Leon Henderson (May 26, 1895 – October 19, 1986) was the administrator of the

Office of Price Administration The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money (price contr ...

from 1941 to 1942. He also served as a member of several United States federal government agencies 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 opposing ...

Life and career

Henderson was born in

Millville, New Jersey Millville is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 28,400,Millville High School, and later Swarthmore College. He was an official of the Russell Sage Foundation from 1925 to 1934. Henderson worked as an economic adviser in President Franklin Roosevelt's administration before he was appointed to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1939. In 1941 he became head of the

. His tenure there was controversial and he was deeply unpopular, especially with farmers.

Edwin W. Pauley Edwin Wendell Pauley Sr. (January 7, 1903 – July 28, 1981) was an American businessman and political leader. Early life Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Elbert L. Pauley and the former Ellen Van Petten, he attended Occidental College, in nor ...

, secretary of the Democratic National Committee in 1942, listed five factors for Democratic losses in the 1942 election, and resentment of Leon Henderson was listed as one of the top five reasons for that defeat. As he wrote, "This was the most universal and serious complaint of all ... It appears from the letters that the complaint is directed rather at Mr. Henderson and his attitude and methods than at the abstract question of ... rationing and price control."Blum, John Morton. ''V Was For Victory''. New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. Pg 233. Those losses ensured that no more New Deal social measures would be passed by the US during World War II, and that many of them would be repealed. Henderson was replaced after the 1942 election and went into a career in business. He died in 1986. Before his death, he personally donated many of his papers to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.

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Leon Henderson

United Nations
Leon Henderson 1945.04.25 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Leon 1895 births 1986 deaths Millville Senior High School alumni People from Millville, New Jersey Swarthmore College alumni Members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission New Jersey Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel