t's a chilly Monday morning in early April and a low
overcast hangs over Dupont Circle in northwest Washington, threatening
snow. The cacophony of news about the Republican presidential primary has
diminished since Bob Dole finally eclipsed his pesky rivals to apparently sew
up the nomination. But the upcoming race between Dole and Bill Clinton is much
on the minds, and tongues, of those who prowl the sidewalks and corridors of
power and of influence inside the Beltway.
Shortly before 11 a.m., the door of Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc. on
Connecticut Avenue opens and out onto the sidewalk dashes Peter Hart '64. He
almost collides with a large man walking toward Dupont Circle with his head
down. Hart dodges, apologizes and slips into the front passenger side of a
bright red Dodge Neon that's double parked by the curb.
"Thanks, Henry. This is great," he says so sincerely you would think he's
unused to being chauffeured around town. As the car pulls into traffic he tells
the driver his schedule so the little Neon will be waiting for him. At 11 a.m.
there's a meeting with Reed Hundt, chair of the Federal Communications
Commission. At noon Hart has lunch plans with a political reporter for The
Washington Post at Vidalia's, a restaurant across the street from the
FCC--an easy walk. At 1 p.m. he will need a lift to the White House, where
Laura Tyson, assistant to the President for economic policy, wants to see
him.
Hart moves like a halfback through the streets and hallways--leaning forward,
hurrying to keep up with himself, but with his head up scanning the
middle-distance for obstacles. Trim and agile, of average stature, he leaves
his raincoat streaming in his wake. Doors open and he moves efficiently through
a security checkpoint, but he is never too hurried to say thank you or exchange
a few pleasantries, to make introductions and to joke about politics or
baseball or, frequently, about himself. At the FCC, Hundt begins by addressing Hart about a proposal involving free
air time for presidential candidates. "Let's kick this off and explain it, and
then you can tell us what you think we ought to know or do," Hundt says. Later at the restaurant, Post reporter Dan Balz asks Hart for advice on
how to cover the upcoming presidential race. Balz jots ideas in a reporter's
notebook as Hart responds. Still later, outside the entrance to the White House West Wing, a small group
of acquaintances arrives at the guardhouse simultaneously. "Something must be
up if Peter Hart's going in," notes Maura Liasson, National Public Radio's
White House correspondent. In Hundt's office, at the lunch table with the Post reporter and in the
Roosevelt Room at the White House, others run the meetings, but all defer to
Hart.
