Meanwhile, Kobel and his staff had been busy developing more public relations projects. During Rosen's administration a second series of NALU sponsored advertisements appeared in national magazines. There was also a Public Broadcasting Service Television series, "You Owe It To Yourself." The ten-part series covered various aspects of money management and family finances to show what life insurance, health insurance and estate planing could accomplish for the family's security. Using the quiz show format, the series, created and produced by WITF-TV, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, was made possible by a $75,000 grant from the NALU. Allen Ludden, nationally known quiz-master of "Password," was master of ceremonies. At the height of the viewing season nearly on hundred forty PBS stations were broadcasting the NALU-funded series.

Reinforcing its earlier stand on agent qualifications, the NALU Board of Trustees at its June 1974 meeting issued a policy statement urging the nations insurance commissioners to design and administer uniformly stringent licensing examinations. Commenting on the board's action, Rosen said, "convinced that the rationale for continuing professional educational requirements for life insurance agents in some states, the NALU board of trustees looks upon its new policy position on agents' licensing qualifications as appropriate, timely and in the best interest of the public and our business."[xxxxvi]

The NALU held its eighty-fifth annual convention at the Shorehame in Washington, D.C. "A four-way race for secretary and ten candidates vying for six trustee vacancies gave the meeting a highly charged atmosphere starting as early as Sunday morning, September 8," Life Association News reported.

In the four-way race for secretary, the National Council elected NALU trustee Robert W. Forker, agent for northwester Mutual in Zanesville, Ohio. Norman G. Levine, general agent for the Aetna in New York City became president of the national organization. A University of Wisconsin graduate, he had served in the Army during World War II. A member of the Million Dollar Round Table who enjoyed more than usual success as an agency manager, this twenty-six-year veteran of the business had long been active in Association affairs. He had also been involved in the work of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting and was a former board member of the Life Underwriters Political Action Committee. Articulate and energetic, Levine is generally regarded as one of the most impressive personalities to serve as NALU president during the last two or three decades.

Blake T. Newton, president of the Institute of Life Insurance, received the Russell award of 1974. Cited for his energetic and imaginative efforts to improve the image of life insurance before the world, Newton was one of the most respected men in the business. He had succeeded Holgar Johnson as head of the industry's public relations arm in 1962. "All of you at this meeting do indeed make a tremendous difference to the lives, welfare and the health of the people of this country," he reminded the nearly 1,500 business leaders gathered in the dining room. "We propose to tell the people and to remind them of this. Your own recognition of this fact can make all the difference."

Although it had done better in picking winners on previous occasions, the Life Underwriters Political Action Committee still maintained a fairly impressive track record in the November 1974 elections. It approved contributions for three hundred thirty-three candidates for federal office. Of the candidates approved nearly 80 percent were elected to the 94th Congress. The agents had been generous in their support of LUPAC during the early seventies. Evidently all misgiving about life underwriters having a political action committee had disappeared. A regional program sponsored by the AALU in the autumn of 1974 had raised over $71,000 for LUPAC. Given the title "A Morning with the Stars," nationally recognized, outstanding producers such as Tom Wolff, Frank Nathan, Hank McCamish, Bill Harmelin, Frank Sullivan, and John Savage shared their proven ideas and methods for the successful marketing of life and health insurance products with thousands of career underwriters. A substantial contribution to LUPAC was the ticket of admission. Life Association News reported, "Denver, Atlanta, Dallas, and Minneapolis-St. Paul each netted $12,000 or more, chiefly through major efforts to enroll Century Club members." The next year a repeat performance brought in even more money.

As president of the NALU, Levine was eager to see more agents involved in association activity. In November, he told the members of the American Life Insurance Association at the "Tom Grant" breakfast meeting in San Francisco, "The National Association of Life Underwriters should reach a new high in membership in 1975. We should have over 130,000 members. We believe that three are about 2500,000 people selling life insurance full time, and over half of them are members of NALU."

Reflecting the continuing growth, by the mid-seventies the NALU was employing eighty people at its Washington headquarters. Roland Panneton, an attorney formerly without the Department of Justice and a graduate of the College of William and Mary and the American University's Washington College of Law, had joined the staff of the legal department in 1974. By the beginning of the new year another young attorney, William B. Scher, Jr. was added to the law department as tax counsel. Scher had a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and had recently taken his doctor of law degree at George Washington University. He had previously served in the legal division of the board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. At the same time Robert Dolibois was hired to assist Charles Rumbarger in the Field Service Department.

Levine presided over the NALU at a busy time. On the legislative front two chief concerns were the intrusion of banks into the insurance field and getting the insurance commissioners to accept the NALU' proposals for high educational standards in the licensing of agents. The insurance commissioners at their annual meeting gave serious consideration to the agents' proposal but took no conclusive action at that time.

The 1975 NALU convention in Anaheim, California, was a gala affair. Held in the immense grand ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel, the glittering John Newton Russell Memorial Award Dinner was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant evenings in the Association's history. About 2,400 attended the dinner. Lester A. Rosen was the recipient of the award, and the principal speaker was Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States. In citing Rosen for the Russell award the committee observed, "You have lavished your fellows, regardless of their station or condition of life, with an inspiring generosity and consideration, you have never asked from others that which you haven't given yourself."

Drawing attention to the President's address, which was enthusiastically received, Life Association News reported:

In his speech, President Ford noted that life underwriters typify the free enterprise system. He commended life underwriters for the leadership they provide in their communities; for their public service efforts; and for their work in the political arena. He said the work of life underwriters and the investments of insurance companies are "an impressive vote of confidence in the future of America." He promised to continue to battle against the forces of inflation and the inflationary pressures contained in legislation passed by Congress.

He said, "Our task today is to get the mighty engine of free enterprise running at full throttle again." He emphasized that government has a limited capacity to help the economy, but an almost unlimited capacity to harm it. He reminded the life underwriters that "a government big enough to give you everything you want is a gpvernement big enough to take from you everything you have"[xxxxvii]

The delegates elected Bruce C. Hendrickson of Holdrege, Nebraska, to serve as president for the 1975-76 term. He was one of the NALU's rare midwestern small-town agent presidents, and one of the youngest.

Commenting on Hendrickson's year of service to the NALU at the 1976 convention in Miami, Carney Smith said, "Coming as he does form a small town in Nebraska, he represents 'middle America.' He also represents the kind of agent anyone can be if he or she wants it badly enough. He writes over 100 lives a year and his annual production recently has fluctuated between $2 and $5 million a year, which, incidentally, is a fairly good bracket in which to fluctuate. In this, his presidential year, he has so far paid for over $2 million in new life insurance. He has done this in spite of the heavy demands on his personal time by his duties of his office, which calls for a considerable amount of travel."

This was a time of intense federal legislative activity for the NALU. Consumerist issues, such as cost disclosure, national health, the relationship between banking and insurance, and a number of closely related problems made the 1975-76 Association year an exceptionally busy one for the Association's legal staff. Equally in demand was NALU secretary Jack E. Bobo, a general agent for New York Life in Phoenix, Arizona, who also served as cochairman of the committee on Federal Law and Legislation. Working closely with the NALU's leadership, Bobo testified four times in two month before Congressional committees. "Everyone who heard him, including Congressmen and Senators, was impressed with his knowledge and his articulateness," Smith commented later.

On December 3, 1975, Bobo appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance of the Committee on Veterans Affairs to present the NALU's statement concerning S. 2218, the bill to require the Administrator of Veterans Affairs to provide veterans with certain cost information relating to the conversion of government-supervised insurance to individual life insurance polices. The bill called for full cost disclosure. Pointing out that for a whole life policy the agent's commission usually amounted to about 55 percent of the first year's premiums and emphasizing the importance of the agent's role in an insurance transaction, Bobo told the senators, "Because of the nature of a life insurance sales arrangement, we are not persuaded that information as to the front-end load, or commission, payable to the agent for the sale of a life insurance policy would be really meaningful for the consumer." Explaining further, he said:

Since permanent whole life insurance is paid for over a period of years, rather than all at once the agent's commission should properly and fairly be considered in the context of the total purchase price, rather than on its relation to the premium paid on the first year, because a substantial portion of the commission is directly dependent on the total price ultimately paid.[xxxxviii]

Before the year was over, Bobo also testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health to present the NALU's views on the general subject of national health insurance. "The basic problems with our system, as we see it," Bobo told the members, "are: not everyone can share in its benefits; and services are not always available for all persons when needed. The reasons for these problems are complex and involve more than just the insurance mechanism or the medical personnel involved. All elements of the system share in the responsibility for the system's shortcomings." Reiterating the agents' long opposition to nationalization of the health care industry, he said the NALU favored any affirmative policy that would "blend the capabilities of the private health system with the unifying force of the federal government which builds on our present system….We advocate a partnership, not a sole proprietorship." Speaking in favor of the proposed health care bill, H.R. 5990, Bobo remarked:

H.R. 5990 encourages the creation of ambulatory healthcare centers whose primary responsibility and emphasis would be disease prevention and health maintenance and treatment of illnesses on an outpatient basis. The bill provides for loans and grants for the construction of new ambulatory healthcare centers and the modernization of those, which already exist.

In order to coordinate all aspects of our health care system, NALU believes that planning and management should be instituted at the highest levels. NALU notes with approval, therefore, the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974. This Act, when fully implemented, promises to accomplish most of what H.R. 5990 recommends in the way of health planning. NALU is delighted that this authority has been created and looks forward to positive results.[xxxxix]

Early in 1976. Bobo testified before the Senate Banking Committee on a bill introduced by chairman William Proxmire to reassert Congressional control over the entry of banks into other businesses. He told the committee the NALU had long been vitally interested in legislation which would seek to protect the consumer from the effects of undue concentration of resources and economic power in any one segment of the economy, from decreased or unfair competition, conflicts of interests, unlawful tying arrangements and coercion.

One group that worked especially hard during this time to get out the message on the value of life insurance was the NALU Education Committee. With the leadership of its chairman, Robert L. Rose, the committee had executed a very successful program to establish life and health insurance reference shelves in local public and school libraries. They had also had some success in preparing and introducing twelve-week classroom courses in family finance and money management in adult education departments in a number of localities. In November of 1976 immediate past president Hendrickson, James M. Hamilton of Houston and headquarters aide John Galloway participated in the Commissioner's National Conference on Career Education at Houston. An official national bicentennial event sponsored by the U.S. department Of Education, the conference was attended by some 9,000 teachers, guidance counselors, officials from state and local education departments and student leaders. The NALU had a booth on career information and its representatives distributed over 55,000 pieces of literature produced by the NALU, the American Council of Life Insurance and the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association. Hendrickson, Hamilton and Galloway also addressed a workshop with a panel discussion on career opportunities in life and health insurance selling.

The NALU's Committee on Planning and Development, headed by Herbert F. Mischke, proposed a program to focus attention on the work of Association executives. The recognition, the committee suggested, would be appropriately named the C. Carney Smith Award for the Advancement of Professionalism in Association Management. The committee's annual report explained:

The Committee recommendation for a special award honoring C. Carney Smith, CLU, executive vice president of NALU, to a deserving state or local association executive was discussed and presented to the NALU Board of Trustees and a special committee is now in the process of receiving recommendations for the first annual recipient.[xxxxx]

Robert W. Forker of Zanesville, Ohio, became president of the national organization at its 87th convention in Miami. "A real aristocrat in his marketing. He sells executive compensation and $100,000 policies as if they were popcorn," remarked one admirer recently.

The nation's bicentennial year, 1976, was also the silver jubilee of the General Agents and Managers Conference. It marked the twentieth anniversary of the Association's residence in Washington and C. Carney Smith's thirteenth year in office. Besides reviewing the past year in his report to the convention that fall, Smith also looked to the future. "I know that many people saw a story in a trade journal concerning my retirement," he said. " This particular story was somewhat overstated in its interpretation of my plans. The truth is that I have no intention of retiring before the end of my term, which is to expire on December 31, 1978. As you can see, the report of my impending retirement is, like those reports of Mark Twain's death, 'greatly exaggerated.'"

Foreword by Alan Press, 1988-1989 NALU President

Preface by Jack E. Bobo, 1989 NALU Executive Vice President

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Laying the Foundation—A Meeting at the Parker House

Leading Figures—Ransom, Carpenter, Blodgett and Plummer

Conditions Leading to the Foundation of the NALU

Rise of Modern Life Insurance and the General Agency System

Issues and Accomplishments of the First 15 Years

Chapter 2

In the Wake of the Armstrong Investigation

A Royal Commission Investigates Life Insurance Operations in Canada

A Period of Growth and Visibility for the NALU Under Strong Leadership

The NALU Plays a Leading Role in Insurance Education

The NALU During World War I

Chapter 3

The Post-War Decade

The NALU's Extension of Activity

The Agents Move for Recognition

Chapter 4

The Depression and Aftermath

Annual Conventions and Midyear Meetings

The NALU Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary

Chapter 5

The Agents Earn Their Wings

World War II

The NALU Joins the Industry in Legislative Battles

The NALU Establishes the National Quality Award

Chapter 6

Controversies and Schisms (1946-1956)

The Foundation of LUTC

The Nola Patterson Affair

GAMC Formally Organized

Chapter 7

The NALU Goes to Washington

Dispute Over Minimum Deposit Insurance Plans

GAMC Stages First LAMP Meeting

The NALU Celebrates Its Diamond Jubilee Year

The NALU Increases Political Activity

U.S. Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee Investigate Life Insurance

The NALU Responds to Consumerist Activism

Chapter 8

The NALU Reaches the Century Mark

FTC Releases a Study Critical of the Insurance Industry

Formation of the Women Life Underwriters Conference

Drop in Local Membership

The NALU Issues Statements on AIDS

The NALU Combats a New Wave of Attacks

The NALU Celebrates a Century of Service

Open Book

Book Marks

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