Arthur A. O'Leary

For other uses, seeArthur O'Leary (disambiguation).

The Reverend Arthur A. O'Leary SJ
O'Leary in 1936
40thPresident of Georgetown University
In office 1935–1942
Preceded by	W. Coleman Nevils
Succeeded by	Lawrence C. Gorman
Personal details
Born	(1887-09-27)September 27, 1887 Washington, D.C.,U.S.
Died	February 8, 1962(1962-02-08)(aged 74) Washington, D.C.
Alma mater	St. Andrew-on-Hudson Woodstock College(PhD)
Orders
Ordination	1919

Arthur Aloysius O'LearySJ(September 27, 1887 – February 8, 1962) was an AmericanCatholicpriest andJesuit,who served aspresident of Georgetown Universityin from 1935 to 1942. Born inWashington, D.C.,he studied atGonzaga Collegebefore entering the Society of Jesus and continuing his education atSt. Andrew-on-HudsonandWoodstock College.He then taught at St. Andrew-on-Hudson andGeorgetown University,where he eventually became the university's librarian, and undertook a major improvement of theGeorgetown University Library.O'Leary then assumed the presidency of the university in the midst of theGreat Depressionand, later,World War II.

In office, he began a revitalization of the nationwidealumninetwork from the disparate, regional chapters, re-established theGraduate School of Arts and Sciencesas a standalone school within the university, and significantly expandedGeorgetown's athletic programs.After, he became thepastorofHoly Trinity ChurchinGeorgetown,and then pastor of St. Andrew-on-Hudson. Towards the end of his life, he returned to Georgetown, where he died.

Early life

Arthur Aloysius O'Leary was born on September 27, 1887,inWashington, D.C.His father was a worker on theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad.O'Leary was educated atGonzaga College,and hisparishwas the adjacentSt. Aloysius Church.He entered theSociety of Jesuson August 14, 1903,and was sent toSt. Andrew-on-HudsoninNew Yorkfor hisscholasticate.He then completed his studies atWoodstock CollegeinMaryland,where he earned aDoctor of Philosophy.He went toGeorgetown Universityin 1912, as a professor of philosophy, holding the position until 1916. At the same time, he was also spiritual director for the university. He was finallyordainedapriestin 1919, becoming a member of the first class of priests ordained at Georgetown. He then returned to St. Andrew-on-Hudson, where he taught for several years.

In 1923, O'Leary became thechief librarian of Georgetown.He made significant improvements to the library, including expanding access to the library to alumni, creating areference desk,and establishing a system forinterlibrary loans.He began in 1935 to comprehensively catalogue all of the university's 177,000 volumes of books according to theLibrary of Congress Control Number.This signified the first time that the library's holdings in various subjects had all been organized together.

President of Georgetown University

O'Leary presenting Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (futurePope Pius XII) with an honorary doctorate in 1939

The end ofColeman Nevils' second term aspresident of Georgetown Universitywas due in 1934. However, the faculty and alumni of Georgetown petitioned theJesuit Superior GeneralinRometo allow Nevils to remain for an additional year in order to prepare a suitable successor. With the general's approval of the petition, in October 1935, when Nevils was sent toJapanfor three months to represent theAmerican Red Crossat an international conference, he appointed O'Leary as acting president in his stead.In July of that year, O'Leary was officially appointed president of the university,becoming the first native ofWashington, D.C.to hold the office.The inauguration ceremony on November 23 was attended by several justices of theU.S. Supreme Court,government officials, many foreign diplomats, delegates of several hundred educational institutions andlearned societies,and theApostolic Delegate to the United States,Amleto Giovanni Cicognani.His presidency was largely shaped by the ongoingGreat Depression.

By the 1930s,Georgetown's alumniassociation had become largely defunct. In the latter half of the decade, several alumni chapters around the country, especially driven by alumni ofGeorgetown Law School,had begun to reconstitute. In O'Leary's first month of office, he announced that he would establish an office for organizing alumni nationally, not just in regional chapters. This goal did not immediately materialize, and in 1937,Edmund A. Walsh,the founder of theSchool of Foreign Service,urged O'Leary to revitalize the alumni association. In response, O'Leary traveled around the country in the spring of 1938 to reorganize the regional chapters and appointed one of Georgetown's professors of English as the first secretary of the national association; the board of directors officially approved the national alumni organization in the fall of 1938, which began compiling a national directory and publishing a newsletter.

Sketch of O'Leary in 1939

O'Leary was a proponent of expandingGeorgetown's athletic programs,in part due to the recognition that they proved to be profitable for other universities, and greatly expanded scholarships available to athletes.Unlike his predecessor, O'Leary was a ratherconservativefigure.In 1935, O'Leary warned of the prevalence ofcommunismin the United States. The following year,The Hoya,Georgetown's student newspaper, echoed this sentiment, reporting on the growth of theCommunist Partyin the United States and the prevalence of communism among faculty across the country.In light of protests at college campuses around the country against involvement inWorld War II,such as the presence of theReserve Officers' Training Corpson campuses, and increasing political tension, O'Leary requested that the Jesuitprovincial superiorappoint acensorin 1937 to review any public speeches that would be given by Jesuits, so as to remove any political overtones.Due to thenational mobilization during the War,Georgetown's campus became a testing ground for theArmy Specialized Training Center.

During O'Leary's presidency, theGraduate School of Arts and Scienceswas re-established as an independent school within the university.This was part of O'Leary's aim to have Georgetown meet theAssociation of American Universities' standard for graduate education. He also increased the number of graduate faculty and students and made major significant improvements to the library's holdings. By 1937, the school began awardingdoctoral degreesonce again in some departments.In the law school, O'Leary decided to condense the two leadership positions of dean andregent(the latter of which was always a Jesuit) into a single position, due to the resignation of the previous dean.

Toward the end of his presidency, O'Leary's health began to deteriorate. He underwent surgery to removekidney stonesin 1937. Soon after the operation, he again became seriously ill and nearly died. As a result, he went toNew EnglandandJamaicafor several months to recuperate, returning to the university in October 1937.With his illness progressing, in December 1942, the Jesuit authorities took the unusual step of replacing the president of the university during wartime, namingLawrence C. Gormanas his successor.

Later years

In 1947, O'Leary replaced James A. McCarl as thepastorofHoly Trinity ChurchinGeorgetown.Obtaining permission from theMetropolitan Police Department,he began the practice of students at the Holy Trinity School using N Street as their playground for recess.He remained pastor until 1953, when he was succeeded by Emory Ross.His final assignment was as pastor of St. Andrew-on-Hudson, which he held until his death.O'Leary died on February 8, 1962, atGeorgetown University Hospital.Therequiem masswas held at St. Aloysius Church in Washington, D.C.

References

Sources

• Catalogus Provinciæ Marylandiæ Neo-Eboracensis Societatis Jesu[Catalogue of the Province of Maryland-New York of the Society of Jesus](PDF)(in Latin). Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 1908.Archived(PDF)from the original on December 4, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 30,2019.
• Curran, Robert Emmett (2010).A History of Georgetown University: The Quest for Excellence, 1889–1964.Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.:Georgetown University Press.ISBN9781589016903.
• Ford, H. P."An Appeal for Leadership: Toward Inspiring Objectives for Democracy".Letter toRobert Elliott Speer.RetrievedSeptember 28,2019.
• Gorman, Vincent J. (Fall 1991). "Georgetown University: The Early Relationship with the Catholic University of America 1884—1907".Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia.102(3): 13–31.JSTOR44211137.
• Senior Class of Georgetown University (1939).Ye Domesday Booke(PDF).Washington, D.C.Archived(PDF)from the original on September 10, 2019.RetrievedSeptember 28,2019– via Georgetown University Library.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Senior Class of Georgetown University (1941).Ye Domesday Booke(PDF).Washington, D.C.Archived(PDF)from the original on September 28, 2019.RetrievedSeptember 28,2019– via Georgetown University Library.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Summerfield, Carol; Devine, Mary Elizabeth, eds. (1998).International Dictionary of University Histories.Chicago:Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.ISBN1884964230.Archivedfrom the original on September 17, 2019.RetrievedSeptember 17,2019– viaGoogle Books.

External links

• Arthurus A O'LearyatFind a Grave