Most job holders in Washington have specific duties laid out for them either by the Constitution or by the Civil Service or by the dictates of the job itself. The White House doorman, for example, mans the door. The White House gardener tends the rose garden. But what about Arthur Schlesinger Jr.? Well, he has a lot of jobs. But nobody seems to know quite what they are.
Aside from falling into pools, Schlesinger, 44, is a former Harvard history professor and prizewinning author (The Age of Jackson, etc.), who serves as President Kennedy's court philosopher, instant historian, vice president in charge...