Politics: Political Division in the Harvard Magazine

Peter McKinney, '56 catalyzed an interesting discussion in the Harvard Magazine with a brief letter published in the March-April issue. The entire text is as follows.

IN REFERENCE to “Crimson in Congress”  (January-February, page 60; and see page 55), I observe that there will be some 32 members with Harvard degrees in Congress, and that 29 are Democrats. If the reader counts only the members with College degrees, there will be 13 members of Congress, 12 Democrats. The development of independent and critical thinking in undergraduates should be a major goal of an education, otherwise the process is indoctrination. The statistics on the political affiliations of the incoming Congress suggest that this is not happening at Harvard College. Could this be a reflection of the ideological imbalance of the faculty?

PETER MCKINNEY ’56, Chicago 

The June issue included responses I haven't seen yet; one reader summarized:

Seven letters responded to McKinney on the unthinking political conformity at Harvard. Two disagreed politely. Five disagreed smugly, asserting the self-flattery that alumni are Democrats because Republicans are stupid, bigoted, evil nitwits. Congratulations for making McKinney's point." -- Eugene Kusmiak, '81, Orinda, CA (Harvard Magazine, July-August 2011)

The recent letter chain illustrates the political divisions in America in the current moment; it also provides the basis for a collection of sentences and propositions to evaluate for prejudice and bigotry. One response from the July-August issue outlines this potential:

"The opinions expressed by certain writers in the May-June issues about Republicans could very easily be those of segregationists concerning blacks in the 1940s, eugenicists concerning Eastern Europeans in the 1920s, Muslim Egyptians concerning Copts -- or Cavaliers concerning Puritans when Harvard was founded." -- Bruce P. Shields, '61, Wolcott, VT