been selected at a secret meeting at the doubletree hotel in cambridge. members of the university's governing board were waiting to deliver the news. what was your reaction? >> i was thrilled, excited, sobered. i thought i just have given them my life. >> susie: did you ever picture yourself being president of a university? >> that day i did. if you take me back to when i was six years old or when i was 20 years old, or even when i was 40 years old, no. >> susie: and harvard? >> and harvard. and harvard. >> susie: why did you want it? >> if someone asks you to be president of harvard, you say yes. >> susie: harvard. it is a place brimming in history and tradition. over almost four centuries, the university has drawn the best and the brightest to spend time inside its ivied walls. ♪ eight u.s. presidents have