Roosevelt traded his Mather House residency foran affiliation with Dudley House and an Allstonapartment he shared with four roommates and a dognamed Zoddie.

"Dudley House was probably as it is today, avery amorphous house," says former Dudleyaffiliate David McKean '79. "It was not a housethat had a lot of spirit--just a loose collectionof interesting people."

For the rest of his time at Harvard, Rooseveltcontinued to isolate himself from the traditionalundergraduate life, keeping his eye on a futureaway from the Yard.

"I didn't get to know as many people as I'dlike to," Roosevelt says. "I regret the speed andhurry I exhibited in college."

The pace at which Roosevelt sped throughcollege was also manifest in his personal life. Hemarried his first wife in September 1978, just afew months after his college graduation.

"I felt an urge to get on with life, to getinto the thick of things," he says.

When his marriage failed, Roosevelt maintainedcustody of his now eight-year-old son, Matthew.Roosevelt is now set to enter his second marriageto fiancee Jessica Hallowell.

From Law to Politics

Though he spent much of his time as anundergraduate away from the College, Rooseveltdecided to stay at Harvard for Law School--adecision he says he came to regret.

"I did not enjoy law school," Roosevelt says."The atmosphere was very competitive."

Roosevelt says Harvard Law School did notoffer the type of academic freedoms he hadexperienced at the College. "It's a vocationalschool," Roosevelt says. "The intellectualstimulation was none."

After law school, Roosevelt plunged full-forceinto politics, entering office in 1986, only threeyears after receiving his J.D.

Roosevelt was only one of the many members ofthe Class of 1978 who entered public affairs andwho now serve in positions ranging from the Gov.Weld's chief of staff to communications directorat the White House.

Massachusetts State Treasurer Joseph D. Malone'78 attributes the political involvement of hisclass to the students' growing faith in governmentduring the late 1970's.

"Our class came shortly after the Vietnamyears, and the feeling was that in order to bringabout change, it was better to work within thesystem as opposed to more of a radical approach,"Malone says.