Twilight of the Boarding School Boys

East Coast boarding schools once prepared “ordinary” boys from the elite for national leadership — helping them forge friendships, networks, and marriages to rule the country.

Illustration by Jack Taylor

Three years ago, a picture of John Kerry from 1962 rapidly circulated among conservatives. In the photo sat an eighteen-year-old Kerry, sporting the number 18 on his school hockey uniform and wearing impossibly large leather protective gloves. Immediately to his right sat Robert Mueller III, number 12, with Kerry’s hockey stick resting at his feet. […]

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