Harvard Graduate Changes His Career From Philosophy to Carter's Campaign

A former Harvard philosophy major and part-time poet. Steven Stark '73 speaks earnestly of what he perveives as ex-Governor Jimmy Carter's commitment to "social justice" and "equality for all."

"Here was this peanut farmer from southern Georgia who could appeal to people having seemingly contradictory political philosophies--from the Allman Brothers to businessmen in New York and Chicago," Stark said yesterday.

"People who would vote for Lester Maddox because of the racial issue, would vote for Carter because of his social or economic views; he brings out the best in people, rather than the worst," Stark says.

As issues coordinator for Carter's campaign, Stark does a lot more than write speeches. He says he "develops position papers and is the main contact between Carter and his issues advisors," who include Abram Chayes and Milton Katz, both professors of Law who counsel Carter in foreign affairs.

Stark says he had little political exposure until he joined Carter's campaign. During his years here, he read Kant and Hegel, "because it ties together the different facets of knowledge," says he acted in a few plays at the Loeb, participated mildly in the anti-war student strike of late '69 and "got a great education."

After he graduated, Stark wrote news, poetry and fiction for several magazines, was national correspondent in Cleveland for the Wall Street Journal and New England correspondent for The Boston Globe. A former resident of Montgomery, Ala.. he was familiar with the then-governor of Georgia and knew some members of Carter's staff. He covered Carter for a week for the Globe early in 1975, and soon joined his campaign full time.

Stark campaigned for both Robert F. Kennedy '48 and Eugene McCarthy in 1968. In "Carter's ability to attract wide support without compromising himself," Stark sees a resemblance to both Kennedy and his brother John.

If Carter wins the party's nomination, Stark says he intends to stay with the campaign until the general election. Afterwards, he says he hopes to go to law school and practice in the deep South, at some place like the Southern Poverty Law Center. Stark says he also wants to continue writing, "maybe poetry or fiction--not on political topics.