Education: To Help Spend Money

Of the thousands of taxfree, philanthropic foundations in the U.S., one of the newest and most provocative is the Fund for the Republic. The fund was established 20 months ago as a separate entity by the Ford Foundation and granted $15 million for the support of "activities directed toward the elimination of restrictions on freedom of thought, inquiry and expression in the U.S., and the development of policies and procedures best adapted to protect these rights." With energetic Educator Robert M. Hutchins as its president,* the Fund for the Republic has made two sizable grants so far: $240,000 to the Southern Regional Council for its work in interracial relations; $50,000 to the American Bar Association for an analysis (highly critical, it turned out) of the operations of Congressional investigating committees.

Last week Hutchins created a new office of fund vice president and named the man to fill it: Public Relations Man W. H. ("Ping") Ferry, 43, son of Packard Motor Car Co.'s onetime Board Chairman Hugh J. Ferry. A former teacher and newsman, Ferry worked with the International Labor Organization, OPA and the C.I.O.-P.A.C. during New Deal days. In 1945 he joined Manhattan's public relations firm of Earl Newsom & Co., where his duties included writing speeches for Henry Ford II and doing "think work" for the Ford Foundation. He is, says Hutchins, "the kind of man I need for vice president ... an interesting and interested man."

With Ferry stationed in Manhattan and Hutchins dividing his time between Manhattan and Pasadena, Calif, (where the fund is housed in a mansion, with swimming pool, originally purchased by the Ford Foundation for West Coast headquarters), the fund will soon speed up the spending of its self-liquidating millions. One controversial project looming on Hutchins' list may well demand the counsel of a public-relations expert: a look at censorship, boycotting and blacklisting activities in radio, television and movies.