Elijah Wilson Lyon (1904 – 1989) was an American diplomatic historian who was the sixth president of

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

from 1941 to 1969. Born in Mississippi, he studied at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

and

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

, and was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. During his tenure at Pomona, he guided the college through a transformational and turbulent period, and he is credited with helping shape it into a leading liberal arts institution. After his retirement, he wrote a history of the college, published in 1977.

Early life and career

Elijah Wilson Lyon was born in

Heidelberg, Mississippi Heidelberg is a town in Jasper County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 718 at the 2010 census, down from 840 at the 2000 census. Geography Heidelberg is located in southeastern Jasper County at (31.891249, -88.990952). The town l ...

, in 1904. Lyon had planned on becoming a journalist, but history drew his interest later on in life. Lyon attended the

. As a result of his academic achievements, his tenure as senior class president, and editorship of the college newspaper, he won a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

St. John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

. When he returned to the United States, he became an assistant professor of history at

Louisiana Polytechnic Institute Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

, then at

. He was named head of the history department in 1934 at Colgate.

Pomona College presidency

In 1941, Lyon was appointed president of

. He helped shape Pomona into a leading liberal arts institution. Lyon's presidency was turbulent as it extended from the Second World War to Vietnam. He led Pomona through the birth of the civil rights movement and the assassinations of

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

and

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

. At Pomona, students protested about many college and national issues. During his term, the school's endowment rose from $3.5 million to over $22 million and the student body grew from 790 to 1,200. Following his retirement, he wrote a history of the college, published in 1977 as ''The History of Pomona College, 1887–1969''. The account was praised by critics for its comprehensiveness and objectivity.

References

External links

E. Wilson and Carolyn Bartel Lyon papers
at the

Online Archive of California The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, E Wilson Presidents of Pomona College 1904 births 1989 deaths American Rhodes Scholars Place of birth missing Place of death missing Colgate University alumni University of Mississippi alumni 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Louisiana Tech University faculty Historians from New York (state) Historians from California 20th-century American male writers People from Jasper County, Mississippi 20th-century American academics

Early life and career

Pomona College presidency

References

Further reading

External links