He Wrote the Textbook

Some real-life professors fall into their jobs as neatly as Rex Harrison became Professor 'Iggins. For a political scientist there is no better post than running the new Kennedy institute at Harvard, where politicians and scholars will meet to discuss the theory and exercise of power. Last week it found its 'Iggins. Harvard's President Nathan Pusey gave the job to Columbia Professor Richard Neustadt, 45, who has thought a great deal about intellect and politics.

How to Be On Top. In his book Presidential Power, Neustadt explored "the classic problem of the man on top in any political system: how to be on top in fact as well as name." Ultimately, says Neustadt, "presidential power is the power to persuade." The purpose of intellect in a President is to make others "believe that what he wants of them is what their own appraisal of their responsibilities requires them to do."

The son of a New Deal Social Security official, Neustadt inherited an allegiance to the Democratic Party and a proneness to Washington service. He got into the Government in 1942 as an OPA official, came back to Washington in 1946, after a Navy stint, to become an assistant to the Director of the Budget. "I'm a second-generation bureaucrat," he says without apology. After the Eisenhower sweep, Neustadt went first to Cornell as an assistant professor of public administration, then in 1954 he joined the Columbia Department of Government. A lively lecturer and wit, he had more students than there were seats in his class, with late arrivals parked on the floor.

Enhancing Politics. In the 1960 presidential primary fight, Neustadt backed Hubert Humphrey until Humphrey's defeat in West Virginia, then switched to another loser, Lyndon B. Johnson. It was only in September 1960 that he joined the Kennedy team, outlining in a memorandum the matters to which a President-elect should attend between November and inauguration. Fascinated with the mystique of power, Kennedy had read Neustadt's book and told newsmen how impressed he was. This was a mistake, says Neustadt. A President should never admit that others are telling him how to run the presidency--it damages his image. "However, it increased my royalties," Neustadt admits. The book sold 200,000 copies.

In his Columbia office in Manhattan last week, Neustadt defined the importance of the Kennedy institute. "It is an attempt to enhance the profession of politics," he said. "Universities educate agronomists and businessmen. Nothing comparable has been done for the elected official, the most important functionary in our society."

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