John Grier Hibben

When John Grier Hibben retired in 1932 from the Princeton presidency, it was not altogether easy to realize that only two previous presidents, one in the Nineteenth and one in the Eighteenth century, had served longer at the head of the University. To the outside world Dr. Hibben had, indeed, become the visible embodiment of Princeton, but the University’s development under his direction had been so continuous, so smooth, so little marked by controversy or dissension that the lapse of time seemed incredible. Hibben had been installed at an hour when faculty and alumni were split apart by one of those factional struggles which sometimes reach their bitterest with institutions of learning. It was the case of a quiet, modest and unassuming member of the instructors’ staff, chosen experimentally to meet a crisis, handling the situation with such tact and wisdom that in the shortest time the crisis itself was all but forgotten. In personality, Hibben differed as widely from his predecessors Wilson, Patton and McCosh as he did from such other college presidents of his day as Eliot and Hadley. The variety of character among successful personalities in that office is as interesting as it is in political leadership.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1934 Century Association Yearbook