In 1987, Harvard's decision to invite West German President Richard von Weizsacker was accompanied by an extended controversy. Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz declared that he would protest the decision because he believed that the president had continually denied that his father knew about German war atrocities. Weizsacker had defended his father in the Nuremberg trials.

But then controversy has been Weizacker's best political friend. He was the first German head of state to visit Israel. On his visit, he asked a student if she had ever visited Germany. The woman replied that she would never do so. In response, Weizsacker extended a state invitation to her, and the woman visited Germany for 10 days.

So Weizsacker came to Cambridge and, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the disclosure of the Marshall plan, praised American post-World War II foreign policy in Europe. He called for a new version of the plan to help developing nations, and also called for a world in which political freedom would be respected.

"Borders should lose their divisive nature for people. This is the crux of the open question for all Europeans, a question concerning human rights and human dignity for everyone, not just for one nation or solely for the West," he said.

In the end, Dershowitz was the only visible protester and was seen distributing leaflets.

1988

Come 1988, Harvard hosted Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez at the Commencement exercises. Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his successful efforts at diplomacy in Central America.

During the speech, Arias spoke about his hopes for Central America, saying, "We seek in Central America not peace alone, not peace to be followed someday by political progress, but peace and democracy, together, indivisible, an end to the shedding of human blood, which is inseparable from an end to the suppression of human rights."

Arias, who considers former U.S. President John F. Kennedy '40 to be his idol, is a member of the wealthiest coffee trading family in Costa Rica. He further urged his audience to take control of their world by saying, "You will live most of your lives in the next century. The history of humanity has not known a single century of peace. The opportunity for writing a different history belongs to you... You will have to change 20 centuries of war into a century of peace."

1989

Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto '73, who was the first woman to lead an Islamic state, spoke in 1989. She is the daughter of deposed Prime Minister Zulfikar Bhutto, who was overthrown in a military coup by Gen. Zia ul-Haq and later executed.

After completing her graduate studies at Oxford, Bhutto spent the next five years in and out of prisons. Even while under house arrest, she formed the Pakistan People's Party and came to power in 1988, after Zia died in a plane crash.

In her first acts as prime minister, Bhutto freed political prisoners and removed constraints on the press.

During her speech, Bhutto called for the establishment of an alliance of democratic nations to see that human rights are protected and free elections are held worldwide.

"Democratic nations should forge a consensus around the most powerful political ideal in the world today--the right of people to freely choose their government," she said.