The University of Notre Dame is a special place, regarded by many as the world's top Catholic institution of higher learning. Yet its modern reputation for excellence and service--in the classroom, the community, and from the student-athletes fortunate enough to don the blue and gold--forms just part of the legacy of Father Theodore Hesburgh, the university's president from 1952 to 1987. Father Ted's influence extended beyond Notre Dame's campus in Northern Indiana. He worked with presidents, Popes, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and his guidance resulted in nuclear nonproliferation,...