Two summers ago William F. Weld '66 got his face splashed across the front pages of local papers when he plunged into the Charles River after signing new environmental regulations.

Although Weld, now a private attorney, no longer reaps the political benefits of such gubernatorial spectacles, it's still safe to expect the unexpected from this re-headed Fayerweather Street resident.

Weld's dry humility, spontaneous wit and uncanny ability to craft tri-lingual puns were not simply accouterments donned to retain his State House office. They have served him consistently from the Hasty Pudding to his battles on the Hill.

This afternoon, Weld may not take a leap from the steps of Memorial Church, but whatever he does, it will follow a pattern predictably unpredictable.

Man of the 1990s

Weld's six-and-a-half years in the governor's office were a departure from the bedrock of Massachusetts liberalism.

As a candidate, Weld pioneered the moderate Republican platform--stumping for fiscal restraint and responsibility, tough crime legislation and defending a woman's right to an abortion--in two successful gubernatorial campaigns.

This model propelled him into the State House ahead of the well-known Boston University President John A. Silber.

Weld served as governor from 1990 through July 1997. During that time he pleased voters by cutting the state budget without increasing taxes.

"His political profile is just what was called for in the times," says Mitchell Adams '66, who worked on two Weld campaigns, in 1978 and 1990, and is now the Massachusetts Revenue Commissioner.

"He succeeded in combining fiscal conservatism and a socially liberal viewpoint with an absolute perfection in Massachusetts in terms of resonating with the public mood," Adams says.

Weld's small-government philosophy appealed to Bay State residents in 1990. Former Governor Michael Dukakis had left the state, in Weld's words, "a fiscal Beirut." In September 1990 the state's bond rating, the lowest in the nation, dropped again.

Weld then won the November election with a call for entrepreneurial government. During his tenure on Beacon Hill, Weld eliminated a $2.3 billion state deficit and ushered in more than 19 tax cuts for Massachusetts voters.

Seventy-one percent of these voters showed their satisfaction by re-electing Weld in 1994.

Keeping Up Appearances