David Warsh

Because They Could David Warsh

The Harvard Russia scandal of the 1990s was a turning point in the years after the Cold War ended. But it never achieved a satisfying resolution, despite its extensive trail of litigation. When the US Justice Department charged a prominent Harvard professor, his wife, his deputy, and this deputy's girlfriend with financial misconduct in Russia while leading a team of experts advising the government of Boris Yeltsin on behalf of the United States, Harvard defended itself and its professor to the hilt. The university lost - was all but laughed out of court by a jury. It returned to the government most of the money it had been paid. It turns out there was a second lawsuit, one whose resolution Harvard attorneys were able to settle and seal. They silenced the American businessman at the heart of the case with a non-disclosure agreement, insuring that what really happened in Moscow would be less well understood. The Harvard-Russia scandal was never about Russia. It was always a story about the United States, its ethical standards and everyday concepts of fair play. Alas, the Harvard venture was the least of the folly in those years. After 1992, the US built out its military alliance to the borders of Russia, over Moscow's increasingly vehement objections. I have called my story Because They Could because that is the essence of both the Harvard scandal and the story of NATO enlargement. At every juncture, the principals took advantage of their privileged positions, and, when brought to account, employed the strategy summarized up by the famous adage, ascribed variously to Henry Ford II, Nellie McClung, and Benjamin Jowett: "Never apologize, never explain, get the thing done and let them howl." The Clinton team were pioneers in this strategy, and used it sparingly. With Donald Trump it has become the spirit of the age.