Swift, Harold Higgins, 1885-1962

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.

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