Robert B. Carleson (1931-2006) was the principal architect of modern welfare reform. An Eagle Scout from Long Beach, California, he did undergraduate and graduate work in Public Administration at the University of Southern California. Mr. Carleson was a combat veteran of the Korean War, serving in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from 1953 to 1956. Returning home to California, Mr. Carleson spent the next twelve years in city management in Los Angeles County.
In 1968, Mr. Carleson joined the administration of Governor Ronald Reagan as Chief Deputy Director of the California State Department of Public Works. He was tapped by Governor Reagan to head a welfare task force and became the principal architect of Governor Reagan’s successful welfare reform initiative. Then, as Director of the California State Department of Social Welfare in the early 1970s, Mr. Carleson worked to implement the new reform.
For the first time since World War II, California welfare rolls began to decline. In 1973, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Casper Weinberger tasked Mr. Carleson with bringing reform to the other states as U.S. Commission of Welfare. Mr. Carleson’s efforts again produced unprecedented results with welfare rolls declining nationally for the first time since World War II.
From 1975 through 1980 he advised Senator Russell B. Long, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee on welfare matters as well as state governments and corporations on welfare policy and other issues. Mr. Carleson was an advisor to the 1976 and 1980 Reagan campaigns, and he led the Reagan transition team for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Following the 1981 inauguration, Mr. Carleson joined the White House staff as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Development. In that role he served as 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 Reagan Welfare Reforms.
Upon returning to the private sector, Mr. Carleson continued to advocate for entitlement reform, playing a critical role in the eventual design and adoption of the 1996 welfare reform. His articles appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Human Events, Reader’s Digest, and The Washington Times, among others.
In 1998, Mr. Carleson founded the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) to protect the civil rights of all Americans. Through its amicus briefs and public advocacy, the ACRU is the constructive alternative to the left-wing ACLU and a defender of the right of the Boy Scouts to establish its own membership policies.