ROBERT B. ANDERSON
A Distinguished Career Gone Wrong
By Ron Hunka
Few Americans today would recognize the name of Robert Bernard Anderson. Yet, he was once the preferred choice of President Dwight Eisenhower over Richard Nixon to seek the Republican nomination for President in 1960. Despite his rise from humble origins to positions of great power and trust in the public and private sectors, Anderson’ s career ended in disgrace.
In 1910, Robert Anderson was born on a poor cotton farm in Burleson, Texas, now a suburb of Fort Worth. After graduating from Weatherford College, he became a high school teacher. Ambitious, he found a path to upward mobility by graduating from law school at the top of his class at the University of Texas in 1932. At age 23, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. In 1933, he was appointed assistant attorney general, and in 1934- 1935 he served as Texas State Tax Commissioner( a post abolished in 1979). For the next two years, he was director of the Texas Unemployment Commission.
After his years in state government, Anderson accepted a transformational position as general counsel to the W. T. Waggoner Estate, which consisted of a vast ranch of over 500,000 acres. Second in size only to the King Ranch in south Texas, it stretched across several counties around the north Texas town of Vernon. Performing his duties in an exemplary way, Anderson later assumed responsibility for the operation of the entire $ 300 million enterprise upon becoming ranch manager in 1941.
This change led him into dealing with, among other things, the mineral resources of the estate. In particular, his work negotiating large oil and gas leases gained him the attention of politically well-connected
Portrait of Robert B. Anderson by Elmer W. Greene, 1955.
leaders in Texas, who backed Eisenhower for President in 1952. Anderson soon joined them.
After Eisenhower’ s election, he offered Anderson the position of Secretary of the Navy, which Anderson accepted, ending his 15-year association with the Waggoner Estate. As the President’ s esteem for Anderson’ s abilities grew, Eisenhower appointed him Deputy Director of Defense in 1954. Three years later, Eisenhower brought Anderson back again, this time as Secretary of the Treasury. Remarkably, a man who had started out as a high school teacher now had his signature on his nation’ s currency. The fact that the IRS now fell under his supervision was to prove ironic some years later when he fell from grace.
One of Anderson’ s more memorable achievements as Eisenhower’ s Secretary of the Treasury was to broker the so-called“ Treaty of the Rio Grande,” a bi-partisan agreement worked out with two fellow Texans— Democratic Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson— not to pass a tax cut in 1958 favored by Republicans Vice President Richard Nixon and Labor Secretary James Mitchell. Anderson felt that a tax cut“ could bring huge slashes in tax revenues, in the face of a mounting deficit.” From today’ s perspective, some would find Anderson’ s action far-sighted.
As Eisenhower neared the end of his second term, he confided in Anderson that in the coming presidential election he would make“ the finest candidate we could have,” though Eisenhower recognized that Nixon might already have the nomination wrapped up. Even if that were true, Eisenhower advised, Anderson would still make an excellent vice presidential candidate. But Anderson declined to seek either office, though he seems not to have completely articulated his reasons for doing
18 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Spring 2017 | www. MoAF. org