Register of the
WILBUR J.COHEN PAPERS, 1930-1987

COHEN, WILBUR J. (1913-1987). PAPERS, 1930-1987. 109.8 c.f. (279 archives boxes) 4 tape recordings, and photographs.

Abstract

Papers, mainly 1935 to 1979, of an official in the Social Security Administration (1935-1956), assistant secretary, undersecretary, and secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1961-1969), professor of social work (1956-1960), professor of education and public welfare and dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (1969-1979), and founder and co-chairman of the Save Our Security coalition. Included are appointment books, personal and professional correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, draft legislation, testimony, task force material, draft presidential messages, press releases, printed material, clippings, memoirs, writings and speeches, interview transcripts, photographs, and sound recordings. Prominent correspondents include Arthur Altmeyer, Robert Ball, J. Douglas Brown, Nelson Cruikshank, John Dingell, Paul Douglas, Robert Doughton, Arthur Flemming, John Fogarty, Aime Forand, John Gardner, Walter George, Burr Harrison, Lister Hill, Hubert Humphrey, Leo Irwin, Henry Jackson, Lester Johnson, Thomas Kean, John F. Kennedy, Edward Kennedy, Robert Kerr, Russell Long; George McGovern, Wilbur Mills, Wayne Morse, Robert Myers, Carl Perkins, Claude Pepper, J.J. Pickle, Merlyn Pitzele, Henry Reuss, Alice Rivlin, Sargent Shriver, Theodore Sorensen, Robert Wagner, Elizabeth Wickenden, and Edwin Witte. The files document the expansion of the Social Security system: the establishment of the Medicare program: social welfare policy and legislation during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations; Cohen's career as a federal official, academic, expert and consultant on Social Security: and his activities as a writer, speaker, and advocate of government health, education, and social programs.

Presented by Wilbur J. and Eloise Cohen, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Austin, Texas, 1953-1991.

M60-193; M61-1, -12, -20, 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, 20-4, 20-5: M64-234: M65-002, -050, -176, -349: M66-061, -174, -385: M67-014, -116, -116.1, -166.2, -166.3, -166.4: M68-073, -083, -104, -126, -392: M69-037: M70-270: M71-140: M76-161, -475: M77-244, -279: M78-410: M80-660: M81-149, -216, -263, -271, -472: M82-287, -321; M84-148, -152, -316, -393: M85-410; M87-519: M88-036: M89-378: M91-097.

Processed in 1962 by Margret Hafstad and in 1991 by Cindy Knight.
Copyright information is not available.

Biography
Wilbur Joseph Cohen, a founder of the Social Security system, was born on June 10, 1913 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, son of Aaron and Bessie (Rubenstein) Cohen. He grew up in Milwaukee's inner city, where the Cohens owned a series of small businesses. In 1930 Wilbur Cohen enrolled in the University of Wisconsin's Experimental College located on the Madison campus. Upon completing the college's two year program, Cohen transferred to the Economics Department, where he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy (Ph.B.) degree in 1934. Cohen's thesis "A History of the International Association of Machinists," won the John L. Mitchell Prize for most outstanding thesis in industrial relations. In addition, he wrote editorials and articles for the campus newspaper, the Daily Cardinal.

Immediately following his graduation in 1934, Cohen went to Washington, D.C. to serve as a research assistant to his major professor, Edwin E. Witte. Witte, an economist and former Wisconsin government official, was executive director of President Roosevelt's Committee on Economic Security, the cabinet-level body charged with drafting the original Social Security Act.

After Congress approved the Social Security Act in 1935, Cohen remained in Washington, D.C. as technical advisor to Arthur J. Altmeyer, Chairman of the Social Security Board (1935-1946), later Commissioner of Social Security (1946-1953). As a research specialist and technical advisor, Cohen was responsible for analyzing and developing legislative proposals and evaluating programs administered by the Board such as old-age insurance, public assistance, and unemployment compensation.

In 1938 Cohen married Eloise Bittel, a professional social worker from Texas. They raised three sons, Christopher, Bruce, and Stuart.

By 1949, Cohere was Altmeyer's chief legislative strategist and liaison in the Congress. He also cultivated important ties to organized labor, professional associations, and other outside interest groups. During the 1950s he played a key role in obtaining passage of amendments which increased social security benefit levels and broadened the program's coverage. He also helped to formulate disability and national health insurance provisions which were later passed into law. In 1953, Cohen was named Director of the Social Security Administration's Division of Research and Statistics.

During his tenure with the Social Security Administration. Cohen held positions in two other federal advisory groups. In 1946-1947, he served as Director of Research to the Advisory Committee on Universal Training, established by President Truman to explore the possibility of establishing a system of compulsory military training in the U.S. Cohen also chaired the Wage Stabilization Board's Tripartite Committee on Health, Welfare, and Pensions, which formulated economic stabilization policies for employee benefit plans from 1950 to 1951. In 1952 and 1953, he chaired a separate committee which administered these stabilization policies. In addition, Cohen represented the United States at six international conferences on social security and two international labor conferences (1946 and 1951).

By the time Cohen left the Division of Research and Statistics in 1956 to become a professor of public welfare administration at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; he was regarded as the nation's leading expert on Social Security and an authority on public assistance, federal health insurance, aging, and unemployment compensation. As such, Cohen continued to play an active role in shaping social welfare policy and legislation both at the state and national level. He was an advisor to G. Mennen Williams, governor of Michigan, and chairman of the Governor's Public Health Advisory Committee. Due largely to Cohen's influence, Michigan became the first state to implement a program of medical assistance for the aged. Cohen travelled frequently to Washington, D.C. as a consultant to the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, the Department of Labor, and several divisions of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. On a less formal basis, he advised individual members of Congress, such as Wilbur Mills, Aime Forand, Walter George, John Fogarty, Robert Kerr, and John F. Kennedy.

In 1960, President-elect John F. Kennedy appointed Cohen chairman of his Task Force on Health and Social Security, a group charged with defining the new administration's legislative priorities. One year later, Kennedy named Cohen assistant secretary for legislation of HEW. For the next 4 1/2 years, Cohen formulated, evaluated, and approved legislative proposals, acted as departmental liaison to Congress and the White House, drafted presidential messages, and testified, before congressional committees. He oversaw the enactment of nearly 65 major legislative proposals, including such significant new measures as the Public Assistance and Social Security Amendments of 1961 and 1962, the Higher Education Facilities, Mental Retardation Facilities, Vocational Education, and Clean Air Acts of 1963, and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Cohen was the chief architect and legislative strategist behind the 1965 amendments to the Social Security Act which established the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Shortly after the adoption of this landmark legislation, President Johnson promoted Cohen to Undersecretary of HEW, where he was responsible for coordinating major polity issues between the executive branch and Congress, and he served as chief public spokesman for HEW programs and initiatives. When HEW Secretary John Gardner resigned in 1968, Johnson named Cohen to the top cabinet post.

After the election of President Nixon in 1969, Cohen returned to academics and the University of Michigan, where he was appointed dean of the School of Education. Cohen also resumed teaching and research as professor of public welfare administration. In 1979 he retired from the dean's office at Michigan to become the Sid W. Richardson professor of public affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin, Texas.

As a private citizen, Cohen was consistent in his efforts to influence federal social welfare policies, through congressional testimony, appointments to federal advisory bodies, leadership in Democratic policy groups and professional associations, writing, consulting, and public speaking. In 1975 and 1976, Cohen was elected president of the American Public Welfare Association, and in this capacity advocated increased federal spending for the poor and elderly. In 1977, President Carter named Cohen chairman of the National Commission on Unemployment Compensation, established to study the adequacy of unemployment programs and develop alternatives. Also in 1977 Cohen joined President Carter's Task Force on Education and from 1978 to 1981 served on the National Commission on Social Security.

In 1979, Cohen formed Save Our Security (SOS), a coalition of organizations representing the elderly, poor, women, minorities, and labor to lobby against the Carter administration's proposals to reduce disability benefits and funding for welfare programs. Composed of over one hundred groups such as the National Organization of Women, the AFL-CIO, and the National Conference of Catholic Charities, the coalition succeeded in blocking many of the proposed reductions. During the 1980s, SOS continued its efforts to defend all aspects of the Social Security system, including Medicare and Medicaid, from budget cutbacks sought by the Reagan administration. Cohen co-chaired the organization with Arthur S. Flemming, former Secretary of HEW under Eisenhower.

Throughout his career as a government official, professor, consultant, and administrator, Cohen was an extremely prolific writer and a popular public speaker. He co-authored and edited several books, and published dozens of articles on Social Security, welfare, aging, education, and health care policies. Cohen received over thirty awards and honorary degrees in recognition of his contributions in these fields and for his long and distinguished record of public service.

In 1987, at the age of 73, Cohere died of a heart attack while attending a symposium in Seoul, South Korea.

Scope and Content
The Cohen papers at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin are a rich source for tracing the expansion of the Social Security system, especially the formulation and adoption of the amendments to the Social Security Act which established Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. They furnish considerable insight into the development of the social welfare policies of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. They also provide extensive evidence of Cohen's lifelong involvement in social welfare legislation and policy.

The papers thoroughly document Cohen's career from 1935 to 1979 as a government official; his role in state and federal advisory bodies: his activities as a consultant, writer, and speaker: and his participation in advocacy groups and professional associations. Two phases of Cohen's academic career, first as a professor from 1956 to 1960 and then as a dean at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1979 are extremely well represented. However, the Bentley Library in Michigan holds a segment of Cohen's papers which document certain aspects of his work as a dean, his involvement in school desegregation cases in Michigan, and his participation in the Governor's Task Force on Prevention of Abuse in State Institutions.

Some of Cohen's activities after 1979, most notably his role in Save Our Security and his work for presidential commissions, are well documented by the collection. Far less exhaustive are the records of his teaching career after 1979. Cohen's office files from the University of Texas which pertained to his professorship at the London B. Johnson School of Public Affairs were donated to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. However, the collection here at the SHSW does contain some correspondence regarding this position. Documentation of Cohen's career prior to 1935 is also fragmentary. Some memoranda, reports, statements, and personal accounts filed among the WRITINGS AND SPEECHES reflect his work for the Committee on Economic Security. In addition, Cohen's memoirs include some recollections of his experiences with the committee. The Edwin Witte Papers held by the SHSW also contribute some insight into Cohen's role as Witte's research assistant during this period.

In addition to the Witte Papers, there are a number of other research collections held by the SHSW which are closely related to the Cohen Papers. The papers of Arthur J. Altmeyer, Merlyn S. Pitzele, Nelson Cruikshank, and Elizabeth Wickenden contain correspondence from Cohen and in the case of the Cruikshank papers, material regarding Save Our Security. There is also a transcript of an oral interview with Cohen located in the Unemployment Compensation Oral History Project, and an audiotape of a speech Cohen gave on medical economics can be found with the records of the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy.

Records of the Experimental College, held by the Archives of the University of Wisconsin-Madison include several files on Cohen. These contain reports and papers he wrote as a student as well as detailed evaluations of his character, performance, and abilities written by faculty advisors. Most interesting is a highly introspective autobiographical paper in which Cohen described at length the environment of his youth in Milwaukee.

The collection is divided into three series, PERSONAL PAPERS, PROFESSIONAL PAPERS, and WRITINGS AND SPEECHES.

PERSONAL PAPERS

BOX

FOLDER

PROFESSIONAL PAPERS