Arthur Altmeyer

born may 8, 1891 de pere, wisconsin

died october 17, 1972 madison, wisconsin

administrator

"Those who worked closely with Mr. Altmeyer knew that besides his superior intellectual and administrative abilities, he was also a man of sensitivity, of compassion, of integrity, and of stubbornness."

former secretary of health, education, and welfare wilbur j. cohen

Arthur Altmeyer was one of the most influential figures during the development of New Deal social programs. The New Deal was a diverse collection of federal legislation and government-funded programs introduced by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45; see entry). The new laws and programs were designed to bring economic relief and recovery to the U.S. economy, which was suffering its most serious downturn ever, the Great Depression of the 1930s. Altmeyer was one of the leading advocates for social insurance. Social insurance—also called social security—refers to retirement payments to the aged, payments to those injured on the job (workers' compensation), payments to those who become unemployed (unemployment insurance), and health insurance. Altmeyer took a leadership role in drafting the original legislation that was passed as the Social Security Act of 1935, and he served as the head administrator of Social Security from 1937 to 1953.

Early influences

Arthur Altmeyer was born in May 1891 to John Alt-meyer and Carrie Smith Altmeyer in the small town of De Pere, Wisconsin, not far from Green Bay. His grandparents had come to America in a wave of German immigration in 1848. Arthur's childhood proved challenging. His parents divorced while he was young, and he began supporting himself by working in his uncle's law office at the age of fourteen. One day while sorting the office mail Altmeyer came across a pamphlet about the newly enacted Wisconsin Workmen's Compensation Act. The act was a landmark piece of legislation, creating the first state insurance plan for workers injured on the job. Reading the pamphlet inspired Altmeyer's lifelong interest in social insurance programs. After saving enough money, Altmeyer entered the University of Wisconsin in 1911 at twenty-one years of age. After only three years he graduated with honors. His first job was teaching school in northern Minnesota. Two years later Altmeyer married Ethel Thomas, who had been his high school history teacher. Four years older than Altmeyer, she served as one of his intellectual mentors in life. They had no children.

Altmeyer served as a high school principal in Kenosha, Wisconsin, from 1916 to 1918. In 1918 he returned to the University of Wisconsin, one of the top public universities in the nation in the social sciences and economics. Enrolling as a graduate student, Altmeyer also became a student research assistant for acclaimed labor economist John R. Commons (1862–1945). Commons stressed that academic figures should play an important role in developing government policy and that government should play a strong role in society. These ideas were new to a nation that traditionally kept government out of everyday life and distant from the common citizen. Commons was the principal author of the landmark Wisconsin Workmen's Compensation Act that had caught Altmeyer's attention years earlier. He became another mentor in Altmeyer's life.

In addition to working for Commons, Altmeyer worked as a statistician for the Wisconsin State Tax Commission and then as the chief statistician for the Wisconsin Industrial Commission in 1920. There he founded a monthly publication, Wisconsin Labor Market, that published labor statistics for the state. The publication became a model for other states. In 1922 Altmeyer became secretary of the commission and would remain in that position until 1934. Meanwhile, he completed a master's degree in 1921 and a Ph.D. in 1931 in economics. He and Commons coauthored "The Health Insurance Movement in the United States," a highly influential report, that helped other states create their own social insurance programs.

Mr. Altmeyer goes to Washington

When the Great Depression began in late 1929, Alt-meyer started spending a good deal of time in Washington, D.C., looking for federal assistance for the many unemployed Wisconsin laborers. He soon was a well-known figure around the U.S. Department of Labor. At home Altmeyer pushed the Wisconsin Unemployment Reserves and Compensation Act through the state legislature in January 1932. It was the first unemployment insurance law in the United States. The new U.S. secretary of labor, Frances Perkins (1882–1965; see entry), and President Roosevelt were both impressed with Altmeyer's work on the Wisconsin legislation and with his reputation as an exceptional administrator. In early 1933 Perkins asked Alt-meyer to take temporary leave from his Wisconsin post and lead the reorganization of the U.S. Labor Department. She also wanted him to help establish better working relations between the federal government and the various state labor departments. As the year progressed, Altmeyer also served as a compliance officer. In this role his job was to enforce standards for working conditions, wages, and product prices in various industries. (These standards were developed by the National Recovery Administration, or NRA.) The goal was to help industry recover from the Depression and to save workers' jobs. Altmeyer also assisted in establishing two major public works programs in 1933, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Civil Works Administration (CWA).

After six months of temporary service to Perkins, Alt-meyer prepared to return to his Wisconsin position. However, Perkins and other New Deal leaders wanted Altmeyer to build a national social insurance program and labor legislation modeled after Wisconsin's. Perkins offered Altmeyer a permanent Washington position as assistant secretary of labor. Accepting the appointment, Altmeyer immediately drafted a key speech that President Roosevelt delivered to Congress on June 8, 1934. The speech promised a major proposal outlining social insurance, or what would become known as economic security programs.

To begin the process of drafting the proposal, Roosevelt created the Committee on Economic Security (CES). Perkins was chairperson of the CES, and Altmeyer was chairman of a technical subcommittee. The CES developed a far-reaching proposal for providing economic relief to the elderly, the poor, the blind, and families with dependent children. It proposed to finance retirement insurance with moneys from payroll deductions collected from employers and employees; create a coordinated unemployment program between the federal and state governments; include provisions for workers' compensation; and expand public health care. The CES crafted this proposal into the comprehensive Social Security bill. Congress passed the legislation, and President Roosevelt signed it into law on August 14, 1935.

Running Social Security

The Social Security Act established a three-member Social Security Board to oversee the initial operations of the social insurance program, called Social Security. Altmeyer was appointed as one of the board members. With his extensive experience and administrative skills, Altmeyer would function as the primary policy maker for the board and become its chairman in February 1937. Altmeyer was a sensitive and shy but determined person who often had a serious demeanor. He loved figures, tables, and charts. As head of Social Security, Altmeyer constantly had to combat traditional American ideas about self-reliance. Many Americans considered social welfare shameful because they believed people were responsible for their own problems and must therefore be responsible for their own recovery. In 1946 the Social Security Board was replaced by the Social Security Administration (SSA), and Alt-meyer became the SSA's first commissioner. He would remain in that role until his retirement in April 1953.

Thanks to Altmeyer's total dedication, the SSA developed a reputation as a highly efficient organization. Altmeyer personally selected and placed many of the regional administrators and established an intensive training program for employees. The SSA's primary goals were to serve the citizens and make sure that they received the maximum benefits for which they qualified. This SSA philosophy marked a significant change in the government's relationship with its citizens. Previously, the federal government had few dealings directly with the common citizen and it was the citizen's responsibility to see that they received the benefits due them. In contrast, Altmeyer directed the SSA to act as an advocate for the common citizen, guaranteeing maximum service and benefits allowable.

Social Security's leading advocate

Throughout the years Altmeyer remained the leading spokesman for the Social Security program. He stressed that aging, illness, and unemployment were disruptions in people's lives and, for the most part, beyond their control. He portrayed the program as an economic safety net protecting the common citizen against these major economic hazards in life.

Social Security Start-Up

The Social Security Act, signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935, was a landmark piece of legislation introducing national social insurance in the United States. The task of setting up an administrative system was monumental. Employers, employees, and the general public had to be informed on how to report earnings, what kinds of benefits would be available, and how they would receive those benefits. The act stated that in 1937 workers would begin accumulating credits that would entitle them to old-age insurance benefits. Therefore, to put the system in place, all employers and employees had to be officially registered by January 1, 1937. To accomplish this the Social Security Board contracted with the U.S. Postal Service to distribute applications in November 1936. The post offices then collected the completed forms, typed social security number (SSN) cards, and delivered those cards to the applicants. The Social Security Board established a national processing center in Baltimore, Maryland, to register the numbers and maintain employment records. Over thirty-five million cards were issued in late 1936 and 1937.

Monthly benefit payments began in 1940, two years earlier than originally planned. Until 1940 benefits were paid in single, lump-sum payments rather than monthly payments because the benefits were so modest in size (owing to the fact that individuals had not been contributing to the system for very long). The lowest number issued, SSN 001-01-0001, went to Grace Dorothy Owen of Concord, New Hampshire. The first payment went to Earnest Ackerman of Cleveland, Ohio, who retired the day after Social Security went into effect. He had contributed five cents, and his total retirement payment was seventeen cents. The first monthly check went to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, on January 31, 1940. It amounted to $22.54.

Through the late 1930s Altmeyer fought hard for expansion of Social Security benefits. Congress passed a key amendment to Social Security in 1939 that added benefits for spouses and dependent children and provided survivor benefits (continued benefits to spouse and dependent children even after the main benefactor's death). Thus Social Security became an economic security program for the whole family.

Other duties

Like most federal administrators during World War II (1939–45), Altmeyer was called upon to serve in other roles. Among other assignments he was executive director of the War Manpower Commission (WMC) from 1942 to 1945 and adviser on social welfare programs to the United Nations Economic and Social Council from 1946 to 1953.

Altmeyer was influential in bringing Social Security to many other nations. He served on various international social insurance commissions. From 1942 to 1952 he was chairman of the Permanent Inter-American Committee on Social Security, which was involved in creating social insurance programs in Central and South America. He was also a social welfare adviser to Iran and Turkey in 1955.

President of the National Conference on Social Work in 1954 and 1955, Altmeyer continued lobbying for social insurance programs such as disability and health insurance in the United States. On occasion he was called upon to fight congressional efforts to significantly change Social Security, usually involving a reduction in benefits, or eliminate it altogether. In addition he taught as a visiting professor at several universities.

Retirement years

In December 1952, not long before his anticipated retirement, Altmeyer received the Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his long-term leadership in creating and nurturing social insurance programs in the United States. Earlier, in 1939, he had received an honorary law degree from the University of Wisconsin. With the new Republican administration of President Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969; served 1953–61) coming into office, Altmeyer retired in April 1953. Altmeyer and his wife moved back to Madison, Wisconsin. In his retirement Altmeyer became more active in Democratic politics. In 1954 he was cochair of the Democratic campaign organization for the party's candidate for governor and even briefly considered a run for the U.S. Senate in 1956.

Additional changes to Social Security that Altmeyer had promoted did not become reality until after his retirement in 1953. The program was expanded in 1956 to provide disability insurance for permanently injured (disabled) workers. In 1965 health care coverage, known as Medicare, was added. However, the Medicare program provided benefits only for people over sixty-five years of age. It was not the universal coverage for everyone that Altmeyer had recommended. In 1966 Altmeyer published a book called The Formative Years of Social Security, which provides an account of the program's early phases. Altmeyer died in October 1972 and the SSA national offices located in Baltimore, Maryland, were named in his honor the following year.

For More Information

Books

altmeyer, arthur j. the formative years of social security. madison, wi: university of wisconsin press, 1966.

perkins, frances. the roosevelt i knew. new york, ny: harper & row, 1946.

witte, edwin e. the development of the social security act. madison, wi: university of wisconsin press, 1962.

Web Sites

cohen, wilbur j. "arthur altmeyer: mr. social security." social securityadministration.http://www.ssa.gov/history/cohen2.html (accessed on september 4, 2002).

dewitt, larry. "never a finished thing: a biography of arthur joseph altmeyer—the man fdr called 'mr. social security.'" social security administration.http://www.ssa.gov/history/collectalt.html (accessed on september 4, 2002).