"Thanks for everything, Ted"

Two anecdotes from my work with Ted while a PhD student (1979-83) --

My comps were in May-June 1981. My wife was in her ninth month of pregnancy with our first child. I would always study in the same carrel on the top floor of Olin Library so Michael Bush in the Government Department office would know where to find me if a call came in that Barbara was going into labor (pre-cell phones and e-mail). I did very well on my comps. “Jentleson,” Ted said to me. “Yes, sir,” I responded. “You got those grades while your wife was about to have a baby?” “Yes, sir.” “Not bad,” he said, not exactly effusive in its words, but with that twinkle in his eyes I could read the compliment between the lines.

Ted was then on my dissertation committee. I was moving along well. But as often happens with PhD students, I started going off on another track with a “fresh” idea. I went in to Ted’s office to discuss. He listened, got up, started pacing, arms waving and saying, “Closure, Jentleson, closure,” over and over again. I got the point. I stayed with the original topic, finished the following year, and won an APSA dissertation award. And filed that “fresh” idea off somewhere never to be found again!

Thanks for everything, Ted.

Bruce W. Jentleson

Professor, Public Policy and Political Science,

Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, and

Henry Kissinger Chair (2015-16), Kluge Center, Library of Congress, and

Global Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars