Page 40 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

A FOUNDATION FOR FELLOWSHIP

of Fellows and meeting many others who have been selected over the past
four decades, I think we have achieved all of the goals originally envisioned
by President Johnson. More than 625 Fellows have worked in Washington
and then moved on to distinguished careers that have benefitted our coun-
try immeasurably.” 11
As a group, the president’s appointees reflected his total commitment
to ensuring the program’s diversity and nonpartisan spirit. He tapped lib-
eral New York Times editor John Oakes as well as Stanford University Grad-
uate School of Business dean and businessman Ernest C. Arbuckle. He
chose Senator Margaret Chase Smith, whose name had been submitted at
that summer’s Republican convention as a nominee to run against him in
the upcoming election, and U.S. Education Commissioner Francis Keppel,
who was responsible for enforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the
nation’s public schools. University of North Carolina President William
Friday, Chancellor of the University of Texas Harry Ransom, and O.
Meredith Wilson, president of the University of Minnesota, brought
unique academic perspectives from different regions of the country. Other
important perspectives were brought by African-American civil rights pio-
neer and U. S. Circuit Court Judge William Hastie and James Carey, pres-
ident of the Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union of America,
then known as “Labor’s Boy Wonder.” Rounding out the commission were
Civil Service Commission Chairman John Macy and Johnson’s Republi-
can friend and program cocreator John Gardner. Clearly, President Johnson
wanted his White House Fellows to be selected by as esteemed and bipar-
tisan a committee as he could muster.
Invitations signed by the president were sent to campuses across the
country, inviting them to send a representative to the White House because
the president of the United States “would like to get to know them and
their thinking.” According to the invitation, the evening would begin with
a reception with the first lady and remarks by the president and progress
to talks by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Secretary of Labor
Willard Wirtz, and Ambassador Adlai Stevenson. Afterward, the guests
would enjoy a buffet dinner and entertainment hosted by the Johnsons’
daughter Lynda.

11 David Rockefeller letter to the White House Fellows, 24 October 2008, files of the White
House Fellows Program, Washington D.C.

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