1969, Cruikshank obtained a position as a visiting professor at the Labor Studies Center at Pennsylvania State University. From 1971 to 1974, he served as chairman of the American Hospital Association's Citizens Advisory Committee on Health. Cruikshank retired as NCSC president in 1977 to become President Jimmy Carter's advisor on aging. He was appointed chairman of the Federal Council on Aging. Cruikshank had a rocky tenure as a Carter administration official, often speaking publicly against various administration legislative efforts. In 1980, Cruikshank left the Carter administration to head up an education and research effort with the organization Save Our Security (SOS). SOS was established in 1979 by Wilbur Cohen, one of the original drafters of the Social Security Act. SOS was a coalition of more than 200 organizations — primarily labor unions and advocacy groups for the disabled and the aged — formed in response to efforts to weaken Social Security. Later, SOS proposed expanding Social Security disability payments and Medicare benefits, and fought to secure benefits for so-called "notch" beneficiaries. Cruikshank directed the Nelson Cruikshank Social Insurance Study Project for SOS. The project developed curricula and educational materials for elementary, secondary and post-secondary students to increase awareness of social insurance. Concurrently with his role in SOS, Cruikshank served as NCSC's president emeritus. Cruikshank moved to Philadelphia in 1984. His health began to fail, and he died in a nursing home in 1986. Notes References Brown, Michael K. "Bargaining for Social Rights: Unions and the Reemergence of Welfare Capitalism, 1945-1952." Political Science Quarterly. 112:4 (Winter 1997-1998). Fink, Gary M., ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984. Hoffman, Alice M. and Hoffman, Howard S., eds. The Cruikshank Chronicles: Anecdotes, Stories, and Memoirs of a New Deal Liberal. North Haven, Conn.: Archon Books, 1989. Koff, Theodore H. and Park, Richard W. Aging Public Policy: Bonding the Generations. 2nd ed. Amityville, N.Y.: Baywood Publishing Co., 1999. "Nelson H. Cruikshank." New York Times. June 25, 1986. "History: Nelson Hale Cruikshank (1902-1986)." AFL-CIO, no date. accessed January 7, 2007. Weeks, Lewis E. and Berman, Howard J. Shapers of American Health Care Policy: An Oral History. Chicago: Health Administration Press, 1985. Whitaker, Joseph D. "Nelson Cruikshank, Adviser on Elderly, Dies." Washington Post. June 21, 1986. External links Papers of Nelson Cruikshank, Wisconsin State Historical Society American trade union leaders American Federation of Labor people AFL–CIO people Social security in the United States