Arthur J. Altmeyer
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Arthur J. Altmeyer (born May 8, 1891 in DePere, Wisconsin – died October 16, 1972) was the United States Commissioner of Social Security from 1946 to 1953, and chairman of the Social Security Board from 1937 to 1946.
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[edit] Education
He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in 1914. In 1918, he re-entered the University as a graduate student, working with John R. Commons. They and others at Wisconsin were proponents of the progressive, liberal social policy of a positive and vigorous role for government.
Altmeyer became interested in social and labor policies when he learned about Commons' role as the principal author of Wisconsin's workmen's compensation program, which was then the only one in the United States.
Altmeyer was also working for the Wisconsin State Tax Commission and the Wisconsin Industrial Commission under Edwin E. Witte while working on his M.A. which was granted in 1921, and his PhD, which was granted in 1931.
[edit] Government Career
In 1933 he became an officer of the National Recovery Administration (Chief of the compliance division) and he served as an assistant Secretary of Labor and the Chairman of the Technical Board of the Committee on Economic Security (where the social security act was developed) in 1934 and 1935. In 1935 he became a member of the executive committee of the National Youth Administration, and the Social Security Board, rising to chairman in 1937.
Altmeyer hired Wilbur J. Cohen as an aide, and Frank Bane as first executive director of the Social Security Board. Altmeyer was criticized for his policy that the Social Security Administration would help people get benefits they were entitled to. His critics found a law from 1835 saying that no officer of the Federal Government "shall encourage a claim against the federal government".
Even while emphasizing the efficient and non-partisan administration of the Social Security Administration, Altmeyer continued to speak out for policies that he believed in. This sentence from a speech in 1943 summarizes his view:
- I believe that we should be thinking in terms of developing for this country a unified comprehensive system of contributory social insurance which would cover all of the major economic hazards to which the workers of this country are subjected, namely, old age, disability, death, and unemployment.
After the Social Security Administration was created, Altmeyer was the commissioner for social security. In 1953, after Dwight D. Eisenhower became president, the office of commissioner for social security was abolished, in favor of a new office, the commissioner of social security. After public outcry because Altmeyer's job was eliminated a few days before he could retire with benefits, Eisenhower's administration offered him a one month appointment to a position, but he refused to accept being paid for a non-job.
[edit] Later Life
Altmeyer later served in a variety of United Nations posts, advising other countries on social security and labor issues.
He died on October 16, 1972.
