Fifty Years with Father Hesburgh

This book contains excerpts and commentary from various interviews Robert Schmuhl conducted with Father Hesburgh about his service as Notre Dame's president, including the most difficult years of his presidency during the 1960s, when Notre Dame and other college campuses were in turmoil because of student protests against the Vietnam War and other issues. Knowing and working with four popes and nine U.S. presidents, Father Hesburgh was a moral force in virtually all major social issues of his day, including civil rights, peaceful uses of atomic energy, third-world development, and immigration reform. Schmuhl records Hesburgh's candid reflections on the U.S. presidents with whom he worked and his assessment of the years after he left the university's presidency and maintained an active life of service in retirement. He describes how Hesburgh dealt with macular degeneration and blindness in his later years, enlisting students to read the New York Times and other publications to him. During the 1990s and the first years of the twenty-first century, Father Ted was, as he liked to say, "everybody's grandfather." His open-door policy extended beyond students to faculty, staff, alumni, and campus visitors, and continued right up until the end of his life. Throughout the book, Schmuhl captures the essence, spirit, and humanity of a great leader who transformed Catholic higher education and raised a powerful moral voice in world affairs.--Publisher's description.