David R. Gergen is a political anomaly.

In Washington, a city where one's identity is determined by party affiliation, he has been able to transcend--and perhaps defy--political boundaries, working for both Republicans and Democrats alike.

"There are pivotal people in every administration to who work flows," said Roger B. Porter, IBM professor of business and government at the JFK School of Government. "David Gergen has consistently been one of those most sought-after figures."

The former adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton describes himself as a "moderate pro-free market and pro-safety net thinker."

"I tend to be very hawkish on foreign policy while being very committed to social change at home," he says.

Although Gergen is said to be registered as an Independent, he acknowledges the difficulty in crossing party lines for political employment.

"Some of my conservative friends think I'm way too liberal on domestic issues," he says.

Whichever way he leans in terms of political issues, Gergen's work experiences, including writing for U.S. News and World Report, teaching at Duke University and serving as a State Department operative, show him to be a veritable jack-of-all-trades.

He is currently a weekly commentator on the "Newshour with Jim Lehrer."

An 11,000-word feature story in the New York Times Magazine described Gergen's career as "the triumph of image." As he bounced from government service, to political commentary, to teaching and back again he was said to have "conflated all the old distinctions" of what it means to be a public servant.

Indeed, his various jobs have served him well. In 1993, when President Clinton announced Gergen's appointment to his administration, financial documents revealed that Gergen had made more than $1 million in the preceding 18 months.

Gergen, a 1967 Harvard Law School (HLS) graduate will return to his alma mater today to deliver the Class Day address from the steps of Langdell Hall, the school's recently renovated main library. For once, his journey will be a short one. This spring, Gergen became a public service professor at the Kennedy School of Government.

The Consummate Insider

Despite his law degree, the former Yale undergraduate has had a career that has steered away from actual law practice.

Following his graduation from HLS, Gergen served in the Navy for three and a half years, stationed for much of that time on a ship homeported in Japan.