“They were more than just partners. Their personalities really seemed to complement each other,” says Aida Alvarez, a former member of the Harvard Board of Overseers who was instrumental in selecting Summers as president and worked with Rubin on a small business mentorship program. “Larry had a more academic background and [Rubin] had a more business background,” she says.

Rubin and Summers spent over six years together in the White House. Podesta said Summers would accompany Rubin t o management meetings each day. “We understood that they complemented each other. They were a bit yin and yang,” Podesta says.

Rubin’s ability to cooperate with his deputy reveals much about his personality. “People in Washington give him a world of credit for bringing in Summers. It takes a very confident person to have someone who is so extraordinarily smart and outspoken to have as a number two,” Rogoff says.

Although Rubin denies extensive involvement in Summers’ selection as the University’s next president, it took three key phone calls from him to defuse Harvard Corporation concerns about rumors of Summers’ temper.

Rubin called search committee members personally, reassuring James R. “Jamie” Houghton ’58, D. Ronald Daniel and Robert G. Stone Jr. ’45 that years in government had softened Summers’ temper.

Rubin says only, “I think he was an outstanding choice,” and admits to being “asked about him” by the Harvard Corporation.

Refocusing the Money

With Summers backing him, Rubin went about Clinton’s mission of refocusing the direction of America’s political economy to secure the country’s role as the dominant force in the international marketplace.