A great scholar and liberal voice was lost with the passing of historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. I also want to take this opportunity to publicly offer my condolences to Mr. Schlesinger's family, especially his son, Robert, a friend and classmate from Middlebury College.
Arthur Schlesinger will be missed as a scholar and as a man who could always be counted on for intellectual honesty--a quality in short supply. And while I never met him personally, I will remember always the address he gave at Middlebury's commencement in 1994. What I remember about that speech above all was the call to public service, an echo of the idealism of Camelot--entirely appropriate for a man who made his career as a chronicler and confidant of the Kennedy family.
This commitment was evident in his son Rob, who led the Middlebury College Democrats while he was a student, organizing activities as diverse as a team for the intramural softball league, canvassing for candidates in New Hampshire, or seeing then-Governor Bill Clinton at a campaign stop in Burlington, Vermont, and in this way was passed to me and others.
Arthur Schlesinger, you will be missed. But not forgotten.