"The John Harris Letters...."

The John Ramsey Great Ideas Tour

In 1973, between my freshman and sophomore years at the University, I spent the summer travelling in Europe. With the exception of two days in Bimini and a half hour in Juarez I had never previously been out of the United States. Armed with a passport with the ink barely dry, a Eurail Pass, a still pristine copy of Europe-on-$5-a-Day and $600 in travelers checks ($150 of which was a gift from John Ramsey), I boarded a commercial airliner for the first time in my life. Seven hours later I arrived in London, disoriented, bewildered, intimidated and wonderfully excited. The following three months, along with the early months of my second European stay (begun in 1977 and still continuing), were certainly the most formative periods of my life.

John Ramsey encouraged me to travel as much as possible. He helped me plan my itinerary, which during that summer included London, Paris, the Swiss Alps, Monaco, Rome, Olympia, Athens, Istanbul and Vienna. He made valuable suggestions about everything from museums to restaurants: "I can't recall the name but it's just behind the Bibliotheque Nationale. Try the boeuf bourgignon and a bottle of Côte du Rhone. I had a memorable lunch there in the summer of 1937. If Jacques is still the waiter, give him my regards."

Doc and I corresponded regularly from the time I returned to Europe until shortly before his death. He provided historical anecdotes about places I was visiting which usually concerned the escapades of various princes and dukes which make the antics of Bill and Monica seem tame if not downright innocent. He recommended books to read, paintings to see, and which foods and wines had to be sampled to round out the experience.

So when to my delight I was asked to join the Ramsey board in 1992, I had a hidden agenda. This was to pass on to Ramsey Award recipients some of the opportunities which Doc had given me. Knowing that the Award fund itself is sacrosanct in how it can be used, I proposed that twenty or so Friends of John Ramsey pitch in a hundred bucks each and offer the recipient a plane ticket any where in the world they would like to go.

Fellow board member Jim Caldwell thought this plan a bit too ambitious and unstructured and recommended that, as John Ramsey's territory was Europe and his most popular course was Great Ideas of Western Civilization, we should confine the trip to Europe and call it the Great Ideas Tour. I thought this was a superb idea and by the following year we had raised the funds to finance the trip.

There were some-start up problems, oddly enough not financial, but in how the tour should be structured. I had forgotten how daunting a trip to Europe can be for a student, especially for one who is experiencing international travel for the first time. Legitimate questions were raised about responsibility and whether the student should be given a set itinerary. It was suggested that only an organized group tour should be considered. I was convinced that if the average European teenager can travel to different countries and cope with different cultures, then there would be no obstacles a Ramsey Award winner could not take in stride.

The solution at which we arrived to put recipients (and their parents) at ease is to offer a set plan with stays in London, Oxford, Brussels and Vienna, all places where we can provide accommodations and a local person for support. If the student chooses not to spend a single night without organized local support, he is free to do so, but he is equally free to make changes and additions. If he decides to take a short trip on his own to Prague or the South of France, we will provide advice. Or if he decides that a slow train to Istanbul or a hike north of the Arctic Circle would be the rich fulfillment of an adolescent fantasy, the choice is his. One of the previous Tourers, who extended his trip for a month and returned to some of his favorite places commented, "One thing I've learned about travelling in Europe: when you're having a good time, just throw your plans away!"

All the Great Ideas Tourers to date have spent some time travelling alone. After reading their comments, it was apparent that this was often the part of their trip they most benefited from. If two students from the same culture are travelling together, then as much as 90% of their conversation will be with each other. If a student is by himself, 100% of his interaction with other people will be with the locals. In a matter of days, he finds himself making quantum leaps in his ability to understand and come to terms with another culture. He meets other young people from all over the world. Every night in a youth hostel is another dozen acquaintances and perhaps a future close friend.

Currently the Tour is financed each year by new contributions. With growing enthusiasm for the Tour, it now looks feasible to build up a reserve of funds to ensure that it can be offered each year even if some contributors drop out. My goal when the tour started was that after seven years, or at the longest ten, the Great Ideas Tourers themselves should be able to organize and support the tour. They will provide the most useful information for the new Tourers, and can promote fund raising.

I propose that those who have made the tour elect a chairman among themselves who can keep the group in contact with each other and stimulate enthusiasm to keep this project going.

This in no way implies that I have any intention of reducing my involvement. I find getting to know the students and helping them find their way on a different continent not only rewarding but great fun. Being with them here in Vienna brings back some of that feeling I had when I first came to Europe 25 years ago and everything I saw seemed like part of a magical stage set. And generally I've learned more from them than they have from me.

The Great Ideas Tour, in addition to being of great benefit to its recipients, will in years to come help keep enthusiasm high for the Ramsey Award and give a concrete purpose for which to raise funds. We have to consider that as time passes the proportion of people involved with the award who did not personally know John Ramsey will become ever greater. For the Ramsey Award to continue to grow in size and importance it will have to become less dependent on the personal connection to John Ramsey and more tied to the ideals which he stood for and lived by.

Through the continuation of the Great Ideas Tour the recipients of the John Ramsey Award will not only be a group of the academic elite, but a club of world travelers. JFR would be delighted.

John Harris
Vienna, December 1998

Update

I embrace Jay Masingill's suggestion that a board be established made up of the Great Ideas Tourers. I make the following suggestions:

The Tourers should elect a Chairman from among themselves. Jay suggested having Jan Pruitt-Duvall, Jim Caldwell, and myself on the board. If invited by the Tourers, I would be glad to serve. Jan and Jim have done most of the work involved in the tour and I've had most of the fun but I expect they would be glad to contribute. I know that all three of us are delighted at how well it is going after some trying times.

A board meeting could be held the same day as the Ramsey banquet. It would include the current winner so he can hit the veterans with questions.

A book should be assembled with the first part being accounts by each of the previous Tourers about what they experienced and what impact it had on their lives. The second part would be tips on how to prepare for the trip, pitfalls to avoid, how to get the most out of the experience. This would be given to each new Ramsey Award recipient.

The Great Ideas Tourers should be encouraged to make a yearly contribution to the Tour fund. I think $50 would be reasonable for those who are still studying or struggling under a mountain a debt from graduate school, etc., with $100 appropriate for those who have begun to reap the benefits of being highly intelligent, hard-driving, and success-oriented.

Rumours that Tourers who neglect to make any contribution will have to explain to their significant others a series of anonymous letters detailing what they really got up to in Europe is (probably) unfounded.

The next step would be to get up to date e-mail addresses of all the Tourers and ask them to nominate and elect their Chairman.

Let's get rolling (and Touring)!

John Harris
6 January 1999