ELIOT OF HARVARD

Several years ago, I was asked to deliver a mid-summer lecture to a group of university presidents on the subject of leadership. With the unusual luxury of having some time to prepare, I chose not to reflect upon my personal experiences, but to seek inspiration from history. Initially, I planned to draw lessons from the work of the greatest of my Yale predecessors, as well as several presidents with distinguished records at other institutions. The more I read, the more convinced I became that one leader stands above all others in the history of American higher education. He, alas, was not a Yale man.