Arthur Sherwood Flemming  Arthur Sherwood Flemming (June 12, 1905September 7, 1996) was an American government official. He served as the United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1958 until 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration. Flemming was an important force in the shaping of Social Security policy for more than four decades. He also served as president of the University of Oregon, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Macalester College. In 1966, he was elected to a four-year term as president of the National Council of Churches, the leading Christian ecumenical organization in the United States. From 1974 to 1981, he was the chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Flemming was born in Kingston, New York, to federal judge Harvey Hardwick Flemming and the former Harriet (née Sherwood). Flemming graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, class of 1927 and a member of the Epsilon chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. On December 14, 1934, he married Bernice Virginia Moler. They had five children: Elizabeth Ann, Susan Harriet, Harry Sherwood, Arthur Henry and Thomas Madison Flemming. Flemming's government career began in 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the U.S. Civil Service Commission. While in this capacity, he was appointed to the Navy Manpower Survey Board under Vice admiral Adolphus Andrews, which was established to determine whether shore establishments were over-manned or under-manned and whether Navy's manpower was being utilized to the best possible advantage. He was a member of the Hoover Commission, which studied the organization of federal government in the late 1940s and the early 1950s. Flemming was the Chairman of the White House Conference on Aging in 1971, and was the appointed U.S. Commissioner on Aging by President Richard M. Nixon. Flemming was also a co-founder of the Save Our Security coalition, a Social Security advocacy group. He was the recipient of two Presidential Medals of Freedom, one in 1957, from President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the second one in 1994, from President Bill Clinton. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala said of Flemming: "He was one of the great intellects of social policy, combining extraordinary knowledge with a rare gift for policy-making." From 1958 until 1961, Flemming served as U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, following the resignation of Marion B. Folsom.