Mr. Social Security: The Life of Wilbur J. Cohen Hardcover - 1995
by Edward D. Berkowitz
From the rear cover
JFK tagged him "Mr. Social Security". LBJ praised him as the "planner, architect, builder and repairman on every major piece of social legislation (since 1935)". The New York Times called him "one of the country's foremost technicians in public welfare". Time portrayed him as a man of "boundless energy, infectious enthusiasm, and a drive for action". His name was Wilbur Cohen. For half a century from the New Deal through the Great Society, Cohen (1913-1987) was one of the key players in the creation and expansion of the American welfare state. From the Social Security Act of 1935 through the establishment of disability insurance in 1956 and the creation of Medicare in 1965, he was a leading articulator and advocate of an expanding Social Security system. He played that role so well that he prompted Senator Paul Douglas's wry comment that "an expert on Social Security is a person who knows Wilbur Cohen's telephone number". The son of Jewish immigrants, Cohen left his Milwaukee home in the early 1930s to attend the University of Wisconsin and never looked back. Filled with a great thirst for knowledge and wider horizons, he followed his mentors Edwin Witte and Arthur Altmeyer to Washington, D.C., and began a career that would eventually land him a top position in LBJ's cabinet as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Variously described as a practical visionary, an action intellectual, a consummate bureaucrat and a relentless incrementalist, Cohen was a master behind-the-scenes player who turned legislative compromise into an art form. He inhabited a world in which the passage of legislation was the ultimate reward. Driven by his progressive vision, he time and again persuadedlegislators on both sides of the aisle to introduce and support expansive social programs. Like a shuttle in a loom he moved invisibly back and forth, back and forth, until the finely woven legislative cloth emerged before the public's eye.
Details
- Title Mr. Social Security: The Life of Wilbur J. Cohen
- Author Edward D. Berkowitz
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First 1995
- Pages 416
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
- Date 1995
- Illustrated Yes
- ISBN 9780700607075 / 0700607072
- Weight 1.81 lbs (0.82 kg)
- Dimensions 9.32 x 6.34 x 1.44 in (23.67 x 16.10 x 3.66 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects United States, United States - History
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 94039964
- Dewey Decimal Code B
Media reviews
Citations
- Publishers Weekly, 02/20/1995, Page 189
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Mr. Social Security: The Life of Wilbur J. Cohen
by Berkowitz, Edward D
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Show Details
Mr. Social Security: The Life of Wilbur J. Cohen
by Edward D. Berkowitz; Wilbur J. Cohen
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
- 9780700607075 / 0700607072
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
- Item Price
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A$55.03FREE shipping to USA