Director of the United States Census Bureau

Chief administrator of the United States Census Bureau

Director of the Bureau of the Census

Incumbent
Robert Santos
since January 5, 2022

Appointer| President of the United States

The director of the Bureau of the Census is the chief administrator of the United States Census Bureau (USCB). The officeholder is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate and assisted by the Deputy Director of the United States Census Bureau. The current director is Robert Santos.

## History of the office

[edit]

The nominal head of the early censuses was the Secretary of State, but management responsibility was actually devolved to the U.S. marshal in each state. These marshals collected and tabulated their own returns; the Secretary of State only oversaw the final compilation and tabulation of the data.[1]

By 1840, the increasing standardization of census questionnaires and the enumeration process made it clear that more leadership at the federal level was necessary. Secretary of State John Forsyth appointed William Augustus Weaver as the first "superintending clerk of the census" in that year. Weaver and his successors oversaw the technical aspects of the census, including designing questionnaires, and more closely managed the tabulation process.[1]

By 1870, the leader of the Census Office was the "superintendent of the census." The superintendent oversaw the entire census-taking process, and usually held the position from a year before the census until the final tabulations had been published.[1]

After the Census Office became a permanent agency in 1902, the first director was the incumbent superintendent, William Rush Merriam. He set the standard for many directors of the U.S. Census Bureau over the next hundred years by focusing on external issues such as congressional testimony and leaving technical operations to the experts.[1]

In 2012, the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011[2] set the term for the Census Bureau director at five years; the director can serve for up to two terms. The Census director must also "have a demonstrated ability in managing large organizations and experience in the collection, analysis, and use of statistical data."

## Chronology of Census Bureau leadership

[edit]

The following is a chronological list of those who supervised the Census of the United States.[1]

### Secretaries of State

[edit]

The Secretary of State was the nominal director of the first five censuses, responsible for supervision and compilation of each U.S. marshal's tabulation. In reality, these cabinet officers did very little actual directing. The authorizing legislation for most early censuses was very specific, and the marshals oversaw the actual enumeration process.[3]

Order  | Image  | Name  | Census year

|
|
|

1  |  | Thomas Jefferson | 1790
2  |  | John Marshall | 1800
3  |  | Robert Smith | 1810
4  |  | John Quincy Adams | 1820
5  |  | Martin Van Buren | 1830

### Superintending Clerks of the Census

[edit]

Beginning in 1840 and continuing for the succeeding three censuses, operations and oversight were directed by a superintending clerk of the census.[4] Also, the Census Office shut down after it finished publishing the results of each census. Because of this, there were several periods in the nineteenth century in which there was no director.[5]

Order  | Image  | Name  | In office

|
|
|

1  |  | William Augustus Weaver | 1840
2  |  | Joseph Camp Griffith Kennedy | 1850–1853
3  |  | James Dunwoody Brownson DeBow | 1853–1855
4  |  | Joseph Camp Griffith Kennedy | 1860–1865

### Superintendents of the Census

[edit]

The Census Bureau maintains biographies in their Agency History section.[6][7]

Order  | Image  | Name  | In office

|
|
|

1  |  | Francis Amasa Walker | 1870
2  |  | Francis Amasa Walker | 1879–1881
3  |  | Charles W. Seaton | 1881–1885
4  |  | Robert Percival Porter | 1889–1893
5  |  | Carroll D. Wright | 1893–1897
6  |  | William Rush Merriam | 1899–1902

### Directors of the Census Bureau

[edit]

The Census Bureau became a permanent agency in 1902.[5]

Order  | Image  | Name  | In office

|
|
|

1  |  | William Rush Merriam | 1902–1903
2  |  | Simon Newton Dexter North | 1903–1909
3  |  | Edward Dana Durand | 1909–1913
4  |  | William J. Harris | 1913–1915
5  |  | Samuel Lyle Rogers | 1915–1921
6  |  | William Mott Steuart | 1921–1933
7  |  | William Lane Austin | 1933–1941
8  |  | James Clyde Capt | 1941–1949
9  |  | Roy Victor Peel | 1950–1953
10  |  | Robert Wilbur Burgess | 1953–1961
11  |  | Richard M. Scammon | 1961–1965
12  |  | A. Ross Eckler | 1965–1969
13  |  | George Hay Brown | 1969–1973
14  |  | Vincent Barabba | 1973–1976
15  |  | Manuel D. Plotkin | 1977–1979
–  |  | Vincent Barabba | 1979–1981
16  |  | Bruce Chapman | 1981–1983
17  |  | John G. Keane | 1984–1987
18  |  | Barbara Everitt Bryant | 1989–1993
19  |  | Martha Farnsworth Riche | October 1994 – January 1998
–  |  | James Holmes[8] | January 1998 – October 1998
20  |  | Kenneth Prewitt | 1998–2001
21  |  | Charles Louis Kincannon | March 13, 2002 – January 3, 2008
22  |  | Steve H. Murdock | January 4, 2008 – January 9, 2009
–  |  | Thomas Mesenbourg | January 9, 2009 – July 15, 2009
23  |  | Robert M. Groves | July 15, 2009 – August 11, 2012
–  |  | Thomas Mesenbourg | August 11, 2012 – August 8, 2013
24  |  | John H. Thompson | August 8, 2013 – June 30, 2017
–  |  | Ron Jarmin | June 30, 2017 – January 7, 2019
25  |  | Steven Dillingham | January 7, 2019 – January 20, 2021
–  |  | Ron Jarmin | January 20, 2021 – January 5, 2022
26  |  | Robert Santos | January 5, 2022 – Present

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e "Director Biographies - History - U.S. Census Bureau".
2. ^ "112th Congress Public Law 166". United States Government Publishing Office. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017.
3. ^ "History:Directors 1790 - 1810". www.census.gov. Archived from the original on 2008-12-30.
4. ^ "History:Directors 1840 - 1865". www.census.gov. Archived from the original on 2008-04-27.
5. ^ a b "History:Directors 1870 - 1893". Archived from the original on 2008-04-13. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
6. ^ "Directors 1865 - 1893 - History". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
7. ^ "Directors 1893 - 1909 - History". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 2, 2023.
8. ^ James Holmes, who is African American, was named acting director on a temporary basis in 1998 after the resignation of Martha Riche. Robert Santos is confirmed as Census Bureau's first Latino director, Associated Press, Nov 5, 2021