Page 21 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE PROGRAM

secretaries, the vice president, and senior White House officials. Indeed,
nearly forty Rhodes Scholars over the years have gone on to become
White House Fellows. The formal purpose of the White House Fellows
program is “to provide gifted and highly motivated young Americans
with some first-hand experience in the process of governing the Nation
and a sense of personal involvement in the leadership of society.” What’s
really special is the access to the people, places, and procedures that are
at the heart of governing the world’s most prosperous and powerful
nation.
During his Fellowship year in the Office of Management and Budget,
former Secretary of State Colin Powell [White House Fellow (WHF)
72–73] recalled the opinion of the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) public relations director who thought the Fellowships gave young
people too much access to the down-and-dirty inner workings of govern-
ment. “It’s like letting little children watch the sex act,” he told Powell.
“Now, there’s nothing wrong with sex, but there is something immoral
about having children watch it, until they know what they are watching.” 1
Indeed, Powell has said that the program was “the turning point” in his
career and gave him “instant entrée to people one did not ordinarily
encounter at Fort Devens or Chu Lai.”
In addition to Colin Powell, the White House Fellows alumni include
former CNN president Tom Johnson, historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning
author Doris Kearns Goodwin, CNN senior medical correspondent Dr.
Sanjay Gupta, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, retired U.S. Army General
Wesley Clark, former Senator Tim Wirth, New York Stock Exchange
Euronext Deputy Chairman Marshall Carter, Court TV Anchor Jami
Floyd, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, Heisman Trophy winner and
retired Army Brigadier General Pete Dawkins, U.S. Court of Appeals
Judges Margaret McKeown and Deanell Reece Tacha, Baptist Pastor Suzan
Johnson Cook, former dean of Wharton and president of the University
of Delaware Pat Harker, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, JC Penney
CEO Mike Ullman, former New Mexico Governor Garrey Carruthers,
Stanford Business School Dean Robert Joss, former Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppart,

1 Colin L. Powell with Joseph E. Persico, My American Journey (New York: Random
House), p. 173.

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