When gubernatorial candidate and State Senator Michael J. Barrett '70 attended Harvard, a wave of civil rights and anti-war protests shook the campus.

While students seized University buildings and protested an unjust war, Barrett--moderate then and now--chose to mediate rather than act.

A self-described "conservative Irish-Catholic boy," Barrett says family traditions strongly influenced him at the College--and separated him from the campus radicals that characterized Harvard's political scene.

"He was very serious and straight arrow, which was off the bell curve in the 1960s," says David W. Siktberg '70, a suitemate of Barrett. "He wore suits frequently, as I recall."

John L. Powers '70, another suitemate, says Barrett came off quite differently from the many "freaks" who dominated campus politics.

"He was straight when straight did not mean not gay," Powers said.

But Barrett did not completely isolate himself from the popular campusculture. He admits, in fact, to having smokedmarijuana during his college years.

"I inhaled once or twice," Barrett says. "Isort of lost interest in the stuff at theconclusion of my college years."

Barrett says he came to Harvard not knowingwhat to expect but became immediately interestedin learning about national politics.

"I had never been in Harvard Square, so it wasthe biggest thrill of my life [to go] where [JohnF. Kennedy '40] had gone to school," he says. "Iwas interested in social issues right from thestart."

While Barrett attended Harvard, Sen. Robert F.Kennedy '48 (D-N.Y.) and Rev. Martin Luther KingJr. were assassinated; the Vietnam War escalated;and Richard M. Nixon succeeded Lyndon B. Johnsonas President.

"Nobody thought Nixon was human," says Powers,who is a Crimson editor. "Once you were not ofschool you were drafted--the Draft Board likedmaking examples of those [college] kids."

But despite his open opposition to the war,Barrett chose not to follow the popular radicalopinion of the Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) and instead joined the Young Democrats.

Barrett says he did not agree with how the SDSmanifested their political agenda.

In April 1969, SDS members took over UniversityHall to protest the University's support of ROTCduring the Vietnam War.

"I didn't think that forced physical takeoverserved the interests of free speech," Barrettsays.