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Mr. John Train's column in the June 28-29 'Financial Times' was interesting and educational, but unfairly slams McGeorge Bundy for allegedly urging a very risky approach to investment during his tenure as President of the Ford Foundation. In fact, he urged academic and nonprofit institutions to focus on total return in an age when many were reluctant to move beyond bonds. Total return was a good general guide to surviving the stagflation of the 1970s.
Bundy and David Bell were recruited to lead the Ford Foundation in 1966, when the institution was rapidly spending into oblivion. They brought spending down smoothly. The Ford Foundation was badly hit by severe bear markets in 1968 and 1973 but maintained institutional stability and provided a good example of personnel as well as financial management.
The two men also provided an old-school example of public service commitment. After leaving the Ford Foundation, Bundy wrote a very durable history of the nuclear age, Danger and Survival, not a kiss-and-tell about Presidents Kennedy (who treated him exceptionally well) or Johnson (who treated him almost unbelievably badly).
I worked at the Ford Foundation for several years in the early 1970s and found Mac Bundy a much better man than his often terrible press, and Dave Bell was one of the most impressive people I have ever met.

Sincerely,

Arthur I. Cyr

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