Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend

by Joseph B. Treaster

Overview

As the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1982, Paul Volcker established himself as one of the most influential economic thinkers. Currently a major advocate for corporate governance and accounting reforms, Volcker’s reputation as a great business leader with uncompromising ethics continues to this day. Written by award-winning New York Times journalist Joseph Treaster, Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend takes readers through the most compelling moments of this legend’s life in private and public service. From his early days as a young Treasury Department official through his appointments to the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Reserve, and James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., this inspiring book captures the significant moments in Volcker life and explores the ethical, economic, and moral dilemmas he faced at every turn.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471735861
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	09/05/2005
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.69(w) x 8.78(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

JOSEPH B. TREASTER has been a reporter for the New York Times for more than thirty years. He has received numerous journalism awards for his work domestically and internationally, including three from the Overseas Press Club of America for his work in Africa and Latin America.

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Praise for Paul Volcker
The making of a financial legend

"Paul Volcker may be the most important figure of our time on the U.S. economic scene. In his book, Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend, Joseph Treaster has captured the man, his time, and his influence with exceptional insight, clarity, and readability. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the American economy."
—Myron Kandel, CNN Financial Editor

"Only a truly great chairman of the Federal Reserve could stay the course, keep interest rates at an all-time high to lower inflation, and save the economy in the face of near unanimous denunciation and derision. That drumbeat was summed up in a congressman's shout, 'Your course of action is wrong. There isn't anybody who says you're right.' That chairman was Paul Volcker. Events, of course, proved Volcker right."
—Ed Koch, former Mayor, New York City and current Partner, Bryan Cave LLP

"Paul Volcker is a true American hero. His courage as a central banker in leading the assault on the Great Inflation of the 1970s was the single most important step on the road to economic renewal in the United States. Treaster's probing look inside the man reveals a strength of character that made it easy for Volcker to do the toughest job in America."
—Stephen S. Roach, Chief Global Economist, Morgan Stanley

"At a time when a number of business leaders have betrayed the public trust upon which their power, position, and, ultimately, the prosperity of their companies depend, Paul Volcker stands out as a financial leader of unusual competence, unquestionable diligence, and uncompromising integrity. Joseph Treaster has vividly captured the essential greatness of the man in his excellent book."
—David Rockefeller III, former Chairman and CEO of The Chase Manhattan Bank

"Joseph Treaster has written a splendidly useful book that reveals how one courageous banker broke the back of double-digit inflation in America. There are up-to-the-minute lessons here for everyone who wants to learn from history rather than be condemned to repeat it.''
—Marshall Loeb, columnist for CBS MarketWatch and former Managing Editor of Fortune and Money

Table of Contents

Foreword.

Chapter 1. A Finance Legend.

Chapter 2. Seventy-Six.

Chapter 3. The Power of the Fed.

Chapter 4. Chairman.

Chapter 5. Youth.

Chapter 6. School Days.

Chapter 7. Hardship.

Chapter 8. Difficult Choices.

Chapter 9. The Fallout.

Chapter 10. Fly-Fishing.

Epilogue.

Bibliography.

Notes.

Acknowledgments.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

Paul Volcker has become an American icon-if not in every bar, at least in the worlds of politics, business, and finance. This short, readable biography covers not only his public life at the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as chairman of the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors, but also his little-known childhood and family life. One of the dramatic public events covered is the "Nixon shock" of 1971, when the United States dropped its commitment to convert dollars into gold on request by foreign central banks and negotiated a devaluation of the dollar. (Volcker was the key deputy to Treasury Secretary John Connolly.) Another is the switch, soon after President Jimmy Carter's appointment of Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve in 1979, to a stiff anti-inflation policy, which provoked mixed reactions during the painful period of disinflation but earned Volcker lasting respect after it was over. In addition to providing a flattering portrait of a dedicated public servant, Treaster offers an informative, nontechnical glimpse at how the Federal Reserve works.

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