A Unified Pursuit of Peace

In the fall of 1951, Tabor’s color guard received a new flag. It was rare, unlike any other banner in the school’s possession. Every flag is imbued with meaning, but this one’s symbolism surpassed the scope of all others. It carried the dreams of the global community. The emblem, etched in white against a striking light blue background, was a map of the world cradled between two olive branches. It was the flag of the United Nations (UN), and it was presented to Tabor as part of a special ceremony on October 24, 1951. 

The UN was founded on the same date in 1945. Its flag was born two years later. Edith Austin, one of Tabor’s earliest and most loyal benefactors, was an ardent vexillophile. Her personal flag collection included over 200 national standards, many of which she shared with the school. Tabor’s tradition of flying the flags of its international students can be traced to Austin’s influence. When she acquired a UN flag, she informed Headmaster James Wickenden that she wanted to donate it to Tabor given the institution’s rich history of promoting international relations. 

Tabor observed its first UN Day in 1951. The celebration was full of pageantry. In tight formations, students marched onto Hoyt Hall Field and performed military drills overseen by Austin, Wickenden, and several local clergy and community leaders. Drilling was introduced in 1940 as part of national preparedness for World War II and became customary at many Tabor events during this time. 

After the review, Austin formally presented her flag to the color guard, which included the flags of the United States, Massachusetts, and Tabor. A miniature cannon fired a salute, and the school band played the national anthem. “This ceremony was, in a sense, an opportunity for Tabor to show its gratitude to Miss Austin for all her kind acts toward the academy,” a Log reporter observed the following month. 

Following the parade, the entire school gathered for lunch in Lillard Hall. Faculty member and resident foreign affairs expert Frank Dibble delivered a lecture on the UN’s aims and achievements. “By use of a large chart,” The Log recounted, Dibble “explained in detail the make-up of the organization and its operation.” Later that evening, everyone convened again to watch two short films produced by the UN. 

This inaugural event became a blueprint for Tabor’s observation of UN Day over the next two decades. Morning drill parades were followed by speeches and other didactic programming aimed at educating students about the organization’s history and its vital role in securing world peace.

For Tabor students, these celebrations were far from perfunctory. The specter of World War II haunted their adolescence. They inhabited a newly atomic world, one in which the dawn of a Cold War stoked existential dread. “The global situation has succeeded in growing only more tense than ever and the world has been faced with ever mounting crises,” a Log writer commented in the November 1951 issue. “It is of little wonder, then, that the Class of 1952, throughout the nation, throughout the entire free world … has its eyes focused point-blank on the one organization which offers any hope of bringing order out of the existing chaos.”

Tabor’s early and vocal support for the UN was a product of its institutional identity. Headmaster Walter Lillard, Wickenden’s predecessor, held a deep belief that fostering international relations was essential to avoiding global conflicts and achieving world peace.

Leading Tabor in the traumatic aftermath of the First World War, Lillard pursued a number of initiatives to empower students as global citizens. He was instrumental in founding the International Schoolboy Fellowship (ISF), an exchange program that promoted international collaboration, and he strived to build a campus culture where students were invested in current and foreign affairs. To achieve this goal, he led by example. Included in Tabor’s archives is a photograph of a 1933 “pledge card” Lillard mailed to newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt in which he pledged his “active support in all efforts of your administration, starting with adherence to the World Court.” 

After the Second World War, Lillard was stationed in Austria as the Chief of the Resettlement Division of the International Refugee Organization (IRO). The global coalition, which included representatives from 36 governments, was tasked with overseeing the resettlement of millions of European refugees. “Until we learn how to prevent war,” Lillard said, “we shall have to cope with its aftermath.” In 1948, the IRO became part of the United Nations, thus forming a strong and immediate link between Tabor and the nascent organization. 

Following the success of Tabor’s first UN Day, the event became a tradition that took on importance beyond the borders of campus. During the 1952 celebration, Wickenden read telegraphs he received from influential citizens like Paul Hoffman, President of the Ford Foundation, and Erwin Griswold, Dean of Harvard Law School. “All praised the United Nations and Tabor’s effort to recognize it,” a Log reporter summarized in the November issue. In 1968, the town of Marion presented Wickenden with an Award of Achievement “for his recognition and devotion to UN Day.” 

Beyond their participation in the drilling exercises, Tabor students assumed larger roles in subsequent UN Day activities. Starting in 1953, international students gave speeches about their home countries. Over the years, the practice broadened to allow students learning foreign languages to deliver speeches in those languages, which were then followed by English translations. In 1967, for example, Larry Tibbetts ’70 gave a talk in German. “He spoke about the problems of Germany and the hope of unity between East and West Germany,” The Log reported. 

In addition to celebrating the UN every October, Tabor found ways to support the organization’s mission throughout the school year. Guest speakers played a prominent role in this effort. In his 1948 commencement address, Thomas Watson, the legendary CEO of the multinational technology company IBM, defended the UN against contemporary criticism. “We hear people complain about the progress of the work of the United Nations. In our own country, it took us twenty years to agree on a tentative Constitution,” Watson said. “Let us look upon the United Nations as a great educational institution, with the best minds from all the different countries represented, working together to develop a curriculum which we can all study and work on for all time.” 

In 1959, General Carlos Romulo of the Philippines was an honored speaker during Commencement weekend. Romulo, who served as General MacArthur’s aide-de-camp during World War II, was the President of the UN’s Fourth General Assembly. In 1960, the Commencement speech was delivered by Dr. Charles Malik, the Lebanese diplomat who served as ambassador to the United States as well as the United Nations. Malik implored Tabor graduates to reflect on the importance of “soul integrity” as they left Marion to assume their place in the world. 

Although Tabor’s formal observance of UN Day ended following Wickenden’s retirement in 1976, the spirit of the first celebration in 1951 has never left campus. The formation of the Tabor International Students’ Association (T.I.S.A.) in the late 1970s worked “to provide a forum for international understanding.” In the 1980s, a course titled “Current International Affairs” allowed students to examine “world issues of change, growth, and conflict.” Over the last several decades, different iterations of Model UN clubs have enabled generations of students to walk in the shoes of diplomats. 

Tabor’s robust global programs continue to advance its legacy as a leader in international education. One of the priorities of the newly shared Strategic Vision is to cultivate a globally minded community. Throughout Tabor’s history, this has been a defining aspect of the school’s identity and the experience of its students. Prioritizing this value ensures that the students of today and tomorrow will graduate as global citizens who are prepared to face the challenges of an ever-evolving world.