The Education and Formation of Howard Dean: From Yale to Medicine and Politics
Howard Dean's journey is one of self-discovery, marked by academic pursuits, career shifts, and a commitment to public service. His education and experiences shaped him into a prominent figure in American politics, serving as Governor of Vermont and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Early Life and Education
Howard Brush Dean III was born in East Hampton, New York, on November 17, 1948. His father, Howard Brush Dean Jr., was an executive in the financial industry, working at the stock brokerage firm of Dean Witter. The Dean family was affluent and belonged to the Maidstone Golf Club in East Hampton.
Dean's early education began at the Browning School in Manhattan. At the age of 13, he transitioned to St. George's School, a preparatory school in Middletown, Rhode Island.
Yale University: A Time of Questioning
Dean chose to attend Yale University, following in his father's footsteps. He graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. However, his time at Yale was not without its challenges. He questioned whether he had to follow his father's path. His early years were unremarkable. During his freshman year, he considered leaving. His father insisted that he stay, so he continued his studies. He participated in student government and took political science courses.
As a sophomore, his grades were just passing. By his own admission, he smoked pot and drank a lot of beer. He later called this period "disastrous." His grades eventually improved somewhat.
Read also: Tuition and Fees at Howard
According to Ralph Dawson, Dean's roommate at Yale, Dean was getting more freedom and enjoying it. Peter Brooks, a Yale associate professor, noted that Dean's undergraduate academic record was not strong. He described those years as a time of "somewhat undirected personal experimentation."
Dean was troubled by student unrest over the Vietnam War, the invasion of Cambodia, and the Black Panther trials. Unlike many students, Dean did not get personally involved. Dawson said Dean "was antiwar but he wasn’t out demonstrating." Taylor Pyne, another old friend, said Dean embraced dissent but also tried to understand the war from his father’s perspective. Dean, he said, "was in the middle."
According to Dr. Russell Anderson Jr. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, Dean "described some of the arguments which he had with his father and as to how he rebelled, to the extent of letting his hair grow to shoulder length and growing a long mustache and beard. He was too busy being fashionable that his studies suffered.”
Post-Graduation: Seeking Direction
After graduating from Yale in 1971, Dean faced a period of uncertainty. He felt pressured to pursue a career in "high finance" but found the prospect unfulfilling.
Aspen and Wall Street
Dean initially sought escape and self-discovery in Aspen, Colorado. With the help of a trust fund set up by his grandmother, he spent a winter skiing and working odd jobs, such as washing dishes at the Golden Horn restaurant and working construction. By his own count, Dean skied 80 days that winter. He got around town in a blue Chevy Malibu. He partied so hard that he later told friends he was “lucky to get out of it in one piece.”
Read also: Discover the scholarship at Howard University's History Department
Greg Wylde, a fellow Yalie who roomed with him in Aspen, described Dean as a "free spirit" who was "doing what he wanted to do." Former classmate Pyne, who shared weekends on the Aspen slopes with him, said, "We were all somewhat childish back then."
Trudy Erhard, who ran the Golden Horn, recalled Dean as "a good kid, but a lost kid." She said that "everybody did" pot in Aspen, including all of her young employees. "He told us about it too. But he never ever called in sick. I used to drive him nuts because he couldn’t put on tablecloths [properly], but he never called in sick, about a bad back or anything else.”
After a year, Dean left Aspen and worked on Wall Street for two years as a financial advisor. However, he found the work unsatisfying.
Medical School: A Turning Point
During his time on Wall Street, Dean volunteered at a hospital emergency room in New York, which sparked an interest in medicine. This interest was further fueled by a personal tragedy: the kidnapping and presumed death of his brother Charles in Laos. This event profoundly affected Dean, leading him to seek a more meaningful and fulfilling career.
Dean secretly sought out his uncle, Dr. Bill Felch, about a career in medicine. Felch recalled that Dean "was restless" and unsure about "how to go about breaking those bonds" with his family's Wall Street legacy.
Read also: Explore Howard County Community College
With his uncle’s encouragement, Dean applied for night school at Columbia to pick up the science courses needed for medical school. He persuaded Felch not to tell his parents, but Dean family lore has him walking into the admissions office at Columbia only to find his mother doing volunteer work there. He confessed his intentions and begged her not to tell Dad. When he later wanted to move back home to save money, he arranged another restaurant meeting in Manhattan, this time with his father. He told him of his plans for medical school. His father supported his plans, Dean said. But years later, he said, “my father told me he thought I was nuts.”
Dean was admitted to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. In his application, he said he was impressed by doctors and nurses working together to help patients, and that "at 50, I would like to look back at a career which had provided, and would continue to provide, that kind of service to others.”
Anderson at Einstein strongly recommended him to the program. “Howard B. Dean no longer represents a lost soul,” he said in the recommendation. “He has indeed come home.”
He took an accelerated program and graduated in three years rather than four. Dean met his future wife, Judith Steinberg, a classmate, when they worked crossword puzzles together between classes. He kept his pedigree low-key; few at the school realized he was a trust-funder. Classmate Joyce Davis recalled that "he was very frugal, and his clothes were worn. He used to tape his shoes together with duct tape. Maybe he just didn’t have time to get to a shoemaker.”
From Medicine to Politics
After graduating from medical school in 1978, Dean began a residency at the University of Vermont in Burlington. He and Judith married and opened a family practice together.
In 1982, Dean entered politics, getting elected to the Vermont House of Representatives. This marked the beginning of his career in public service. Already, Aspen was ancient history, Bill Dean said. The family knew no son of Big Howard could hide in the mountains forever.
According to Bill Dean, “Leaving Aspen, it was time to get serious. You can only do that for so long. If you’re working in a restaurant or pouring concrete, that’s one thing. You can keep that kind of a lifestyle up for a while. But sooner or later there are serious things to do in life.”
Key milestones in Howard Dean's Education
- 1971: Graduates from Yale University with a bachelor of arts in political science.
- 1975: Begins school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y.
- 1978: Graduates from medical school and begins residency at the University of Vermont in Burlington.
tags: #howard #dean #education #history
