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Memories of 'Pinky's' Smile

Schoolmate, ex- Time editor recalls Harvard undergrad Bhutto's warmth, intensity

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 28, 2007 10:06 AM CST
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(Newser) – What former Time editor Walter Isaacson remembers best about fellow Harvard student Benazir Bhutto is her warm smile—and how it contrasted with the intensity of her eyes. Her nickname, "Pinky," often seemed at odds with her serious personality and driving passion for politics at Harvard and later at Oxford, where she headed the debate society.

She often dressed in baggy jeans and sweatshirts, a collegiate way of honoring Muslim modesty, she once explained to Isaacson. The two met occasionally later as Bhutto experienced personal and political turmoil. "I’d notice how the features of her face had hardened a bit, as had the intensity of her stare," Isaacson writes. "But she never lost the warmth of that very big smile."

Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto reacts as she says a prayer to herself just before delivering the keynote address at Harvard University's commencement exercises on campus in Cambridge, Mass. in a June 9, 1989 file photo. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto reacts as she says a prayer to herself just before delivering the keynote address at Harvard University's commencement exercises on campus in Cambridge, Mass. in...   (Associated Press)
Benazir Bhutto is seen after being confirmed as the President of the Oxford Union, the debating center of Oxford University, seen in this Nov. 30, 1976, file photo, in Oxford. Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, 54, was assassinated Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in a suicide attack. At...
Benazir Bhutto is seen after being confirmed as the President of the Oxford Union, the debating center of Oxford University, seen in this Nov. 30, 1976, file photo, in Oxford. Pakistani opposition leader...   (Associated Press)
Pakistanis and their supporters hold candles near photos of Pakistan's assassinated former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, at an impromptu rally in a Pakistani neighborhood in New York, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Pakistanis and their supporters hold candles near photos of Pakistan's assassinated former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, at an impromptu rally in a Pakistani neighborhood in New York, Thursday, Dec....   (Associated Press)
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