Though Frank leaned far to the left on many political issues, like those of civil rights, he was highly critical of the socialist movement.

“It led me to understand that some of what I wanted to do, politically, was [to] make sure liberals, politically, did not help people that were sympathetic to the socialist union,” Frank said. “[People] who were not insistent that freedom of speech and democracy had to be preserved.”

Although Frank pictured himself entering academia after college, Halpern said that he knew very early in their relationship that Frank would be best suited to the political arena.

“It was obvious that he was going to major in government and that that would be his career,” Halpern said. “He had the style of a politician and his own style of speaking.”

THE FIREBRAND OF THE HOUSE

Despite his early involvement in political activities both on and off campus, Frank did not believe voters would ever select him for public office.

“Being both gay and Jewish, it never seemed possible that I could be elected to anything,” Frank said. “Both were obstacles to an elected career.”

But despite his own doubts, Frank was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972 and then to Congress in 1980.

Frank’s friends said that the same traits that had made him a leader in the political sphere at Harvard characterized his time in Congress as well.

Halpern noted that “his wit, his politics of empathy and community, and a mind that works faster than most people’s” served to make him a formidable politician.

“He was kind of a go-to guy on the floor of the House,” said Segel, referring to Frank’s ability to decimate an opponent in debate. “He doesn’t have a peer on the floor.”

Frank is often voted one of the funniest and smartest members of Congress by his peers, traits that, when combined with his short temper, can result in a brutal conversational style.

At one town hall meeting, Frank responded fiercely to a woman who angrily questioned him while holding a picture of President Barack Obama with a Hitler mustache.

“You stand there with a picture of the president, defaced to look like Hitler, and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis. My answer to you is, as I said before, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated,” he said. “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table—I have no interest in doing it.”

But his career has more substance than soundbites.