Alan Willcox

Alan Willcox
Born(1901-07-30)July 30, 1901
Akron, Ohio
DiedApril 27, 1978(1978-04-27) (aged 76)
Education
EmployerU.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare
Children2[1]
ParentWalter Francis Willcox

Alanson Work Willcox (July 30, 1901 – April 27, 1978)[2] was an American lawyer who served as general counsel to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Willcox was born in Akron Ohio, the son of statistician Walter Francis Willcox.[3] He graduated from The Hill School in 1918, Cornell in 1922, and Harvard Law School in 1926.[4] At Cornell, he was a member of Psi Upsilon.[5]

He worked for the US Government during the Roosevelt and Truman years, from 1934-1953, and later returned to Washington (1961-1969) during the Kennedy/Johnson presidency. Initially he worked as a legal advisor for the Treasury Department but within a short time he started a longer term position with the Social Security Board which had recently been established to implement and operate the Social Security Act of 1935. During that period an important part of his role involved ensuring that the Social Security Act could be defended against constitutional challenges.[1]

In the sixties he was appointed as general counsel to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare[4] and was deeply involved in the Social Security Amendments of 1965 which resulted in creation of the Medicare program.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Alumni was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Allanson W. Willcox". The Ithaca Journal. April 28, 1978. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
  3. ^ Ansell, E. (1939). Admissions to Peterhouse in the University of Cambridge. ISBN 9781107553897.
  4. ^ a b "Hearing before the Committee on Finance of the United States Senate" (PDF). www.finance.senate.gov. February 1, 1961. p. 3-4. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  5. ^ "The Cornell Daily Sun 28 January 1919 — The Cornell Daily Sun". Cdsun.library.cornell.edu. January 28, 1919. Retrieved November 23, 2019.