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General
Franklin Kreml
Class of 1994
Background:
General Franklin M. Kreml was born January 11, 1907, in Chicago,
Illinois, U.S.A. He attended Northwestern University, Evanston,
Illinois, on scholarship and, while working full-time as an
Evanston police officer, enrolled at John Marshall Law School,
where he received his Juris Doctor with honors in 1932. During
World War II he served in the U.S. Army as chief of the highway
division, Mediterranean theater, and held other important
transportation posts, attaining a rank of brigadier general
(retired 1967). He received five decorations, including the
U.S. Legion of Merit and Honorary Officer, Order of the British
Empire.
Professional
Experience:
As an Evanston police officer (1924-35), General Kreml rose
through the ranks to division commander, establishing an Accident
Prevention Bureau that received national attention for its
dramatic reduction of fatal and serious accidents. This led
to the founding in 1936 of the Northwestern University Traffic
Institute (NUTI) and the Traffic Safety Division of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, both directed by General
Kreml. During his 20-year directorship, NUTI's scope expanded
beyond traffic safety to include research, training, publications,
and field service addressing urgent issues in criminal justice
and law enforcement. In 1955 Northwestern appointed General
Kreml to head a new Transportation Center, where he coordinated
graduate-level programs addressing safety and efficiency of
all transportation modes. In 1962 Northwestern's board of
trustees elected General Kreml vice president-planning and
development. Nine years later, having led a $185 million plan
to success on 70 acres of land reclaimed from Lake Michigan
on the campus shore, he took a leave of absence to become
president and chief executive officer of the Motor Vehicle
Manufacturers Association of the United States. Upon retirement
from full-time university activity in 1981, he continued as
lecturer at NUTI and was named president of the newly organized,
not-for-profit Consortium of Governmental Counselors, Inc.
Career
Highlights:
Franklin Kreml was a pioneer in the field of traffic safety
when law enforcement was doing little about the alarming increase
in motor vehicle deaths and injuries. The Accident Prevention
Bureau he organized in Evanston was replicated successfully
in more than 130 American cities and states. His 20-year directorship
of NUTI gave him the forum he needed to play a pivotal role
in reducing the United States traffic death rate from 15.0
per 100 million vehicle miles in 1935 to 5.0 by 1955. In 1959,
with the presidents of the National Safety Council (which
he had served as vice chairman) and Northwestern University,
he helped found the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
In 1969, he was appointed chairman of the United States Presidential
Task Force on Highway Safety, and contributed to the resulting
report, "Mobility Without Mayhem." His four-year
tenure with the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of
the United States (1971-75) resulted in significant reforms
and an increase of more than $5 million budgeted annually
for outside research, much of it for safety. As president
of the Consortium of Governmental Counselors, Inc., he continued
(without compensation) to serve his dual mission of traffic
safety and the professionalization of law enforcement.
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