This event was duly recorded in the Andover history book:
`` In 1934 one undergraduate had been killed during the course of a Society initiation. A
group of alumni had joined the undergraduates for part of the ceremonies that were held
in a barn on the outskirts of Andover. On the way back the initiate rode on the running
board of a car driven by one of the alumni. The roads were slippery, and the car crashed
into a telegraph pole, crushing the boy, who died in Dr. Fuess's presence in the hospital a
few hours later. ''
But this tragedy had been brushed off by the school administration, with no suggestion of
interfering with the satanic Societies. Was there another, significantly worse disaster, that
happened to Class of 1943 secret society recruits?
When the alumni heard about the decision, they exploded into action. They accused
Fuess of fascism '' and attacked his star-chamber proceedings. '' A Boston newspaper
headline proclaimed, 10,000 Andover Alumni Battle Trustees on Abolishing Secret Societies. '' The headmaster, releasing no specifics to back up his proposal, said, the
purpose for which the secret societies were founded no longer seems apparent. '' His
allies said, quite vaguely, that the Societies promoted exclusiveness, '' operated on a
special privilege basis, '' and created `` social cleavage. ''
The stealthy shutdown decision, having now become loudly public, had to be squelched.
Andover's Board of Trustees president, Secretary of War Stimson, settled the matter and
kept a lid on things with his familiar refrain that the war effort should not be disturbed.
Whatever had pushed Fuess and the trustees to act, was never disclosed. The Societies
were quietly closed down in 1950.
Secretary of War Stimson made a famous speech in June 1942, to Poppy Bush and the
other graduating Andover boys. Stimson told them the war would be long, and they, the
elite, should go on to college.
But George Bush had some very complicated problems. The decision had already been
made that he would join the service and get quite far away from where he had been. For
reasons of family (which will be discussed in Chapter 7), there was a very special niche
waiting for him in naval aviation.
There was one serious hitch in this plan. It was illegal. Though he would be 18 years old
on June 12, he would not have the two years of college the Navy required for its aviators.
Well, if you had an urgent problem, perhaps the law could be simply set aside, for you
and you alone, ahead of all the five million poor slobs who had to go in the mud with the
infantry or swab some stinking deck--especially if your private school's president was
currently Secretary of War (Henry Stimson), if your father's banking partner was
currently Assistant Secretary of War for Air (Robert Lovett), and if your father had
launched the career of the current Assistant Navy Secretary for Air (Artemus Gates).