Wears at Texas A&M
iccordancew feflect but
Jom enfoti uly one of
nany incidem
be known t
>f 1908.
By 1910,1
ts nickname'
t” at the time.
The Battali
ociety reponei
tot knownw
if professors
College StatffiJ
By 1916,'
ablished itsel
mat came
IgeTrouTe
acauired
with one
women as
1910. It is
(laughters
Bryan or
/irmly es-
d boasted
the largestitim in the
iouth,” accoii lion: Sev-
nty Years of: ons at the
t&M Collea
As the 1921 lents
inued to
he paper was
tudent Act! te, which
unctionedas!
The Facult
/as formed in
Lindley.
In 1928,
ision of a
’Ommittee
the func
tioning of the staffs. However, all work on
the paper was done by the students with
no censorship. The editor and business
manager of The Battalion were elected by
popular vote of the student body at the
end of each school year.
A typographical error
Sometime in the 1920s, a typographical
error caused a mix-up in volume numbers.
From Volume 30, The Battalion jumped
back to Volume 21. Attempts to correct
the mistake were not successful, and the
paper that should be Volume 101 this year
is actually numbered Volume 93.
In 1930, The Battalion staff began
P ublishing a monthly humor magazine.
illed with jokes, poems and humorous
stories, the magazine originally was substi
tuted once a month for one or The Battal
ion’s weekly issues. It was widely circulat
ed outside the College.
The Battalion magazine was suspended
“for the duration” because of paper short
age and a small Corps of Cadets as a result
e Bats first editor in chief
ias been dorufani
irst and gre;
hnuId be to
iterary tastes c:
nit initial dur
lasm in thislir
With this
ould have a
he best liteta!' 1
n the Uniot;
.ow far his.
/ould go.
After setviti
d fromAll
achelor’s dei
nrolled attli;
chool in Austin
After workii
ae bank inF
iced law in In
■ora 1899 toll
Bruce mo'
l ^02 to begin
d as the
lege paper
ivate the
:onsider it
enthu-
d A&M
among
y college
idea just
httalion
eraduat-
4 with a
He
exas Law
tiJ sing,
tiie exas
cashier it
lute
prac-
Mineola
Texas in
He joined
the law firm of Bruce, Bruce and Dancy
and served as the president of the A&M
Orange Club.
Active in politics, Bruce served sever
al terms as a district judge, two terms as
a county attorney and one term as a
state legislator.
He worked on the local draft hoard
during World War I and World War II.
He also was an agent for the 1948 Selec
tive Service Board,
Even with his busy life, Bruce still
found time to participate in religious and
civic organizations. He was an elder in
the First Presbyterian Church, a Mason
and a Shriner with a 32nd degree rank.
Bruce married Evelyn Graham from
MineoTa. They had three children,
Katherine Rogers, Eleanor McReynolds
and Graham Bruce.
The couple had nine grandchildren.
Bruce died of a heart attack on Jan. 5,
1949.
of World War II. The last magazine was
published in 1943.
In 1931, the A&M Student Publica
tions Board was created to handle the ad
ministrative details of all student publica
tions. The board was composed of the
four editors of student publications, two 1
students and three faculty members.
The A&M Press began to print The :
Battalion on campus in 1931. Before this ;
time, the paper had beenprinted in Bryan.
Also for me first time, The Battalion was ;
provided with its own campus office. ^
The newspaper’s influence continued to 1
grow as it expanded into a thn§&:times-a- ,
week publication during the 1939-40
school year.
The Battalion became the official pub
lication for the College and for the city of
College Station at this time, according to
Lindley’s book.
In 1941, the Student Publications
BSbard and the Student Activities Commit
tee combined to form the Student Life
Committee. Supervision and control of
student publications was assigned to the
Student Activities Office.
World War II
While World War II was being fought
overseas during the 1941-42 school year,
the Student Activities Office voted to con
tinue the regular publication schedule of
The Battalion throughout the summer
months while the College was on its
wartime, streamlined plan of operation.
As World War II called many of the
cadets into service, Battalion space often
was turned over to these armed-service
groups who conducted their own
columns.
“We had stories on A&M men in ac
tion,” said Tom Journeay, spring 1943
managing editor of The Battalion. “We
were all cognizant of it. Nearly everyone
was in the Corps. They realized they were
going into the military. ’
Tne Battalion offered the first taste of
real day-to-day journalism, Journeay said.
“I enjoyed every minute of it,” he said.
“The students were responsible for it. It
was our paper, and we had to get it out.”
See Battalion/Page 11
This caricature in the
1933 Longhorn was la
beled "The Batty Staff."
The caption went on to
read that "THE BLATTAL-
ION, a weakly bulletin
whose saffron tint and af
firmative tone are unsur
passed in the annals of
yellow journalism." It
appears that even other
student publications have
always been willing to
give The Battalion a hard
time.
This Texas A&M College printing press was used to print The Battalion and other student publica
tions in the 1930s and '40s.
Aggies Are Ready!, Student Poll Shows
The above headline ran following
the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The story read that the A&M cadets
were ready to go to war if needed.
Many cadets expressed the desire to
"beat the hell out of Japan."
John Holman (right), was the editor
of the 1944-45 Battalion, which
was a monthly magazine during
WWII and provided students, staff
and faculty with a variety of jokes,
cartoons and stories.
fighting
Aggieland photos courtesy of Texas
A&M Student Publications
Layout and design by Dave Thomas
Ider Dead at 59;
vices Wednesday
||i Is marked a period of great change for Aggieland. The Battalion kept a concerned Corps of
0 ththe latest news from Vietnam, covered the admission of non-regs to Texas A&M and devot
ed isEarl Rudder after his death on March 24, 1970.
fd ichief, Ronald Fann (at left), shows his ability to control the chaotic newsroom during these
|if •