Arthur Burns | |
---|---|
United States Ambassador to Germany | |
In office June 30, 1981 – May 16, 1985 |
|
President | Ronald Reagan |
Preceded by | Walter Stoessel |
Succeeded by | Richard Burt |
Chair of the Federal Reserve | |
In office February 1, 1970 – March 8, 1978 |
|
President |
Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter |
Deputy |
James Robertson George Mitchell Stephen Gardner |
Preceded by | Bill Martin |
Succeeded by | William Miller |
Counselor to the President | |
In office January 20, 1969 – November 5, 1969 |
|
President | Richard Nixon |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by |
Bryce Harlow Pat Moynihan |
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers | |
In office March 19, 1953 – December 1, 1956 |
|
President | Dwight Eisenhower |
Preceded by | Leon Keyserling |
Succeeded by | Raymond Saulnier |
Personal details | |
Born |
Stanislau, Austria-Hungary (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) |
August 27, 1904
Died | June 26, 1987 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
(aged 82)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Helen Bernstein |
Education | Columbia University (BA, MA) |
Academic career | |
Doctoral advisor |
Wesley Clair Mitchell |
Doctoral students |
Arthur Melvin Okun |
Arthur Frank Burns (August 27, 1904 – June 26, 1987) was an American economist. His career alternated between academia and government. From 1927 to the 1970s, Burns taught and researched at Rutgers University, Columbia University, and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Burns was the chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors from 1953 to 1956 under Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. In 1953, he stated the American economy's "ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods." He served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1970 to 1978 and as Ambassador to West Germany from 1981 to 1985.
Burns was born in Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk), Austrian Poland (Galicia), a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1904 to Polish-Jewish parents, Sarah Juran and Nathan Burnseig, who worked as a house painter. He showed aptitude early in his childhood, when he translated the Talmud into Polish and Russian by age six and debated socialism at age nine. In 1914, he immigrated to Bayonne, New Jersey, with his parents.
At age 17, Burns enrolled in Columbia University on a scholarship offered by the university secretary. He worked in jobs ranging from postal clerk to shoe salesman during his time at Columbia as a student before earning his B.A. and M.A. in 1925, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.
After college, he began teaching economics at Rutgers University in 1927, a role that he continued until 1944. Burns through his lectures became one of two professors, the other being Homer Jones, credited by Milton Friedman as a key influence for his decision to become an economist. Burns had convinced Friedman, Rutgers class of 1932, that modern economics could help end the Great Depression.