Posted on 04/28/2005 7:24:12 AM PDT by rface
When John Bolton '70 LAW '74 took the podium for his commencement speech at the height of campus demonstrations against the Vietnam War, he was not out to please the crowd. Calling the event "an exercise in ideological self-congratulation," Bolton laid out the future of American politics for his left-leaning classmates.
"The conservative underground is alive and well here," he said. "If we do not make our influence felt, rest assured we will in the real world."
Thirty-five years later, Bolton, who mocked audience hecklers in his speech, still displays a conservatism that is no less controversial. Currently President George Bush's '68 nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton's confirmation has been delayed after three Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unexpectedly declared last Thursday that they needed more time to consider Bolton's credentials. Despite the administration's repeated declarations of support, Bolton's nomination remains in jeopardy.
While Bolton's supporters in the White House have argued that he would bring the experience and passion needed to reform to the United Nations, Democrats have assailed his hard-right political views and his often inflammatory criticisms of the United Nations. Further criticism has come from several former co-workers, who reported that Bolton routinely bullied subordinates.
But while several of Bolton's Yale classmates said they remember him as intensely conservative, they do not recall that he was abrasive as some of his current detractors portray him.
"Compared to the persona you see on the news, he was very much a subdued, thoughtful, cordial sort of guy," Bruce Krueger '70, one of Bolton's roommates in Calhoun College, said. "The kind of behavior I'm reading about, doing the work of the administration's bulldog, that's out of character for him."
Bolton arrived at Yale via an unusual trajectory for that time. The son of a fireman, Bolton was raised in a working class Baltimore neighborhood. He won a scholarship to McDonogh, a prestigious Maryland prep school, where he excelled and began his political career as a conservative, running the school's Students for Goldwater campaign in 1964.
In 1966, Bolton enrolled at Yale and, over the next four years, experienced drastic changes in campus culture. He entered the all-male University as a stalwart supporter of the political status quo, and graduated from a co-ed school embroiled in turmoil. During Bolton's junior year, 47 students seized control of a building to protest a firing they claimed was discriminatory. During his senior year, indignation over the trial of Black Panther party Chairman Bobby Seale led to demonstrations, clashes with the police and the suspension of two months of classes.
Confronted with a loud liberal majority on campus, Bolton stuck by his conservative beliefs. At the height of the civil rights movement, Bolton questioned the constitutionality of open workplace laws, though he supported desegregation from a public policy standpoint, classmate Charles Jefferson '70 said. An advocate of engaging in Vietnam, Bolton combined hawkish foreign policy with a critique of big government verging on libertarianism -- an ideological stance he has held with little variation throughout his political career.
"I remain convinced that government is not an effective problem solver," Bolton wrote in an article for the Class of 1970 25th reunion book. "I would still rely on people and markets."
Though classmates said Bolton did not show the bullying personality his contemporary detractors accuse him of, he did establish himself as a passionate Republican who forcefully promoted his views. A political science major who graduated summa cum laude, his undergraduate career at Yale was immersed in conservatism. Bolton was editor in chief of the Yale Conservative, executive emeritus of the Conservative Party of the Yale Political Union, and a member of the Yale Young Republicans.
With liberal sentiment against the Vietnam War dominating campus discussion, he had no shortage of opponents, said Burtis Dougherty '70, a friend of Bolton's.
"[Conservatives] were nowhere near as vocal and certainly nowhere near as listened to as they would have liked to have been," Dougherty said.
Bolton's classmates, liberal and conservative alike, described him as smart, polite and intense in his political beliefs. John Jeffries '70, who was chairman of the Conservative Party, said Bolton had a blunt debating style, "distinct from schmoozing," that reflected his current diplomatic approach.
"Some people are more oriented toward getting along with every point of view expressed, and John Bolton has always been more interested in substance," Jeffries said. "That's probably why he rubs some people the wrong way."
Robert Batey '70, who served as a delegate on the Connecticut Intercollegiate Student Legislature with Bolton, said Bolton's strength as a debater lay in his forcefulness. Batey recalled that Bolton's drive made him the most effective member of the delegation during a lobbying period preceding the organization's officer elections.
Despite Bolton's forceful personality, Jefferson said he was polite and respectful of other people's opinions.
"I'd call him a good guy at 19, but who knows at 57," Jefferson said. "He had opinions, but he wasn't a bully."
Though Bolton supported the Vietnam War, he declined to enter combat duty, instead enlisting in the National Guard and attending law school after his 1970 graduation. "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy," Bolton wrote of his decision in the 25th reunion book. "I considered the war in Vietnam already lost."
Bolton entered politics in 1972 as a White House intern for Spiro Agnew and received a political appointment with Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980. The posting started a long political career that spanned three presidential administrations and culminated in the controversial appointment as UN Ambassador.
Bob Stein '70, a fellow political science major at Yale, said that while Bolton's style may have changed since college, his provocative political positions remain the same.
"I don't believe his political views have changed in 35 years," Stein said. "To the extent that consistency is a virtue, he's a very virtuous person."
Son of a fireman? Worked his way up?? Sounds like he was grounded in common sense and life experience before he even got to Yale.
Though Bolton supported the Vietnam War, he declined to enter combat duty, instead enlisting in the National Guard and attending law school after his 1970 graduation. "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy," Bolton wrote of his decision in the 25th reunion book. "I considered the war in Vietnam already lost."
Seems like all of our current leaders are guys who some how tipped toed around Viet Nam.
Huh. I don't find him controversial.
(steely)
Opps my bad - one of our current leaders did spend 3 months there.
I think the Yale Free Press really panned the Skull & Bones folk in one of their freshman guides to campus organizations.
I am amazed by all of the Yalies in American politics. How can one small college have so much political influence? That is an investigation just begging for attention.
Man and God at Yale - William F. Buckley Jr.
Piloting a Century-series jet fighter is hardly "tiptoeing" around military service. You seem to have drunk some of the Kool-Aid. Take a look at their loss rates in peacetime/training missions.
Check out the loss rates of piloting a desk,
Fix yourself another drink!
I haven't seen any "persona" displayed by John Bolton that was anything other than subdued, thoughtful, and cordial.
The only evidence (if you could call it that) to the contrary are the dubious tales spun by the likes of partisan hacks like Melody Townsel, and disgruntled government bureaucrats.
I found it telling that Bolton kept his cool while under fire by Biden, Boxer and company, as they kept spewing and re-spewing their ludricrous sob-story that Bolton "got red in the face and pointed his finger!" at a poor widdle bureaucrat.
A lesser man than Bolton would've lost his temper right then and there.
Hey, if you had the opportunity to get out of going to Vietname (legally)....by going to college, law school or whatever wouldn't you.....especially by 1970 it was fairly clear that the US really didn't have it's heart in it to win that war. Johnson was a megalomaniac, but as far as his policies re: SE Asia,I need to do more reading.
This in a nut shell is conservatism. I was a college student during Goldwater's run for the presidency. I was a member of the "College Young Republicans" and campaigned tirelessly in the summer/fall of 64'. I haven't changed my politics one iota since then. The question I always ask myself is what is it that differentiates a conservative from a liberal. Not the easy answer where it's simply one's positions on particular policies and what candidate/party better exemplifies those policies. But what is it from a more philosophic perspective? In my opinion it boils down to two fundamental beliefs.
1. A belief in good and evil as real things that can be discerned by men.
2. A belief in reality (IOW the real world). As opposed to liberals and their policy prescriptions that are tailored for a world that ought to be, but in reality doesn't exist.
That's why Bolton was confident in that Yale speech. Even if Goldwater lost we would still win in the long run. Liberals have a huge problem. They are always on a collision course with reality.
During the 64 campaign a common refrain from the Democrats was that if you voted for Goldwater the war in Vietnam would be escalated. So I voted for Goldwater and sure enough the war in Vietnam was escalated.
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