James Goodfriend Jr., a freshman in the medical school of the University of Missouri, is one of several American collegians recently announced as winners of Rhodes scholarships entitling to two years’ study in England. A member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, he was the only Jew to win the coveted scholarship in the national examinations annually conducted by the scholarship committee.
Goodfriend, wh######raduated from the University of Missouri last June, intends to spend his next two years in England continuing his medical studies. He plans to return to this country for his final year’s work.
Only 21, the student, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, is known in campus circles as a good fellow, an “all-around” man who is far from being the “grind” that his marks might indicate.
HELD CLASS OFFICES
A crackerjack contract bridge player, a fine swimmer, a theatrical fan and an inveterate reader, Goodfriend is not a man set apart from his fellows. He even dabbled in college politics and mentions that he held “a few minor class offices.”
MANN FAVORITE AUTHOR
Asked to talk about his extracurricular activities and hobbies, he said:
“I spend extra hours reading, swimming or playing contract. I read a lot—mostly fiction.”
A knowing reader of quite decided tastes, he says very emphatically:
“I’d rather read Thomas Mann than an even half dozen of Sinclair Lewises with James Joyce thrown in.”
He thinks that Dostoievsky’s “The Idiot” is as fine as any modern literature witth the possible exception of Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” and Edith Wharton’s “Ethan Frome,” which he lists as his favorites.
“In the theatre,” he says, “I’ll take Katharine Cornell and, for fun, there’s Beatrice Lillie.”
In a more serious vein he told the interviewer he is looking forward to study in England, that he believes the idea of the Rhodes scholarships is a very fine one for the promotion of better understanding between the English-speaking peoples and that he is keen on seeing for himself “the English method of doing things.
“Understanding,” he said, “automatically eliminates intolerance.”
Asked to comment on the problem of anti-Semitism in America, how best a Jew should live as an American and a Jew and whether there is discrimination in the colleges, the scholarship winner “begged off” on the ground that he “wasn’t qualified to speak.”
Personally, though, he said “neither in high school nor college have I ever met with any anti-Semitic prejudice. For that matter,” he added, “I know of no instance when any of my intimate Jewish friends have been discriminated against because of racial intolerance.”
And lest the interviewer think he was just talking, he said very pointedly:
WON PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP
“I hope you won’t take my views on this subject as a figurative head-burying. Discrimination has just never been within the realm of my experience.”
In his college career young Goodfriend maintained an average of nearly 400, which in Missouri’s way of marking means almost perfection. As a freshman he was elected to Phi Eta Sigma; he also achieved associate membership in Sigma Xi, honorary scientific fraternity. He went through college on a Rollins scholarship.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. James Goodfriend of St. Joseph, Mo., Jimmy Goodfriend is the eldest of three children. He took most of his high school work in St. Joseph Central High School, but graduated from George Washington High School in New York City.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
