LETTER FROM WASHINGTON

Running for High Office Without Higher Education

By Albert R. Hunt | Bloomberg View

 Feb. 1, 2015

WASHINGTON — Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has buzz. He has impressed conservative activists in Des Moines and is the
front-runner for likely Republican Iowa caucus-goers, according to a Bloomberg Politics-Des Moines Register poll published over
the weekend.

Supporters say Mr. Walker, who is 47, has more diverse qualifications than the other Republicans: a non-Washington Republican
who has won tough contests in a blue state, has taken on labor unions, and appeals to Christian conservatives and the business
constituency.

There is one credential that he doesn’t have: a post-high school education.

America hasn’t elected a president without a college degree since Harry S. Truman.

Americans celebrate higher education. More than 40 percent of voters have a college degree; only three countries — Canada,
Israel and Japan — have a more educated electorate. College graduates, on average, earn in excess of 50 percent more in a
lifetime in America than nongraduates.

All members of the Senate have higher degrees, as do all but 19 members of the House of Representatives: 15 Republicans and
four Democrats. The only other governor without a college degree is Gary Herbert of Utah.

Mr. Walker attended Marquette University for more than three years. He dropped out to take a job. He’s about a year short of a
degree and has raised the possibility of completing it while governor.

Actually, there is one other major potential candidate for president who doesn’t have a college degree: Senator Rand Paul,
Republican of Kentucky. He never completed his undergraduate degree at Baylor University, but he scored so high on his medical
school entrance exams that he was admitted to the Duke University School of Medicine, where he completed his training as an
ophthalmologist.

Some of the great American successes are men and women without college degrees: Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steven P. Jobs of
Apple and Larry Ellison of Oracle. The same goes for leading entertainers such as Clint Eastwood, Julia Roberts and George
Clooney. Add to the list of distinguished nongraduates Walter Cronkite, who was a longtime anchor for “CBS Evening News,” and
today’s leading anchorman Brian Williams.

The question of Mr. Walker’s missing diploma has arisen occasionally in Wisconsin. Opponents have asserted that there is
something untoward about his dropping out of Marquette. He then authorized the university to release the records as proof that
there was no hidden story behind his departure. Mr. Walker has said that a college education isn’t a “base requirement” for high
office. The Walker camp had no comment for this column.

History might help Mr. Walker. There have been 12 presidents without college degrees, starting with George Washington and 10
others, including Abraham Lincoln.

More than a century ago, a Princeton academic, Woodrow Wilson, who later became president, raised a question about the 16th
president: “Would Lincoln have been a better instrument for the country’s good if he had been put through the processes of one of
our modern colleges?”

Historians have resoundingly rejected Wilson’s point; Lincoln is widely considered the greatest American president. His
predecessor, James Buchanan, had a college degree (rather rare in those days), but is considered one of the worst.