Institute of Politics 50th Anniversary Commemoration

“The future promise of any nation can be directly measured by the present prospects of its youth.”
      —John F. Kennedy

Since its founding in 1966 as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, the Institute of Politics at Harvard University has encouraged generations of Harvard students to pursue careers in politics and public service. Over the past 50 years, the IOP has evolved to encompass 14 student organizations ranging from Citizenship Tutoring, in which students guide Harvard employees as they navigate the U.S. citizenship application process, to the Harvard Public Opinion Project, which drafts questions for a biannual poll analyzing the political preferences of young voters. The IOP also houses the JFK Jr. Forum, Fellows and Study Groups, Harvard Political Union, National Campaign, Policy, Campaigns and Advocacy, Women’s Initiative in Leadership, Politics of Race and Ethnicity, CIVICS, Community Action Committee, and Internships and Career Services.

The Harvard Political Review has been affiliated with the IOP since 1969 when it was created by a group of students serving on the IOP’s Student Advisory Committee. The magazine has stood witness to some of the largest developments of the past half-century, from the Vietnam War protests in the 1960s to the Syrian Civil War today. Today, the HPR is a leading publication covering cultural and political topics at the international, domestic, and campus levels, and it has featured interviews with esteemed leaders ranging from President Ronald Reagan to cellist Yo Yo Ma. In the early 2000s, the HPR began utilizing the power of the Internet and social media to further expand its presence. As a result, the HPR now boasts a large team of students involved in design, business, multimedia, and web development in addition to the students working on editorial content. Among the HPR’s alumni are some of the world’s best political minds, including Al Gore, Jr., E.J. Dionne, Jr., Jonathan Alter, and Jeffrey Sachs.

In commemoration of the IOP’s accomplishments during the past half-century, the HPR compiled the following timeline, which consists of interviews with eight former IOP students and two former IOP directors interspersed with articles from the HPR’s archives to gain a glimpse into each decade of the IOP.

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