arthur burns is here, second from the right between gerald ford and richard nixon. on the other side is milton friedman. burns is most prominent economist in the united states. he was the chairman of the federal reserve board from 1970-1978, and he did not believe central banks could do much about inflation. as i said, you have to put yourself in the mindset of the 1970's to think about how the economy was being run, with the central banker saying inflation is not my problem. in burns' view, the way to fight inflation was to deal with what he called the public psychology. today, we regard the fed chair as a most powerful economic actor with respect to economic policy in any country. fed chair arthur burns thought of his role as being psychologist in chief. that sort of thinking seem to say that governments were powerless in the face of slower growth. high unemployment and persistent inflation. as paul volker would show starting in 1979, the government is not powerless in the face of inflation, but the persistent inability to deal with slow growth and high unemploymen

they appoint arthur burns as ambassador to a -- he was a close friend of schmidt's in the 1950's. all these improvements in the trans atlantic vacation i think are insufficient to overcome the wider gap that emerged between the u.s. and western europe. the immediate issues, combating stance against the soviet union, which was seen to endanger, rearm and negotiate parallel. there is a significant domestic dynamic to this as well. that peace movement in germany included many members of schmidt's own party. the western europeans try to cooperate closely to mediate the american administration's. in 1989, writing to reagan that thatcher appears deeply concerned and would take an account the federal republic of germany. he almost pleaded in london not to isolate chancellor schmidt, who she described as a really good friend of the u.s. again we can see the philosophy. was that europeans are desperate to hold onto arms-control talks. both for domestic party politics. seem increasing the convinced it at out used its usefulness. note.re was next to the so it is scribbled in handwriting. he

arthur's lessened or were great friends and they used have playful teasing. he would say today is the first this was the first day that they fall was played and 'sso governor winthrop telescope was burned. my mother would say arthur may be smart, but he's not that smart. he has a book where he is looking this up. when we go out to play tennis, why don't you go into arthur's room and find the book? and i will embarrass him at dinner. i said, mom, you want me to go into your guest room? and she said yeah. so, i did. when mom got back from tennis, she said, did you find the book. i said, yeah. she said, well, do you have a question marit? asaid i am not going to take book out of arthur's room, mom. she said, what is it called? "american history" by arthur schlesinger . you are surrounded by these giants. they made an enormous impression on you. lewis.havez, john i was very privileged to the able to meet these great men and, of course, my mother was close friends with a number of broadway songwriters. adolph green and they used to play, andr house and christmas all three of them. just incredible. >> wow. did your mother quiz you at dinner? yeah, she did. >> that you carry from your childho