Jan
02

Today in Smithsonian History: January 2, 1953

Swearing in of the seventh Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Leonard Carmichael (1953-1964), with (from left) Sen. Clinton P. Anderson; Charles Greeley Abbot (fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1928-1944); Robert V. Fleming; Alexander Wetmore (sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1944-1952); Judge Harold M. Stephens (chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals); Leonard Carmichael, Vannevar Bush; and Rep. Clarence Cannon at the induction ceremony held in the Board of Regents' Room of the Smithsonian Institution Building, the "Castle."

Swearing in of the seventh Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Leonard Carmichael (1953-1964), with (from left) Sen. Clinton P. Anderson; Charles Greeley Abbot (fifth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1928-1944); Robert V. Fleming; Alexander Wetmore (sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1944-1952); Judge Harold M. Stephens (chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals); Leonard Carmichael, Vannevar Bush; and Rep. Clarence Cannon at the induction ceremony held in the Board of Regents’ Room of the Smithsonian Institution Building, the “Castle.”

January 2, 1953 Leonard B. Carmichael takes office as seventh Secretary of the Smithsonian. He serves for 11 years, from 1953 to 1964. Prior to his appointment, he was president of Tufts College for 14 years and is the the first Secretary selected from outside the Institution.  A physiological psychologist, Carmichael is the author of a standard manual of child psychology.

Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives

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Posted: 2 January 2020
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