His senior thesis, "The Meaning of History: Reflections on Spengler, Toynbee and Kant," extended to 388 pages and necessitated an introduction explaining its "inordinate length."

Kissinger wrote the thesis under the direction of eminent political scientist William Yandell Elliott.

Weatherhead University Professor Samuel P. Huntington says he envied the time Kissinger spent with Elliott, who worked in Cambridge only two days per week.

"I would wait and wait and wait [for Elliott]," he says. "Eventually the door would open and this pudgy undergraduate would wander out having taken two or three hours of his time, and that was Henry."

Huntington described the finished thesis as "brilliant," and Kissinger was granted Phi Beta Kappa his senior year.

Kissinger received his doctorate from Harvard in 1954 and went on to become first a lecturer and later a professor in the government department. In 1958, he was recognized as one of the nation's "Ten Outstanding Young Men." While at the University, he advised the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations on foreign policy, but continued his teaching duties.

Kissinger left Harvard in 1969 to become Nixon's national security advisor--taking a leave of absence from his professorial duties.

He never returned.

The War at Harvard

Many of Kissinger's duties in the Nixon administration--first as national security advisor and later as secretary of state--focused on United States policy in Vietnam.

As the war escalated, Kissinger's hawkish stance provoked strong opposition from many students and faculty at Harvard, including his colleagues in the government department.

In 1970, a group of 13 Faculty members traveled to Washington to confront Kissinger about America's invasion of Cambodia.

Thomas C. Schelling, then a professor of economics, led the delegation.

"I had the impression that he was very deeply affected by what we told him," says Schelling, who is currently Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. "I would say it was somewhat emotionally charged because they were all people who had considered him a friend and a colleague...[and] on the whole the group was essentially breaking relations with him."

"He sank lower and lower in his chair, and his face lost color," Schelling recalls. "When we went out I thought we had a significant impact, but I never saw any evidence afterward."

Kissinger remained silent during most of the 90 minutes meeting, refusing to speak openly about the administration's policies.