Arthur F. Burns facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Arthur Burns
United States Ambassador to Germany
In office June 30, 1981 – May 16, 1985
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Walter J. Stoessel Jr.
Succeeded by	Richard Burt
10th Chairman of the Federal Reserve
In office February 1, 1970 – January 31, 1978
President	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Deputy	James Robertson George W. Mitchell Stephen Gardner
Preceded by	William McChesney Martin
Succeeded by	G. William Miller
Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
In office January 31, 1970 – March 31, 1978
President	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	William McChesney Martin
Succeeded by	Nancy Teeters
Counselor to the President
In office January 20, 1969 – November 5, 1969
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Bryce Harlow Daniel Patrick Moynihan
3rd Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers
In office March 19, 1953 – December 1, 1956
President	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Leon Keyserling
Succeeded by	Raymond J. Saulnier
Personal details
Born	Arthur Frank Burns (1904-04-27)April 27, 1904 Stanislau, Austria-Hungary (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine)
Died	June 26, 1987(1987-06-26) (aged 83) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Democrat Republican
Spouse	Helen Bernstein
Education	Columbia University (BA, MA, PhD)
Academic career
Doctoral advisor	Wesley Clair Mitchell
Doctoral students	Arthur Melvin Okun

Arthur Frank Burns (born April 27, 1904 – died June 26, 1987) was an important American economist and diplomat. He is best known for being the 10th Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1970 to 1978. This role is like being the head of the United States' central bank.

Before that, he advised President Dwight D. Eisenhower on economic matters. He also served as the first Counselor to the President for Richard Nixon. After his time at the Federal Reserve, he became the U.S. Ambassador to West Germany.

Early Life and Education

Arthur Burns was born in 1904 in a place called Stanislau. This area was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, it is known as Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine. His parents were Polish-Jewish. His father worked as a house painter.

Arthur was very smart from a young age. By age six, he could translate the Talmud into Polish and Russian. At nine, he was already debating ideas like socialism. In 1914, when he was ten, his family moved to Bayonne, New Jersey, in the United States. He finished high school there.

At 17, Burns received a scholarship to attend Columbia University. He worked many jobs to support himself while studying. He was a postal clerk and even a shoe salesman. He earned both his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees in 1925. He graduated with high honors.

Academic Career

After college, Arthur Burns became a teacher. He taught economics at Rutgers University starting in 1927. He taught there until 1944.

Inspiring Future Economists

Burns was a very influential professor. One of his students was Milton Friedman, who later became a famous economist. Burns convinced Friedman that modern economics could help solve big problems. He believed it could even help end the Great Depression, a time of severe economic hardship.

In 1930, Arthur Burns married Helen Bernstein, who was a teacher.

While teaching at Rutgers, Burns continued his own studies at Columbia University. He became a student of Wesley Clair Mitchell. Mitchell was a founder of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). In 1933, Burns joined the NBER and began studying business cycles. These are the ups and downs of the economy. He earned his Ph.D. in economics in 1934.

In 1944, he left Rutgers. The next year, he became the director of research at the NBER.

Researching Economic Cycles

Arthur Burns spent much of his academic career studying business cycles. He looked at how long economic good times (expansions) lasted. He also studied what economic factors changed during good times and bad times (recessions). His first major book on this topic was Production Trends in the United States Since 1870, published in 1934.

He often worked with Wesley Clair Mitchell. In 1946, they published an important book called Measuring Business Cycles. This book showed how the NBER analyzed economic cycles. Burns also started the tradition of officially deciding when recessions began and ended. Today, the NBER is still the main authority for dating recessions.

Burns's detailed work on the overall economy, known as macroeconomics, influenced other economists. His research helped Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz write their famous book, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867–1960.

Public Service

Arthur Burns held several important roles in the U.S. government.

Counselor to the President

In 1969, when Richard Nixon became President, he appointed Burns as Counselor to the President. This was a new position. It was created so Burns could advise Nixon on economic policy. It was also a temporary role before Burns became the head of the Federal Reserve.

As expected, Burns was chosen to replace the outgoing Fed Chairman, William McChesney Martin. He left his role in the Nixon administration in November 1969.

Federal Reserve Chairman

Arthur Burns served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from February 1970 to January 1978. This was a challenging time for the U.S. economy.

During his time, there was a lot of inflation. Inflation means that prices for goods and services go up. President Nixon tried to control prices and wages. Meanwhile, the Fed, under Burns, increased the amount of money in circulation.

Burns and President Nixon sometimes disagreed. Nixon wanted the Fed to make it easier to borrow money, especially when he was running for re-election. Burns believed the country was not ready to accept higher unemployment rates to control inflation.

The inflation rate rose significantly during his term. It went from about 6% in 1970 to over 12% in 1974. This was partly due to oil shortages, like the 1973 oil crisis. By the end of his term, inflation had fallen but was still high.

In 1976, Burns received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award. This award recognizes great public service by elected or appointed officials.

Ambassador to West Germany

After leaving the Federal Reserve, President Ronald Reagan appointed Arthur Burns as the United States Ambassador to West Germany. He served in this role in Bonn from June 1981 to May 1985.

Death

Arthur Burns passed away on June 26, 1987. He died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Criticism

Some economists have criticized Arthur Burns's time as Fed chairman. They point out that the high inflation that started in the 1970s took more than ten years to fix.

A famous quote, "The ultimate purpose of an economy is to produce more consumer goods," has sometimes been wrongly linked to Burns. However, there is no proof he ever said this. In fact, he often spoke about the importance of saving money and being financially responsible.

Selected Works

• Burns, Arthur Frank; Mitchell, Wesley C., Measuring Business Cycles, National Bureau of Economic Research (Studies in Business Cycles), 1946
• Burns, Arthur Frank, Wesley Clair Mitchell: The Economic Scientist. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1952
• Burns, Arthur Frank, The Frontiers of Economic Knowledge: Essays, Princeton University Press, 1954. Reprinted from a National Bureau of Economic Research publication.
• Burns, Arthur Frank, Prosperity Without Inflation, Buffalo, Smith, Keynes & Marshall; distributed by Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y., 1958
• Burns, Arthur Frank, et al., The Anguish of Central Banking, Per Jacobsson Foundation, 1979

See Also

• Economic Cycle Research Institute

Images for kids

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  Arthur Burns in 1955