G. William Miller

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George William Miller (March 9, 1925 – March 17, 2006) served as the 65th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Carter from August 6, 1979 to January 20, 1981. He previously served as the 11th Chairman of the Federal Reserve, where he had been serving since March 8, 1978.

[edit] Early life and career

Born in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, Miller grew up in Borger, Texas. He graduated in 1945 from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a B.S. in marine engineering and served until 1949 as a Coast Guard officer in the Far East and on the U.S. West Coast. He received a law degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley in 1952, and joined the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City.

In 1956, Miller joined Textron, Inc. He became a Vice President of the company in 1957 and President in 1960. In 1968 he became Chief Executive Officer of Textron and was elected Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1974, a post he held until he came to the Federal Reserve Board.

At the time he joined the Federal Reserve Board, Miller was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and of several corporations. He was also a member of the Business Council and the Business Roundtable and Chairman of the Conference Board and of the National Alliance of Businessmen.

From 1963 to 1965, Mr. Miller was Chairman of the Industry Advisory Council of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and in 1966 and 1967 he was a member of the National Council on the Humanities. Miller was also a member of the "think tank" Club of Rome. In characteristic fashion, he privately quipped that the other members were all gullible and that he was just playing games with them, actually feeding them nonsense with his futuristic pronouncements. But still, he insisted, he could garner their adulation at will.

[edit] Federal Reserve and Treasury Secretary

Carter appointed Miller to head the US Federal Reserve replacing Arthur Burns in March 1978. He was only Chairman for just over a year when Carter appointed him as Secretary of the Treasury. He inherited a high inflation economy and his policies did not have an obvious impact.

In August 1979, Carter appointed him as Secretary of the Treasury replacing Michael Blumenthal as part of a Cabinet reshuffle. The reshuffle was prompted by Miller's ambition to have Blumenthal's post. So he leaked certain unsavoury personal details about Blumenthal to Carter and, soon, Blumenthal was gone. Paul Volcker was appointed to replace Miller. He became the only person to date to serve as both US Treasury Secretary and Chairman of the Federal Reserve. As Treasury Secretary, Miller is best known for his role on the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Board which oversaw management of a loan of $1.5 billion dollars to Chrysler to rescue it from bankruptcy. Chrysler recovered in the early 1980's resulting in early repayment of the loan. [1]

While Miller was an able administrator, his economic policies failed to contain inflation nor did they have much impact on rising unemployment rates. The poor state of the economy was a major factor in the defeat of Carter by Ronald Reagan.

[edit] References

• Secretaries of the Treasury, G. William Miller
• Miami Herald Ex-Fed chief, Treasury Secretary G. William Miller dies at age 81 March 18 2006
• Washington Post "Fed Chairman G. William Miller, 81", March 18 2006
• Department of the Treasury Resignation of W. Michael Blumenthal and Nomination of G. William Miller To Be Secretary. July 19, 1979 American Reference Library

Preceded by: Arthur F. Burns	Chairman of the Federal Reserve 1978–1979	Succeeded by: Paul Volcker
Preceded by: W. Michael Blumenthal	United States Secretary of the Treasury 1979–1981	Succeeded by: Donald Regan

United States Secretaries of the Treasury

Hamilton • Wolcott • Dexter • Gallatin • Campbell • Dallas • Crawford • Rush • Ingham • McLane • Duane • Taney • Woodbury • Ewing • Forward • Spencer • Bibb • Walker • Meredith • Corwin • Guthrie • Cobb • Thomas • Dix • Chase • Fessenden • McCulloch • Boutwell • Richardson • Bristow • Morrill • Sherman • Windom • Folger • Gresham • McCulloch • Manning • Fairchild • Windom • Foster • Carlisle • Gage • Shaw • Cortelyou • MacVeagh • McAdoo • Glass • Houston • Mellon • Mills • Woodin • Morgenthau • Vinson • Snyder • Humphrey • Anderson • Dillon • Fowler • Barr • Kennedy • Connally • Shultz • Simon • Blumenthal • Miller • Regan • Baker • Brady • Bentsen • Rubin • Summers • O'Neill • Snow • Paulson

Chairmen of the Federal Reserve
Hamlin • Harding • Crissinger • Young • Meyer • Black • Eccles • McCabe • Martin • Burns • Miller • Volcker • Greenspan • Bernanke