Gore is donning two hats at today's Commencement ceremonies, both as the featured speaker and as a member of the Class of 1969 returning for his 25th reunion.
At yesterday's panel discussion, Gore thanked his classmates for their support of his political pursuits.
But the vice president said he did not leave Harvard expecting to enter politics.
"I was so completely fed up with politics and government ,"Gore said. "It was a time when we didn't see the best government had to offer."
At Harvard, Gore lived in Dunster House and Mower Hall. Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones '69 was one of his roommates.
Gore, who has admitted to smoking marijuana in college, was president of the freshman council, served in the undergraduate council and played intramural basketball.
A political moderate then and now, Gore said he did not take part in the student demonstrations in the spring of 1969.