Thornburgh Brings IOP His Political Experience and New Electoral Hopes

"Any son of a bitch that thinks he'd like to be President of the United States ought to try being governor of Pennsylvania for a few years," reads a sign about to be hung on the wall of Gov. Richard L. Thornburgh's Kennedy School office.

The new Director of the Institute of Politics (IOP) is sitting behind his desk on a rainy July day, surrounded by boxes that litter his freshly vacuumed office floor. A small bust of Abraham Lincoln and a picture of Dick, as his friends call him, at the Great Wall of China stand out amongst the debris. Worn books on politics such as "All the President's Men," "The Final Days," "The Brethren," and works by Garry Wills and William Safire stare out from the wall behind him.

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But it is the quotation on the plaque which catches the visitor's eye, reflecting the kind of hardnosed attitude, picked up from years of running for and holding elective office, that Thornburgh brings with him to his new job. Thornburgh is first and foremost a politican, and his background in and love for electoral politics was a prime reason why the K-school hired him.

Criticized by some of its own professors forbeing prejudiced towards management andpolicymaking, the K-School hopes that Thornburghwill bring a new emphasis on electoral politics tothe school. But President Bok and K-School DeanGraham Allison may have picked such a dedicatedpolitician that Thornburgh may practice what hewas hired to teach in the upcoming 1988presidential elections.

However, Thornburgh puts aside recent pressreports about his "testing the waters" for apossible 1988 presidential run, to talk about hisgoals at the IOP with gusto.

A branch of the K-School, the IOP bringsfellows to the School and sponsors events andstudy groups which bring politicians, media, andgovernment officials together with students andfaculty. An organization of undergraduates advisesthe IOP and helps plan events and study groups.

In his first official interview since assumingoffice in the beginning of June, Thornburgh agreedthat the School had become too concentrated on managerial issues and was losing sight of the"real world of politics."

"People who develop skill in policymaking andmanagement tend to ignore electoral politics. Thatis a mistake," says Thornburgh. "It violates arule of nature: a stream can't rise any higherthan its source."

Thornburgh also plans to push two other themesat the K-School that draw on his past experiencesin electoral politics. As the governor ofPennsylvania for eight years, Thornburgh has spentmuch of his political life at the state level,which he feels has been neglected by academics andyoung politicians.

"There is too much concentration on Washingtonhere and not enough on the local and state level,"complains Thornburgh. "The Kennedy School mustensure that appropriate emphasis is devoted todeveloping effective participation in state andlocal government."

As governor, Thornburgh has traveledextensively "all over the globe" meeting foreigndignitaries and especially politicians at levelsof government similar to his own. The study ofgovernment, especially at the state and locallevel, can benefit greatly by examining howpoliticians in other countries handle very similarproblems, he says.

"We can profit considerably with interchangebetween politicians in this country and those inother nations," Thornburgh says.

But Thornburgh's first concern is fulfillinghis mandate to engineer a new emphasis onelectoral politics at Harvard. Because he does nothave any direct influence on courses or professorsat the K-School, Thornburgh's first moves will bemade through the the traditional functions of theIOP.

First, Thornburgh plans to bring more electedpoliticians to the K-School as IOP fellows. Hehopes that exposure to these office-holders willturn the minds of students and faculty throughoutHarvard toward electoral politics.

Second, the IOP's new head intends to schedulemore events, such as a presidential debate nextyear, that center on elections and to work withundergraduates to develop more non-credit studygroups that examine the increasingly complicatedelectoral process. Third, the former U.S.assistant attorney general under President Fordwants to sponsor more substantive scholarship andstudies at Harvard on electoral politics.

The '88 presidential elections, in addition totempting Thornburgh to run himself, present aperfect point of focus for the former governor'simmediate mission of inspiring the K-School, andHarvard in general, to take an interest inelectoral politics. "We must encourage students toget involved in the campaigns," he says.

To that end, Thornburgh is planning a debate inthe Arco Forum between the candidates of bothparties, as well as a series of public events thatwill bring together scholars and experts todiscuss issues of the coming campaign, such aswelfare reform, the deficit, Star Wars andeconomic competitiveness. "I hope to promote somemeaningful discussion, which you'll see isn'talways the case as you saw in the Democraticdebate [last week]," he says.

Meanwhile, on other fronts, Thornburgh haspushed to expand the study of electoral politicsthroughout the University. Part of the dealbringing him to Harvard included the formation ofa faculty committee to study closely how electoralpolitics could be included in different schools'curricula and how they could be taught. He admitsthat instruction on electoral politics has notbeen extensive at Harvard and throughout academia,but he eventually hopes to see some type ofinstruction on the subject available at theCollege, the Law School, and the Business School,among others.

"The question is 'How do we translate thisconcern [for electoral politics] into the academicenvironment?'" asks Thornburgh. "What is the bestway? A course? A workshop? What kind faculty wouldteach them? Is there room in the curriculum?"

Thornburgh hopes to find answers to thesequestions in order to establish the study ofelectoral politics at Harvard and in academia on apar with more popular subjects such as managementand policymaking. It is a mission that he feels isvital to the improvement of the American politicalsystem, and one that he says is often overlookedby today's technocrat politicians.

"In our society we have chosen to giveresponsibility and power to the elected official,"says Thornburgh. "While skill is needed toformulate and carry out policy by non-electedpeople, the elected official is more important."

"That's a civics lesson that is oftenforgotten," Thornburgh says.

Looking out the window from his office with itsview of Kirkland House, Thornburgh could say hehas learned his lesson well.

Born on July 16, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Thornburghwas the son of an engineer and grandson of aprofessor. He graduated from Yale in 1954 with adegree in engineering and went to law school, andpracticed law in Pittsburgh. He married his secondwife in 1963, Virginia "Ginny" Judson, who hasworked to help the handicapped and mentallyretarded.

Thornburgh got his start in politics in 1969when he was appointed U.S. attorney for westernPennsylvania. The young Thornburgh quickly won aname for himself as he aggressively attackedorganized crime, corruption, drug trafficking andpornography. As a result of his strong anti-crimestance, in 1975 he was appointed by President Fordto the post of Assistant Attorney General of theU.S., in charge of the Justice Department'sCriminal Division.

Ending his tour as Assistant U.S. AttorneyGeneral in 1977, the Yale graduate decided to trya run as his party's candidate for governor ofPennsylvania. Facing a strong Democratic opponentwho held an early 30-point lead in aoverwhelmingly Democratic state, Thornburgh wageda tough campaign to win the post he would hold forthe next eight years.

As governor in 1979, Thornburgh quicklyembarked on his platform to reduce taxes and theamount of state expenditures. During hiseight-year term he cut state income and businesstaxes by $1 billion over three years and fired15,000 state employees. He further reducedgovernment expenditures by kicking what helabelled able bodied adults off the welfare rollsand passing laws restricting the amount of medicalcost assistance.

Thornburgh governed his state through one ofits toughest economic periods in history. Hard hitby economic recession and the decline of itssmoke-stack industries in coal and steel,Pennsylvania's unemployment rate reached seventhhighest in the nation when he took office. Byencouraging national economic trends towardservice-oriented and high technology businessesand creating job retraining programs, Thornburghis credited by his followers with creating morethan 500,000 new jobs and reducing unemployment tothe point where Pennsylvania was at the nationalaverage. His voters seemed to approve as theyreturned him to office by more than 100,000 votesin 1982.

Although the state constitution forbade himfrom holding office a third consecutive term, theattraction of running in an election was not loston Thornburgh as 1986 approached. First he lovedwith the idea of running against incumbent ArlenSpecter (R.-Pa.) for a U.S. Senate seat. Hisstatewide popularity would have made that electiona close one, but friendship with Specter anddesire to "get out of politics for a while" madeThornburgh change his mind.

Nevertheless, he waited for a job that wouldallow him "to gain a perspective on politics" and"keep in touch with my colleagues and the issuesof the day." For Thornburgh, the IOP position wasthe perfect job. He even turned down an offer byPresident Reagan to become Director of the FBIbecause "it was a 10-year commitment I wasn'tready to make."

"This is a very comfortable environment forme," says Thornburgh. "I also find the IOP to be achallenging opportunity for someone who has spentthe last 18 years in public service."

But watching from the sidelines as his partybegan to prepare for the 1988 presidentialelections, Thornburgh could not resist as he sawGary Hart's candidacy self-destruct in a week andVice-President George Bush fail to do well at thepolls. In June, Thornburgh gave his approval toaides' urgings that he at least consider a run forthe Republican nomination.

Fiscal integrity and ethical integrity seem tobe the issues he could run far on, according tohis aides, because of his strong stands on budgetcutting and crime. "He's got the profile webelieve the voters out there are looking for,"says a long-time gubernatorial aide.

"It is unlikely that I will become acandidate," Thornburgh says with an almost sadsmile on his face. "But I have to keep my optionsopen."

Thornburgh will make a final decision on apossible run in the fall, after contactingRepublican leaders, Pennsylvania officials, andfundraising sources.

"You just don't know what opportunities mightbe available," Thornburgh says.

For although he plans his stay with the IOP tobe "a break for a couple of years," Thornburghwarns that "in electoral politics 24 hours can bea lifetime."

"I have no long-term game-plan," he claims.

"But what I do have is a zest for politics, andI want to bring that zest to the next generationof leaders here at Harvard," Thornburgh says.RICHARD L. THORNBURGH may catch somethingbigger than a fish the next time he goes out to"test the waters," his aides say.