Members of Brown’s Naval Unit on their way to a review on Lincoln Field march through the War Memorial Gate honoring “The men of Brown who in the World War gave their lives that freedom may endure.” This reference to the World War is of course to World War I.

David Borst and George Abraham, both Class of 1940, founded the first college radio station in the country (initially called the Brown Network and later, WBRU) when they began to transmit music and messages between Brown dorm rooms in 1936.

Borst and Abraham went on to found the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Network (IBS) to help other colleges establish their stations, giving birth to the concept of college radio. Here, George Stuckert (top) and Edward Sarnoff (bottom), both Class of 1942, string transmission lines on a Slater Hall chimney for the first broadcast of the IBS at Brown in May 1940. After World War II, George Stuckert would successfully testify in front of the FCC in favor of permanently reserving channels in the new FM band for college radio stations.

As the United States was drawn into war again, Brown re-initiated training of Army and Navy men on the campus. The University undertook year-round operations and accelerated programs to provide the educated personnel needed for the war effort. Faculty and staff left to join the fight, with those who stayed also supporting the war effort, like Professor Charles Kraus, who assisted in the purification of uranium salts for atomic bomb research and discovered a chemical process that allowed submarines to stay underwater longer. Although the total number who served from the Brown community is unknown, former students who lost their lives would number 177, including four graduate students and one woman.

Fear of an enemy attack on the East Coast persisted throughout the war. These two letters sent by Superintendent Woodward address minor concerns raised during an air raid blackout test.

On a fair April Saturday in 1942, Brown and the Coast Guard Academy played a historic football game on Brown Field to benefit the U.S. Coast Guard Welfare Fund. Since the winter entry of the U.S. into World War II, college athletics were markedly impacted, with teams dropped and traditional schedules changed, as schools assumed a wartime footing with year-long operation. Team rosters were in flux, as players came and went for campus-based military training.

In the game program (15 cents), which featured a photo of the Brown NROTC Unit on the cover, the Coast Guard Superintendent stated that "the only justification for college athletics is to support the war effort." Brown President Wriston and the Superintendent welcomed the beginning of athletic relations between the two schools, and the latter noted that this was "the first intercollegiate football contest of the present war."

The game itself was attended by 5,000 spectators, who paid $1.10 for admission, as did the 13 members of the working press. Game officials and others donated services and materials, resulting in a $4,742.73 profit for the Welfare Fund. Brown won the contest 19–6, with "Doc" Savage ’44 scoring two touchdowns and Bob Margarita ’44 adding the third Brown tally.

As the old meets the new, Pembroke students look on at the last Ivy Chain. This procession of undergraduates in white dresses followed by seniors in cap and gown was an annual event at Pembroke College from 1902 into the 1940s. The tradition of Ivy Day began in 1897, when the graduating class planted a sprig of ivy, sent from Cambridge, England, next to the recently built Pembroke Hall.

To accommodate the influx of veterans to the College, temporary housing was built on land next to Marvel Gymnasium (the site of today’s Jewish Community Center) to house veterans and their families. The official Veterans College was established the following year. By the early 1950s, their studies were complete and the buildings were torn down.

Founded by Otto Neugebauer, Professor of Mathematics, Brown’s History of Mathematics Department was the first in the country. From its founding in 1947 until it was disbanded in 2005, the department’s program focused on the history and transmission of astronomy, mathematics and related disciplines in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

After nearly 200 years of conducting commencement ceremonies in the First Baptist Church, the size of the graduating class finally forced another approach. With 1,596 seats needed for seniors and their parents, a larger space was needed. Thus, in a tradition that continues today, the procession of graduating seniors marched to the church grounds to hear the senior orations and be officially admitted to the bachelor’s degree. Then, they marched back to the College Green for the awarding of diplomas in the presence of family and friends.

After World War II, veterans eligible for college studies under the G.I. Bill flooded America’s universities. Brown was no exception. Beginning as the Veterans Extension Division, the program admitted 486 of 1400 applicants. Speaking at their first convocation, President Wriston told the new students: “You are not stepchildren of Brown. On the contrary, you have been favored by a radical and, to many, unbelievable change in policy…. You are students in Brown University; you have open to you all its educational facilities…you are meeting regular curricular requirements.” The program was more successful than expected, with most of the students taking a full course load and transferring to a regular college (142 of them to Brown) at the end of the two-year program.