From A to Zook

George Zook worked his way through the University of Kansas driving a hearse. In 40 years of education work, he has never lost the undertaker's portentous, self-effacing efficiency. As president of the American Council on Education, a "holding company" for 118 private educational groups,* Zook is the profession's No. 1 lobbyist.

Last week 61-year-old George Zook realized a lobbyist's prize dream: he presided at the first meeting of a 30-man National Commission on Higher Education, appointed by President Truman to find out what is wrong with U.S. college education. At the White House he watched the President sign the UNESCO resolution, which he had backed.

For impressive performances like these, George Zook gets a salary of $18,000 a year--more than a Cabinet member's. The offices of the million-dollar American Council, a block away from the White House, reflect Zook's own prosperous but conservative air. A.C.E.'s main output: solid studies about everything in education from A to Zook.

Perhaps the most exciting thing that heavyset, slack-jowled George Zook ever did was propagandizing in World War I under George Creel. A Methodist and ex-Rotarian, he taught history at Pennsylvania State College, spent eight able but unspectacular years as president of Ohio's University of Akron. President Roosevelt named him U.S. Commissioner of Education in 1933. One year later Zook resigned to take the A.C.E. job.

Critics of the Council say it lacks guts. Zook and his aides, who prefer to avoid the arena themselves, spend a lot of time on the long-distance telephone--pressuring educators to pressure Washington. Their methods seem to work. In the 79th Congress, which adjourned last week, Zook & Co. went to bat for eight bills, made five hits (UNESCO, the Fulbright bill for war-surplus scholarships, the Mead bill to house G.I. students, Naval R.O.T.C. legislation, the Selective Service compromise on 19-year-olds).

Zook's own special A.C.E. interest just now is rounding up private aid for Europe's devastated schools. Says he: "I don't know how to say this exactly, but if I hadn't started to lose some sleep over this, I don't think anyone would have."

* A few of the major ones: the National Education Association, American Association of University Professors, American Federation of Teachers (A.F.L.).

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