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[[Image:‪SaveTheWorldCommittee3 flat220.jpg‬|thumb|right|220px]]'''Lawrence Henry "Larry" Summers''' was a primary architect of the modern U.S. financial system, which collapsed in 2008 leaving some 8 million Americans unemployed and destroying some $13 trillion in wealth, according to the GAO. Summers served multiple roles in the U.S. Treasury in the 1990's under President Clinton and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin (previously of Goldman-Sachs). In those roles he supported the repeal of Glass-Steagall, which lead to the creation of "too big to fail" banks, and fought the regulation of derivatives which later played a key role in the financial crisis (see more below). Ultimately he became Secretary of the Treasury under Clinton 1999-2001. He also held the position as President of Harvard 2001-2006 during the administration of George W. Bush, a position he left after a no-confidence vote by the staff and after losing some $2 billion in Harvard endowment funds to a derivatives deal gone bad.<ref>Felix Salmon, “Annals of rank hubris, Larry Summers edition, [http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/07/23/annals-of-rank-hubris-larry-summers-edition/] Reuters, July 22, 2009. </ref> He would later become the Director of President Obama's [[National Economic Council]], an economic policy agency within the executive branch of the U.S. government from 2008-2010, and play a key role in bailing out the U.S. banking system.<ref>News release, President –Elect Barack Obama[http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/geithner_summers_among_key_economic_team_members_announced_today/], November 24, 2008. </ref> In 2013, he is a top candidate for the position of Federal Reserve Chairman.

==Role in financial crisis and bailout==

- Support for Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at Harvard. Summers made a special effort to encourage the ROTC presence at Harvard. According to the campus newspaper, Summers “broke with precedent and spoke at the annual ROTC ceremony every year during his presidency in an effort to show support for students in the program and for expanded military access to the campus. <ref>“After Harvard Leaders' Absence, ROTC Supporters Fear Return to Icy Relations,” [http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/6/22/after-harvard-leaders-absence-rotc-supporters/] June 22, 2007. </ref>

- Harvard payment to settle case of Summers’ close friend, Professor Andrei Shleifer. Harvard paid $26.5 million to settle a suit after “a U.S. district court found Shleifer liable for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, and concluded that Harvard had breached its contract with the government.” Shleifer and his wife had invested in Russia at the same time that they were on contract with the government’s Agency for International Development, resulting in a conflict of interest. Faculty members were critical of the payment Harvard made to settle the case and the lack of disciplinary action taken against Shleifer. One professor said at a meeting with Summers “The outcome of the tawdry Shleifer affair...would have been unthinkable—unthinkable—during the last two presidencies, but is all too characteristic of the present malaise.” <ref>“’Tawdry Shleifer Affair’ Stokes Faculty Anger Toward Summers,” [http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/2/10/tawdry-shleifer-affair-stokes-faculty-anger/], The Crimson, February 10, 2006. </ref>

==Tobacco==