Shrouding Summers
The Crimson runs part two of Zachary M. Sewards' tick-tock of last winter's crisis in Mass. Hall. There's not a lot of breaking news in it, but the story is fascinating reading nonetheless for its meticulous description of the strategizing within the president's inner circle as his strategists desperately fought to save his job.
A couple of particularly interesting tidbits emerge.
One is the makeup of Summers' inner circle: Bob Rubin, Jeremy Knowles (what a crafty fellow that Knowles is—he'd have made a great spy), David Gergen (not so much crafty as craven; Gergen doesn't care who's in power, as long as that person gives Gergen access), and Sidney Verba.
(You will remember that it was
Verba who singlehandedly okayed Google's project to digitize Harvard's libraries, a project which was pushed by Larry Summers' former chief of staff, Sheryl Sandberg. We know what's in it for Google: the legitimizing effect of Harvard's participation in a very controversial matter. Who knows what's in it for Verba?)
(Also, check out David Gergen's website, with its hilarious picture of Gergen superimposed on an image of the White House, as if he were Abe Lincoln or something. The "latest news" section is a collection of Gergen media soundbites. Sheesh. And people gave Cornel West a hard time.)
The second interesting factoid from Zachary Seward's article is the suggestion that Corporation senior fellow James Houghton pressured Summers to release the transcript of his remarks, and that Houghton's role was decisive in the decision to do that.
I don't know if Seward is running a third piece, but the article that I'd really like to read would detail the inner workings of the Corporation during this period. What the hell was going on inside that bizarre little group? I'd love to know. Tough story to report, but Seward's sources seem to be pretty good.....
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P.S. Here's a small-world, full-disclosure tidbit for you: After my mother read Harvard Rules, she casually mentioned to me that, almost half a century ago, she used to date Jamie Houghton rather seriously...until the man who would be my father came along.
Mom, you could have told me that
before I finished the book...
