Ventura Speech Packs Forum

Trailed at all times by a gaggle of media, a spirited Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura reveled in Harvardiana at a series of campus appearances yesterday.

Ventura's visit to Harvard culminated in a boisterous appearance on the already-raucous CNBC program "Hardball," which broadcast live from the Kennedy School of Government.

The outspoken governor's comments touched on everything from the Kennedy assassination to his troubles with the press to his agenda for Minnesota.

Most students questioned Ventura about political leadership and policy, while the media focused on controversial remarks the governor gave to a Playboy Magazine interviewer several months ago.

Although his face hardened in response to several queries during the day, Ventura never seemed to forget where he was.

"When you grew up in South Minneapolis, you only heard about Harvard," a smiling Ventura told a group of students.

In several venues, Ventura defended remarks he made about organized religion, which, in the Playboy interview he said was a "sham."

"I have nothing at all against religious people and people's beliefs," he said.

He said that in characterizing people who follow an organized religion "weak-minded," "there's not necessarily a bad connotation to being weak-minded." He said that people seeking sanctuary in a faith can find peace. "But I generally don't need it," he said.

Pressed by Hardball host Chris Matthews, Ventura said he indeed believed in God.

"[People say] that I believe in a higher power because I believe in fate," Ventura said.

Three times yesterday, Ventura told audiences that he had "no sympathy" for people who attempt suicide.

"If you're at the point of committing suicide, it can only get better," said Ventura.

Asked by reporters why residents in Minnesota say they don't favor him as much as they used to, Ventura said he doesn't have to listen to the polls.

"It was interesting how the poll happened immediately after the Playboy controversy," he said.

But although he answered their questions, the governor reserved his harshest criticism for the media who covered his every move.

When speaking to a group of students at an Institute of Politics (IOP) event, he turned to a bank of cameras in front of him and said, "Let's get them out of here."

He said he'll give, on average, about 1,000 interviews a year--and is frequently misinterpreted.

"I say what I think, and I'm not afraid to do so," he said repeatedly.

A remark regarding those on a vegetarian diet elicited nervous chuckles.

"You mow the lawn, and give them a bottle of salad dressing, and they'll be happy," he joked.

Students largely ignored the imbroglio over Playboy, focusing instead on how the governor aimed to reform his state.

Ventura said his top priority is putting to the voters a referendum that would amend the Minnesota constitution to make the legislature unicameral.

He said, at present time, he has no intention to run for president.

"You have to want the job. And I don't want the job," he said.

Still, as the Reform Party's highest-ranking elected official, Ventura holds significant sway over whom the party decides to nominate.

Ventura is said to be intrigued by the candidacy of real estate mogul Donald Trump, and much less enamoured about the prospect of Pat Buchanan joining his party.

Asked by CNBC's Matthews about being in the same party with Buchanan, Ventura responded, "No, we're not, no, we're not."

Matthews began another Hardball segment by attempting to induce Ventura to elaborate on comments he made about the assassination of John F. Kennedy '40.

Ventura told Playboy that he thought the "military-industrial complex" killed the popular president in 1963.

Matthews pressed Ventura to definitively say there was a conspiracy, although the governor refused. He said that he did not believe the Warren Commissioner's version of the event.

"As a former [Navy Seal], I can't buy the fact the fact that Oswald acted alone," Ventura said.

But he refused to state whether he truly thought a government conspiracy was to blame.

That comment led to a tense exchange with Matthews.

"All I can say is that I read...."

"What?" interrupted a visibly upset Matthews.

"I read a tremendous amount of books...and I look at the facts...and I don't have all these answers," Ventura said.

Between the charged moments on television, Ventura visibly relaxed during commercials, amiably sparring with Matthews and members of the audience.

"The weapons here are words, not muscles," Matthews quipped. "Thank God."

Ventura responded with a straight face: "As long as I don't get mad."

Most students said they were impressed by Ventura's lucidity.

"I think he's revitalizing [and] making people interested in politics," said Lisa M. Herman '01.

"He definitely tried to build up students and seemed very positive," said Alexis J. Loeb '02, referring to the governor's trade of playing to his audience.

Others said they were weary of the governor's self-professed "political incorrectness."

"He had a lot of interesting things to say, but they didn't seem particularly relevant to the governor of a state," said Carrie Roby '03. "I think it turned a little into, oh, what will Jesse say to this?" she said.

Ventura, however, called his Harvard experience "terrific."

"All these kids that go to Harvard seem like regular kids," he said.

Ventura, his aides and three security officers arrived in Cambridge around noon.

He met with a select group of Harvard professors, including several economists, at a closed-door session in the early afternoon, discussing globalization and trade.

"I've learned that Minnesota has to compete like its own entity," he said.

Ventura said he was impressed at the respect accorded to him.

"It's a change to go for free. I don't think it's something you'd be doing," he said, referring to Harvard's tuition rates.

Late in the afternoon, Ventura spoke to the Harvard Crimson football team, saying the players broke his stereotype about Ivy League sports.

As Ventura was at Soldiers' Field, CNBC's crew was busy turning the ARCO Forum into a television soundstage, complete with klieg lights and cameras on cranes.

Nearly 80 members of the national media showed up to cover the event. Reporters from the country's major newspapers and newsmagazines crowded around students at the end of the event.