In 1966 Harvard University accepted me and 16 other students from Wisconsin.
It shocked me that many college freshmen talked about the war in Vietnam. I was silent at meals, and I listened. My previous background, in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, was very conservative and in favor of the war. I started to read the New York Times regularly. Finally, during my second year of college, I took a bus from Harvard early one Saturday morning, in January, and went to New Hampshire. I had been listening to liberals, and knew I had to act. This was a chance to work for a senator from Minnesota, Gene McCarthy, to run for president. I stayed in a tiny hotel room overnight. and worked both Saturday and Sunday. I saw Paul Newman that weekend. This completely changed my life. Gene McCarthy did not win the New Hampshire election, but he only lost to President Johnson by about 100 votes.
This was a change in the country, and frankly the world. During the weekend that I went to New Hampshire, I did not study for my Monday Physics Test, and I received the worst test score of my life (I think it was 38 on a scale of zero to 100).
A group of my college classmates and I worked for McCarthy. We spent our vacation week in Wisconsin, and later we skipped a week of school and went to the Indiana primary election. I ate cheap food and got diarrhea. I was extremely disappointed when there were political changes in 1968; Robert Kennedy was assassinated, and Hubert Humphrey was nominated instead of McCarthy.
College life changes were considerable. There were hippie-type dramatic changes in clothing. Peoples’ hair became very long in general and we often discussed whether to cut our hair before going home for vacation. Politics and social changes were considerable. I stayed in Cambridge during the summer of 1970, and in the evenings, there were riots. Many buildings in Cambridge were partly destroyed, and windows were broken. Groups of soldiers or police walked the streets at night.
The faculty were also troubled. Some of them joined the student center to speak directly to us. One of my professors ignored the political movements, and continued to be a great teacher. I certainly lost interest in science, and I changed my major from biochemistry to Government.
During my senior year of college, I wrote a thesis about the election, and graduated with High Honors. My plan was to work for a democratic politician in Washington DC following graduation. However, I got a low lottery number (35), and thus would likely be drafted into the army. The only clear way to avoid being drafted into the army was to attend medical school (although trained doctors could be drafted).
I was not well prepared for medical school, and I did poorly my first year, especially in the biochemistry and anatomy classes. Medical school was painful for me, as it was narrowly focused on science, whereas my feelings and thoughts were broader. In the long run, however, I was pleased to help people regardless of the political changes in the country.