Richard C. Esler II

Winchester - Thorpe School for Boys Richard C. Esler II

James Bradford is the newly appointed Headmaster of Winchester-Thorpe School and brings an agenda of change to this conservative, traditional school. He is opposed on one side by the faculty, led by J. Robert Huntley III, who is supposed to be his loyal assistant. On another side, Bradford is opposed by John O'Connor, a long-tenured teacher who wants to preserve the traditional character of the school. Finally, the Board of Trustees, let by Hardin Winchester and Stephen Thorpe, co-founders of the school, lose confidence in Bradford in the crucial fifth year of his tenure. In the face of mounting pressures, Bradford suffers a massive heart attack and dies. The denouncement provides a surprising resolution of the conflicts of power. It is a story of human success and failure, of money and power against the backdrop of the highly political atmosphere of a prep school.