself from the version of my biography of Ted Stern the

Foundation paid Home House Press to censor and publish.

Eight days later, on February 24, I received a letter from an attorney representing

the College of Charleston Foundation advising me that, if I attempted to publish my uncensored

and unabridged biography of Ted, the manuscript that I collaborated with Ted for fourteen

months before he died and which was edited and praised by Kirkus professional editors, the

Foundation would seek an injunction and sue me.666

I engaged an attorney to advise and represent me in response to the Foundations

threats. On March 24, my attorney told me that his request to meet with the Foundations

attorney to seek a settlement elicited the following response. There is nothing to be gained by

another meeting. There had never been an earlier meeting. The response continued the pattern

set by Hilton Smith seven months earlier when Smith didnt respond to my repeated requests to

meet with the Foundations board to seek a compromise. The Foundations attorney also made

the bizarre insinuation that I had caused Sandy Sterns recent stroke.667

Eventually, the Foundations attorney met with my attorney and offered to

settle up by paying me the balance of the fee the Foundation owed me ($10,000) on

condition that I release all claims against the Foundation and agree not to say anything

derogatory about the Foundation.

359
My attorney responded with a draft Confidentially, Settlement, and Release Agreement

that accepted the Foundations proposal with the following stipulation:

Exploitation of the Work by the Foundation; Other Stern Projects by Macdonald

Macdonald acknowledges that the Foundation owns the Work, under the Contract, and
that he has no right to object to the Foundations exploitation of the Work in any manner
or form producing derivative works from the Work. At the same time, the Foundation
acknowledges that the subject of Stern is of public interest and that Macdonald may
publicly speak on the subject of Sterns life and produce books or other works on the
subject of Sterns life if he chooses to do so.668

The Foundations attorney rejected this compromise and responded with more

bizarre threats and demands including a demand for me to turn over all my research notes.

(Under my November 5, 2011, contract with the Foundation, the only part of my research

materials I agreed to give the Foundation was a digitized copy of my oral history interviews.)

The Foundations attorney added that the Foundation would sue me for $100,000 if I

attempted to publish my biography of Ted Stern.669 Through my attorney, I declined to agree

to turn over my research notes and other materials which are part of the public domain or

were given to me without restriction by Ted, his children, Teds extended family, his friends,

and admirers.

The Foundations threat to sue me for $100,000 if I attempted to publish The

Readiness is All: The Life Ted Stern was clearly an attempt to intimidate and bully me. It

characterized the Foundations ham-fisted and exploitive leadership that contributed to the

controversy. Through my attorney, I rejected the Foundations version of a compromise.

Two months later, on May 17, the Foundations attorney sent my attorney a

draft for my approval of the acknowledgments for the abridged and censored biography

prepared by Steven Hoffius in which I am mentioned for my exhaustive research and

documented hundreds of interviews. At the time, my wife and I were in Ireland celebrating

360
our Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary, and I had limited access to emails. I asked my attorney to

advise the Foundation that I would review the wording of the acknowledgment and respond

when I returned to Charleston in three days. Continuing the pattern of disingenuousness, the

Foundations attorney replied the Foundation would not wait. With my approval, my attorney

instructed the Foundation to remove my name from the acknowledgments.670

In September 2015, the College of Charleston Foundation and Home House

Press published, Ted Stern & the Making of Modern Charleston: The Readiness is All.

Although no author is listed and the acknowledgments are misleading, the work is almost

entirely based on my research and collaboration with Ted.

During our weekly meetings in the last year of his life, Ted shared with me his

lifes journey. My admiration for this extraordinary man grew as he described the personal and

professional challenges he faced and conquered. I came to appreciate that Ted abhorred

conflict and did everything he could to avoid it in his public and private life. I know that he

would be dismayed at what has happened to his story. However, for Ted, integrity always came

first. I tried to honor Teds values by seeking a compromise with the Foundation. When the

Foundation rejected my offers, I declined to consent to the Foundations dubious and

outrageous demands and threats.

Because Teds story is important to the College and the history of Charleston, I

rewrote and updated Teds biography in light of the controversy. I submitted my revised

manuscript to Evening Post Books that had recently published a biography of Mayor Joseph P.

Riley, Jr. After an initial enthusiastic response, the publishers representative advised me that

Evening Post Books declined to publish the work. My attorney later informed me that the

publisher had contacted Teds daughter, Tippy Stern Brickman, to ask if she would like to

participate in the publication of the work.671 Soon thereafter the Foundations attorney notified

361
my attorney that the Foundation would follow-up on its threat to sue me if I attempted to

publish the revised work.672

The Foundations ongoing threat to block the publication of Teds complete life

story brings us back to the fundamental question, why would anyone want to censor Ted

Sterns biography? Obviously, it is problematic to attempt to read minds and motives.

However, the efforts of the College of Charleston Foundation and Teds children to prevent the

publication of an uncensored biography of Ted Stern may be explained by the historic

insularity of Charleston and the school that bears its name as well as the difficult relationship

Ted had with his children during most of their adult lives.

Charleston changed greatly over the almost fifty years Ted played his role as a

citizen of consequence. Even as that change accelerated, Charleston held on to a wariness of

people from Off. Such mistrust is not unusual for traditional communities fearful of change.

However, it is particularly prevalent in cities of the South with the lingering resentment and

self-doubt that are legacies of the Lost Cause. It is regional condition described in works of

many of the Souths greatest authors. Ted Stern never allowed the fear of a person from OFF

to distract him. However, the idea that an outsider not associated with the College of

Charleston would write a biography of and induvial who helped change Charleston might have

been too much to ask.

The resentment from those connected with the Foundation evolved during my

work with Ted, particularly by those who felt that they had a special relationship with Ted.

The antipathy was exacerbated by the incompetence of the Foundations leadership and others

from the College who were responsible for supervising the project. That mounting hostility is

found in the emails and letters I received from the Foundation as the work proceeded and

received praise from professional editors in New York. The response by Teds children came at

362
the last minute, and I believe had a different source.

In our more than seventy hours of interviews, Ted told me things he had never

revealed to his family or friends including that he failed to graduate from Johns Hopkins

University, was a callow young man who had many false starts and mistakes, did not tell his

children he was Jewish and why he left the religion of his youth, and that he felt he was a poor

father. I could have been a better parent. I had an excessive devotion to work.673 Ted was

everywhere but home.

In interviews, Teds friends and family described to me his dislike of

controversy and that he did anything he could to avoid it. His unease increased with the

periodic tensions in the Stern home often revolving around Frances, Alvas troubled daughter

by her first marriage.674 There was also Alvas declining physical and emotional health that

followed Teds retirement.675 This may explain Teds frenzied involvement in a plethora of

civic causes. If he weren't attending meetings or civic functions, he would often avoid going

home by driving to the Isle of Palms and sit on the beach by himself. After their Sparta, North

Carolina farm became the Sterns primary residence, Ted built a small chalet near the main

house that served as his retreat escaping Alvas favorite soap operas and where he could be in

frequent contact with Charleston by phone and fax. Ted also fled by making frequent five-hour

commutes from Sparta to Charleston for meetings related to his ongoing civic involvement.

It may be that when Teds adult children realized that an honest narrative of

Teds life, including blemishes, was about to be published, they did what they could to block

public disclosure of information they felt was embarrassing. The children had had a similar

reaction to Teds 2001 autobiography, No Problems, Only Challenges when they had their

father ink out sections that they did not like. The childrens lingering resentment of their

fathers frequent absences while they were growing up and simultaneously wishing to claim

363
their fathers civic mantle is understandable. That Teds children supported the publication of

a biography that diminishes their fathers legacy by failing to capture his full humanity and

accomplishments is sad.

So, there it is. The unabridged, uncensored story of Ted Stern and how that

story was hijacked. This unpublished manuscript has been given to several of Teds friends and

admirers. It, along with my research notes including Teds complete Navy record will be

placed in a professional archive where it will be available to future generations and preserve

the possibility that someday it will be published. This is what Ted would want and what he

deserves.

364
 Acknowledgments

Ted Stern was an active participant in the preparation of this work. In more

than seventy hours of interviews, he answered my questions and suggested research paths

and potential interviewees. Ted fact-checked the drafts of the first two chapters, and his

children, Sandy Stern, Elisabeth Stern Edwards, and Carol Lee Tippy Stern Brickman,

fact-checked the entire unedited manuscript. David Rawle noted Charleston marketing and

communications specialists and Teds close friend for almost forty years, also helped correct

errors of fact. Although Teds 2001autobiography, No Problems, Only Challenges lacked

context, it was a crucial guide to tracing Teds life. Teds personal collection and his official

papers deposited in the College of Charlestons Special Collections were vital resources. The

interviews Ted did with Gene Waddell in the early 1990s, also deposited in the colleges

Special Collections, were another valuable source. Michael Shanshala, a College of

Charleston history graduate student, assisted in the early phases of the project by locating

documents in the colleges Special Collections.

I want to thank Harlan Green, Deborah Kingsbury, Maria Ferrara McMahan,

and Samuel Stewart in Special Collections for their collegiality and assistance. The dozens of

interviewees listed in the appendix provided critical information and perspective on Teds

contributions to Charleston. Teds children and relatives were forthcoming with information

and stories about Ted and his wife, Alva. Claire Fund, the Addlestone Librarys administrator

and acting dean, was generous with her support and counsel. Those who provided the

financial support for my research and writing are due special thanks for their generosity.

365
Finally, I want to thank my wife, Catherine, whose encouragement, corrections, and

suggestions have mended everything I have written since my days as an undergraduate.

I express my gratitude to these and others that I may have unintentionally

failed to acknowledge. Errors of fact or interpretation are solely mine.

Teds special gift was bringing people of differing backgrounds and

perspectives together to work for a common cause. He would be happy knowing that his

biography is the product of such collaboration.

366
 Appendix

In addition to Ted Stern, the following individuals were interviewed in

preparation for the biography:

Jennet Robinson Alterman

James Anderson

Nella Barkley

George Benson

Joseph Berry

Robert Black

Sol Blatt Jr.

Carol Lee Tippy Stern Brickman

Juanita Bryant

Tom Burgiss

Malcolm Clark

David Cohen

Betty Craig

Fred Daniels

Richard Daughton

Hon. James B. Edwards

Elizabeth Stern Edwards

Dennis Encarnation

James Ferguson

367
Sr. Anne Francis

Edward Ganaway

Otto German

Gerald Gibson

Henry Golding

Rev. Z. L. Grady

Ray Greenberg

Gus Gustafson

Ruth Heffron

Richard Hendry

Lee and Anne Higdon

Jack Higgins

Senator Fritz Hollings

Barney Holt

Eric Johnson

Mary Jane Kiefaber

Frank Kinard

Bobby Marlow

Jill McGovern Muller

Dr. Bernard Mendelsohn

Tony Meyer

D. W. Mills

David Moltke-Hansen

368
Nan Morrison

Edward Pinckney

Charles Ravenel

Daniel Ravenel

David Rawle

Nigel Redden

Hon. Joseph P. Riley Jr.

John Rivers

Robert Rosen

Alex Sanders

Ann Sass

William Saunders

Rita Scott

George Sheets

Billie Silcox

Herb Silverman

Hilton Smith Jr.

Robert Smith

Sue Sommer-Kresse

James Stern

John Stern

Theodore Sandy Stern

George Stevens

369
John Trask

Floyd Tyler

Chandra Vic

Mary von Euler

George Watt

Fred Watts

Charles Way

Lucille Whipper

Caprice Cappi Wilborn

Rick Wolf

T. J. Worthington

John Zeigler

Anita Zucker

370
 Bibliography

Brown, Alice W. A Case Study in Reinvention: College of Charleston. New

Directions for Higher Education, Changing Course: Reinventing Colleges, Avoiding

Closure 156 (Winter 2011).

The Comet [annual]. Charleston: College of Charleston, 19222013.

College of Charleston: Self-Study. Charleston: Steering Committee, College of

Charleston, 1974.

College of Charleston News-Letter and Newsletter [alumni publication].

(December, 1968Spring 1979).

College of Charleston Student Handbook. Charleston: College of Charleston,

1969-1970, 19711972, 19731974, 19751976, 19771978.

Forward into a Third Century, The College in the Community, Emphasis on

Education, For Excellence and Leadership: A Report on Progress and a Call for

Completion of the Decade of Development Program at the College of Charleston.

Charleston, College of Charleston, 1965.

Fraser, Walter J. Charleston! Charleston! The History of a Southern City.

Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991.

Geiger, McElveen & Kennedy. Now for Tomorrow: Master Development Plan,

College of Charleston. Columbia, 1970.

Cresap and McCormick. Higher Education in South Carolina. New York:

Cresap, McCormick, 1962.

Cresap, McCormick and Paget. A Study of the Higher Education Needs in

371
Charleston and the role of the College of Charleston. New York: Cresap, McCormick

and Paget, 1973.

The Meteor [student publication, College of Charleston] 19351987.

Morrison, Nan. A History of the College of Charleston, 19362008. Columbia:

University of South Carolina Press, 2011.

Moodys Investment Services, Inc., and Campus Facilities Associates.

Opportunity for Growth in South Carolina, 19681985. New York: Moodys

Investment Services, 1968.

Rogers, James A., and Dolores J. Miller, Quantum Leap: A Story of Three

Colleges. Columbia: The State College Board of Trustees, 1988.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Edited by T. J. B. Spenser. New York,

Penguin, 1980.

Stern, Theodore S. No Problems, Only Challenges: Autobiography of

Theodore S. Stern, College of Charleston. Charleston: Robert Scott Small Library,

2001.

Stern, Theodore S. College of Charleston: Presidents Report, 19681978.

Charleston: College of Charleston, 1978.

372
 Endnotes

1 Senator Ernest F. Hollings interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 21, 2012.

2
Gerald Gibson interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 1, 2012.
3
Fred Daniels interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 1, 2012.
4
Joseph P. Riley Jr. interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 21, 2012.
5
Charles Way interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 5, 2012.
6
Sister Anne Francis interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 25, 2012.
7
Prayer supplied by Tony Meyer.
8
Presidents Report, College of Charleston, 19681978, College of Charleston, 1978, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
9
Olivia Guest White, letter to Ted Stern, October 25, 2011, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
10
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. T. J. B. Spenser (New York, Penguin, 1980), 195.
11
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 11, 2011.
12
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 11, 2011.
13
Ibid.
14
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 8, 2011.
15
Ted Stern was named for his uncle Theodore Michael Sanders and his maternal grandfather, Simon
Sanders. About 1934, Teds maternal grandmother, Carrie Levy Sanders, urged Ted to change his middle
name to Sanders. At the time, Ted was the only grandson on her side of the family, and she wanted to keep
the Sanders name alive.
16
Advertisement for the Rockfall Apartments, found in miscellaneous papers at the New York Public
Library.
17
Robert L. Stern, Stern Genealogy (unpublished manuscript) 1999, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
18
Otto would marry Marian Frank, whose brother Leo would become the notorious principal in the
infamous rape and murder trial in Georgia that led to his lynching in 1915 by a vengeful Marietta, Georgia,
mob. Leos sensational trial and death led to the founding of the American Anti-defamation League.
19 Meat Famine Is at an End, New York Times, July 12, 1894.
20
Theodore S. Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges: The Autobiography of Theodore S. Stern (Charleston:
McNaughton & Gunn, 2001), 6.
21
Society Here and There, New York Times, April 24, 1910.
22
Stern, No Problems: Only Challenges, 14.
23
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 12, 2012.
24
Michael Wex, Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods (New York, St. Martin Press, 2005), 83
87.
25
Robert Stern, Stern Genealogy, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
26
The WPA Guide to New York City (New York: Random House, 1939), 284.
27
Robert Caro, The Power Broker (New York: Alfred A. Knopf), 1974.
28
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, transcripts, tape 3, p. 12, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
29
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald. February 22, 2012.
30
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 18, 2011.
31
Ted Stern, My Memories, handwritten by Theodore S. Stern in a book sold by the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 1986, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
32
Ibid.

373
33
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 24, 2011.
34
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 2, 2012.
35
Columbia Grammar School, 1764-1964: A Historical Log (New York: Columbia Grammar School,
1964), 47-55.
36
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 18, 2012.
37
Ted Stern, My Memories, unpaginated
38
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 8, 2011; Charleston Post and Courier, August
12, 1989.
39
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, transcript tape 5, p. 20, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
40
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 18, 2012.
41
Polly Prep Retains Swimming Title, New York Times, March 26, 1928.
42
Horace Mann Swimmers Win, New York Times, February 17, 1928.
43
Stern Continues to Smash Records, New York Tribune, March 1930, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
44
Columbia News, Columbia Preparatory School, October 1929, 111.
45
Nolan, Waldo, to Frederick Alden, April 13, 1930, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
46
Ted Stern, My Memories, unpaginated.
47
Ted Stern, handwritten manuscript, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
48
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 12, 2012.
49
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, transcript, tape 5, p. 19, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
50
Ted Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 25.
51
The Tobacco Leaf, November 2, 1929, 5.
52
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 18, 2012.
53
Ibid.
54
Columbia News, 1930, 79.
55
Ibid., 114.
56
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 28.
57
Daniel Coit Gilman, quoted on Johns Hopkins University website, www.jhu.edu.
58
Stern, Theodore, to Johns Hopkins Board of Admissions, December 13, 1929, Johns Hopkins University,
Ferdinand Hamburger University Archives.
59
Alden, Frederick A. Letter to Johns Hopkins Board of Admissions, June 11, 1930, Johns Hopkins
University, Ferdinand Hamburger University Archives.
60
Registrar, Johns Hopkins University to Theodore S. Stern, June 17, 1930, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
61 Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 28.
62
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 18, 2012.
63
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 31, 2011.
64
Baltimore Sun, November 22, 1932.
65
News-letter, Johns Hopkins University, February 29, 1931.
66
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 31, 2011.
67
News-letter, Johns Hopkins University, February 15, 1934.
68
News-letter, Johns Hopkins University, May 5, 1933.
69
Hullabaloo, Johns Hopkins University, 1934.
70
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 7, 2011.
71
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 2, 2012.
72
Johns Hopkins University History, January 22, 2012,Webapps.jhu.edu/jhuniverse/featured/history/.
73
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 31.
74
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 25, 2012.
75
Gene Waddell Transcripts, tape 10, p. 15. College of Charleston, Special Collections.
76
Birdies grand plans were thwarted when Dr. Wolf accepted a residency in neurosurgery at Bellevue
Hospital in New York, leaving the office in Cathedral Street empty. This promoted Birdie to move again in
1936 to 2300 West Rodgers Avenue in Baltimores leafy Washington neighborhood, near Pimlico Race
Track.
77
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 18, 2011.
374
78
New York Times, June 12, 1934.
79
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 8, 2011.
80
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 12, 2011.
81
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, December. 25, 2012.
82
Waddell Transcripts, tape 6, p. 11.College of Charleston, Special Collections.
83
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 22, 2012.
84
Ibid.
85
Robert L. Stern, Stern Genealogy, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
86
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 2, 2012.
87
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 18, 2011.
88
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 38.
89
Baltimore Sun, October 17, 1940.
90
Baltimore Sun, October 19, 1940.
91
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 14, 2012.
92
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 2, 2012.
93
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 1, 2012.
94
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 11, 2011.
95
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, tape 3, p. 12.
96
Mary Jane Kiefaber interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 25, 2011.
97
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 31, 2011.
98
Baltimore Sun, February 19, 1941.
99
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 2, 2012.
100
Theodore Sanders Stern, Application for Commission in U.S. Naval Reserve, March 25, 1941, National
Personnel Records Center (NPRC).
101
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 40.
102
Gene Weddell Transcripts, tape 3, p. 13, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
103
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 1, 2012.
104
Baltimore Sun, October 18, 1941.
105
Report of the Fitness of Officers, September 30, 1941, Oscar A. Weller (NPRC).
106
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 42.
107
Ibid.
108
History of Bureau of Yards and Docks, Building the Navy Base in World War II,
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USUSN/Building_Bases/bases-18.html, 37.
109
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 18, 2011.
110
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 21, 2012.
111
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 22, 2012.
112
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 8, 2012.
113
Memorandum, F. A. Sadler to Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval Air Station, Coco Solo, Canal Zone,
Subject, Ensign T. S. Stern, U.S. N.R. Commendation of March 30, 1942. (NPRC).
114
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 16364.
115
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 8, 2012.
116
Ibid.
117
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, tape 3, p. 11, March 4, 1999, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
118
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 14, 2012.
119
Carolos Espinosa Larrea to Lieutenant Theodore Stern, June 16, 1942, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
120
Report on the Fitness of Officers, O. A. Weller, July 17, 1942 (NPRC).
121
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, March 4, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
122
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R, Macdonald, February 2, 2012.
123
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, March 4, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
124
Mary Jane Kiefaber interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 25, 2011.
125
Francesco Costagliola interviewed by Donald L.R. Lennon, East Carolina University, Digital
Collections, 9.
126
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 22, 2012.
127
Memorandum, M. M. Sheets to Commander J. E. Boak, July 12, 1943 (NPRC).
375
128
J. E. Boak to T. S. Stern, July 14, 1943 (NPRC).
129
Baltimore Sun, October 22, 1962, 27.
130
Memo from Captain James E. Boak to Commander South Pacific Force, US Navy Pacific Fleet,
December 24, 1943 (NPRC).
131
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 48.
132
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 22, 2012.
133
The Admiralties: The Battle for Los Negros Beachhead,
http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/admiralties/admiralties-ch2-losnegros.htm, 29.
134
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 14, 2012.
135
Time Magazine, November 6, 1944.
136
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 14, 2012.
137
Citation, James Forestal, Secretary of the Navy, July 1945 (NPRC).
138
Report on Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, July 1942March 1944 (NPRC).
139
Report on the Fitness of Officers, Theodore Sanders Stern by J. E. Boak, February 28, 1945 (NPRC).
140
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 14, 2012.
141
Memorandum from Captain C. S. Smiley, Bureau of Naval Personnel to Lt. Commander Theodore S.
Stern, USNR, November 15, 1945 (NPRC).
142
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 5051.
143
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 28, 2012.
144
C. L. Austin, Memorandum for All Concerned, October 17, 1947 (NPRC).
145
Captain C. L. Austin, Theodore Sander Stern Fitness Report, December 12, 1947 (NPRC).
146
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, March 4, 1999.
147
O. C. Badger to Chief of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, July 26, 1949, (NPRC).
148
Officers Fitness Report, Theodore Sanders Stern, by Stanley Leith, February 29, 1948, (NPRC).
149
Ted Stern, Suggestions for Improving a Supply Department Afloat (unpublished manuscript),
December 1948, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
150
Ted Stern to Bureau of Personnel, July 27, 1947 (NPRC).
151
Memorandum from B. T. Morrison to LCDR Theodore S. Stern, April 29, 1949 (NPRC).
152
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 12, 2012.
153
Mary Jane Kiefaber interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 25, 2011.
154
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 12, 2012.
155
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 147.
156
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 26, 2011.
157
Memorandum C. W. Fox to Commanding Officer, US Naval Supply Center, Norfolk, VA, June 21,
1951 (NPRC).
158
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 67, 2012.
159
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 54.
160
Report on Fitness of Officers, Rear Admiral John E. Wood, for Ted Stern, July 25, 1952 (NPRC).
161
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, October 20, 1999.
162
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 31, 2012.
163
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 28, 2012.
164
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 6, 2012.
165
Burton B. Biggs to Theodore S. Stern, July 24, 1954 (NPRC).
166
Robert White interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 5, 2011.
167
Mary Jane Kiefaber interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 25, 2011.
168
Bob White interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 5, 2011.
169
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, October 2, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
170
Ibid.
171
Ted Stern Report on the Fitness of Officers, by Rear Admiral Ralph J. Arnold, April 25,
1955,(NPRC).
172
Ted Stern Report on the Fitness of Officers, by Rear Admiral Ralph J. Arnold, September 19, 1955
(NPRC).
173
Ted Stern Report on the Fitness of Officers, by Rear Admiral Ralph J. Arnold, March 27, 1956
(NPRC).
174
Ted Stern Report on the Fitness of Officers, by Rear Admiral Ralph J. Arnold, August 2, 1956
(NPRC).
376
175
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, October 2, 1999.
176
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 56.
177
Memorandum by Arleigh Burke, November 10, 1956 (NPRC).
178
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 56.
179
A Compilation Report on Fitness of Officers for Ted Stern by Vice Admiral Herbert G. Hopwood and
Rear Admiral T. Burrowes, September 1957 to August 1958 (NPRC).
180
Commander Theodore S. Stern, The Use of Automatic Data Processing Systems and Communications
Networks to Strengthen Repair Parts Control, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington, D.C.,
1959, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
181
Memorandum from Colonel Charles I. Davis to Commander Theodore S. Stern, July 1, 1959 (NPRC).
182
Memorandum from General George W. Munday to Chief of Naval Personnel, July 1, 1959 (NPRC).
183
Captain Hershel J. Goldberg, Report on Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, September 3, 1959,
December 1, 1959 (NPRC).
184
Captain R. Northwood, Report on Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, September 12, 196 (NPRC).
185
Outline of Address by Captain Theodore S. Stern (typed manuscript), February 24, 1961, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
186
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 10, 2012.
187
Ted Stern, Transcript, Johns Hopkins University, Ferdinand Hamburger University Archives.
188
Letter from Daniel G. Milzer to Rear Admiral Ira Nunn, March 27, 1962 (NPRC).
189
Captain W. H. Schleef, Report on the Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, April 13, 1962 (NPRC).
190
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 21, 2012.
191
Rear Admiral John Crumpacker, Report on Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, May 11, 1964
(NPRC)
192 L. Mendel Rivers to Ted Stern, July 24, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
193
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, March 5, 1999.
194
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 14, 2012.
195
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 7, 2011.
196
United States Census, 1960.
197
Nan Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 19362008 (Columbia: South Carolina
University Press, 2011), 72.
198
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 14, 2012.
199
Walter J. Fraser, Charleston! Charleston!, History of a Southern City, (Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press, 1989), 72.
200
Ibid., 425
201
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 21, 2012
202
Charleston Evening Post, Wednesday, April 19, 1967.
203
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Weddell, tape 19, p. 13, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
204
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 27, 2012.
205
Ted Stern, Things Every Man Ought to Know, News and Courier, April 15, 1966.
206
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 59.
207
Rear Admiral R. G. Colbert, Report on Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, May 18, 1966 (NPRC).
208
Rear Admiral Herschel J. Goldberg, Report on Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, June 28, 1966
(NPRC).
19 Aflag officer is a commissioned officer in the nations armed forces who is senior
enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark where the officer exercises command.
210
Rear Admiral B. H. Bieri, Report on the Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, May 23, 1968 (NPRC).
211
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, April 11, 2012. Charleston Evening Post, June 7, 1968.
212
Mary S. Voneuler interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 26, 2011.
213
Robert White interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 14, 2012.
214
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 14, 2011.
215
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 20, 2011.
216
Elmer B, Staats to Rear Admiral Hershel J. Goldberg, May 26, 1966, College of Charleston , Special
Collections.
217
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 60. Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 8,
2011.
377
218
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 8384.
219
Ibid., 91.
220
Walter Coppedge, Report to the Board of Trustees, October 17, 1966, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
221
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 64.
222
Walter Coppedge, An Unofficial Report (typed manuscript), College of Charleston Special
Collections.
223
Report, Moodys Investments Services, Campus Facilities Associates, July 1968, 164, 237, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
224
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 101.
225
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, April 11, 2012.
226
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 62.
227
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, April 11, 2012.
228
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, tape 4 transcript, p. 11.
229
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 62.
230
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, Minutes, August 17, 1968, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
231
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, transcript of tape 4, p.11.
232
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 8, 2011.
233
Ted Stern interviewed by Marion Rivers Ravenel and Margaret Middleton Rivers, March 30, 1987.
234
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, August 27, 1978, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
235
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 64.
236
L. Mendel Rivers to Ted Stern, July 24, 1986, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
237
Rear Admiral B. H. Bieri, Report on the Fitness of Officers, Theodore S. Stern, December 23, 1968
(NPRC).
238
Joseph P. Riley Jr. to Ted Stern, October 2, 2001, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
239
Stern Expected to Head College, Charleston Evening Post, August 30, 1968.
240
Stern Is Named College President, Charleston News and Courier, August 31, 1968.
241
Charleston News and Courier, September 1, 1968.
242
Charleston Evening Post, September 3, 1968.
243
David Moltke-Hansen interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 10, 2012.
244
Charleston Evening Post, September 6, 1968.
245
Charleston News and Courier, September 21, 1968.
246
Charleston News and Courier, September 24, 1969.
247
Charleston News and Courier, September 26, 1969.
248
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, September 9, 1968, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
249
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, October 14, 1968, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
250
Proposed Board of Trustees, College of Charleston, Policy statement and 19681969 Objectives,
undated manuscript, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
251
Edward Ganaway interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 25, 2012.
252
Frederick Daniels interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 5, 2012.
253
James Edwards interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 18, 2011.
254
The Meteor, October 3, 1968.
255
Harry W. Freeman to Theodore S. Stern, telegram, September 3, 1968, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
256
L. Mendel Rivers, The Congressional Record 114, p. 24, October 11, 1968, 30767.
257
Irena David Corbin to Ted Stern, September 16, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
258
Daniel and Ruth Ravenel to Ted Stern, September 4, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
259
Mrs. Van Noy Thornhill to Ted Stern, August 31, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
260
Jane Lucas Thornhill, Letter to the Editor, Charleston News and Courier, September 6, 1968.
261
Mrs. Paul A. Belknap to Alva and Ted Stern, August 30, 1968, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.

378
262
Jude Cleary to Dr. Theodore Sanders Stern, October 29, 1968, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
263
Arleigh Burke to Theodore S. Stern, September 11, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
264
Charleston City Council Resolution, September 17, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
265
Willard Silcox Jr. interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 8, 2012.
266
Charleston News and Courier, October 11, 1968.
267
Ibid.
268
Charleston News and Courier, November 15, 1968.
269
Charleston News and Courier, November 5, 1968.
270
College of Charleston Board Minutes, November 4, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
271
College of Charleston Board Minutes, December 9, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
272
J. Lacy McLean, South Carolina College Council, Inc. to Dr. Theodore M. Stern, October 24, 1968,
College of Charleston, Special Collections; and Charleston News and Courier, December 15, 1968.
273
Charleston News and Courier, October 3, 1968.
274
Charleston News and Courier, September 6, 1968.
275
Glenn F. McConnell interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 30, 2013.
276
Charleston Evening Post, February 21, 1969.
277
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, March 16, 1999.
278
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 6465.
279
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 14, 2012.
280
Theodore S. Stern to Dr. Gordon W. Sweet , November 5, 1968, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
281
Forward into the Third Century, a Report of Progress and Call for the Completion of the Decade of
Development Program at the College of Charleston, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
282
Letter John G. Barker, Associate Executive Secretary, Commission on Colleges, Southern Association
of Colleges and Schools, to President Theodore S. Stern, December 13, 1968, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
283
College of Charleston News Letter, May 1969.
284
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, January 6, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
285
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, December 9, 1968, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
286
Theodore S. Stern, Presidents Report to the Board, March 10, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
287
Ibid.
288
College of Charleston News Letter, December 1968,
289
Malcolm Clark interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 6, 2012.
290
Ted Stern to students, December 20, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
291
Otto German interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 2, 2012.
292
Chandra Vic interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 26, 2012.
293
Edward Ganaway interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 25, 2012.
294
Otto German interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 2, 2012.
295
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, March 10, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
296
Information from the College of Charleston Foundation.
297
In a May 1973 report to the State College Board of Trustees by the consulting firm of Cresap,
McCormick, and Paget noted that 14.8 percent of the College of Charleston Undergraduates were African-
American. The November 11, 2010, College of Charleston Magazine in an article titled Minority Report
reported that 5.4 percent of the colleges undergraduates were African-American.
298
Charleston News and Courier, January 10, 1969.
299
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, January 6, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
300
Ibid.
301
Charleston News and Courier, February 6, 1969
302
Charleston Evening Post, February 12, 1969.
303
Charleston Evening Post, February 14, 1969.
379
304
James B. Edwards to Captain Theodore S. Stern, February 24, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
305
Theodore S. Stern to James B. Edwards, March 3, 1969, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
306
Charleston News and Courier, February 11, 1969.
307
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 68
308
Alice W. Brown, Case Study of Reinvention: College of Charleston, New Directions for Higher
Education: Changing Course: Reinventing Colleges, Avoiding Closure 156 (Winter 2011): 44.
309
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Weddell, tape 4, transcript, p. 14.
310
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, December 7, 2011.
311
William Saunders interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 11, 2011.
312
Ted Stern, Third Annual College of Charleston Martin Luther King Celebration, January 20, 1997,
College of Charleston, Special Collections.
313
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 13, 2012, and April 27, 2012.
314
Charleston Evening Post, June 20, 1969.
315
James A. Rogers and Dolores J. Miller, Quantum Leap: A Story of Three Colleges. Columbia: R. L.
Bryan and Company, 1988. 129.
316
Joint Letter of Intent (marked Confidential), The Commission on Higher Education, State of South
Carolina and the Board of Trustees, College of Charleston, undated but paired with the College of
Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, April 7, 1969, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
317
Theodore Stern to Robert Moses, January 20, 1969, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
318
Robert Moses to Captain Theodore S. Stern, March 5, 1969, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
319
Theodore Stern to Robert Moses, March 17, 1989, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
320
What Next? Remarks of Robert Moses at Commencement and on Receiving an Honorary Degree at
the College of Charleston, Charleston South Carolina, Tuesday Evening, May 20, 1969, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
321
Charleston News and Courier, May 22, 1969.
322
Charleston News and Courier, May 30, 1969.
323
College of Charleston, Presidents Report (Summary), Academic Year 19681969, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
324
Ibid., p. 7.
325
College of Charleston, Student Handbook, 19691970, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
326
Charleston Evening Post, July 11, 1969.
327
Ibid., 25.
328
Charleston Evening Post, July 16, 1969.
329
Letter from DeWitt W. King Jr. to Dr. T. S. Stern, July 17, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
330
Charleston News and Courier, August 6, 1969.
331
Charleston Evening Post, July 16, 1969.
332
Ibid.
333
Charleston News and Courier, July 17, 1969.
334
Charleston News and Courier, June 18, 1969.
335
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, July 7, 1970, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
336
Letter from Theodore S. Stern to Hans F. Paul, October 29, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
337
Charleston News and Courier, August 13, 1969.
338
Charleston News and Courier, September 17, 1969.
339
Charleston News and Courier, September 19, 1969.
340
Charleston News and Courier, October 29, 1969.
341
Charleston News and Courier, October 30, 1969.
342
Ashley Cooper, Doing the Charleston, Charleston News and Courier, October 30, 1969.
343
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, September 8, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
344
College of Charleston Board of Trustees Minutes, October 6, 1969, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.

380
 345
Frederick W. Daniels memorandum to President Stern, September 25, 1969, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
346
Ibid.
347
Charleston Evening Post, October 15, 1969.
348
Charleston News and Courier, December 11, 1969.
349
Charleston News and Courier, July 19, 1969.
350
Rogers and Miller, Quantum Leap, 22.
351
Charleston News and Courier, January 11, 1970.
352
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 9, 2012.
353
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 18, 2012.
354
Charleston News and Courier, January 21, 1970.
355
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 77.
356
College of Charleston News Letter, May 1970.
357
College of Charleston News Letter, December 1970, 31.
358
Charleston News and Courier, March 15, 1970.
359
Ibid.
360
College of Charleston New Letter, May 1970, 1.
361 Rodgers and Miller, Quantum Leap. 30.
362
Charleston News and Courier, April 14, 1970.
363
Charleston Evening Post, March 10, 1970.
364
Charleston News and Courier, March 18, 1970.
365
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 9, 2012.
366
Charleston News and Courier, March 20, 1970.
367
College of Charleston News Letter, December 1970.
368
Charleston News and Courier, April 14, 1970.
369
Charleston News and Courier, August 2, 1970.
370
College of Charleston News Letter, December, 1970.
371
State College Board of Trustees Minutes, July 1, 1970, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
372
The College of Charleston, Longer Range Budgetary Planning, July 20, 1970, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
373
Rogers and Miller, Quantum Leap,132.
374
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 18, 2012.
375
Edward Pinckney interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 7, 2012.
376
Charleston News and Courier, August 9, 1970.
377
Rogers and Miller, Quantum Leap, 135.
378
College of Charleston News Letter, December 1970.
379
Charlotte Observer, October 15, 1970.
380
Charleston News and Courier, August 18, 1970.
381
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 29, 2012.
382
College of Charleston, Forward into the Next Century, 1965, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
383
Now for Tomorrow, Master Development Plan, College of Charleston, Geiger, McElveen, Kennedy,
1970, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
384
Ibid., 13.
385
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, December 14, 2011.
386
Now for Tomorrow, 40.
387
Floyd Tyler interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 20, 2012.
388
Edward Pinckney interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 7, 2012.
389
Charleston News and Courier, November 25, 1970.
390
Charleston News and Courier, December 17, 1970.
391
Charleston News and Courier, February 16, 1971.
392
Charleston News and Courier, February 17, 1971.
393
Charleston Evening Post, February 17, 1971.
394
Charleston News and Courier, February 20, 1971.
395
Mrs. Eleanor P. Hart, Letter to the Editor, Charleston News and Courier, February 15, 1971.
396
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 12, 2012.
397
D. L. Maquire Jr. M.D., Letter to the Editor, Charleston News and Courier, February 17, 1971.
381
398
Ted Stern to C. Dana Sinkler, February 8, 1971, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
399
Presidents Advisory Committee on Area Preservation, Minutes, February 17, 1971, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
400
Charleston News and Courier, February 25, 1971.
401
Charleston News and Courier, February 26, 2012.
402
Presidents advisory Committee on Area Preservation, December 8, 1971, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
403
Charleston News and Courier, February 19, 1971.
404
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 119.
405
The State, March 8, 1971.
406
Charleston Evening Post, March 10, 1971.
407
Ibid.
408
Rogers and Miller, Quantum Leap, 137.
409
Ibid., 131.
410
Gus Gustafson interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 11, 2012.
411
Chandra Vic interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 26, 2012.
412
Otto German interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 2, 2012.
413
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 106.
414
Henrietta Golding interviewed by Robert Macdonald, July 3, 2012.
415
Daniel Ravenel interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 13, 2012.
416
Charleston News and Courier, June 14, 1971.
417
Charleston Evening Post, September 21, 1971.
418
Charleston Evening Post, October 10, 1971.
419
Edward Pinckney interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 7, 2012.
420
The Meteor, October 5, 1971.
421
Ibid., 2.
422
Establishment of a New Committee, Memorandum, October 12, 1971, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
423
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 11415.
424
Gerald Gibson interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 7, 2012.
425
South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, Goals for Higher Education to 1980, SCCHE, 1972,
College of Charleston Special Collections.
426
Rogers and Miller, Quantum Leap, 13940.
427
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 124.
428
Charleston Post and Courier January 19, 1973.
429
College of Charleston News Letter, March 1973, 5.
430
Ted Stern to Sondra Toomer, February 11, 1972, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
431
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 31, 2012.
432
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 30, 2011.
433
William R. Barnhart to Theodore S. Stern, February 4, 1972, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
434
The Meteor, September 8,1972.
435
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 13, 2012.
436
Robert Marlow interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 7, 2012.
437
Gerald Gibson interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 7, 2012.
438
Betty Craig interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 4, 2011.
439
Charleston News and Courier, December 6, 1973.
440
Betty Craig interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 4, 2011.
441
Malcolm Clark interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 6, 2012.
442
Floyd Tyler interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 20, 2012.
443
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 13, 1988.
444
Carol White, The Post Newspapers of Zambia, March 24, 2011.
445
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, December 6, 2012.
446
Fred Daniels interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 5, 2012.
447
Nan Morrison interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 24, 2012.
448
Floyd Tyler interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 20, 2012.
449
Floyd Tyler interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 20, 2012.
382
450
The College of Charleston Self-Study, 1974, 15 and 19, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
451
Herb Silverman, Newspeak: The College of Charleston Faculty Newsletter, March 24, 1982, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
452
Dennis Encarnation interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 2, 2012.
453
Gerald Gibson interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 7, 2012.
454
Faculty Minutes, February 21, 1973, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
455
State College Board of Trustees Minutes, March 20, 1973, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
456
College of Charleston Faculty Minutes, November 10, 1976, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
457
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 14, 2011.
458
Theodore S. Stern interviewed by Marion Rivers Ravenel and Margaret Middleton Rivers, March 30,
1987, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
459
The College of Charleston, Self-Study, 1974, 2, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
460
Rogers and Miller, Quantum Leap, 144.
461
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 130.
462
College of Charleston Faculty Minutes, January 15, 1973, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
463
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 4, 2012.
464
The State, October 24, 1972.
465
Charleston News and Courier, December 6, 1973.
466
The Meteor, March 27, 1975.
467
College of Charleston, News Letter, May, 1975.
468
Courtenay Daniels, Letter to the Editor, Charleston The News and Courier, March 16, 1973.
469
Ibid.
470
Ashley Cooper, Doing the Charleston, Charleston News and Courier, December 5, 1974.
471
USA Today, October 22, 2012.
472
Southern Living Magazine, January 1977, 13a.
473
Edward Pinckney interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 7, 2012.
474
Historic Preservation, JulySeptember, 1975, 31.
475
B. Phinizy Spalding, Georgia Historical Quarterly 41 (Summer 1977): 1089.
476
The State, November 7, 1975.
477
James B. Edwards interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 18, 2011.
478 Charleston News and Courier, October 9, 1985.
479
Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Festival Foundation, Inc. November 11, 1974, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
480
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, January, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
481
Frances Edmunds to Ted Stern, July 14, 1975, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
482
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, January 27, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
483
New York Times, March 25, 1976.
484
Charleston News and Courier, March 26, 1976.
485
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, January 27, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
486
Ibid.
487
Ernest Hilman Jr. letter to the Spoleto Foundation Board, September 28, 1988, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
488
Charles D. Ravenel interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 11, 2012.
489
Charleston News and Courier, September 24, 1976.
490
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, January 27, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
491
Manuscript signed by Gian Carlo Menotti, Christopher T. Clark, William L. Beadleston, Joseph P.
Riley, Jr., September 26, 1976, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
492
David Rawle interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 11, 2012.
493
Stern, The Readiness Is All, 101.
494
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, October 18, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
495
Charleston News and Courier, January 27, 1986.
496
Ibid.
497
Charleston News and Courier, September 28, 1976.
498
Charleston News and Courier, September 30, 1976.
499
Charleston Evening Post, September 29, 1976.
500
Jack Kroll, Spoleto Comes to Charleston, Newsweek, July 6, 1977, 56.
383
501
David Rawle interviewed by Robert R, Macdonald, July 11, 1977.
502
Nella Barkley interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 29, 2012.
503
Joseph P. Riley Jr. interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 21, 2012.
504
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, January 27, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
505
Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston Coordinating Committee Steering Committee Minutes, October 13,
1976.
506
Letter Roy H. Owen, Executive Director, Trident 2000, to Theodore S. Stern, August 25, 1977, College
of Charleston, Special Collections.
507
Spoleto USA 1977, News Release, November 10, 1976, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
508
Judith Michele Wilbanks, Spoleto Festival USA, 19771993: The Menotti Years, masters thesis,
University of Florida, 1996, 4849.
509
New York Times, May 25, 1977.
510
Charleston News and Courier, May 25, 1977, 10A.
511
Nigel Redden interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 31, 2012.
512
David Rawle interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 11, 2012.
513
Charleston News and Courier, May 26, 1977.
514
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, April 3, 2012.
515
The New York Times, May 25, 1977.
516
The New York Times, May 22, 1977.
517
Charleston News and Courier, June 5, 1977.
518
Charleston News and Courier, June 7, 1977.
519
Ibid.
520
Alton C. Crews, Contributing to Charlestons Greatness: The College of Charleston, reprinted from
the official Spoleto program, College of Charleston News Letter, August, 1977.
521
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 9495.
522
The College of Charleston, Faculty Minutes, September 15, 1977, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
523
Charleston News and Courier, September 15, 1977.
524
The Meteor, September 21, 1977.
525
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, December 21, 2012.
526
The Meteor, September 21, 1977.
527
Charleston News and Courier, September 17, 1977.
528
The Meteor, October 19, 1977. Emphasis in original.
529
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, January 8, 2013.
530
W. Frank Kinard to F. Mitchell Johnson, December 7, 1977, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
531
Report of the Committee on Standard II, Organization and Administration, November, 1974. College of
Charleston, Self-Study, 39, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
532
F. Mitchell Johnson to W. Frank Kinard, December 9, 1977, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
533
F. Mitchell Johnson to Ted Stern, December 14, 1977, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
534
W. Frank Kinard interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 6, 2011.
535
Gerald Gibson interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, February 7, 2012. E-mail February 22, 23, 2013.
536
College of Charleston News Letter, December 1977.
537
College of Charleston, Student Handbook, 19771978, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
538
Frederick W. Daniels, Dean of Admissions, to Theodore S. Stern, August 31, 1977, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
539
George M. Seignious, II to Theodore S. Stern, February 20, 1978, and Stanley E. Blumberg to Theodore
S. Stern, February 21, 1978, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
540
Septima Clark to Dr. Stern, undated handwritten note, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
541
Theodore S. Stern, Founders Day Address, College of Charleston News Letter, April 1978.
542
Robert Figg to Ted Stern, April 11, 1978, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
543
Harry W. Freeman to President Theodore S. Stern, June 26, 1978, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
544
Joseph P. Riley Sr. to Ted Stern, July 2, 1978, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
545
College of Charleston, The Comet, 1978.
546
J. C. Long to Ted Stern, August 30, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
547
Charleston News and Courier, May 15, 1978.
384
548
Charleston News and Courier, July 1, 1978.
549
Ibid.
550
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 29, 2012.
551
Ted Stern interview by Robert R. Macdonald,, September 8, 2011.
552
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 13, 2012.
553
Interviews with Mary Jane Durkee Kiefaber, Elisabeth Edwards, David Rawle, T. J. Worthington, and
Ted Stern by Robert R. Macdonald, 2011, 2012.
554
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 13, 2012.
555
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 31, 2012.
556
Hotel OnLine, July 20, 2012, www.hotelonline.com.
557
The State Magazine, November 9, 1980.
558
Ibid., 12.
559
Ibid., 11.
560
Charleston News and Courier, March 7, 1979.
561
Charleston News and Courier, March 9, 1979.
562
Katherine Jenkins, Desegregation on Integration: Charleston County Schools and the Struggle Over
Consolidation, 19631980, masters thesis, College of Charleston, 2009, 76, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
563
Charleston News and Courier, August 30, 1979.
564
Blue Ribbon Study Commission Report, undated manuscript, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
565
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, tape 12, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
566 Robert Smith interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 6, 2013
567
Undated typed manuscript in the files of the Coastal Community Foundation.
568
Ruth Heffron Interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 22, 2012.
569
Information supplied by Richard Hendry of the Coastal Community Foundation.
570
Trident Community Foundation minutes, September 27, 1985, Coastal Community Foundation.
571
Joseph P. Riley Jr, presentation of the Malcolm D. Haven Award, September 15, 1998, Coastal
Community Foundation files.
572
Charleston Post and Courier, December 6, 1982.
573
Ibid.
574
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 13839.
575
The Declaration, October 21, 1987.
576
Blue Ridge Sun, March 22, 1989.
577
The Allegheny News, October 31, 1991.
578
Juanita Bryan interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 8, 2011.
579
Tom Burgiss interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 8, 2011.
580
New York Times, June 8, 1978.
581
New York Times, May 14, 1978.
582
Charleston Evening Post, May 18, 1983.
583
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 18, 2012.
584
Charleston News and Courier, October 9, 1985.
585
Charleston News and Courier, January 20, 1985.
586
Charleston News and Courier, October 9, 1985.
587
Charleston News and Courier, January 20, 1985.
588 Mary Jane Kiefaber interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 25, 2011
589
Baltimore Sun, June 6, 1986, and November 1, 1986.
590
Ted Stern Book of Memories, College of Special Collections.
591
Charleston News and Courier, December 8, 1987.
592
Charleston News and Courier, March 2, 1989.
593 Robert C. Larson to Ted Stern, June 15, 1992, College of Charleston, Specia Colldections
594
Washington Post, October 15, 1990.
595
Francis Phelan was born in Philadelphia in 1938. He came to Menottis attention while pursuing careers
as an actor and figure skater. The two developed a close, personal relationship and Phelan began to appear
in Menottis productions. In 1974 Menotti adopted Chip. Chip changed his last name to Menotti. Chip
eventually married the daughter of Nelson Rockefellers widowed wife Happy. In 1995 he was named
385
president of his fathers Festival die Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. Four years later Chip was appointed the
Italian festivals artistic director. When Gian Carol Menotti died in 2007 he bequeathed the festival to his
son. However, Chip was soon forcedly removed from his association with the Italian festival.
596
The narrative of the controversy between Gino Carlo Menotti and the Spoleto Festival Foundation
Board was compiled from interviews with Ted Stern Nigel Ridden, and Charlie Way and a series of articles
from the Charleston News and Courier, The Associated Press, the New York Times, Charleston Evening
Post, Washington Post, St. Petersburg Times, and Sumter (SC) Item.
597
New York Newsday, September 16, 1991, 47.
598
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 110.
599 New York Times, September 17, 1991.
600
Charleston Evening Post, September 19, 1991
601
Charleston News and Courier, September 18, 1991.
602
New York Times, May 17, 1992.
603
New York Times, January 16, 1992.
604
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 108.
605
Robert C. Larson to Ted Stern, June 15, 1992, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
606
New York Times, November 17, 1993.
607 Alex Sanders to Ted Stern, August 12, 1992, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
608
Ibid.
609
Charleston Post and Courier, October 29, 1992.
610
Alex Sanders interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 30, 2012.
611
Ibid.
612
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 127.
613
John Henry Dick to Ted Stern, September 30, 1975, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
614
Stern, No Problems, Only Challenges, 129.
615
Anne Weston to Ted Stern, July 10, 1997, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
616
Anne Weston to Pierre Manigault, July 10, 1997, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
617
College of Charleston Library Steering Committee, Meeting Notes, September 25, 1997, College of
Charleston, Special Collections.
618
Ted Stern to Martha Rivers Ingram, January 15, 1998, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
619
Ted Stern to Robert C. Larson, April 3, 1998, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
620
Ted Stern handwritten memo, April 22, 1968, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
621
Alex Sanders to John E. Marshall III, October 23, 1998, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
622
Anne Weston to Ted Stern, April 5, 2000, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
623 Charleston Magazine, December, 1999.
624
Janet Robinson Alterman interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 15, 2011.
625
Morrison, A History of the College of Charleston, 22627.
626
Ted Stern, undated handwritten statement, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
627
Charleston Post and Courier, August 1, 2005.
628
Charleston Post and Courier, January 13, 2005.
629
Robert Smith interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, March 6, 2013.
630
Louis D. Rubin Jr. email to Edelu G. Pearlstine, February, 18, 2005, College of Charleston, Special
Collections.
631
Charleston Post and Courier, December 8, 2002.
632
David Rawle interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald July 12, 2012.
633
Caprice Cappi Wilborn interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 12, 2012.
634
Ted Stern to Sam Hines, Robert Pitts, and Valerie Morris, October 19, 2005, College of Charleston,
Special Collections.
635
Charleston Magazine, July, 2010.
636
Charleston Magazine, Spring, 2006.
637
George C. Stevens to Lindsey Ballenger, June 29, 2007, Costal Carolina Community Foundation files.
638
Gregory D. Padgett, Charleston Post and Courier, November 13, 2007.
639
Charleston Post and Courier, November 16, 2007.
640
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, December 7, 2011.
641
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 13, 2012.

386
642
David Rawle interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, July 1, 2012, and Mary Jane Durkee Kiefaber
interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 25, 2011.
643
Joe Riley interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 21, 2012.
644
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 14, 2011.
645
Jill McGovern Muller interviewed by Robert Macdonald, October 26, 2011.
646
Ted Stern, A Written Record of My Life, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
647
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, August 24, 2011.
648
George Harley e-mail to Robert R. Macdonald, November 11, 2011.
649
Dr. Raymond Greenberg, College of Charleston commencement address, December 15, 2012, copy
from author.
650
Erica Arbetter to Ted Stern, December 20, 2012, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
651
Charleston Post and Courier January 19, 2013.
652
Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald November 11, 2012.
653
Ibid.
654
Ted Stern, Book of Memories, 1986, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
655
Ted Stern interviewed by Gene Waddell, April 8, 1999, College of Charleston, Special Collections.
656
Prayer from Carol Tippy Stern Brickman, Summer of 2012.
657 Kirkus Editorial Letter to Robert R. Macdonald, May 19, 2014.
658 Kirkus Editorial Letter to Robert R. Macdonald, May 22, 2014.
659 Email Tippy Stern Brickman to Robert Macdonald July 14, 2014
660 Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 11, 2012.
661 Series of emails between Robert Macdonald and Ted Sterns children July 14, 2014.
662 Email Robert R. Macdonald to Stephen Hoffius, September 5, 2014.
663 Transmittal letter from George Watt to Robert Macdonald, February 14, 2015.3etter L
664 Email from Robert Macdonald to George Watt, February 5, 2015.
665 Email from George Watt to Robert Macdonald, February 5, 2015.f
666 John B. Hagerty to Robert R. Macdonald, February 24, 2015
667 Email Robert R. Macdonald to Andrew Gowder, March 25, 2015
668 Draft Confidentiality Settlement Agreement, March25,2015
669 Draft Confidentiality Settlement Agreement, April 4, 2015.
670 Email Robert R. Macdonald to Andrew Gowder, May 17, 2015
671 Email Andrew Gowder to Robert R. Macdonald, September 6, 2016
672 John B. Hagerty to Andrew Gowder, September 15, 2016.
673 Ted Stern interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, June 13, 2012.
674 Bob White interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, September 5, 2011.
675 Mary Jane Kiefaber interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, October 25, 2011, T.J. Worthington

interviewed by Robert R. Macdonald, November 7, 2011.

387