Bush Appoints Harvard Alums

President Bush may have spent his undergraduate years at Yale, but his recent picks for top government positions bleed Crimson.

In the last week, Bush appointed three Harvard alums to chief posts in his second-term administration.

Yesterday, he nominated Michael Chertoff ’75—also a graduate of Harvard Law School (HLS)—to replace Tom Ridge ’67 as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On Friday, Bush tapped Robert B. Zoellick—a graduate of HLS and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (KSG)—to serve as deputy secretary of state. And on Monday, Bush appointed Harvard Business School (HBS) and HLS graduate Allan B. Hubbard to act as a top economic policy adviser and director of the White House’s National Economic Council.

Bush turned to Chertoff, a judge who sits on the Third Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, to head the DHS after his first choice for the position—Bernard B. Kerik—withdrew his name last month.

Chertoff, a 1978 HLS graduate, was at Harvard as recently as last November, when he sat on a panel at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. One of the panel’s criticisms involved the United States’ role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

But despite the panel’s criticism of U.S. actions, “there’s no question [Chertoff] is conservative,” said Executive Director of the Belfer Center Juliette N. Kayyem ’91, noting Chertoff’s prominent role in crafting the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Ames Professor of Law Philip B. Heymann—who invited Chertoff to serve on the Belfer Center panel—said Bush made a “superb pick” and called Chertoff an “extremely smart, very analytical, clear-eyed and tough-minded” person.

Both Kayyem and Heymann noted the “overwhelming” management challenge Chertoff will face at the DHS. “You stand in the position of taking responsibility when and if there is another terrorist attack,” Heymann said.

Bush called Chertoff a “practical organizer, a skilled manager and a brilliant thinker” at a press conference yesterday.

But Kayyem said she was surprised with Bush’s choice, noting Chertoff’s minimal government managing experience.

From 2001 to 2003, Chertoff was head of the Justice Department’s criminal division and had a major role in shaping the U.S. legal reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He also had a prominent role in the Clinton Whitewater investigation, serving as counsel to Senate Republicans during that inquiry.

No date has been set for Chertoff’s confirmation, but if history is any indication, the process should be relatively quick. Chertoff has been confirmed by the Senate three times for positions within the government, most recently by a margin of 88 to one.

SECOND AT STATE

Bush tapped Zoellick for the State Department’s number-two position at the recommendation of Secretary of State-Designee Condoleezza Rice.

“Condi Rice and Bob Zoellick will form one of the really strong, capable foreign policy teams our country has ever had,” Bush said at a press conference on Friday.

Zoellick has a long history of service in the Reagan and both Bush administrations. Currently, he serves as U.S. Trade Representative in the Treasury Department.

Before Zoellick got a job in the Bush administration, he was a researcher at the Belfer Center from 1999 to the 2000, according to Center Director Graham T. Allison, who taught Zoellick at KSG more than 20 years ago. Zoellick earned degrees from both KSG and HLS in 1981.

Zoellick will replace Richard L. Armitage as the second highest-ranking U.S. diplomat and will likely face Senate confirmation in the coming weeks.

“He’ll be in the midst of anything because the deputy is the more like the chief operating officer,” said Allison, a former assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration. “He’ll obviously do whatever Condi [Rice] doesn’t want to do.”

Allison said those issues could range from Iraq to Russia to nuclear terrorism. But he said he thinks Zoellick is well prepared.

“He presents a pair of fresh eyes to the problem,” Allison said. “Having somebody who is smart, analytic, operational and not incumbered by having been a part of the first term—he’s ideally situated.”

THE ADVISER

Hubbard—known affectionately as “Hubbs” to the President—first met Bush when they were both students at HBS in the early 1970s.

“They’ve remained very close since then, both as personal friends before the election and now working together,” said Paul Professor of Government Stephen Goldsmith of KSG, who is also a friend of Hubbard.

Hubbard will play a key role in advancing the President’s economic agenda, which may involve overhauling social security, putting caps on lawsuit winnings and restructuring the tax code.

Two years after graduating from Harvard, Hubbard co-founded E&A Industries, Inc., an Indiana-based chemical company that he still heads today. In the middle of his business venture, Hubbard relocated to Washington, D.C. to serve as deputy chief of staff to then-Vice President Dan Quayle.

Goldsmith said Hubbard’s experience in both the private and public sectors makes him a good candidate to advise the President.

“The fact that he’s a Harvard MBA that has run a series of business and that he has held political positions is an interesting combination,” he said. “He has a very quick mind and he’s able to understand political problems in a practical way.”

Goldsmith, the former mayor of Indianapolis, worked with “Hubbs” when they were advisers to the Bush campaign in 2000.

In addition to his MBA from HBS, Hubbard also holds a degree from HLS. He replaces Stephen Friedman, who resigned from the post last month.

—Staff writer Javier C. Hernandez can be reached at jhernand@fas.harvard.edu.