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Robert Myers Ball was an American Social Security

Social Security (United States)

In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...

 official, who served under three presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon), from 1962 to 1973, as Commissioner of Social Security. He is the longest-serving head of the Social Security Administration

Social Security Administration

The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits...

 to date. He also founded the National Academy for Social Insurance. He graduated from Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 in 1935, and in 1936 received a master's degree in economics

Master of Economics

A Master's Degree in Economics is a postgraduate academic program, offering training in economic theory, econometrics and / or applied economics. The degree may be offered as a terminal degree or as additional preparation for doctoral study, and is sometimes offered as a professional degree...

from the same institution.

In the second half of the twentieth century, no one exerted more influence over Social Security than Robert Ball, who in 1947 wrote the key statement defining why social insurance, not welfare, should be America's primary income maintenance program.