Wolf's Head (secret society): Difference between revisions

Wolf's Head (W.H.S.) is the third oldest secret society at Yale University. It was founded in 1883, according to Phelps Trust Association archives (the source for most of this entry; Yale Sterling Memorial Library houses the archives). The founding undergraduate members from the Yale Class of 1884 and over 300 Yale alumni sought to help reform a social system and University administration dominated by the societies Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key.

History

Reform was desired by undergraduates and alumni who thought Bones and Keys figured too prominently at late-nineteenth century Yale. The administration was peopled almost exclusively by alumni of Bones or Keys. The student body had increased in number, widened its geographic scope (by 1900 all but three territories had been granted statehood in the continental United States), and broadened its social class origins after the American Civil War. The extant societies were dominated by socially prominent Southerners, New Englanders, New Yorkers, and Ohioans.

Undergraduates on campus and alumni in the current media debated specifically the merits of the society system. A periodical called The Iconoclast appeared in 1873 in New Haven that called for the end of Skull and Bones, according to Secret Societies, by John Lawrence Reynolds.

The Iconoclast stated: "Out of every class Skull and Bones takes its men. They have gone out into the world and have become, in many instances, leaders of society. They have obtained control of Yale. Its business is performed by them. Money paid to the college must pass into their hands, and be subject to their will....The society was never as obnoxious to the college as it is today.... Never before has it shown its arrogance and self-fancied superiority. It grasps the College Press and endeavors to rule it all. It does not deign to show credentials, but clutches at power with the silence of conscious guilt.... It is Yale College against Skull and Bones. We ask all men, as a question of right, which should be allowed to live?" Many called for an end to the system.

Known originally as "The Third Society" and members as "Grey Friars", the society shunned secrecy and anonymity for privacy, condemning as "poppycock" many of the practices associated with Bones. The incorporation thwarted the last attempt to abolish the society system, which has achieved a renown that rivals Phi Beta Kappa, originally a secret society; the slaying of William Morgan and periodic powerful waves of anti-Masonic sentiment prompted PBK to become an academic honor society. "The Third Society" was accepted immediately and could manage its affairs similarly to the extant groups. The society changed its name to Wolf's Head in 1888 when undergraduates noted approvingly the design of the society's pin. By contrast, members of Bones or Keys wore their pins face down on their lapel or cravat, insulting fellow undergraduates.

The undergraduate body meets twice a week, debates, exchanges personal histories, and taps the next delegation "from the best of Yale". Women have been tapped since the spring of 1992.

Notable architects of the Wolf's Head Halls

• Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. designed ca. 1924 and completed posthumously, York Street, gift from member and philanthropist Edward S. Harkness. The "New Hall", with its stone wall enclosing a gracious private garden, is the largest secret society compound on campus.[1] Coincidentally, Goodhue was a protege of James Renwick Jr., architect of the first St. Anthony Hall chapter house.
• McKim, Mead and White, firm of. (1884, former or "Old" Hall at 77 Prospect Street, across the street from the Grove Street Cemetery (noted for its massive brownstone Egyptian Revival entrance)), commissioned for the Phelps Association (Wolf's Head alumni trust organization)[2], Richardsonian Romanesque. Purchased by the University in 1924, rented to Chi Psi Fraternity (1924-29), Book and Bond (defunct society), (1934-35), and Vernon Hall (defunct club) (1944-54). Currently houses the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies.[3] [4]

In that particular quadrant of Yale's campus, "the Hall" commands the most prominent location, fronted by York Street and surrounded by the Briton Hadden Memorial (home to the Yale Daily News), the Yale Drama School and its theatre (gifts from Edward S. Harkness), and what were formerly the fraternities and clubs of underclassmen who would have aspired to membership in Wolf's Head or another society. All of the other fraternal organizations in the immediate vicinity — The Fence Club, Chi Psi, DKE etc. — have been long defunct or moved to less expansive structures, their buildings still standing but occupied by academic offices. "The Hall", reigning over the former "fraternity row", is still being occupied precisely as its architect and donor intended. The Phelps Association completed recently a capital campaign "Campaign for The Third Century" among its alumni, led by member and former Yale President Benno Schmidt, to refurbish and modernize "the Hall".

Some trivia: Unlike similarly employed buildings at Yale, "the Hall" is by custom NEVER refered to as a "tomb" by members of W.H.S. or the Phelps Association. (Members of Berzelius, another Yale society, do likewise when mentioning the society's domicile.) And an olympic-sized swimming pool, it is said, is housed in "the Hall". (The Dartmouth society Sphinx is rumored to have a similar luxury.)

Notable alumni

Diplomacy, national security, White House cabinet

• Malcolm Baldrige (1944) - 26th United States Secretary of Commerce; championed Total Quality Management; the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act (1987) created the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, presented annually by the President of the United States; Presidential Medal of Honor; Professional Rodeo Man of the Year for 1980 and member, National Cowboy Hall of Fame; Council on Foreign Relations
• Douglas MacArthur II (1932) - nephew, General Douglas MacArthur; U.S. Ambassador to: Japan (1957 - 1961), Belgium (1961 - 1965), Austria (1967 - 1969), and Iran (1969 - 1972); son-in-law, U.S. Vice President Alban Barkley
• Rogers C.B. Morton (1937) - 39th United States Secretary of the Interior and 22nd United States Secretary of Commerce; Chairman Republican National Committee (1969 - 1971); Republican Representative, Maryland's First District (1963 - 1971)
• Edward John Phelps (Honorary) - namesake of Wolf's Head alumni association; U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James (1885-1889); among founders and first president, American Bar Association (1880-1881); Kent Professor, Yale Law School

Business and industry

• William C. Ford (1948) - Ford Motor Company and owner, National Football League Detroit Lions
• Charles W. Harkness (1883) - Memorial Quadrangle donated by Anna M. Harkness with Harkness Tower named in his memory; corporate director
• Edward S. Harkness (1897) - son of Stephen V. Harkness; railroad director and philanthropist; Commonwealth Fund: funded construction of hospitals, including Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center; donated "the Hall", Yale Drama School and its theatre, Yale residential colleges, and the Harvard house system; sponsored Harkness table at leading secondary schools; Pilgrim Trust
• Roger Milliken (1937) - C.E.O. and Chairman, Milliken and Co.
• Paul Moore (1908) - consolidated gains generated by father who founded US Steel and what is now RJR Nabisco, eventually controlled Bankers Trust; spouse awarded Yale Medal
• Paul Moore (1941) - Episcopal Diocese of New York (1974 - 1989); political and social activist
• Philip Pillsbury (1924) - President, Chairman and Chairman Emiritus; Yale Medal winner
• Richard Roberts (1986) - Goldman, Sachs; member, Rudolph Guiliani mayoral administration
• Charles Phelps Taft (1864) - son of Alphonso Taft, half-brother to 27th President of the United States, uncle to Robert Taft, and granduncle to Robert Taft, Jr.; Taft Broadcasting Company in the 1870s; owner, Chicago Cubs (1914 - 1916) (sold to William Wrigley Jr); Republican Representative, Ohio's First District (1895 - 1897); delegate, Republican National Convention (1908 and 1912); member Ohio state legislature (1871 - 1873)
• Dudley Taft (1962) - Taft Broadcasting Company
• William Wrigley III (1954) - lead largest manufacturer of chewing gum (1961-1999); sold Chicago Cubs to Chicago Tribune in 1981

Scholars, writers and journalists

• Charles L. Bartlett (1943) - 1956 Pulitzer Prize winner for National Reporting for the Chattanooga Times; credited with introducing John F. Kennedy to Jackie Bouvier
• Henry (Sam) Chauncey (1957) - Yale Dean of Students, Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid, and Secretary; helped manage coeducation process; managed successful conclusion to protest prompted by 1970 New Haven Black Panther trials; had an ancestor among the original ten trustees (or Yale Corporation), and a grandfather many times over who received the first Yale degree in 1702; father was founder of the Educational Testing Service; Yale Medal winner
• Richard Gilder (1954) - National Humanities Medal winner (2005); Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History; force behind Club for Growth; Yale Medal winner
• A. Whitney Griswold (1929) - 12th President, Yale University (1951-1963); authored The American Cult of Success (1934), an early landmark in American Studies; acknowledged pundit on foreign policy and education; Pundit; spouse awarded Yale Medal
• Robert M. Hutchins (1921) - Dean, Yale College (1927-1929); President (1929-1945) and Chancellor (1945-1951), University of Chicago; Chairman, Board of Editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica (1943-1974); championed Great Books curriculum
• Rashid Khalidi (1970) - Director, Middle East Institute and Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies, Columbia University
• Lewis Lehrman (1960) - National Humanities Medal (2005); Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the Lehrman Institute; 1982 New York Republican gubernatorial candidate versus Mario Cuomo
• Christopher Lydon (1962) - anchor, WGBH Boston 10 o'clock News (1977 - 1991); Boston mayoral candidate (1993); internet pundit
• Charles McGrath (1968) - New York Times writer-at-large
• William Matthews (1965), poet, winner of the 1996 National Book Critic Circle Award for Time and Money: New Poems.
• Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. (1963) - 16th President, Yale University (1986-1992); Dean, Columbia Law School (1984-1986); law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren; Chairman, Board of Trustees of City University of New York; Chairman, The Edison Schools; American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Trustee, National Humanities Center
• Roosevelt Thompson (1984) - Rhodes Scholarship winner; PBK; Class Day prize given in his memory; alumnus, Central High School, Little Rock, AR
• Richard Williamson (1966) - Chevalier in the Palmes Academiques (1994) and former Charles A. Dana Professor, Bates College

United States Senate and House of Representatives, and State Legislatures, misc.

• Erastus Corning 2nd (1932) - Democratic Mayor, Albany, NY (1942 - 1983); PBK
• Mark Dayton (1969) - United States Senator, Minnesota (2001-2007)
• Thurston Morton (1929) - United States Senator, Kentucky (1957-1968); voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Chairman, Republican National Committee (1959-1961); Chairman, Republican National Convention (1964)
• Kurt Schmoke (1971) - Democratic Mayor, Baltimore (1987 - 1999); undergraduate leader during 1970 New Haven Black Panther trials protest; Rhodes Scholar; Honorary Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford University; Yale Corporation; Dean, Howard University School of Law; Boule

Law and the judiciary

• Robert Fiske (1952) - Davis Polk & Wardwell; Independent Counsel on Whitewater and the death of White House counsel Vincent Foster (1994); convicted narcotics kingpin Leroy "Nicky" Barnes while U.S. Attorney Southern District of New York (1976-1980)

Athletics

• Frances Ho (2005) - Captain, 2005 undefeated NCAA national, Ivy League and Howe Cup champion women's squash team; first team All-American (2002) and second team All-American (2003); first team All-Ivy (2002 and 2003), and member, 2004 national champion team
• Dick Jauron (1973) - Head Coach, National Football League Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears (1999 - 2003), and Detroit Lions (interim, 2005); Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year (2001), Chicago Bears; drafted fourth round by Detroit Lions (1973); National Football League All-Pro return specialist (1974); concluded playing career with Cincinnati Bengals (1981); 1972 first team All-American; 1972 Asa S. Bushnell Cup winner; sole Yale athlete named thrice first team All-Ivy League football; thrice lettered in baseball; Boston Globe Ten Best All - Time Massachusetts high school football athletes
• Ken MacKenzie (1956) - MLB pitcher for six teams, most notably with the New York Mets (1962 - 1963)
• Chuck Mercein (1965) - first Ivy Leaguer to earn Super Bowl ring; figured prominently in the 1967 National Football League Ice Bowl championship game for 1968 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers
• Jack Morrison (1967), member of 1968 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.
• Raymond "Ducky" Pond (1925) - 1924 football First Team All-American at halfback; nicknamed by Grantland Rice; former Yale head football coach (1934 - 1940); coached program's two Heisman Trophy winners; Gerald Ford was among his assistant coaches; coached Bates College to an appearance in the inaugaral Glass Bowl
• Michelle Quibell (2006) - 2006 co-winner, Nellie Pratt Elliot award; Collegiate Squash Association national champion (2004 and 2005); Ivy League Player of the Year (2004 and 2005) and Rookie of the Year (2003); won British Open 17-and-under Championship; arguably best women's squash athlete of the soft ball era
• Rusty Wailes (1958) - member: eight-man 1956 Olympics Gold Medal crew, four-man coxless winner for 1959 Pan-American Games, and four-man coxless 1960 Olympics Gold Medal winner; original member, Up With People singing group
• Joslyn Woodard (2006) - 2006 co-winner Nellie Pratt Elliot award; holder of seven school track indoor and outdoor records; Outstanding Performer five times at the Indoor and Outdoor Heptagonals; won 20 Heptagonal track and field championships

Arts and architecture

• Stephen Vincent Benet (1919) - 1929 and 1944 Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry for, respectively, the epic John Brown's Body and Western Star, also known for: Five Men of Pompey, The Beginnings of Wisdom, By the Waters of Babylon, The Devil and Daniel Webster
• Henry Strong Durand (1881) - arranged Die Wacht am Rhein for the Yale Glee Club as Bright College Years, Yale's alma mater
• Paul Goldberger (1972) - 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner for Distinguished Criticism reporting for the New York Times; Architecture critic for The New Yorker; Dean, Parsons the New School for Design
• Charles Edward Ives (1898) - 1947 Pulitzer Prize winner for Music for Symphony No. 3, The Camp Meeting, also known for: Central Park in the Dark (for chamber orchestra), Symphony No. 1 in D minor (his Yale thesis), Three Places in New England, The Unanswered Question (for chamber group), A Symphony: New England Holidays, Piano Sonata No. 2, and Symphony No. 4, considered the masterwork of 20th century composition; acknowledged creator of estate planning, and of sales training for insurance agents
• Doug Wick (1976) - Academy Award-winning film producer, Gladiator (2000), and nominated for Working Girl (1989).
• Doug Wright (1985) - 2004 Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama, 2004 Tony Best Play and 2005 Lamdha Literary Award for Drama for I Am My Own Wife; Kesselring Award winner from National Arts Club for "best new American play" and Village Voice Obie award for Quills (1995)

Other 19th century

• James Smith Bush (1844) - great-great-grandfather to 43rd President of the United States, great-grandfather to 41st President of the United States and grandfather to U.S. Senator, Connecticut
• Allen Wardner Evarts (1869) - son of William Evarts, grandson of Jeremiah Evarts and greatgrandson of Roger Sherman; law partner and corporate president; first President, Phelps Association (1884 - 1886), second term (1897 - 1914)
• Edwin A. Merritt (1884) - leader among 1884 Class Day officers; Republican Representative, New York's 26th District (1912 - 1913), then 31st District (1913 - 1914); member, New York State Assembly (1902 - 1912), and Speaker (1912)

Other 20th century

• Glenn deChabert (1970) - prominent Yale admissions officer; undergraduate leader during New Haven Black Panther trials; among founders of the Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY) and co-founder Afro-American Cultural Center ("the House"); annual award given in his memory to undergraduate member who contributed most to the delegation's experience in "the Hall"
• Scotty McLennan (1970) - Dean for Religious Life, Stanford University; inspiration for Reverend Scott Sloan character in Doonesbury and college roommate of Gary Trudeau

See also

• List of collegiate secret societies

External links

• Secret societies add to Yale mystique
• Say It Ain't So, Bones!