[7] He was a grandson of Charles Kingman Brewster[4][5] and Celina Sophia Baldwin, and Lyman Waterman Besse and Henrietta Louisa Segee.

"[9] Brewster wrote that his mother was a "marvelously speculative and philosophical type," a "free-thinking spirit... given to far-out enthusiasms and delighting in sprightly arguments with her more intellectually-conventional friends.

His first cousin was Janet Huntington Brewster[4][15][16] (September 18, 1910 –December 18, 1998) who was an American philanthropist, writer, radio broadcaster, and relief worker during World War II in London.

At the time of the invitation, Lindbergh was the nation's best-known isolationist and the most prominent private citizen opposed to the war.

[22] The founding members of the AFC included many of the East Coast universities' best and the brightest, from valedictorians to football all-Americans to campus newspaper editors.

Brewster also took great care to ensure that the noninterventionist movement on campus was not led by social outcasts or malcontents but by "students who had attained relative respect and prominence during their undergraduate years."

He emphasized repeatedly that his group represented mainstream campus opinion and that its views were "in agreement with the great majority of Americans of all ages.

[25] Brewster's first job after graduating was to accompany Professor Milton Katz to Paris, France, to serve as his assistant at the European headquarters of the Marshall Plan.

[31] After his appointment, Coffin, a former CIA operative, Williams College chaplain and Skull & Bones alum, became an ardent antiwar activist.

In 1967, along with Benjamin Spock, Yale 1925, he organized a mass protest in Boston, Massachusetts, and then sent hundreds of draft cards back to the US Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

[33] In 1969—against the wishes of the NCAA—Yale Jewish center Jack Langer played for Team United States at the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

He did so with the approval of Yale President Kingman Brewster, and the university said it would not stop Langer from "what we feel is a matter of religious freedom."

His remarks, which were leaked to the press, made that a day which would follow him for the rest of his life: "I am appalled and ashamed that things should have come to such a pass in this country that I am skeptical of the ability of black revolutionaries to achieve a fair trial anywhere in the United States.

"[42] This remark, made one week before the tumultuous May Day protests of the Black Panther trials, was decried in editorials and speeches across the country.

"[47] Brewster inevitably would be judged on May Day's outcome because he had opened his university to all those coming to New Haven to support the Panthers, even offering them food and shelter.

Brewster knew that in the face of potential catastrophe, he had the support of other leaders cast from the same mold: friends and colleagues who shared his background and outlook.

"[49][50] Henry Kissinger, sitting just a few chairs away, mused aloud that Brewster was the one man whose assassination would benefit the United States.

[49][50] It was Brewster's handling of the May Day demonstrations and his actions after the crisis that made him a target of the Nixon White House.

[52] On May 12, 1972, Brewster made a public statement, printed in full on the front page of the Yale Daily News, prior to a campus visit by Richard Nixon's Secretary of State William P. Rogers.

Under his tenure, he established academic credentials in the admissions process and the proportion of undergraduate African-Americans, Jews, and public high school graduates at Yale rose.

[55] No aspect of Brewster's presidency stirred more anger and debate than the overhaul of Yale's single-gender undergraduate admissions policy in the 1960s.

[58] [59] Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, a member of the Yale Corporation, and a close personal friend, recommended him to President Carter for the position.

[60] Despite his lack of diplomatic experience, the British press was pleased with the appointment, calling Brewster potentially the best ambassador since David K. E. Bruce.

He was called to step in and resolve difficulties between United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and the British Foreign Office.

This was followed by smoothing out American/British difficulties over policy toward Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), which helped lead to the end of minority white rule in that country.

Brewster reveled in the "good life" of London and took advantage of the range of social occasions from dinner with Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom to quaffing a pint of ale in a working class pub, saying, "Becoming aware of the richness and variety here is a lot of fun.

"[61] After stepping down as ambassador in 1981, Brewster was associated with the New York-based law firm of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts.

[6] He is thought to be the inspiration for Garry Trudeau's fictional character, President King, in the popular comic strip Doonesbury.