The White House Office staff members have been extremely well educated 'since 1939. Their educational level was generally comparable to that of other it federal executives 22 and somewhat higher than that of business executives.
The educational level has generally improved since the Roosevelt Administration when nearly half of the staff did not have a college degree. Although there was a slight decline in percentage of college degrees in the Eisenhower Administration, be it is rather difficult to compare percentage figures for the Eisenhower staff members to those of the other Presidents because of the significantly larger number of respondents for the Eisenhower staff. For the entire period, about three out of four staff members had a college degree.
Table IV. Education, White House Office Professional Staff, 1939–1967
| Educational Level | FDR¹ | HST² | DDE³ | JFK⁴ | LBJ⁵ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No college degree* | 6 (42.9%) | 2 (10%) | 14 (16.3%) | 2 (7.1%) | 2 (6.9%) |
| Bachelor's degree* | 7 (50%) | 16 (80%) | 63 (73.3%) | 25 (89.3%) | 25 (86.2%) |
| Advanced degrees | 5 (35.7%) | 13 (65%) | 47 (54.6%) | 18 (64.3%) | 17 (58.6%) |
| — Masters | 1 (7.1%) | 5 (25%) | 18 (21%) | 5 (17.9%) | 4 (13.8%) |
| — LL.B. | 3 (21.4%) | 8 (40%) | 25 (29.1%) | 12 (42.6%) | 10 (34.5%) |
| — Ph.D. | 1 (7.1%) | 1 (5%) | 9 (10.5%) | 4 (14.2%) | 2 (6.9%) |
| — other | 1 (7.1%) | 2 (10%) | 5 (5.8%) | 2 (7.1%) | 2 (6.9%) |
* The total of the "No College Degree" and "Bachelor's Degree" columns may not add up to 100% because some staff members took advanced degrees in lieu of a Bachelor's Degree.
¹ Data available for 14 of 16 staff members. ² 20 of 22. ³ 86 of 86. ⁴ 28 of 28. ⁵ 29 of 33.
More than half had advanced degrees with the majority of these being in the LL.B, category. The Kennedy staff, according to the data in Table IV, was the best educated staff of the period under study. Nine out of ten Kennedy staffers had bachelor’s degrees, two-thirds of them had advanced degrees, and one out of [remainder of line illegible in the scan].
The Ivy League schools did not dominate the list of institutions granting degrees to members of the Roosevelt and Truman staffs. However, for the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson staffs the trend definitely is toward the Ivy League for both bachelor’s and advanced degrees. Ivy League schools awarded 27% of the bachelor’s degrees and 33% of the advanced degrees awarded to Roosevelt and Truman staff members. They have awarded 38.1% of the bachelor’s degrees and 61.8% of the advanced degrees awarded to Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson staff members. Harvard has awarded the most degrees to White House staff members in each of the major categories, B.A., LL.B., M.A., and Ph.D. Princeton is a strong second in the B.A. category. The Washington area schools, Georgetown and George Washington are relatively high in the LL.B, and M.A. categories.