Page 279 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

BECOMING A WHITE HOUSE FELLOW

“One thing I found very interesting is that a lot of elected officials or
people in appointed positions generally seem to like the softer questions
more than the direct questions. President Bush was the opposite. He was
much more comfortable with direct questions and gave very matter-of-fact
answers. It was really more like a conversation. And no matter what your
political persuasion is, no matter what people think about the policies or
the person, it was an incredible feeling to be there. I’m the first member of
my family to be born in this country—my grandfather was Jamaican, and
my grandmother was Cuban—and I’m sitting in the Oval Office for two
hours talking with the President. What an unbelievable feeling.”
The President let them know about his admiration for the White
House Fellows program and then gave them a hint about why he was happy
to spend so much time with them: “We expect a lot out of you,” he once
told a group of Fellows during a meeting in the Oval Office. “We expect
you to go back to your units, or your businesses, or your universities, or
perhaps government agencies and lead, to set high standards, to set a good
example, and to serve something greater than yourself. That’s what the Fel-
lows program is all about.”

A FAMILY AFFAIR
The Fellows are not the only ones who benefit from the program’s educa-
tional offerings. Many of them bring spouses to Washington, and found-
ing director Tom Carr recalled that as he was designing the program, his
wife, Haskell, expressed concern about the impact the program might have
on the Fellows’ families, particularly the spouses. “Haskell’s fear was that
the Fellows would spend long days surrounded by opportunities for
achievement and personal growth, while the wives—they were all wives
back then—sat at home and took care of kids,” Carr explained. “She vowed
not to let that happen. At the very beginning of the program we invited
wives to as many education sessions as possible.”
The spouses would tour agencies and meet with speakers at sites
throughout the city, and occasionally the Fellows and their spouses would
be invited to attend exclusive White House ceremonies, dinners, and par-
ties. Those arrangements were made in large part with help from White
House Social Secretary Bess Abell, whose job it was to decide which White
House events Fellows could be invited to. “I remember once calling Bess,
at the behest of the Fellows, to see if they could attend one more event

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