Book Review

W. Astor Kirk, PhD, One Life: Three Professional Careers

(Long Beach, California: Magic Valley Publishers, 2007)

Managing in Turbulent Times

stor Kirks book recounting his three-pronged civil rights story contains more than

the personal reflections of an African-American octogenarian who grew up on

a farm in east Texas. It is a sensitive consideration of his transformational leadership

experiences in three diverse public roles: (1) professor of political science and

economics at a historically black college in Austin, Texas, in 194761; (2) program

manager with the United Methodist Church in 196166, a time of desegregation

even within the Churchand considerable turmoil and division throughout the

country; and (3) federal executive with the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity

(OEO) in 196682.

Having known the author for close to forty yearshe was a very influential

mentor of mine when I served as a community action field representative for OEO

in the early 1970sI believe Dr. Kirks unique professional story is compelling

and well worth reading in its entirety. For purposes of this review, however, I focus

solely on his third careerPart III of the book, which recounts key choices he

made as a senior federal executive serving in politically turbulent times. This period

of Dr. Kirks career covers the sixteen years he spent helping to get the War on

Poverty off the ground in the Johnson administration, keeping it alive and relevant

in the Nixon years, making the transition to a more collaborative member of an

intergovernmental team during President Carters term of office.

Field Commander in the War on Poverty

Leaving academia, where he had pioneered by combining teaching and civil

rights activities, Dr. Kirk took a step in the direction of greater activismboth

within the organization and in the larger communitywhen he became public

affairs director for the United Methodist Churchs Board of Church and Society.

Then, four years into his second career and on the heels of President Johnsons

announcement of the War on Poverty, he published a provocative article that questioned

whether churches would make a significant contribution to eliminating

poverty in the United States (W. Astor

Kirk, Poverty, Powerlessness, The

Church, CONCERN Magazine, Vol.

7, No. 8, May 1, 1965). Not surprisingly,

the article was brought to the

attention of then OEO Director Sargent

Shriver, and soon Astor was into

his third career as deputy director of

the OEO regional office covering

Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico,

Oklahoma, and Texas.

Getting accustomed to yet another

bureaucratic culture, the emerging

government leader reflected on the

regions mission and concluded that

the fuzzy relationship with headquarters

(in Washington, DC) made for

blurred lines of authority. Further decentralization

would be necessary to

achieve effective management in the

field. Moreover, the regional office

needed a reliable management information

control system to support

unconditional delegation of authority

to the regional director. And from

his search for a relevant narrative to

drive executive-level decision making,

he conceived of a three-dimensional

proactive mission of OEO to

provide the opportunity for

education and training, the

opportunity to work, and the

opportunity to live;

reclaim human capital and promote

upward social mobility;

and

empower the powerless across

the country.

Not bad for a recovering academic

and faith-based PR guy. Indeed, the

author telegraphs his transformational

agenda by noting: I utilized every

chance I had to infect the culture of

the regional office with the virus of

my three-dimensional concept of the

mission of OEO. Some examples of

this viral approach included (1) in

the Job Corps, seeking to not only

develop marketable skills, but to cultivate

a desire for upward economic

and social mobility as well (perhaps

accounting for the success of one

local Job Corps graduate, George

Foreman, who became an Olympic

heavyweight boxing champion and

successful entrepreneur); (2) engaging

young, idealistic Volunteers in

Service to America to not only perform

their assigned duties, but to discuss

how to improve the lives of poor

people in their service area; and (3)

promoting through the Community

Action Program communal decision

making and mobilization of resources

to address specific unmet need.

Fourteen Years Before the Mast

In Two Years before the Mast, William

Henry Dana was inspired by

a perilous sea journey in the mid-

1800s that took him halfway around

the world. While somewhat autobiographical,

his novel also weaves together

a sense of history and ethics

particularly regarding the unpleasant

conditions one had to bear during the

long ocean voyages. Years later, Dana

crusaded for more humane treatment

of sailors and human rights for slaves.

He helped form the anti-slavery Free

Soil Party, worked for the federal

government, and served in the state

legislature in Massachusetts.

Although Astor Kirks sojourn

in his next assignment may not have

been as arduous, it lasted fourteen

years and was almost continuously

headed against the wind on turbulent

waters. Having been elevated to

regional director of OEOs Mid-Atlantic

Region on November 1, 1968

(then headquartered in Washington,

DC), Dr. Kirk soon learned that

Richard Nixon would take the oath

of office as the nations next president

just three months later. Adding to the

likelihood of a looming storm was

candidate Nixons campaign promise

to abolish much of the Great Society,

including OEO.

The two chapters of the book

devoted to this turbulent fourteenyear

span provide a fascinating personal

and historical case study of

executive-level perseverance. Among

the many highlights (and lowlights)

with which Dr. Kirk has chosen to

illuminate these passages are the following

experiences:

Unknowingly walking into a

severe, top-to-bottom, interethnic

staff conflict in the regional

office and being handed

personnel recommendations

that would have continued the

almost total absence of diversity

in executive and senior

management, including an episode

recounting his dismay one

day to find more than a dozen

Oreo cookies taped to the back

of his office chair

Inheriting a major grantee controversy

in the nations capital

involving allegations of misuse

of federal funds by Youth

Pride, Inc., then spearheaded

by Marion Barry (later Mayor

Barry)a muddy, muddled, and

ultimately highly political affair

that would cause the author

professional, intellectual, and

moral conflicts

In the midst of President Nixon

rolling out his concept of New

Federalismreturning a

greater share of control to state

and local government and to the

peopleattempting to implement

the new direction under

the watchful eyes of the new

OEO Director (Donald Rumsfeld)

and his chief staff assistant

(Dick Cheney), while at the

same time reorganizing and relocating

the regional office from

Washington to Philadelphia in a

compressed time

Providing regional, inter-governmental

leadership aimed at

ensuring that the federal government

spoke with one clear

and consistent voicerather

than the confusing and conflicting

OEO, DOL, DOT, HEW,

and HUD voices and, at the

same time, leading flood relief

in West Virginia and Pennsylvania

and facing the Vietnam

refugee resettlement challenge

in Indian Head, Pennsylvania

Enduring OEOs transition

from an independent agency

even as the renamed Community

Service Administration

(CSA)to an entity in another

department and then later seeing

CSA fade away and morph

into the state-directed Community

Services Block Grant, the

apotheosis of New Federalism.

Epilogue

Another former OEO colleague

of mine, Alex Porter, who served

with Dr. Kirk as regional counsel,

noted, [Dr. Kirk] was willing to see

the good in humankind and to pay

the price for a successful and rewarding

life. This positive approach to

life was instilled in all [whose lives

he touched], encouraging them to

explore new and innovative ways of

thinking and expressing unique ideas

and concepts. Certainly, that is the

effect Dr. Kirk had in helping shape

my early involvement in public service.

When I watched along with millions

of others the events in Chicago

on the night of November 4, 2008,

and the inaugural swearing in and address

in Washington, DC, on January

20, 2009, I couldnt help but think of

the powerful example, the clarity and

constancy, that have marked this old

friends civil rights story.