(FORTUNE Magazine) – ''I talked to Gorbachev,'' said Robert Strauss, 69. ''I talked to Deng Xiaoping. But I can tell you that I was never as intimidated as I am right now.'' Who could so cow the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Jimmy Carter's representative in the Middle East peace negotiations? Three dozen fresh-faced students in adjunct professor Strauss's first class in the graduate business school at the University of Texas, that's who. The course, on real-world government policy, gets raves. But Strauss is only part of the reason. The class enlists the cerebrations of others who move industry and shake politics: Howard Beasley III, 41, CEO of Lone Star Technologies, a steel company; Admiral Bob Inman, 57, formerly director of the National Security Agency and now CEO of Westmark, a defense technology firm; and Charls Walker, 64, chairman of Charls E. Walker Associates, a Washington lobbying firm. Four amigos, fellow Texans, and alumni of the university. The men take turns delivering the three-hour Friday-morning lectures to a class drawn from the L.B.J. School of Public Affairs, the graduate school of business, and the law school; the unusual mix reflects campus-wide demand for the course. Several times a semester, the amigos teach en masse. The topics broaden from the subjects of the solo lectures, such as Inman's slyly titled ''National Security Policy and Congressional Oversight,'' to vaster themes like ''Toward Improvement in Process and Policy.'' The politics of the friends -- two Republicans, one Democrat, and one neutral -- find voices. Says Inman: ''There is a lot of friendly byplay.'' Says Walker: ''We have some disagreements.'' Says Beasley: ''We're so different we fill out four points of a compass.'' The amigos do agree on how much they enjoy teaching and the opportunities it provides for companionship. In fact, it's so much fun, there's talk of getting a book out of the lectures, which have all been videotaped and recorded.