IOP Fellows Recall Political Careers

Six new Institute of Politics (IOP) Fellows introduced themselves to Harvard students last night by describing their often unusual paths to careers in politics and related fields.

Speaking to a crowd of about 600 at the Kennedy School of Government, the panelists shared widely differing memories, ranging from fighting against racism in the South to fighting against a brother in the Korean War, but all urged students to use politics as a means of change.

William C. Velasquez, director of the Southwest Voter Registration Project, recalled having sworn off both political parties and the entire state government of Texas when state troopers violently broke a 1967 farm-workers' strike in that state.

"Now I'm here teaching about it all," he said with a smile, adding that Mexican Americans, like other minorities, will succeed only through involvement in politics.

The fellows each lead a semester-long, non-credit study group at the IOP as well as conducting independent research.

Atlanta Braves

Like Velasquez, Percy C. Wilson, former director of the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, described a career of battling prejudice that began at an early age. Growing up in Alabama, Wilson said, he and his friends called the state "the land of the free and the home of the Braves...If you were Black, you were a Brave."

Although he has "endorsed losers right down the line," Wilson said he too remains committed to political activism.

Yao Wei, a press officer on leave from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, stressed that international relations deserve as much attention as domestic affairs. He said the United States and his country "both have a lot to learn" and can eliminate decades of hostility by open discussion.

Yao related his reunion in China with an older brother who had been in this country for 40 years. Yao told his brother he had been to Korea, that he had fought in the war for China. His brother responded that he too had been to Korea, but he had fought in an American uniform. "We had a lot to talk about," Yao told the suddenly hushed audience.

Odd Man Out

Adding the only conservative voice among the American fellows, Eddie Mahe, a prominent Republican consultant and former executive director and deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), described the "sheer agony" of working for the RNC during the Watergate era.

Mahe, who will lead a seminar on political parties in the 1980s, noted that the two-party system is in great danger but added that at least some old fashioned partisanship remains. "I acknowledge the need for Democrats, I just don't want them around me," he said, eyeing his fellow speakers suspiciously.