Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller writes on a chalk board in Japanese during his time abroad in Japan as an undergrad. As an adult Rockefeller would be a major figure in American and Japanese relations.

As a college student with a passion for Japan, John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV ’58-’61 postponed his studies at Harvard for three years to study and do service there.

This first experience with hands-on volunteer work would cause Rockefeller to continue pursuing service opportunities, from the State Department to the Peace Corps. His passion for service would shape his career by leading him to the mining town of Emmons, W.Va., as a member of the Volunteers in Service to America program.

“Because of my time in Emmons, I found my cause in wanting to help West Virginians,” Rockefeller says.

Rockefeller, who has now served as a U.S. Senator from West Virginia for 26 years, has spent the rest of his career serving in a variety of political roles in the state.

LOOKING TO JAPAN

Even before enrolling at Harvard, Rockefeller had already developed an interest in Japan, possibly sparked by family trips taken during his childhood years, speculates Rockefeller’s roommate Pierre N. Leval ’59.

On campus, Rockefeller pursued this interest by concentrating in both Far Eastern Languages and History, but Leval says Rockefeller was more passionate about helping Japan outside the setting of academia.

“During his sophomore and junior year, he was not terribly interested in what was going on in his classes,” says Leval, who now serves as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Instead, Rockefeller “was interested in actively helping in Japan.”

In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Japan was still recovering from World War II and was very reliant on the international community in its efforts to reestablish itself.

“At the time, there were almost no American civilians in Japan,” Rockefeller says. “I decided to go take an intensive Japanese language course ... and travel across the country.”

For three years, Rockefeller postponed his studies at Harvard to assist in Japan. Rockefeller says the experience provided him with “a wonderful perspective that few Americans were able to get at the time, and it only furthered my interest in East Asian Studies.”

THE WORLD OF POLITICS

But beyond his interest in Japan, his time at Harvard also impacted Rockefeller’s political views, shaping the student who “didn’t really care about politics” into a future U.S. Senator.

Rockefeller entered college a Republican, largely due to his family’s political views, Rockefeller says. But that would soon change.

“I became a big fan of President Kennedy, and when he ran against Nixon, it solidified my support and my place as a Democrat,” says Rockefeller, who is now the only elected Democrat in the traditionally Republican Rockefeller dynasty.

But even with this increased interest in politics, Rockefeller says that while in college, he did not consider it likely that he would one day go on to run for office.

“After graduating, I was still trying to find my path and itching for a cause that I felt passionate about,” Rockefeller says. He worked in the State Department and then moved to the Philippines, where he volunteered for the Peace Corps.

But having spent years overseas, Rockefeller decided to return to the U.S. and learn more about his own country by working for the program that brought him to West Virginia.

Ezra F. Vogel—a Harvard social sciences professor emeritus—encountered Rockefeller in 1994 while they were both in Washington, D.C. Vogel then served as the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council.

“We’ve tried many times to get him to come back to Harvard,” Vogel says, “but he always felt that his mission was to work for the citizens of West Virginia.”

In 1966, Rockefeller was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates. Ten years later he was elected governor of West Virginia, and after two terms in that post he was elected to the U.S. Senate, an office he has held since.

“That cause has never wavered,” Rockefeller says.

—Staff writer Charlotte D. Smith can be reached at charlottesmith@college.harvard.edu.