Wes Moore recalls experience working as intern at Baltimore City Hall

BALTIMORE — Wes Moore recalls the moment that led him down the path to be a Rhodes Scholar.

“I just know my life would have been very, very different,” Moore said of that moment.

Westley Moore, a Johns Hopkins University student at the time, was an intern at Baltimore City Hall under Mayor Kurt Schmoke when the mayor pulled him into his office to show him a picture from 1971.

“As I was pointing these guys out, I was saying, ‘Wes, I think that’s your future’,” Schmoke said, pointing to his own Rhodes Scholar class. “Wes seemed to be the type of classic Rhodes Scholar because…strong mind, strong body.”

A photographer captured the moment in 1999 between Schmoke and Moore. The photograph is framed in Moore’s office.

“Him with a full head of hair, me with a full head of hair, but that was the moment I ended up learning about the Rhodes Scholarship,” Moore joked. “Had it not been for that interaction and had it not been for the chance that I had that internship with Mayor Schmoke where I had a chance to see how government worked for people on the ground, the impact of policy, I just know my life would have been very, very different.”

Schmoke said he remembers Wes Moore was interested in public service.

“He did all kinds of grunt work around the office. Never complained,” Schmoke said. “Everybody immediately liked him. I mean, he was a wonderful personality.”

Schmoke, the first elected black mayor of Baltimore, does not offer any advice to Governor Moore, the state’s first black governor.

“I believe he’ll focus, like a laser beam, on Maryland and not worry about the folks on the sideline that are whispering, ‘Presidency, presidency!'” Schmoke said, laughing at speculation of higher office for Moore. “He’s not a guy that’s going to dwell on the historical moment. I think he’s looking to the future.”

Paul Gessler

Paul Gessler is a general assignment reporter at WJZ with a decade of experience reporting in Baltimore.