Rarely is it possible to document a man’s loyalty and reverence toward his fraternity from initiation on through his entire lifespan. Delta Upsilon, however, can trace the lifetime interest of Charles Evans Hughes, Colgate and Brown 1881.

Hughes became a brother shortly after entering Colgate University (then called Madison) in 1876 at the prodigious age of fourteen years and five months. His seventy-two years as a life-member came to a close upon his death in August, 1948 at age eighty-six.

Historians rank Charles Evans Hughes with John Marshall as one of the greatest Chief Justices and with John Quincy Adams as one of the greatest Secretaries of State. He was drafted to run for governor of New York in 1906 and 1908 and the United States Presidency in 1916.

The young freshman was rushed by Delta upsilon, one of the two national fraternities on the campus, and by a local society, the Adelphian. After being warned that he would be "entering slippery paths" if he joined either of the fraternities, Hughes made a decision that was to have a significant influence on his life. He was attracted to Delta Upsilon by the academic standing and good fellowship the Brothers of the Madison Chapter and, as Hughes states, "I joined it with much gratification at the opportunity."

His father, a Baptist minister, permitted Charles to join, but cited three fears of college societies: 1) they cultivate "a party spirit which leads to envy and jealousy, 2) they consume time which is need for personal study and meditation, and 3) they might complicate the ‘maintaining of a strictly spiritual life." However, within a few weeks young Hughes joined the fraternity, along with fifteen or twenty of his friends. The possible influence that the fraternity was to have on the life of Charles Evans Hughes removed these reservations and convinced and convince Hughes and his father of the wisdom of this step.

Shortly after his initiation, he had the opportunity to buy a DU pin. As the convenient mechanics of ordering the pin were not present at the time, acquisition of the pin was on an individual basis. A letter to his mother illustrates the significance of this opportunity to Hughes:

"…But, I must hasten for I have very little time indeed. I had a chance to get a DU pin for $4.50. As this chance will probably never happen again, and as many were after, I secured it by paying 75 cents down, and saying that I would write to see if I could keep it. If so, I will pay the balance when Fortune should give me a chance, if not, he will give me my 75 cents and I, his pin…."

Since public speaking and literary contests in the 1870’s held much interest for all college undergraduates, Hughes acquired a good deal of training in Delta Upsilon, which devoted part of its weekly meetings to debates and essays.

The significance of his experience and the capabilities of his brother was accentuated at Hughes’ first Delta Upsilon Convention, held at Hamilton. He wrote his parents of this lasting impression, "…It seems as if I had known all of them (the delegates) through my whole college life. All our delegates were true men. You may imagine a crowd of about 60 – the most of them holding highest positions in our largest and most influential colleges - all of them just completing a long college course and you may form an idea of the strength and talent represented in our Convention … some of them I am confident will be heard of throughout our land in coming days … all the discussions proved that there were long heads at work behind those shining faces. … If I ever thought anything of Delta U my thoughts went up 10,00 per cent after our Convention. And, although it will probably cost us a great deal, yet it is in a noble cause. …"

Charles’s father tried to moderate his excitement and got this reply…

"You speak of the excitement I was laboring under in my last letter. I have now had time to cool off, but I would still reiterate my statements of the DU Convention, and would say in addition, that it did me a great dial of good. We are apt to become narrow and straightened in our ideas, but such occurrences make us liberal and free."

The maximum grade of Madison was 5.00. Charles Hughes’ record at this university was: 4.91 in rhetoric, 4.84 in French, 4.71 in Greek, 3.92 in Latin, 4.90 in Calculus, and 4.97 in Analytical Geometry. After he finished his sophomore year, Hughes transferred to Brown University, where he spent three years and graduated at age 19. He was one of the five members of his class admitted to Phi Beta Kappa at the end of his junior year.

At Brown, Delta Upsilon continued to play an important part in the life of Charles Hughes. He was unanimously selected to represent the chapter at the Amherst Convention in 1880. He wrote this to his mother:

"Another honor is put upon me. I am unanimously elected Senior delegate to represent the Brown Chapter … in the Convention. …"

The Convention proved to be one of Hughes’ most memorable college experiences. In the DU chapter at Brown and at the Amherst Convention, he discovered stimulating personalities. Life-long friendships were formed with many of these brothers. Among these capable young men were William H. P. Faunce, a young man who was to be president of Brown University for thirty years and a founder of the National Interfraternity Conference. Others were Starr J. Murphy (later counsel to John D. Rockefeller for investigation of proposed philanthropic enterprises), Frank C. Patridge (later solicitor of the State Department, diplomat, and for a brief period, United States Senator from Vermont).

It was also on this occasion, when he was only eighteen, that Hughes first discovered his power to sway a crowd-a power that was to remain with him throughout his life.

Hughes’ excitement about his realization of the value of his fraternity was poured out in letter to his father. "…You must know, that in a certain sense, that was the proudest day of my life. To go out from the finest society in college, which contains the best scholars…speakers, to go forth as her representative to meet in convention with representative men from all the principal colleges of the United States, you may well suppose was the highest honor to which I could look in college…I wish you could have been there, to see how high D.U. stands at all the colleges, not from words only, but from the immense number of prizes and honors secured. My head was almost turned. You know how ardent a Delta U. I have been, but do not be surprised, when I say that I never had half an idea of the greatness of Delta U. It is wonderful…"

Hughes graduated from Brown in 1881 as a recipient of the Carpenter Award for uniting "in the highest degree the three most important elements in life: ability, character, and attainment." He accepted a teaching position at Delaware Academy at Delhi, New York, then entered Columbia Law School in 1882. Upon graduation he entered the law firm of Chamberlain, Carter and Hornblower (later called Carter, Hughes and Cravath), but he continued to teach a law course at Columbia.

Although Hughes was concerned with establishing himself in his profession, he continued to devote himself to the continuation of the heritage of Delta U. In 1885 he and several of his fraternity brothers traveled to Easton, Pennsylvania to install a Delta Upsilon Chapter at Lafayette College. At Easton he took the initiative in carrying out the business of the trip. In 1886, he was the toastmaster at the Madison Convention, and, as his reputation grew, he was frequently invited to add sparkle to a festive occasion.

Charles Evans Hughes’ rise to fame as one of the United States’ most prominent figures can be traced from 1905. At that time, Hughes was selected as the "leading" lawyer to direct the inquiry into public gas and electric utility rates. A few months later, he was named special counsel to lead the investigation of New York insurance companies, and the sensational results caused him to be drafted as Republican candidate, opposing the Republican bosses, for Governor of New York. His two terms as governor "diffused new vigor and new meaning into democratic governments." He is credited for rescuing the Government from the machine control.

During his governorship, Brother Hughes visited Colgate University on June 22, 1909, and addressed both the Phi Beta Kappa Society and an alumni banquet of the Colgate Chapter in the evening. The 1909 Quarterly reports that seventy Delta U. brothers were present as he expounded his deep feelings for Delta Upsilon.

"Tonight I would forget the Executive Chapter; I would forget the delights and horrors of Albany; I would not stain the joy of this moment by a thought of the legislature; I would retire from the accidental distinction of these late years and I would come to you, not as the card states with a toast by the Governor but simply as a brother in Delta Upsilon and a brother by birthright of the Colgate Chapter.

"It is gratifying that after the lapse of years in meeting the men of Delta Upsilon, in visiting the different chapters, you find the same extraordinary fine spirit, despite its extension and its great progress. Delta Upsilon had a distinct type. My observation is that there is something to Delta Upsilon that makes you feel the Americanism in fraternity life, which is does with true democratic spirit. It seeks to make the most of men; it seeks to make scholars of them, and in college life to develop relation with each other. I valued the course at the Brown Chapter. What I found at Colgate, I found at Brown-that Delta Upsilon stamps a man nine times out of ten as an earnest man…This is the spirit of Delta Upsilon, good times, fellowship, social enjoyment, the best of youth and life charged with intense earnestness, manliness and purpose to get the truly best there is in the world.

"I congratulate you upon your success here in Colgate and upon all this which your efforts show. I believe in the discipline I ever got and without disparaging my instructors in Colgate and Brown, I would say that I got here my standards that made it mean that men shall be worthwhile, the desire that every one shall excel in a worthy way, without being over-conscious of his efforts, the desire of excellence of work in college and moral worth. I bid you God speed, brother in Delta Upsilon…and I ask for no happier moment in my life than a chance to come to this place, ever and anon, when I can go over again the youthful visions, when dreams were dreams, never to be realized, and when we were filled with hope and promise and good cheer."

In 1910 Hughes was elected the first president of the incorporated fraternity. In that same year, he resigned his post as governor to accept an appointment as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving until he was drafted to run for office of the President of the United States in 1916. Although Woodrow Wilson seemed defeated, Hughes lost in the Presidential election of that time.

As Secretary of State from 1920 to 1925, Hughes took the first steps toward establishing the "Good Neighbor Policy" with Latin American countries, was responsible for the Havana Conference, molded attitudes with the post-revolutionary Russians, brought friendly relations with the Far East, and helped forge the Naval Disarmament Treaty, The Four Power Pact and the World Court. Of sixty-nine treaties established, all but two were ratified by the U.S. Senate.

In 1930 he was confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. His eleven year tenure won him distinction for setting up the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, for establishing the highest standards of dignity and procedure as presiding judge, for firmly establishing the four freedoms of the First Amendment as guarantees to the citizen against state action, and for saving the Court from executive domination through the court-packing proposals of the 1930’s.

Later his advice was sought by Senator Arthur Vandenberg, Michigan ’04, Cordell Hull (then Secretary of State) and others in framing the United Nations Chapter. Most of his seven specific suggestions were adopted in 1945, when the revised draft of the charter was formally approved.

His fraternity association was carried to the last possible earthly action when Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Colgate ’00, his pastor at Riverside Church in New York City, presided at the memorial services upon Hughes' death. Merlo J. Pusey chose Hughes’ own tribute to Oliver Wendall Holmes, penned at an earlier date as most appropriate for "so magnificent a mind, so elevated a character": "The most beautiful and rarest thing in the world is a complete human life, unmarred, unified by intelligent purpose and uninterrupted accomplishment, blessed by great talent employed in the worthiest activities, with a deserved fame never dimmed and always growing."

The greatness and dedication of Charles Evans Hughes as a Chief Justice, political figure, statesman and citizen are paralleled by his greatness and dedication throughout his life as a Delta U. The tangible and intangible rewards that his fraternity association gave to him, the encouragement, and assistance which he unselfishly gave to his fraternity, and the enduring privilege of his fraternity to claim him as a life member exemplifies the true significance underlying the traditional expression "Once a Delta U., always a Delta U."