George M. Humphrey

George Magoffin Humphrey ( born March 8, 1890 in Cheboygan County ( Michigan); † January 20, 1970 in Cleveland ( Ohio)) was an American businessman, politician and Minister of Finance.

Study and career

The son of a lawyer graduated in law at the University of Michigan, which he completed in 1912. He then worked as a lawyer at the law firm of his father in Saginaw, before 1919 Counsel of MA Hanna & Company steelworks. There he rose to the presidency in 1929 and 1952 as Chief Executive Officer on. In these roles, he led the company into other sectors such as banking, copper, plastic and natural gas industry.

Political career

Economic adviser to the Truman administration

In the late 1940s he entered the service of the government of President Harry S. Truman in particular as a consultant on economic issues. 1948 to 1949 he was chairman of the Committee for examination of the administrative reparations for economic cooperation. In 1949, he was then a member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Commerce. Finally, in 1950 he was assistant in the negotiation of a contract between the mining companies and the United Mine Workers Union.

Treasury under President Eisenhower

After the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President of the United States, he was appointed Minister of Finance of this on 21 January 1953.

In this role, he was a strong supporter of tax reform. This was in 1954 adopted by the Congress of the United States and saw the reduction of personal income tax and the abolition of taxation of profits over foresaw. Humphrey was particularly keen to reduce government spending so as to fight inflation. Through his administration he succeeded in the financial year 1956 even to generate a budget surplus, so that the federal budget graduating positive since 1951 for the first time.

Humphrey was not only one of a number of business people who could be moved by President Eisenhower for the takeover of government tasks, but probably because of his close friendship with Eisenhower also the most influential advisers to the president. On July 29, 1957, he entered the grounds of age from his office as Minister of Finance. Successor was on the same day Robert B. Anderson.

In the same year he first returned to Hanna steelworks as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and shortly thereafter became President and CEO of National Steel Corporation.

Web links, and background literature

Biography and portrait on the website of the U.S. Treasury
Biographies of the members of the Cabinet of President Eisenhower
Biography in Ohio History
The Great What- Is- It? Article in TIME Magazine, September 13, 1948
What Is Competition? Article in TIME Magazine, November 18, 1957

Finance (United States)
Americans
Born in 1890
Died in 1970
Man

Cheboygan County, Michigan Legal science Saginaw County, Michigan Alexander Hamilton Samuel Dexter George W. Campbell Alexander J. Dallas (statesman) Richard Rush Samuel D. Ingham Louis McLane William J. Duane Roger B. Taney Levi Woodbury Thomas Ewing Walter Forward George M. Bibb Robert J. Walker William M. Meredith Thomas Corwin James Guthrie (Kentucky) Howell Cobb Philip Francis Thomas John Adams Dix William P. Fessenden Hugh McCulloch George S. Boutwell William Adams Richardson Benjamin Bristow Lot M. Morrill John Sherman William Windom Charles J. Folger Walter Q. Gresham Daniel Manning Charles S. Fairchild Charles Foster (politician) John G. Carlisle Lyman J. Gage Franklin MacVeagh William Gibbs McAdoo Carter Glass David F. Houston Ogden L. Mills William H. Woodin Henry Morgenthau, Jr. John Wesley Snyder (US Cabinet Secretary) C. Douglas Dillon Henry H. Fowler Joseph W. Barr David M. Kennedy George P. Shultz G. William Miller Donald Regan Nicholas F. Brady John W. Snow Timothy Geithner

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