The youngest son of Gustavus and Anna Swift, Harold Swift was born January 24, 1885. Upon his graduation from the University of Chicago in 1907, he went to work in his father's meat packing industry, where he eventually became a vice president. In 1914, he became the first alumnus of the University to be elected as a trustee. In 1922, when Martin A. Ryerson stepped down as president of the Board, Swift's popularity with alumni and his own considerable interest in the University made him a logical choice for the position.
In retrospect, Swift's assumption of the presidency of the Board may be seen as marking the beginning of a new era in the history of the University. It coincided with Harry Pratt Judson's resignation from the presidency of the University and with the beginning of a process of serious reevaluation of all aspects of the University's work which continued throughout the 1920's. There is a story that when the new Board president offered the job of president to Ernest DeWitt Burton, Burton asked whether Swift wanted someone who would merely hold the line or whether he wanted someone who would move ahead. When Swift answered the latter, Burton accepted. Burton died in 1925, but Swift kept "moving ahead, " first with Max Mason as president and later ( 1929) with Robert Maynard Hutchins, in whose election he played an important role.
Throughout the 1930's and 1940's, Swift and the often controversial policies of the young president in the face of adverse public opinion, e.g., the issue of communism in the University (Boxes 190-92) as well as in matters of internal dissension such as the Senate "Memorial" of 1944 (Boxes 196-97). The outstanding exception to this harmonious relationship between the president and the Board was Swift's opposition to the abolition of football in 1939 (Boxes 113-17).
Swift's retirement from the chairmanship of the Board of Trustees in 1948 was in some sense the end of the era which he had helped to initiate. (The title of President of the Board of Trustees was changed to Chairman in 1938.) With in three years, the flamboyant Hutchins administration gave way to the sober efforts of the administration of Lawrence Kimpton to come to terms with the new realities of the post-war era and most concretely of the declining neighborhood surrounding the University. Swift continued on the Board until 1955, when, on reaching retirement age, he was made an honorary trustee. Despite sometimes failing health, he continued unstinting in his loyalty to the University and remained active, particularly in fund-raising efforts, almost up until the time of his death in 1962.
From the guide to the Swift, Harold. Papers, 1897-1962, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)
