Contents - IADR/AADR

CHAPTER SIX: PAGES OF PRESIDENTS
The following pages purport to portray the forty-seven different men who have guided the destiny of the
Association during its first fifty years. Only their most notable attributes are cited, since other aspects of their
respective biographies are recorded either in the Biographical Directory of Members (Special Commemorative
Supplement, J Dent Res, vol. 48 [September-October, 1969]) or, if they are deceased, in chapter seventeen of
this volume entitled "Who in IADR Was Who".
Perhaps more important to the Association than the list of professional achievements which mark the
outstanding attributes of these men as individuals, are the ideas expressed in the incoming and outgoing
presidential addresses. These have sometimes given a profound insight into the chief officer's fundamental
thinking and have often indicated his administration's contribution to the advancement of the IADR. Hence, in
those cases in which such an address was presented and published, reference is cited, in order to provide the
fullest background for each era in the Association's history.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
The custom of presenting an address by the incoming or outgoing President during the annual meeting
has grown over the years. In the early decades, little was made of the inaugural occasion. When J. Leon
Williams became the first President, he did not present a formal address but alluded to and discussed the
Association's problems in the introduction to a long scientific paper that he delivered at the meeting in which he
took the office of his second year. For some time there were only "remarks" or "comments." On some occasions
there were rather comprehensive retiring presidential addresses. Later there were inaugural addresses, although
some were discourses upon travel or art forms. In recent times, however, almost all inaugural addresses, at least
in part, carried the impact of rather profound thinking on the part of the incoming President.
The outgoing addresses, remarks, or reports, although not frequent in recent years, have been even more
meaningful to the Association, since they have often emphasized important problems encountered and
sometimes solved during the administrative year of the current President. In the case of both incoming and
outgoing presidential addresses, the tradition has developed that any subject could be discussed and later would
be published in the Journal without editorial emendation.
PAST-PRESIDENTS—A DIVERSE GROUP
The Past-Presidents were indeed a diverse lot, although they had in common an intense loyalty to the
Association and considerable interest, as well as ability, in dental research. The forty-seven men pictured in this
chapter had an extensive academic background. Collectively they held a total of sixty-nine doctoral degrees. Of
these, forty-one were dental degrees, while seventeen were Ph.D. degrees and ten of the latter were held by men
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR DENTAL RESEARCH (IADR) – THE FIRST FIFTY YEAR HISTORY PAGE 45