Lessons From History

NALU emerged from this experience resolved to be involved in the legislative process and with a commitment to raise the level of the agent to a profession through education, training and better public relations. Agent education efforts were spearheaded by the dynamic Ernest J. Clark (NALU President 1912-14). Over the next decade, NALU leaders like Ernest and Paul Clark, Ed Woods, John Newton Russell and Julian Myrick, at great personal sacrifice, implemented numerous educational programs pursuant to NALUs goal. They worked with the Carnegie Organization, the YMCA and community colleges, but with few exceptions, universities did not offer courses of study in insurance because there was no textbook or course outlines.

To remedy this, NALU contracted with Dr. Solomon Huebner, Professor of Insurance at the University of Pennsylvania, to write such a text. Ed Woods, NALU President, wrote a personal check for $10,000 (a tidy sum in 1915) to the publisher as a guarantor. Following the publication of the textbook, Huebner remained as a consultant to NALU as they pursued the goal of professional status for agents.

At the 1925 mid-year meeting of NALU, Guy MacLaughlin, chairman of the educational committee, made a motion that NALU create a college for Life Underwriters leading to a professional designation. After 2 years of contentious debate and over the objections of powerful interests, NALU, at its 1927 meeting, voted to found the American College of Life Underwriters and elected as its officers, Ed Woods, President, Guy MacLaughlin, V.P., S. Huebner, Dean, Earnest Clark, Secretary, and Franklin Ganse, Treasurer. The incorporators were past NALU presidents and other NALU leaders. It is worth noting that the struggle to create a college of our own took more than 15 years.

Another resolve resulting from Armstrong was the commitment to improve public relations. There were many efforts to reach that goal, but a major breakthrough occurred during the presidency of Holger Johnson (1938-39). The company organizations had for some time studied the idea of an industry public relations program but no action ensued. In early 1938, at the prodding of Johnson, NALU passed the “Richmond Resolution,” which urged the companies to establish what became known as the “Institute of Life Insurance.” The institute was created and Holger Johnson became its first president and served 22 years. Creation of the institute was timely, because President Franklin Roosevelt convened an investigation (1939-40) to look into allegations of predatory practices in our business during the Depression era. The institute was helpful in blunting the criticism.

To fill the gap between company training and CLU, in 1947, NALU co-founded LUTC.

The final resolve of NALU following Armstrong legislative involvement, received a major boost in 1966 by the creation of the Life Underwriters Political Action Committee (now IFAPAC). For years, NALU leaders, like Charles Zimmerman (President 1939-40), had been testifying before legislative bodiesbut the door was not always open for us to tell our story. LUPAC, under the leadership of Robert Bowlis and Kent Babcock, helped to remedy this problem.

Our history is a tale of passion, perseverance, vision and action by strong leaders bent on improving our lot and that of our policyholders. All of these leaders are now gone, but their legacy remains for us to enjoy and learn from.

Those who say NAIFA is no longer relevant are really saying, “Our troubles are over; there will never be another investigation or adverse legislation and our growth opportunities through education are as good as they need to be.” I can think of nothing that is more absurd. It is the ultimate form of denial and a repudiation of the “lessons of history.”

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, September 9, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.