For Bennett, Bigger Things Were Assured

When Eileen Gardner, education policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation think tank, met Education Secretary-designate William John Bennett in the spring of 1983, she wondered why a “powerful person like this” was heading a small agency like the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“He just seemed destined for bigger things,” Gardner said Thursday after President Reagan nominated Bennett to head the $17.9-billion Department of Education.

Like many conservatives, Gardner was elated by Reagan’s choice, viewing it as a significant victory--one that will lead to an Education Department that radically diminishes the role of the federal government in education. Unlike his predecessor, Terrel H. Bell, who resigned last month, Bennett is not a “prisoner of Washington bureaucracy,” Gardner said.

Many who know the 41-year-old Brooklyn, N.Y., native praised his scholarship and devotion to the humanities, but others considered him too conservative in his efforts to improve the quality of education.

Kent Mullikin, assistant director of the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C., called Bennett “a winner in just about everything he does.” Bennett was director of the center before moving to the national endowment in 1981.

Although the appointment of Bennett pleased conservatives, some liberals voiced strong opposition.

Mary Hatwood Futrell, president of the 1.7-million-member National Education Assn., said: “We have concerns about his less-than-exemplary record in civil rights.”

Specifically, Futrell mentioned Bennett’s opposition to affirmative action programs, which seek to increase minorities’ representation in educational institutions.

In contrast, Albert Shanker, president of the 610,000-member American Federation of Teachers, endorsed Bennett, calling him a “powerful voice for education.”

Mullikin said that Bennett is a hard worker, who hikes, climbs mountains and jogs in his spare time. On Sunday afternoons, Mullikin said, Bennett often played quarterback on the humanities center’s touch football team.

Was he a good quarterback?

“Terrific,” Mullikin said. “He could really read a defense. And that skill will come in handy in his new job.”

Bennett has a bachelor’s degree from Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., a Ph.D from the University of Texas and a law degree from Harvard University. He lives with his family in Chapel Hill, N.C.