The 1950s were crucial to the University. The campus was in the shadows of blind sectarianism and an intolerable orthodoxy.
Change was imperative if the University was not to stagnate. It must flourish and survive as the citadel of academic freedom in the country. The liberal tradition that has nourished the University must be rekindled and revitalized.
The intellectual Vicente G. Sinco saw this as his primary task when he assumed the U.P. presidency in June 1958. Historic events were to work in his favor. In the process, the highest ideals of the University were served.
Many of us still do not realize that the passing of Magsaysay in 1957 ushered in a new era of nationalist orientation. It is sad that in elite circles, the word nationalist is anathema. Some arrogant columnists even write nationalist in quotation marks.
Magsaysay's death ended the pervasive American presence in Malacañang in the persons of the scheming pair of the CIA's Lansdale and his fellow cold warrior, William Lacy, US Embassy counselor.
Let us recall that when Magsaysay broke up with Recto and Laurel over Vietnam, Lansdale and Lacy took over as foreign policy advisers, working closely in the palace. Magsaysay pursued the American line; that is a historic fact.
Magsaysay's successor, Vice President Garcia, launched as his first official act the Filipino First policy, which had the full support of the Old Guard in Congress headed by Recto and Laurel.
Given free rein, Recto steered an independent foreign policy, totally rejecting the Dulles policy of confrontation with the Soviets in