At Harvard, Weld Was Scholar, Free Spirit

Former Harvard classmates of Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld '66 say they never doubted the extroverted Adams House resident would make a name for himself.

But most thought he would do this behind a lectern, not in the State House.

I remember the sense we all shared that Bill Weld was destined to be a leading player someday or the other, " says Mitchell L. Adams '66, a fellow Adams House resident. "His performance was so impressive in everything he did and his marks were so good that we knew he was destined to accomplish a lot.

What distinguished Weld as an undergraduate was his intelligence and keen wit, say friends who knew the 48-year-old Republican governor during his Harvard years.

Not only did Weld, a classics concentrator, excel in academics, he also participated in a myriad of extracurricular and social campus activities.

And unlike his leading Democratic gubernatorial opponents, who also attended Harvard, the governor chose to delay his entrance into the political arena until after college, choosing instead to pursue his intel- lectual and artistic interests at Harvard.

Friends remember that Weld seemed to breezethrough all his classes, enabling him to devotehis free time to many other interests.

"I remember that he got A's in Greek classeswhich I could never get A's in. He just sailedthrough the difficult classes always making A's"says Robert T. Bledsoe '66, another Adams Houseresident.

The governor had an impressive academic recordat Harvard. He was one of only 45 students in hisclass to graduate summa cum laude, he was a PhiBeta Kappa member, he received a Detur Prize and aJohn Harvard Scholarship and he presented theLatin Oration at the 1966 Commencement ceremonies.

When it came time for Weld to choose anupperclass house, friends say they did not expectWeld--whose prestigious family name adorns afirst-year dormitory and a boathouse--to choosethe artistic and diverse Adams House.

But Weld, educated at Middlesex school, choseto reside in Adams which the 1966 yearbookdescribed as a house "with an image that rangesfrom the lascivious to the simplylaissez-faire...Adams expresses its charismathrough music, drama, scorpion--almost every formof creative activity including the creation of agood time."

Friends of Weld say Adams House had alwaysearned the reputation for being an exciting andeventful house.

"Adams was like a Renaissance Florentineacademy," former resident James E. Maraniss '66says. "It was a place where you were anintellectual and an aesthete. However, there wasalso a slight aura of decadence there."

The house dining hall was a popular reunionplace where Weld and his friends would discuss avariety of social and cultural issues, thegovernor's classmates say.

"We used to argue about a lot of differentsubjects. No topic was taboo...that was the justthe spirit of Adams House," Douglas M. Cameron '66says. "In our discussions, the more ideas peoplehad, the better."

"We used to have such intense conversationsthat people used to pull napkins out of thecontainer and draw their arguments on them,"Cameron adds.

Although Weld was eloquent in many subjects,friends say some of his political discussionsclearly reflected his conservative upbringing.

"Bill had some elitist ideas about societywhich I think were associated with his socialbackground from the ruling class," Maraniss said.

In fact, Weld's political views often differedfrom those of the traditional Adams resident--andfrom those of his roommate as well.

"We occasionally had some political discussion.I came from a Bohemian background, where I hadlearned that to be a republican, you had to beeither rich or stupid," Weld's roommate Peter C.Brooks '66 says. "I was brought up with the ideasof social action and a good conscience. I mean, myhero was Franklin Roosevelt. That was contrary to[Weld's] background."

Regardless of his political inclinations,Weld's friends say the future governor was willingto discuss any variety of topics.

"He was fun to sit down with you and engage youin conversation," says Cameron, an associateprofessor of Spanish at Ursinus College inPennsylvania. "He loved to engage people from allwalks of life, not just the clubbies."

Arts, Not Politics

When Weld was not studying Latin poetry ordebating in Adams House, he was participating in avariety of extracurricular activities thatreflected his interest in literature and arts--notpolitics.

Weld was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club,the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Signet Societyand the Fly Club. He was not an active member ofstudent government, nor of any politicalorganization on campus.

Even as a thesis-writing senior, the governordid not reduce his extracurricular did notinvolvement, playing the lead role in the HastyPudding's senior show, "Right up your Alley."

"Bill didn't have a topic for his senior thesisuntil two weeks before it was due," Adams says."He finally picked out a topic, and I rememberthat during rehearsals, there Bill was in costume,under the stage, in between scenes, with a pad andpaper, writing his thesis."

Weld's performance in the senior play was lessthan spectacular however, according to an openingnight review in The Crimson on March 15, 1966.

"Bill Weld played Vera Similitude as though shewere a gigantic doll. After this stopped beingamusing (about three minutes), Vera became aliability, since she was substantially lessbelievable than the rest of the characters),"wrote the Crimson reviewer. "Considering thepossibilities of the genre, Right Up the Alley, isa real dog."

In addition to his academic and dramaticendeavors, Weld also had an active social life asa member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the FlyClub, two organizations which members say havechanged since the governor left Harvard.

"The Pudding Club was very much more of a goingconcern back than then it is now. The Club almostoccupied the whole building--we ate on the thirdfloor and had the bar on the second, says Adams,who was president of the club. "Bill went therefor dinner and drinks frequently."

"The Fly Club was almost an extension of AdamsHouse back then in a way. There were lots ofdifferent types of people in it from all over theworld. It was a real discussion club," saysCameron, a fellow member of the Fly Club.

The Calm Before the Storm

Although the late 1960's and early 1970'sproduced a wave of radical protests at theCollege, members of the Class of '66 say Harvardwas relatively calm while they were on campus.

The nationwide "counter-culture" that developedin response to the escalation of the Vietnam Waremerged at Harvard soon after the class of '66 hadgraduated. During the mid-sixties, many studentswere becoming increasingly concerned about theuncertainty of their draft status.

"In June '66, we smoked cigarettes and drankbooze, but there was no marijuana, no long hairand no protests," says Adams, who is currently thestate's revenue commissioner. "The campusatmosphere was pretty uniform over the four years.It was the calm before the storm. '62 to '66 waslike '48 to '52 and probably not that differentfrom '35 to '40. The class of '66 was the last ofthe `old days.'"

There were fewer opportunities to bepolitically active or socially rebellious between1962 and 1966 than there were in the late 1960's,former students say.

"Weld did not participate in the`counter-culture,' but he did like rock music alot," Adams says. "However, it wasn't until thespring of the '66...that we first became aware ofpsychedelic drugs. They then slowly began to creepinto our discussion."

But even during calmer times at the College,Adams House had its share of radical activists,former students say.

"A friend of ours in the House was aself-styled Bolshevik--the big beard, the Sovietcap and the bright red scarf. He didn't knowwhether he was Lenin or Trotsky. He even boycottedbathing for six weeks to make a politicalstatement," Brooks recalls. "He walked into ourroom and said...`You two will be condemned by theRevolution...'He then pulled out a gun, aimed itat my head and pulled the trigger...It must havebeen a cap gun or a starter's pistol. Bill justkind of chuckled and shrugged it off."

A Quiet But Exigent Roommate

Weld's roommates and friends say that as anundergraduate the governor was easygoing andfriendly, although he did have his idiosyncrasies.

"He had a difference of opinion over how peoplepronounce things, like he hated when people usedto say car-a-mel instead of carmel," Brooks says.

Weld's next-door neighbor David Marsten '66remembers that the future governor liked to studyin peace and frequently complained about loudmusic coming from Marsten's room.

"Practically every other evening, he wouldpolitely come to my door and ask me to lower thevolume of my [Richard] Wagner and other greatoperas so that he could read his Cicero," Marstensays.

Brooks says that since Weld used to go to bed"fairly early" and wake up "fairly early," Brooksrelied on Weld to wake him up in the morning.

But Brooks says his usually quiet roommatesometimes displayed a wild streak.

"I remember one night when we covered ourselvesin bear skins and we crawled down Mt. Auburn St.,"Brooks says. "It was like there were two furryblobs crawling down the street."

Besides his quirks, Brooks says Weld was a veryconsiderate roommate.

"I was a heavy smoker...I don't know how welived in the environment that we did," saysBrooks, who was Weld's roommate for seven years."He didn't get down on me for smoking, however hedid try to insist that I use ashtrays."

From Law to Politics

After he graduated, Weld studied at OxfordUniversity on a year-long fellowship program, andthen returned to Harvard for law school.

Weld spent five years as a federal prosecutorin Boston and two years in Washington, D.C. beforehe made his first gubernatorial bid in 1990.

The fiscally conservative, socially liberalRepublican governor is now considered as anattractive Republican candidate for the 1996presidential election.

Weld's Harvard friends have few doubts aboutthe governors' chances.

"I'm sure he will be the next President,"Marsten said.

Before he considers the White House, however,Weld must, in the upcoming months, defend hisgubernatorial seat from the two leading Democratichopefuls, State Sen. Michael J. Barrett '70(D-Cambridge) and State Rep. Mark Roosevelt `78(D-Beacon Hill).

Whatever the final tally in November, a Harvarddiploma will likely be hanging g on the walls ofthe governor's office.GraphicAlex B. LivingstonHarvard: 1962 to 1966

Friends remember that Weld seemed to breezethrough all his classes, enabling him to devotehis free time to many other interests.

"I remember that he got A's in Greek classeswhich I could never get A's in. He just sailedthrough the difficult classes always making A's"says Robert T. Bledsoe '66, another Adams Houseresident.

The governor had an impressive academic recordat Harvard. He was one of only 45 students in hisclass to graduate summa cum laude, he was a PhiBeta Kappa member, he received a Detur Prize and aJohn Harvard Scholarship and he presented theLatin Oration at the 1966 Commencement ceremonies.

When it came time for Weld to choose anupperclass house, friends say they did not expectWeld--whose prestigious family name adorns afirst-year dormitory and a boathouse--to choosethe artistic and diverse Adams House.

But Weld, educated at Middlesex school, choseto reside in Adams which the 1966 yearbookdescribed as a house "with an image that rangesfrom the lascivious to the simplylaissez-faire...Adams expresses its charismathrough music, drama, scorpion--almost every formof creative activity including the creation of agood time."

Friends of Weld say Adams House had alwaysearned the reputation for being an exciting andeventful house.

"Adams was like a Renaissance Florentineacademy," former resident James E. Maraniss '66says. "It was a place where you were anintellectual and an aesthete. However, there wasalso a slight aura of decadence there."

The house dining hall was a popular reunionplace where Weld and his friends would discuss avariety of social and cultural issues, thegovernor's classmates say.

"We used to argue about a lot of differentsubjects. No topic was taboo...that was the justthe spirit of Adams House," Douglas M. Cameron '66says. "In our discussions, the more ideas peoplehad, the better."

"We used to have such intense conversationsthat people used to pull napkins out of thecontainer and draw their arguments on them,"Cameron adds.

Although Weld was eloquent in many subjects,friends say some of his political discussionsclearly reflected his conservative upbringing.

"Bill had some elitist ideas about societywhich I think were associated with his socialbackground from the ruling class," Maraniss said.

In fact, Weld's political views often differedfrom those of the traditional Adams resident--andfrom those of his roommate as well.

"We occasionally had some political discussion.I came from a Bohemian background, where I hadlearned that to be a republican, you had to beeither rich or stupid," Weld's roommate Peter C.Brooks '66 says. "I was brought up with the ideasof social action and a good conscience. I mean, myhero was Franklin Roosevelt. That was contrary to[Weld's] background."

Regardless of his political inclinations,Weld's friends say the future governor was willingto discuss any variety of topics.

"He was fun to sit down with you and engage youin conversation," says Cameron, an associateprofessor of Spanish at Ursinus College inPennsylvania. "He loved to engage people from allwalks of life, not just the clubbies."

Arts, Not Politics

When Weld was not studying Latin poetry ordebating in Adams House, he was participating in avariety of extracurricular activities thatreflected his interest in literature and arts--notpolitics.

Weld was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club,the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Signet Societyand the Fly Club. He was not an active member ofstudent government, nor of any politicalorganization on campus.

Even as a thesis-writing senior, the governordid not reduce his extracurricular did notinvolvement, playing the lead role in the HastyPudding's senior show, "Right up your Alley."

"Bill didn't have a topic for his senior thesisuntil two weeks before it was due," Adams says."He finally picked out a topic, and I rememberthat during rehearsals, there Bill was in costume,under the stage, in between scenes, with a pad andpaper, writing his thesis."

Weld's performance in the senior play was lessthan spectacular however, according to an openingnight review in The Crimson on March 15, 1966.

"Bill Weld played Vera Similitude as though shewere a gigantic doll. After this stopped beingamusing (about three minutes), Vera became aliability, since she was substantially lessbelievable than the rest of the characters),"wrote the Crimson reviewer. "Considering thepossibilities of the genre, Right Up the Alley, isa real dog."

In addition to his academic and dramaticendeavors, Weld also had an active social life asa member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the FlyClub, two organizations which members say havechanged since the governor left Harvard.

"The Pudding Club was very much more of a goingconcern back than then it is now. The Club almostoccupied the whole building--we ate on the thirdfloor and had the bar on the second, says Adams,who was president of the club. "Bill went therefor dinner and drinks frequently."

"The Fly Club was almost an extension of AdamsHouse back then in a way. There were lots ofdifferent types of people in it from all over theworld. It was a real discussion club," saysCameron, a fellow member of the Fly Club.

The Calm Before the Storm

Although the late 1960's and early 1970'sproduced a wave of radical protests at theCollege, members of the Class of '66 say Harvardwas relatively calm while they were on campus.

The nationwide "counter-culture" that developedin response to the escalation of the Vietnam Waremerged at Harvard soon after the class of '66 hadgraduated. During the mid-sixties, many studentswere becoming increasingly concerned about theuncertainty of their draft status.

"In June '66, we smoked cigarettes and drankbooze, but there was no marijuana, no long hairand no protests," says Adams, who is currently thestate's revenue commissioner. "The campusatmosphere was pretty uniform over the four years.It was the calm before the storm. '62 to '66 waslike '48 to '52 and probably not that differentfrom '35 to '40. The class of '66 was the last ofthe `old days.'"

There were fewer opportunities to bepolitically active or socially rebellious between1962 and 1966 than there were in the late 1960's,former students say.

"Weld did not participate in the`counter-culture,' but he did like rock music alot," Adams says. "However, it wasn't until thespring of the '66...that we first became aware ofpsychedelic drugs. They then slowly began to creepinto our discussion."

But even during calmer times at the College,Adams House had its share of radical activists,former students say.

"A friend of ours in the House was aself-styled Bolshevik--the big beard, the Sovietcap and the bright red scarf. He didn't knowwhether he was Lenin or Trotsky. He even boycottedbathing for six weeks to make a politicalstatement," Brooks recalls. "He walked into ourroom and said...`You two will be condemned by theRevolution...'He then pulled out a gun, aimed itat my head and pulled the trigger...It must havebeen a cap gun or a starter's pistol. Bill justkind of chuckled and shrugged it off."

A Quiet But Exigent Roommate

Weld's roommates and friends say that as anundergraduate the governor was easygoing andfriendly, although he did have his idiosyncrasies.

"He had a difference of opinion over how peoplepronounce things, like he hated when people usedto say car-a-mel instead of carmel," Brooks says.

Weld's next-door neighbor David Marsten '66remembers that the future governor liked to studyin peace and frequently complained about loudmusic coming from Marsten's room.

"Practically every other evening, he wouldpolitely come to my door and ask me to lower thevolume of my [Richard] Wagner and other greatoperas so that he could read his Cicero," Marstensays.

Brooks says that since Weld used to go to bed"fairly early" and wake up "fairly early," Brooksrelied on Weld to wake him up in the morning.

But Brooks says his usually quiet roommatesometimes displayed a wild streak.

"I remember one night when we covered ourselvesin bear skins and we crawled down Mt. Auburn St.,"Brooks says. "It was like there were two furryblobs crawling down the street."

Besides his quirks, Brooks says Weld was a veryconsiderate roommate.

"I was a heavy smoker...I don't know how welived in the environment that we did," saysBrooks, who was Weld's roommate for seven years."He didn't get down on me for smoking, however hedid try to insist that I use ashtrays."

From Law to Politics

After he graduated, Weld studied at OxfordUniversity on a year-long fellowship program, andthen returned to Harvard for law school.

Weld spent five years as a federal prosecutorin Boston and two years in Washington, D.C. beforehe made his first gubernatorial bid in 1990.

The fiscally conservative, socially liberalRepublican governor is now considered as anattractive Republican candidate for the 1996presidential election.

Weld's Harvard friends have few doubts aboutthe governors' chances.

"I'm sure he will be the next President,"Marsten said.

Before he considers the White House, however,Weld must, in the upcoming months, defend hisgubernatorial seat from the two leading Democratichopefuls, State Sen. Michael J. Barrett '70(D-Cambridge) and State Rep. Mark Roosevelt `78(D-Beacon Hill).

Whatever the final tally in November, a Harvarddiploma will likely be hanging g on the walls ofthe governor's office.GraphicAlex B. LivingstonHarvard: 1962 to 1966