280
Volcker’s background shows that this was nonsense. His course has
always been charted for him by his masters in London. He attended
Princeton, obtained an M.A. at Harvard, and went to the London
School of Economics 1951-52, the banker’s graduate school. He then
came to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as an economist from
1952-57, economist at Chase Manhattan Bank, 1957-61, with Treasury
Department 1961-65, as deputy under secretary for monetary affairs,
1963-65, and under secretary for monetary affairs, 1969-74. He then
became President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975-
79, when Carter, at the behest of Robert Roosa and David Rockefeller,
appointed him Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
He was succeeded as President of Federal Reserve Bank of New York
by Anthony Solomon, a Harvard Ph.D. who was with the OPA 1941-42
and with the government financial mission to Iran 1942-46. He
operated a canned food company in Mexico from 1951-61, was
president of International Investment Corp. for Yugoslavia 1969-72 (a
communist country), under secretary for monetary affairs at Treasury
1977-80. In short, Solomon’s background was much the same as Paul
Volcker’s.
The New York Times stated on December 2, 1981, "For years the Federal
Reserve was the second or third most secret institution in town. The
Sunshine Act of 1976 penetrated the curtain a trifle. The board now
holds a public meeting once a week on Wednesday at 10 a.m., but
not to discuss Monetary policy, which is still regarded as top secret and
not to be discussed in public." The Times mentioned that when Open
Market Committee meetings are held, Solomon and Volcker sit
together at the head of the table and relay the instructions which they
have received from abroad.