Introduction

Figure 1. Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby takes her oath of office before President Eisenhower and becomes the first Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Figure 2. Handwritten note to Oveta Culp Hobby on the Seal of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Oveta Culp Hobby had many roles as a public figure in the city of Houston and in the U.S. From 1953-1955, Oveta served under the Eisenhower administration as the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the second woman to hold such a high office in the presidential administration. Her tenure as the Secretary was filled with many successes and non-successes, and came to an abrupt end with resignation in 1955. Before her time as Secretary, she spent several years serving her country before as the colonel of the Women’s Army during WWII. After her service, she returned to Houston developing the Houston Post before once again being called upon to serve the government (Figure 1, 2). Oveta believed that thorough research was key to running an effective government bureaucratic agency. With her team of researchers/staff at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Oveta worked hard to realize the Eisenhower administration’s goals and further the public good in accordance with his political agenda. Like Eisenhower, Oveta was a mid-century conservative who believed that the federal government was meant to “promote the general welfare rather than to provide for the general welfare.”¹ During her time as the secretary, she developed health reinsurance policies, promoted public health research, and set up a distribution plan for the polio vaccine. Oveta also planned and hosted the first White House conference on education, proposed plans to increase school building, and policies to combat juvenile delinquency. Although Oveta was opposed to expanding social security at first, her viewpoint switched, and she became a proponent of expanding social security for social insurance purposes. Her term as the secretary ended when she resigned in 1955 citing her husband’s failing health but her resignation was likely due to the polio distribution disaster. She quickly returned to Houston afterwards. As the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Oveta Culp Hobby was a diligent and effective administrator, leaving a legacy of running a successful bureaucratic administration through thorough research, pushing for public health, compromise on education building, and expansion of social security.