It takes them to places and times they have never seen, introduces them to figures they have never known and fills them with memories of events they have never experienced. The facts are not what captivate them. Rather, it is the intrigue of knowing ideas, people and events that stretch beyond one’s lifetime.

For 52 years, 12 of which were at Jewell, Dr. Thomas Howell has taught history and, for 52 years, history is what has driven him. While Howell’s dedication to history is as unshakable now as it was when he first started, a career in history was not Howell’s first choice. Instead, he was poised to select a different path.

“When I came out of high school, I was aiming to be a chemical engineer,” Howell said. “However, upon entering college, I discovered calculus. Or, calculus discovered me.”

Howell’s brief brush with calculus caused him to move away from chemical engineering. As he thought about what to pursue next, he turned to an area that had previously caught his attention.

“When I was in high school, I was picked for a state history competition. I didn’t study, didn’t even think about it and won the state,” Howell said. “When I dropped calculus and started rethinking my options, it occurred to me that history was easy and math wasn’t. Once I started looking at it, I got fascinated by it. But in other words, I kind of backed into it because it came easily and I remembered things and put things together and so forth,” Howell said.  

With 52 years of hindsight, Howell believes he made the right decision.

“I am quite confident, very confident, that I am a better college professor of history than I would’ve been a chemical engineer,” Howell said.

As a historian, Howell has had the opportunity to engage a variety of different topics. However, the Second World War, specifically, had always fascinated him. The son of a Baptist preacher’s daughter and a soldier, Howell himself was a product of the war, which left a significant impact on him.

“Growing up as a child, I was kind of curious about this. I didn’t have a father because of World War Two. I had always been vaguely interested in it,” Howell said.

However, once he began studying history in college, his fascination with World War Two shifted from mere curiosity to intellectual obsession.

“It started out wondering why I didn’t have a father, and then it morphed into a kind of obsession as I tried to trace this thing out and how we got involved in it. It just grabbed me in a way,” Howell said.

After spending much of his life working on the subject, Howell has procured a seemingly infinite base of knowledge. He is able to cite the best authors on the subject, the work they did and the influence they had on him.

“Rick Atkinson, who has written a trilogy on the American army in Europe, Cornelius Ryan and A Bridge Too Far, he’s a guy who really grabbed me. There’s a guy named John Toland who writes on the Pacific War and does kind of the same thing that Ryan does,” Howell said.

In accordance with this passion, Howell’s World War Two and the Holocaust course is by far his favorite course to teach. In fact, he counts it has the best he has ever taught.

“That course is constantly developing. It has changed every year. I keep finding more angles and peeling more layers off the onion so to speak. That’s part of the reason you keep going. It just keeps going over and over,” Howell said.

Even though Howell is enamored with history, the courses he teaches and the work he does, many of his fondest memories are centered around his students.

“The students at Jewell are by the far best students I’ve ever worked with. The level of ability is well beyond any that I’ve ever worked with before. They keep you alive,” Howell said.

Retirement, however, is not far from Howell’s mind. Howell’s plans are currently in flux but that is the way he wants it.

“One of my daughters is getting married in September and that kind of controls the immediate thing. But my wife and I have some things we want to see. We have some friends in places that we’d like to see. The immediate thing is settle down and see some people,” Howell said.

Beyond those intentions, he and his wife have greater visions for retirement. Howell and his wife hope to visit Scotland and to see the Faroe Islands.

As Howell moves on to the next stage of his life, history will continue to guide him as it has done for 52 years.

Photos by Mykala Crews.  

Within the thousands of documents are tales of assassination plots, surveillance and other covert activities..

With regard to Cuba, some of the documents demonstrate CIA plots to use the mafia to assassinate Fidel Castro. Others pertain to rewards for Castro’s assassination. In one such instance, the CIA offered an award of $.02 to whomever killed Castro. In another instance, they offer over $100,000.

Regarding Lee Harvey Oswald, nothing particularly noteworthy was revealed. The FBI apparently had a wiretap on Oswald and learned that he had been in communication with the government, but this hardly demonstrates that Oswald’s decision to assassinate the president came from the Russians. Instead, the documents only indicate that Oswald was far from proficient in the Russian language.

Beyond those topics, various other interests are addressed. An internal report from the FBI in 1964 documented evidence that Lyndon Johnson was a member of the Klu Klux Klan at the beginning of his political career. The documents also show significant infighting between the FBI and the CIA and increasing concern from the FBI that the CIA was violating its legal limits and operating within the U.S. Lastly, documents in this release also show the FBI’s interest in alleged sex parties that President Kennedy participated in alongside his brother-in-law Peter Lawford and friend Sammy Davis, Jr. However, upon further investigation, the FBI found these allegations conspicuous at best.

For those looking to find a smoking gun that demonstrates that someone other than Oswald was involved in the assassination, an intriguing deposition was held before the Commission on CIA Activities in 1975 by Richard Helms, then Deputy Director of Plans at the CIA when President Kennedy was murdered.

In the exchange, David Belin, a lawyer associated with the commission, confirms that Helms was indeed a part of the assassination. After Helms answers in the affirmative, Belin asks: “Is there any information involved with the assassination of President Kennedy which in any ways shows that Lee Harvey Oswald was in some way a CIA agent or…”

Before the question can be continued or Helms’s answer given, the document abruptly stops.

As I write this, I am sitting outside with my friends Ben and Rylan on the steps of Curry Hall. Rylan is aggressively working on a research paper, and Ben is relaxing for a change. The smooth April breeze is gentle now. It moves serendipitously through the trees, the grass and the flowers, and it adds a certain flavor to an already tasteful day. As I continue writing, a hawk soars overhead. Its curiously large shadow frightens me, but I have the last laugh as it arrogantly attempts to confront a strong headwind with minimal success.

My attention then turns to the grass. As I recall, it was freshly mowed this morning. It is colored deep emerald in such a manner that it soothes the soul and makes one feel at peace. The checkerboard pattern in the grass adds a certain sense of formidability to its appearance. Oddly though, this only adds to its inherent beauty. Despite my own affinity for the grass, it is clear that there are others who do not feel the same way. I watch with utter horror as two ruffians walk across the grass. They notice my displeasure and proceed to call me out. A disagreement of sorts ensues, but, thankfully, it is quickly resolved. I would hate to cause a spat on such a beautiful day.

Disgusted, I glance away and happen to notice Zak Carroll in the distance, tying his shoe. He does so in a very blatant and methodical manner, a manner which is unique to him. Before I can continue my critique, I notice a leaf has blown up against my lower leg. I attempt to reach down and grab it, but a strong wind blows it into the bushes. Better luck next time. While disappointed, I am captivated by the rare appearance of a salamander. I gaze at it with a certain curiosity while its eyes emotionlessly bore into my soul. After what seems like an eternity, I unwisely make a sudden movement and it darts under Ben’s backpack. Before we can continue our investigation of the salamander, it dashes underneath the safety of a nearby pillar. Scalawag.

I turn back to my writing machine and ponder what else I could include in this piece. Immediately, I notice the trees. Yes, I have not talked about them yet. At this juncture, they are not particularly full but nonetheless demonstrate considerable potential. It is clear that they are preparing to bloom, and when they do, it will be a stupendous pageant of greenery. There is no doubt about that.

For one moment, there is peace. For one fleeting moment, all is quiet.

And then, dinner beckons.

In an attempt to clarify the allegations, the Monitor was able to interview Mr. Carroll directly. When asked to provide the basis for his claim, Mr. Carroll backtracked and made another allegation.

“I think that ‘The Hilltop Monitor’ doesn’t even say anything,” Mr. Carroll said. “Every time I look, it’s some sort of graphic design or picture and I think it’s degrading human beings to where they can’t even read words on a page.”

Despite this boisterous response, Mr. Carroll later admitted that he doesn’t read the Monitor. “I think it’s a waste of my time, if you want to say that.”

Additionally, during the course of the interview, Mr. Carroll also openly advocated for a new policy to place the Monitor under control of Student Senate. He cited the Monitor’s general unreliability as a news source and suggested that he could use his power as president to coerce the Monitor into surrendering its autonomy.

“I have a few pieces of blackmail on [Brett Stone- Editor in Chief of the Hilltop Monitor] and that’s all I can say.” Mr. Carroll said. “Maybe there’s some intimidation there.”

When pressed about how his constituents would react to the dissolution of the Monitor as an autonomous entity, Mr. Carroll appeared disinterested. He then went on to declare that there would be no reaction.

“If there were any grievances, however, it would be among the six people who actually get paid by the institution to write for it,” Carroll said.

In his analysis, Mr. Carroll questioned whether allowing for the existence of an autonomous student publication was a good use of funds and pointed to the luxurious lifestyle of one individual in particular. “I just don’t know if you can justify paying for Drew Novak’s lavish, Polo, lifestyle whenever there are people in Eaton that are just trying to take a shower and they can’t” he said.

Novak, who serves on the Monitor’s editorial staff as the Perspectives page editor and concurrently as a Student Senator, has become the subject of much controversy lately for his extravagant, daredevil lifestyle. One source in his inner circle called him “out of control.”

When informed that the Monitor would not go along with Mr. Carroll’s plans, Mr. Carroll seemed to suggest that if he could not absorb it, then he would attempt to sabotage it.

“I’ve heard of stories where, just mysteriously, the Jewell website or other websites that the Hilltop Monitor is based on could crash and entire archives from a year could crash and if that were to happen, who can say whose to blame?”

When told that the Monitor had identified suspicious Russian activity on their website and was under the assumption that his administration was implicated, Mr. Carroll did not appear to care. In fact, he chose not to deny the allegations and suggested that he and his administration had been colluding with the Russian government since at least the previous student body election.

“There was a surge of money that demonstrated itself in the form of cupcakes in the first-year resident halls whenever I was running.” he said. “I’m not going to say where the money came from but that’s what swung the election.”

Despite Mr. Carroll’s degrading comments and his threats towards the Monitor, were not taken lightly.

“If Mr. Carroll thinks that we are going to go gently into that good night, he has another thing coming. We’ll be seeing him in court,” Stone said.