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[[preprinted]] JOHN A.BLUM [[/preprinted]]


May 17, 1957


Dear Mr. Seligman:

At the suggestion of my mother, Mrs. Henry L. Blum, I am writing to tell you about the Fellowship Program for French graduate students at the Harvard Business School. The program is described in detail in the booklet which accompanies this letter.

Basically, the purpose of these Fellowships is to make it possible for selected young Frenchmen, who intend later to return to work in France, to have the kind of training and experience at the Business School which they cannot at the present time obtain at home. The immediate benefits of such a program would of course accrue to the individual. However, to the extent that the program can be expanded in terms of numbers of qualified men over a period of time, I firmly believe the ultimate benefits will become apparent in French business life and the program will therefore have a desirable effect on the French economy and on business relationships between France and the United States.

As you will see when you read the booklet, one very significant feature of the Fellowship involves the moral commitment of the recipient of the award to repay the amount of the financial support he had received into what will become a revolving fund. This in time should produce a significant increase in the monies available to help finance more deserving young Frenchmen at the Business School.

This program is one in which I am personally most interested. As a matter of fact, my mother and I have contributed to its support for five years, and we find deep satisfaction in the knowledge that four young men from France have thereby been helped to an educational opportunity at the Harvard Business School which might otherwise have been denied to them.