Hoover Commission was the popular name of two commissions that recommended ways to improve the administration of the United States government. Their official name was Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government. Former President Herbert Hoover headed the two commissions. The first commission, created by Congress in 1947, completed its report in 1949. The second commission, set up in 1953, made its recommendations in 1955.
The federal government adopted about 74 percent of the first commission’s 273 proposals. It accepted about 64 percent of the second commission’s 314 recommendations. The proposals of the two commissions were estimated to have saved the government $7 billion and $3 billion, respectively. They led to setting up the Department of Defense and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services).
