Swan Hall
Like many students, Obama arrived on campus without a clear idea of what his future might be. It was in the late Roger Boesche’s classroom that he found his inspiration. “Your classroom is where my interest in politics began,” he wrote to his mentor in 2016 when the Arthur G. Coons Professor in the History of Ideas announced his retirement. Boesche’s political theory classes and his knack for making the complex comprehensible made a deep impression.
“You helped instill passion for ideas, not only in me, but in the generations of students who found in your courses inspiration that would guide them forward,” Obama wrote. “Posing questions that have challenged societies through the ages, your teaching and research remind us of the importance of constant inquiry and debate, lessons that are the core of our democracy, and that I’ve drawn on throughout my life, particularly in this Office.”
During a 2009 visit to the Oval Office (pictured), Obama introduced his old professor to his staff by saying, “Professor Boesche taught me everything I know about politics,” adding with a laugh, “But he gave me a ‘B’ on a paper!”
During his sophomore year, Obama took a creative writing course with English assistant professor David James that met twice a week in Room 200 of Swan Hall. James “was good at prompting us to drop our pretentions and write about something authentic,” remembers Margot Mifflin ’82. Obama published his poetry in in the spring 1981 issue of Feast, the student literary magazine, including “Pop,” seemingly about his relationship with his grandfather.
“The class liked it for its honest ambivalence and because it was so unabashedly personal,” says Mifflin. “It was also our first window into his unconventional family life.”