[a][6] In April 1959, John F. Kennedy visited the United Negro College Fund's convocation in Indianapolis, Indiana, as part of his 1960 presidential campaign, but Hobart T. Taylor Sr., director of the UNCF, and his son maintained their support from Johnson until the 1960 Democratic National Convention.
[7] In February 1961, Taylor was invited to the White House by Vice President Johnson review an early draft of Executive Order 10925 created by Abe Fortas and Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg.
[3][6][9] The term was added to address the perceived inefficacy of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's earlier Executive Orders on civil rights.
[10] While Taylor was initially chosen to be Executive Director, conservative Texans voiced opposition to a liberal African American from Michigan leading the committee, so John G. Field took the position.
[11][12] Taylor was ultimately promoted to become the PCEEO's Executive Vice Chairman on September 10, 1962, as the first non-white person to lead a US presidential committee.
[7] Responding to the National Urban League's criticisms of the federal government for providing Lockheed Martin with a $2 billion defense contract despite the company's discriminatory hiring policies, PCEEO Chairman Robert Troutman and Taylor developed Kennedy's July 1961 "Plans for Progress," in which the federal government announced agreements with the country's largest employers to open up more positions to racial minorities.
[15] Taylor continued to serve as Executive Vice Chairman of PCEEO, and played an important role in helping to implement the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
[6] He joined the D.C. law firm of Dawson, Riddell, Taylor, Davis and Holroyd, then left in 1980 to become counsel for Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue.
[1] Hobart Taylor suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and he died of the disease on April 2, 1981, while staying at Lyford Cay on the island of New Providence in The Bahamas.
[1][3] Upon his death, Taylor granted the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library publication rights to a 1967 interview, in which he offered retrospective comments on his work for the federal government.