Benjamin Franklin Bailar (April 21, 1934 – February 20, 2017) was an American businessman who served as the

United States Postmaster General The United States Postmaster General (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The PMG is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the agency. The PMG is selected and appointed by ...

from February 16, 1975, to March 15, 1978. He took office on February 16, 1975, succeeding Elmer T. Klassen. Previously, he had served as senior assistant postmaster general, chief financial officer, and deputy postmaster general.

Career

Bailar, a graduate of the Harvard Business School with an extensive background in finance and management, attempted to place the postal service on a strong economic footing. His major responsibility as

was to ensure that the semi-independent government corporation could support itself on revenues from mail users. Bailar was especially concerned with the quality of mail service and postal costs. One significant cost was labor, and Bailar is probably best known for negotiating a last moment contract which avoided a strike by unionized postal employees in 1975. He was also instrumental in the rate increase of first class stamps to 13 cents, in dealing with

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

mail tampering, and in addressing possible postal cost-cutting which would have resulted in a decline in mail services to some rural areas.

Background

Bailar was born in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...

, on April 21, 1934. After attending public schools and the University of Illinois Lab School in his home town, Bailar attended the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

. Following his graduation in 1955, he served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

as a Supply Officer before entering the Harvard Business School. He received his

Masters in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

in 1959. Bailar is also the recipient of honorary degrees from

Monmouth College Monmouth College is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Monmouth, Illinois. Monmouth enrolls approximately 900 students from 21 countries who choose courses from 40 major programs, 43 minors, and 17 pre-professional programs in a ...

and the

. In addition to his term of service as postmaster general, Bailar has worked for the

Continental Oil Company Conoco Inc. ( ) was an American oil and gas company that operated from 1875 until 2002, when it merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips. Founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company". Curre ...

American Can Company The American Can Company was a manufacturer of tin cans. It was a member of the Tin Can Trust, that controlled a "large percentage of business in the United States in tin cans, containers, and packages of tin." American Can Company ranked 97th amon ...

, and U.S. Gypsum. He has served on the boards of a number of corporations, banks, educational institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. In 1987, he accepted appointment as

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of the Jesse H. Jones School of Business Administration at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

in Houston, Texas. Bailar led the fledgling program through 10 years of steady growth and increasing recognition before retiring in 1997.

Service on advisory committee

Bailar was appointed to the USPS'

Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee The United States Postal Service's Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) evaluates potential subjects for U.S. postage stamps and reports its recommendations to the Postmaster General, who makes the final decision. Purpose Each year, the Posta ...

in December 2006 by former postmaster general John E. “Jack” Potter. In July 2014, Bailar resigned from the committee in protest over the increasingly commercial choices for stamp designs.

References

External links

Bailar Collection at the Gerald R. Ford LibraryAlumni page from the University Laboratory High School
United States Postmasters General University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois) alumni University of Colorado alumni United States Navy officers Military personnel from Illinois Harvard Business School alumni Rice University faculty 1934 births 2017 deaths People from Champaign, Illinois Businesspeople from Illinois American chief financial officers Ford administration personnel Carter administration personnel {{Illinois-politician-stub