ABC NEWS -- According to Robert C. Smith, author and professor of Political Science at San Francisco State University, that lack of diversity in the White House could have a broader trickle-down effect on the makeup of the rest of the administration. Smith provided ABC News with research he published in 2016 showing the percentage of African-American political appointees dating back to the Kennedy-Johnson administrations.
- Kennedy-Johnson*: 2 percent
- Nixon-Ford*: 4 percent
- Carter: 12 percent
- Reagan: 5 percent
- Bush: 6 percent
- Clinton: 13 percent
- George W. Bush: 10 percent
- Obama: 14 percent
(*treated as one administration for purposes of data collection)
Smith said he planned to begin compiling similar data for the Trump administration later next year, which he expects to be “akin to the Nixon record.”
“Both symbolically and in terms of public policy this is a significant departure from the recent past,” Smith said. “This disadvantages the administration in policy making.”