In 1939, Marian Anderson (1897-1993) a celebrated African American contralto was denied the right to perform in Constitution Hall in Washington, DC on grounds of traditional racial segregation. She subsequently devoted much of her life to improving prospects for blacks in the performing arts. Among other events, she is remembered for singing at President John F. Kennedy's inaugural in 1961.

A rabbi and teacher, Finkelstein was long associated with the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, becoming its president in 1940. He was born in Cincinnati but attended the College of the City of New York and received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1918. He was recognized as one of the most brilliant Judaic scholars of his day.

Thompson, a native of Lancaster, N.Y., and a graduate of Syracuse University (1914), became a European correspondent and political commentator for various newspapers including the New York Evening Post, the New York Herald-Tribune, and the Philadelphia Public Ledger. She was one of the first to warn the world against the rise of Hitler and Nazism. Her published books include "New Russia" (1928), "Listen, Hans" (1942), and "The Courage to Be Happy" (1957).

The artist's portraits of General Eisenhower were probably preparatory sketches for a finished portrait to be placed in Kaufman's American Century series. These sketches were drawn not from life, but from photographs.

The subject was born in Paris, Tennessee, and graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1911. He earned several advanced degrees, including a D.D. from Howard University in 1923. In 1926 he became president of Howard and held that position for over twenty years.

Hansen, a native of South Dakota, received his Ph.D. in economics in 1918 from the University of Wisconsin. In 1937 he was appointed Littauer Professor of Political Economy at Harvard, a position he held for many years. He became a specialist in New Deal policies and a presidential advisor.