President Barack Obama shows the 2011-2012 class of White House Fellows around the Oval Office.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, a prestigious program dedicated to giving the nation’s most promising leaders insight into the inner workings of the federal government. The inception of the White House Fellows program came at a tumultuous moment in American history, when the disconnect between government and the nation’s youth was growing.
Prominent civic leaders like John Gardner, then President of the Carnegie Corporation, took notice of this widening gulf and sought an opportunity to engage young Americans in meaningful civic participation. Fueled by the crisis at the time, Gardner proposed an experiment in leadership development that would eventually become the basis of President Lyndon Johnson’s establishment of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships by Executive Order 11183.
The ambitious plan hoped to ensure that future generations of Americans could rely upon the leadership of “a reservoir of able men and women with more than ordinary comprehension of government and more than ordinary willingness to serve.”
To achieve this vision, each year the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships selects a group of extraordinary Americans who have demonstrated remarkable achievement early in their careers and places them at the highest levels of the Federal government. Fellows make notable contributions during their year of service and continue to impact our communities, our country, and the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment