Oral history interview with John C. Taylor, 1999

Biographical Note

Lawyer, former Chairman of Carnegie Corporation Executive Board

Scope and Contents

Childhood Easton, Pennsylvania; education: B.A. Princeton University, J.D. Yale University Law School; commissioned to Judge Advocate General during Korean War, witnessing of martial law; job at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison: hiring of female, minority lawyers, work in litigation, entertainment law and corporate law practice; work for Legal Defense Fund giving legal advice to black entrepreneurs in 1950s; commitment to improving education: involvement in American Field Service, international student exchange network, as trustee, director, and chairman of board; 1976 election to Carnegie Corporation of New York [Carnegie] board and Finance and Administration Committee: modernization of investment policies; reflections on presidency of Alan Pifer: ideas on civil rights, innovation, belief in funding small organizations; relation of civil rights-oriented legal reform to Carnegie charter; 1979 attempt to establish South Africa equivalent of Legal Defense Fund: 1984 Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, tour of homelands, import of Carnegie's support of democratic change in South Africa; role as Chair of Carnegie Board of Trustees; importance of funding early education programs; thoughts on American philanthropy: the need for more action, application of research

Subjects

• Carnegie Corporation of New York.
• Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa (2nd : 1984 :--Cape Town, South Africa)
• Endowments--Finance.
• Executives--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Lawyers--Interviews.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• South Africa--Politics and government--20th century.
• Taylor, John C., 1929---Interviews.
• Trusts and trustees.
• Zane, Sharon, interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright held by The Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2005