“Condi Rice and Bob Zoellick will form one of the really strong, capable foreign policy teams our country has ever had,” Bush said at a press conference on Friday.
Zoellick has a long history of service in the Reagan and both Bush administrations. Currently, he serves as U.S. Trade Representative in the Treasury Department.
Before Zoellick got a job in the Bush administration, he was a researcher at the Belfer Center from 1999 to the 2000, according to Center Director Graham T. Allison, who taught Zoellick at KSG more than 20 years ago. Zoellick earned degrees from both KSG and HLS in 1981.
Zoellick will replace Richard L. Armitage as the second highest-ranking U.S. diplomat and will likely face Senate confirmation in the coming weeks.
“He’ll be in the midst of anything because the deputy is the more like the chief operating officer,” said Allison, a former assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration. “He’ll obviously do whatever Condi [Rice] doesn’t want to do.”
Allison said those issues could range from Iraq to Russia to nuclear terrorism. But he said he thinks Zoellick is well prepared.
“He presents a pair of fresh eyes to the problem,” Allison said. “Having somebody who is smart, analytic, operational and not incumbered by having been a part of the first term—he’s ideally situated.”
THE ADVISER
Hubbard—known affectionately as “Hubbs” to the President—first met Bush when they were both students at HBS in the early 1970s.
“They’ve remained very close since then, both as personal friends before the election and now working together,” said Paul Professor of Government Stephen Goldsmith of KSG, who is also a friend of Hubbard.
Hubbard will play a key role in advancing the President’s economic agenda, which may involve overhauling social security, putting caps on lawsuit winnings and restructuring the tax code.
Two years after graduating from Harvard, Hubbard co-founded E&A Industries, Inc., an Indiana-based chemical company that he still heads today. In the middle of his business venture, Hubbard relocated to Washington, D.C. to serve as deputy chief of staff to then-Vice President Dan Quayle.
Goldsmith said Hubbard’s experience in both the private and public sectors makes him a good candidate to advise the President.
“The fact that he’s a Harvard MBA that has run a series of business and that he has held political positions is an interesting combination,” he said. “He has a very quick mind and he’s able to understand political problems in a practical way.”
Goldsmith, the former mayor of Indianapolis, worked with “Hubbs” when they were advisers to the Bush campaign in 2000.
In addition to his MBA from HBS, Hubbard also holds a degree from HLS. He replaces Stephen Friedman, who resigned from the post last month.
—Staff writer Javier C. Hernandez can be reached at jhernand@fas.harvard.edu.