'The Bancrof t Library University of California/Berkeley Regional Oral History Office Walter A. Haas CIVIC, PHILANTHROPIC AND BUSINESS LEADERSHIP With an Introduction by Clark Kerr An Interview Conducted by Harriet Nathan Copy No. @ 1975 by The Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum, and Walter A. Haas, Sr., dated 22 August 1974. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley and the Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of Califor- nia at Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, and should include identification of the specific passages, and identification of the user. The legal agree- ment with Walter A. Haas, Sr. requires that he be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Walter A. Haas .PREFACE INTRODUCTION by Clark Kerr INTERVIEW HISTORY I ANCESTORS AND FAMILY MEMBERS Father's Varied Interests Boyhood Recollections Growing Up in San Francisco I1 THE YEARS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Some School Friends and Instructors Choosing U.C. I11 FIRST JOBS: NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO IV MARRIAGE TO ELISE STERN Children and Homes V ARMY: WORLD WAR I Armistice, and the Move to Levi Strauss VI ROSALIE AND SIGMUND STERN VII SAN FRANCISCO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE The Power System Issue Business and Agriculture Committees and Participants Airport Inviting the United Nations to San Francisco VIII WORLD WAR 11: HAMMOND AIR CRAFT COMPANY IX SAN FRANCISCO MANUFACTURERS AND WHOLESALERS ASSOCIATION X RECREATION AND PARK COMMISSION Marina Yacht Harbor Concessions and Labor Contracts Another Assignment: Hall of Justice Bond Issue Problems of a Line-by-Line Budget The Beach and the Pools Bay Street Reservoir Union Square Bonds: A Personal Commitment Garages: Portsmouth Square, St. Mary's Square Mayor Shelley and the Palace of Fine Arts McLaren Park Candlestick and the Wind Study Haas Recreation Center Some Recreation Bond Issues City Commissions Friends of Golden Gate Park XI SAVE THE REDWOODS LEAGUE Memorial Grove Need for Compromise XI1 INTEREST IN POLITICS Northern California Treasurer for Earl Warren and a National Convention Fund Raising Principles Support for Kuchel and Christopher Reagan and U.C. A Moderate and a Maverick? Reappointing the CAO City Railroad Commission and a Private, Non-Profit Corporation BUSINESS INTERESTS Levi Strauss and Some Business Decisions The Fifth Freedom Advantages of a Privately Held Corporation Breaking into the East Sons' Education and Participation Tidewater Associated Oil Pacific Coast Aggregates and California Pacific Title Company San Francisco Bank and the Anglo Bank Iris Securities and Levi Strauss Realty Pacific Intermountain Express Pacific Gas and Electric Haas Baruch & Co. National Ice and Cold Storage XIV COMMUNITY SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS Pacific Orphan Asylum Jewish National Welfare Fund How to Raise Funds Bay Area Crusade San Francisco War Chest (World War 11) 1 96 Mount zion Hospital Owing Something to Society World Affairs Council of Northern California XV ACTIVE SPORTS Tennis and Squash Racquets Fly Fishing XVI CULTURAL AFFAIRS An Allergy to Music Art Collection Museums, the Art Commission and the Civic Center Stern Grove Festivals XVII RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS XVIII UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: LATER ACTIVITIES Business School Loyalty Oath Dormitory Committee Kerr-Heyns Addition to the Faculty Club Berkeley Fellow and Alumnus of the Year Wallace Sterling Dinner Haas International Award Problems of University Finance and Status Medical Research Ernest Bloch Papers XIX MILLS COLLEGE The LL. D. Degree Haas Pavilion XX RECOLLECTIONS: SOME FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS XXI TRAVELS To Greece To Israel XXII CLUBS APPENDICES INDEX PREFACE The Northern California Jewish Community Series is a collection of oral history interviews with persons who have contributed significantly to Jewish life and to the wider secular community. Sponsored by the Western Jewish History Center of the Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum, the interviews have been produced by the Regional Oral History Office of The Bancroft Library. Moses Rischin, professor of history at San Francisco State University, is advisor to the series, assisted by the Center's Advisory Committee: Harold M. Edelstein, Sey- mour Fromer, Mrs. Theodore Geballe, James M. Gerstley, Profes- sor James D. Hart, Louis H. Heilbron, Frank H. Sloss, and Robert E. Sinton. The series was inaugurated in 1967. In the oral history process, the interviewer works closely with the memoirist in preliminary research and in setting up topics for discussion. The interviews are informal conversa- tions which are tape recorded, transcribed, edited by the inter- viewer for continuity and clarity, checked and approved by the interviewee, and then final-typed. The resulting manuscripts, indexed and bound, are deposited in the Jesse E. Colman Memo- rial Library of the Western Jewish History Center, The Bancroft Library, and the University Library at the University of Califor- nia at Los Angeles. By special arrangement copies may be depo- sited in other manuscript repositories holding relevant collec- tions. The Regional Oral History Office was established to tape record autobiographical interviews with persons prominent in recent California history. The Office is under the administra- tive supervision of Professor James D. Hart, the director of The Bancroft Library. Willa K. Baum Department Head Regional Oral History Office June 1975 Regional Oral History Office 486 The Bancroft Library University of California at Berkeley CALIFORNIA JEWISH COMMUNITY INTERVIEW SERIES Rinder, Rose (Mrs. Reuben R.), Music, Prayer, and Religious Leadership: Temple Emanu-El 1913-1969. 1971 --9 -- Koshland, Lucile Heming (Mrs. Daniel E., Sr.), Citizen Participation -in Government. 1970. Koshland, Daniel E., Sr., The Principle -of Sharing. 1971. Hilborn, Walter S., Reflections on Legal Practice & Jewish Community Leadership: New York andyos Angeles, 1907-1973. 1974. Magnin, Rabbi Edgar F., Leader -and Personality. 1975. Fleishhacker, Mortimer, and Janet Choynski (Mrs. Mortimer), Family, Business, and the San Francisco Community. 1975. Haas, Walter A., Sr. Civic, Philanthropic,- and Business Leadership. 1975. Haas, Elise Stem (Mrs. Walter, Sr.), -The Appreciation of Quality. 1975. In process. Salz, Helen Arnstein (Mrs. Ansley), Sketches --of An Improbable Ninety Years. 1975. Sinton, Edgar, Jewish -and Community Service --in San Francisco, -A Family Tradition. 1978. Kuhn, Marshall H., Marshall H. Kuhn: Catalyst and Teacher; San Francisco Jewish and Community Leader, 1934-1978. 1978. Hirsch, Marcel, -The Responsibilities -and Rewards -of Involvement, 1981. Koshland, Robert J., Volunteer Community Service -in Health -and Welfare, 1983. Stone, Sylvia L., Lifelong Volunteer in San Francisco, 1983. Related information may be found in other Regional Oral History Office interviews: Lawrence Arnstein, Amy Steinhart Braden, Adrien J. Falk, Alice Gerstle Levison (Mrs. J.B.), Jennie Matyas, Walter Clay Lowdermilk, Mrs. Simon J. Lubin, Harold L. Zellerbach; Bay Area Foundation History series; The Petaluma Jewish Connuunity series (interviews conducted by Kenneth Kann); California Women Political Leaders series--Ann Eliaser, Elinor Raas Beller, Carmen Warschaw, Rosalind Wyman; Dr. Rubin Lewis, (chest surgeon); James D. Hart (fine printing); Maynard Jocelyn (wine technology); Ruth Hart (volunteer leader). Untranscribed tapes of interviews with descendants of pioneer California Jews conducted by Professor Robert E. Levinson are on deposit in The Bancroft Library and 'he Western Jewish History Center. iii Walter Haas can be viewed in two major ways. First, by what he has done. He has led a local enterprise into inter- national standing. He has helped in the development of San Francisco and of leading institutions in the Bay Area and Northern California. He has shown great skill as a philan- thropist. He has been a progressive force in politics. Second, by what he is. He is loyal--to his family, his friends, his community, his University. Kind--to all of these, and to his employees and to everyone he meets. Wise--in his choice of projects and policies to support. Courageous--in standing against the current stream of opinion. The second way is the real way to view Walter Haas. Let me illustrate. In 1956 there was a "panty raid" at Berkeley that attracted international attention. It was part of a nationwide fad, but it was more than that. Berkeley stu- dents then had very few recreational facilities. I was con- cerned about this and took an interest in how the mouth of Straw- berry Canyon could be developed into playing fields, a swimming pool and a club house. The problem was money. I thought of only one person who might best react to the personal needs of the students and that was Walter Haas. He responded immediately and fully, made the project possible and then allowed the Univer- sity full freedom in developing it. Many, if not most, alumni at the time were morally outraged at the panty raid and were anti-student. A more positive view, however, prevailed. Another illustration. I was fired as President of the University of California on January 20, 1967, partly as a result of the efforts of the new Governor, Ronald Reagan. I was, thus, also, in effect, fired by the Establishment of California. The next week Walter Haas invited me to lunch at a leading club in San Francisco along with Dan Koshland. As I walked into the dining room, I recognized almost everyone in the room. A few nodded as I went by. Most looked at their plates. Walter was a most friendly host throughout the luncheon.