Kerry Pays Hushed Visit to Campus

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) met with two groups of Harvard students on Monday afternoon after a personal invitation was extended to him by Maxine Isaacs, an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

Kerry, the Commonwealth’s junior senator, served as the Democratic standard-bearer in 2004 and was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1985. He is widely believed to be harboring presidential aspirations for 2008.

Kerry first met with students yesterday at the Institute of Politics, where he had a short lunch with a group of twelve first-years from Isaacs’ freshmen seminar, “American Presidential Campaigns and Elections 1960–2004.” The event was closed to reporters, but according to Isaacs and students who were present, Kerry mostly spoke about the process of running for president in the modern era.

A student from the seminar also mentioned that Kerry discussed some of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned from the 2004 campaign.

The same student said that Kerry also spoke about the direction of the Democratic Party and its potential to capitalize on recent indictments and investigations of Republican leaders.

Following the smaller lunch, Kerry spoke to a larger group of students from Isaacs’ KSG class, “Foreign Policy, the News, and American Public Opinion.”

Many of the freshmen from her seminar, as well as some passersby, attended that event as well.

In total, over 75 KSG students attended the second event, which was also closed to reporters. Because the subject matter of the Kennedy School class is different from that of the seminar, Kerry spoke about foreign policy in the context of modern politics, according to Isaacs.

A student who attended the event said that Kerry also spoke a bit about the Democratic Party and its framing of a platform and message for the midterm elections in 2006.

Isaacs, who served as press secretary for former Vice President Walter F. Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign, organized the event by personally inviting Kerry to speak to her classes.

She said that she wears two hats—one as a former political professional, and the other as a faculty member of the University.

Though she had no formal connections to the Kerry campaign, her husband, James A. Johnson, headed Kerry’s search for a running mate in the spring and early summer of 2004.

A well-connected Democratic activist and businessman, Johnson formerly served as the chairman of the Brookings Institution, a prominent liberal think-tank in Washington, D.C.

Though several students were contacted by The Crimson, all but one—who spoke on the condition of anonymity—refused to provide any comment on the event.

According to both Kerry’s press liaison and Isaacs, the event was meant to be an off-the-record talk to a group of students, and reporting the specifics of Kerry’s speeches would jeopardize his ability to speak candidly on important issues.