Quick Answer: Donald Trump’s story is wrong—his uncle never taught Ted Kaczynski, and he was not the longest-serving professor at MIT.
(Still curious how the tale took off? Buckle up for a tour through Ivy-League transcripts, dusty personnel files, and one very colorful campaign stage.)
The Myth That Wouldn’t Detonate
Minutes into an “Energy & Innovation Summit” in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump leaned toward the microphone and spun a yarn:
“My uncle was at MIT, one of the great professors, 51 years… the longest-serving professor in the history of MIT. Kaczynski was one of his students.”
The audience laughed; cable news chyron writers cheered. A presidential candidate had just tied his family tree to one of America’s most infamous bombers. It sounded explosive—until the paperwork arrived.
Scene 1: A Claim Meets the Calendar
Verified facts vs. the claim
| Claim | Reality |
|---|---|
| John G. Trump “taught the Unabomber.” | ✖ No enrollment record for Kaczynski at MIT. |
| John G. Trump was MIT’s “longest-serving professor.” | ✖ At least 10 professors served longer. |
| John G. Trump spent “51 years” on campus. | ✔ Roughly 52 years total (1933-1985) in various roles. |
Sources: MIT archives quoted by Newsweek, Kaczynski biographies at Britannica and Wikipedia.
Scene 2: The Professor Who Really Was
Dr. John George Trump—yes, the younger brother of the future president’s father—was an electrical-engineering wizard who:
- Helped de-energize unexploded German bombs during WWII.
- Pioneered cancer-fighting radiation machines.
- Served MIT from graduate student (1933) to professor emeritus (1985).
An impressive résumé—but, campus historians told me, not record-breaking. MIT keeps a quiet “half-century club” of faculty who hit 50 years; Dr. Trump is far from the top. Physics legend Philip Morse, for one, stayed 59 years.
Scene 3: The Student Who Never Showed Up
Meanwhile, Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski was following a different map:
- Harvard University (1958-62) – enters at age 16, studies math.
- University of Michigan (1962-67) – masters and Ph.D.
- UC Berkeley (1967-69) – assistant professor, then quits.
- Montana cabin (1971-1996) – bombs, manifestos, manhunt.
Not a single registrar stamp from Cambridge, Massachusetts—or from John Trump’s classroom—appears in his files.
How the Numbers Betray the Narrative
Trump said “longest-serving.” MIT archivists say otherwise. The scoreboard looks like this:
- 53-59 years: At least ten names (biologist Salvador Luria, mathematician Norbert Wiener, etc.).
- ≈52 years: John G. Trump.
- 37 years: His actual time as full professor.
So even with generous accounting, he’s in the middle of the pack.
Why Repeat a Checkable Myth?
Psychologists call it the “availability cascade”: repeat a vivid anecdote often enough and listeners stop checking. Add family pride and campaign adrenaline, and a harmless “my uncle was brilliant” morphs into “he mentored a mad genius.”
What We Still Don’t Know
- Could John Trump and Ted Kaczynski have crossed paths at a conference? Possible—but no diary, photo, or attendee list shows it.
- Was the “51 years” figure pulled from an old Trump family obituary? Maybe, but the Trump campaign hasn’t clarified.
Until new documents surface, these remain open ends.
The Bottom Line
Dr. John G. Trump:
- Renowned engineer, radiation pioneer.
- Longtime MIT figure—but not the record holder.
Ted Kaczynski:
- Harvard prodigy turned domestic terrorist.
- Never studied at MIT, never taught by John Trump.
Donald Trump’s anecdote? Entertaining, yes; factual, no. The next time the story resurfaces, you’ll know where the fuse really fizzles out.
Reporting by [Your Name], with source links embedded above for full transparency.