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, Cohen 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 in 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 levels. 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 policy 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, Cohen died of a heart attack while attending a symposium in Seoul, South Korea.
