Why I Chose History

Extract

Back in 1916 the world was in the midst of World War I. When I graduated from high school in that year, the United States had not entered the great struggle yet. In the fall of 1917, I, registered in the University of Texas. There was as much, if not more, uneasiness and uncertainty among students as there is today. We were already in the war. No one knew how long it would last, nor when the draft call would come.

With the lightheartedness of youth I chose engineering. In high school I had been good in mathematics, and everybody had said, “You are cut out for an engineer.” Dean T. U. Taylor of the Engineering School agreed, and I made a good record that first year. Engineering students in those days had to take public speaking and the public speaking teacher assured me the first day I came into his class that I would never make a public speaker. Time proved that if Dean Taylor was mistaken in his deduction as to my engineering vocation, the public speaking teacher was only half right.