insidethehouse When History Calls
Behind the Scenes of Hosting the President of the United States
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t started with an unexpected phone call. President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 had been on the job for only three weeks when he got a phone call from Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Barack Obama. The President was requesting to be the College’s Commencement speaker, she said. “When the President of the United States calls, you say ‘yes,’” President Wilson said later. “In a year when there are so many significant anniversaries and celebrations, it was an honor to add President Obama’s historic visit to Morehouse to the list.” In the year that marks the 100th anniversary of the College being named Morehouse; the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation; and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. ’48 delivered the iconic “I Have a Dream Address”—the first African American president of the United States was coming to Morehouse. It seemed history itself was calling.
Positioning the Team In the first conversation with the White House Advance Team, the team’s director, Peter Selfridge, encouraged Morehouse to plan Commencement as a celebration for the graduates and their families. That meant the unmatched pageantry of the Morehouse Commencement would not be compromised. The African drummers, the alumni corridor, the sacred venue of Century Campus, would all remain intact. Chief of staff Karen Miller and media relations manager Elise Durham were tapped to lead the Morehouse team, with Durham serving as the main point of contact for the White House and overall logistics for the President’s visit. Also on the team were Anne W. Watts, chair of the Baccalaureate and Commencement Committee; Vernon Worthy, Morehouse Police Chief; and James Smartt, director of Event Support Services. “While I’ve planned many significant MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
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Commencement 2013
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Elise Durham, media relations manager, leads the team on a tour.
By the Numbers 17 miles of fencing erected around the campus perimeter 100 spaces blocked off in the parking deck to secure line of sight to the Presidential motorcade 300 media professionals on risers built specifically for them 4,000 media hits on Commencement events and worked with high-profile personalities and political dignitaries, working with the President of the United States was clearly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Durham. For the first time in Morehouse Commencement history, crowd logistics professionals were hired and every one of the 10, 000 audience members had to have a ticket, as well as pass through electronic screening devices. Additionally, the 170 faculty members in the processional and nearly 70 members of the platform party submitted to additional security requirements so that they could be within arms reach of the President (ARP). “Given the sensitive information needed for the background checks, we relied on Human Resources to help make the process as smooth as possible, without compromising
Commemorative issue
personnel information,” said Miller. Two weeks later, the first campus walkthrough was set with four Atlanta-based Secret Service agents, including Harry McLaughlin, a 1995 graduate of Morehouse. Also in attendance was Maju Varghese, a senior member of the White House advance team, who traveled separately from Washington. Besides discussing the standard protocols around a presidential visit, the Morehouse team was told to brace for up to 300 media outlets from around the globe—and possibly 150 media who travel as the National Press Corps.
Preparing for the President During the week of Commencement, advance teams from Washington arrived, including the main White House Advance Team and the White House Communications Agency (led by Col. Kevin Mitchell, another Morehouse alumnus) to lay secure phone and Internet lines on campus. A room called the POTUS Hold was transformed into a mobile oval office, where special phones were installed in case President Obama needed to conduct official business on campus. Changes to the ceremony—most of which would be undetectable to the audience—were debated, decided, and sometimes changed again, like the stage seating and the processional route.