Harvard's Other Federal Administrators

President Johnson may have attended Southwest Texas State Teacher's College, but Harvard can still claim a good portion of the government's Executive Branch for its own. Although the future of President Kennedy's personal White House staff--former professors Bundy and Schlesinger included--is uncertain, five former Harvard faculty members continue to serve in the administrative positions they have held since 1961. All have exhausted thir two-year leaves from the University and all have thoroughly enjoyed their "temporary" stay in Washington.

Of the five, four--Stanley Surrey, Archibald, Cox, Abram Chayes and John McNaughton--were professors at the Law School before going to the Capital. David Beil was Secretary of the Graduate School of Public Administration and Lecturer in Economics. Presently scattered around Washington in four different Departments, the Harvard contingent classifies their experience in Washington as "exhilarating," "frustrating," "fascinating," and as a "good kind of interlude." But while they welcomed the chance to "get in touch with reality," they all look with obvious relish to the day they will return to academic life.

Of the five, Bell has the most frustrating job. As Administrator of the Agency for International Development (A.I.D.), he has the task of administering U.S. foreign aid at a time when Congress is attacking the aid program with unprecedented energy. Bell was brought to A.I.D. early this year after a successful tenure as Director of the Bureau of the Budget. He has discovered he "is not his own master" in the job. He has been forced to spend time pleading with Congressmen, entertaining visitors, and settling issues with foreign ambassadors.

Although disappointed with the setbacks the foreign aid program has suffered, Bell enjoys his position immensely. "Anyone in this job would have the feeling he is learning a lot," Bell explained. "I knew very little about Latin America before I took the job, and have been able to do some traveling there." Suprisingly enough, however, Bell has done less traveling this year than he did while at Harvard. A founder of the Development Advisory Service here, he spent considerable time visiting DAS field projects in Pakistan and Iran.

Unlike the other Harvard professors in Washington, Bell has been able to deal with the "same kinds of problems" he studied at Harvard. Before he went to Washington, Bell taught Economics 169, the problems of underdeveloped countries, a course which is now given by J. Kenneth Galbraith.

Instead, Bell says, the difference between Washington and Cambridge is one of time. "Here, you're working on matters which you're not carving out yourself. You must fit your schedule around whatever problems arise." Otherwise, there are many similarities. Both Cambridge and Washington, Bell says, "are lively centers of world affairs," ties between the two cities are very close. "The government tries to draw on the best brains available, and a good number of Harvard men visit Washington in an advisory capacity. The door to the academic life is open, and we all consider ouselves basically academic people."

Lawyer's Experience

The experience of the four ex-Law School professors has been slightly less academic than Bell's. Abram Chayes, who has served as Legal Counsel to the State Department since 1961, has been deeply involved in several key foreign policy issues throughout his stay in Washington. "There is nothing that doesn't have legal aspects," says Chayes, who has dealt with problems ranging from, the Cuban crisis and the Moscow test-ban treaty to the first international piracy case in 100 years--the hijacking of the Santa Maria from Portugal in 1961. He has worked on the thorny legal questions in creating NATO's multilateral nuclear force, and he also has played a major role in solving the technical difficulties of the recent agreement to sell surplus wheat to the Soviet Union.

Before he came to Washington, Chayes taught courses in corporation law and civil procedure. To deal with international problems, he has had to "draw on reserves of legal judgment;" his task is made much easier, he says, by the staff of 60 lawyers which works under him. "One learns one's job almost too quickly here, since governmental work is all consuming. The job lasts all day. Politics is discussed during working hours, during social events, and is even the spice of gossip."

Chayes does not miss Cambridge because of its more well-rounded conversation, however. Teaching was his major concern at the Law School, and the contact with young people provided him with "deeper satisfactions" than his job in Washington. "After you've been here for awhile, you begin to see that you're not changing the destiny of state." The thrills of being in an important position, Chayes explains, "comes from reading four or five stories in the New York Times in which you played a role."

One advantage of a government, Chayes says, is in the deadlines an official faces. "In the academic life, you can't dispose of a problem until it's done. Here, you don't have to worry. The deadline comes and the problem is gone." Yet these reliefs are short-lived, and Chayes hopes to return to teaching in a few years. Before he returns, he wants to go to Europe for a vacation. "The pace has been almost too quick here, and I need a de-compression chamber before I can readjust."

While working on the legal problems of the Moscow treaty, Chayes was in constant contact with John McNaughton, who has the parallel post of General Counsel to the Department of Defense. McNaughton has been in the job since July 1962. Before that, he was deputy assistant secretary for arms control under Paul Nitze, dealing with Berlin crisis matters. Now, as the chief legal advisor to the Pentagon, McNaughton spends about half his time on "the charter responsibilities of the job"--the purely legal questions of defense matters--and the other half on special assignments.

His "special assignments" have included a major part in the 1962 Nassau agreement with Britain and the implementation of the dismantling of ground-based missiles in Turkey and Italy. McNaughton also traveled to Moscow with Averell Harriman to help negotiate the test-ban treaty. Because he may be called to work on "crises" at any moment, McNaughton says he doesn't "dare run the risk of being away from his office." The object of risk is a single telephone with a blue light at which he stares with awe. If the phone rings, assistant secretary Gilpatric is calling; if both the phone rings and the light shines, Secretary McNamara is on the line.

Staying by the phone usually takes up about 13 hours of McNaughton's day, but he doesn't particularly miss the free time he had as a professor. "When I was at the Law School, I always felt impelled to read material for my work during spare hours."

McNaughton's only worry is that he will miss the excitement of government when he returns to academic life. "You're always dealing with controversy and with different problems here, and you have a certain feeling of importance." He also enjoys the constant contacts in Washington with the "Ivy-League group." "It's hard to avoid the tendency to feel closer to Harvard people who are down here. There's a certain deep but not especially exclusive camaraderie among us."

To Stanley Surrey, who is assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax matters, the ties with other Harvard men in Washington are not very important. His job seems exceptionally time-consuming. Surrey has not only had to handle Congressional relations on the tax-reduction bill, but is primarily responsible for planning future tax policy for the government. "You have to make the effort to stand on top of the mountain to check over all activity. You have to be prepared for problems two or three years ahead of time."

Surrey worked in government for 13 years before he went to the Law School, and has had little difficulty adapting to the difference in climate. "I'm not sure there is such a thing as an academic man or a government official," Surrey commented. "Lawyers tend to fit into both atmospheres."

Despite their adaptibility, however, lawyers have trouble keeping up on their law once they come to Washington. Surrey hasn't read a case "for quite awhile," and he lets his large staff handle the technical questions. At the Law School, his opinions on legal questions were quite consistant. In Washington, Surrey has had to consider political feasibility, a consideration which squashed many of the hopes he had for major tax reform in the present Congressional session.

The one Law School fugitive who has been able to deal with strictly legal problems is Archibald Cox, Solicitor-General. He is responsible for arguing all cases appearing before the Supreme Court in which the federal government is involved. Yet despite the fact that Cox has kept up with the law, he says that Cambridge and Washington don't even lend themselves to comparison. Although the job of Solicitor-General is a busy one, so, says Cox, is that of a Law School professor. "But my wife says it's busier here."

There was one aspect of life in Washington upon which all five former professors could agree: social life in the nation's Capital. Cox avoids it by living in Virginia; Surrey avoids it to have time for his work; and McNaughton stays away on general principle. Chayes attends the mandatory diplomatic functions but complains silently. Bell, who is probably forced to appear at more events than others, defers to feminine judgment. "Ask any of our wives. They all want to return to Cambridge."