"I recall those as years of great hope and even inspiration," Lieberman wrote in the class report.

Lieberman feels, however, that since Vietnam, "we've moved away from that notion, that the government can do good things for people."

"People really wrestled with the sense that when they came to be of age, the government drained away with Vietnam the sense that one should do good," Lieberman says.

Disillusionment

Stephen M. Waters '68 may be an example of what Lieberman has observed, as someone who lost the hope of being able to influence the world through the government.

Waters was a government concentrator at Harvard and was interested in the possibility of entering public office; today, however, he is an investment banker.

"I had long thought myself of entering government, and did think that way in 1968, but it's discouraging to conclude that one couldn't really make a difference," Waters wrote for in class report."

"The current system doesn't allow things to be done better," says Waters. "Interest group lobbying doesn't allow anything substantive to get done."

Waters did, however, unlike many of his classmates, feel that he ought to fight in Vietnam and was in the Navy for three and a half years.

"I would make the same choice again," Waters says. "The United States is a good place to live, and I thought I had to give something back."

Rather than succumb to Waters complete skepticism, some have simply modified their opinions about how much difference individuals or the government can make.

"I like to think I've kept those views," Norr says, referring to his radical activism in the late 1960s. "But I have also gotten more mature and realistic about what could get done."

The War Wasn't Everything

Although the war left none untouched, some have had their lives affected more profoundly by different sorts of changes.

Arthur S. Lipkin '68, who is gay, says that "the biggest change in my life is coming to terms with my sexuality."