Hilsman retired from Columbia in 1990 upon reaching the then-mandatory retirement age of 70. Reflecting upon his life, he said, "I've been doing the same thing in the military, on Capital Hill, and at Columbia. The content is the same. ... Of all my careers, I think university teaching is the most satisfying." He and his course, "The Politics of Policy Making", were not directly replaced. The variety of careers Hilsman had once led U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell to compare him to Lawrence of Arabia.