Robert B. Carleson (February 21, 1931 – April 21, 2006)
/ref> was a key policy advisor on welfare issues to

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

in California and the White House; he also founded a conservative alternative to the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

called the

American Civil Rights Union The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) is an American legal organization founded by former Reagan Administration official Robert B. Carleson in 1998 as a conservative counter to the American Civil Liberties Union. History Due to a lack of reso ...

in 1998.

Early years and education

Carleson was Eagle Scout of the Year in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

in 1949. He earned Bachelor’s and master's degrees in Public Administration at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. Carleson served in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

from 1953 to 1956.

Career

Carleson spent twelve years as a city administrator in Southern California. In 1968, Carleson was appointed as Chief Deputy Director of the California State Department of Public Works. At the request of Governor Ronald Reagan, Carleson laid the major policy groundwork for California’s 1971 welfare reform. Reagan then appointed Carleson as Director of the California State Department of Social Welfare, where Carleson worked to implement the reform. In 1973, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare

Caspar Weinberger Caspar Willard Weinberger (August 18, 1917 – March 28, 2006) was an American politician and businessman. As a Republican, he served in a variety of state and federal positions for three decades, most notably as Secretary of Defense under ...

named Carleson as U.S. Commissioner of Welfare. Carleson advised the 1976 and 1980 Reagan for President campaigns, and he organized the Reagan transition team for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. From 1981 to 1984, Carleson worked on the White House staff as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Development. He was a special advisor for Federalism policy and was the executive secretary of the Cabinet Council on Human Resources. He was the author of the 1981 Welfare Reforms in the 1981 Budget Reconciliation Act. Carleson continued to write prolifically about welfare reform in the 1990s and was a leading voice for reform prior to the Welfare Reform of 1996 that was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton. Carleson's memoirs were published a
Government IS the Problem: Memoirs of Ronald Reagan's Welfare Reformer
edited by Susan A. Carleson and Hans A. Zeiger, foreword by Edwin Meese III (Alexandria, Virginia: American Civil Rights Union, 2009), 160 pages.

American Civil Rights Union

Carleson founded the

(ACRU) in 1998 to advocate for civil rights in the judiciary and public opinion. The ACRU founding Policy Board includes former U.S. Attorney General

Edwin Meese III Edwin Meese III (born December 2, 1931) is an American attorney, law professor, author and member of the Republican Party who served in Ronald Reagan's gubernatorial administration (1967–1974), the Reagan presidential transition team (1980� ...

, Pepperdine Law School Dean Kenneth W. Starr, economist Walter Williams, and the late political scientist

James Q. Wilson James Quinn Wilson (May 27, 1931 – March 2, 2012) was an American political scientist and an authority on public administration. Most of his career was spent as a professor at UCLA and Harvard University. He was the chairman of the Council of ...

. Among the projects of the American Civil Rights Union is the Robert B. Carleson Eagle Fund, founded by Carleson’s widow Susan A. Carleson in 2009 to provide camp scholarships to disadvantaged Boy Scouts and award grants to Scout troops that have been hurt by government or philanthropic decisions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carleson, Robert B. 1931 births 2006 deaths USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumni United States presidential advisors Reagan administration personnel