John Kenneth Galbraith’s Life Recalled at Boston Memorial

Notables filled the Memorial Church at Harvard University yesterday for a memorial for author, economist, and public intellectual John Kenneth Galbraith, who died in April at 97.“He was a diplomat, politician, bureaucrat, satirist, novelist, journalist, art collector, man of the world and wit,” the director of the World Policy Institute, Stephen Schlesinger, said. He was delivering a speech by his father, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a longtime friend of Galbraith’s who was unable to attend.The interim president of Harvard, Derek Bok, said Galbraith, at 6 foot 8 inches, cast a long shadow, figuratively and literally. He recalled the time Henry Rosovsky was at a car garage in Hoboken, N.J. While under the car, the mechanic asked Mr. Rosovsky what he did. “I teach at Harvard.” “Ah,” the mechanic replied, “you know Professor Galbraith?”Long-time friend William F. Buckley Jr. recalled Galbraith saying he rewrote everything five times, injecting spontaneity in the fourth draft. Gloria Steinem said that even at the summer home in Vermont, “he still spoke with semicolons.” She recalled Galbraith joking that of his many books, the one that could not be sold in airports was “The Great Crash 1929” – because of its title.A son, J. Alan Galbraith, told how his father, in his 80s, was piqued by the “the still syndrome” – that is, his being continually asked, “Are you still writing?” or “Are you still lecturing?”Influenced by Keynes, Mr. Galbraith advised or was close to generations of politicians, most famously John F. Kennedy, under whom he served as ambassador to India. Senator Kennedy said Galbraith preferred to communicate with his late brother directly; going through to State Department, Galbraith said, was like making love through a mattress.Mr. Kennedy recalled Galbraith saying there were two classes of economic advisors: those who don’t know and those who don’t know they don’t know. Senator George McGovern recalled the time his daughter, Susan, was considering colleges. Visiting the Galbraith home, Mr. McGovern asked about the difference between Harvard and Wellesley. Galbraith said that if she attended Harvard she could hear him lecture once a week; if she attended Wellesley, “you get one of my C- students three times a week.”Biographer Richard Parker said Galbraith remained a skeptic of power and privilege. Two days before he died, Mr. Parker brought Galbraith the Japanese edition of his biography of him. “I do not read Japanese,” he recalled Galbraith saying, “but given the importance of the book’s subject, I shall devote my remaining days to it.”

John Kenneth Galbraith’s Life Recalled at Boston Memorial

John Kenneth Galbraith’s Life Recalled at Boston Memorial

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