Tom Putnam is a former director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. He lives in Cape Porpoise.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the United States was founded by the pen as well as the sword through the inspiring words of Jefferson, Adams and Paine.

In the years preceding the Civil War, Americans, especially in New England, were captivated by the lectures, speeches and novels of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe. After WWII, as an emerging superpower, we listened to thoughtful televised debates between the likes of William F. Buckley, James Baldwin and Betty Friedan.

These days, intellectuals of all stripes are distrusted. Reasoned opinions informed by lifetimes of service and study are discounted as elitist.

Twenty years ago, I organized a forum at the John F. Kennedy Library to honor two public intellectuals, John Kenneth Galbraith and Arthur Schlesinger, who left their university posts to serve in the Kennedy administration. One of the speakers was Gloria Steinem, whose metaphors that afternoon captivated me. She described a public intellectual as “a human bridge between centers of thinking and the public … a bridge between thought and action.”

To make her metaphor more concrete she cited physicians as examples of individuals who translate “their expertise into words that patients can understand in order to make their own health decisions.”

I was reminded of Steinem’s comments recently when attending a candidate forum with
Dr. Nirav Shah. I was struck by Dr. Shah’s ability to articulate complicated policy positions in terms an audience can easily understand.

Perhaps this isn’t surprising. As the former head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Shah led our state’s public health response to the COVID pandemic. During those trying times, many Mainers tuned in to his briefings to learn of the latest scientific discoveries and determine their own course of action.

I hadn’t realized that in addition to being a physician, Dr. Shah also has a law degree and training as an economist, which showed in his nuanced answers to audience questions. I found his responses to be unlike the boilerplate offered by other candidates running for governor. Moreover, they did not readily conform to familiar ideological labels.

As in his pandemic briefings, Dr. Shah does not speak down to his audience. If anything, he elevates the conversation by animating his explanations with a clever turn-of-phrase or striking historical allusion — as, in former times, public intellectuals might have done.

Growing up in Kennebunk in the 1970s, I recall watching the PBS program “Firing Line,”
with William F. Buckley. I did not always agree with Mr. Buckley’s opinions, but the experience widened my perspective and challenged my beliefs.

Similarly, many observers credit JFK for including individuals in his administration like Arthur Schlesinger and Ken Galbraith, whose opinions cut against the grain. Schlesinger, for example, advised against the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. As our ambassador to India, Galbraith urged the president to not get involved in the war in Vietnam. Most historians suggest that Kennedy unwisely ignored their counsel, siding instead with his military and foreign policy advisors, leading to disastrous consequences.

I left the conversation with Dr. Shah feeling that our state would be fortunate to have such a thoughtful and experienced leader as our next governor. And I wondered how well his approach will play across the state during the upcoming campaign — cutting against the grain of the formalistic partisan soundbites to which we’ve grown accustomed.

Meeting Dr. Shah reminded me of how I felt after first hearing Barack Obama speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I’m both excited by Shah’s candidacy and intrigued to learn whether our state is ready to elect a governor with a recent immigrant past. And I’m eager to see if his erudite persona will appeal to a majority of Maine voters.

If so, and if elected, a Governor Shah may just turn out to be the bridge between thought and action that we need in these challenging times.