Arthur Flemming

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Arthur Flemming

Arthur Sherwood Flemming (* 12. June 1905 in Kingston , New York ; † 7. September 1996 in Alexandria , Virginia ) was an American politician who the cabinet of President Dwight D. Eisenhower as health, education and welfare minister belonged . He has also served as President of several universities in the United States.

Advancement in government service

Arthur Flemming received his bachelor's degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1927 ; the following year he earned a Masters in Political Science from American University in Washington . As a result he worked from 1930 to 1934 as a reporter for the United States Daily ; during this time he made his law exam at George Washington University . Between 1934 and 1938 he served as the director of the School of Public Affairs at American University.

His civil service career began in 1939 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him as a Republican representative on the Civil Service Commission , where he remained until 1948. He was also a member of the Hoover Commission, which dealt with the organizational structure of the federal government. In June 1948 he accepted an offer to become president of Ohio Wesleyan University; he held this position as the first former student at the university. In 1951 he took a leave of absence to become deputy head of the Office of Defense Mobilization . Two years later he was promoted to director of this government agency.

Minister and University President

In 1957 Flemming returned to his alma mater , but the following year President Eisenhower appointed him to his cabinet as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare . Flemming stayed there from August 1, 1958 until the end of Eisenhower's term of office on January 19, 1961. As minister, he further expanded the social security system ; Another focus of his work was the commitment to older citizens and the desegregation of the education system. In 1959, he moved into the public eye when, shortly before Thanksgiving , he advised against eating cranberries because of residues of the herbicide amitrole . This triggered the Great Cranberry Scandal .

After leaving the government, Flemming became President of the University of Oregon . During his tenure, the number of students grew from 8,000 to 14,000; in addition, significantly more federal funds were invested in Eugene . Under Flemming, the School of Community Services and Public Affairs was established at the university, and an observatory and various laboratories were built on the campus. He advocated Gus Hall , leader of the Communist Party , being allowed to speak on campus. From 1969 to 1971 he was still President of Macalester College .

Another résumé

In 1966 Flemming was elected President of the US National Council of Churches for four years . Then in 1971 US President Richard Nixon appointed him the Government Commissioner on Aging . He stayed that way until 1978; from 1972 to 1982 he also chaired the state civil rights commission.

After he had been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Eisenhower in 1957 , Flemming received this honor again in 1994 by Bill Clinton . Two years later he died of acute kidney failure in a senior citizens' home in Virginia. The Arthur S. Flemming Award is named after the former minister and honors outstanding achievements by federal employees. Neil Armstrong , Robert Gates and Elizabeth Dole, among others, have already received this honor.

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