Securities and Exchange Commission

From SourceWatch

The Securities and Exchange Commission, commonly referred to as the SEC, is the United States governing body which has primary responsibility for overseeing the regulation of the securities industry. It enforces, among other acts, the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisors Act. It removed regulatory authority from the Federal Trade Commission.

The SEC has five Commissioners who are appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. Their terms last five years and are staggered so that one Commissioner's term ends on June 5 of each year. To ensure that the SEC remains non-partisan, no more than three Commissioners may belong to the same political party. The President also designates one of the Commissioners as Chairman, the SEC's top executive.

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt:

• Joseph P. Kennedy - 1934-35 (Chair: 1934-35)
• George C. Mathews - 1934-40
• James M. Landis - 1934-37 (Chair: 1935-37)
• Robert E. Healy - 1934-46
• Ferdinand Pecora - 1934-35
• J.D. Ross - 1935-37
• William O. Douglas - 1936-39 (Chair: 1937-39)
• Jerome N. Frank - 1937-41 (Chair: 1939-41)
• John W. Hanes - 1938
• Edward C. Eicher - 1938-42 (Chair: 1941-42)
• Leon Henderson - 1939-41
• Sumner T. Pike - 1940-46
• Ganson Purcell - 1941-46 (Chair: 1942-46)
• Edmund Burke, Jr. - 1941-43
• Robert H. O'Brien - 1942-44
• Robert K. McConnaughey - 1943-49
• James J. Caffrey - 1945-47 (Chair: 1946-47)

Under President Harry S. Truman:

• Richard B. McEntire - 1946-53
• Edmond M. Hanrahan - 1946-49 (Chair: 1948-49)
• Harry A. McDonald - 1947-52 (Chair: 1949-52)
• Paul R. Rowen - 1948-55
• Donald C. Cook - 1949-53 (Chair: 1952-53)
• Edward T. McCormick - 1949-51
• Robert I. Millonzi - 1951-52
• Clarence H. Adams - 1952-56
• J. Howard Rossbach - 1952-53

Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower:

• Ralph H. Demmler - 1953-55 (Chair: 1953-55)
• J. Sinclair Armstrong - 1953-57 (Chair: 1955-57)
• A.J. Goodwin, Jr. - 1953-55
• Andrew Downey Orrick - 1955-60
• Harold C. Patterson - 1955-60
• Earl F. Hastings - 1956-61
• James C. Sargent - 1956-60
• Edward N. Gadsby - 1957-61 (Chair: 1957-61)
• Byron D. Woodside - 1960-67
• Daniel J. McCauley - 1960-61

Under President John F. Kennedy:

• J. Allen Frear, Jr. - 1961-63
• William L. Cary - 1961-64 (Chair: 1961-64)
• Manuel F. Cohen - 1961-69 (Chair: 1964-69)
• Jack M. Whitney II - 1961-64

Under President Lyndon B. Johnson:

• Hugh F. Owens - 1964-73
• Hamer H. Budge - 1964-71 (Chair: 1969-71)
• Francis M. Wheat - 1964-69
• Richard B. Smith - 1967-71

Under President Richard M. Nixon:

• James J. Needham - 1969-72
• Albert Sydney Herlong - 1969-73
• William J. Casey - 1971-73 (Chair: 1971-73)
• Philip A. Loomis, Jr. - 1971-82
• John R. Evans - 1973-83
• G. Bradford Cook - 1973 (Chair: 1973)
• Ray Garrett, Jr. - 1973-75 (Chair: 1973-75)
• A.A. Sommer, Jr. - 1973-76
• Irving M. Pollack - 1974-80

Under President Gerald R. Ford:

• Roderick M. Hills - 1975-77 (Chair: 1975-77)

Under President Jimmy Carter:

• Harold M. Williams - 1977-81 (Chair: 1977-81)
• Roberta S. Karmel - 1977-80
• Stephen J. Friedman - 1980-81
• Barbara S. Thomas - 1980-83

Under President Ronald Reagan:

• John S.R. Shad - 1981-87 (Chair: 1981-87)
• Bevis Longstreth - 1981-84
• James C. Treadway, Jr. - 1982-85
• Charles C. Cox - 1983-89
• Charles L. Marinaccio - 1984-85
• Aulana L. Peters - 1984-88
• Joseph A. Grundfest - 1985-90
• Edward H. Fleischman - 1986-92
• David S. Ruder - 1987-89 (Chair: 1987-89)
• Mary L. Schapiro - 1988-94

Under president George Herbert Walker Bush:

• Richard C. Breeden - 1989-93 (Chair: 1989-93)
• Philip R. Lochner, Jr. - 1990-91
• Richard Y. Roberts - 1990-95
• J. Carter Beese, Jr. - 1992-94

Under president Bill Clinton:

• Arthur Levitt, Jr. - 1993-2001 (Chair: 1993-2001)
• Steven Wallman - 1994-97
• Norman S. Johnson - 1996-2000
• Isaac C. Hunt, Jr. - 1996-2002
• Paul R. Carey - 1997-2001
• Laura S. Unger - 1997-2002

Under president George Walker Bush:

• Harvey L. Pitt - 2001-03 (Chair: 2001-03)
• Cynthia Glassman - 2002-present
• Paul Atkins - 2002-present
• Roel Campos - 2002-present
• Harvey Goldschmid - 2002-present
• William H. Donaldson - 2003-present (Chair: 2003-present)
• Kathleen L. Casey (nominee 2006)

Source: SEC History.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• American Stock Exchange
• London Stock Exchange
• New York Stock Exchange
• Pacific Stock Exchange
• Philadelphia Stock Exchange
• securities and commodities violations

External links

• Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington Post, December 18, 2002.