|
Corporation News
Stanford
Report, February 17, 2002
John
Gardner, founder of Common Cause, engineer of President Lyndon B.
Johnson's 'Great Society' program, dead at 89
John
W. Gardner, a longtime activist who improved the lives of millions
of Americans by helping to implement the sweeping social reforms
of the 1960s, died Feb. 16 at his home on the Stanford campus. Gardner,
89, died from complications related to cancer.
"John
Gardner stands as an exemplar of the power of one individual to
have a positive impact on society," said Stanford President John
Hennessy. "His life should remind all of us that education and public
service can work together as a powerful force to improve the world
in which we live. At Stanford, we are exceedingly fortunate and
proud to have called him our colleague -- his name and good works
will continue to inspire students, staff and faculty for years to
come."
From
the 1960s onward, Gardner played a major role in civil rights enforcement,
education reform and campaign finance reform. He was instrumental
in the creation of Medicare, establishing the public television
network and supporting community volunteer service. In 1964, Gardner
received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest
civil honor. He founded Common Cause and headed the Urban Coalition,
chaired numerous presidential task forces and commissions and mentored
many public service organizations.
At
Stanford, Gardner served on the Board of Trustees from 1968 to 1982.
In 1965, the Alumni Association honored him with the Herbert Hoover
Medal for Distinguished Service. In 1984, Stanford Associates awarded
him with the Degree of Uncommon Man, the university's highest honor.
In 1989, Gardner was named the first Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial
Professor in Public Service. He was a consulting professor in the
School of Education at the time of his death.
In
the fall of 2000, the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their
Communities was established at Stanford, in honor of Gardner's lifetime
of public service. Its goal is to bring diverse parts of society
together to address problems facing the nation's youth.
Robert
Joss, dean of the Graduate School of Business, met Gardner in the
late 1960s when Joss was a White House Fellow, a program that Gardner
helped establish. More than three decades later, he said, Gardner
inspired him to head the Business School. "He had such a tremendous
concept of leadership and what it meant to be a citizen," Joss said.
"He inspired so many people through his writing and through his
personal relationships. He had a warm touch. He cared about you.
He gave such wise counsel. We can just try to emulate him."
Jim
Thompson, director of the Positive Coaching Alliance, a non-profit
organization based at Stanford, summed up Gardner's contributions:
"His legacy is powerful ideas and empowered individuals," he said.
"As a mentor, he was extraordinary. For people trying to deal with
some difficult social problem, John would provide support and great
insight. Like a lot of people, I've tried to model my life after
him." Thompson recalled that he once asked Gardner if he ever got
depressed or scared. "John answered, «No. I don't seem to have that
gene,'" Thompson said.
Gardner
was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 8, 1912. He earned a bachelor's
and a master's degree in psychology from Stanford in 1935 and 1936,
respectively. In 1938, he received a doctorate from the University
of California-Berkeley. As an undergraduate, Gardner set a number
of Pacific Coast intercollegiate records in swimming. In 1976, he
was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Medal of the Stanford
Athletic Board.
Gardner
began his working life teaching psychology at Connecticut College
for Women. After the United States entered World War II, he was
asked to head the Latin American section of the Foreign Broadcast
Intelligence Service. He was responsible for analyzing enemy propaganda
broadcast to Latin America and became an expert on politics in the
region.
Gardner
later wrote that he was surprised when he began receiving praise
for his management skills. Until that point, he had planned to spend
his life in academia. Instead, he seesawed between a life of reflection
and a life of action. "It was a fruitful conflict: Action and reflection
fed one another," Gardner acknowledged.
Thompson
of the Positive Coaching Alliance said that academia is replete
with people full of ideas and that Gardner was a match for the best
of them. "But he focused on translating ideas into action -- into
how they can change the way people learn," he said.
In
1943, Gardner joined the Marine Corps and the Office of Strategic
Services, the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency. After
the war ended, he joined the Carnegie Corporation, becoming its
president in 1955. Gardner also was named head of the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching and, in that capacity, laid the
groundwork for establishing the White House Fellows program in 1964.
In
1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Gardner secretary of
the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. As the engineer
of Johnson's "Great Society" program, he played an important role
in enforcing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, launching Medicare, passing
the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act and creating the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. At one point, Fortune
magazine estimated that Gardner supervised programs that affected
195 million Americans.
In
1968, as opposition to the war in Vietnam increased and urban violence
erupted at home, Gardner resigned from the Johnson Administration.
A few weeks later, he became chairman of the Urban Coalition, an
organization that brought together leaders from labor, industry
and government to tackle the underlying problems that fueled riots
in cities nationwide that year.
Following
the 1968 assassination of New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, Gov. Nelson
Rockefeller asked Gardner to serve out the remainder of Kennedy's
senate term. He turned down the request, leading the Urban Coalition
for two years.
In
1970, Gardner founded Common Cause, a citizen's advocacy group that
aimed to make political institutions more open and accountable.
When the group sued President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign
in 1972, Gardner was placed on Nixon's infamous "enemies list."
In 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Common Cause was
instrumental in gaining adoption of landmark legislation that placed
limits on political contributions and instituted disclosure requirements
for electoral campaigns.
In
1977, Gardner retired from Common Cause to become chairman of the
Commission on White House Fellowships. Two years later, he co-founded
Independent Sector, an organization that supported hundreds of non-profit
groups nationwide.
When
the Gardner Center was established in September 2000, Gardner said
the public had finally understood the importance of youth development.
"If you want to train leaders you have to start early," he said.
"If you want to keep kids out of prison you have to start early.
But it isn't easily done." The center's mission is to conduct research,
educate the public and persuade diverse groups such as schools,
law enforcement and government to work together to seek more effective
solutions to the problems facing youth.
"It's
a simple, easily forgotten truth that we need one another," Gardner
said in the PBS documentary John Gardner: Uncommon American.
"I sometimes think that history might easily say about this nation:
«It was a great nation full of talented people with enormous energy
who forgot that they needed one another.'" That documentary aired
on the Public Broadcasting Service in the fall of 2001. (For more
information, visit http://www.pbs.org/johngardner//.)
Gardner's
daughters, Francesca Gardner and Stephanie Gardner Trimble, remember
their father as a sensitive, intelligent man who played an active
role in their childhood.
"Stephanie
and I feel we were the luckiest people alive to have had a father
like him," Francesca said. "He was always there for us; always paying
attention." Even as a college student, Stephanie often turned to
her father for advice. "He was so wise," she said. "I would talk
to him about anything. He just was that kind of person."
Gardner
wrote several books, including, Excellence: Can We Be Equal and
Excellent Too? The 1961 book argued that the United States must
strive for excellence and equality at every level of society. It
caught the attention of President John F. Kennedy, who asked Gardner
to edit his 1962 book, To Turn the Tide.
In
1964, Gardner wrote Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative
Society. In this book, his most popular, Gardner reflected on
individual renewal and the renewal of society. "Failure to face
the realities of change brings heavy penalties," he said. "Individuals
become imprisoned in their own rigidities. Great institutions deteriorate.
Civilizations fall. Yet decay is not inevitable. There is also renewal."
Although
all of his goals for creating a better society were not realized
in his lifetime, Francesca Gardner said her father remained an optimist
to the end. Following the terrorist attacks last September, "he
said, «There is hope. We'll manage -- the spirit of America will
survive,'" she recalled.
In
addition to Francesca and Stephanie of San Francisco, Gardner is
survived by his wife of 67 years, Aida, of Stanford; his four grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren.
In
lieu of flowers, the family suggests that those wishing to making
a gift to honor Gardner's memory contribute "in the spirit of giving
that he so believed in" to a cause of their choice; the John Gardner
Public Service Fellowships at Stanford and UC-Berkeley; or to the
John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities at Stanford.
Plans
for a memorial service are pending.
|