Page 267 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

BECOMING A WHITE HOUSE FELLOW

from Washington State and introduced me to President Sarkozy as such. I
was very proud and honored.”
After a dazzling meal and speeches by both presidents, the guests were
treated to after-dinner entertainment: a “fireside chat” between General
Washington and General Lafayette. The U.S. Army Chorus sang a stirring
rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and the U.S. Marine
Band played waltzes in the Grand Foyer. At 10 p.m. the guests were
escorted out of the White House through the West Wing, and Matheson’s
big night came to an end. “My ‘chariot’ dropped me off at the Metro sta-
tion, and I was soon on my way home to my wife and kids as the best-
dressed fellow on the Metro,” Matheson said. “It was truly a magical
evening.”

AN ACTION-PACKED WEEK
When Reverend Dr. Suzan “Sujay” Johnson Cook (WHF 93–94) thinks
back on her Fellowship year, she quickly recalls not one enchanted evening
but one exhilarating week in particular. Cook is an ordained Baptist pas-
tor, speaker, and author who in 1983 was the first African-American woman
in the 200-year history of the American Baptist Churches USA to be
elected a senior pastor. At the time of her Fellowship, she was pastor of the
Mariners’ Temple Baptist Church in Manhattan. Cook was assigned to
work with Carol Rasco, President Clinton’s chief domestic policy advisor.
“I’ll never forget my third day on the job,” she said. “The cabinet was
meeting downstairs in the Roosevelt Room, and when President Clinton
walked in, Carol introduced me to him. Then the president walked me
over to meet the other cabinet members, including the new drug czar, Lee
Brown, who had been the New York police commissioner. So the president
said, ‘Lee, this is our new White House Fellow.’ And Lee said, ‘Well this
is my pastor!’ He attended my church, so I already had a connection. It
was phenomenal.”
Cook obviously made a strong impression on the president, because
before that first week was done he sent her on a very special mission: to
attend the National Baptist Convention that was being held in New York.
“Historically the convention does not have women at leadership levels. It’s
not a written rule, but it had never happened, so there was sort of a closed
door policy. I was a colleague, but I was also a woman, so I had obviously
not been invited,” Cook said. “Well, President Clinton sent me to be the

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