Anna M. Rosenberg
Anna M. Rosenberg | |
---|---|
Rosenberg in 1951 | |
Born |
Anna Marie Lederer June 19, 1902 Budapest |
Died |
May 9, 1983 80) New York City | (aged
Occupation | Assistant Secretary of Defense |
Spouse(s) |
Julius Rosenberg (m. 1919; div. 1962) Paul G. Hoffman |
Anna Marie Rosenberg (née Lederer; June 19, 1902 – May 9, 1983), later Anna Rosenberg Hoffman, was an American public official and businesswoman.[1]
Background
Anna Lederer was born on June 19, 1902, in Budapest, the child of Albert Lederer and Charlotte Bacskai. She had at least one sibling, a sister Clare Lederer von Arnold. In 1912, she immigrated with her family to the United States. She went to school at Wadleigh High School.[1]
Career
During World War I, she served as a student nurse and sold Liberty Bonds.[1]
In 1934, Nathan Strauss, regional director for the National Recovery Act, made her assistant. In 1936, she succeeded him as regional director. In 1937, she became regional director of the Social Security Board through 1943.[1]
In 1941, she served in the Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services through 1942. In 1942, she served as regional director of the War Manpower Commission through 1945. Concurrently, 1941–1945, she consulted to the Retraining and Reemployment Administration. In 1944, when U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sent her to Europe to report on the needs of American soldiers after their demobilization, she recommended education and supported the G.I. Bill of Rights.[1]
After the war, she ran a consulting business, with customers that included large businesses and public figures.
In late 1950, she was nominated for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Personnel. Joseph McCarthy and his staff launched an all-out campaign to oppose her nomination due to alleged connections to the Communist Party, but she was recommended by the Senate Armed Services Committee. In spite of opposition, in November 1950 she was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, a post she held until January 1953. She helped develop plans for universal military service and training while in office.[1]
In 1955, New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. selected her to serve on the New York Cit Board of Hospitals. She also served on New York State Governor Averell Harriman's Business Advisory Council and co-chaired the National Hearth Committee. In 1959, she chaired a three-member panel to mediate between the New York Transit Authority and two unions.[1]
In the 1960s, she served on the New York City Board of Education among other bodies.[1]
Personal and death
In 1919, Lederer she became a naturalized US citizen and married Julius Rosenberg, a Jewish American member of the upper class. They had at least one son, Thomas.[1] She worked with various foundations, including the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation and the John Hay Whitney Foundation.[1] In 1962, the Rosenbergs divorced and Lederer married Paul G. Hoffman, the first administrator of the Marshall Plan and a top United Nations official.[1] She died age 81 on May 9, 1983 in Manhattan.[1]
Awards
- 1945: Medal of Freedom (details unclear)[1]
- 1947: Medal for Merit (Mary Shotwell Ingraham and Elmira Bears Wickenden.[2]
- ????: Honorary Doctorate from Tufts University[1]
- ????: Honorary Doctorate from Columbia University[1]
References
External sources
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anna M. Rosenberg. |
- McHenry, Robert (ed.), Famous American Women: A Biographical Dictionary from Colonial Times to the Present, Dover Publications.
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services, Nomination of Anna M. Rosenberg to be Assistant Secretary of Defense. U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1950. 381 pages
- Anna Rosenberg Hoffman Papers.Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
- McCarthy attacks Rosenberg's Nomination
- Jewish Virtual Library entry
- Another bio with picture, at National Park Service
- Another bio on the Social Security site
Anna M. Rosenberg's FBI files obtained through the FOIA and hosted at the Internet Archive