On April 9, 1969, Harvard President Nathan M. Pusey '28 called in police to remove student demonstrators from University Hall, which they had taken over to protest University policies on issues ranging from real estate to the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Few could have imagined at the time that the decision would trigger a stream of events that would eventually lead to Pusey's resignation and create the need for a search for Harvard's 25th president.

Fewer than two years after the University Hall incident, Dean of the Law School Derek C. Bok, one of the deans who reportedly had asked Pusey to reconsider his decision to storm University Hall, was named president of Harvard University.

The search for Bok, which occupied much of the 1970-71 academic year, began with the widely-expected announcement of Pusey's resignation of February 16, 1970.

Pusey himself acknowledged that the turmoil which had rocked the University provided for a good time to select new leadership. The outgoing president declared that "this is a propitious point for a new President to take over."

The Search

The search for Pusey's successor was of a scale never before seen in Cambridge.

It began with an unprecedented move by the Corporation (the University's top governing board which helps choose the president) to send out 203,000 letters to students, faculty, alumni and staff soliciting names of possible candidates. This effort to poll the community as to what type of person was desirable resulted in several thousand responses and a list of more than 600 names.

Interviews often lasting more than an hour were held with key faculty members to discuss characteristics they desired in the next president. By the beginning of the year, more than 100 such interviews had been conducted.

Along with a list of names, the Corporation compiled a list of desirable qualities. The ideal candidate would have liberal--but not too liberal--political views, since conservatives were not seen as viable candidates, given the student climate.

Intellectual distinction and membership in an academic community--preferably Harvard--were also deemed important attributes.

The Corporation then moved the process into high gear. It compiled three lists: one of public figures, one of professors and administrators outside of Harvard and one of Harvard community members.

From the beginning, Bok's name was listed first among possible candidates by many search watchers.

Other names often mentioned at the time as possible picks included Kingman Brewster, the president of Yale University; Samuel I. Hayakawa, the president of San Francisco State College; and McGeorge Bundy, president of the Ford Foundation and a former confidant of John F. Kennedy '40.

The president of Radcliffe, Mary I. Bunting, was the only woman mentioned as a candidate, but she was never considered a serious contender.