John H. Hamlin (June 21, 1909 – April 1981) graduated from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with an A.B. in 1929. He was born in

Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The borough has a population of 15,930 as of the 2010 census. Wilkinsburg is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army o ...

. Hamlin had a multifaceted career. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Hamlin was an intelligence officer in the Navy and retired as a Lieutenant Commander in 1945. From 1946 to 1951, Hamlin served as Executive Secretary to the Republican State Central Committee of California. In 1954, Hamlin was appointed the Director for Small Business for the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

.Federal Records Division, National Archives and Records Administration. ''United States Government Organization Manual, 1956–1957''. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office. 1956 -1957. p. 126. Two years later in his role as the executive Assistant to the President (under President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

), Hamlin fulfilled a political function. His duties were to keep various segments of the

Executive Branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...

and the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

aware of each other's activities. He compiled background reports on the large agencies, current administration problems, pronouncements and goals. These reports were actually in-depth analyses of what the different agencies were doing and what they were spending. Eventually these background reports became progress reports designed to alert the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Staff and other members of the Eisenhower "team" to developments in different agencies which might warrant study or action, especially if they had economic implications. These reports could be used by Republican members to analyze what the Administration was doing and to provide speech materials. In addition to the progress reports, Hamlin also compiled a number of studies on the activities of government agencies and departments for the consideration of the Committee on Government Activities Affecting Prices and Costs. The purpose of the Committee on Government Activities Affecting Prices and Costs created by Executive Order 10802, January 23, 1959, was to provide a central mechanism in the Federal Government to follow the current activities of the Federal agencies to see whether they were being conducted, insofar as possible, in line with the need for reasonable stability of prices and costs, and to ensure that the Federal Government was not contributing to the nation's inflationary problems by the way in which it conducted its business. The Chairman of the President's

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

Raymond J. Saulnier Raymond Joseph Saulnier (September 20, 1908 – April 30, 2009) was an American economist who served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1956 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Education Saulnier graduated ...

, was designated as the Chairman of the Committee on Government Activities Affecting Prices and Costs.

References

External links

Papers of John H. Hamlin, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamlin, John H. Stanford University alumni People from Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania American intelligence analysts Eisenhower administration personnel 1909 births 1981 deaths Pennsylvania Republicans