Pusey forgives students of 1969 for their involvement in the strike--but he still has no sympathy for the Faculty members that egged them on.
He and Anne Pusey struggle together to remember the name of Cogan University Professor emeritus Hilary Putnam, who they single out as an example of a rebellious member of the faculty. He views Putnam's present position as an elder stalwart of philosophy with some surprise.
"I didn't really ever have any animosity towards the students," he says. "I really was upset at certain members of the Faculty who should have helped guide the young people though a difficult and troubling time."
Aside from what he calls the "time of troubles" during the strike, however, Pusey remembers his tenure at Harvard happily.
"That was the best time to be a president almost in modern history. [I] had a constructive and happy presidency there of quite a few years," he says.
Staff writer Joshua E. Gewolb can be reached at gewolb@fas.harvard.edu. Catherine E. Stoichet and Warren S. Adler conducted research for this article.