Galbraith Shares Wisdom

Famed economist and Warburg Professor Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith regaled a packed ARCO Forum crowd last night with memories of a lifetime spent working alongside the like of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904, and John F. Kennedy ’40.

Speaking with a booming voice, Galbraith, 93, entertained listeners with personal anecdotes gleaned from a long career as a public servant, while also offering his perspective on current events ranging from U.S. drug policy to the collapse of Enron.

The Institute of Politics event, titled “The World According to Galbraith,” became a conversation between the audience and Galbraith. Richard Parker, an adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government who is author of a forthcoming book on Galbraith, moderated.

Galbraith playfully answered questions from Parker and the audience for a little over an hour.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who Galbraith called the largest political influences in his life, ruled America as if it were an extension of their Hyde Park home, Galbraith said.

Kennedy, whom Galbraith met at Harvard and later served under as ambassador, was “intelligent, attractive” but not particularly given to hard work, Galbraith said.

On Parker’s prompting, Galbraith sent the audience into howls by repeating a line from a telegram he sent Kennedy, who was also a Crimson editor, protesting an attempt on the part of the State Department to have his communications with the president channeled through them.

“Communicating through the State Department was like having sexual intercourse through the sheets,” Galbraith said, adding that he may have originally put it in somewhat rougher terms.

And Lyndon B. Johnson, whom Galbraith ultimately clashed with in opposing the Vietnam War, was the most misunderstood man to hold the presidency, he told the audience last night.

Galbraith also commented on more recent events, starting with a subtle jab at President Bush.

A staunch Democrat, Galbraith praised former President Ronald Reagan for enjoying the presidency far more than actual involvement in policymaking, and said that he must be one of the few Democrats in America yearning for the days of the Reagan administration “over our current situation.”

In the course of the conversation Galbraith called the Enron debacle predictable, but defended the modern corporation as an inherently sound institution.

In response to an audience member’s question Galbraith said that he had significant doubts about America’s attempt to crackdown on drugs through legal action, comparing it to the Prohibition of his youth.

Galbraith was born in Canada in 1908, and was educated at the University of Toronto and the University of California. He came to Harvard permanently in 1948 after administering a wartime system of price controls under Roosevelt.

In 1958 Galbraith wrote The Affluent Society, a book which has been praised for its insight into driving forces behind the modern U.S. economy.

Galbraith served as ambassador to India from 1961 to 1963.

Galbraith retired from Harvard in 1975, but has remained in Cambridge with his wife Kitty since.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.