John J. Carson was a 20th-century American politician who served in the Truman Administration as a commissioner of the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

(FTC) from 1949 to 1953. A Republican who was nominated to one of the party's posts on the FTC, he nevertheless drew ire from his own party owing to his past association with a group of business cooperatives.

Background

Carson was born in Smith Valley, Indiana, an unincorporated community south of

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, where he grew up.

Career

Carson's first job was as a messenger boy for the president of the American National Bank of Indianapolis. He then worked for the Van Camp Packing Company as bookkeeper and accountant. By 1912, he had gone into journalism and had become city editor in Indianapolis. In 1918, Carson was assigned to work in Washington, D.C. as an assistant correspondent for the St. Louis ''Globe-Democrat'' newspaper. He moved shortly thereafter to the St. Louis ''Republic'' newspaper. He then moved to the ''

Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publish ...

'', where he came to know

H. L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...

, and then the

Scripps-Howard The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by E. W. Scripps, Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a ...

''Evening Sun'' through 1922. Although Carson was a Republican, he faced allegations of socialism from Republican Senators such as John W. Bricker due to his past association with a group of business cooperatives. Carson maintained that his support for cooperatives was not rooted in socialism, but rather in the ideals expressed in the ''

quadragesimo anno ''Quadragesimo anno'' () (Latin for "In the 40th Year") is an encyclical issued by Pope Pius XI on 15 May 1931, 40 years after Leo XIII's encyclical '' Rerum novarum'', further developing Catholic social teaching. Unlike Leo XIII, who addre ...

'', an

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

issued by Pope

Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

that condemned unregulated capitalism. As a member of the FTC, his term overlapped closely with that of Stephen J. Spingarn.

References

1888 births 1971 deaths Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel United States presidential advisors Truman administration personnel Eisenhower administration personnel Federal Trade Commission personnel {{US-politician-stub

Background

Career

See also

References