Page 230 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

CHAPTER 23

LEADERS LEAD

THROUGH EXPERIENCE

AND COMPETENCE,

NOT THROUGH TITLE

OR POSITION

It takes only a quick glance at John De Luca’s curriculum vitae to see why
he was selected to be part of the inaugural class of White House Fellows
in 1965. His record of scholarly achievements is extraordinary. At the time
he applied for the Fellowship, De Luca held a bachelor’s degree in political
science from UCLA, where he also studied languages and literature. As a
Harvard graduate fellow and a Ford fellow, he had earned a master’s degree
in Soviet studies from Harvard in addition to studying Arabic history,
politics, and language. De Luca had lived in the Soviet Union for six months
and toured many of that country’s greatest cities. He had lived in Rome twice:
once for a year as a Fulbright scholar studying Soviet-Arabic relations and
a second time on a Scott Fellowship and an Italian Foreign Ministry
grant to conduct doctoral research. He had earned a Ph.D. in international
relations from UCLA, had become an assistant professor in international
relations, and had lectured on U.S. foreign policy and world communism
at San Francisco State College. However, when De Luca reported for duty
as the White House Fellow assigned to work with National Security Advisor

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