By Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.

The unprecedented election of President Barack Obama has provided a dramatic spotlight on the issues of race in America. One aspect of significance is that it represents an important step in the process of racial integration in our nation. His election was the result of the collective decisions by a multi-racial and multi-ethnic electorate. Both as a U.S. Senator from Illinois and as President, Obama has been what might be called an “Integrative Black Pioneer.”

He did not function as a black spokesperson and he was not chosen only as a black candidate. Many black leaders have been successful in representing black interests. But when a black person seeks political power from broader multi-racial groups or aims at being appointed a leader of all groups, he or she is pursuing the goal of being an integrative pioneer.

Obama would be the first to admit that his pioneering election was preceded by others. In the political arena, there are those who have pioneered at state and federal levels where the support and election or appointment required support from groups larger than and beyond a single race. Some examples are Edward Brooke from Massachusetts, who in 1966 was the first black elected to the U.S. Senate since the 19th century, or Douglas Wilder of Virginia, who in 1990 became the first African-American governor in U.S. history. There are similar pioneering black integrative examples in the arts, science, music, business, entertainment, sports, philanthropy and education.

My reason for mentioning such “Integrative Pioneers” is that they faced different challenges than did other solely black leaders. Also, previous integrative black pioneers met different challenges than those being faced today by President Obama. However, I suspect that the experiences of those who went before him may have some similarities and resonance.

I have been an integrative black pioneer in a number of fields, ranging from higher education and philanthropy to business and government. Therefore, a former colleague at Michigan State University, Professor Carl Taylor, asked me to reflect upon what I thought might be the challenges which President Obama might face. I selected two personal examples.

Michigan State University

When I was chosen president of Michigan State University in 1969, the national press coverage of my appointment was electrifying. The New York Times (October 18) carried a front page story, headlined “Negro Economist is Named Head of Michigan State U,” with the lead: “Negro Pacesetter Clifton Wharton has done it again. As the newly appointed president of Michigan State University, Dr. Wharton will be the first president of a major predominantly white college in the country.”

The paper also had a “Man in the News” sidebar that caused an interesting mini flap. The reporter had repeatedly asked for my views on the significance of my appointment, each time clearly seeking some admission that I had been chosen because I was black, not because of my qualifications. Finally, I answered that I considered myself “a man first, an American second, and a black man third.”

This led to muttering within the Negro community that somehow I was disparaging my own race. My comments were intended only to emphasize that race or ethnicity was not and should not be viewed as the dominant feature of my qualifications for the position. Interestingly, the critics ignored the rest of my statement which said, “I do feel that my appointment is an important symbolic occasion … It shows that if one has the skill and the talent, you’re going to make it.”

Hence, during my first years in East Lansing, I had to work carefully to ensure a balance in racial matters. I had to operate as president of the entire university, not of a single group—while coping with student anti-war demonstrations, fiscal crises, minority admissions expansion and pushing new academic programs.

Moreover, my pioneering status meant an incredibly higher visibility. Everything I and my wife Dolores did or said was under a massive magnifying glass. The slightest misstep or misstatement would receive far greater attention and examination than normal. And we knew that our performance might affect future opportunities for other blacks who might try to follow.

The white and non-minority community, on and off the campus, also had doubts, though usually not expressed openly. For example, there was a fear that I would follow the then emerging practice of “Open Admissions” admitting unqualified students (sic., blacks), and thereby lower the quality of MSU. At the time, MSU enrolled the largest number of National Merit Scholars in the country and was continuing to strengthen its academic standing. Would I reverse that process because I was black? This was only one challenge of our “launch.”

Often unrealized is that a spouse can also face integrative pioneering challenges. As first lady of MSU, Dolores dealt with her pioneering role with great success on and off the campus. And it was then that she also began an independent career as a director of eight major corporations. In several instances, she was the first black as well as the first woman director, adding gender to race as a challenge. She was a double integrative pioneer.

Another special problem during my first years involved three trustees on the MSU board, who voted against my election, regularly continued their attempts to remove me from the presidency, and did everything possible to achieve their goals. In fact, when I first arrived the three told me, “Don’t unpack because you will be gone by the next political election this Fall.”

Nevertheless, I never lost my poise, though on a couple of public occasions I fought back strongly and won. Some blacks on campus believed that the hidden motivation of the troika was racism, but I preferred to think they were angry because their preferred MSU presidential candidate was former Michigan Governor Soapy Williams, who was not selected. In any event, I outlasted all three antagonists.

When I completed my eight years at MSU, I was generally seen as the President, not the black president. Five years later, the university dedicated the new Clifton and Dolores Wharton Center for the Performing Arts Center in our honor. On October 27, 2000, the university held an unprecedented convocation to celebrate the 30th anniversary of my election as MSU president.

TIAA CREF

In 1987, I was elected Chairman and CEO of TIAA CREF, at the time the nation’s largest private pension fund, thereby becoming the first black CEO of a major U.S. corporation. Questions were raised about my fitness for the position or suggestions that affirmative action was involved. The doubters, mainly other businessmen or competitors, subtly criticized my assumed lack of business experience. No mention was made of my many years as a director of major U.S. corporations such as Ford Motor and Time Inc. or my directorship of Equitable Life, which, like TIAA, was an insurance company.

My seventeen years in higher education—eight years at the nation’s third largest university, and nine leading the country’s largest system of 64 campuses—were discounted. Not surprisingly, such criticisms were not made when white university presidents became corporate CEOs, such as Clark Wescoe, former chancellor of University of Kansas, who became CEO of Sterling Drug Inc. and Franklin Murphy, Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), who became Chairman and CEO of the Times Mirror Company.

Almost two decades had intervened since my Michigan State example. The New York Times (October 16, 1986) reported my election without any mention that I thereby became the first black to be named a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. From one standpoint, the argument could be made that such racial blindness is what the goal of integration is all about. From another standpoint, it meant that the wider public missed the symbolism and significance of the pioneering appointment, particularly those younger minorities who needed examples of success to strengthen their career goals and aspirations.

When I contacted an editor at The New York Times, I found his explanation both refreshing and disconcerting. He said, “The problem, Clif, is that you and your many successful careers are well known to all of us and I must confess that we do not think of you as primarily a Negro. We know that you are, but it is a secondary or tertiary matter.”

My pioneering appointment was recognized when Leontyne Price, Rev. Leon Sullivan and I were named the first winners of the N.Y. Associated Black Charities Achievement Award (February 1987). In my acceptance, I remarked that being the first black corporate CEO was fine, but that I wanted to see two, three, four, and five black CEOs. The last twenty years have witnessed that hope becoming a reality.

In conclusion, a fully integrated nation is a goal that must be achieved not solely through pioneering leaders, but at all levels in our society. Whether it is the “tribalism” of segregated urban areas with its negative pathologies, or rural populations whose biases are reinforced by ignorance and ideological blindness, the process requires sustained efforts by everyone. Only then can we achieve the vision of the nation’s founders that “all men are created equal.”

Although I have never met President Obama, Dolores and I greatly admire him, his wife, and his family. Because of his willingness to take on the awesome responsibility at a time of incredible crisis, nationally and globally, I would be presumptuous to think that I could or should provide him with any advice.

There is one message which I will offer: I believe that when he completes his mission, his impact upon our nation’s well being and upon improved multi cultural, multi ethnic human relations will be a lasting legacy. Barack Obama will be remembered not solely as an integrative black pioneer, but even more as a great President.

“Such has been the life of Clifton Wharton, whose career in higher education and business, foreign economic development, and philanthropy has included so many firsts – often without much fanfare – that he is sometimes called “the quiet pioneer.” ["Clifton R. Wharton Jr., SAIS '48, A Lifetime of Firsts," Johns Hopkins Alumni News, September 2001.] This piece is based upon his earlier article published in The Taylor Report, December 2009