Obit: Hulten, Charles M. (1909 – 1967)
Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Hulten, Heyns, Britts, Reid

University of California (May 1968)

Hulten, Charles M. (10 June 1909 – 6 Jan. 1967)

Eager interest and participation in events, and a deep enjoyment of people, moved Charles M. Hulten throughout a career divided between journalism, public service, and education. Born in Athens, Wisconsin, on June 10, 1909, he was introduced as a child to the world of education since his father was a teacher and school superintendent in Wisconsin cities. Graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1930, he also received an M.A. degree there in 1931. He did further graduate study at the University of Chicago and at Stanford University.

In the years between 1929 and 1934 he was a reporter for daily newspapers in Madison, Portage, and Marinette, Wisconsin, and in Rockford, Illinois; he edited the University of Wisconsin press bulletin in 1930-31. From 1934 to 1942 he was an Assistant Professor and Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Oregon, although on leave in 1939-40 to teach and study at Stanford.

In 1942 Mr. Hulten began a career in government service, going to Washington as a consultant and then as senior management analyst in the U.S. Bureau of the Budget. Two years later he became assistant director for management in the Office of War Information, continuing in that post until the end of World War II. There followed service as deputy director of the Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs, in the Department of State, in 1946. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in 1946-47 and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Administration in 1947-48. He then became general manager of the State Department's International Information and Educational Exchange Program, traveling to South America, the Middle East, and Europe to observe the program in operation. He attended two UNESCO General Conferences as a member of the United States delegation, in Mexico City in 1947 and in Beirut in 1948, and served as the U.S. representative of the UNESCO Advisory Panel on Finance and Administration in Paris in 1948 and 1949. From 1951 to 1954 he was in Paris as European director of the Information and Educational Exchange Program.

Mr. Hulten came to the University of California at Berkeley in 1954 as a Visiting Professor in Journalism and became a regular member of the faculty the following year. Named as Chairman of the Department of Journalism in 1959, he served until his death on January 6, 1967.

During the years at Berkeley, Mr. Hulten also received two overseas teaching appointments, one at the International Journalism Center, University of Strasbourg, France, in 1957; the other as a Fulbright lecturer in Journalism at the University of Istanbul in 1962-63.

His interest in public affairs included an association with the World Affairs Council of Northern Califonia, San Francisco, for which he organized and directed all arrangements for local, national, and world news coverage for the visits to San Francisco of the Soviet Union's Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959 and France's President Charles DeGaulle in 1960. He was active as a director of the northern California professional chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, national journalism society. A member of the National Executive Reserve, he was called to Washington at times, and he usually attended the annual meetings of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Association for Education in Journalism. He was affiliated with the Institute of Administrative Sciences, Kappa Tau Alpha, and Lambda Chi Alpha. He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica and a member of the selection board for the Committee on International Exchange of Persons.

In the University community, Mr. Hulten served on many committees, including the Radio Policy Board, of which he was Chairman; the Housing Advisory Committee; the Committee on Arts and Lecturers, for which he was Chairman of the Lectures sub-committee; the Committee on Social Sciences; the Editorial Committee of the All-University Faculty Conference; and the Committee on Public Relations for the Berkeley campus. He was in demand as a speaker and visited all campuses of the University in 1966 in that capacity.

At the time of Mr. Hulten's death, Chancellor Roger W. Heyns paid him tribute as “a devoted public servant who gave unceasingly of his talents for the national good, a distinguished teacher and scholar, a warm and sensitive human being who cared about what happened to people and the problems that concerned them” and as one who had “contributed fresh ideas and abundant energy in meeting the many responsibilities he accepted in the wider affairs of the campus.”

In Washington, also, his work had made Mr. Hulten known as “a man of great force and personal magnetism.” His death brought messages from former associates there and abroad. He was described as “one of the pioneers” in the field of international governmental information, with “many of us owing our inspiration and dedication to his leadership,” and as “a valiant colleague--the kind you always wanted to have in your corner in a tough fight.” Another, acquainted with him both in Washington and in Berkeley, said that “few persons I have known in the public service have been more highly regarded. He was forthright and never anyone's 'yes man.' His superiors respected him, and at very high levels, and his staff loved him for it.” From friends of his Berkeley years, including professional journalists, there came expressions describing him as “brave, honest, and perceptive,” as “a steady and reassuring friend, a source of counsel” and one who “lifted our spirits when the outlook was murky and vague.”

Mr. Hulten married Margaret Britts Reid, of Eugene, Oregon, in August 1936. She was a gracious hostess in their homes in Washington, Paris, and Berkeley and was with him during his year at the University of Istanbul. She died suddenly of a heart attack on February 14, 1965. Their son, Charles Reid Hulten, was graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1965 and is at present in a doctoral program in Economics at the University.

Mr. Hulten--“Charlie,” as everyone knew him--was a familiar figure at the Faculty Club, a golfer, when time permitted, and a gardener. He was a reader and a conversationalist. Even though he had suffered a heart attack when with the Department of State, his recovery was almost complete and interfered in no way with his many activities. In 1965, however, he had another milder attack and followed a less intensive schedule. On the day of his death he had presided over a noonday departmental staff meeting; he was stricken shortly after reaching his Berkeley home that afternoon. In addition to his son, he is survived by a brother, John Hulten, an industrial executive, of Weston, Connecticut.

 

 


© Every submission is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

 

Show your appreciation of this freely provided information by not copying it to any other site without our permission.

 

Become a Clark County History Buff

 

Report Broken Links

A site created and maintained by the Clark County History Buffs
and supported by your generous donations.

 

Webmasters: Leon Konieczny, Tanya Paschke,

Janet & Stan Schwarze, James W. Sternitzky,

Crystal Wendt & Al Wessel

 

CLARK CO. WI HISTORY HOME PAGE