Arnold Hiatt is an American businessman who was the president of the

Stride Rite Stride Rite, formerly the Stride Rite Corporation and stylized in all lowercase, is an American children's footwear company. The company markets Stride Rite products globally through brand licensee Vida Shoes International. History Founding a ...

footwear company. He was a large contributor to political campaigns for the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

as well as being a voice calling for money to get out of politics. He has called for serious

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...

and public financing of elections. Hiatt was praised by

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

professor Lawrence Lessig for his stance on electoral reform.

Stride Rite

Hiatt was the son of a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n immigrant. A graduate of the Class of 1944, Arnold attended Worcester Academy for twelve months straight in order to join the U. S. Army in the Second World War. After college, he began as a shoe salesman and worked himself up the corporate ladder. He joined Stride Rite in 1967 when it acquired a children's shoe company named Blue Star, when sales were $35 million a year. In 1968, Hiatt became president; by 1992, Stride Rite was earning more than $600 million. Hiatt was able to anticipate changes in consumer preferences for footwear, and adapted to major changes by acquiring firms with in-demand products. Hiatt pioneered

socially conscious Social consciousness or social awareness, is collective consciousness shared by individuals within a society.day care center Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

in 1971, at a time when such a move was considered "radically countercultural." In 1986, smoking of cigarettes, cigars and pipes was banned from the corporation. And his firm provides scholarships for 40 inner-city youth to attend

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', the company has achieved a consistent return on investment to place it among the "top 1 percent of companies" listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

with compounded annual growth of 46 percent. Stride Rite was acquired by

Payless ShoeSource Payless (formerly known as Payless ShoeSource Inc.) is an international discount footwear chain. Established in 1956 by cousins Louis and Shaol Pozez, Payless was a privately held company owned by Blum Capital, and Golden Gate Capital. In 1961, i ...

in 2007.

Advocacy of electoral reform

According to

professor Lawrence Lessig, in 1996 Hiatt advocated to then-president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

that the president work hard to try to end "private funding of public elections", but Hiatt was repudiated by Clinton. In 2007, Hiatt wrote: Hiatt has urged passage of the ''Senate Fair Elections Now Act'' introduced by Senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter, which is a bipartisan proposal to raise a "large number of small donations to show their credibility with the public" before qualifying for public funding for their campaigns.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiatt, Arnold Businesspeople from Massachusetts Philanthropists from Massachusetts Living people Harvard College alumni 1928 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American philanthropists American people of Lithuanian descent