I guess probably the most extensive, outside activity, consistently
demanding, that I ever engaged in was the work of the Carnegie
Commission on Education in the country. That ran from 1967 to 1973. It
was a group of—one the most wonderful groups I've ever been associated
with. It was presided over by Clark Kerr. And it had people like David
Riesman at Harvard. Father Hesburgh of Notre Dame. Carl Kaysen, the
great mathematician from MIT. Governor William Scranton from
Pennsylvania, who ought to have been President of the United States. A
very able man. Norton Simon, the great art patron from California. The
dear, lovable Catherine McBride. She was head of Sweet Briar. Nathan
Pusey. Patricia Harris, who in her own way became Secretary of HEW, a
little later on. Carl—well, I mentioned Kaysen. This group produced
thirty volumes of work, and we spent quite a few millions of dollars,
trying to take a—and did take—the most thorough assessment ever made of
American higher education. And I think provided some enormous guideposts
for policies. One of the first recommendations in the field of health,
was in a meeting on the campus of Spelman College in Atlanta. After a
long legal discussion with Professor Rashesh fine, who was then at
Harvard—he had been here before. He's a medical economist. We decided to
get behind and did advocate the Area Health Education Center idea, which
was the way to get health care to the far reaches of a given state,
since they couldn't afford doctors, and doctors couldn't afford the
sparse practice. Happily, North Carolina was the first major state to
adopt the idea. We now have nine such centers. They've spent well over
100 million dollars a year delivering adequate health care to thousands
and thousands of people. I used that example of the range of the
Carnegie Commission to show how extensive its work was. Just from local
interests' point of view, a very historic meeting took place in the
faculty lounge at the Morehead Building, because in a session there—out
of that session, came the recommendations that led to the Pell Program
of scholarship assistance in the United States—the need-based scholar
funding program. The Commission made that recommendation to be moved
into the Congress, out of the work. There were dozens, and dozens, and
dozens more, but I don't know of anything on the scene today that will
equal the scope and intensity of work that went on there to try to help
the academic community. It was enormous. Another effort was financed by
the Sloan Foundation, which has been a good—it was single—more
singularly dealt with the universities of the United States. It was
headed by a man named Louis Cabot, who at that time was head of First
Boston Corporation. And he was a Cabot of New England. This Commission
had people like Secretary Tom Gates, Secretary of Defense. He used to be
head of one of the great corporations of the country. Ed Carter, of
Carter-Hall stores. Carla Hills, whose now Mr. Bush's representative.
Sam Proctor, who was then—he had been head of A&T College, and
he was then the head pastor of the
Page 13Abyssian Church;
he followed Adam Clayton Powell in that pulpit. And then went to Rutgers
University as a professor. Leon Higginbotham, a great federal judge. And
Dan Yankolovich pollster. James Kagan, who was head of MIT. This was the
type of person. That particular program, the effort of that foundation
had a lot to say about structure, in relationship of the federal
government in several states. And it was a very interesting piece of
work, but a very directed and singular approach, aiming at just that
kind of—that series of questions. Let's see, the Sloan Commission—the
Markel Foundation. I was on that board for several years. This was a
group that interviewed bright, young medical faculty. And in those days,
this was in the sixties and seventies, if you were chosen, you received
grants totaling over thirty thousand dollars to conduct—for your own
research. And the process would bring twelve young medical men to a
given location, and out of that you'd pick six that got this kind of
funding. These were two-day retreats at places like the Williamsburg
Inn, or Broadmore in Colorado Springs. Just another intensive kind of
screening experience, that turned out to be quite educational to you, as
well as the people who were getting the grants. And while these things
were going on, I was busy in the work of the American Council on
Education, and served my term as its chairman of the board under
President Logan Wilson. Logan Wilson was at one time chief academic
officer at the University at Chapel—of here. Went from here went to be
president of the University of Texas, and from there to be president of
the American Council. He was a Ph.D. out of Harvard. A sociologist. A
man of real stature. He died last week at eighty-two, or three years of
age. But, I got into that role-playing early on. And moved in and out of
the American Council before the tough years came on. But then I served
my term as the president of the Association of American Universities.
And then that experience—we brought to Chapel Hill, through an exchange
program, the vice chancellors of all the major universities in the
Commonwealth of Nation's of Great Britain. And we had them here from
Capetown,
[unclear] Two from Australia.
All the Canadian institutions. They came and spent virtually a week with
us. Just the AAU fifty would meet with their group. And we just had a
glorious time visiting, that way. And it worked out quite well. But, the
Association of American Universities, in its own way, was a spokesman
for all higher education in the country like nobody else could really
do, because you had all of the very top institutions there. Because N.C.
State was in the structure of the university, I kept up with the
National Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities. But I
didn't attend those meetings, because John Caldwell and the—Chancellor
Caldwell, and his successors, all did, and it was just more than any
human being could do. But I kept in touch through their executives and
primarily, in the beginning, through a wonderful man named Russell
Facklick who ran that association and was a formidable force in
legislative developments in higher education in this country for years.
It was through Russ and a young man he brought to work there named Allen
Oster, a spinoff group created the National Association of State
Universities, which is now larger than the Land Grant Association. And
Oster was its first and their only president, up to now. I think he's
stepping out right now, but it was a spinoff out of that structural
group. And then—so the Association of American Universities, the
American Council, the Land Grant Association, and then the State
Universities group, you see, that you stayed awfully busy. In and around
this were assignments such as being the Chairman of the Advisory Panel
to the Secretary of the Air Force on ROTC developments. The same role,
being a member of the advisory panel on ROTC Affairs for the Secretary
of the Army, Secretary Brucker, at the time, who was a former Senator
from Ohio. But these are things that you do because of these various
association memberships, and you just do them. You don't spend a lot of
time arguing about it. It usually takes a day a year.
Page 14 I was also a member of the Board of Trustees at Howard
University for a period of five years, at the request of James Cheek.
And I found this a very interesting experience, because Howard
University is primarily a federally funded institution. It's a very
large institution, I guess, among the predominantly black schools, it
would have to rated among the best. It was very instructive to me to be
on that side, for a while, having been where I had been playing the role
here, being with the five historical black schools, with a very
different context, though. And I found that trusteeship a very rewarding
one. Governor Sanford was also a member, but his duties didn't let him
attend very often. But I—when I got to where I couldn't make the
schedule, I asked to be relieved, because it was just more than I could
continue to do. But it's a grand institution that I hope someday will
get the kind of support base that it ought to have to do the job it's
there to do. So many dozens of young people from all over the world come
to school there, particularly the countries of South Africa, and other
third world countries. And they do a good job of getting them involved
in the American culture, in a way that's important. Now, one of the
things you wind up with after you've been around this business any
length of time, you get asked to either to testify a lot, or consult a
lot, or speak a lot, and I decided the third one, I wasn't that good at
any way. It takes a lot of work. So I concentrated on the first two. And
these last five or ten years—and this is all by happenstance—I can
honestly say I didn't set out to be a consultant for anybody. I don't
really like it. Because I think it's a dangerous thing to do. But I have
personally met with the boards of trustees of the University of
Michigan; Ohio State; Maryland—the University of Maryland; the
University of Florida; the University of Iowa; the University of
Nebraska. The heads of the University of Tennessee and Alabama. This
process was varied a good deal, when we came to the State University of
New York, because the-then president Clifton Wharton, wanted to have a
thoroughgoing study made of that institution. It had sixty-some
campuses, and it was so choked to death by legislative regulatory
entanglements. And this was a very interesting group, too, because it
had a—its chairman was a Mr. Blakenwood, who was a New York stock
broker. But if it hadn't been people like Mike Blumenthal, who headed
one of the biggest industries of the country, and was Secretary of
Treasury, at one time. And a former Governor of the state, a man named
Wilson. And it was just a lot of fun. Chaired by the-then chairman of
the board of Time Magazine, Davidson. And we had several meetings. In
fact, four or five—we finally jelled on a series of recommendations, and
Mr. Davidson asked me to go with him with another member of the
Commission, who was an Italian, who was then New York State's, I
believe, housing chief, Mario was his name. We all went up to give our
report to Governor Cuomo. And we flew up in this Time helicopter and
walked into the Governor's office, and there was one of his aides—was a
Chapel Hill alumnus. And we walked in, and we said to the Governor right
off, "We're not here to ask for anymore money." Well, that took the
tension out of the thing right off. And he wanted to talk then. We
stayed for well over an hour. Talked about to let the University be free
of that kind of process, and let it spend its money, as it had programs
to spend its money. Then it would show some real results. And the last
piece of that package was legislated a year ago. Wharton—Cliff Wharton,
has since left there to become head of the Teacher's Insurance and
Annuity Company. But he tells me that all of those things have been
implemented. And it was a very interesting experience to have. But, as
you can see, with all these institutions and doing things like that, it
takes you away. And when you're trying to move in and out of the
political scene, you're trying to deal with the educational aid
structure, you know, on top of everything else you're supposed to be
looking at, you finally reach a fundamental conclusion, that is, you
have to put a priority label on use of your time. Because they'll take
every second of it, if you'll give it to
Page 15them. And
in and around all of this, too, are such things—I made some notes here:
The Southern Regional Education Board. Now here is an organization that
a Chapel Hill alumnus created. It was an answer thirty-some years ago to
the absolute need of access to established standards of academic
programs, where states couldn't afford to duplicate them. Veterinary
schools. Schools of public health. Schools of law. Now, lots of people
said, "Alright, this is the way your going to deal with the integration
issue." Well, that issue just really didn't come up, because you can't
build schools of public health in every state. They're so expensive. And
the same thing was true in medicine. So, these, what they call
interregional agreements, were worked out. That board was a creature of
governors. A governor is always the chairman. But the vice-chairman is
always an academic person. Well, I twice served as vice-chairman of that
group, and that was because the University of North Carolina was so much
a provider, rather than a takee—if I may put it that way. But that was
good, because we'd had the established confidence, and the people were
here to utilize it. We ought to make it available. And the first
chairman of that was John Ivey, then Robert Anderson, and then Winfred
Godwin. All three of them graduates of Chapel Hill. And I took a lot of
pride in that, because I felt like we were making a regionwide impact in
some fourteen states. And our people here in the different schools, and
departments, really did have a major impact on what happened in their
particular areas of operation, all over the South. It was a very
important thing. Now that was followed by the Southern Growth Policies
Board, which Governor Sanford helped suggest to create, which is more of
the policy-determining group. And it was out of that group that came the
Southern Regional Literacy Commission, that's just turned it its report
a few months ago, which I chaired at the request of Governor Roemer, of
Louisiana, who was then the chairman of the Growth Policies Board. To
take a look at what needed to be done all over the South, in dealing
with this literacy problem, of some twelve million people, in these
fourteen states who literally cannot communicate adequately enough to
survive in the economic warfare that's going on out there. And it's a
deadly serious problem that I don't know how anybody is going to
resolve. But we've taken some giant steps. We've called for the
establishment of a literary forum here in the Triangle, and Governor Jim
Martin will succeed Governor Roemer, so he's got it right close at hand.
And once again North Carolina might be able to demonstrate through the
Kenan literacy example and other things, that here are ways others can
choose, adapted to your own situation. But the idea is here for you to
utilize it, if you want to do it. Now there have been other things of
one week or two weeks, dozens of those are not worthy of your record,
but, major things like the Southern Regional Education Board, and the
Southern Growth Policies Board, were my way of continuing the tradition
that Frank Graham set, when he was a member of the board of TVA, and the
other people. See, those went their way into the history. These were the
next generation of organized efforts to deal with the great social
question in the southern region. So I was trying to continue the role
that President of the University of North Carolina had historically
played for more than a half a century. And I think we kept the light
shining where they could see it. And it really worked out. Now, in and
around those things were such things as: Testifying before then
Congressman Paul Simon's committee on the education in the House. And he
and I carried that relationship on since he's become United States
Senator. And we've done a lot of work together. The Aspen Institute spun
out of this. And I've been to Aspen three times as an involved
participant in dealing with that. The—let's see, the Coca-Cola Scholars
Program which began two years ago. It's there because Mebane Pritchett,
who had headed the Morehead Foundation program for so many years, and so
well, was enticed away from Chapel Hill, by the Coca-Cola interests.
He's now dealing with a program there that reaches every state in the
union, and makes grants of five thousand dollars per year value to this
wonderful group of
Page 16young people. He asked that I
help him put it together. And I served as the chairman of the selection
process. This will be the third and last year. I was with Fred Morrison
once when he introduced me to his great and good friend James Johnston,
who was then the partner to Johnston and Lemmon Company in Washington,
which was a great stock brokerage firm. Jim Johnston didn't have any
heirs. He wanted to do something for the University. He'd come here for
two years of his education. And Mrs. George Carrington, who's a
Scott—was Senator Ralph Scott's sister and Bob Scott's aunt. They were
kin to the Johnstons, so she peppered him with letters about making
available some of his great wealth and set up some scholarships at the
School of Nursing at Chapel Hill. He got interested in this, and I met
with him several times. He created a trust, and out of that trust grew
the James M. Johnston Scholars Program at UNCG, N.C. State, and Chapel
Hill. And this trust, last year, put one million dollars into these
scholarship programs at these three institutions. It's the largest
financed, undergraduate scholarship program anywhere in the University.
Bigger than any of them. In dollar value. It all grew from this humble
man who was buried out here at the New Hope Presbyterian Church, who
grew to great wealth and influence in the nation's capital. He made his
money in the stock brokerage world, but he was also a great civic
person. He owned the Washington Senator's baseball team, at one time. I
used to go up there with him; he'd take me to the games. We'd sit and
watch the Senators play. They weren't scaring anybody to death, in those
days.
[Laughter] But, this leads inevitably
in a conversation like this to having to say several things about
individuals. Fred Morrison will never have a book written about himself.
He ought to be, but he won't. But he, early on, became the law partner
of Governor O. Max Gardner, when they went to Washington, after Governor
Gardner's term here in North Carolina. Fred Morrison was one of the
guiding spirits in all that went on to get the Ackland Museum for the
University here. He had a lot to do with the emergence of public
television in North Carolina. He was working on the Washington side of
the thing. He was a great friend and close confidante of Frank Graham
for many years. Governor Hodges took him with him when he went to visit
the Pope in Rome on one of his junkets when he was Secretary of
Commerce. He, being that close to Secretary Hodges. He grew up in Rowan
County. Had the role—he was principal at Chapel Hill schools, then
decided to become a lawyer. But while he was here, he was football coach
in high school. He won a state championship, which he thought was
probably the greatest thing he ever did in life, I think. But Fred was a
man of that old tradition—that wonderful tradition—who believed so much
in the value of education. And he never let anything interfere with
doing what he could do, to make it become about. And he was always
available to you—day, night, whatever—when you needed anything in
Washington. He never wanted any credit. Never took any credit. But he
deserved credit, for thousands of things that he did. He and his wife,
Emma Neil, who's equally that kind of dedicated woman, created a
scholarship program at UNCG. They have one here at Chapel Hill. They've
given hundreds of thousands of dollars to put stability into the Roanoke
Island Historical Association. The Lost Colony drama. And they've
given—they've built dormitories there for the actresses. They've bought
land to protect the area. They've financed all kinds of projects that
people never hear about. But Fred, he created the Morrison Series in
Southern Politics, which now finances publications in the University
Press. The Morrison Series—that was his gift to the University Press.
And so when you do all of these things in and around Washington, you
have to have an anchor. And Fred Morrison was that anchor. His law firm
had a suite of rooms in the Mayflower Hotel, and Fred just gave me the
key and said, "Anytime, you just bring your people here and do your work
here." In another way, in an equal significance, you have to say words
about Bill Cochran. Bill Cochran went to Washington with W. Kerr Scott,
as his
Page 17administrative assistant. He stayed on with
B. Everett Jordan, when he became Senator. Bill is referred to very
often these days, as North Carolina's third senator, because when Mr.
Jordan was head of the Rules Committee of the Senate, Bill was the man
who really ran the operation. So he did everything from assign senators
to their office space, to hiring all the personnel to Congress. And I've
walked the corridors of the Senate Office Building with him and actually
had everybody from the elevator boys to the people whose operating the
railroad, all stopping and talking with him to visit. But, Bill is
probably the most essential representative that North Carolina has had
in the Congress, to my knowledge. Just by the sheer force of his
contacts, all over—he's just a person of just enormous energy. And there
isn't a week that doesn't go by that I don't call him about something.
And he does little things like helping people with passports, or helping
deal with some federal agency. And then he does the big things that
really are significantly like the Library of Congress work. Because he
was a great friend of Daniel Bopstin. And so on. An invaluable servant
of the University, without a doubt. And then no man ever could be in
this job and not find out that very quickly. He has actually drafted
legislation. He's gotten things in the Congressional Record that were
important to get there. In a month or two, services like that that he's
brought. People like Fred Morrison and William Cochran are the reasons
the University had such a strong identity, where it makes a difference
to have an identity. Along with these things I served as a trustee to
the Shakespeare-Folger Library in Washington, for a while. This was, I'm
sure, because at that time, the then-director was O. B. Hardison, who
had left Chapel Hill where he was Kenan Professor of English to become
head of the library. This was a very interesting experience because Dr.
Hardison was the kind of man who tried to make the library come alive to
children. They had little plays and visitations, but—and it's really an
inspiring experience to walk into a place and see the original folio. To
see the original works. But, there again, I served the nominal period of
time and asked to be relieved, because I felt I'd made my contribution
there. The fascinating way to tie the university in with a great
international academic center. Well, I'll just stop there. What time is
it?