What attracted you to Berkeley? The teaching and scholarly energy. I first came here in 1967, right in the middle of the largest mobilization of protest against the Vietnam War. My problem was that I thought we were doing the right thing in the war. But it was just wonderful. We came up on Lower Sproul Plaza and there was every kind of human being you could imagine. They were excited and spirited. I just loved it. That convinced my wife and me that this was the place where we wanted to be.
Assessing his former boss: He loved action and decisiveness. Early in his presidency, he accomplished some things that he’d made his major purpose — to get the U.N. to perform its collective action function of repelling aggression across international lines. Having done that so early, he was left with domestic problems, and they weren’t very interesting to him.
What’s the most important issue facing the next president? Our perseverance in the Middle East, period. This is a commander-in-chief election, as far as I’m concerned.
