For one weekend in June 1967, our institution was on the world stage.
We did not disappoint.
“The town of Glassboro—and this wonderful college campus—will always be associated with the goal of leaving this world a little more orderly than we found it,” President Lyndon B. Johnson said of the Summit at Hollybush, 50 years ago at then-Glassboro State College.
“You good people of Glassboro have done your part to help us make this a signicant and historic meeting. We think that this meeting has been useful and we think it will be helpful in achieving what we all want more than anything else in the world—peace for all humankind.”
Holed up in the library of the historic Hollybush Mansion on June 23 and 25, 1967, Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin spent nearly 10 hours together during the summit, held at the height of the Cold War. The two leaders of the world’s superpowers discussed pressing issues that threatened world peace. Among them, the nuclear arms race, Vietnam and their opposing views on the Arab-Israeli War.
Though the summit produced no formal accord, Johnson said the frank, open discussions helped quell tensions between the two countries. He deemed the talks “the spirit of Hollybush.”
“It does help a lot to sit down and look a man in the eye all day long and try to reason with him… particularly if he is trying to reason with you,” Johnson said. “Meetings like these do not themselves make peace in the world. We may have differences and difficulties ahead, but I think they will be lessened, not increased, by our new knowledge of each other.”
Remarkably, the Borough of Glassboro and the institution had just 16 hours’ notice to prepare for the historic summit, held during Kosygin’s first visit to the United States.
Glassboro was chosen as a midway point between Washington D.C., and New York City, where Kosygin was giving a speech at the United Nations. The leaders were met by a receptive, positive crowd of thousands. Holding handmade signs and waving American flags, area residents crowded the streets of Glassboro, which, at the time, boasted a population of about 10,250.
Hollybush, then the home of GSC President Thomas Robinson and his wife, Margaret, was transformed overnight into a global meeting place fitting the needs of world leaders. Thirty-two workmen installed 12 air conditioners, 16 telephones, two refrigerators, a stove and a dishwasher in the 19th century mansion. New draperies were hung and china from the White House was brought in.
When told of the impending summit, Mrs. Robinson is said to have quipped, “Where is my vacuum cleaner?” It was a natural laugh line, but she didn’t really say it. She did, however, respond to countless questions from the White House staff about furnishings and equipment to make Hollybush suitable for international diplomacy.
Across campus, Don Bagin, then 29 and the coordinator of college relations, led a staff of 10 to prepare Esbjornson Gymnasium for an influx of nearly 1,000 international journalists. The gym was transformed into media central with phones, typewriters and teletypes. A security command center for Secret Service and FBI agents and state and local police was set up in Tohill Auditorium in Bunce Hall.
While Johnson and Kosygin enjoyed lunches of shrimp cocktail, roast beef, crab salad, lamb chops, eggplant, parslied potatoes, fresh fruit, pineapple sherbet and butter pecan ice cream during the summit, members of the public and press endured hot summer temperatures and heavy rains to witness history in the borough.
Kosygin arrived in Glassboro from New York City via motorcade, traveling down Route 322. Johnson took a helicopter, which landed on the baseball field near Bunce Hall.
The leaders were accompanied by some of their most well-known advisers, including Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko, Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy and Ambassador at Large W. Averell Harriman.
The summit was not Johnson’s only trip to Glassboro. On June 4, 1968, the president returned to Glassboro State to serve as the commencement speaker. That same year, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was signed by a number of countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union.
“I shall always remember this town as a place of warm friendship and hospitable people,” Johnson, the nation’s 36th president, said in his speech. “The world will remember Glassboro, I hope, as a place where understanding between nations was advanced by the United States and the Soviet Union.”
The Summit at Hollybush did more than make history. Fifty years later, it remains a point of pride for Rowan University and the Glassboro community. In commemoration of the summit anniversary, the University is enjoying a yearlong observance that has included lectures and discussions on history and politics, film screenings and guest speakers. Presented jointly by the University and the borough, a summit celebration in June brought hundreds of people to campus for student-led tours of Hollybush, historical exhibits and a panel discussion featuring alumni and borough neighbors who witnessed the summit. The day ended with the first “Spirit of Hollybush” Dinner and Awards ceremony.