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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