Ruth Leger Sivard (November 25, 1915 – August 21, 2015) was an American economist. She worked at the

Arms Control and Disarmament Agency The U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) was an independent agency of the United States government that existed from 1961 to 1999. Its mission was to strengthen United States national security by "formulating, advocating, negotiating, ...

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, to George and Susan (née Zieten) Leger on November 25, 1915. She attended Flushing High School, then earned a sociology degree from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

in 1937. Sivard obtained a master's degree in economics at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Career

Sivard worked with several federal agencies and non-governmental organizations before joining the

(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 Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age ...

. Melvin Laird, Secretary of Defense, derided the reports as "misleading" and the agency was ordered by the Nixon 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. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

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 $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

, and

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

, 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

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, 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 Social scientists 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