A White House Fellows

Right:

John Saxon receives his award. Far right: John with Liz Chaney.

A White House Fellows Honoree: John Saxon

Over the summer, Birmingham Bar Association member John Saxon was thrilled to learn that he was being awarded the John Gardner Legacy of Leadership Award by the White House Fellows Association. This association is the alumni group for all former Fellows, and the award is the Fellows’ distinguished alumnus award.

The White House Fellows program was established by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 upon the proposal submitted to him by John Gardner, then Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare. John was honored to be in the 14th class of Fellows in 1978-79, and he served as the White House Special Assistant to Vice President Walter Mondale.

John was the first White House Fellow selected from Alabama. Ken Simon, former circuit judge and local attorney, was the third Fellow selected from Alabama, in 1983-84.

Prominent alumni of the Fellows program include historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin; Elaine Chao, President George W. Bush’s Secretary of Labor and President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Transportation; current U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee; and CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

John traveled to Washington in October with family and friends to receive this prestigious award at a dinner at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

The Legacy of Leadership Award was first awarded in 1999. The first recipient was General Wesley K. Clark, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. Among the 22 other recipients who have received the award are former Secretary of State Colin Powell; U.S. Senator Tim Wirth of Colorado; Dana Mead, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tenneco; Mike Ullman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of J.C. Penney; 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Margaret McKeown; and Bud McFarlane, President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Advisor.

John and Betsy Saxon with Jim Padilla (retired Ford Motor Company President).