Calvin Plimpton (AC 1939) Presidential Speeches

Calvin Hastings Plimpton, physician and educator, was born in Boston on October 7, 1918. He attended Philips Exeter Academy; Amherst (Class of 1939); Harvard (MD 1943, MA 1947); and Columbia (MSD, 1951). Between 1943 and 1945 he served at the 83rd Field Hospital of the 3rd Army. Later, he worked at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons from 1950 to 1957, and taught medicine at the American University in Beirut from 1957 to 1959. Plimpton was appointed President of Amherst College in 1960. As president, he introduced the first female professors to the college, helped to found Hampshire College, and guided Amherst through the troubles of the 1960s. He resigned in 1971 to return to medicine. From 1971, he worked at the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, as President (until 1979) and as Professor of Medicine (until 1983). In 1983, after the assassination of President Malcolm Kerr of the American University in Beirut, Plimpton took charge of the university, which he led until 1990. He has been awarded honorary degrees by several institutions, including Williams, Wesleyan, Amherst, Trinity and the American International College. Plimpton married Ruth Talbot in 1941, and had four children with her.

Plimpton's speeches delivered as president of Amherst College were collected and published as The Spoken Word (1981).