Clifford M. Hardin with Senator Bob Taft at Plow-a-Ranch

Clifford Hardin stands on a hay wagon at the Mead Experiment Station for the International Grassland Congress.

           By age 65, Clifford Hardin had no intention of slowing down. He retired from Ralston-Purina in 1980 and became a special consultant and member of the Board of Directors for Stifel, Nicolaus, and Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Despite this change, he remained a consultant for Ralston-Purina and associated with the Center for the Study of American Business at Washing University in St. Louis ("Biographical Sketch" 1).

           On January 26, 1981 he was awarded the National Flame of Truth Award by the Fund for Higher Education. This award was given “in recognition of his distinguished career in corporate business, academia, and government as well as his dedication to combating the problem of world hunger” (Chilton 1). Then in March of 1981, Hardin became the Center’s Director and Adjunct Professor of Management in the Graduate School of Business at Washington University where he worked until his retirement in 1985. During retirement he continued to focus on research on the growth of the federal government and its impact on business. “Termed a ‘quiet man’ and not given to anger, his ‘wide ranging intelligence, courtesy and personable manner in professional a social contacts have been strong weapons in overcoming antagonism and opposition”  (Clifford M Hardin: Mr. Secretary 4).


Sources

     "Biographical Sketch." Hardin Papers, Archives and Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, hereafter HP, ASCUNL., n.d.

     Chilton, Kenneth W. News for Release. Memorandum. HP, ASCUNL. St. Louis: Washington University in St. Louis, 1981. Print.

     "Clifford M Hardin: Mr. Secretary." Courier-Times. 1989: HP, ASCUNL, 21 July 1989.