Marriner Stoddard Eccles
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Marriner Stoddard Eccles (September 9, 1890 – December 18, 1977) was a U.S. banker, economist, and Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Born in Logan, Utah, he inherited control of an industrial conglomerate from his father, David Eccles. Eccles expanded the corporation into a large western chain of banks called Eccles-Browning Affiliated Banks. He was a millionaire by age 22. The company withstood several bank runs during the Great Depression and, as a leading banker, became involved with the creation of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
After a brief stint at the Treasury, he was appointed by President Roosevelt as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve between 1934 and 1948. He stayed on the Board of Governors until 1951, when he resigned over acrimony between the Fed and the Treasury Department prior to the 1951 Accord. He also participated in post-World War II Bretton Woods negotiations that created the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He later retired back to Utah to run his companies and write his memoirs, titled Beckoning Frontiers.
Marriner Eccles is often seen as an early defender of Keynesian ideas. In that respect, it is generally accepted that he considered monetary policy of secondary importance, and that as a result he allowed the Federal Reserve to be submitted to the interests of the Treasury. In this view, the Federal Reserve after 1935 acquired new instruments to command monetary policy, but it did not change its behavior significantly. Further, his defense of the Federal Reserve-Treasury accord in 1951 is sometimes seen as a reversal of his previous policy stances.
The building that houses the headquarters of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. is named after him.
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| Preceded by Eugene R. Black |
Chairman of the Federal Reserve 1934–1948 |
Succeeded by Thomas B. McCabe |
| Chairmen of the Federal Reserve |  |
|---|---|
| Hamlin • Harding • Crissinger • Young • Meyer • Black • Eccles • McCabe • Martin • Burns • Miller • Volcker • Greenspan • Bernanke |
