John R. Steelman

American politician

John Roy Steelman (June 23, 1900 – July 14, 1999) was the first person to serve as "The Assistant to the President of the United States", in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1946 to 1953. The office later became the White House Chief of Staff. He holds the record for the longest term as Chief of Staff at six years.

John Roy Steelman was born on a farm in Thornton, Arkansas, the son of Martha Ann (née Richardson) and Pleasant C. Steelman. After graduating from high school, he served in World War I. To save money for college tuition, he held jobs that included bookkeeping, logging and agriculture. He rode the railways to Wichita, Kansas, to work in the wheat fields and proudly recalled his time as a blanket stiff, the label used among hobos for a migrant laborer who carried his blanket with him. Steelman was a descendant of Cpt. Hans Månsson and his wife Ella Stille. Hans was a Swedish soldier, as well as a convicted criminal, who became a respected leader in both New Sweden and the Dutch New Netherland. Ella was the daughter of Olof Persson Stille, a New Swedish Chief Justice. The couple had six sons together. After Han's death, Ella and her sons adopted the surname Steelman, presumably from a combination of her maiden name Stille and her husband's patronym, Måns. Steelman attended Henderson Brown College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and graduated in 1922. He later went to Vanderbilt University, where he earned his MA in 1924. He received his Ph. D. in 1928 from University of North Carolina in economics and sociology. He was Professor of Sociology and Economics in Alabama College in Montevallo, Alabama from 1928 to 1934.

Steelman's first marriage to Jean Mitchell and second marriage to Ruth Emma Zimmerman ended in divorce. When he died of natural causes in July 1999, in Naples, Florida, at the age of 99, he was survived by his wife of 38 years, Ellen Brown Steelman.