Appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, George M. Humphrey (1890-1970) advocated a free market economy. He believed that the less the government did, the more the American people would would prosper, and he recommended a reduced federal budget and a cut in taxes to spur individual initiative.
Humphrey adopted a policy of offering government securities at the higher market rate of interest, rather than at the fixed Federal Reserve rate, to attract investment by the general public and to reduce the proportion of such securities held by Federal Reserve banks. He enlivened cabinet meetings with polemics on the need for checking federal deficits, delivered as ardently as Secretary of State John Foster Dulles's exhortations on checking Communist expansion. In response to Eisenhower's 1953 budget, he quipped, "There are a lot of places in this budget that can be cut." He warned that the "terrific" tax burden must be eased or "I will predict that you will have a depression that will curl your hair." He placed the national debt on a longer term basis in order to ward off further inflation. Humphrey resigned from office in 1957.
- Text Courtesy of the Office
of the Curator
Unauthorized Site:
This site and its contents are not affiliated, connected,
associated with or authorized by the individual, family,
friends, or trademarked entities utilizing any part or
the subject's entire name. Any official or affiliated
sites that are related to this subject will be hyper
linked below upon submission
and Evisum, Inc. review.
