The Centennial

The peace and war prosperity and depression, cynicism and faith, liberalism and conservatism, of those years are captured on its pages. The Crimson, recounting its first 70 years of publication, Jan. 25, 1943.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS ago today. The Harvard Crimson was begun by ten undergraduate editors who ventured to provide Harvard with a forum for student opinion. The Crimson first appeared under the banner of The Magenta; a biweekly magazine, it hardly resembled the daily newspaper of today. But the principles which buttressed. The Magenta have endured. The Crimson of 1973, like The Magenta of 1873, is founded on the single principle of truth. It seeks even treatment not for select constituencies, but for all people everywhere. Most important, today's Crimson shares with the first Magenta a responsibility to print each side of every issue, and to show no quarter to those persons who seek to distort and manipulate its columns.

The past century has wrought many changes in The Crimson. Competing publications have risen, and died away; the competition has always been welcome, for it fosters improvement. The Crimson has grown in size and stature since its beginning, and it has evolved technologically. To be sure, there have been many difficult times: the Depression, two World Wars, hostility from faculty and administrators when editorial stances did not agree with all concerned. Yet, The Crimson stands today as healthy as at any time in its history. This should come as no surprise, for the editors of this newspaper will never let it die. For a century, editors of The Crimson have sustained a firm belief in its institutional value; and nothing could transcend the singlemost important facet of The Crimson--its people.

The pages of this Centennial Issue reflect the thoughts and words of ten decades of Crimson editors, moreover, these pages tell the story of change. The articles reprinted here are indicative of periods, of concerns and priorities, of generations of students at Harvard and elsewhere. The Crimson has not always chosen the wisest or most prudent editorial stances. But the one connecting fibre is that the words printed herein represented an independent voice. Harvard needs such a voice, and always will. Now, as always. The Crimson endeavors to pursue truth. We aim at those unlikely journalistic goals of fairness and objectivity. We challenge all sides to choose the most just and humane course of action. And, with consideration given to the consequences of our action, we hasten to print all of the news regardless of our own allegiances.

Thousands of hours and millions of words have gone into producing this newspaper over the past 100 years. Greater and lesser men and women have written for its pages, conducted its business and forged its image. Throughout, the underlying principles of The Crimson have not yielded to time or pressure. As The Crimson enters its second century, editors past and present can vow to ensure that these principles are preserved at 14 Plympton Street.