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VOLUME XX
NUMBER 2
SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT
SPELMAN COLLEGE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1964
JUDY AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Judy Tillman
“When you wish upon a star
makes no difference who you
are, when you wish upon a star
your dream comes true.” My
dream certainly did come true
and most unexpectedly.
The Saturday of September
26, 1964, began for me as us
ual, a hopeless attempt to tie
up the never-ending loose ends
of the previous week, until I re
ceived a message summoning
me to the President’s Office.
As I calmly walked into Dr.
Manley’s office, I had no idea
that for a time afterwards, walk
ing for me would be very dif
ficult. After a short review of
the scheduled social events for
the incoming weekend, Dr.
Manley said rather casually,
“Miss Tillman, do you think
you could arrange to go to
Washington next weekend? Star
tled and still unaware of the
significance of the trip, I re
plied, “I think so.” My thoughts
ran wild—a trip to Washington,
a convention, yes, a Student
Government Convention, that
should be interesting. And then,
I imagine to pad the tremen
dous shock that was to follow,
he gave me a letter to read. I
hurriedly glanced the letter, not
really reading it until I noticed
the clearly perceived signature
of Lyndon Johnson. Spontan
eously I blurted it to Dr. Man-
ley who was already fully aware
that the letter was from Lyn
don Johnson, President of the
United States. I then attempted
to read the letter and absorb
its contents. In essence it stat
ed that the Johnson adminis
tration was interested in the
youth of this nation and the
responsible leadership that it of
fers to our present and future
nation. And, for this reason, the
President was extending a per
sonal invitation to student lead
ers all over the nation, to come
to the White Elouse and enjoy
a evening of acquaintance with
him, his family, and some of his
top aides.
The weekend that ensued, as
you can imagine, was very hec
tic — transportation problems,
hotel reservations, and all the
pressures that accompany an or
dinary trip, besides those that
come with an extra-special trip.
Finally, with the invaluable as
sistance of Mrs. Jeanne Allen
and Mrs. Manley, I was prepar
ed and ready to leave that Fri
day evening, October 2, 1964 at
6:05 P. M. via Eastern Airlines,
Flight 832. As is the case in
almost all that we do, we are
inextricably woven into the mat
rix of tradition, and never one
to challenge sacred traditions,
I was accompanied by the Pre
sident of our brother institution,
Mr. David Walker, President of
the Morehouse Student Govern
ment Association.
The trip going up was very
nice and the plane ride equally
exciting and enjoyable. Arrival
time in Washington was 8:30
p. m. at the Friendship Airport,
and from there I took a limou
sine to the plush Statler-Hilton
Elotel—my home for the next
three days. My every spare mo
ment was spent in sight-seeing,
but even at that my tour was
quite limited. However, I did
get to visit the Smithsonian In
stitute.
The President’s reception
took place at 5 o’clock p. m.
on Saturday, October 3, 1964
at the White House, and it can
well be divided into three phas
es. The first phase involved our
arrival at the East gate of the
White House, where we were
met and accompanied to the
White House proper by West
Point Cadets who served as
hosts. We arrived a half an
hour early and browsed around
in the library and adjacent his
torical rooms. At 5:55 p. m.
we were ushered into the East
Room for a formal program of
short speeches delivered by
Dean Rusk, Secretary of State,
Mr. Willard Dirtz, Secretary of
Defense, and President Lyndon
B. Johnson, respectively.
The President’s message was
very warm, informative, and to
(cont. on page 7)
never been out of the country),
until you take a sudden and
great leap across the oceans and
continents to a drastically dif
ferent world. It was being a by
stander in history, as Juanita
Price, assigned to Blantyre, Ny-
assaland, (now Malawi), took a
front row seat of her country’s
acquiring its independence on
July 6. It was, for me, a ma
jor learning experience; for in
the capital city of Dar-es-Sa-
(cont. on page 9)
ANDREA, A
PRESIDENTIAL
SCHOLAR
Andrea Williams
Do you know what the big
gest shock of my life was? It
was the day I found I had
been chosen as one of the first
Presidential Scholars. I had
heard about the program to
honor scholastic achievement by
choosing 121 top graduates ol
the high school class of 1964,
but I had never though that it
would touch me.
This program was inaugurat
ed by President Johnson. A
committee, headed by Dr. Mil-
ton Eisenhower, was responsi
ble for selecting two or three
Scholars from each state. They
considered scholastic achieve
ment, national test scores, char
acter, and other activities and
achievements of the students.
Many of those chosen were Na
tional Merit Scholars. No mon
ey accompanied the award,
which did include an expense-
paid trip to Washington and
the presentation of a bronze me
dallion.
Then, on June 9, I was at
last on my way. We stayed on
the campus of George Wash
ington University. The first eve-
PRO-JOHNSON
OR
ANTI-GOLDWATER
The outcome of the presiden
tial election seemed not to be
the result of pro-Johnsonism,
but rather anti-Goldwaterism.
This assigns a poor image to the
United States presidency, for it
indicates no preference, only
aversion. Those citizens who are
normally apathetic and phleg
matic became enthusiastic, not
in regard to Johnson, but rather
in resistance to Goldwater. A
deeply embedded fear of Gold-
water's possible election to the
highest position of leadership in
the country made the President-
by-accident, the President-by
choice. Minority groups strong
ly suppoted Johnson, especially
the Negro whose vote for LBJ
was practically unanimous.
However, what kind of support
will this man, who was victor
ious because of an unyielding
disapproval of his opponent,
get now that he is President
elect?
Instead of a clear choice be
tween liberalism and conserva
tism, candidates unintentionally
gave voters a choice between
corruption and destruction. The
issues most frequently discussed
were nuclear policies, morality,
civil rights, social security and
the United Nations. Important
(cont. on page 7)
ning we all got together and
discussed what we were really
doing there.
The next day was a whirl
wind of activity. We toured
Washington and met many im
portant people. That evening,
we went to the White House
for the medallion presentation
by the President. This was fol
lowed by a tea and a picnic on
the White House lawn, with en
tertainment from the Kingston
Trio, Sidney Poitier, Leonard
Bernstein, and others. It was
really an unforgettable exper
ience.
When discussing the whole
program, we who went most
often mentioned this — how
much we appreciated the chance
to talk with young people from
all over the country and ex
change ideas. We rather think
that President Johnson had a
good idea.
—Andrea Williams
SPELLMAN CROSS ROADERS
“Learning to work and com
municate with people from an
other culture is invaluable in
our ever-shrinking world. Cross
roads presented this opportun
ity.”
If Gerladine Davis (Yundum
Gambia), could have made this
statement to the founder of
Crossroads, Dr. James H. Rob
inson, he would say, I am sure,
that another name can be added
to the list of '‘Crossroaders.”
For in these few lines the entire
idea and main objective of
“building bridges of friendship
and understanding between Af
ricans and Americans and Ca
nadians,” has been captured.
When Reverend Robinson,
“had a dream” more than like
ly he never imagined it would
turn out to be one of the world’s
largest international work-camp
projects for young people as it
has today. It started in 1958
with only 60 participants going
into West African countries and
the summer project of 1964
saw 310 students and leaders
from colleges and universities
from all over the United States
and Canada, leave for countries
on the east, west, north, and
central parts of the African
Continent.
This Presbyterian minister, of
one of the leading churches in
Harlem, the Church of the Mas
ter, envisioned an operation
that would bind Africans, Amer
icans, and Canadians, in a
friendship so sincere as to erase
all misconceptions and misun
derstandings of the participating
cultures. This year the exper-
i e n c e was no exception.
Through this experience the
lives of its pioneers have been
greatly touched, if not changed.
For the American Crossroad
ers, it was an adventure: you
can never actually realize the
sensation (especially if you’ve