And while he does not recall many of the individuals from his class, one woman sticks out in his mind--Rachel L. Mellinger '52. Schlesinger married Mellinger in 1954.

"This year [1995] my wife and I celebrated our 40th anniversary, with special thanks to the institution that brought us together," Schlesinger wrote in his 45th reunion book.

The boy who began his childhood in the suburbs of New York City and who spent most of it in the city itself soon had had eight children of his own--one of whom would attend Harvard.

A Path to Academia?

Schlesinger did not beat a path to employment inside the Beltway after his graduation--if anything, he prepared himself to remain firmly entrenched in academia.

After receiving a Sheldon Prize Fellowship for his summa cum laude status, he traveled through Europe, Africa and beyond.

He returned and earned both a M.A. in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1956 from Harvard, and he also served as a tutor in his undergraduate house, Eliot, for three years.

Schlesinger then went on to work for the RAND Corporation--a California based research institution founded in 1948 which studies national security and public welfare--and decided then to enter government.

"The whole concept of public service was in much higher repute, particularly after World War II," Schlesinger says.

And Schlesinger has always seemed to hold the public service ideal above mere partisan politics, serving under both Republican and Democratic administrators.

"It taught me that you have to have the public with you," he says. "[It is] essential to be non-partisan. I've been able to work across party lines [because of it]."

And Schlesinger, who always held a pipe between his teeth, insisted he has never been a politician. He works in government, not politics, he says, and laments Washington's current vitriolic atmosphere.

"The federal government [of today] has a much higher level of partisanship [and is] much more notably bitter. That is regrettable--democracy must operate on the basis of consensus," Schlesinger says.

Under the Gun

Schlesinger says his biggest challenges during his stint in public service included the Watergate scandal and the war in Vietnam.

Schlesinger's role in the Watergate affair was significant--from February to July of 1973, Schlesinger was director of the CIA.

The CIA was charged with being involved with the affair.