Leaders from across the country who make up the Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) Class of 2025 arrived at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, unsure of what the days ahead would bring.
On the heels of meeting with President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush at the George W. Bush Presidential Center and with President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Clinton Presidential Center, it was difficult to predict what a program module would look like without the president for which the library is named.
But what Scholars soon learned is that LBJ’s influence lives on — through the lessons taught in PLS, the legislation he championed, and the personal experiences of the people who knew and loved him.
His influence is evident through his daughter, Luci Baines Johnson, who spoke with Scholars on their first night in Austin. She, like her father, has led a life driven by purpose and urged the Class of 2025 to do the same.
“If you have a purpose-driven life, happiness and everything that lights up your world follows,” she said.
Her belief in Scholars’ ability to make a difference in our country and the world was palpable for those in the room. “Don’t give up hope,” she urged them. “You are our hope for tomorrow.”
Throughout their time in Austin, Scholars learned that LBJ’s ability to influence and persuade was critical to the passage of consequential legislation that brings hope and promise to millions still today. The class heard this firsthand from civil rights leader and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Andrew Young, who shared his experiences fighting for equality and working alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
President Johnson worked with leaders like King and Young to advance the Civil Rights Movement and was a fierce advocate for the laws he knew would shape the future of the U.S., including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
The class had a front row seat to how LBJ used his own life experiences to advance other important legislation like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which provided federal funding to education programs, especially those in high-poverty areas. On a tour of LBJ’s ranch in Johnson City, Texas, Scholars even saw the one-room schoolhouse Johnson attended as a child and where he later signed that very bill at a picnic table in 1965.
“One of the secrets of Lyndon Johnson is that he was always prepared,” Larry Temple, Chairman of the LBJ Foundation and former White House Counsel to President Johnson, told the Scholars. “He always knew more than anyone.”
LBJ prepared so that he could lead with purpose and build bridges with others to make a difference and get things done. And PLS is preparing leaders to do the same. “We can build bridges, and we need a new generation of builders,” Roy Spence, co-founder and chairman of leading advertising agency GSD&M, said in a conversation with the class.
“There’s an ‘us’ in the USA,” he continued. “We have to build bridges to build a better us.”
On the last day of each module, Scholars take time to do just that. PLS Co-Director Dr. Mike Hemphill leads the group through an exercise focused on bridge building, where they learn to have difficult conversations and listen with intention.
“Listening helped me be a leader,” President and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University and 2016 PLS alumna Dr. Melva Wallace told the Scholars. “That’s probably the most critical piece [of leadership] – listening and learning.”
The past four months, Scholars have listened to and learned from one another, and this is only the beginning. The PLS network is more than 500 Scholars strong, and the alumni continue to collaborate with and support one another years after their time in the program.
“The true secret sauce of this program…is the network, because that’s where the work gets done,” Wallace said.
The Class of 2025 will head to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas, next before their final module in Washington, D.C., in June. For many of them, the influence of PLS – like that of President Johnson – will never end.
View more photos of Module Four here.
