War Clubs
Social clubs and organizations throughout university life cater to a variety of interests to ensure everyone feels a sense of belonging during their time on campus. Students want to be able to escape into their university life and ignore outside pressures. Yet this was nearly impossible for students during the Second World War. As military training camps were constructed around campus, they brought the war closer to home and influenced the nature of the social scene of students. While it was common for the students to come together to support the war effort, it is hard to ignore the impactful changes it had on daily student life. Clubs originated as a way for students to come together with similar ideals and throughout the war transformed into a larger cohort implemented to support the troops fighting overseas. Students during this period used university social clubs to contribute to the war effort and give them a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves.
Nearly four years after the draft began, ramifications were impacting TCU in an undeniable way and social stigmas were being broken due to the demand for fighting age men.[1] The Bryson Club, organized by the late Walter E. Bryson, aimed to assist dormitory and town students with their introduction to campus life.[2] This was the first organization that many students would encounter upon arriving on campus. As of 1944 a revolutionary change occurred in the club as all of its members were women for the first time in history. Often changes that were happening outside of campus were not believed to affect the lives of university students yet the same could be seen within the university system. The main goal of the organization shifted from assisting new students to “keep[ing] up service men’s morale – ex members in the service and others”[3]. The war had caused the clubs’ entire mission to be altered and consequently resulted in new students being immediately immersed in wartime rhetoric upon arrival on campus. University life during the war broadened students’ thinking, but clubs frequently refocused their efforts on the war instead of on campus life. New Students could no longer rely on the Bryson club to assist them during their introduction to TCU as the club instead focused on the war effort and veterans.[4]
“The Poetry Club of Texas Christian University presents Formal Spring Recital”, May 14, 1941, Vertical files, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
A change in student morale could also be seen in the work submitted by students to various artistic organizations, due to the saddening social scene on campus and abroad. The poetry club is a place for students to express their feelings about their daily lives, yet it evolved into a setting for students to express their sorrows about soldiers fighting in the war, including former Horned Frog students. The feelings of immense desolation as some of their previous classmates are now risking their lives overseas while they are still living their lives as college students in Fort Worth, Texas, could be seen in their work. A pamphlet from The Poetry Club’s Spring Recital demonstrates the sadness many of the students were feeling during this treacherous time.[5] “Death Song of a Soldier” by Betty Simpson, TCU class of 1950, demonstrates how quickly the feelings of a freshman could be changed in a mere semester on campus to influence her to read that poem to an audience.[6]
“Statement of Policy by Faculty of Texas Christian University”, Vertical files, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
The Christian Association was one of the largest organizations on campus since many of the students aligned spiritually. The Christian Association was organized to help foster the students’ appreciation for the Bible and Christianity, but more importantly it gave individuals a forum to discuss matters where they knew their classmates shared similar ideals. Discussions revolving around the intensity of the war began to arise, and one of the major topics discussed during the 1942 academic year was “should boy or girl marry before or after Second World War?”[7] Male students were beginning to acknowledge that they might not return from the war and wanted to experience marriage before being potentially drafted and not returning home. Originally, the Christian Association was a forum for students to discuss their aspirations in their Christian life and speak to other students who religiously felt the same way. As time progressed students feared not being able to fulfil the life that they had envisioned for themselves and wanted to enjoy as much as possible before being drafted and the club evolved into preparing for potentially dying at a young age.[8]
As the war progressed it began to infiltrate scenes that were thousands of miles away from the frontlines, yet it left a lasting impact that would be remembered for generations. The daily life of college students foreshadowed how many Americans would begin dealing with the war and the ramifications that come from it. TCU was a very small school during this time, yet it was not immune to the pressures of WWII, and many students were negatively affected. TCU attempted to retain a sense of normalcy through its Statement of Policy,[9] although this was only seen at face value and the effects could be felt within student life.
While the war was immensely influential on a grand scale, looking at a small sector of American life, university clubs, we can see how young individuals adapt to the altering political and social atmosphere that is changing around them. The individual ideals of many of the clubs at TCU were forgotten and replaced with current war time influences further enhancing the need for students to search for an outlet for their apprehension about the future of their lives.
[1] John W. Jefferies, Wartime America: The World War II Home Front (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), 53-71.
[2] “Bryson Club,” The Horned Frog, 1944, 156, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
[3] “Bryson Club,” The Horned Frog, 1944, 156, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
[4] V. R. Cardozier, Colleges and Universities in World War II (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1993), 109-135.
[5] “The Poetry Club of Texas Christian University presents Formal Spring Recital,” May 14, 1941, Vertical files, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
[6] “The Poetry Club of Texas Christian University presents Formal Spring Recital,” May 14, 1941, Vertical files, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
[7] “Student Council,” The Horned Frog, 1944, 171, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
[8] Erenberg, Lewis A., and Susan E. Hirsch, The War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness during World War II (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 105-128.
[9] “Statement of Policy by Faculty of Texas Christian University,” Vertical files, Special Collections, Mary Couts Burnett Library, Texas Christian University.
For Further Reading
Erenberg, Lewis A. and Susan E. Hirsch. The War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness during World War II (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
The War in American Culture analysis the immense impact of World War II in the adaptation of American social, cultural, and political life in response This book examines the changes that the United States government needed to go through to unite the American people for one common goal, to defeat the enemy. Erenberg achieves this by compiling a collection of essays for different facets of American life from changes in music to changes in working conditions. Erenberg can help the reader understands different elements that changed within the United States by allowing different writers interested in different scenes of cultural change to compile all their findings into one book.
Jeffries, John W. Wartime America: The World War II Home Front (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
Wartime America: The World War II Home Front offers a concise exploration of the war’s transformative role in the daily lives of Americans. Jefferies examines how wartime policies meant to alter the war abroad transformed the daily lives of citizens at home. There was a common goal for the United States government to unite all its citizens to present the most efficient fighting force possible, yet human intervention caused this goal to be much harder to actualize. Jefferies helps readers understand the profound impact that the war had on the moral attitudes of a generation emerging from the great depression and the search for a better life. Jefferies argues that many people aren’t ready to give up their old lives, but the melting pot of American social scene forced it to change. Although he acknowledges that many of the social changes were not brought out because of the war but instead were pushed into motion because of it.
Cardozier, V. R. Colleges and Universities in World War II (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1993).
Colleges and Universities in World War II sought to examine the way that the war directly influenced college and university life. It is difficult to comprehend the massive changes that college students underwent during this time, yet Cardozier’s reading helps identify several key areas that underwent massive transformation and presents the argument on how the effects on Colleges and Universities was felt for generations to come. It’s important to acknowledge the new coursework students were instructed to complete. Traditional business and economic classes are now being intertwined with the Navy V-12 program to begin training for the war effort in various fields. College was no longer a place to go an focus on the betterment of yourself, but instead has altered into a training ground for the nations next fighting force.