38 Facts About Paul Volcker

Paul Volcker previously served as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975 to 1979.

Paul Volcker did not seek a third term at the Fed and was succeeded by Alan Greenspan.

Paul Volcker grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, where his father was the township's first municipal manager.

Paul Volcker graduated from Teaneck High School in 1945, where he participated in several student groups and impressed his peers and teachers with his knowledge of politics.

Paul Volcker attended Princeton University as an undergraduate student and graduated with highest honors from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1949.

Paul Volcker worked a second summer as a New York Fed research assistant before graduating in 1951.

In 1952 Paul Volcker joined the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a full-time economist.

Paul Volcker left that position in 1957 to become a financial economist with the Chase Manhattan Bank.

Paul Volcker returned to Chase Manhattan Bank as vice president and director of planning in 1965.

Paul Volcker played an important role in President Richard Nixon's decision to suspend gold convertibility of the dollar on August 15,1971, which resulted in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.

Carter resultingly sought a reassuring, qualified nominee who would confront inflation head-on, and nominated Paul Volcker to serve as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on July 25,1979.

Paul Volcker was confirmed by the US Senate on August 2,1979, and took office on August 6,1979.

The monetary policies of the Federal Reserve board, led by Paul Volcker, were widely credited with curbing the rate of inflation and expectations that inflation would continue.

Paul Volcker himself tried to remedy the situation by the Plaza Accord in 1986, which called for Germany and Japan to revalue relative to the US dollar.

Paul Volcker, the previous Fed Chairman known for keeping inflation under control, was fired because the Reagan administration didn't believe he was an adequate de-regulator.

Paul Volcker was more personable and smarter than the others, including the more recent board chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke.

In 1983, Paul Volcker received the US Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.

In 2015, Volcker donated his public service papers to Princeton University's Seeley G Mudd Manuscript Library.

In 1992, Paul Volcker was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Paul Volcker was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1992.

Paul Volcker had a long association with the Rockefeller family, not only with his positions at Chase Bank and the Trilateral Commission, but through membership of the trust committee of Rockefeller Group, Inc.

Paul Volcker was a chairman and an honorary trustee of International House, the cultural exchange residence and program center in New York City.

Paul Volcker was a founding member of the Trilateral Commission and a long-time member of the Bilderberg Group.

Paul Volcker discussed "what appears to be in substance a direct transfer of mortgage and mortgage-backed securities of questionable pedigree from an investment bank to the Federal Reserve," and offered his detailed analysis and evaluation of interrelationships among the US capital markets, Federal Reserve policies, and the economy as whole.

Paul Volcker appeared in the Charles Ferguson's movie Inside Job.

Paul Volcker was an economic advisor to President Barack Obama, heading the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Paul Volcker had been Obama's first pick as United States Secretary of the Treasury, but he was considered too old.

Specifically, Paul Volcker called for a break-up of the nation's largest banks, prohibiting deposit-taking institutions from engaging in riskier activities such as proprietary trading, private equity, and hedge fund investments.

Paul Volcker left the board when its charter expired on February 6,2011, without being included in discussions on how the board would be reconstituted.

Paul Volcker was known to defy the stereotype of a Wall Street insider.

Paul Volcker served as an honorary co-chairman for the World Justice Project.

In 2013, Paul Volcker founded the nonprofit organization the Paul Volcker Alliance to address the challenge of effective execution of public policies and to rebuild public trust in government.

Paul Volcker served on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Paul Volcker married Barbara Bahnson, the daughter of a physician, on September 11,1954.

Paul Volcker died on June 14,1998, having suffered from lifelong diabetes, as well as rheumatoid arthritis.

Paul Volcker died in New York City on December 8,2019, at age 92.

Paul Volcker had reportedly been treated for prostate cancer since being diagnosed the year prior.

In 2015, Paul Volcker had a rock band named after him.