Bill Gates picked up his passion for politics while working as a page for Congress. In 1972, computers were still “big unknown,” but politics was Gates’ potential backup plan. About his life before starting Microsoft.
In 1972, 17-year-old Bill Gates wasn’t sure the computer would take off as expected, so he turned to a backup plan: politics.
Gates, who went on to Cofound Microsoft, worked as a high school student as a Congress page for the House of Representatives in Olympia, Washington, and Washington, DC.
In his memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, Gates wrote that at a young age he became interested in software and spent time programming in the University of Washington basement. He found a passion for the up-and-coming industry, but computers were still “big unknown” at the time, Gates said.
He worked every day at Capitol Hill for a month. At the time, Gates saw his computer career as a “possible path,” but he said he was taken to the drama of working in politics.
His stint in Washington, D.C. coincided with Democratic presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton, who dropped out of the 1972 race. Gates later said he sold Eagleton campaign pins as collectors’ items. During that time, “it was the closest political thriller I’ve ever witnessed,” Gates said, working as a page.
A month on the hill, Gates said he began seriously considering his career in politics and government, starting with studying law. When he was applying to the university, Gates said he saw “appetizing menus of different possibilities” in the university catalog.
In fact, he wrote to Harvard in his application essay that he had no intention of continuing to focus on his computer. I told the university that I was “most interested in business or law.” He told Yale he wanted to go to government work.
The computing breakthrough took place in December 1974 with the advent of the first successful Minicomputer kit by US-based electronics company MITS. From there, Gates and his Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen worked on creating a new programming language for the Altair 8800.
Although he did not become a politician or complete his studies at Harvard University, Gates is politically active as a donor and philanthropist. He said the New York Times reported in October that he personally donated $50 million to Pro Kamala Harris Superpack Future Forward.
“It’s almost impossible to spend time in Congress, and even at its lowest level, it won’t be wiped out,” he wrote.
