We must get away from the idea that America is to be the leader of the world in everything.

During his presidency he led the university's first major fund drive the Campaign for the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Fund which produced a total subscription of $550546. McConnell is best known for his quote "We need a type of patriotism that recognizes the virtues of those who are opposed to us". Francis John McConnell (August 18 1871 – August 18 1953) was an American social reformer and a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church elected in 1912.