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Maurine Mulliner
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| Maurine Mulliner, 1937. Photo courtesy of Maurine Mulliner. |
Maurine Mulliner was the first Executive Secretary
to the Social Security Board, starting in that job in February 1936.
This was a key role in the early organization because Maurine was
instrumental in setting up the procedures and functional arrangements
for the Board's operations. She was a trusted confidant of the early
executives, serving as a "gate-keeper" controlling access
to the Board and reviewing materials submitted for the Board's consideration,
returning for additional work those she judged sub-par.
For historians, Maurine's contributions to SSA are especially important.
She established all the early forms of documentation of the Board's
actions and kept detailed Minutes, Decisions, and even a verbatim
"Running Record" of early Board discussions. In a compliment
to her objectivity and professionalism, Board member Arthur Altmeyer
once remarked that he was never quite sure what the Board had decided
until he had a chance to read it in Maurine's notes!
Maurine began her federal career in 1932 working in the Depression-era
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. By 1933, she was an aide to U.S.
Senator Robert Wagner (D-NY) whom she would describe as "the
man who started it all" because he introduced the Social Security
bill in the Senate in 1935. In February 1936 she started her storied
career with the Social Security Board. She made many significant contributions
to our nation, not just in Social Security, but in many other areas
as well.
Maurine Mulliner's oral histories of the period are among the most
prized in our collection since she is a marvelous story-teller who
knew most of the key players and witnessed many of the important events
in Social Security's early history. In November 1999 we had the privilege
of meeting Maurine for the first time when she generously donated
several photographs from her personal collection to the SSA History
Archives. We found her to be just as charming and gracious at age
94 as others said of her when as a young woman of 31 she began her
career with Social Security. |
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| Note for the record:
Maurine Mulliner died on February 24, 2002 at the Mariner
Health at Circle Manor in Washington, D.C. The obituary that
appeared in the Washington Post on Friday, March 1, 2002 incorrectly
identified Miss Mulliner as having served as Acting Commissioner
of the Social Security Administration in the 1940s. Miss Mulliner
never served in such a post. |
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Career
Highlights |
1928-1931
1931-1932
1932-1933
1933-1936
1936-1940
1940-1941
1941
1941-1944
1944-1945
1945-1946
1946-1947
1947-1951
1952-1962 |
Executive Secretary-- Child
Research Center, Washington, D.C.
Research Assistant to Prof. Mandel Sherman -- University of Chicago
Personnel Assistant and Secretary -- U.S. Reconstruction Finance Corp.
Personal Secretary to U.S. Senator Robert F. Wagner
Technical Adviser to Social Security Board
Recording Secretary to the Advisory Commission to the Council of National
Defense
Technical Adviser to Social Security Board
Assistant Director of the Bureau of Employment Security, Social Security
Board
Chief Documents Officer/Assistant to Deputy Director General of UNRRA
Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britian
Special Assistant to U.S. Rep. on UN Economic and Social Council
Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of Social Security
Staff Adviser to the Commissioner of Social Security |
Oral
History Interviews |
| In
1965, Maurine Mulliner provided an oral history interview to SSA
Historian Abe Bortz. In 1968, Maurine did another oral history interview
as part of project commissioned by SSa through the Columbia University
Oral History Center. Those interviews are now available here for
the first time.
1965
SSA Oral History Interview
1968
Columbia University Oral History Interview |
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www.socialsecurity.gov
