Chancellor Chauncey S. Boucher in his office during the 1944 academic school year. [3]

A dedicated page for Chancellor C.S. Boucher in the 1944 NU Yearbook. The reading outlines Boucher’s success in working along with the government to produce strong assets towards the war effort. [9]

Ryan Martin, History 250: The Historian Craft, Spring 2019

The World War II era in American history was a time of great hardship and sacrifice, but also great innovation and outcomes in the post-war world. Along with the rest of the country, war-time Nebraska, more specifically the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, suffered hardships all the same. During the war, the University saw a rapid decrease of enrollment and funding, as well as being behind other state universities around the country. These negative outcomes came about primarily because of the war effort itself, because of the need for so many resources and manpower to be used across the world. Throughout this hard time in the school’s history, Dr. Chauncey S. Boucher was named the Chancellor of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln from 1938-1946. In these years the school would face problems such as lack of enrollment and lack of public funds put towards the school. Even through hard times though, the University of Nebraska still found ways to prosper. During one of the hardest times in the university’s history, Chancellor Boucher provided expert leadership throughout World War II, these leadership skills showed through the crippling events in the United States and the University of Nebraska.

Upon the replacement of Chancellor Edgar A. Burnett, who had given his own historic contributions to the university, Chancellor Boucher was given the task of leading the university. These, however, were unordinary times. When Chancellor Boucher took his position the University of Nebraska was suffering, like the rest of the world, through The Great Depression. During this time of economic crisis, the university was plagued by low funding which in turn produced low enrollment. The leadership of Chancellor Chauncey S. Boucher was further tested with the involvement of the United States in WWII. Once the war started across the Atlantic, the United States was already sending aid to foreign allies. However, once the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7^th, 1941, the entire country had been transformed for complete mobilization with the mindset of total war.[1]

For the university, this meant even less funding and far less enrollment into college, as most college aged men became soldiers and women joined the workforce. The generation effected most by the war was college aged men and women. Along with the rest of the United States, many men from Nebraska had joined the armed forces to go off and fight the war around the world. The result of the high population joining the workforce and armed forces resulted in a significant lack of enrollment in all universities around the country, including the University of Nebraska. Taking charge of the university after the depression and during the war proved to be a major moment in Chancellor C.S. Boucher’s career. Dealing with the problem of enrolling students to the university was a major problem Chancellor Boucher dealt with by showing professional leadership.[2]

The extraordinary thing about the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and with its Chancellor C.S. Boucher is the vast spirit of leadership risen from the war. Great leadership on campus during the war was directly led by Dr. Boucher himself. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, Chancellor Boucher personally sent out a pamphlet to all faculty and students on campus. The title of this first pamphlet was The University of Nebraska and the War, put out in March of 1942. Boucher’s pamphlet was full of vital information for students and staff alike to read and understand about the war.[4]

 One of the first major points in Dr. Boucher’s wartime pamphlet was his devotion towards the war effort. Chancellor C.S. Boucher publicly announced to the U.S. Office of Education that he, and the members of the University of Nebraska would divert public facilities and programs towards the war effort. This decision by Dr. Boucher was one in which most universities had taken up as well, because the entire country felt attacked. With the university behind him, Chancellor Boucher was ready to help the armed forces train skilled technicians and other specialized men and women for military service. Along with this, the University of Nebraska was also a training ground for medical services. During World War II, there were thousands of Nebraskans along with millions of American men who entered service to fight the Axis Powers directly, which meant for a huge need of medical personnel. C.S. Boucher took advantage of this need by opening the universities College of Medicine and College of Dentistry to produce medical personnel in the armed forces. Along with these pledges of help towards the war effort, the university and C.S. Boucher agreed to even suspend any university program or activity temporarily if it would help the war effort. All these acts within Chancellor Boucher’s pamphlet shows the strong devotion from the public within the University of Nebraska, and the expert leadership shown by the Chancellor himself.[5]

Aside from the devotion towards the war effort within the United States, Dr. Boucher provided a sense of leadership through a different aspect as well. Outlined in his March 1942 pamphlet, C.S. Boucher talked about the era of United States Universities in the “Ivory Tower Era”. Essentially Boucher describes this era as the forty years before the Great Depression and WWII era universities. The Ivory Tower Era was one of growth within public state universities, a time of athletic and academic success in the country, including the University of Nebraska. Chancellor C.S. Boucher decided to put this in his pamphlet because it was there to remind the students, faculty, and citizens of Lincoln of less stressful days and how they can once again return to them after a small sacrifice during the war. Along with the talk of the Ivory Tower Era, Chancellor Boucher ended the pamphlet with educating students and faculty on the comparison of universities, politics, and ideas between the American democracy and Nazi Germany. All these points within Dr. Boucher’s pamphlet received very positive feedback from the public because of the leadership and enthusiasm produced.[6]

In the years leading up to World War II, both Chancellor Burnett and Chancellor Boucher faced significant problems involving public funding. This problem unfortunately only grew worse during the war, however Chancellor Boucher’s leadership led the university through the problem smoothly. In a conference regarding questions of university policy, Boucher was able to effectively transmit vital knowledge to his students on campus regarding low funding of the school. In February of 1943, Chancellor Boucher was clear on how, in general, the University of Nebraska was not performing on the same level as other large state colleges around the nation. The University of Nebraska in Lincoln was not necessarily falling below its old performance rate, but instead other universities grew to more success while Nebraska did not, this, in turn, resulted in less overall funding of the university. Tremendous courage was given to the students by Dr. Boucher by his assurance of students not needing to pay more, and more money did not mean overall excellence in a university. Chancellor Boucher further encouraged his university by working with the Board of Regents to help ensure legislative committees would or would not do credible things regarding educational performances and the limit of money within the university. Dr. Boucher closed his speech on university funding with an inspiring thought. He had said great universities are made up of great men. Boucher had said if their university had any ambitious to become great, it must have good and honest staff members to drive students. Staff should never take advantage of a blanket increase of university funds in their own interest to boost their salaries, that is what produces good men for great universities.[7]

As the war drew on, Chancellor Boucher and his staff was excellent at relaying important information to the members of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Roughly a year after his first pamphlet on the war, C.S. Boucher released a second pamphlet, titled The War and Post War Program of the University of Nebraska, in 1943. In his second pamphlet, Boucher repeated and stressed the importance of opening the University of Nebraska in Lincoln to the government for any military value that could come out of it. This meant the use of the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, Engineering and the ROTC program were main focuses during the war years of the university.[8]

Boucher also took the time to explain the postwar plan and financial aspects of what was going on during the war for the university. Dr. Boucher had explained in his pamphlet that there were too many university programs with insufficient funds to supply them. First originating in the days of the Great Depression, the problem only continued in the warring days. At the time of Chancellor Boucher writing the 1943 pamphlet, there were three interest groups looking for the University of Nebraska to take on two new projects every year, which the university could not do with the funds it was given. Boucher stated clearly to all students and faculty he would only take on new activities and programs to the university as long as it benefitted the war effort and the students themselves.[10]

A distinctive decision was made by Chancellor Boucher in 1942 to help the public image of the university of Nebraska in Lincoln. As the war raged on, it became apparent the war in the Pacific was no doubt a race war filled with anger and fierce fighting. Multiple atrocities and war crimes had been carried out by both Axis and Allied powers, so within the national borders of the United States many Japanese American citizens were distrusted and penned into internment camps on the western half of the nation. Dr. Boucher saw this as an opportunity to bolster the school’s enrollment numbers and could send a good message for inclusion in Nebraska. Between 1942 and 1945, over one hundred Japanese-American students enrolled in the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The use of Japanese internment in the United States western areas made it so Japanese aged college students could not continue their academic careers and were faced with no other decision but to travel east to continue their schooling. Accounts from these Nisei Students, as they were known as, reports indicate they were uncomfortable being in Lincoln, Nebraska but soon became comfortable to the environment. Chancellor Boucher gained public support in this decision to allow the admittance of the Nisei Students on campus.[11]

The Nisei Students were initially turned down by almost every public university east of the Rocky Mountains. Many of the reasons for the turning away of Japanese students were given as the Japanese student capacity has already reached full, which was likely an excuse to not have them. Many of these universities did not want the public image of accepting Japanese students because of the major racial divide in the country. The racial divide regarding African Americans was bad enough in the U.S., however with the brutal war waging in the Pacific it became abundantly clear Japanese-American citizens could not be trusted and were looked down upon. The University of Nebraska and the city of Lincoln itself was a rather significant exception to all the racial tension. Despite what the rest of the country believed about Japanese students, Chancellor Boucher saw it as an opportunity to strengthen the universities enrollment and image in a time of crisis.[12]

As the entire United States transitioned into a world war, so too did the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Transitioning, however, was no easy task for the university and faced many issues when doing it. These issues were met with haste and determination through the leadership of Chancellor Chauncey S. Boucher. As the university was hit with problems such as lack of enrollment and low enrollment, Dr. Boucher found ways to allow the university to still do great things through the war. Chancellor Boucher had the State of Nebraska behind him through his policies towards allowing the military to utilize different sectors of the university such as the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, and Engineering, for nurses and technical soldiers. Chancellor Boucher’s expert leadership proved to be successful as he communicated personally with the members of the university about all issues. The war-time leader published important documents, speeches, and pamphlets regarding the situation they were all in, and reiterated important details involving the war, democratic universities, and those of the fascist Reich. Through a struggling time at the University of Nebraska, it was C.S. Boucher who had been the shepherd for students and faculty alike and brought the university out of World War II on a positive note.

 Author’s Note

This piece of history within the University of Nebraska in Lincoln centers around not just a man or time period of history in Nebraska but focuses on a successful point of leadership in the university. Chancellor Chauncey S. Boucher was in office in one of the most important times in American History, World War II. It is important to take a look at the roadblocks in which laid ahead of him and the rest of the university and how he used his instinct and professionalism to go about these problems. A major leadership quality is to simply trust your instincts. Your instincts and intuition come directly from education, reading, and experience. In quick developing situations like a world war, the leader must act fast and part confidence to all around him, which is what Chancellor C.S. Boucher had done.

• Bound, John, and Sarah Turner. Going to War and Going to College: Did World War II and the G.I. Bill Increase Educational Attainment for Returning Veterans?. December 1999.
• Office of the Chancellor C.S. Boucher. Speeches and Articles, 1938-1946. The War and Postwar Program of the University of Nebraska. March 1943. University Archives and Special Collections at UNL. Box 1, Folder 6.
• Lundy, Frank A. The Daily Nebraskan. Page 2.  February 18, 1945. University Archives and Special Collections.
• (No Specific Author). The Daily Nebraskan. Page 2. Low Enrollment Means No Decrease in Overhead. March 29, 1944. University Archives and Special Collections.
• (No Specific Author). The Daily Nebraskan. Page 1. February 9, 1944. University Archives and Special Collections.
• Nebraska U, a Collaborative History. Nisei Experience at UNL. From the Archives of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
• Office of the Chancellor C.S. Boucher. Speeches and Articles, 1938-1946. Some Current Questions of University Policy.  February 1943. University Archives and Special Collections at UNL. Box 1, Folder 6.
• Office of the Chancellor C.S. Boucher. Speeches and Articles, 1938-1946. The War Program of the University of Nebraska. October 1, 1943. University Archives and Special Collections at UNL. Box 1, Folder 6.
• Office of the Chancellor C.S. Boucher. Speeches and Articles, 1938-1946. Education, Politics, and Federal Control. March 20, 1944. University Archives and Special Collections at UNL. Box 1, Folder 7.
• 1944 University of Nebraska 75th Year Anniversary Yearbook. 1944 Cornhusker. Page 9. University Archives and Special Collections at UNL.
• 1944 University of Nebraska 75th Year Anniversary Yearbook. 1944 Cornhusker. Page 21. University Archives and Special Collections at UNL.