As the Hungarian Revolt was being brutally crushed by Soviet tanks in 1956, large numbers of Hungarian refugees were making their way to various countries of the West, many of them to the United States. Among them were sizable numbers of university students equipped with a strong desire to continue their studies, but almost totally lacking in the resources necessary to accomplish this aim.
At Indiana University in Bloomington, a young law student and teaching fellow named Joe Board was among the number that responded to their plight. Filled with admiration for a people who had dared to assert their aspirations for freedom against imposed tyranny, Board developed a plan to provide room, board and tuition scholarships for some 20 Hungarian students. Essentially this involved free tuition fees provided by the Indiana University, as well as room, board and spending money provided by a group of fraternities and sororities.
The plan came into operation within a few short weeks. Board took it first to University President Herman B. Wells, and to Joe Franklin, the treasurer. Their immediate and enthusiastic response was quickly complemented by the support of 11 sororities and 11 fraternities. By the time that the next semester opened, there were 22 Hungarian students enrolled in the program.
When asked why he had been moved to provide a helping hand, Board replied, “Why not?” What he did not know at the time was that one of these students, Charles Gati, was to become a highly valued friend and colleague ten years later at Union College; and that Charles would go on to become one of the pre-eminent American scholars in the field of foreign affairs, still active and producing works of insight and scholarship like this widely acclaimed study of the events that brought him to the United States in the first place.