ROHA was the idea of Tom Kindre, RC’42, for the Class of 1942’s 50th anniversary. Tom suggested that the members write their history—being born in the “roaring 20s", growing up in the Great Depression, and serving in the armed services during World War II. As Tom Brokaw has said, they were “the greatest generation”.
Since getting anyone to write was a problem, then the idea came about doing an oral history. Stephen Ambrose, who was a visiting professor at Rutgers in the early 1990s, made that suggestion. At first, we concentrated only World War II, and then started to interview other classes from the 40s, and then Korea, the Cold War, Viet Nam and the more recent conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.
It was decided that our Program would be better served if those that were interviewed received proper recognition and we chartered RLHS as a Rutgers honor society. Its membership was and is open to all who participate in or loyally support ROHA.
Early on we were most likely one of the most, if not the most, active alumni organization at Rutgers, New Brunswick. We can again be that but we need participation by you our members. Please consider actively supporting and joining RLHS.
As an aside, my interest in the program was two fold--my interest in history and wanting to honor my brother. My brother was a member of that class, but died before he was interviewed. He left “seed” money in his will to ROHA, as did other members of my family.
—Bart Klion, RC'48
