Taking a walk around Campus

This edition’s special section on UConn’s 125th anniversary year got me thinking about one of Connecticut’s unsung heroes whose presence is still felt in Storrs.

Good Night, and Good Luck , the Oscar-nominated film about journalist Edward R. Murrow’s battle with U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, focuses on the beginning of the end of McCarthyism, the mid-20th century political tactic of accusing individuals of supporting subversive activities by means of unsubstantiated personal attacks.

Absent in the film, and most writing about it, is the presence of the person who was among the first to oppose the Wisconsin senator and his tactics — William B. Benton, the former U.S. senator from Connecticut and UConn trustee from 1953-1973 for whom The William Benton Museum of Art is named.

The Benton family bequeathed one of the most complete collections of works by the American artist Reginald Marsh to the University of Connecticut shortly after the senator’s death in 1973, at age 73.

His legacy at UConn is substantial, as students, faculty and visitors to The Benton Museum can attest, as they view exhibitions by major artists from throughout the world. But it is only one aspect of a remarkable life.

Benton began his career in advertising in 1921 and just eight years later he and his business partner, former Connecticut Gov. Chester Bowles, established what would become one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, Benton and Bowles.

A foray into higher education and the later purchase of the Encyclopaedia Britannica occupied Benton before he became U.S. assistant secretary of state from 1945 to 1949.

He was appointed to the U.S. Senate to replace Raymond Baldwin, who resigned in 1949. Two years later Benton faced down McCarthy.

In Washington, Benton emerged early as one of the leaders opposing McCarthy’s anti-communism hysteria tactics and in 1951 he introduced a resolution calling for the Wisconsin senator’s expulsion from the Senate.

McCarthy responded with attacks on Benton, who lost his 1951 bid for election to the Senate. It was another three years before Murrow’s CBS broadcasts helped to end McCarthy’s methods.

Retired from politics, Benton returned to the publishing business, where he produced the celebrated 54-volume Great Books of the Western World series and then later purchased the Merriam Company, publisher of Webster’s dictionaries.

The legacy of William Benton — advertising executive, politician, art collector, editor, publisher — is still alive at UConn today.

For a more detailed look at Benton’s biography go to the following Web site: www.benton.uconn.edu/history.htm