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Photograph: Geoff Why
Robert F. Drinan, SJ. ’42, a liberal icon and human rights champion, passed away on January 28. He was dean of the Law School from 1956-70 and represented the Massachusetts 4th District for 10 years in Congress. The author of 11 books, Drinan taught at Georgetown University Law Center from 1981 until his death.
In the summer of 1989 BCM writer Mary Callahan delved into Drinan’s archives at Boston College and found correspondence between Drinan and House Internal Security Committee Chair Richard Ichord (D-Missouri)—an exchange revealing how Drinan used the committee’s procedures to create a bureaucratic quagmire, ultimately resulting in the committee’s dissolution.
In 1995 BCM writer Charlotte Bruce Harvey interviewed Drinan in his office at Georgetown University. “How did you get so liberal?” she asked him. Father Drinan scowled.
