Letter from Chip Northrup

High Noon at Harvard

My father went to Harvard. My father-in-law went to Harvard twice—undergrad and law school. Our son was accepted at Harvard but went to Brown. When I asked him why, he said, “You went to Brown.” I replied, “Yes, but I didn’t get into Harvard. Twice.”

Harvard University is one of the first institutions and, thus far, the most prominent, to stand up to Trump’s extortionate shakedown of universities, law firms and corporations. That takes the kind of money, courage and resolve that most institutions don’t have. So, in that, Harvard is a model: of doing what all the other victims would like to do—but don’t have the resources or fortitude to stand up to Trump’s Thought Police.

The movie “High Noon” is a perennial favorite of the occupants of the Oval Office. Few people realize that the movie script was written by a McCarthy era, red-baited, blacklisted author: Carl Foreman, who left America in exile after refusing to name names to the House Un American Committee, HUAC, the ugly predecessor to Trump’s cultural pogrom.

The hero in the movie is based on the author’s experiences in Hollywood—about being betrayed by friends, slandered by informers and abandoned by colleagues. The movie is about the hero’s abandonment by the townsfolk, his friends, his deputy, everyone except his wife. The audience is ashamed of the cowardice, of the acquiescence to fear, of the fawning rationalizations to not get involved.

They are meant to identify with the hero—but miss the point. Most of them aren’t defending the rule of law out on the street. Half of them are cowering at home, watching cable news, awaiting their next talking points. The marshal is the obvious exception that proves the rule. Harvard proves the rule.

“High Noon” is an allegory about the extraordinary courage it takes to do the right thing against great odds when you are almost all alone. My prediction on Harvard vs Trump: Harvard 21 Trump 0.

Chip Northrup
Cooperstown