Debtor Nation USA • Commencement • The Anti-Utopian JULY-AUGUST 2007 • $4.95 President Drew Gilpin Faust experience boston all over again. Come home to the classic style and history of Taj Boston. Revisit your Harvard days with one of our distinctive packages and experience the Boston you once knew. Whether it’s for parents’ weekend, a football game, homecoming or your son or daughter’s first visit, with the prime location on Newbury Street overlooking the Public Garden, you’ll fall in love with Boston once more. for information on specific packages at taj boston, please call 617.536.5700 or contact your travel consultant 15 arlington street t: 1 617.536.5700 1 877.482.5267 [email protected] tajhotels.com/boston india | new york | boston | london | sydney | dubai | mauritius | maldives | sri lanka | bhutan | langkawi Opening Soon: Cape Town, Johannesburg, Doha, Palm Island - Dubai, Phuket JULY-AUGUST 2007 VOLUME 109, NUMBER 6 FEATURES 24 A Scholar in the House Drew Gilpin Faust, the University’s twenty-eighth president by John S. Rosenberg STU ROSNER page 49 32 Le Professeur DEPARTMENTS An anti-utopian, old-school scholar of international relations, Stanley Ho≠mann grasps “the foreignness of foreigners” 2 Cambridge 02138 Craig Lambert Communications from by our readers 11 Right Now 38 Vita: Frederick Law Olmsted Mighty mice have a new Brief life of the first landscape psychoarchitect: kind of muscle, from light to 1822-1903 matter and back, probing professors’ faith STEVE POTTER by Michael Sperber page 20 16A New England Regional Section 40 Debtor Nation A seasonal calendar, New England- America is living on borrowed capital—and perhaps themed neighborhood dining, when adults care for aged parents borrowed time. The consequences of smooth, or sudden, 17 Montage correction of growing global financial imbalances Jonathan Shaw Violin virtuoso, an image blogger, the life by page 40 and ideas of Joseph Schumpeter, ranking West Side Story, John Adams on DAN PAGE composing operas, and more 49 John Harvard’s Journal 75 The Alumni At the 356th Commencement, speeches on service, and a On the track of red tide, Graduate passel of Harvard presidents—past, present, and pending. School and Harvard Medalists, Also, an accomplished year for an interim presidency, administra- election results, and more tive adjustments, mixed-media artist, Derek Bok’s annual 80 The College Pump report recommends reforms, a new University Librarian Torte tales, and the classic Commencement caller and other people in the news, completing College curricular change, when freshmen were banned 88 Treasure Spiritually significant spoons from billiards, a computer architect as Faculty of 81 Crimson Classifieds Arts and Sciences dean, adventures in academic advising, Radcli≠e Institute interim dean, the On the cover: President Drew Gilpin “Undergraduate” on the costs of pursuing Faust, on April 26 at the Radcli≠e Institute’s Fay House. perfection, a signal coaching appointment, and a Photograph by Jim Harrison. page 32 wrap-up of spring sports STU ROSNER Harvard Magazine 3 www.harvardmagazine.com LETTERS Editor: John S. Rosenberg Executive Editor: Christopher Reed Senior Editor: Jean Martin 02138 Managing Editor: Jonathan S. Shaw Deputy Editor: Craig Lambert Cambridge Production and New Media Manager: Mark Felton Niall Ferguson, Vladimir Putin, E.O. Wilson, Thaddeus Stevens Assistant Editor: Nell Porter Brown Art Director: Jennifer Carling Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellows THE NEW IMMIGRANTS Casey N. Cep, Emma M. Lind The images of today’s poor, hardwork- Editorial Interns: ing illegal immigrants (Ashley Pettus, Ashton R. Lattimore, Ying Wang. Web Intern: Blaise Freeman “End of the Melting Pot?” May-June, page 44) excite our natural sympathies and are Contributing Editors poignant reminders of earlier periods of John T. Bethell, John de Cuevas, Adam immigration. However, absorbing large Goodheart, Max Hall, Jim Harrison, numbers of the poor and little-educated Harbour Fraser Hodder, Christopher S. into our society today is much more bur- Johnson, Adam Kirsch, Colleen Lannon, densome and disruptive than it was in Deborah Smullyan, Mark Steele, Janet our country’s past, when our public ben- Tassel, Edward Tenner efits were much smaller, the standard of Editorial and Business O≠ice living and average education of our citi- 7 Ware Street, zens was much lower, and most jobs re- Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037 quired unskilled labor. Tel. 617-495-5746; fax: 617-495-0324 To the extent that there are public pol- Website: www.harvardmagazine.com icy reasons for immigration, it would be Reader services: of greater benefit to existing American alien an undocumented worker is like call- 617-495-5746 or 800-648-4499 citizens to select more educated and ing a drug dealer an unlicensed pharmacist. HARVARD MAGAZINE INC. skilled immigrants as needed. They would If you live near the border, as I do (and President: Henry Rosovsky, Jf ’57, add much more to the economic output of not in Cambridge limo-land), you can see Ph.D. ’59, LL.D. ’98. Directors: Richard the country, pay much more in taxes, and the theft and destruction caused daily by H. Gilman, M.B.A. ’83, Leslie E. use public services to a much smaller de- the millions of illegal criminal aliens. We Greis ’80, Alex S. Jones, Nf ’82, Bill Kovach, Nf ’89, Donella Rapier, gree than our typical illegal immigrants. need to build a wall along the southern M.B.A. ’92, Kay Kaufman Shelemay, The more educated and skilled would border and shut down the influx of ille- Alan J. Stone, Richard Tuck also assimilate more easily, on the average. gals, and then prevent sleazy employers Harvard Magazine (ISSN 0095-2427) is published bimonthly If we do not stop their entry, our poor from giving jobs to illegals. by Harvard Magazine Inc., a nonprofit corporation, 7 illegal immigrants can only greatly in- Park Weaver, M.B.A. ’60 Ware Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037, phone 617- 495-5746; fax 617-495-0324. The magazine is supported by crease in number, so powerful are the in- La Mesa, Calif. reader contributions and subscriptions, advertising rev- enue, and a subvention from Harvard University. Its edi- centives to come here. It is contradictory torial content is the responsibility of the editors. Periodi- and nonsensical policy to make great and This article is really pretty appalling. cals postage paid at Boston, Mass., and additional mailing o≠ices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Circulation very costly e≠orts to eradicate poverty in It presents largely the anti-immigrant Department, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cam- this country and import much more view, relegating the overwhelming major- bridge, Mass. 02138-4037. Subscription rate $30 a year in U.S. and possessions, $55 Canada and Mexico, $75 other poverty at the same time. ity view among scholars to a few para- foreign. (Allow up to 10 weeks for first delivery.) Sub- Peter A. Schulkin, Ph.D. ’70 scription orders and customer service inquiries should be graphs at the end. In fact, literally thou- sent to the Circulation Department, Harvard Magazine, 7 Cambria, Calif. sands of studies have shown that the Ware Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037, or call 617- 495-5746 or 800-648-4499, or e-mail addresschanges@har- “new immigrants” assimilate faster than vard.edu. Single copies $4.95, plus $2.50 for postage and Your article handling. Manuscript submissions are welcome, but we reflects the standard East the old ones and rise about as fast. More cannot assume responsibility for safekeeping. Include Coast bias, mixing legal immigrants with irritating are the photographs accompa- stamped, self-addressed envelope for manuscript re- turn. Persons wishing to reprint any portion of Harvard illegal criminal aliens. Every minute that an nying the article. I could probably find, Magazine’s contents are required to write in advance for illegal alien is in the United States, he or with heavy searching, conditions like permission. Address inquiries to Catherine A. Chute, publisher, at the address given above. Copyright she is stealing something—jobs, property, those shown for Mexican immigrants, © 2007 Harvard Magazine Inc. lives, food, welfare aid. To call an illegal but it would take work. I could much 2 July - August 2007 Built to navigate ships and companies. Port. Starboard. Portuguese Automatic. Ref. 5001: The first IWC Portuguese watch was Mechanical manufactured movement | Automatic Pellaton winding system originally developed for Portuguese seafarers. On the high seas, precise (figure) | Seven days’ continuous measurements are as essential as ship navigation. No fewer than 21,600 beats running | Power reserve display | per hour keep you on course. Unless you confuse port with starboard. Our tip: Date | Rotor with 18 ct. yellow gold medallion | Antireflective sapphire glass | Just take the advertisement with you and check. IWC. Engineered for men. Sapphire glass back cover | Stainless steel more easily find Mexican immigrants in large, beautiful, well-kept suburban houses. I could fairly easily find mansions. I taught for 40 years at an overwhelm- ingly immigrant school. Almost all my Publisher: Catherine A. Chute students at University of California, Director of Finance: Diane H. Yung Join Riverside, were first- or second-genera- Director of Circulation: Felecia Carter our online tion immigrants. They could almost never Director of Marketing speak their heritage languages, and were Cara Ferragamo Murray Reader Panel! immersed in southern California kid cul- Director of Advertising ture. On average, they outperformed the Robert D. Fitta multigenerational-American students. Advertising Account Manager More than 95 percent of Californian East Myha Nguyen Production/Design Associate Asian second-generation immigrants get Jennifer Beaumont Share your opinions. to college sooner or later. The figure is Classified Advertising Manager lower for Hispanics, but is rapidly closing Elizabeth Connolly on white Anglo figures. Circulation and Fundraising This bit of racist propaganda (I refer Manager: Lucia Whalen Provide us with especially to the photographs) is too un- Gift Processor: Sarha J.