The White House Fellows program is a non-partisan fellowship established via Executive Order 11183 by President Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964. The fellowship is the nation's most prestigious fellowship for leadership development and public service, offering U.S. citizens experience working at the highest levels of the federal government. The fellowship was founded based upon a suggestion from John W. Gardner, then the president of Carnegie Corporation and later the sixth secretary of health, education, and welfare.
White House fellows spend a year working as a full-time, paid special assistant or advisor to senior White House staff, cabinet secretaries, the vice president, or the head of an independent executive-branch agency. Fellows also participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with leaders from the private and public sectors. These roundtables are augmented through observation of policy in action, including domestic and international engagements with foreign dignitaries, industry executives, elected officials, and civil servants.
The selection process to become a White House fellow is very competitive, with fellowships awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis. Each year after the application period closes, the staff of the President's Commission on White House Fellowships (PCWHF) processes the applications and former fellows screen the applications to identify approximately one hundred of the most promising candidates. These selected individuals are then interviewed by several regional panels, which are composed of prominent local citizens. Based on the results of these interviews, the regional panelists and the director of the PCWHF select approximately thirty candidates to proceed as national finalists. The PCWHF will then interview these finalists, recommending between 11 and 19 of them to the president for a one-year appointment through the White House Office. The program can receive more than 2,000 applicants per year, with a selection rate often of 1% or lower. Selected civilians serve as Schedule A presidential appointees, while military members will be assigned to duty at the PCWHF at 712 Jackson Place, Washington, D.C.
Once fellows complete their year of service, they join hundreds of other fellows as alumni of the program. The White House Fellows Foundation and Association is the organization that represents the White House Fellows alumni efforts, leadership events and fundraising activities.
Demographics
When the White House Fellows program was established in 1964, the program required that all fellows meet the following criteria:
Have demonstrated unusual ability, high moral character, outstanding motivation, and a broad capacity for leadership Show exceptional promise of future development Are dedicated to the institutions of the United States and the values of American civilization Will have attained the age of twenty-three but not the age of thirty-six prior to the beginning of their service Shall be selected by the president without discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, creed, national origin, or political affiliation Citizens of the United States
These initial criteria have been slightly modified over the years. In 1976, criteria were modified to disqualify regular federal employees and reaffirm that military personnel remained eligible. This same executive order decreased the term of the fellowship from 15 months to 12 (though EO 12653 again revised the duration to be extended at the commission's discretion back up to 15 months).
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter revised the criteria again under Executive Order 12012. In this case, the explicit age requirement was removed. Instead, an emphasis was added such that fellows must be "...early in their chosen careers..."
Since the inception of the program, White House fellows have come from a variety of backgrounds.
The ten universities most frequently attended by White House fellows are, in order: Harvard, Stanford, West Point, Oxford, MIT, Columbia, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy, Berkeley, and Yale. The average age of a fellow is mid-30s. A total of 251 women have been selected as White House fellows since the program's creation in 1964. They represent 28% of the 879 people who have served as White House fellows. The percentage of women has increased over time, as shown by the statistics below: 1960s: 7 of 86 – 8% women 1970s: 36 of 158 – 23% women 1980s: 33 of 135 – 24% women 1990s: 52 of 159 – 33% women 2000s: 38 of 131 – 29% women 2010s: 54 of 145 – 37% women 2020s: 31 of 63 – 49% women A broad range of career backgrounds are represented. Fellows' professions include physicians, lawyers, teachers, military officers, scientists, non-profit leaders, engineers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, academics, and many more.
Undergraduate education Earned bachelor's degree: 100% Attended an Ivy League university: 18% Attended a military academy: 19% Graduated Phi Beta Kappa: 12% Rhodes scholar: 2%
Graduate education Earned a graduate degree of any kind: 96% Earned a graduate degree from an Ivy League university: 41%
Notable alumni
1965–1966 Tom Johnson; former chairman/CEO, CNN; former publisher, Los Angeles Times. 1966–1967 Jane Cahill Pfeiffer; former chairman, NBC. 1966–1967 Samuel H. Howard; Senior Vice President, Financial Executives Institute; chairman, Federation of American Hospitals; Member of Bipartisan Commission on Medicare under President Bill Clinton; Member of Commission on Social Security under President Ronald Reagan; former national chairman, Easter Seals. 1967–1968 Preston Townley; former CEO, the Conference Board, former dean, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota 1967–1968 Tim Wirth; President, United Nations Foundation; Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs; former Senator, Colorado. 1968–1969 Robert D. Haas; Chairman/CEO, Levi Strauss & Company. 1969–1970 Michael H. Armacost; former president, the Brookings Institution; former ambassador to Japan and the Philippines; former under secretary of state for political affairs. 1969–1970 Percy A. Pierre; former assistant secretary of the U. S. Army for Research, Development and Acquisition, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Army; President, Prairie View A&M University. 1970–1971 Dana G. Mead; former chairman/CEO, Tenneco, Inc. 1971–1972 Robert C. McFarlane; former national security advisor to President Ronald Reagan. 1971–1972 Deanell R. Tacha; Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. 1972–1973 Luis G. Nogales; former CEO, United Press International; former president, Univision. 1972–1973 Joseph P. Carroll; founding president – Secrétaire Perpetuel, Association du Mécénat de l'Institut; founding, resident – Secrétaire Perpetuel, the American Friends of the Guimet Foundation; emeritus member- Board of Visitors, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University; Philanthropist. 1972–1973 Colin Powell; former secretary, U.S. Department of State; former chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; founding chairman, America's Promise; General, U.S. Army (Ret). 1973–1974 Doris M. Meissner; Senior Fellow, Migration Policy Institute; former commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1973–1974 Peter M. Dawkins; Vice Chairman, CitiGroup Private Bank; former chairman/CEO of Primerica Financial Services, Inc.; Heisman Trophy winner; Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Ret). 1973–1974 Frederick S. Benson III; President, United States – New Zealand Council; former vice president, Weyerhaeuser Company; 1973–1974 Delano Meriwether; Leukemia researcher. 1974–1975 Roger B. Porter; Professor, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. 1974–1975 Garrey E. Carruthers; President/CEO, Cimarron Health Plan; former governor of New Mexico. 1975–1976 Marshall N. Carter; former chairman/CEO, State Street Bank & Trust Company. 1975–1976 Wesley K. Clark; retired general, U.S. Army (Ret); former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. 1975–1976 Dennis C. Blair; Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret); former director of national intelligence; former president, Institute for Defense Analyses; former commander in chief, U.S. Pacific Command. 1976–1977 Lynn A. Schenk; former congresswoman, California. 1976–1977 Charles A. Ansbacher; Conductor, Boston Landmarks Orchestra. 1977–1978 Nelson A. Diaz; Partner, Blank Rome LLP; former city solicitor, City of Philadelphia; former general counsel, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 1979–1980 Lincoln Caplan; author, journalist, Truman Capote Visiting Lecturer in Law and Senior Research Scholar in Law at Yale Law School. 1979–1980 Victoria Chan-Palay; neuroscientist, University of Zurich Medical School. 1979–1980 Anne Cohn Donnelly; former executive director, National Commission for Prevention of Child Abuse. 1979–1980 Marsha J. Evans; President/CEO of American Red Cross; former national executive director of the Girl Scouts of the USA; Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret). 1980–1981 Joan Abrahamson; President, the Jefferson Institute; President, Jonas Salk Foundation. 1980–1981 Thomas J. Campbell; former U.S. congressman, California. 1980–1981 M. Margaret McKeown; Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. 1981–1982 Paul V. Applegarth; CEO, Value Enhancement International; former founding managing director, the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund; former founding CEO, the Millennium Challenge Corporation. 1981–1982 Joe L. Barton; U.S. congressman, Texas. 1981–1982 Myron E. Ullman; former CEO, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy; former chairman/CEO, DFS Group, LTD; former chairman/CEO, R.H. Macy & Company; Chairman & CEO, J.C. Penney. 1982–1983 Scott Gration, USAF Major General (Ret) and US special envoy to Sudan. 1982–1983 William L. Roper; Dean, School of Medicine, Vice Chairman for Medical Affairs, and CEO, UNC Health Care system, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1982–1983 Frank Klotz; Lieutenant General, US Air Force; Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, director Air Force Staff (Ret). 1982–1983 Douglas Kmiec; former U.S. ambassador to Malta; United States assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. 1983–1984 Elaine Chao; former secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation; former secretary, U.S. Department of Labor; former president/CEO, United Way of America; former director, Peace Corps. 1983–1984 Mufi Hannemann; Mayor, City and County of Honolulu. 1984–1985 Tom Leppert; Mayor of Dallas; former CEO of Turner Construction Company. 1984–1985 Rick Stamberger; President and CEO, SmartBrief. 1985–1986 Ann E. Rondeau; President Naval Postgraduate School; U.S. Navy Vice Admiral (Ret). 1986–1987 Paul A. Gigot; Editor, editorial page, The Wall Street Journal. 1986–1987 William J. Lennox, Jr.; Lt. General, U.S. Army; Superintendent, United States Military Academy (Ret). 1987–1988 Mary Schiavo; Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation; Author, Flying Blind, Flying Safe; Attorney 1988–1989 Jeff Colyer; Governor of Kansas, plastic surgeon, and former Kansas representative. 1988–1989 Charles Patrick Garcia; chairman, Board of Visitors, United States Air Force Academy; former CEO, Sterling Financial Group of Companies; best-selling author of A Message From Garcia and Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows. 1988–1989 Patrick M. Walsh; retired United States Navy Admiral, former commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Vice Chief of Naval Operations and Blue Angels pilot (Ret). 1990–1991 Samuel D. Brownback; former U.S. senator, Kansas; former governor of Kansas. 1991–1992 Margarita Colmenares; first Latina engineer at Chevron. 1991–1992 Raymond E. Johns, Jr.; General, US Air Force; Commander, Air Mobility Command (Ret). 1991–1992 Bill Hagerty; U.S. senator, Tennessee; former U.S. ambassador to Japan.