Regarding Hayward R. Alker

I learned of Prof. Alker's passing while looking for his contact information so I could belatedly thank him for his mentorship and kindness as a teacher, both while I was an undergraduate at MIT and afterwards. In lieu of that call left unmade I'll offer these memories of a very special scholar and man.

I was privileged to be in Hayward's undergraduate course on international conflict, "Just Wars, Total Wars and Nuclear Wars". For we students, Hayward's masterful synthesis of mathematical insight and sweeping historical perspective opened our eyes to the possibility of a more profound understanding of the affairs of nations. Moreover, Hayward was determined to afford us fair representation of a multiplicity of viewpoints, many of which were not his own. To do these alternative ideas justice he would bring in prominent guest lecturers with whom he'd engage in dialogue, drawing the students into the discussion. One time his guest was Daniel Ellsberg, and the lecture happened to take place shortly after the 1986 American airstrike against Libya. Ellsberg took a very dark view of Reagan's action and the attending collateral damage, and when Hayward began soliciting student comments I got up the nerve to suggest a defense of the attack, an argument informed by game theory Hayward had taught us and articulated in a tone which, regardless of where one stood on the issue, could be kindly described as cool. Ellsberg expressed considerable discomfort at so callow a mind embracing this stripe of realpolitik, and it was then that Hayward stepped in, looking up at me in the lecture hall and asking whether I was yet twenty years old. When I said I was not, Hayward remarked "You're leaving yourself no room here. You're young now - this is supposed to be a time of idealism, even naiveté. If you're this cynical today, what in the Lord's name will you be like when you're forty?" This brought down the house, and occasioned the first beginning of a dialogue with Hayward that I was fortunate enough to engage in for the rest of my time in Cambridge.

Of course Hayward was by no means naive, and could be very wry. In the mid-eighties the "Owl" school of thought was ascendant, and when I spoke to him admiringly of this line of thinking he pointed out that this approach's utility to its adherents might extend beyond intellectual substance. To illustrate, he strode to the right side of a very large blackboard, wrote "HAWKS" above his head, and, just below, "(Nuts!)". He then walked across to the left hand side of the board and wrote "DOVES" , and, below again, "(Wimps!)". He then hopped to the midpoint, wrote "OWLS" and "(Sane! Reasonable! Confirmable!)" above himself with an arrow pointing down, under which he the stood making a thumbs-up sign and exclaiming: "Acceptable on a bipartisan basis and available for the staff or Cabinet position of your choice, Mr. President!"

Hayward was generous enough with his time to dine with me on a few occasions, as well as put up with my endless questions during his very flexible office hours. He managed to convince a very skeptical physics major that mathematics applied to human affairs need not be a soulless enterprise. Indeed I never saw Hayward analyze a problem without remembering the humanity behind the equations. He would often attribute this trait to his Quaker background and perhaps this is so, but I suspect his was a rare spirit among any tribe or creed. When some time after MIT I struggled with the question of continuing my graduate work in physics or pursuing a doctorate in a social science, it was to Hayward that I turned for counsel, and his advice and empathy were both a decisive influence and a great reassurance.

Today I'm an economist, and around the age of cynicism Hayward warned me about. Once in a while I get a chance to speak truth to power. Whenever I do I think of what a wise and very decent man taught, and try never to let calculation become an excuse for callousness. I'm sorry I never really thanked you, Hayward. You will be missed.

Jeffrey J. Trester