Leon Henderson
Encyclopedia
Office of Price Administration
The Office of Price Administration was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA was originally to control money and rents after the outbreak of World War II.President Franklin D...
from 1941 to 1942.
Henderson was born in Millville, New Jersey
Millville, New Jersey
Millville is a city in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city population was 26,847. Millville, Bridgeton and Vineland are the three principal New Jersey cities of the Vineland-Millville-Bridgeton Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area which...
, where he attended Millville High School
Millville Senior High School
Millville Senior High School is a comprehensive public high school located in Millville, New Jersey, operating as part of the Millville Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1943. Students from...
, and later Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
. He was an official of the Russell Sage Foundation
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
from 1925 to 1934.
Henderson worked as an economic adviser in President Franklin Roosevelt's administration before he was appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1939. In 1941 he became head of the Office of Price Administration
Office of Price Administration
The Office of Price Administration was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA was originally to control money and rents after the outbreak of World War II.President Franklin D...
. His tenure there was controversial and he was deeply unpopular, especially with the Farm lobby. Edwin W. Pauley
Edwin W. Pauley
Edwin Wendell Pauley, Sr. was an American businessman and political leader.-Early life:Born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Elbert L...
, secretary of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
in 1942 listed five factors for the Democratic loss in the 1942 election, and resentment of Leon Henderson was listed as one of the top five reasons for that defeat. As he wrote, "This was the most universal and serious complaint of all . . . It appears from the letters that the complaint is directed rather at Mr. Henderson and his attitude and methods than at the abstract question of . . . rationing and price control . . . ." That defeat ensured that no more New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
social measures would be passed by the US during World War II, and that many of them would be repealed.
Leon Henderson was replaced after the 1942 election and went into a career in business.
He died in 1986. Before his death, he personally donated many of his papers to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.