Fromm on Romney

[Misskittycat]

3. I Met Erich Fromm in 1970.

I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Erich Fromm in May 1970. I was a sophomore at George Washington University, and chaired the Speakers Committee that selected and hosted guest speakers for the university.

Dr. Fromm was our keynote speaker at a major weekend full of activities that happened to coincide (unexpectedly) with Nixon's Cambodia incursions and the ensuing political tensions and antiwar demonstrations. This was also during the era when heckling during speeches -- no matter who the speaker or the topic of the speech -- was a common annoyance.

As we anticipated, during Dr. Fromm's wonderful lecture, the usual class clown seeking attention started to heckle him. In many of these situations, this kind of heckling ended a nice event in an ugly and uncontrollable confrontation, making it impossible to continue. He and I had discussed, very briefly ahead of time, the possibility of a heckling situation, and how to handle it. There was no need of that, though, because Dr. Fromm just very calmly and expertly talked the student down in a matter of a few minutes, and the speech proceeded normally to the end.

It was a wonderful afternoon with a brilliant gentleman that I will never forget.