WASHINGTON, December 5, 1974 — President Ford lauded the five recipients of the 1974 Rockefeller Public Service Awards as "unsung heroes" and an "inspiration" and then presented them with scrolls at the award luncheon yesterday.
"Adlai Stevenson once joked that our public servants serve us right," Ford said during his five-minute speech. "Today we are proud to honor five men who have done more than just serve us right."
Speaking in the heavily guarded main ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel, Ford said the pace of governmental action is sometimes "a little too slow for my taste."
"But when you consider the complexity of modern government, the question may not be why government moves so slowly, but rather how does it happen to move at all," Ford continued.
President Bowen, who outlined the careers of the winners, drew a laugh from both Ford and the audience of approximately 400 persons by introducing award recipient James B. Cardwell as "a registered Democrat appointed by a Republican administration."
Besides Social Security commissioner Cardwell, the recipients were George M. Low, a deputy administrator in NASA; Maurice J. Williams, who is chairman of the 17-nation Development Assistance Committee; Robert M. White, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and George Jaszi, director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Luncheon without lunch
After presenting the awards, Ford left without eating.
His longtime aide Robert Hartman said, "He's going to eat cottage cheese at his desk."
The awards were initiated in 1952 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd '29 at a "time when Joe McCarthy was having dismaying effects on public service," Bowen said.
The awards, which are administered by the Woodrow Wilson School, carry with them a tax-free grant of $10,000.
Economist Jaszi said of the money, "I would like to invest it to keep up with the rate of inflation but I think that's impossible."
Hartman, in explaining why Ford chose to accept the invitation to speak, said simply, "He's attended these things before and he thinks it's a good thing."
Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School Donald E. Stokes '51 said here he thought Ford may have been influenced in his decision by Hartman, former Pennsylvania governor William Scranton and top White House aide Donald H. Rumsfeld '54.
Stokes, in speculating whether there was a connection between Ford's acceptance and the nomination of Nelson A. Rockefeller as vice president, said, "I think if the nomination had gone sour, the invitation might have gone sour."
But Stokes said Ford had often taken the opportunity since becoming president to show support for civil servants and the awards ceremony provided another such occasion.
Robert R. Nathan, a member of the awards selection committee, said the awards this year "come at an exceedingly appropriate time" after the "demoralizing experience" of Watergate.
'Stepped all over them'
"President Ford is very respectful of public servants. The Nixon administration stepped all over them," Nathan said.
John Rockefeller sounded the same note in his speech: "The records of these five men give encouragement to all those who care about good government. It is encouragement that has special significance in these troubled times."
Attending the awards ceremony were HEW secretary Casper Weinberger, former cabinet member Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Commerce Frederick Dent, Secretary of Labor Peter J. Brennan and outgoing Representative Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen '38 (R-N.J.).
Also among the audience of public officials and former award winners was former New York governor Averell Harriman.
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