On Oct. 17, 1912, a woman identified only as “Mrs. F. Cameron-Falconet” went to the Clark Street police station and, as the Tribune reported, asked the Chicago cops to rescue her daughter, 19 and white, “from the clutches of Jack Johnson, Negro heavyweight champion pugilist.” That opened a racial...

When you think of federal government workers, what image comes to mind? That was a question I pondered when President George W. Bush asked me to lead the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).