“Joe Kennedy was one of the ablest undergraduates Harvard ever had.” So says Ken Galbraith of the oldest of the Kennedy brothers who was killed in World War II.
Galbraith, now in his 94th year, was a Harvard tutor when he first got acquainted with Joe and his brother Jack. Of the latter, he observes: “He was intelligent, attractive, and not given to an excessive amount of work.”
These are among the memories shared by this celebrated economist with an enthusiastic crowd of students and others gathered at the Kennedy School of Government. Quite deaf now and physically suffering from the effects of various health crises, the almost 6 foot 8 inches tall Galbraith still talks in a booming voice as he recalls personalities and events from a remarkably varied career in academic and public life.
Reacting to an introduction bordering on the fulsome, this giant of a man acknowledges his pleasure with typical wit: “I have to recover from deep delight in the account of my life.” At this stage of his career, he can enjoy without shame hearing himself praised to the rafters.
About the Roosevelts, Franklin and Eleanor, he says, “They looked at all the states as an extension of Hyde Park.” But he distinguishes between the two: Franklin’s concern was human, not ideological; Eleanor was a liberal.”
The latter became one of Ken Galbraith’s closest and best-loved friends over a lifetime of involvement in Democratic politics. In 1960, he helped bring her around to support Jack Kennedy for the presidency, support she had stubbornly withheld up till then.
During his presidency, Kennedy sent Galbraith to India as United States ambassador. While in that often sensitive position, the ambassador felt frustrated in communicating back to Washington through the State Department.
Ultimately, he took to sending messages directly to the president, bypassing normal channels. Often delightfully witty, these now published messages violated normal protocol. In one of them, he told JFK that “trying to communicate through the State Department is like having sexual intercourse through the blanket.”
With a mischievous grin, the speaker, however, acknowledges that the original language in this message may have featured “somewhat rougher” terms.
Asked to comment on Lyndon Johnson, Galbraith says, “He was in some ways the most misunderstood man we ever had in the White House.” But he goes on to call LBJ “a wonderful companion.” Until the Vietnam War developed, the two were good friends, as a visit by Galbraith to the president’s Texas ranch suggests.
On that occasion LBJ took his visitor out on a shoot. Riding in separate jeeps, the president and Galbraith took aim at the birds that were their targets. The visitor had never previously handled a gun and managed only to fire into the air. “The doves in Texas were never so safe,” he says recalling the adventure.
The break between the two over the Vietnam War was personally painful to Galbraith. Among other things, he especially regretted that “Vietnam covered up LBJ’s commitment to the poor and the working community.”
Galbraith acknowledges not having known personally either Nixon or Reagan. In recent years, however, he discovered that Richard Nixon had been on his staff when he headed the Office of Price Administration in FDR’s presidency.
About Ronald and Nancy Reagan, this confirmed Democrat comments on their one great virtue: “They enjoyed the job much more than they were concerned with policy.” With wry understatement, he adds that he would prefer Ronald Reagan “to the present situation.”
When discussion turned briefly to economic issues, Galbraith recalled the powerful impact exerted on America by the British economist John Maynard Keynes. The Harvard professor admits that after his first book had gone to press in 1937, he read Keynes and realized that the book was wrong. Under the force of Keynes, Galbraith changed his mind and adopted views that went against those prevailing among his colleagues.
At that time, he says with irony, the economists at Harvard fell into two main groups: the first were professors “living in the 19th century and very keen to get back to the 18th.” The second was made up of believers in capital monopolies.
Besides these two groups, there were only a few who espoused positions on the left. Among them, of course, Galbraith would loom large, to the discomfort of many of his colleagues.
Anyone who thinks that old age deserves more respect would have been gratified to be at this session with Galbraith. The young people in attendance were positively worshipful, greeting his entrance with a standing O, and responding to his jokes and witty remarks with much appreciation.
Yes, they were applauding an American icon, the only citizen to have received the Order of Freedom medal twice. But they also seemed to be recognizing the aura that advanced age can bring when it comes with sparkle and grit.
Richard Griffin