Office of the Counselor to the President on Aging

Office of the Counselor to the President on Aging

Nelson Cruikshank was appointed in 1977 as Adviser and Counselor on the Aged to President Carter, and as Chairman of the Federal Council on Aging until he left in 1980.  Hal Sheppard served in this role from 1980-1981.

Nelson Cruikshank 

Nelson Hale Cruikshank was born in Bradner, Ohio on June 21, 1902.  He attended Oberlin College and later transferred to Ohio Wesleyan University where he graduated with a B.A. in economics and theology.  He obtained a Master of Divinity degree in 1929.  His experiences working with the poor and elderly convinced him of the need for legislation to address the problems of these groups. Cruikshank worked closely with local labor unions, eventually splitting his time between pastoral work and union organizing.

He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1936 and worked for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) as a labor relations officer. He later transferred to the FSA's Migratory Farm Labor Program, where he worked to establish several hundred camps for farm workers migrating out of the Dust Bowl. (A program later made famous in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.)

Cruikshank retired as National Council of Senior Citizens (NCSC) president in 1977 to become President Jimmy Carter's adviser and counselor on the aged, and as Chairman of the Federal Council on Aging. He led successful efforts to preserve and expand Social Security benefits for the elderly and people with disabilities. He was known nationally in the United States as an expert on Social Security, Medicare and policies on the aged.  

In 1980, Cruikshank left the Carter administration to head up an education and research effort with the organization Save Our Security (SOS).  SOS was established in 1979 by Wilbur Cohen, one of the original drafters of the Social Security Act. Cruikshank directed the Nelson Cruikshank Social Insurance Study Project for SOS.  Later, he moved to Philadelphia in 1984 and passed away on June 19, 1986.

Harold L. Sheppard

Harold L. Sheppard was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1922.  He received a M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1945, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1948.  He was an Associate Professor of Sociology at Wayne State University from 1947-1959.  Sheppard served as Staff Director for the Senate Committee on Aging from 1959-1960.  He served as Assistant Administrator for Operations for the Area Redevelopment Administration from 1961-1963.  

From 1963 to 1975, he worked as a staff social scientist at W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.  He was also the Director for the Center on Work and Aging at the American Institute for Research.  He served as Counselor to President Carter on Aging from 1980 to 1981.

Richard Conn

Richard Conn was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1925. Conn worked for the Department of Labor prior to being detailed to the Office of the Counselor to the President on Aging. He served as Assistant to the Counselor to the President on Aging from 1977-1980.