One of the pioneering leaders in establishing retirement security for all Americans, Robert M. Ball, passed away Tuesday night after a brief illness. He was 93.
Most people have never heard his name, but his work was instrumental in the creation and ongoing survival of Social Security, the program that lifts millions out of poverty and ensures that retirement with dignity is possible for every American worker.
Born in 1914, Ball joined the then-new Social Security program in 1939 -- a year before the first Social Security check was mailed out. It was the start of a career that would see him rise to serve as the Commissioner of Social Security under three Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon), and then work tirelessly nearly until the day he died to ensure the continued viability of the program. He was a key player in creation of the 1983 amendments which rescued the program from insolvency, and he led the opposition to efforts in the 1990s and early this decade to privatize Social Security.
Along the way, he helped establish the Medicare program, setting it up and managing its implementation for the first seven years of its existence. He also founded the National Academy for Social Insurance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization which promotes research, education, and informed policymaking on social insurance. (Every year, NASI honors an individual whose work has made a significant impact in the U.S. social insurance system with the Robert M. Ball Award.)
It's not for nothing that he has been called the "spiritual leader" of Social Security. He shall be deeply missed.
Other memories of Robert Ball are being posted around the Web. Here are a few.
Mr. Ball joined Social Security just four years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the program in 1935, then ran it from 1962 to 1973. He was one of the chief architects of Medicare and administered it for its first seven years. He oversaw the increase of Social Security benefits and the introduction of automatic cost-of-living adjustments. He drafted the Kennedy-Mills bill, which proposed universal health insurance, and three times in the past 25 years helped reform and save the old-age insurance program.
Active virtually until his death, Ball was a key player on a package that rescued Social Security from financial ruin in 1983 and as recently as last year was writing alternatives to President Bush's proposal to privatize the program, an approach that Ball abhorred.
"Bob Ball left an indelible mark on the Social Security programs and the agency in that he played a critical role in the establishment of Medicare," Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said Wednesday. "His commitment to Social Security was unequaled, and he will be remembered as a great leader."
John Rother, AARP's public policy director, called Ball a tireless defender of Social Security and Medicare. "His dedication has inspired a whole generation of younger advocates and leaders in the field, and his writings will continue to influence the debate for broader health and pension coverage for years to come," Rother said.
NASI Board Chair Lawrence Thompson:
No individual has done more to advance American social insurance programs than Robert M. Ball. He led the Social Security program for more than twenty years and he has been it’s most influential and articulate advocate, architect, and philosopher.
From his early appointment in a field office to his selection as Commissioner of Social Security by President Kennedy in 1962, to advisory roles in following presidential administrations, Bob Ball sought a balance between political pragmatism and his determination to protect the principles of social insurance.
Additionally, the Social Security Administration's site has a wealth of information on Ball's life and work in their "Social Security Pioneers" section, and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation includes a video interview with Ball in their collection of interviews on the 40th anniversary of Medicare.
UPDATE: Diarist "geordie" at Daily Kos shares a memory:
I once listened to [Ball] testify in front of a hostile Congressional committee on something, and he had them eating out of his hand by the end - I told someone at the time it reminded me of Tolkien's description of Saruman talking to his assembled foes when he's trapped at Isengard, and how they were hypnotized by his words. Bob had that effect on members of Congress - but he used his powers only for the good of us all.
