Newswise — As the world reflects on the significance of the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab States, Rowan University is gearing up to celebrate its crucial role in easing global tensions in 1967.
On June 23 and 25 of that year, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin met in the university president's house in Glassboro, N.J. (population approximately 11,000) for a two-day summit to discuss their opposing views on the war.
The United States backed Israel in the Six-Day War, while the Soviets supported the Arab States.
Archival video and audio of Johnson's remarks during the summit, secured from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, can be found at http://www.rowan.edu/hollybush.
While no formal agreement was reached between the two world leaders, their talks, which lasted almost 10 hours, did help avert a confrontation over the war between the two superpowers. The summit also helped ease Cold War tensions between the nations. The talks are known as the Summit at Hollybush after the 19th century mansion where the summit was held.
At the time, Rowan University was known as Glassboro State College.
"It does help a lot to sit down and look a man in the eye all day long and try to reason with him, particularly if he's trying to reason with you," Johnson said at the time, calling the talks "The Spirit of Hollybush."
Rowan University will kick off a year-long celebration of the Summit at Hollybush on June 24 by reopening the Hollybush Mansion, which has recently undergone the second phase of a $3 million restoration.
The University is planning nearly a dozen events throughout the academic year that will focus on issues facing the world then and now, including a symposium on nuclear nonproliferation, planned for next spring.
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