In 1951 John Kemeny was already a brilliant teacher, in the spirit of teachers he remembered from Hungary. He received an appointment to teach philosophy and mathematics at Princeton and seemed on track to build a career in a department that was home to many of the mathematical luminaries of the time. Instead, he came to Dartmouth. As a math colleague noted, "He decided to accept the challenge of developing a new mathematics department at a college which he had barely heard of and which was certainly not known as a center of excellence in mathematics." He was appointed to the mathematics department at Dartmouth in 1953 and became chairman two years later, a post he held until 1967.