Historian Richard Neustadt, Founder of Kennedy School of Government, Dies at 84

BOSTON (AP) -- Richard E. Neustadt, the noted presidential adviser, scholar and historian who was a founder of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has died, close friend and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said Saturday. He was 84.

Neustadt died Friday in England, Reich told The Associated Press, adding he learned the news from Neustadt's wife. The historian had fallen about a week ago and his health rapidly declined, he said.

"He was a very vigorous man, intellectually sharp as a tack and obviously one of America's pre-eminent presidential historians and adviser to presidents," Reich said. "He leaves behind not only a significant body of work, but a generation of students who learned about politics and presidency and the excitement of political involvement, at his knee."

A former adviser to Presidents Truman, Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, Neustadt also wrote many books on the U.S. presidency, including "Presidential Power: The Politics of Leadership," which offered his insight into government decision-making.

"He was one of the first to understand and examine the nature of presidential power," Reich said. "Neustadt saw presidential power as not merely authority that comes with the office, but authority that has to be utilized. He was the first to do that, and that book marked a turning point."

That book, first published in 1960, became a staple of courses in presidential leadership and still is widely used in college classrooms across the country.

President Kennedy held the book and Neustadt in high regard, said Kennedy School Dean Joseph Nye.

Along with four editions of his book on presidential power, Neustadt wrote "Preparing to be President," a compilation of memos he penned for Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton at their request to help their transitions into presidency.

He also co-wrote and contributed to several books including "Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision-Makers," with Ernest R. May in 1986. More recently, he wrote the concluding chapter of "Franklin Delano Roosevelt," whose author, British historian Roy Jenkins, died in January while writing the book. The book is set for release this month.

cNeustadt was one of the "founding fathers" of the Kennedy School in the 1960s, helping mold the school's curriculum and direction. He taught there for more than two decades and became professor emeritus in 1989.

"He provided students with an understanding of American presidency, greater than any other faculty member could have, from his direct experience and from his books," Nye said.

Neustadt's courses piqued former Vice President Al Gore's interest in government, when he was an undergraduate at Harvard.

Neustadt lived in England most of the year with his wife, Shirley Williams, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in England's House of Lords, Nye said. They own a house in Wellfleet, Mass., on Cape Cod, and Neustadt visited often to lecture at Harvard.

He was born on June 26, 1919, in New York City. A Navy veteran, he received a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard.

He was a recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award from the American Political Science Association in 1961. Last year, he was presented the first award for portrayal of the U.S. presidency from the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.

"Professor Neustadt spent a lifetime advancing the public understanding of the American presidency," former President Clinton said in a statement. "I am grateful for the friendship and wise counsel he gave to me."

"He had this large belly laugh, that instantly put everything in perspective," Reich said. "This was a man with an extraordinary capacity of friendship. He leaves behind a very large number of people who loved and admired him."

Harvard President Lawrence Summers said he first met Neustadt when he was 15 and always valued Neustadt's advice.

"Talking to him and listening to him has had a profound impact on how I tried to work as an official at Washington and at Harvard," said Summers, who was treasury secretary under Clinton. "He was a giant as a scholar and a practitioner of government. I hope there will be more Dick Neustadts in future generations."

The socialist intellectual elites, advisors, speech writers, historians and economists that surrounded JFK are dying off, one by one. No loss to the country. They have infected the northeastern (university-saturated) states for decades.

These Kennedy left-overs and their ilk are one of the prime reasons that the New England states are impossible liberal wastelands for conservatism to penetrate.

After Camelot, most of them gravitated to the book-writing and communications fields or to university presidency and professorial jobs where they have infected thousands of young minds full of mush over the years.

Communist, socialist and anti-American intellectuals have always concentrated on the young, knowing that their elders are too set in their ways and largely not worth their efforts.

This is why Hillary's every other phrase has always been "for the children", or "it takes a village". A former Goldwater activist as a young woman, she quickly took her cue from the intellectual socialist strategists at her university in the northeast, and re-invented herself quickly to the "concerned" Marxist she is today. Along with the intellectual operatives, the younger generation is her prey.

Leni

I had to laugh at your description of Prof. Neustadt as a socialist. He was a member of Harry Truman's 'Kitichen Cabinet' and his specialty was in staffing and forming a government during transition from one administration to another.

I was a freshman in his government class at Columbia when he advised Kennedy on personnel. Each week he went to Washington for his job as consultant--and the following week he'd return with insider knowledge on what was happening. It was an unbelievable opportunity for an insight on how our democracy transitions from one Presidency and party to another--in those days without the partisanship of trashed govenment offices and the like.

He was a good man, a patriot, a citizen who answered the call of duty, and a wonderful teacher, always allowing us freshmen to express our points of view and answering our naive questions with good humor and patience.

Somewhere, I bet he's lighting up that scruffy old pipe and answering a young angel's question with that twinkle in his eye. God Speed, Professor.

Have a good chuckle. Besides his longevity and his hearty laugh, Neustadt's prolific career also included consultant to Robert Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, policy advisor to the leftist State Department and visiting professor at that age-old socialist hotbed, Oxford.

Also, policy advisor to the leftist Ford Foundation, professor at the leftist JFK School of Government, consultant to the Peace Corps, and he served several stints as member and consultant to the Democrat Party Platform Committee.

He received many awards from liberal organizations and collaborated closely in his activities with the leading socialist/leftist intellectuals of his time.

The fact that his close friend, socialist Robert Reichchchchchchch-uh, is quoted above for a mini-eulogy should be no surprise to anyone.

Neustadt attained stature in the highest socialist/DemoRAT/intellectual elite hierarchy of this nation. If he wasn't a covert socialist himself, as you apparently believe, I don't know how ducks walk, talk and look.

Leni

In a country that prides itself on free speech, there's something distasteful in the tendency of the extremes of both sides of the political spectrum to demonize or otherwise cut down their opponents.

One of the least attractive aspects of political debate is trying to reason with people whose idea of crushing repartee is to make fun of an opponents physical disability or appearance.

I place remarks about Mr. Reich's speech impediment and short stature in the same disgusing category as those about Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's--beneath contempt.

Neustadt was certainly a liberal (in the Scoop Jackson mode)but rather than argue the "birds of a feather" trope, I might note there are many of species of ducks with different characteristics--and the duck=goose=booby syllogism doesn't work any better than democrat=liberal=leftist=commie.

As people may get the wrong impression from your above comment, I made absolutely NO reference to Robert Reich's stature or any speech impediment. In fact, I'm not aware he HAS a speech impediment.......only an impediment when it comes to the (however-tenuous) free enterprise system we enjoy in this country.

In my post above, I gave a factual, mini-biography of the late Professor Neustadt's liberal political history and some comments on the liberal infiltration and control of our institutes of higher learning over the decades. Period.

As a professor yourself, you owe me an apology for your murky, smirky and false allusions in your reply to me. Free speech and factual critiques in comments regarding this man are to be applauded from both sides.

Leni

This has been probably one of the most ridiculous repartees I've ever been engaged in during my years on FR. Now it's Rush that's making fun of some speech handicap you imagine Robert Reich suffers from.

You obviously don't know why Rush pronounces RR's name the way he does. I do....and it has nothing to do with any phantom speech impediment in the least.

I'll disengage myself from further conversation with you as I want to go listen to my tape of the evil Rich Little doing FDR.

Leni

Minutegal to wildbill: "As a professor yourself, you owe me an apology for your murky, smirky and false allusions in your reply to me. .. This has been probably one of the most ridiculous repartees I've ever been engaged in during my years on FR. ..."

I just came across this thread and happened to read your ludricrous, transparent, off-subject objections to what she wrote.

As a result, I agree with her that you owe her an apology.

Oh, by the way, Rush plans to be back on the air November 17th accurately portraying all the icons of the Marxist Left. And unlike what liberals prefer to believe, they all easily fit into two broad-brush catagories; [1] cynical opportunists and [2] useful idiots.

For instance, your suffering victim, Robert Reichchchchchchch-uh, and one of his like-minded friends, Allen Colmes, seem sincere on the surface, so they would probably fit into the useful idiot catagory. Hil'ry and Billy Clintoooooon, would fit into the cynical opportunist catagory. (You can do all the nuancing of their individual quirks of thinking you want from there.)

Other than a catagory that is a combination of both, do you know of another catagory into which you can fit DemocRAT mentalities?

Another question: Do you think it's possible for useful idiots to recognize themselves?

Dear Matchett: regarding liberals you wrote: they all easily fit into two broad-brush catagories; [1] cynical opportunists and [2] useful idiots.

Think about the lessons of history where political opponents are demonized. This attitude leads to the excesses of Stalin, Mao, Castro and all the other tinpot dictators.

If you really believe liberals are all opportunists and useful idiots (for the communist conspiracy I assusme), then what happens to all the liberals and "useful idiots" when we conservatives achieve true majority status? Re-education camps? Or should we simply shoot them and get them out of the way?

And I picked up on the snide attempt to portray me as a useful idiot--all because I defended a man I knew personally, as a patriotic citizen who believed in his causes as much as I disagreed with his views.

I repeat what I said about the extreme wings of each party:

In a country that prides itself on free speech, there's something distasteful in the tendency of the extremes of both sides of the political spectrum to demonize or otherwise cut down their opponents.

I don't see any value in continuing this conversation: Thank you for sending me your viewpoint.

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