Leach '64 brings Congress to University

Former Republican congressman Jim Leach '64 will spend three semesters on campus as a visiting professor in the Wilson School, the University announced late last month.

A Republican from eastern Iowa, Leach served in Congress for 30 years before being narrowly defeated in November in his bid for a 16th term. Leach, who vocally criticized the war in Iraq and supports abortion rights, was one of the House's most liberal Republicans.

Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 said in a statement that Leach "brings to the school an incredible knowledge of Congress and the electoral process, and his career is a superb example for our students who seek to serve their country while demonstrating principled, effective leadership in government."

This semester, Leach will teach a graduate-level course, "The Intersection of Chinese and U.S. Foreign Policy." It was organized in the months since Election Day. "We had to put this teaching stint together pretty quickly," Wilson School Associate Dean Nolan McCarty said. "There is a pretty good chance that he will be teaching undergraduates next semester."

Leach confirmed that he is interested in teaching at the undergraduate level. He added that, if given the opportunity, he would give a lecture on his political experiences for the entire University community.

He was a politics major at Princeton and a member of Ivy Club and the wrestling team. He began his political career by joining the staff of then-Rep. Donald Rumsfeld '54 after graduating from Princeton. He later went on to graduate school at the London School of Economics.

Despite his political and academic experience, Leach said he does not think that teaching at Princeton will be easy. "It will be a challenging transition," he said in an interview. "I expect this to be a very challenging year."

Leach's lengthy political career will supplement his teaching effectively, McCarty said.

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"He stands to bring a wealth of experience to our students," McCarty said. "Leach was known as being one of the most intellectual members of Congress, so I don't think the transition into academia will be a difficult one."

"[Leach] did not have any formal plans to teach, but he has been involved with the University for a long time," McCarty added. "The teaching offer from the University probably did not come as a surprise." He was a member of the University's Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2006.

As a professor, Leach said he hopes to change the way students think. "I want to teach diversity of thought and depth of thought," he said. "I have worked for 30 years in an environment where thinking has been shallower, at times, than the country and the world deserve."

He said he wanted to try teaching because he believes "one generation should guide the next." He added that times are more complex today than when he began his stint in Washington, making it more difficult to learn from past experience.

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"Generations up till now have largely seen repetition of events in the past," he said, "but today there are more and more aspects of life that have no precedents, which makes it harder to form judgments."

Though he is a Republican, Leach said he generally approves of how the newly elected Democratic Congress has operated during its first month in power.

"I think that they are off to a very strong start," he said. "They have absolutely commonsense initiatives. The challenge is how to manage the next two years."

He added that the uncertainty of international affairs will make their job more difficult.

"At this moment, it is unclear which way events from other parts of the world will cause reactions that we haven't planned upon," he said. "We could see new peace initiatives and easing in tensions, or we could see a widening war in the Middle East and new problems in North Korea."

Both McCarty and Leach said they are encouraged by the attitudes of Princeton students. "My sense is that our students have quite a lot of interest in politics," McCarty said. "Having Congressman Leach will help to maintain that level of interest."

Leach said he, too, thinks an increased understanding of the political world can benefit University students.

"I am impressed with the decency and open-mindedness of Princeton students today," he said, referring to his experiences with students on campus so far. "I think there is a good understanding that international politics has a lot to do with their future."

Though the start of his teaching career marks a departure from his lengthy governmental career, Leach added that the country might do well to look to the ivory tower in the future for its political leaders.

"America has never been better-led in academia," he said, "but both political parties [today] are letting the country down."