1893 - 1978
President of Harvard University (1933-1953)

Calling for Education Reform.

In 1953 James B. Conant vacated his position as president of Harvard University to become the U.S. high commissioner for Germany. He did not abandon his role as an innovator in education, however. Throughout the decade he continued to draw publicity as he pressed for reforms in America's school system. His call for higher standards in American education culminated in the 1959 publication of The American High School Today, which sold over half a million copies.

Revamping the Public High Schools.

While at Harvard, Conant gained a reputation for championing the concept of liberal education, with its emphasis on a broad curriculum of study for college freshmen and sophomores. After leaving Harvard, he began to focus his attention on American high schools. Proclaiming the "typical" American high school to be a myth, Conant argued that schools...