Clinton's News Guy

KEITH BOYKIN '87 HAS gone from editing for the Dartmouth campus to editing for Bill Clinton. As director of news analysis Boykin heads a staff that examines trends in how the President is portrayed, forecasts developments, and summarizes world news in morning reports for the Oval Office. Fresh out of Harvard Law and a stint handlingcampaign communications in the A lid west, the former Dartmouth editor-in-chief now helps direct the White House's communications strategy and serves as a liaison with interest groups.

His biggest issue so far was one of Clinton's toughest: gays in the military. He was responsible for setting up Clinton's ground-breaking meeting with gay leaders on April 16. "That was the most exciting time I've had in this job," says Boykin. "It was a historic moment. A President was meeting with gay leaders for the first time. I could see he was excited about it too." The gays pushed Clinton to appear at the Gay Pride march on Washington, but the President had Boykin draft a statement read to the crowd instead.

"Starting out with a new administration, one that I believe in, right from the beginning was really exciting," he says. "We were starting up a new government. I'm really energized just being in the room where decisions are made."

Former Dartmonth editor Boykin(to the left of the President's desk) now edits for Clinton.