On Leadership Paperback - 1993

John W. Gardner attended Stanford University (A.B., 1935; M.A., 1936) and the University of California (Ph.D., 1938). He taught psychology at the University of California, Connecticut College and Mount Holyoke College. He was an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II.
He was president of the Carnegie Corporation and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (1955 - 1965); U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1965 - 1968); chairman of the National Urban Coalition (1968 - 1970); founding chairman of Common Cause (l970 - l977); and a co-founder of Independent Sector (1980). Mr. Gardner served on President Kennedy's Task Force on Education and was chairman of President Kennedy's Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs. He was chairman of President Johnson's Task Force on Education, served on President Carter's Commission on an Agenda for the '80s, and chaired (1976 - 1980) the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. He served on President Reagan's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives. Mr. Gardner has been a director of a number of corporations, including Shell Oil Company, the New York Telephone Company, American Airlines and Time, Inc. Among other organizations he has served as a board member are Stanford University and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Air Force.
Mr. Gardner was the editor of President John F. Kennedy's book "To Turn the Tide" and the author of "Excellence, Self-Renewal, No Easy Victories, The Recovery of Confidence, In Common Cause" and "Morale." He is the coeditor, with Francesca Gardner Reese, of "Quotations of Wit and Wisdom." In 1964 Mr. Gardner was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civil honor in the United States. Among other awards he has received are the U.S. Air Force Exceptional Service Award, and the Distinguished Achievement Medal of the Stanford Athletic Board.