He was active in the Rhodes Scholar program, helped evacuate intellectuals persecuted by the Nazis during the 1930s and served as director of the Institute for Advanced Study during World War II.
He expanded the college to an economically viable size and developed a broad-based liberal arts educational curriculum that stressed academic excellence.
Based on the premise that the only true education is self-education, the system created seminar courses for selected students that were more challenging than the regular curriculum.
[6] During Aydelotte's time as the Institute's director, notable faculty included: Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel, John von Neumann and James Waddell Alexander II.
[7] Aydelotte was a member of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that recommended Britain allow significantly more Jews to emigrate to Mandatory Palestine after World War II.
[1] His niece (who attended Swarthmore during his tenure), Mary A. R. Marshall became a leader opposing Massive Resistance and an influential delegate in the Virginia General Assembly.