1904-
Chairman, Federal Reserve Board

Government Technocrat.

Education.

Eisenhower.

Kennedy and Johnson.

Federal Reserve.

New Economic Policy.

The Problem of Timing.

Crisis Management.

The turbulent economy of the 1970s gave Burns many opportunities to carry out the crisis management activities of the central banker. Two of the most important were the 1970 bankruptcy of the Penn Central Railroad and the 1975 loan default by New York City. In both cases Burns acted quickly to provide adequate liquidity to smooth the financial system through the crisis. Burns's easy manner and mainstream ideas about economic policy and nonideological approach to government enabled him to continue serving presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter as Federal Reserve chairman. In 1978 Burns was replaced as chairman by Paul Volcker. In 1981 he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to be ambassador to West Germany.

Source:

William Safire, Before the Fall: An Inside View of...