Crimson Tide

After two-and-a-half years adjusting to the way things go around here, it is still a shock to pick up the morning paper and read the name of Henry Kissinger alongside that of President Summers. To anyone familiar with Harvard’s legacy of past connections, it does not become our sincerity to feign surprise at this latest link. As the article notes, Summers and Kissinger are similar figures in more ways than one. Still, it’s hard to repress a twinge of astonishment at this latest bold-faced alliance. Kissinger, who never travels out of the country without checking first for outstanding warrants against him, has been widely noted as a war criminal whose deeds have done more to disfigure the global landscape than most men this century; yet here he is on the front page of Wednesday’s Crimson: “Summers, Kissinger to Bridge Atlantic Rift.”

While far from endearing, perhaps the two men flatter themselves that they shall be able to do some good in this latest attempt—sponsored by the private yet official-sounding Council on Foreign Relations—to mend recent diplomatic failures through an exhaustive report on the situation. But no such report will be exhaustive if it fails to take note of the role these fellows have played.

Henry Kissinger is a wicked, wicked man. As Nixon’s Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, he orchestrated some of the most egregious acts of foreign policy on the U.S. record. Before entering his period of service to the nation, Kissinger had been a student and then a professor at Harvard. Here he learned and propagated the ideologies and tactics he would later put into action on behalf of American interests—while hiding them as best he could from the American people. This trusty aide and right-hand man helped plan the assassination of foreign leaders in Chile to pave the way for Pinochet, and stood by with weapons while Suharto slaughtered 200,000 East Timorese. He opposed and obstructed Vietnam peace talks in 1968 to help Nixon and his “secret plan” get elected, and then convinced him (although it probably wasn’t hard) to massively bomb civilian targets in Cambodia, helping Pol Pot emerge to finish what he’d started. Now Nixon and Pol Pot are dead; Pinochet is indicted and near death. Only Kissinger lives on—Cambodia, Laos, East Timor and Vietnam lie in ruins, a still-smoking homage to his diplomatic vision.

Summers is small potatoes by comparison. Besides the concrete effects of the policies instituted under his lead while serving as chief economist for the World Bank—including damming the world against its wishes and making troublesome regions safe for industrial intrusion—there’s the infamous “Toxic waste memo” of 1991, from which one choice line should suffice: “I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.” Summers later claimed variously that he was kidding and/or that those weren’t his own words. In any case he signed them, and nobody is laughing.

Given these guys’ records, both have other things they ought to be worrying about besides the Atlantic Rift. Kissinger could start with an apology, then maybe move on to 80 billion hours of community service in Cambodia. If Summers is still looking for an extracurricular to keep him busy, maybe he could take another look at the current state of the nations his policies helped “develop.”

While each is unsavory in his own way, Summers and Kissinger are both gentlemen and scholars in the Harvard tradition, combining an academic background with Washington back-door experience at the highest levels. So it is with Marty Feldstein and the Bush tax plans, and with countless other professors and affiliates. This revolving-door connection brings prestige to Washington, while at Harvard it carries a certain measure of authenticity and power. Both establishments feed off the other’s legitimizing influence and redeem each other’s foibles by providing a home for its denizens.

I wonder, why can’t Harvard keep itself and its professors out of trouble? It’s too late for Kissinger, but perhaps Summers ought to reevaluate the impeccable logic of working with a war criminal as a fellow diplomat. Plenty of wealthy and prestigious institutions manage to stay afloat without turning themselves into ivory bunkers manned by the certifiably wicked and/or corrupt. Maybe Harvard should get a task force going to look into how it’s done. Here’s a tip: Once they’ve been ruined, don’t let these men try to wash the blood off their hands in University sinks. If they really have to go, the stalls at the courthouse are always open.

Madeleine S. Elfenbein ’04 is a social studies concentrator in Kirkland House. Her column appears on alternate Fridays.