University President
Barely out of his degree at AU, Flemming was petitioning Roosevelt for New Deal funds in order to start a program at American University. The program was the School of Public Affairs, and Flemming would be its first director.
Flemming served as president of Ohio Wesleyan University. He was the university's first president to be an alumnus and a layman (non-ordained minister). Having served in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, his Wesleyan inauguration at the June commencement of 1949 drew many famous speakers and celebrities.
From 1961 to 1968, Flemming served as president of the University of Oregon. During his popular and controversial tenure, the number of students grew from 8,000 to 14,000, and federal funding that the University received rose dramatically. Flemming was responsible for the addition of the School of Community Services and Public Affairs, the Pine Mountain Observatory and the building of various laboratories on campus. He defended the right of Communist Party USA leader Gus Hall to speak on campus and also convinced Tom Autzen to contribute money toward the building of Autzen Stadium.
Flemming died of acute renal failure at a retirement home in Alexandria, Virginia and is buried at the Montrepose Cemetery in his hometown of Kingston, New York.
Read more about this topic: Arthur Sherwood Flemming
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