The von KleinSmid Era (1921–1947)

Rufus Bernhard von KleinSmid became USC's fifth president in 1921. A high priority of his administration was to expand professional training programs, and President von KleinSmid also presided over a building program that added nine major structures to the university campus. By the end of his first decade in office, USC had attained full national accreditation, established a graduate school to unify graduate work across the university, and had become a large non-denominational institution.

With the advent of the Great Depression at decade’s end, USC was forced to retrench in the 1930s. During World War II (1939–1945), army barracks were constructed on campus, and the curriculum reflected a wartime emphasis on international relations, history, geography, languages, aerospace science and the like. Some 2,000 military trainees added to crowded conditions on campus. After the war, the lack of space at USC grew even worse, as the G.I. Bill brought former servicemen to the university for study. Enrollment soared from 8,500 in 1945 to more than 24,000 in 1947. In 1946 von KleinSmid, then 70 years old, elected to step down and became USC’s chancellor for life.

1921

Rufus Bernhard von KleinSmid, affectionately known as “Dr. Von,” becomes USC’s fifth president.

1922

USC dental student Milo Sweet composes the music for USC’s official fight song, “Fight On,” as an entry in a Trojan Spirit contest. The first attempt at a sequential card stunt for a Trojan football crowd is made under the direction of Lindley Bothwell in the stands on USC’s Bovard Field.

1923

The first Rose Bowl game is played at the present Pasadena location, with USC winning against Penn State 14–3. The USC Trojans play in the first varsity football game ever held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, beating Pomona College 23–7. Al Wesson’s “All Hail,” written for the finale of a student show, becomes USC’s second alma mater.

1924

USC establishes the country’s first school of international relations and plays its first baseball game. The Trojan Marching Band plays under the baton of John Philip Sousa. USC holds its first formal observance of homecoming.

1925

Building on classes initiated in 1906, USC forms a College of Engineering.

1927

USC confers its first Ph.D. degree to David Welty Lefever in the School of Education.

1929

The USC School of Public Administration opens, the second of its kind in the United States. USC’s Department of Cinema is founded by Cecil B. DeMille as the country’s first filmmaking program; the first course, “Introduction to Photoplay,” features faculty members such as D. W. Griffith, Darryl Zanuck and Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

1930

A bronze statue of a Trojan soldier, now fondly known as Tommy Trojan, is unveiled in celebration of USC’s 50th anniversary. Sculptor Roger Nobel Burnham enlists several USC football players as models for Tommy’s face and body, including Russ Saunders, Ernie Pinckert, Henry Becker and John Ward. With more than 700 foreign students (10 percent of the student body), USC ranks third in the United States in international enrollment. Four major buildings — Mudd Memorial Hall of Philosophy, Bridge Hall, Physical Education, and Science Hall (today’s Zumberge Hall) — are dedicated as part of USC’s semicentennial celebration.

1932

USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library is opened.

1935

Before a large audience in Bovard Auditorium, USC hosts the debate team from Texas’s all-black Wiley College to address the question of whether the nations of the world should agree to prevent the international shipment of arms and munitions. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visits the University Park campus and receives an honorary doctor of laws degree.

1937

Gil Kuhn becomes the first Trojan football player to be drafted into the pros, joining the Brooklyn Dodgers (at the time, a National Football League team).

1939

USC’s Elizabeth Holmes Fisher Art Gallery opens.

1941

Six pranksters from USC’s Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity abscond with UCLA’s liberty bell after the opening game of the football season. This ultimately results in the tradition of passing the bell between the rival schools.

1942

USC’s Department of Occupational Therapy opens as one of the first programs of its kind in the country.

1943

USC installs a human centrifuge, used to study the conditions leading to blackout.

1945

USC’s Departments of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy are founded. Playwright William C. DeMille (Cecil’s brother) establishes the USC Department of Drama.

1946

Rescued from Santa Monica beach by a Trojan Knight, a feisty stray dog nicknamed George Tirebiter is elected as USC’s student body mascot. KUSC goes on the air.

1947

Dr. Von passes the presidency of USC to Fred D. Fagg Jr., who, as sixth president, proposes university expansion. Enrollment jumps 8,500 to a staggering 24,000 in just two years.