Clifford and Martha Hardin at a ribbon cutting ceremony in Africa

Clifford Hardin greeting two women during a visit to Africa and Spain.

           In the fall of 1968, President Richard Nixon appointed Clifford Hardin as his Secretary of Agriculture. Hardin took a leave of absence from the University. Unable to come back to Lincoln to help, Hardin's acting Chancellor dealt with issues related to the merger with the Municipal University of Omaha (now the University of Nebraska at Omaha). In June 1969, Hardin officially resigned as Chancellor. In his wake, he left behind a nationally competitive University. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln had experienced more changes than ever before (Knoll 145).

          Hardin began his work as Nixon's Secretary of Agriculture in January 1969. Hardin’s previous experience in agriculture economics at home and abroad made him an appealing choice. In 1947, Hardin toured Western Europe on behalf of Michigan State College to investigate the Marshall Plan, and in 1948 President Harry Truman named Hardin to a group to study development in South Africa. He was a member of the United State Delegation to the International Conference of Agricultural Economists, and assisted in the development of education in Japan, Sub-Saharan Africa, Okinawa, and Turkey (Moritz 17).

          America's role in world hunger interested Hardin throughout his agriculture career. In 1962 Hardin served under President John F. Kennedy on a committed set to review the US Foreign Aid program, and in 1963 he was a member of the President’s Committee to Strengthen the Security of the Free World. President Johnson named Hardin to the policy-making section of the National Science Foundation in 1966. The chairman, Philip Handler, was impressed with Hardin’s knowledge about “the educational problems of rural America and of the impact of federal programs on a large state university” (Moritz 17).


Sources

     Knoll, Robert E. Prairie University: A History of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. Print.

     Moritz, Charles. "Clifford M. Hardin." Current Biography (1969): 16-18. Print.