Page 38 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

A FOUNDATION FOR FELLOWSHIP

it would create a new crop of “government internees,” of which there were
already vast numbers in Washington. However, since he knew that both
the president and Lady Bird had a great desire to bring talented young peo-
ple into federal government service and because he had such deep respect
for Gardner, he set aside his reservations and prepared to send the plan to
the president and first lady. 10
Shortly after receiving the Gardner missive, Goldman also heard from
William C. Friday, the young president of the University of North
Carolina. Friday was concerned about the support Goldwater was drum-
ming up on college campuses, and he suggested that the president consider
reaching out to student leaders with a White House invitation. “I decided
to put together the possibilities prompted by the Friday and Gardner com-
munications: a plan quite different from Gardner’s national service Presi-
dential Corps but having some of its overtones, to be announced at a White
House college student meeting,” Goldman wrote. “The combination might
further the long-range purposes shared by Gardner and me—and I was
sure by Friday too—and it might possibly build greater understanding
between President Johnson and the younger age group during the election
and for future years of his administration.”
In a memo to the president on September 15, 1964, Goldman outlined
Friday’s concerns, writing that the young university president “was both-
ered by the crusading enthusiasm for Goldwater that he sees among a
minority of the young people. But he is not thinking entirely in terms of
the campaign. He argues—as do quite a few people in contact with the
younger people—that a sizeable part of this population does not feel as
great a sense of rapport with the Administration as do other age groups,
regardless of whether the young people intend to vote for you or not. Friday
believes—and I agree with him—that the most practical way to get at the
younger group is through the college leaders . . . they can be invited with-
out criticism as to why this or that organization was not invited.” Gold-
man closed his proposal by noting that no other president had ever
summoned such an assortment of college leaders to the White House
before. He then attached an abbreviated version of Gardner’s letter out-
lining his vision for the program and suggested that if the number of

10 Eric F. Goldman, The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson (New York: Dell, 1968), p. 284.

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