Page 41 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE PROGRAM

The RSVPs poured in, and on October 3, 1964, President Johnson
signed Executive Order 11183 establishing the President’s Commission on
White House Fellows. Later that afternoon, he addressed 250 of the nation’s
best and brightest college leaders and unveiled the program, telling them
that “a genuinely free society cannot be a spectator society. Freedom, in its
deepest sense, requires participation—full, zestful, knowledgeable partic-
ipation. Toward that end, I have today established a new program entitled
the White House Fellows.”

LAYING THE FOUNDATION
On October 4, 1964, the Office of the White House Press Secretary author-
ized a release of the news that the president had established the White
House Fellows program and was inviting bright young Americans to apply
for the privilege of spending a year working in Washington. In a classic
example of why it’s wise to be careful what you wish for, the White House
quickly was inundated with an avalanche of inquiries about the program.
Within days of Johnson’s announcement to the assembled student leaders,
over 8,000 starry-eyed young people wrote, called, or sent telegrams
requesting details about the Fellowships.
Not bad for a program that didn’t even have an office, a budget, or a
staff. The time had come to find a proper director for the White House
Fellows, one with just the right mix of youthful exuberance and discipline
to step in and bring the project up to speed in a hurry. John Macy, chair-
man of the Civil Service Commission and a member of the first White
House Fellows Commission, tapped an energetic young official at the Civil
Service Commission’s Office of Career Development, Tom Carr, to develop
the fledgling program until a permanent director could be named. Thirty-
five years old, Carr was a graduate of the Citadel and George Washington
University and a decorated Korean War veteran.
“Within days my office was piled high with mailbags containing per-
haps 8,000 inquiries about a program that didn’t even exist,” Carr recalled.
“The Civil Service Commission sent over a stenographer and my former
secretary, Elois Wade, a remarkable woman who became my assistant. If
we needed an excuse to get busy, we tripped over it every time we turned
around!”
On November 15, 1964, Johnson received a call from David Rocke-
feller, who wanted to brief him on the first meeting of the President’s

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