Ruth Leger Sivard (November 25, 1915 – August 21, 2015) was an American economist. She worked at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency from 1961 to 1971, drawing attention to excessive military budgets by compiling data on international defense spending.

Early life and education

Ruth Lucille Leger was born in

Elmhurst, Queens Elmhurst (formerly Newtown) is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded by Roosevelt Avenue on the north; the Long Island Expressway on the south; Junction Boulevard on the east; and the New York Connecting R ...

, to George and Susan (née Zieten) Leger on November 25, 1915. She attended

Flushing High School Flushing High School is a four-year public high school in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education. As of the 2020-21 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1, ...

, then earned a sociology degree from Smith College in 1937. Sivard obtained a master's degree in economics at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Career

Sivard worked with several federal agencies and non-governmental organizations before joining the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) in 1961. She became the leader of ACDA's economic department three years later and began comparing military budgets to social statistics and other budgets in annual reports, including information on social indicators like infant mortality.

Melvin Laird Melvin Robert Laird Jr. (September 1, 1922 – November 16, 2016) was an American politician, writer and statesman. He was a U.S. congressman from Wisconsin from 1953 to 1969 before serving as Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1973 under Presi ...

, Secretary of Defense, derided the reports as "misleading" and the agency was ordered by the

Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

administration to cease publishing the analyses in 1970. Sivard left ACDA in 1971, and founded her own non-profit group, World Priorities. The organization, backed by the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, and Rockefeller Foundation, among others, published sixteen editions of ''World Military and Social Expenditures'' from 1974 to 1996. The government published its own annual report, ''World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers'', which did not make the comparison to social spending. Sivard reported in 1986 that the White House was one of the best customers for her report. This set of work continued to focus on the steady increase in defense spending in spite of other, more serious problems also needing attention, such as worldwide poverty, famine, illiteracy, and unemployment.

Personal

She was married to high school classmate Robert Sivard (1914–1990), the former art director of the

United States Information Agency The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bil ...

, with whom she had two children. She died of dementia in Washington, D.C. on August 21, 2015, aged 99.

Bibliography

*World Military and Social Expenditures, 1974- *Military Budgets and Social Needs: Setting World Priorities. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1977. Public affairs pamphlet, no. 551 *World Energy Survey. Leesburg, Va., USA (Box 1003, Leesburg 22075: World Priorities, 1981 *Women; a world survey. Washington, DC, World Priorities, 1985. *Women, a world survey. 2nd edition. Washington, DC. World Priorities, 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivard, Ruth People from Elmhurst, Queens American women economists Economists from Washington, D.C. Smith College alumni New York University alumni Deaths from dementia in Washington, D.C. 1915 births 2015 deaths Economists from New York (state) 20th-century American women writers Writers from Queens, New York American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American economists 21st-century American women