Hoover Commission

Hoover Commission, officially named the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, was a body appointed by President Harry S. Truman in 1947 to recommend administrative changes in the Federal Government of the United States. It took its nickname from former President Herbert Hoover, who was appointed by Truman to chair it.

History, membership and results

Authorized by Congress in the Lodge-Brown Act of 1947 (named for Representative Clarence J. Brown, Sr. of Ohio and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. of Massachusetts), the commission first met September 29, 1947. Besides Hoover, its members were former Postmaster General and F.D.R.'s campaign manager James Farley, Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Senator George Aiken of Vermont, Representative Brown, Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal, Civil Service Commissioner Arthur S. Flemming, former Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, political scientist James Kerr Pollock, attorney James H. Rowe, Representative Carter Manasco of Alabama, industrialist George Mead and Senator John L. McClellan of Arkansas. Aiken, Brown, Flemming, Hoover, Mead and Pollock were Republicans. Acheson, Forrestal, Kennedy, Manasco, McClellan and Rowe were Democrats. The commission was supported by a large staff and numerous expert task forces.

Second Hoover Commission

Also, a Second Hoover Commission was created by Congress in 1953 during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Also headed by Hoover (who was then almost 80 years old), the second commission sent its final report to Congress in June 1955.