<--PREV Doc #229  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #231 Document #230; June 6, 1953 To George Magoffin Humphrey Series: EM, AWF, DDE Diaries Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part II: Settling into "the long pull"; May 1953 to August 1953 Chapter 4: Striving for Unity   Dear Mr. Secretary: I know you share with me the feeling of need for the most careful planning against the results of depression and general retard of the economic activity of the country. I am anxious that all of the appropriate departments of the Government collaborate with the Council of Economic Advisors in order that such plans may be perfected to the maximum extent consistent with the possible needs of the country.1 Consequently, I wish to constitute an Advisory Board of Economic Growth and Stability.2 You, of course, will have to determine whether you can arrange your schedule so that you yourself may serve as a member. In case you cannot, I request that you please designate a representative. I am asking the following Departments and Agencies to be represented on the Board: Department of the Treasury Department of Agriculture Department of Commerce Department of Labor Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Bureau of the Budget Council of Economic Advisors as well as a representative of the White House Office.3 Depending on the issues that come under consideration, the representatives of other interested Departments and Agencies will frequently be invited to join in the deliberations of the Board. At all times close liaison will be maintained with all Departments and Agencies, and with inter-departmental committees. In my message to Congress I stated that "it is contemplated that the Advisory Board on Economic Growth and Stability, supported by the existing staffs in various Departments and Agencies, will meet frequently, and through its Chairman will keep me closely informed about the state of the national economy and the various measures necessary to aid in maintaining a stable prosperity." Under this concept I am asking the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors to act as Chairman of the Advisory Board.4 I am looking to the Board to aid greatly in the important tasks of planning and formulating economic policies for our country. Sincerely 1 The council, created by the Employment Act of 1946, analyzed the national economy, advised the President on economic developments, and appraised the economic programs and policies of the federal government. 2 The Advisory Board would be established under the Reorganization Plan of 1953 on August 1, 1953. 3 This same letter would be sent to the heads of all of these departments and agencies. The respective representatives designated to serve on the Advisory Board would be as follows: Treasury Under Secretary Marion B. Folsom, Agriculture Under Secretary True D. Morse, Commerce Under Secretary Walter Williams, Labor Assistant Secretary Rocco Siciliano, Federal Reserve board member Abbot L. Mills, Budget Assistant Director Donald R. Belcher, Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Arthur F. Burns, and White House Administrative Assistant Gabriel Hauge. 4 Arthur Frank Burns (Ph.D. Columbia 1934), a professor of economics at Columbia University, was the current chairman. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To George Magoffin Humphrey, 6 June 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 230. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/230.cfm <--PREV Doc #229  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #231

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