The Master Builder

OVER THE LAST couple of years, presidential aspirants Walter Mondale. Gary Hart and Reubin Askew and their staffs have made frequent calls on the Kennedy School of Government. Each knows that if he does not come up with a coherent alternative economic policy pretty soon, he can count on another four years on the outside. The candidates want new ideas not "tired" New Deal liberalism or "stingy" supply side Reaganomics. And the one door they've knocked on most is that of a cramped 2nd floor office where lecturer Robert B. Reich holds court. "I'm delighted to provide advice on issues even to Republicans," he says cheerily.

And when he does a lot of people are taking notes. Many call Reich the primary reindustrial thinker the Democrats have. He has recently gained popular national prominence with the publication of his new book. The Next American Frontier, and has appeared in most major news weeklies as well as a smattering of newspapers and television programs spreading its message (see accompanying review). As one congressional aide says. "He's been hot with the policy makers now he's hot with the public."

But the 36 year old Reich is "somewhat embarrassed" by the bright lights focusing on Room 216. "On the one hand it is exhilarating to know that people are listening to what you are saying and take it seriously," he says, "but I'm uncomfortable with my person being the center of attention." He adds rather grimly that the publicity gives rise to feelings of envy among others, many of whom have toiled in the same vineyard for many more years than I."

Then why all of a sudden is Bob Reich such a hot property? According to a Hart issues staffer, "Industrial and trade policy is central to the current policy debate and his book has hit a responsive chord.

Bob had the right substance at the right time," he adds.

Largely it's luck plus hard work," Hendrik Hertzberg, editor of The New Republic, says, adding. "Bob is writing about things that are making people worry, especially Democrats who are getting the feeling that they do not have the answers to the economic problems."

Reich himself is unsure. "I would like to think that the ideas themselves are attracting attention." But, he concedes that "maybe the book has come out at a time when there are so few other ideas that people are grasping at straws." But straws or not, Reich a veteran of six years of government service would rather be at this end of the well beaten path from Harvard Square to D C producing manuscripts than down there reacting to crises.

After his stints as assistant Solicitor General ("the best legal job in the Federal government") and as Director of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission ("a highly charged atmosphere"). Reich says he needed a spell in the libraries and behind the lectern. "In government, I had to be there from the early morning in meetings or on the telephone until late at night and I was dealing with mostly quite short range problems. Ideally, people in government especially the position I was in do need time to be reflective, to gain perspective, and to explore other facets." Reich also says his family likes the academic the academic pace. "I enjoy it so much at the K-School, my wife [Claire Dalton] likes teaching at the Law School, and my son (two year old Adam) likes teaching at the day care center."

And while he thinks he would stay at the K-School past 1984 even if a Democrat took over the White House, Reich assures the questioner that he'll be back in the capital after his batteries are fully recharged. "While a purely reflective career is fine for many people, it is not for me."

And throughout his 36 years, the 4'11" Reich has gotten what he wanted. After growing up in a well-off section of upstate New York with Republican parents, he attended Dartmouth where he directed the student government and organized anti-war protests. A summer intern for Robert Kennedy, Reich took over regional student recruiting for Eugene McCarthy's ill-fated campaign after Kennedy was shot. Reich emphasizes, however, that his campaign knowledge is very limited, and he does not intend to get involved beyond a small amount of issue advising to the present candidates. He likes playing the field and refuses to say when he will decide to go with one candidate. But, says one campaign staffer. "Sometime later this year, there will be considerable pressure on him to pick a camp."

REICH FIRST GAINED national attention in a Time Magazine cover story about seven standouts of the rebellious class of 1968. Two years at Oxford by way of a Rhodes Scholarship and then three at Yale Law School nourished his interest in economic policy and, through it, public service. Reich says he went into government because "there was a great deal to be done." And while he is somewhat less idealistic now than in 1974, he still believes more bright students should be going into government and is disappointed with the number who go straight into the private sector.

To remedy that situation, he would like to see more dual K-School graduate programs with the Business and Law Schools: "Unlike many countries, the U.S. does not have a high level career civil service of trained people able to implement public policy in a sophisticated was and sensitive to these questions." Towards that goal, Reich is playing a major role in the development of the K-School's new Business and Government Center, which should bring the study of those disciplines closer together.

After clerking for a federal Court of Appeals Justice and spending two years in the Solicitor General's office, Reich moved on to the FTC where he concentrated on protectionism, parallel pricing, and industry trade practices. It was there that he formulated the ideas that have become Campaign '84 required reading and could be a major part of the Democratic platform. He calls his FTC tenure "an extremely important experience," but in order to write. "I needed time to think and the Kennedy School couldn't be a better environment to work in.

Although Reich came to Cambridge to research and write, he discovered teaching was "an added bonus." He had taught briefly at Yale Law School and "had an intuitive sense I'd like it," but not as much as he found he did. "There is something very exciting about students becoming enthusiastic about the same things that I am enthusiastic about." Reich also uses his classes to improve his writing. "In class my ideas are tested, made more concrete, and some are shown to be inadequate." He is considered to be one of the K-School's best teachers and more than a handful of students call him their best ever.

But Reich's teaching, like his policies, are not for everyone. Students say that he is not the most scholarly of professors and does not have the firmest hold on micro and macro economic theories, but instead paints with a broad brush. For that reason he tends to draw students who are more interested in politics than academia. As one comments. "Bob is not an academician by any means, but he is good for the people he is teaching and preparing for government." Another adds. "His teaching is geared to what the Democrats should do in 1984."

Reich is also well known within the walls of 79 Kennedy St. for his sense of humor, including a propensity to get comic mileage out of his height. His speeches begin with quips like "I was 6'2" before I went into government" or, emphasizing his neo-liberal credentials. "Do I look like big government?" His appearance as an Albanian Ambassador with Michael Nacht, Associate Professor of Public Policy, was also the hit of the K-School's talent show last month. Winthrop Knowlton, director of the Business and Government Center, voices the general admiration: "I just marvel at the energy with which he can do so much writing and still play such an active role in the workings of the school."