August Heckscher served as President Kennedy's Special Consultant on the Arts. He received this appointment in March 1962 and held it part-time, while simultaneously directing the Twentieth Century Fund of New York. Mr. Heckscher, the first White House cultural adviser, defined his three main responsibilities as the first White House cultural advisor to be: (a) to set up the general framework of the office and secure a full-time successor; (b) to prepare a report for the president on government and the arts; and (c) to establish an advisory council on the arts. When Mr. Heckscher resigned from this post in June 1963, he felt that these goals he had set for himself and the position had been accomplished.
1913 Sept. 16, Born, Huntington, New York
1936 B.A., Yale University
1939 M.A., Harvard University
1939 - 1941 Instructor of government, Yale University
1941 - 1945 Office of Strategic Services
1946 - 1948 Editor, The Citizen Advertiser, Auburn, New York
1948 - 1956 Editorial Staff, New York Herald Tribune
1957 - 1962 Arts Commissioner, New York City
1957 - 1967 Director, Twentieth Century Fund
1962 - 1963 Special Consultant on the Arts for President Kennedy
1965 Member, New York State Council on the Arts
1967 Administrator of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs and Commissioner of Parks of New York City
1997 Died