The next Roosevelt and Harvard alumnus to occupy the Oval Office "was regarded as a traitor to his class," according to Will.

In spite of his patrician background and private-school education, Franklin D. Roosevelt '04, who was also president of The Crimson, had no trouble reaching out to the common man.

Where the Roosevelts risked being branded elitists by going to Harvard, Will said John F. Kennedy '40 derived needed legitimacy from his affiliation with the school.

"His connection to the University gave John Kennedy a certain cache, particularly when he was running for Congress," Will said. "He was able to meld his Brahmin schooling with the ethnic Irish element of his background."

After ascending to the presidency, Kennedy, who was also a Crimson editor, recruited a number of Harvard scholars, notably Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith and Robert S. McNamara, into his administration.

But, according to Will, it was actually President Richard M. Nixon, "with his chronic insecurities and resentments, who did the most to bring professors to power."

Nixon, who did not attend Harvard, had "a kind of a love-hate relationship with the school," Will said.

Pundits, professors and politicians agreed that today, the University's role in the nation's political life is less significant than it was in the late 1960s, when many Americans believed the architects of the Vietnam War came from academe.