Wharton Jr. (Clifton) is born in Boston.

The son of Clifton and Harriette Mae (Banks) Wharton, Clifton Wharton Jr., graduates from Boston Latin School and Harvard College, serves as a pilot with the Tuskegee Airman in World War II, and marries Dolores Duncan in 1953. He receives a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, a doctorate from the University of Chicago, works in the field of international economic development, is named president of Michigan State University in 1969, and U.S. deputy secretary of state in 1993. He dies in New York City on November 16, 2024.