As a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, I know a little bit about Reader's Digest, because the founder, DeWitt Wallace, had a father who had served as Macalester's president.
Wallace gave a great deal of money to the college and abruptly w/drew his financial support in 1970 when he discovered that the school was too radical for his tastes. [back story, I was told by Melvin Laird at a break during a deposition in 1980 (Laird at the time was a potentate for Reader's Digest)that Wallace had become incensed that money he gave the school was used to construct a co-ed dorm]
At any rate, my meanderings do have a point. DeWitt was kicked out of Macalester during his youth for bringing a cow up the stairs to the top of Old Main. At which point, given the way a cow's legs are constructed, it could not be brought down the stairs under its own steam. So the animal had to be slaughtered. Right there in the hall. Therefore it was with some shame but some inside chuckling when we students would contemplate the role of Reader's Digest at the college. And the public face of its founder.
However, Wallace was lured back into the fold in the late '70's after a Mac grad was named Miss America. Somehow that just softened him up.
So Reader's Digest. A little patchwork of the US.
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