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Excerpt from Page 2 of 2. Go to page 1 “After two years of talking, cajoling, and prodding, the group came up with an organization that was special in several ways,” recalled Katharine Graham, of her husband’s efforts to organize the Council. “[Members] were enrolled as individuals, not company representatives. And they were expected to work. This was not a letterhead group. It was a lean group. Often it seemed too lean. “The name itself, Federal City Council, was selected with care, with each word thought over carefully,” she continued. “Almost surprisingly it was the result of the work of a committee. From the start, the group sought leaders who were both committed to the city and at home in the Federal government’s affairs. Another way to put it, the Council was led by men experienced in government, but whose skills were developed in private business.” Included on the original interim committee membership list were some of the most influential businessmen in town—many of whom had grown up in or near enough to the District of Columbia to feel a genuine bond to the city. Among the companies represented were Washington Gas Light, Potomac Electric Power, Riggs National Bank, Peoples Drug Stores, the Hecht Co., Julius Garfinkel & Co., and Woodward & Lothrop. Three of the City’s newspapers were also on board: The Evening Star, Washington Daily News and, naturally, The Washington Post. Each member was the key decision-maker in his organization. To chair the new organization, Graham recruited a well-known figure in local circles, Francis G. Addison, Jr., president of Security Bank. Addison had been raised on a farm in nearby Prince George’s County, Maryland; attended law school at Georgetown University; gone into banking; and become head of Security Bank in 1930. He had also recently chaired the Citizens’ Committee on Public Works, helping to write and sell to Congress the first major large-scale public works program for the District, to the tune of $300 million. As important as it was to have a recognized public figure like Addison on board, Graham knew that the long-term success of the organization would rest heavily on having someone both strong and nimble behind the scenes—a creative ‘nuts and bolts’ executive. Graham did not have to look far a field. After attending a speech given by G. Yates Cook, a blunt-spoken consultant to the National Association of Home Builders, the publisher knew he had found his man. Graham pulled Cook aside and asked him if he would like a “part-time job” helping the new Council get off the ground. “Phil did warn him that the job could be frustrating,” recalled Katharine Graham. “‘If you do something right,’ he said, ‘we’ll take the credit, and if you make two mistakes in a row, you’ll be out.’” Cook was undaunted. While serving as Baltimore’s first housing inspector a few years earlier, he had taken on that city’s slumlords, winning national attention for his plainspoken and passionate manner. Cook also enjoyed a challenge: “Yates was always an inventive guy, trying to figure out how to get an angle, how to get some leverage,” says Ken Sparks, Cook’s successor as Council executive director. Cook accepted Graham’s offer and after a few months of making do in a spare office in the Post complex, he set up an official headquarters for the new Federal City Council in Room 620 of the Bond Building. The new Council had received a two-year $50,000 grant from the Meyer Foundation to defray costs. In keeping with the Council’s determination to avoid creating a bloated bureaucracy, the staff consisted only of Cook and clerical assistants. Lack of staff did not hamper Cook or the Council. By November of 1954, membership had grown to 47 members and included at least one additional publisher—W. M. Kiplinger of The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., as well as the Council’s first two female members. Council member Willard Kiplinger and first Council chairman Frank Addison, Jr., circa 1954. Post publisher Philip L. Graham Recruiting new members wasn’t the only thing on Graham’s and Cook’s minds. The two agreed that in addition to Frank Addison,the Council needed another heavyweight at the helm, someone with national-level credentials and White House connections. Philip Graham knew just the man: George A. Garrett. An investment banker by profession, the 66-year old Garrett was resident partner with Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Beane and well-known in the City’s social and charitable circles for his work on behalf of the American Red Cross Drive and National Symphony Orchestra. Garrett had recently served as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, a job that called for precisely the kind of high-profile diplomatic skills the Federal City Council could use in dealing with Congress, the White House and federal agencies. Unlike Addison, Garrett wasn’t born in the Washington area. He hailed originally from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, but had moved to the Nation’s Capital in his early 20s and remained ever since. Graham laid the groundwork and Cook made the pitch. Garrett agreed to become the Council’s first president. By December 1954, everything was in place. The new Federal City Council was ready to get to work. Philip Graham’s instructions to Cook were clear and concise: “Your job is to keep an ear to the ground, let us know what’s going on, and how our good offices can be used to advance major projects in the City.” Graham summed up: “You find the roadblocks to progress and we’ll remove them.” [End] |
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