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PrintESU Region VI Meeting
Announcement
A report about the April 12-13 meeting will be forthcoming.
ESU Cleveland Branch
A Message from the Cleveland Branch President
Dear ESU Members – I would like to reiterate our raison d'être, along with a few global comments.
Other noteworthy statements notwithstanding, this is how I answer the question of what the ESU is about: "Better English … A Better World". I find it sufficiently comprehensive for the inquirer to grasp, yet provocative enough to generate follow-up dialogue about how, or why, or whatever. This gives me the opportunity to elaborate on whichever aspect is appropriate to the moment, be it social, educational, or literary.
History of the ESU
The English-Speaking Union of the United States was created to fulfill a mission. It was formally organized in the United States in 1920 and arose from the conviction of its founder, Sir Evelyn Wrench and a group of like-minded American and British friends, that maintenance of the close personal and national ties forged during World War I was necessary for the preservation of peace. He imagined the ESU as an inclusive organization "founded in no narrow attitude of race pride, in no spirit of hostility to any people." Its educational mission would be carried out by a host of activities allowing for personal contact between peoples at every level.
The Cleveland Branch was founded in 1923 under President John A. Penton of the Penton Publishing Co. The Branch disbanded at the end of World War II, to be re-activated in 1960 under the presidency of Dr. Harlan Hamilton, Professor of English at Western Reserve University (now CWRU)
