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The cover of the January 10, 1942, issue of the "Minnesota Alumni Weekly" was taken from the roof of Coffman Union and shows one of the two flags that flew over the building.

Fourth-hour classes were canceled on December 8, 1941, and students filled Northrop Auditorium and Coffman Union to listen to the radio broadcast of President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking Congress to declare war on Japan. "The students listened quietly and attentively to the President’s words. There were no demonstrations," the December 13, 1941, issue of the Minnesota Alumni Weekly reported. "It seemed that there were more men wearing the neat blue uniforms of the Naval ROTC than usual on the campus but it may have been that one was more conscious of uniforms and their significance on that day."

Sixty years ago, when the United States entered World War II, the Alumni Weekly kept University alumni informed about the happenings at their alma mater in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the dual role that the University would play to help defend the nation. In the first issue after the attack, the editors wrote:

First, . . . in this modern warfare the universities of the land are recognized as mighty arsenals of ideas, trained personnel, laboratories and research specialists in all fields. All these invaluable resources will be placed at the disposal of the state and the nation in this critical hour.

The second responsibility of the University is that of maintaining its normal educational function throughout the period of international conflict. It is more important than ever that youth be trained, not only in the special skills which are essential to the nation at war, but also as intelligent citizens and able leaders both in time of war and in time of peace.

The Alumni Weekly reprinted the letters University President Walter Coffey wrote to Governor Harold E. Stassen and the University community "affirming the keen awareness of the University to its responsibilities in connection with the war efforts of the nation." To staff and students President Coffey wrote:

In the face of the sudden and tragic turn of events, it is now incumbent upon the staff and student body alike to be both calm and determined. Neither hysteria nor indifference should characterize our behavior.

All of us should assume without fear or hesitation the new responsibilities imposed on us. The preservation of our nation and our democratic form of government must have first place in all of our thinking. I have great confidence in our staff and our student body, and together we stand united in the supreme task which now confronts us."

University students, who likely did little preparation for their final examinations the week the United States entered the war, faced changes of plans and difficult decisions. Max Shulman, the humor columnist for the Minnesota Daily, wrote a sober column after the attack on Pearl Harbor, reprinted in the Alumni Weekly: "Now I know that this is my war. Now I see that freedom is a trust. I, all of us, have been living a pretty good life. Now is the time to settle up."

President Coffey explained the University’s wartime student program in a letter to parents reprinted in the January 10, 1942, issue of the Alumni Weekly:

"It is not the function of the University to urge all students into the service. Neither is it the University’s purpose to help students escape service. Rather, its duty is to advise and counsel with the students to the end that they may decide wisely at what point their services will contribute most to the war we are now fighting. . . .

We shall at once develop programs on the campus . . . so that there will be opportunity for everyone to contribute something to the ultimate victory."

Within weeks after the attack the University formed a defense committee of 12 faculty members, made laboratories and researchers available for national defense, and modified curricula, such as for medical students to study the effects of poisonous gas. And it announced a 17-part series of lectures on "War Comes to America." President Coffey gave introductory remarks before the first lecture, reprinted in the January 17, 1942, issue of the Alumni Weekly:

"The struggle in which we are engaged is so vast, so unprecedented, that we cannot expect to be victorious unless we employ every resource at our command, one of the most vital of which is that we have an intelligent understanding of the enemy as well as of ourselves. . . .

Out of these lectures should come a clearer understanding of the causes of the conflict . . . a more settled conviction and a greater demonstration that what we are fighting for is worth fighting for.

Belief cannot be a substitute for action. . . . But action is all the more effective if based, not on hysteria, hearsay, distortion, fragmentary information, but on a clear understanding of the ideas, the traditions, policies and situations which form the basis of contention between ourselves and the enemy."

The lectures drew nearly 1,500 people each and were reprinted by the University Press and sold for $1 a copy.

Shelly Fling is editor of Minnesota