Chairman of the Fed
William McChesney Martin Jr., and the Creation of the Modern American Financial System
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- $36.99
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- $36.99
Publisher Description
This is the first biography of William McChesney Martin, Jr. (1906-1998), the first paid president of the New York Stock Exchange and the chairman of the Federal Reserve System under Presidents Truman to Nixon. The extent of Martin’s influence on the course of American economic history was significant: arguably he has done more to strengthen and reform the nation’s most important financial institutions than has any other individual.
Chairman of the Fed tells Martin’s fascinating life story and explains his lasting impact on the NYSE and the Fed, both troubled institutions that Martin transformed. The book provides an inside look into the economic deliberations of five presidential administrations and describes Martin’s battles to bring about ethical and intelligent regulation of U.S. financial markets. His experiences shed light not only on the evolution of the American financial system but also on critical issues that confront the system today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This richly detailed, fascinating history of a professional life virtually defines a bygone ideal of public service. When Martin was appointed to the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System by President Harry Truman in 1951, the Fed had lost much of its credibility, says former World Bank executive Bremner. Martin, a self-effacing but strong-willed manager who had introduced long-needed reforms at the New York Stock Exchange between 1938 and 1941, appreciated that the Fed's effectiveness depended crucially on gaining White House and congressional allies, on boosting the professional level of research and on regaining the confidence of the banking industry. Through meticulous research deftly presented, Bremner shows that Martin's persistence, calm and forthrightness gained new respect for the Fed; his dogged efforts over nearly 20 years re-established a central role for monetary policy in U.S. economic planning. Despite being a dedicated inflation fighter throughout his tenure (his motto was: "A sound currency is coined freedom"), a disastrously disruptive, Vietnam-related inflation he had long forecast was on the horizon at the time he retired in 1970. If Martin thus felt a sense of failure as he left the Fed, Bremner's book justly celebrates the invaluable, long-lasting effects of his overarching plan to establish the Fed's function in coordinated economic policy making.
