Contact almost any political office in Oklahoma and you will very likely be talking to one of OCPA’s J. Rufus Fears Fellows. They are staffing members of Congress, statewide officials, the state Legislature, and local offices. Five have been elected. More than 40 have been hired or appointed to political positions.

Hundreds more Fears Fellows are leading our state forward in less political roles. They are serving in business, education, nonprofits, and churches.

The long-term impact of training a new generation of leaders is obvious. What was not obvious in the early days of the Fears Fellowship was how quickly they would move into positions of influence and the power of their network.

Inception

The legacy of Dr. J. Rufus Fears lives at OCPA through the Fears Fellowship. In 2019, Jonathan Small and Trent England had a vision of sharing Dr. Fears’ wisdom with a new generation of conservative leaders.

Dr. Fears was a legendary professor of classics at the University of Oklahoma, where he held the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty. After earning his Ph.D. at Harvard, Fears taught at Indiana University and Boston University. His classrooms were standing room only. Even students who weren’t enrolled in the class would attend, sometimes filling the aisles. OU students named him Professor of the Year three times.

Many of his lectures were video-recorded. Some are available on the OU YouTube channel. Others are sold at The Great Courses.

At OCPA, Dr. Fears was the David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow. In that position, he wrote, lectured, and recorded videos. Some of those videos are used in the Fears Fellowship.

The idea of the fellowship was to use Dr. Fears’ lectures as curriculum for a series of seminars where conservative-leaning young professionals could learn what it means to be a conservative and obtain a foundation of conservative principles. Teaching the principles of conservative thinking to future leaders would help them make better decisions and would help shape Oklahoma’s future. Thus, the J. Rufus Fears Fellowship was born. 

Everyone involved in the project expected it to take years to blossom into results for Oklahoma, but it would be worth the investment of time and resources over the long haul.

Results

Less than a year after the first Fears Fellowship cohort wrapped up, it had produced its first elected official, Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III. Within another year, a Fears Fellow was on the Oklahoma City Council. Now, a Fears Fellow sits in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and two more Fears Fellows are serving on city councils around the state. 

These are just the elected officials. More than 40 Fears Fellows have been hired or appointed to political or policy positions in Oklahoma. Several are actively involved in conservative causes and campaigns.

Of course, politics is not the only way to lead. Fears Fellows are entrepreneurs, engineers, software programmers, lawyers, bankers, teachers, administrators, professors, pastors, and nonprofit directors. The list is endless. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and serve in every walk of life.

Many fellows have said the Fears Fellowship inspired them to public service. A few have said it “changed my life.”

The most amazing thing about the Fears Fellows is the network they have built. More than 380 young leaders have completed the program. They are actively helping to advance one another’s careers.

Several have gotten hired for positions because another Fears Fellow was already employed in the organization and helped them apply. They have knocked doors for each other in political campaigns. They have pointed each other to opportunities. It is fast becoming a powerful network that is benefiting the fellows themselves and benefiting the state.

Proven Ideals 

America’s Founding Fathers drew wisdom from the classics. In addition, they studied contemporary thinkers. They were well-read and deeply philosophical. Dr. Fears described them as historical thinkers.

He believed it is not enough to have knowledge of history. Dr. Fears was fond of saying that historical knowledge “is only good for Trivial Pursuit.” What is needed is an understanding of the lessons of history and how to apply those lessons when making public policy decisions. He defined historical thought as “using the lessons of the past to make decisions in the present and to plan for the future.” 

The Founders' deep understanding of history is the reason they were able to create a system of self-government that has endured for 250 years. They applied lessons from the Greeks and the Romans, from the Magna Carta, and from the great Western thinkers of their day.

The thinking reflected in the American founding must be preserved if human society is to continue flourishing. For the sake of Oklahoma, America, and the world, our future leaders must grasp these lessons and apply them in circumstances beyond what we have yet to imagine, such as the deployment of artificial intelligence.

One of Dr. Fears’s oft-repeated themes is that societies are wrong when they think their technology has progressed to the point that it supersedes the lessons of history. This idea goes as far back as when Thucydides told the Athenians that their technology (a rowboat) did not make them immune to history. Dr. Fears reminded us that President Woodrow Wilson was wrong when he thought the technology of the Industrial Revolution exceeded the lessons of history and the capacities of the U.S. Constitution.

Similarly, modern leaders should not think that the Internet and current electronics make us immune to history. Dr. Fears worried that current and future leaders “believe that we are above the lessons of history. All of our science and technology has made us immune to the laws of history.” This thinking is a recipe for disaster.

The Fears Fellowship helps participants discover the principles that have proven effective for 2,500 years and encourages them to apply those same principles to the challenges of the future. The best system for governing Mars or a permanent space station is a system based on the principles identified by the American Founders.

Curriculum

OCPA’s J. Rufus Fears Fellowship incorporates Dr. Fears’ recorded lectures into every session. Fellows meet five times over the course of a few weeks. They study

• the roots of democracy,
• the American founding,
• progressive and conservative thought,
• economics, and
• leadership.

In addition to watching a lecture by Dr. Fears, they read original sources and classic documents. Each meeting consists of a discussion of the lecture and reading, a group activity, and a guest speaker. OCPA provides all of the study materials at no cost to the fellows.

Regular presenters in the program include PhDs in philosophy, history, political science, and economics. They also include a former Oklahoma state legislator and people working in public policy and politics. 

Through these materials and activities, Fears Fellows develop their own definition of and foundation for what it means to be a conservative. Speakers in the program include a professor who has written about populism and a professor who describes himself as a libertarian. All of this is within the spectrum of the conservative movement.

At the end of the fellowship, each participant is asked to write a review of Dr. Arthur Brooks’ book The Conservative Heart. The review gives them an opportunity to express what they have learned in the fellowship. These reviews provide a good assessment of how effective the Fears Fellowship is at equipping participants to lead us in the future. They often describe how they gained new insights or a new understanding of the principles that best govern society.

Recognition

The Fears Fellowship is building a reputation across Oklahoma and around the country. About one-third of Fears Fellows have been college students. The program is academically rigorous enough that students at 12 Oklahoma colleges and universities can earn an hour of elective credit for completing the program. In many cases, the credit is provided by a specific professor allowing students to use the work as independent study. These include OU, UCO, NWOSU, SEOSU, SWOSU, OC, SNU, SWC, and USAO. At ORU, the program is listed as an internship and any student searching the internship database will see it as an option. At TU, the curriculum committee reviewed the fellowship content and approved it for credit. At OSU, the program has been listed as a course from its inception.

When the Oklahoma State Department of Education established the Civics Seal for high school diplomas, the Fears Fellowship was included as an option for completing the requirements. High school students seeking the Civics Seal must complete three leadership-type programs as well as other requirements. The Fears Fellowship has been one of several program options since its inception.

In recognition of the powerful network of young leaders the Fears Fellowship is building, The Heritage Foundation invited OCPA to participate in a conference on developing social capital. About 20 groups from around the country were invited to the conversation. Much of the discussion was about how to prepare professionals to fill positions in Republican gubernatorial administrations. OCPA’s Fears Fellows have been successful in administrative positions across state government in Oklahoma. 

As Heritage was gearing up for Project 2025, OCPA was invited to be a partner organization. In addition to participating in regular meetings to discuss how the project's four pillars were being implemented, OCPA recommended more than 130 Fears Fellows to the prospect database. This is more than any other state organization in the country. These fellows’ names, resumes, and background vetting have been made available to the Trump Administration to fill subcabinet-level positions. And Heritage president Dr. Kevin Roberts, delighting in the Left’s coordinated (and failed) attempt to discredit Project 2025, recently said, “We’re already starting Project 2029 because we are not tired of winning.”  

A Fears Fellow who is about to graduate from college recently related her experience seeking a job in Washington, D.C. She told her college classmates that officials in D.C. recognized the Fears Fellowship on her resume and spoke well of the program.

The reputation that the Fears Fellowship is developing—both in local academic circles and in the national conservative movement—sets it apart from other leadership programs. The fellowship is a truly unique opportunity for young leaders.

Recruiting

Supporters and friends of OCPA urged young leaders in their spheres of influence to participate in the inaugural Fears Fellowship. And, they continue to be an important source of fellows. But, once the first cohort was finished, the participants themselves became the best recruiters. Alumni have spread the word to their friends at work, at school, at church, and through political activities in which they are involved.

For example, during the 2022 election cycle, a Fears Fellow organized a weekly luncheon for Republican campaign interns and volunteers in Oklahoma City. He invited OCPA to make a presentation to the group about the Fears Fellowship. More recently, fellows who are leaders of two different student groups at ORU invited OCPA to make presentations about the fellowship to their groups.

The most successful recruiting has been one-on-one, with fellows telling their friends about the learning and networking opportunity available through the fellowship. About 70 percent of the 2024 Fears Fellows in Tulsa were recruited by alumni.

The Future

For the past couple of years, OCPA has had a Fears Fellowship alumni coordinator. The coordinator’s role is to keep the fellows in conversation with each other and with OCPA. They host regular happy hour events in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. They communicate via email and social media. This has contributed greatly to the networking effect of the Fears Fellowship.

To build on this success, OCPA is creating an alumni advisory board. For obvious reasons, the success of the alumni is the success of the program. Getting alumni more involved in decision-making will only enhance the program.

Ten alumni were appointed to the inaugural board. They will meet regularly to discuss the program and alumni activities. Part of each member’s responsibilities is to recruit at least two Fears Fellows per year and to help promote the fellowship. This effort by alumni to recruit and promote will propel the Fears Fellowship into the future.

OCPA’s J. Rufus Fears Fellowship is a great opportunity for conservative-leaning young leaders to learn, grow, and network. They learn principles that will serve them and our state well throughout their lives. They grow as a person and as a leader. They gain a network of friends who are using their knowledge and skills to make a difference.

Please encourage young leaders to take advantage of this program. The next cohort will form in Tulsa this fall. The keynote speaker will be former Congressman and former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. The next OKC cohort will begin in January 2026. Prospective fellows can request an application at www.FearsFellowship.com.